CTP2 and SETI Client

[The Viceroy]

Just a quicky .. If your like me, running the SETI client in the background .. and finding CTP2 crawl .. (even more that normal) .. then I recommend you turn it off for the duration of the game.

the SETI software kicks in during Idle CPU time .. and takes 100% CPU. As I only have 64Mb of Ram, and a P2 350Mhz ... running both together has a yakki effect.

64Mb is not enough memory to run CTP2 on its own, nether mind other apps .. so this results in virtual memory (your HD being used as memory .. which is very slow). Problem seems to be, that the SETI client keeps tripping in & out during the AI's turn, forcing the HD to be thrashed about horrifically ... and slowing the whole game down (especially the exit process, which takes upto 2 minutes without SETI running).

Infact, unless you have a top notch machine (which im sure many of you do have) .. I would remove any programs running at the same time (virus checkers/Real player/etc...)

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"Wherever wood floats, you will find the British" . Napoleon

I have my SETI running all the time. But, like you mentioned earlier, I have a 866Mz with 128MG of RAM. I see no slow down in the game while SETI is active...of course, that is WHEN CTP2 is working (prior to encountering may of its bugs!)

[RayvenWolfe]

I've gotten into the habit of shutting off SETI before I do anything which uses the entirety of my desktop, i.e. games. I play on several computers here at my house, and the only one SETI makes a real difference on is my laptop (P233 96MB RAM). I think deactivating SETI before games is probably a good idea anyways.

[skorpion59]

I run Seti all the time no matter what I am doing. After Seti has been running for quite a few hours, I find it helps if you delete all your temp files and reboot before doing something intensive like playing CtP2. Also, the DOS Seti works much better and is faster than the windows Seti.

The more important question is why aren't you guys part of the Apolyton Seti Group. We sure could use some more "ACTIVE" people.

As an avid SciFi and Seti fan, I keep up with most of the Seti pgms, shells, loggers, etc. (I run SetiDOS, SetiDriver, SetiSpy, SetiTeam and keep a Windows BMP background showing all the Seti's I have done. It is very cool.)

If anybody has any Seti questions or wants any additional Seti info, contact me.

[skorpion59]

Thread Hijack & Sales pitch in progress.....

Since Apolyton won't officially support Seti or the Apolyton Seti group, I thought I would take this opportunity to list some pgms and their links.

Please take the time to join, even if you can only do 1 workunit a month. You don't have to go full blown as I have. You can simply D/L the Seti Windows client, install it as a screensaver and you are done. This way it will only run when nothing else is happening on your computer. Couldn't get much easier than that.

The US government, in all its grand stupidity, withdrew all support for Seti so your help is needed.

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Seti@Home, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu
Seti for Windows, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/windows.html
Seti for DOS, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/unix.html
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Create Seti Account, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/account_area.html
Apolyton Seti Group, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/c...&name=Apolyton
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TaskInfo 2000, Shows CPU usage, http://www.iarsn.com/download.html
StarMap, Visualizes the position of your current workunit, http://www.topsi.net/
SetiTeam, Offline Stat viewer, http://www.sqiz.co.uk/Seti/setiteam.htm
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SetiDriver, Workunit cacher, http://www.wakeassoc.com/setidriver/
SetiSpy, Spy on your workunit progress, http://pages.tca.net/roelof/setispy/
SetiGate, Workunit cacher, http://gss.myweb.nl/seti/
SetiQueue, Network workunit cacher, http://www.reneris.com/seti/default.asp
SetiStash, Workunit cacher, http://www.hereintown.net/~wink/setistash.html
SetiLog, Stat logger, http://members.home.net/mloukko/SETILog.html
SetiWatch, Stat watcher, http://members.home.net/mloukko/SETIWatch.html
SetiMonitor, Monitors the client and cacher, http://users.surfree.net.il/l.fainshil/
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Seti Speed Tips, http://www3.sympatico.ca/n.rieck/docs/seti_tips.html
Seti Benchmarking, http://www.teamlambchop.com/bench/index.htm
********************

EDIT: This site/forum actively supports Seti so you can find a lot of good info here, just don't join their group. http://www.dslreports.com/forum/seti...e=shut;start=0

[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited January 27, 2001).]

Well Skorpion, just joined your group...I was put in 30th place since I didn't belong to a group...until now

Now Apolyton SETI Group has 45 members. Any more takers?

