Attaching to projects

Keshet
Keshet
Joined: 21 Jan 08
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Topic 193680

Hi all,
My brother just got BOINC up and running, but I don't know how to attach to the projects that I had when I was running Windows. I'm now running Linux Ubuntu.

I'm not that computer literate, so non-technical terms would be helpful.

Thanks in advance for your help.

LosCon 36
But Wait...There's MORE!

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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Attaching to projects

Quote:
Hi all,
My brother just got BOINC up and running, but I don't know how to attach to the projects that I had when I was running Windows. I'm now running Linux Ubuntu.

It's the same as in Windows. Open Boinc Manager. If you are using the simple view there is an "Add Project" button. If you are using the advanced view, look under the "Tools" menu item.

If you were attached to a group of projects under Windows, you will have the account files for the various projects residing in the BOINC folder of the Windows machine. For example the Einstein one will be called account_einstein.phys.uwm.edu.xml. If you place a copy of all your account files in your new Linux BOINC folder (eg by using a pen drive if you don't have a network), when you subsequently start BOINC you will automatically be attached to your various projects using the same account details and credentials as you had under Windows. That's the easiest way to do the transition.

If you actually blew away your previous Windows installation to install Linux, you are out of luck unless you kept a backup copy of your BOINC folder.

Cheers,
Gary.

Joe
Joe
Joined: 24 Jan 08
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This is the brother speaking.

This is the brother speaking. It's a dual-boot system, so copying the files across is trivial. I presume we'll need to restart the client after the copy? In any case, thanx for the quick help.

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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RE: I presume we'll need to

Message 81863 in response to message 81862

Quote:
I presume we'll need to restart the client after the copy?

Yes, if you haven't attached to anything yet just stop the client, put the account files in place in the BOINC directory and then restart BOINC. During the restart, the account files will be noticed and your computer will be automatically attached to all projects using your previous account information and credentials. Your host will be assigned a new hostID for each project when it communicates with each project.

If you want to give your machine a bit of a boost, while you are installing the account files, also install the latest beta test app by downloading the zip archive from the beta test page. It looks like your machine is a PIII 866 so this latest app should give you about a 15% speedup if that's the case.

If you decide to try out the beta app, all you need to do (while BOINC is stopped) is :-

  • * Download and unpack the zip archive
    * Since you haven't already attached to E@H, create the necessary project subdirectories manually - ~/BOINC/projects/einstein.phys.uwm.edu/
    * Place the contents of the archive into your Einstein project subdirectory that you have just created
    * Restart BOINC

So when BOINC restarts, not only will you be auto-attached to your various projects, but also BOINC will read the app_info.xml file (part of the archive contents) which it finds and will not try to download the stock app. It will use the beta test app (version 4.49) from the archive instead. For information about this app, you should follow the 4.49 beta test thread.

Let us all know what you decide to do and how you get on. Good luck!

Cheers,
Gary.

Joe
Joe
Joined: 24 Jan 08
Posts: 32
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Copying the files across and

Message 81864 in response to message 81863

Copying the files across and restarting the core client didn't work. However, it's now talking us through signing up to the projects, so that's OK. Don't know why it didn't work from the beginning, but it seems to be mostly OK now.

Gary Roberts
Gary Roberts
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RE: Copying the files

Message 81865 in response to message 81864

Quote:
Copying the files across and restarting the core client didn't work.

The possibilities I can immediately think of are:-

  • 1. The account_*.xml files were not in the correct place
    2. The filenames were not exactly correct
    3. DOS and Unix have different line endings on text files and (if not fixed) might have caused the account files to be unparseable. I forgot to warn you about that. Unix text editors seem to be able to auto-convert so opening a DOS file and immediately saving it fixes things - at least for editors I've used.

Anyway, as you say, a minor inconvenience. I can see that the host has a new task underway at the moment so all seems well.

Cheers,
Gary.

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