Screen Saver & Graphics Display - SETI@Home Classic (Emulation)
From Unofficial BOINC Wiki
[edit] General
One of the more common requests is that people would like to recreate the "Look-and-Feel" of the old SETI@Home Screensaver when using the new BOINC Client Software. The old display, of course, looks like the first example. I have used this sample elsewhere, so it should look familiar to you.
So, how close can we get? Well, pretty close. The basic thing is to turn off some of the Preference Settings so that we can get the effects we desire.
- Note:
- The current "Official" documentation for the SETI@Home Screensaver is also available.
My sample looks like this:
Note that the "Box" around part of the "Frequency-Time-Power" graph disappeared for what reason I don't know … it does show up in other examples, and it was there in real life also.
Ready?
I need you to open your Web Browser, log onto the SETI@Home Web Site, into the Your Account Page, you can click on these link icons: { View: Icon, SAH web doc | Edit: Icon, SAH web doc | Icon, SAH web site. }, now go to step number 5, and continue on from there …
- 1. Log on to the SETI@Home Web Site,
- 2. Click on "Your Account",
- 3. Click on "SETI@Home Preferences",
- 4. Click on "Edit SETI@Home preferences",
- 5. Make your settings match these:
| Name | Type | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Graphics Preference | Mandatory | "Custom" |
| Text Style | Mandatory | "Pillars" |
| Graph Style | "Surface" | |
| Frames per Second | Mandatory | 30 |
| Maximum CPU | 10 or less | |
| Graph Grow Time | [Any] | |
| Graph Hold Time | [Any] | |
| Transparency of Surfaces | [Any] | |
| Horizontal Oscillation Period | Mandatory | 0 |
| Horizontal Oscillation Range | Mandatory | 0 |
| Vertical Oscillation Period | Mandatory | 0 |
| Vertical Oscillation Range | Mandatory | 0 |
| Number of Stars | Mandatory | 0 |
| Speed of Stars | Mandatory | 0 |
| Color Preference | "Rainbow" |
- Note:
- Some of the settings are a matter of choice. The key to making the display mimic the old version is to set some of the specific parameters, those that are listed above as "Mandatory".
- Settings that only change the display in detail and are more or less up to the participant are indicated as "[Any]" because they truly are up to you.
- Those that are of a [blank] type, well, they are the ones that I think give you the closest approximation of the old display. However, you can chose other settings for these items. At the bottom of this page I have samples of how a couple of the settings will change the appearance of the display.
- Note:
- In theory, you would think that the "Rectangles" would be the closest. However, in SETI@Home Classic the rectangles went front to back, here they go side to side.
- That is why I would say that the "Surface" or "Wire Frame" gives the "best" emulation of the display of SETI@Home Classic screen saver or graphics window display.
- 6. Click on "Update Preferences",
- 7. When you get the message that says that you have saved the preferences, as shown in the example. We can goto your computer and do the next step
- 8. Open up the "Projects Tab" in the BOINC Manager.
- 9. Click on the "SETI@Home" line in the Projects Tab.
- 10. Select "Update" button (or link) from the Tasks Menu.
- 11. Select the "Messages Tab" .
- 12. When you see the message: "Scheduler RPC to http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/sah_cgi/cgi succeeded" you should be able to open the graphics window and see your shiny new SETI@Home display looking pretty much as the old and venerable SETI@Home Classic Screensaver.
- Note:
- In some cases people have to stop and restart the BOINC Client Software for the settings to take effect.
- 13. Read the rest of my web site's documentation, all 700+ pages of it...
- 14. Do not pass go …
We have some additional samples that will show you some of the differences between a couple of settings and how the display will appear.
In all the examples, the color preference is set to "Rainbow" which approximates the original.
If you want even better correspondence to the original, you can make these additional setting refinements.
| Name | Type | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Color Preference | Mandatory | "Custom" |
| Start Hue | Mandatory | 0 |
| Hue Change | Mandatory | -0.5 |
As before, repeat steps 6 through 17, and you are good to go ...
What do you mean there are only 15 steps? … are you calling me a liar? Who are you going to believe me, or your lying eyes?
[edit] Also See
- BOINC Screen Saver
- BOINC Screensaver Set-Up
- Enabling The Graphics Capability of the BOINC Client Software for a Service Type Installation
- Climateprediction.net (CPDN):
- Einstein@Home
- Screen Saver & Graphics Display - Einstein@Home
- The Einstein@Home Starsphere Screensaver (a.ka. Official Einstein@Home Screen Saver Description)
- LHC@Home
- Rosetta@Home
- SETI@Home
- Screen Saver & Graphics Display - SETI@Home
- Screen Saver & Graphics Display - SETI@Home Classic (Emulation)
- How SETI@Home Works
- How SETI@Home Works