[Darkknight]

what exactly is seti does it raise money from adds on their site or what??

ive just downloaded it anyway lets see what it is.Does it work with win2000?

[This message has been edited by Darkknight (edited January 26, 2001).]

Darknight, I do believe the SETI program will work with Win2000. What does the SETI program do you ask? Well, you help in the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence...or should I say your computer works in the search

[Darkknight]

Yeah started it up works great. cool, never heard of it before. Does the time under the red flashing graph thing show the total amount of time for the unit or for a small part of the unit because i've had it running for 2 hours and it only shows 17 minutes.I changed the thing in preferences to set it to running all the time and it's going up faster now.
I joined the apolyton group wow 10000 units.I'm 46
someones been there for 4 years ands given in 4000 units wow!

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" mind over body "

[skorpion59]

Thanks Wittlich and DarkKnight, we can use all we can get.

The number is the total time for the unit you are processing. It can vary quite a bit depending on how much time it gets to process while nothing else is going on. The latest version does much more work so it takes longer than earlier versions. Also, the windows version takes longer than the DOS version because the overhead to show you the pretty pictures is massive. I have an older computer which takes about 75 hours to process one unit while my main computer does one unit in about 6-8 hours. Again, it depends on how much I am using the computer.

SETI, or the Search for ExtraTerrestial Intelligence, is a scientific effort aiming to determine if there is intelligent life out in the Universe.

Basically, Seti scans radio frequencies aquired by the Arecibo Telescope in Puerto Rico looking for signs of alternate life. This telescope gathers about 35G worth of data a day and sends it to Berkeley. Here the data is broken up into small 320k chuncks (107 seconds) and distributed across the Internet to millions of computers. These computers process the data (workunit) and send the info back to Seti at Berkeley.

The interesting thing is, they are able to process more work this way than if they had a giant supercomputer. Spend some time going through the Seti site, it is well worth it. And go through some of the stats. There is people from virtually every country in the world involved in this. They have a pgm for every type computer and OS available.

Personally, I can't say I am a die-hard looking for new life. I just like being part of the bigger picture, technology-wise and working with millions of people from every type of background towards a common, worthwhile and private (non-govt) goal.

I highly recommend getting TaskInfo 2000 and SetiTeam. Also, with all the blackouts in California these days, get a workunit cacher. This gets x amount of workunits at a time. Then, when your workunit gets done, it can start processing a new one even if it can't access Seti.

[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited January 26, 2001).]

[Darkknight]

yeah. I knew what seti was i was just wundering what thisd program did. I looked through the site great stuff.each unit takes me around 13 hours.8.7% on the first one.thanks for showing me this

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" mind over body "

[OmniGod]

Has given his computer to science... That makes 47. What a powerful little group. I started a few months ago, but lost it in a format... glad to be back.

[Paul]

One thing you can do to speed up your Windows SETI client is to set the screensaver to blank. If you use the default SETI screensaver it will take more CPU time to display the graphics than it uses to process your workunit.

You know, I was actually surprised that a Apolyton SETI group even existed - thanks again Viceroy for the "heads up"

I for one was running the SETI program, but did not belong to a certain group. I'm thinking there are probably a lot of civers out there that either would like to start by joining our group or like me, transfer their completed work they have over to the Apolyton SETI Group.

Because of this I believe we can only grow in size from here! Thanks Kent Wang (whoever you are ) for founding the group!

[skorpion59]

Thanks Omni and Solver, 2 more additions.

I was surprised Apolyton had a group also, no mention of it anywhere. That is basically why I hijacked the thread. I have been running Seti and hanging around Apolyton for 2 years but didn't know they had a group until a few months back.

Keep an eye on DarthVeda. He has slowed down but when I first joined it wasn't unusual to see him do 12 units in 18 hours. I would love to know how many computers he runs Seti on.

Any other Civers out there who care to have a little fun while contributing to science?

EDIT: After looking back over the posts, I see where a terrible choice of words on my part could leave the impression that Apolyton is anti-Seti. This is far from true. Markos is an active member and gained another spot just this morning.

[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited January 27, 2001).]

[skorpion59]

Thanks MJV96 for joining and bringing your 123 units. My guess is you have been doing this for a long time.

That puts us at 49 people and 11,100 units processed.

If the breakdown was a little better, instead of having a contest between different sights, we could have a contest between the Civ2, SMAC and CtP forums to see which forum does the most units in 24 hours. Oh well, maybe one of these days.

