(1) Selecting a running task and pressing "Show Graphics" does not always result in successful startup of the graphics window. Icon stays in dock, but no gfx.

(2) Selecting custom settings at the SETI site for graphics (simple minimalist setting or actual custom setting, like setting the constant rotation time to zero or 500) does not take effect when "Update" is selected in the client's Project tab. Is there a workaround for this? I find rotation and star animation to be superfluous and annoying. Plus with the window small, the explicatory text is unreadable at many angles.

(3) With larger data bars, the bars extend out past the enclosing 3D wireframe and over-write the "Power" arrow; small bars fit properly.

(4) The graphics client remembers neither the size or position you've set, so every time you open it, you have to re-size it and re-position it.

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Aside from these actual problems, it would be very nice if the graphics client would, or could, switch to another operating task instead of closing when the current task completes. I come back to my computer after a little while and the window is gone; I like having it up there, so I have to re-open the client, find a task, select graphics, close the client... this is a repetitive, simple task. Just the kind of thing computers are supposed to be used for. A setting, please? When I want to close the window, I can click the red closulator, yes?

--Ben

Well, I see that when the tasks update, so do the gfx settings.

Now we're at:

(5) The fonts used here are... awful. Or the rendering. Something is wrong, anyway, it looks *terrible*! Someone needs to turn on anti-aliasing... Is it me? Did I miss a setting?

--Ben

Ok, now I've had a kernel panic, and that's the end of that. When the machine drops dead without regard to the state of the drives, that puts my data at risk, and so that's the end of BOINC for me, at least until I hear it's rock-solid.

Too bad. Thing was really cranking out results.

If you take a peek at the top 20 SETI crunchers, you'll see that quite a lot of them are... Macs!
Which proves that BOINC and SETI can run very reliably under OSX.

I see that you are running BOINC 5.10.34 with the 'stock' SETI app.

Two things that you can try:

1. Upgrade the BOINC client software to the current recommended version, which is 5.10.45
2. Participate without using the graphics. Or better still, switch to the excellent graphics-free optimised app. (And enjoy the performance boost!)

BOINC download page
How to install Mac optimised app.
Optimised app download.

The problem may be in the graphics routines... I don't display graphics as that just sucks CPU cycled from the number crunching... There may be other posts here regarding issues with Show Graphics...

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Robert,

I very much appreciate the intent of your post, but I'm not willing to "try" anything with the possible outcome of a kernel panic not resolved. When and if the bug is located, described, a fix developed and the bug itself positively squashed, I'll try again.

I'm not going to click to another chamber on the possibly still loaded revolver and put it to my head again, though. The last -- and I mean *last* -- thing I want to have to deal with is a crashed machine. A kernel panic is no minor matter; everything stops, disks are left with unwritten data, it is a perfect recipe for destruction and chaos. Whatever is wrong is *really* wrong, or else the crash would only affect the SETI app (which I would happily risk.)

If you want to share my resources, I'm good with that -- especially for SETI -- as long as you do me the courtesy of being ultra-careful with them.

Right now, some nasty little gremlin you can't put a finger on is in there, stomping about on things it doesn't own with nailed jackboots, and that's just not going to fly. This needs to be definitively resolved by the developer(s.) If it were my software, I'd have a notice out to everyone warning them that their entire system was in danger from my code. And yes, I am a software developer. 35 long years. :-)

If I never see another kernel panic, it'll still be too soon.

I'm sorry to be so firm about it, but the whole episode gives me the shudders.

FWIW, I've been exclusively using boinc command-line clients for years, and I have _never_ had any stability issues. And I might add that I'm no casual cruncher, either. Currently, I'm running boinc 5.10.32 and Alex Kan's optimized seti apps, and things have been trouble-free, as usual. I'd suggest the same: switch to crunching without graphics (be it with boinc manager or with the cli-client) by using Alex Kan's apps. If the KP issue persists, I'd suggest taking a closer look at your hardware.

HTH,

WP