Posts by Dave Roberts

21) Message boards : Number crunching : Upload failures (Message 60031) Posted 27 Apr 2019 by Dave Roberts Post: No problems with uploading SAM50's but not had any EU25s :- W1ndows7.
22) Message boards : Number crunching : Project Losing it's Way? (Message 60012) Posted 25 Apr 2019 by Dave Roberts Post: My main concern about CPDN is that it is just spinning numbers for the case of academic studies of past weather events. If they want to keep me, they will make the studies more relevant to the real world. Just noticed this comment by Jim1348 and hope the following might be useful. Running simulations over past times is absolutely critical in insuring that the models are as theoretically sound as possible when using them to simulate the future. They really are relevant to the real world From the empirical data that we have acquired about past climate events and weather, we can propose a theoretical model of the worlds (area) climate which we can then attempt to verify by running it from a known starting point in the past to a known finishing point sometime later. We can then check to see how closely the results from a run of the model match the known data. The closer the model results are to the actual data, the more confident we can be that the model is a fair representation of that reality and will simulate the future reasonably accurately. We often have to have a series of simulations of the past, refining the model both in terms of the theory and its parameters until its results are within reasonable and predefined probabilistic limits of (un)certainty. It's from this point that we can play around with the model, both theory and parameters, to test the effects of human activity on the future climate. It's a never ending challenge and generally speaking, every run is useful, even if it 'fails'.
23) Message boards : Number crunching : Android/ARM processors (Message 59671) Posted 23 Feb 2019 by Dave Roberts Post: As Les points out, some people apparently don't bother to read the information available. The list of projects shows quite clearly which project supports which platforms and I did find that quite a few support Android on this URL. https://boinc.berkeley.edu/projects.php
24) Message boards : Number crunching : New Model Type HadAM4 (Message 59615) Posted 12 Feb 2019 by Dave Roberts Post: RE - Leaving in memory - Jean-David Beyer "I always leave Leave non-GPU tasks in memory while suspended checked, but "in memory" just means it can be paged in very quickly, not that it is physically in RAM all the time." Are you sure about that? I might be wrong but all the evidence I can find seems to point to a task state physically staying in system memory when suspended with a 'Leave'. Obviously, in unchecked, suspended tasks are removed from memory, and resume from their last checkpoint. Hence the problems. Since paging is virtual memory methodology, it would only occur if the system needed more RAM than was available for some process. I wouldn’t have thought that leaving a task state in memory would trigger paging of that state if another task needed more memory. Rather that elements of the the second task would be paged. Obviously, when the machine is switched off everything in RAM is lost but the system copies the RAM state to disk to be read back on on startup. Having said all that, I’m always willing to be corrected. Out of interest, I have used 'Leave non-GPU tasks in memory while suspended' from shortly after I joined CPDN, having had a task crash after a suspend and restart of my Mac. Since then, I have never had a problem, even when running CPDN in a Virtual Machine. I sometimes have to switch between dual booted systems so the 'Leave' option is invaluable. I still take care to ensure I don't do this if trickles are pending or uploads are occuring, although pending zips don't appear problematic. I have Mac systems.
25) Message boards : Number crunching : Second project added when climateprediction.net added to BOINC (Message 59532) Posted 29 Jan 2019 by Dave Roberts Post: Bit confused by your original question. Are you referring to the old account "old_user693724" as a project?
26) Message boards : Number crunching : Error while computing??? (Message 59484) Posted 21 Jan 2019 by Dave Roberts Post: Some crunchers are unknowingly crashing their WUs by doing too many Suspends. In my experience, suspending is not a problem if the option "Leave non-GPU tasks in memory while suspended" is set in the account preferences. I've never had a problem with that setting and I suspend one computer quite regularly and with this option set, the tasks also survive shutdown. I guess it's a case of how to get the message across.
27) Questions and Answers : Unix/Linux : No work for Linux either now. (Message 59016) Posted 17 Nov 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: I've always understood Dave's interpretation to be correct. In logs of my recent tasks, there are trickles without zip uploads and also zip uploads without a prior trickle EG Sun 11 Nov 00:01:47 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Sending scheduler request: To send trickle-up message. Sun 11 Nov 00:01:47 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Not requesting tasks: "no new tasks" requested via Manager Sun 11 Nov 00:01:48 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Scheduler request completed Sun 11 Nov 04:51:33 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Started upload of hadcm3s_n847_190012_120_771_011670374_0_r606276455_out.zip Sun 11 Nov 04:51:34 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Computation for task hadcm3s_n847_190012_120_771_011670374_0 finished However, many zip uploads hasve been preceded by a trickle, albeit with a slight time delay. Fri 16 Nov 12:10:49 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Sending scheduler request: To send trickle-up message. Fri 16 Nov 12:10:49 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Not requesting tasks: "no new tasks" requested via Manager Fri 16 Nov 12:10:50 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Scheduler request completed Fri 16 Nov 17:31:01 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Sending scheduler request: To send trickle-up message. Fri 16 Nov 17:31:01 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Not requesting tasks: "no new tasks" requested via Manager Fri 16 Nov 17:31:02 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Scheduler request completed Fri 16 Nov 17:32:09 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Started upload of hadcm3s_su139_190012_120_771_011667641_0_r717114851_5.zip Fri 16 Nov 17:33:49 2018 \| climateprediction.net \| Finished upload of hadcm3s_su139_190012_120_771_011667641_0_r717114851_5.zip It's certainly trickles that start the credit calcs, perhaps they have a final task to see if any zips need uploading?
