# Conversation and Fun > Just Conversation >  SETI - optical team - join here

## QDO1

Hi guys and gals

You have all heard of SETI the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, well I have set up a SETI team for optical professionals. If you would like to participate in this team, then follow the link below

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/creat...?teamid=120984

If you allready participate in the SETI project, you can still join the team, just follow the link and subequent instructions

I will let everyone know periodically how the team is doing. If you leave your computer on while you are not using it, why not join in the project

*What is SETI@home?* 
SETI@home is a scientific experiment that uses Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. 


Richard

----------


## Jedi

Great idea Richard.
I haven't done this for years.

----------


## QDO1

Just to let everyone know.. there is a delay (of weeks) on the group stats..  It is an issue at the SETI end

----------


## drk

Hey, just a serious, quick question.

Let's assume that there is extraterrestrial life.  How can we assume that they are not going to come an conquer us?  Why is it assumed that another civilization is benign?

I have another question, if you'll indulge: If there are any other civilizations, why have they not already found us?

What's the essence of SETI?  Scanning the universe degree by degree with ultra-sensitive radio frequency very large arrays?  

Is this a good use of resources?

----------


## QDO1

> Hey, just a serious, quick question.
> 
> Let's assume that there is extraterrestrial life. How can we assume that they are not going to come an conquer us? Why is it assumed that another civilization is benign?


you can not assume anything



> I have another question, if you'll indulge: If there are any other civilizations, why have they not already found us?


Depends on a lot of things.  Perhaps they allready have, but cant be bothered with us.  Perhaps they are in a different evoloutionary time frame, and they will never find our messages, and we will never find thiers.  Perhaps they are in the same time frame, but so far away, the messages are in a different time frame.  Perhaps radio is so primitive, we are barking up the same tree.  Perhaps there is a perfect match, and we are days away from working it out



> What's the essence of SETI? Scanning the universe degree by degree with ultra-sensitive radio frequency very large arrays?


yep, they use the Arecebo radio telescope




> Is this a good use of resources?


yep.  SETI was the springboard for other good science: distributed computing, which now does all sorts of other clever stuff like climate prediction.  The project does not particularlary have much funding, and relies on users to use thier machines for the project in idle times, but when they would have been on anyway.  This is a big science project really, run by a Dept at Berkley University

----------


## drk

Doesn't the US's NASA kick in some serious dough?

----------


## QDO1

> Doesn't the US's NASA kick in some serious dough?


nope, and furthermore, no one kicks in serious dough.  look at thier message board - they have had huge problems in the last weeks, and all down to a silly server script.. seems to be a few individuals keeping the whole thing running.## the front page of the site has a link to the sponsers, but these are A. big names, and B. giving a very small ammount of wedge

----------


## Sean

> Great idea Richard.
> I haven't done this for years.


 I joined.......under the Optical Team :)

----------


## rsandr

> If you leave your computer on while you are not using it, why not join in the project


It doesn't sound very environmentally friendly.

That said, i'm off to hug a tree!

----------


## QDO1

> It doesn't sound very environmentally friendly.
> 
> That said, i'm off to hug a tree!


some people leave them on all the time.. to make them last longer!

----------


## rsandr

> some people leave them on all the time.. to make them last longer!


Should I do the same with all my light bulbs?

----------


## rinselberg

I post from my brother's computer. It's an old out-of-date Mac clone, but with a large flat panel monitor. He has the software set up so that after 10 minutes without a keyboard input or a mouse click, the monitor goes into a standby mode to conserve power. The computer and hard disk stay powered up. We have been running the SETI program here, but after this upgrade that they are about to implement, we will be left out of it, because it won't run on the old MacOS anymore.

----------


## QDO1

> I post from my brother's computer. It's an old out-of-date Mac clone, but with a large flat panel monitor. He has the software set up so that after 10 minutes without a keyboard input or a mouse click, the monitor goes into a standby mode to conserve power. The computer and hard disk stay powered up. We have been running the SETI program here, but after this upgrade that they are about to implement, we will be left out of it, because it won't run on the old MacOS anymore.


I will ask for you - what OS -exactly?

----------


## rinselberg

> I will ask for you - what OS -exactly?


We are running MacOS 9.2 and I don't think that our hardware will support anything above that.

----------


## QDO1

> We are running MacOS 9.2 and I don't think that our hardware will support anything above that.


this patch might help your mac clone generally:
look @ https://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter/XPostFacto/

and a list of supported hardware:
https://eshop.macsales.com/OSXCenter...atibility.html

still hunting for a 9.x binary for you

----------


## Leo Hadley Jr

I joined the team yesterday, and still trying to figure it all out. This is very cool. Thank you for starting the team. I will be reporting my results in a few days.

