We have a Mac G4 Powerbook running OSX 10.3.6 at 400 MHz, with 512 MB RAM and 50 GB available disc space. I've downloaded BOINC to the desktop. When I started to install it, I got a box asking me to specify application I wanted to open it. StuffIt Expander didn't work, presumably because the BOINC material is not compressed. So, how do I open it to begin installation?
Kenneth Brewster, husband of Toni

There's a neat GUI client for BOINC called 'SETIControl' that's targeted at the SETI@Home project, but it seems to work great so far with the climateprediction.net project as well. You can download it at
http://homepage.mac.com/delaneyrm/SETIControl.html

Note that you'll have to change the path to the app in the app preferences and paste in the URL and Account key, but after that, it's happy Mac GUI time and no command line! Another RealBASIC program to the rescue.

There's no GUI component to the standard BOINC client: it's a good ol' unix command-line application.
(But see the next post for more info on running it from an add-on GUI)

To run BOINC from the command line:

1) Create a folder called 'BOINC' inside the OS X Applications folder and drag your downloaded BOINC app to it.

2) open the 'Terminal' application that you'll find in the Applications folder, inside the Utilities folder

3) at the prompt, type 'cd /Applications/BOINC/' and hit return. Your prompt should change to show that you're now in that folder.

4) at the prompt, type 'chmod +x boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' and hit return. You should get another prompt with no error messages.

5) at the prompt, type './boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' (note the leading period in the command) and hit return. BOINC will start running.

6) BOINC will ask for the Project URL. Copy/paste in the URL from the email that you got when you registered for climateprection.net and hit return.

7) BOINC will ask for your personal Account Key. Copy/paste that from the same email, then hit return. BOINC will then be running. You'll see what's going on by reading the messages that are displayed in the Terminal window.

To exit the BOINC application, just type Ctrl-C on your keyboard and it will gracefully exit. You can then quit the Terminal app if you like.

To restart the BOINC application, just re-do steps 2, 3, and 5 and that's it.

Enjoy!

There is a quicker way of opening BOINC that works for me and should for you, eliminating the need for typing commands.
I launch Terminal then I go to the 'boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' app in my Boinc forlder and drag it into Terminal, then just press Return. Boinc lanches without any further instructions.

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Fedora Linux 39 64-bit Workstation
Dell Latitude E7440 Intel Core i5-4300U x 4
RAM = 16GB / 240 GB SSD

> 4) at the prompt, type 'chmod +x boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' and hit
> return. You should get another prompt with no error messages.
>

I'd suggest a minor change to this: Type chmod a+rx boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin
The "a" in "a+rx" means "all files" - what you will be doing is allowing BOINC to be able to write/change all the files in the CPDN folder.

C

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&gt; There's a neat GUI client for BOINC called 'SETIControl' that's targeted at
&gt; the SETI@Home project, but it seems to work great so far with the
&gt; climateprediction.net project as well. You can download it at
&gt; http://homepage.mac.com/delaneyrm/SETIControl.html


The author has now built a GUI for CP:

http://homepage.mac.com/delaneyrm/CPControl.html

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JohnCCIU's solution worked when I changed the BOINC version number to 4.19 -- the current version. There are two places where it needs to be entered. I'm a Mac user from way back -- "Terminal" means imminent death to me. While this solves Toni's problem (John's solution -- not imminent death), the BOINC programmers ought to see that Mac users prefer to operate in the Mac environment. Apple should be contacted for guidance in making full use of its Graphic User Interface. -Dan

&gt; There's no GUI component to the standard BOINC client: it's a good ol' unix
&gt; command-line application.
&gt; (But see the next post for more info on running it from an add-on GUI)
&gt;
&gt; To run BOINC from the command line:
&gt;
&gt; 1) Create a folder called 'BOINC' inside the OS X Applications folder and
&gt; drag your downloaded BOINC app to it.
&gt;
&gt; 2) open the 'Terminal' application that you'll find in the Applications
&gt; folder, inside the Utilities folder
&gt;
&gt; 3) at the prompt, type 'cd /Applications/BOINC/' and hit return. Your prompt
&gt; should change to show that you're now in that folder.
&gt;
&gt; 4) at the prompt, type 'chmod +x boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' and hit
&gt; return. You should get another prompt with no error messages.
&gt;
&gt; 5) at the prompt, type './boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' (note the leading
&gt; period in the command) and hit return. BOINC will start running.
&gt;
&gt; 6) BOINC will ask for the Project URL. Copy/paste in the URL from the email
&gt; that you got when you registered for climateprection.net and hit return.
&gt;
&gt; 7) BOINC will ask for your personal Account Key. Copy/paste that from the
&gt; same email, then hit return. BOINC will then be running. You'll see what's
&gt; going on by reading the messages that are displayed in the Terminal window.
&gt;
&gt; To exit the BOINC application, just type Ctrl-C on your keyboard and it will
&gt; gracefully exit. You can then quit the Terminal app if you like.
&gt;
&gt; To restart the BOINC application, just re-do steps 2, 3, and 5 and that's it.
&gt;
&gt; Enjoy!
&gt;

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&gt; There is a quicker way of opening BOINC that works for me and should for you,
&gt; eliminating the need for typing commands.
&gt; I launch Terminal then I go to the 'boinc_4.13_powerpc-apple-darwin' app in my
&gt; Boinc forlder and drag it into Terminal, then just press Return. Boinc lanches
&gt; without any further instructions.
&gt;
&gt;
&gt;
Thanks KSD - that's the sort of easy procedure I was looking for. Nevertheless, i still seem to have no action. Do I have to give some instruction to kick this thing into gear? I already use the SETI@home program, which is so easy - this climate model seems conversly difficult to get going. Any help would be appreciated, especially since I'm not at all familiar with Terminal.

Andrew