28) Message boards : Number crunching : Work Units for MacIntosh (Message 58912) Posted 24 Oct 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Just a thought, for what it's worth. Have you considered running a virtual machine? I started doing this a few years ago when tasks for Macs were running a bit scarce. I was running Snow Leopard at the time and after some research, bought VMWare Fusion on a special offer. It was exceptionally good and completed tasks in pretty much the same time as using native OSX. Also, it didn't interfere with my normal usage. Thinking of moving to High Sierra meant I needed the new version of Fusion but since I had a very old version I had to pay the full price, so I retried the free Oracle VirtualBox. I didn't find this very good since there appeared to a very high background overhead but it did work and was easy to install and setup. To cut a long story short, I kept with Snow Leopard for some time but having finally decided to move to High Sierra, I bit the bullet and bought the latest VMWare Fusion. I know it looks a bit expensive but given what we pay for decent hardware, for me at least, it's worthwhile. PS One can always suspend/stop Fusion, if necessary, after suspending BOINC, and I've never had any problems with restarts or task failures.
29) Message boards : Number crunching : Zero / Negative Credit (Message 58459) Posted 23 Jul 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: See thread 'Credit System" https://www.cpdn.org/cpdnboinc/forum_thread.php?id=8587 Amongst others. I think it'a always a good idea to look at previous threads before posting yet another on the same subject
30) Message boards : Number crunching : Impossible to detach project climateprediction.net after changes in URL (Message 58410) Posted 17 Jul 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was recommended to change the URL of the project what seems only possible after completing the running work unit. So I did this loosing a lot of CPU time wasted on the running jobs. But now, trying to remove the project in the window of my BOINC manager the field to detach the project is greyed out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hi, I was also waiting for some tasks to finish before reconnecting. I wouldn't have thought that you have lost any CPU time if your tasks were completed and updated as mine were. To reconnect to the project, I uninstalled BOINC, deleted all the related folders & files and then reinstalled BOINC and reconnected to the project. Might have been a slight overkill but at least prevented any other problems.
31) Message boards : Number crunching : What Happened ??? (Message 58269) Posted 31 May 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Hi Bill, Thanks for your response, I do understand where you're coming from. Below is an excerpt from Les' post which helps explain the current difficulty, which I follow with some info about OeRC. There isn't one 'simple' Oxford University IT centre. The OeRC is simply one research centre at the Uni, others having their own computing facilities for their own purposes, although OeRC does have coordinational links with these others. It isn't "the" Oxford IT centre. Perhaps the difficulties they are having are 'unintended (unforeseen) consequences' of 'cloud computing"! (Personal opinion) It isn't just CPDN that is having problems. The funding question is always one for discussion. There will always be someone fighting to get funds for the CPDN project. Unfortunately, we don't yet have 'big guns'on our side. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From Les. "The CPDN computing infrastructure is based in the department of OeRC (Oxford eResearch Centre), 90% of it is running in a cloud computing environment that is shared by a number of non-CPDN projects. This cloud computing environment can be divided into two parts: a virtual machine side where the servers run, and a file system. Since the beginning of April there has been a major problem with the virtual machine side of this cloud computing environment, this problem has been progressively corrupting each one of the servers of the project. What this means is that each one of the project servers will need to be rebuilt from scratch, 7 or 8 servers will need to be rebuilt. It is anticipated that it will possibly take some weeks to setup the whole CPDN infrastructure again, in the meantime the project will continue to run from the backup project server that is outside of the cloud computing environment." OeRC details "The University of Oxford’s e-Research Centre is a multidisciplinary applied research department, developing and applying innovative computational and information technology in both academic research and industrial applications. The Centre acts as a hub for interdisciplinary collaborations within and outside of the University nationally and internationally. Expertise in digital methods enables the Centre to work across traditional academic boundaries. Our funding comes from a broad range of sources including UK Research Councils, Innovate UK, the European Commission, charitable foundations and industrial collaborators."