As for the previous poster who says,
Let's assume that there is extraterrestrial life. How can we assume that they are not going to come an conquer us? Why is it assumed that another civilization is benign?
you can not assume anything.

I think that quote came from "Contact" 
It is probably more likely that our leaders will try to strike them first.

 If we can prove that we are not alone, maybe just maybe the world will open its eyes and see how small we really are, and maybe we will all stop fighting about stupid things like our beliefs. All of our wars will be civil wars and the real foreigners do not live here.

----------


## QDO1

> I joined the team yesterday, and still trying to figure it all out. This is very cool. Thank you for starting the team. I will be reporting my results in a few days.
> 
> As for the previous poster who says,
> Let's assume that there is extraterrestrial life. How can we assume that they are not going to come an conquer us? Why is it assumed that another civilization is benign?
> you can not assume anything.
> 
> I think that quote came from "Contact" 
> It is probably more likely that our leaders will try to strike them first.
> 
> If we can prove that we are not alone, maybe just maybe the world will open its eyes and see how small we really are, and maybe we will all stop fighting about stupid things like our beliefs. All of our wars will be civil wars and the real foreigners do not live here.


Thanks for joining the team.  I thought I would let you know that it takes a few days for your results to show up on the team stats, and the data is often 1-2 weeks behind.  At the moment 1 server says we have 11 members, but I have a list of 20 members from another, but another server only shows 4 contributing.  To add to the delay, the work units you do are not awarded credit untill the result is validated on 4 other machines, so it takes some time before your results show in the stats.  Good luck, and remember if you have more than 1 machine you can register them all on your account

----------


## QDO1

Well done to the Opticians Worldwide team. Collectivley we passed the 10,000 credit mark, which is further than most teams ever get.

Credits this morning: 10,260.31  

Full analysis at: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_...?teamid=120984

There are some members of the team struggling to get set up, having joined the team and not added any computing time to the project.. Please feel free to ask for hints and tips. We started the team when the SETI servers were being upgraded, which made registering and setting up a problem. Im sure those of us that are up and running will be more than happy to help the members who are trying to work out the BOINK or SETI software. Im happy to ICQ or MSN or AIM with anyone to set them up

----------


## rsandr

> Well done to the Opticians Worldwide team. Collectivley we passed the 10,000 credit mark, which is further than most teams ever get.
> 
> Credits this morning: 10,260.31  
> 
> Full analysis at: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_...?teamid=120984
> 
> There are some members of the team struggling to get set up, having joined the team and not added any computing time to the project.. Please feel free to ask for hints and tips. We started the team when the SETI servers were being upgraded, which made registering and setting up a problem. Im sure those of us that are up and running will be more than happy to help the members who are trying to work out the BOINK or SETI software. Im happy to ICQ or MSN or AIM with anyone to set them up


Hi, Im setting this up now,  you can have some of my 3 ghz.

Im not sure what I should put for the web url at the initial setup.

----------


## QDO1

> Hi, Im setting this up now, you can have some of my 3 ghz.
> 
> Im not sure what I should put for the web url at the initial setup.


this URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

I can see your email as registered in the team, so you are doing OK so far

----------


## rsandr

> this URL: http://setiathome.berkeley.edu
> 
> I can see your email as registered in the team, so you are doing OK so far


Whoohoo i'm attached, I don't really know what to but it feels good!

----------


## QDO1

> Whoohoo i'm attached, I don't really know what to but it feels good!


great. What happens now is that when you complete a work unit, it sends it off, and then a few days later you (and the team) are credited for it.  they validate them against the same WU which has been done on another 3 machines.  sometimes (because you have a fast machine) you seem to wait a while for the validation, cos most others dont have such a quick machine.

Its worth having a poke around the help sections and message boards (click on my account in BOINC manager)

----------


## Sean

> Im sure those of us that are up and running will be more than happy to help the members who are trying to work out the BOINK or SETI software. Im happy to ICQ or MSN or AIM with anyone to set them up


I'll be more than happy to help....

----------


## rsandr

> great. What happens now is that when you complete a work unit, it sends it off, and then a few days later you (and the team) are credited for it.  they validate them against the same WU which has been done on another 3 machines.  sometimes (because you have a fast machine) you seem to wait a while for the validation, cos most others dont have such a quick machine.
> 
> Its worth having a poke around the help sections and message boards (click on my account in BOINC manager)


I'll have a poke around, in the meantime, I have 'connection deferred' is this normal, it has counted down 3 times now.