[Darkknight]

Right now it'll take me 36 hours altogether to finish this one off , at the start it was 13 hours total after 4 hours it was 20 hours total after 8 hours 28 hours total and now after 12 hours it is 36 hours.Theoretically i might never finish this workunit

Arrggh i come up as Dartkknight grrrr
Then again since it's the % finished is always going to be increasing even if it is by tiny amounts(at least until the chips rust up) then eventually it has to finish.
arggh me

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" mind over body "
[This message has been edited by Darkknight (edited January 27, 2001).]

Darkknight, you do know that you can change your name on the SETI site....just go to the home page: http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu and click on the user account area. Then type in your email address and password to change user info. Don't remeber you're password? Just click on the link below the password screen and they will email it to you.

This way you can change your name from "Dartkknight" to the proper DarkKnight...or what ever you want it to be

Darkknight, in addition: You stated (rather eloquently) that your having problems with the completion time of your scan...are you running SETI@Home only during screensaver or are you running it constantly?

[Solver]

I run SETI all the time, except when I'm playing Multiplayer AoE II.

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Solver - http://www.aok.20m.com

[OmniGod]

Me too... except it does slow down even the campaigns in AoE II... but I guess I can accept that for science

[Darkknight]

I have it on all the time but usually with CTP2 running so it doesn't have much CPU space.
70% at 33 hours.

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" mind over body "

[jackazzstudent]

Is there an apolyton distributed.net group?

Adam


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I use to be indecisive, but now I'm not so sure

[The Viceroy]

Oh Wow .. been away for a while, and return to discover im not the only person using SETI Client .. nice one chaps .. Scorpion59 .. what do you need to know to get us added .. just our logon mail address for seti ??

As I said in the original post, your processor will only slow down if your running low on memory, and your using virtual memory .. otherwise its fine .. so for all you out there with 128Mb+ of RAM and P3 666+ .. don't be too suprised that you don't even notice it running with CTP2 (Im not envious at all ha ha)

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"Wherever wood floats, you will find the British" . Napoleon
[This message has been edited by The Viceroy (edited February 05, 2001).]

[skorpion59]

Great more people. All you have to do is click on the "Apolyton Seti Group" link above. The page that comes up gives you the option to join our group.

EDIT: Here, this will make it that much easier.
Apolyton Seti Group, http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/c...&name=Apolyton

[This message has been edited by skorpion59 (edited February 05, 2001).]

[Dale]

I've got SETI running, but just need a password. I take it that comes from an email????

Hmmmm.... I wonder if work would notice if I loaded it onto the network's PDC.
[This message has been edited by Dale (edited February 06, 2001).]

[Paul]

If you don't know your password go to http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/get_passwd.html and enter the email address you used to register with SETI. Your password will be sent to that email address.

[The Viceroy]

Joined !

Nice one guys .. I can see quite a few of you have been firing those work units off like mad ...

For all those using W95/98 .. you can turn your SETI client into a service .. not many people realise that W95&98 have the ability to create Services (like NT), which start up when you first start 95 up (not when you logon). Many times I turn my machine on, go down stairs, get into something on TV and forget about the machine, which was sitting in LOGON .. and not sorting out any work units.

So, if anybodies interested, I can let you know how to start it up as a service .. just a quick addition into your registry.. no changes at all to any code in the seti program..

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"Wherever wood floats, you will find the British" . Napoleon

[Falconeer]

quote: Originally posted by The Viceroy on 02-06-2001 03:49 AM For all those using W95/98 .. you can turn your SETI client into a service .. not many people realise that W95&98 have the ability to create Services (like NT), which start up when you first start 95 up (not when you logon). Many times I turn my machine on, go down stairs, get into something on TV and forget about the machine, which was sitting in LOGON .. and not sorting out any work units.

Wish I could forget about my computer once it's turned on sometimes. I have enough fans in this thing to cool it down during overclocking that when I hit the power switch it's like a prop plane warming up to take off down the runway No matter where I am in my house I can hear this thing running.

Regardless, I too have joined. Was part of the seti@home program several years ago but during new computers, formats, etc., I had forgotten all about it until I read this post. Look forward to helping in the cause!

[skorpion59]

This is great we can use as many as possible.

Viceroy, why don't you post the Registry entry in case anybody wants it. I know I would be interested in seeing how it works.

Side Note: If you run across a Seti conversation in another Apolyton forum, give them the link to this thread. This isn't just CtP2 users, it is for all Apolyton users.