On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 05:56:14 GMT, Bill Jillians <"\"Bill
Jillians\""@virgin.SPAM_NO_THANKS.net.SPAM_OFF> wrote:

Pardon me for asking a few things about Seti and Boinc that might seen 
rather basic.  I just processed my 1000th WU on Setiathome 3.08 and 
thought I would test drive Boinc to see what would be required to update 
my system to handle it.

Computer wise I am living in the stone age.  I run Seti on 3 computers, 
2 PIII 600 MHz machines that don't have modems and are supplied by a 
floppy drive network and one K6-500MHz which has a dial up 56K modem. 
The P3s I run 24/7 and the K6 I turn on and off as required (it takes 40 
hours to process a WU so I save power when I can). All machines run 
Win98 as I find it processes faster than XP (13 hours average compared 

XP probably is running more *stuff* in the background, but it's both
more stable and secure (particularly with SP-2 and with the critical
up dates kept up-to-date).  Most of the *stuff* in the background can
be turned off using the Task Manager.

OTOH my wife's one machine ran for months using 98 and 98 SE contrary
to some reports that they have to be shut down periodically.

to 15) I download 10 WU onto my AMD machine, take a couple of days to 
process them then submit the results.  Submitting involves copying the 
result.sah file onto the K6 seti directory and using Seti 3.08 to upload 
the WUs one at a time. A labour intensive process even with controlling 
bat files.  I log onto the Internet for 15mins every few days to do 
this.  It may not be the most glamorous setup but it processes 4 WU a 
day with expendable machinery.

I tried looking for a Boinc help file but I can't bring it up.  When I 
downloaded Boinc it downloaded Setiathome 4.18 and a WU which seemed to 
be dependent on the K6 specs. I wondered if and how that WU would 
perform if copied to a different computer.  I let Bionic go for about an 

It won't.

hour while I was logged off the Internet.  It kept wanting access but 
that didn't seem to be stopping it from running.  Then I turned it off 
and went to bed.  When I restarted Boinc today it wanted access to the 
Internet again. This time however there was no running of a unit.

What I am wondering is, is there anyway Boinc will run with a dial up 
connection only connecting every few days?  Or will I have to go to 

It should connect when ever it needs a WU, but other wise it'll
connect when you start up.  As long as you are within the two week
window for the WU there shouldn't be a problem.

Broadband or dial on demand in order to carry on running Seti?  Can I 
still turn machines off without bringing a WU to a grinding halt?  And 

Depends on what you mean by "grinding halt"?.   If you let windows
shut down normally it should properly save the data and terminate the
program. When you start back up it *should* start back up where you
left off.

is Boinc still amenable to transfer by floppy disk?  Or am I going to 
have to invest in a wireless network.

No and No.

NICs are cheap.  They are easy to install (PCI card) and all you need
in addition is either a router or switch.  You can also get them as
USB devices, but they cost more and I doubt you have USB, or USB-2 on
the older machines.

You said you had problems trying to set up a network.  98 or 98SE
should be relatively easy to set up. You will need the drivers for the
PCI cards.  It's not absolutely necessary, but it is a good idea to
get all the same kind of card. If nothing else it saves confusion when
it comes time to reinstall.

With XP you just plug them in or pull them out.  You can disconnect
the Cat5 cable while it's running.

You do have to set all the computers to the same WORKGROUP name and
turn on file and print sharing.  You also have to turn on file sharing
for the directory(s) which you wish to share.  If you do not have a
system to assign IP addresses to the computers such as a hub with DHCP
addressing, you can manually assign the IPs to each computer.  It's
been a while since I used 98 or 98SE, but it's a relatively easy
process, but if someone on here doesn't tell you how I can dig it out
of the books. 

If the computers are next to each other I see no reason to spend the
extra money for wireless.   100base T NICs, Switches, Hubs, and
routers are very inexpensive compared to wireless.  I run a gigabit
hard wired Cat5e LAN which is far faster than any of the wireless I've
tried so far, but they are getting there.    

Wireless LANs are strange critters.  Sometimes they plug and play and
other times they can really be obstinate.  Interoperability can
sometimes be a real issue with wireless and particularly with dynamic
encryption. (the key keeps changing). Never, ever use wireless without
a good encryption scheme. Still I believe at last count about 90% of
wireless users do not use any form of encryption or even an access
password.

I have one computer that refuses to download WUs  from BOINC while the
other three work just fine.

I'd just like to know what I'm getting myself into ... that's all.

Good Luck,

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair)
www.rogerhalstead.com

Thanks