32) Message boards : Number crunching : What Happened ??? (Message 58230) Posted 23 May 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: ! Bill F ! Well Oxford is a noted academic institution... for the Arts. It it is not ! known !as an IT related power house. So we will wait for our staff and their ! staff to !resolve the issues. ! Consider that while this project is important to the world, at Oxford it is ! probably unknown to most of the campus or student body. It is not in their ! world !of interest or awareness. This comment does seem to show astonishing ignorance about Oxford University as well as making an extraordinarily sweeping generalisation highlighting the same ignorance. Oxford’s staff and alumni have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine 16 times, the prize for Chemistry 11 times, the prize for Economics nine times, and the prizes for Physics, Literature and Peace five times each. Linus Pauling, who was George Eastman Visiting Professor in 1948, is one of only four people to have been awarded more than one Nobel Prize – in his case, the Chemistry prize and the Peace prize. The most recent Oxford winner is Sir John Gurdon, who studied at Christ Church and was a lecturer at the Department of Zoology. He won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2012 for his work on stem cells. No university of this standing doesn't have a substantial expertise in IT. (I assume the author of the quote understands the double negative) I hope that the moderators don't feel that this is a too aggressive response. Incidentally, Oxford University’s Radcliffe Meteorological Station is the longest running continuous weather station in the UK. On 15 May, the Met Office will present an award to the University ‘in recognition of 200 years of continuous climate observations at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford’. The Station, based at Green Templeton College and maintained by the University’s School of Geography and the Environment, holds the longest series of temperature and rainfall records for one site in Britain, with daily full records from 1815, and less frequent observations dating as far back as 1767. The current observers are doctoral students from the School of Geography and the Environment, where the IT resources are as good as anywhere.
33) Message boards : Number crunching : "No tasks available" for windows - despite 29454 in task queue (Message 58109) Posted 19 Apr 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Just been back on the site and noticed that no tasks have been allocated anywhere, so system obviously still 'coming back up'. I did read your comment Les, but didn't connect it to task allocation since the servers seemed to be up and running.
34) Message boards : Number crunching : "No tasks available" for windows - despite 29454 in task queue (Message 58101) Posted 19 Apr 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: I have 2 windows environments with either no tasks running or just two. Both keep asking for work but CPDN keeps saying "No tasks available". All the servers are said to be up & running. I'm absolutely certain that the 29454 tasks said to be available aren't all for Mac or Linux. I've reset the project etc. but still no joy. Anyone else seen this behaviour?
35) Message boards : Number crunching : Aborting Tasks (Message 58040) Posted 31 Mar 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Thanks, I thought that was probably the case.
36) Message boards : Number crunching : Aborting Tasks (Message 58036) Posted 31 Mar 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Does aborting a task make it immediately available for re-issue - or thereabouts?
37) Message boards : Number crunching : New Router won't upload zips or update project. (Message 58033) Posted 30 Mar 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: I don't think it's possible to use 2 routers at the same time on the same telephone line - unless the technology has changed. (I once tried 15 years ago - it took a very experienced BT engineer a couple of days to find out it wasn't possible.) One can obviously use WiFi & cable from the same router. Do you get the same problem with both WiFi connection & cable?
38) Message boards : Cafe CPDN : Not receiving new tasks (Message 57961) Posted 20 Mar 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Hi Alessio, I have a Mac and decided to use a Virtual Machine to run CPDN tasks in Windows when none are available for MACs. I've used both Virtual Box & VMWare Fusion - both work & run in the background. VB is free and Fusion is not.(Fairly expensive). In my experience Fusion is much more efficient in resource usage and seems much less likely to slow up other stuff that one is running on the native system. So I bought it & just thought of it as a one off cost. They are both fairly easy to install but I found Fusion much easier to work with. All personal experience of course for what it's worth. Using either means one can keep crunching for CPDN. You can always drop me a personal message if you want any other info.. David
39) Message boards : Number crunching : No Credit (Message 57781) Posted 17 Feb 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Hi Draggynsmate, A few comments that might help. This project is really quite different from all the other projects you can access through BOINC, as I know from running work for the malaria project The tasks that you are sent often take a long time to process and often have large files to upload. Also the project has had some problems recently with the back-end of the whole system which needed some serious programming effort. If you check out other members you will see how long they have been contributing and still persevere. It looks as though a lot of the back-end problems have been solved during the recent shutdown but we will have to wait a while to see if any remain. If you check out some of the threads on this board relating to uploads/downloads etc. you'll see that everything has always been resolved at some time or other. Other threads give some indication of the complexity of the project. The credits always get through in the end. It's a really worthwhile project to contribute to, so I hope you'll hang in there.
40) Message boards : Number crunching : Downloads Failing (Message 57662) Posted 17 Jan 2018 by Dave Roberts Post: Looking at tasks running/ran on keputnam's computer it records many successful tasks completed since July 2017, last one 14th Jan.. So doesn't seem to be anything wrong at his end. https://www.cpdn.org/cpdnboinc/results.php?hostid=1332124

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