Thank you for using the Lunatics Installer. Please read these notes before continuing. More extensive notes can be found in the [BOINC_Data]\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu\docs folder and online in the respective Lunatics and SETI NC threads. Should you have any questions or problems - ask! Post in the Seti Number crunching forum: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_forum.php?id=10 New this time - January 2016 ---------------------------- Support for setiathome_v8 tasks recorded at the Arecibo radio telescope, and (in conjunction with Breakthrough Listen) tasks recorded at the Green Bank Observatory and any other suitable radio telescope. Release history --------------- v0.44 New applications to support MB v8 v0.43b Maintenance release with updated OpenCL apps, remove AP v6 legacy v0.43a Updated AP GPU applications from r2721 to r2737 v0.43 Support for Astropulse v7 added v0.42 Further upgrades to MB and AP applications, Intel support added v0.41 Support for MB v7, upgraded AP applications v0.40 Support for AP v6.01 v0.39 Upgraded all MB applications v0.38 Added ATI support, upgraded CUDA application v0.37 Upgraded CUDA application to support Fermi-class GPUs v0.36 First public release Notes and recommendations ------------------------- ATTENTION - running this installer will remove ALL manual edits to app_info.xml. This includes, but is not limited to, beta applications, variables, entries, and options. If you have made such alterations, they need to be redone after using the installer, preferably before restarting BOINC, or you could lose work. You are recommended to use a version of BOINC which supports app_config.xml files (v7.0.40 and above) to minimise this problem. TAKE SPECIAL CARE when upgrading from the stock 7.00 Astropulse CPU application. The intermediate checkpoint files have a non-standard format, and the Lunatics applications can't resume a part-computed task. Either set NNT and wait until the current task(s) have finished - may be a long wait - or abort tasks if they haven't progressed very far. This only applies to v7.00 tasks which have commenced processing - v7.03 (sse or sse2) tasks are safe to upgrade while in progress, and all unstarted tasks are safe. CPU apps - MB: new MB8_win_xxx_VS r3330 applications for v8. Legacy AKv8c r2549 apps retained for v7 cleanup. AP: r2692/2703 now only support AP v7, legacy v6 support removed. If you have any doubt at all about what instruction sets your CPU supports, download CPU-Z from http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html ATTENTION: The AVX applications will only work if BOTH your CPU AND your OS support AVX (minimum requirement: Windows 7 Service Pack 1). As always - your mileage may vary. NVidia GPU (CUDA) apps - MB x41zi (updated) in CUDA variants 2.3, 3.2, 4.2 and 5.0 The CUDA application is capable of handling both the new v8 and the legacy v7 tasks - there is no need for a separate v7 application. The application will switch modes automatically with no need for user configuration. Rule of thumb for choosing variant: 2.3: for Pre-Fermis ONLY - do NOT use on Fermi/Kepler/Maxwell 3.2: for mixed systems 4.2: for Fermis 5.0: for Kepler/Maxwell For compatible cards see http://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus For minimum driver requirements and further hints please refer to the x41zc readme. Download drivers from http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us (or your national equivalent) Should run on all NVidia CUDA cards with at least 512MiB video RAM. Actual free memory required is in the region of 200-235MiB, depending on driver and OS flavour. Running on a 256MiB card is just possible, but you will have to free up as much VRAM as possible, e.g. by disabling Aero. Used video RAM can be checked with GPU-Z downloadable from http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/2571/techpowerup-gpu-z-v0-8-6 Watch closely on GPU-Z and in BOINC manager whether the application finds enough memory. Symptoms of insufficient memory are - in BOINC manager: tasks start up and run a few seconds then go to 'waiting to run' and the next task tries to start until practically the whole cache is waiting. - on GPU-Z: the sensor for memory shows used VRAM ramping up and almost immediately dropping again. If there is permanent insufficient memory BOINC 7.0.64 and later will error out with error -226 'too many exits'. Earlier BOINC versions may trap you in an infinite loop. If in doubt ask for help on NC: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_forum.php?id=10 To multithread on Fermi/Kepler cards, find all instances of 1 in app_info.xml and decrease to 0.5 or 0.3. Again, if you are uncertain of how to do this correctly, ask on the above mentioned forum. NVidia GPU (OpenCL) app: AP v7 r2887 Minimum driver version 263.03. Suggestions for performance improvement are in the ReadMe_AstroPulse_OpenCL_NV file. This app WILL NOT RUN on legacy cards (8000 series, 9000 series, 2xx series with compute capability 1.x) if NVidia driver 340.52, released 29 July 2014, is present. Exclude such cards from AP v7 processing, or downgrade to an earlier driver. Alternatively, the 'hotfix' 341.44 driver (released 24 February 2015) can be used if available - not all operating system versions are supported. ATI - MB: New r3330 applications for v8 tasks ONLY. Legacy r2929 apps retained for v7 cleanup. AP: apps - r2742/r2904 We offer the application in two different variants, depending on card: plain - for most HD47xx/HD48xx and those with HD5xxx, HD6xxx and HD7xxx cards who suffer from driver incompatibilities. HD5 - for most if not all owners of HD5xxx GPUs, HD6xxx and HD7xxx GPUs. The ATI MB application will not work on ATI cards with workgroup size 128 (e.g. HD43xx). To check workgroupsize run CLinfo, downloadable (at present) from {http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/clinfo.zip} It will, however, probably work on HD53xx with workgroup size 128. If you have problems running the HD5 flavour (anything from reduced performance to BSOD), you should run the plain variant. Minimum required driver: All OpenCL applications are compiled under SDK 2.6 so minimum driver is Catalyst 11.12 Accelerated Parallel Processing (APP) Technology Edition GPU`s with fewer than 12 compute units like 5770/6770/7770 might experience driver restarts with Catalyst 13.1. Please update to Catalyst 13.4. First official driver for HD7xxx is 12.3. The recommended apps need OpenCL support from the ATI driver - for recent driver versions, look for a driver *with* APP or OpenCL listed. For compatible drivers see http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx For cards, see http://developer.amd.com/gpu/AMDAPPSDK/pages/DriverCompatibility.aspx On most systems GPU-Z (see above) will tell you if your setup supports OpenCL. For cards without OpenCL support (from HD2xxx on) use the 'hybrid' r2904 Astropulse application. NB this is a combined CPU/GPU application and will only use the GPU for some of the calculations, while doing the rest on a CPU core. Minimum driver version Catalyst 9.x. HD2xxx cards requiring Brook (Hybrid) applications are once again supported by Lunatics for Astropulse v7. General Notes: With Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8 and 10, do not install BOINC in 'Service' or 'Protected Application Execution' mode for GPU crunching, and do not connect to a Vista/7/8/10 computer with Windows Remote Desktop while it is running a GPU application. Switching users can also cause the GPU app to fail [BOINC versions before 6.12.28] Tuning cmd line parameters: Each of the application groups has a dedicated 'ReadMe' file with technical details of the command line options available, and guidance on their use. Documentation for each of the applications you have selected can be found in [BOINC data folder]\projects\setiathome.berkeley.edu\docs after installation, and I'll try to remember to post them (and keep them updated) in the download area of the Lunatics website. The number of options available - especially for GPU applications - has increased considerably for AP v7. If you don't want to read the whole thing, most ReadMe files have a summary towards the end of the most useful settings for low/medium/high end GPU card types. The Lunatics Installer crew: Current members: Richard Haselgrove Mike William previous contributors: Miep Original author: Jason G 17 January 2016