Posts by Andrew Pennebaker

1) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Notices pane blank (Ubuntu) (Message 95370) Posted 25 Apr 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: I keep clicking on the notices section but it's blank. Not sure if there's an error downloading notices vs. actually no notices.
2) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Forum title field low contrast (Safari iOS) (Message 95369) Posted 25 Apr 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: The different parts of the forum page are basically white on a white background, at least on an iPhone.
3) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Moving BOINC backend to the cloud (Message 94476) Posted 14 Apr 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Can we afford to host BOINC backend in AWS, GCP, or similar? That could provide more reliability to deliver WU's.
4) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : DreamLab now available for Android and iOS (Message 93931) Posted 8 Apr 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Vodaphone DreamLab offers a similar platform for donating CPU time, including for COVID-19 research. If you're not already running BOINC on your phone, give DreamLab a try. https://www.vodafone.co.uk/dreamlab/
5) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Anonymous option (Message 93123) Posted 2 Apr 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Could there be an option to dive in and start processing WUs?
6) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Run folding@home while waiting for BOINC WUs (Message 93118) Posted 2 Apr 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: I love, love, love BOINC! But any time there's a lull in available work units, please check out folding@home as well! https://foldingathome.org/ The same goes for folding@home: If there's ever an interruption in available work units, definitely run BOINC client! Happy clusters, y'all!
7) Questions and Answers : Wish list : Gamification (Message 92314) Posted 26 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Some users have expressed interest in a cutesy version of the app, where they can unlock surprises the more jobs they complete. Might we sprinkle a little art and make BOINC more fun to run?
8) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : How to run BOINC on a headless server? (Message 92297) Posted 25 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: I feel stupid. What are the exact commands to start running jobs on a headless server? Example: Thousands of Debian/Ubuntu sysadmins would like to install BOINC and do Rosetta@Home jobs. We're not so much concerned with RPC crap as how to basically get going from the viewpoint of SSH. So which apt-get package should we use, what systemd commands are involved, how do we configure the tasks, what do? What about RHEL/Centos? OpenWrt? Can we fix the tooling so it is closer to "Just Works" out of the box?
9) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : How does BOINC manager work with startup items? (Message 92295) Posted 25 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Can BOINC manager integrate with startup items? * First-run prompt to enable startup item. * Offer preference pane for toggling startup item entry. * More options for controlling presence as GUI app / menulet / system tray icon / Dock icon.
10) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : DevOps volunteer (Message 92289) Posted 25 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Hey, I'm a sysadmin with basic familiarity of networking, bash programming, Python, GCP, Kubernetes, and writing RESTful microservices. Is there something I can do to help the backend (BOINC, wiki, install media, forums) scale? Are we in talks with hosting and/or funding sources to obtain more quota?
11) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Move downloads behind CloudFlare CDN (Message 92230) Posted 24 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Can we please move the download page and files into CloudFlare, to account for a rise in GET requests?
12) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Standalone apps (Message 92216) Posted 24 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Could we get standalone apps? Some users would like to run BOINC from a USB drive without using an installer.
13) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Can we make jobs more discrete? (Message 92180) Posted 23 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: BOINC does an amazing job of farming out complex work units. Could we break these up into even smaller batches, so that users can realize the impact they're having on research? I think this change would introduce a relatively minor overhead performance hit on the cluster, with the benefit of being more accessible to our userbase. It's more satisfying to see the work units processed counter tick up faster, even though the total processing rate is about the same.
14) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : Publish BOINC to Mac App Store (Message 92179) Posted 23 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Can we get BOINC published on the Mac App Store? This would help people install it more easily.
15) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : What happens with BOINC when the computer tries to go to sleep? (Message 92174) Posted 23 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Does BOINC have an option to force the computer to stay awake? If not, we could recommend secondary programs like Amphetamine (macOS) or Caffeine (Windows, Linux) to keep everything up and running.
16) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : How to bring in more users? (Message 92173) Posted 23 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: Good points. Would it be possible to shift non-R@H jobs to also begin managing COVID jobs? I anticipate some users being confused about what to select when they first install BOINC. If the wonderful thing happened and we got a massive influx of users, what kind of DevOps work is necessary to scale up the backends? Does the platform run on AWS?
17) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : How to run BOINC in Docker? (Message 92166) Posted 23 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: I see the official BOINC images on Docker Hub, but I am a bit confused on how to run these. I was expecting more of an all-in-one image with BOINC username/password environment variables. Is there are a complete docker-compose.yml example with all the necessary components? Could we publish an all-in-one image for ease of use by Kubernetes admins?
18) Message boards : Cafe Rosetta : How to bring in more users? (Message 92164) Posted 23 Mar 2020 by Andrew Pennebaker Post: With COVID-19 making its way into our neighborhoods, what can we do to accelerate job processing? Which project should users select to do COVID jobs? Can we handle an influx of 100x userbase? Can we develop more media contacts to spread awareness? Can we streamline the install process? Can we clean up the home page and make it clear that finding a COVID-19 vaccine is our highest priority? Can we kill non-COVID jobs? Awesome that Android has BOINC! Can we focus on iOS and Windows Phone ports for the rest of the mobile community?