----------


## QDO1

> I'll have a poke around, in the meantime, I have 'connection deferred' is this normal, it has counted down 3 times now.


Is there any work in the "work" tab?

Connection deffered usually means you asked it to synchronise, or it tried to synchronise, but the server was too busy, or you dont have anything to send/recieve, or you asked it too quickly. yes thats normal!

----------


## rsandr

> Is there any work in the "work" tab?
> 
> Communication deffered usually means you asked it to synchronise, or it tried to synchronise, but the server was too busy, or you dont have anything to send/recieve, or you asked it too quickly.  yes thats normal!


Yes, it seems to be doing some work.
I will set up a couple of PC's at work next time im in.
Is it best to merge them?

----------


## QDO1

> Yes, it seems to be doing some work.
> I will set up a couple of PC's at work next time im in.
> Is it best to merge them?


The easiest way to do that is to:

1. Email yourself (to your work PC) the long account code SETI sent you mine looks like this: Account Key: 1dg9e8372bdb35bf7021fc5a86b57k59
2. Download the BOINK software onto each PC
3. Run the BOINK set up
4. Attach top SETI project using the same URL as today
5. Paste the code in (no need for a user name or anything else)
6. Dont merge the computers

Merging the computers is used when you upgrade a PC, and it shows twice on your computer list. Each computer does its own work, and makes its own contribution

If your PC is doing some work, leave it, you are set up properly. Assuming you have an always on internet connection, it will just get more work when it needs to. I dont know how BOINK works with dial up

----------


## Sean

Looks as though it's off line at the moment.........:(

----------


## chip anderson

What you setii folks gone do if Odie gets a Message from God?

----------


## QDO1

> What you setii folks gone do if Odie gets a Message from God?


Why dont you join the team? you can have a good laugh at me then... If they get a message from god...

----------


## Sean

Sig.....

----------


## rsandr

> The easiest way to do that is to:
> 
> 1. Email yourself (to your work PC) the long account code SETI sent you mine looks like this: Account Key: 1dg9e8372bdb35bf7021fc5a86b57k59
> 2. Download the BOINK software onto each PC
> 3. Run the BOINK set up
> 4. Attach top SETI project using the same URL as today
> 5. Paste the code in (no need for a user name or anything else)
> 6. Dont merge the computers
> 
> ...


Should I hide my computers?
I have done as I have noticed you do.

What is the differene? Is it safer?

----------


## QDO1

> Should I hide my computers?
> I have done as I have noticed you do.
> 
> What is the differene? Is it safer?


I did, because my email address, is accociated with my computers on SETI.  My email address has been used online with my home address.  so I dont want to advertize a powerful computer or two, or three, with my home address.. you know what I mean

----------


## rsandr

One of my PC's wont boinc, there is no info on any of the screens and it wont connect, any ideas?

----------


## Sean

Go to the commands menu and click on retry communications......what type of message do you get?

----------


## rsandr

> Go to the commands menu and click on retry communications......what type of message do you get?


It says 'cant connect to a client, wanna retry?'

Its a shame cos its my best computer and for a time it looked like I may catch you up! :cry:

----------


## Sean

You could try and Re-Attach to the project.......select Projects from the menu...and then when prompted type in    http://setiathome.berkeley.edu.

----------


## rsandr

> You could try and Re-Attach to the project.......select Projects from the menu...and then when prompted type in    http://setiathome.berkeley.edu.


It says I am not connected to a computer and prompts me to go to file-select computer.
I have entered localhost is this correct?

----------


## Sean

In the File-Select Computer,leaving it blank is usually best........But in some instances certain firewalls will require you to type in localhost. I had a prob a bit back similar to this and all i did was reboot and relaunch the Boinc and it resumed with no prob.

----------


## rsandr

> In the File-Select Computer,leaving it blank is usually best........But in some instances certain firewalls will require you to type in localhost. I had a prob a bit back similar to this and all i did was reboot and relaunch the Boinc and it resumed with no prob.


I have tried the above, I guess I will reinstall and see if that helps.

----------


## QDO1

We broke the 100,000 credit mark.. thats a big mile stone that I thought would take a year or so!  Well done.  

Any one else want to join in... just click the join here part of my post below

----------


## Sean

Is this project dying...................?

----------


## rinselberg

Wonder where the illustrious leader (QDO1) has been of late.

Haven't seen a QDO1 post in months.

I have been running both Einstein@home (search for gravity waves) and SETI@home on a new Mac mini with the "IntelCoreDuo" architecture. I've been running the latest Intel-target software versions and it's really ripping through those work units - for both applications. If I only wanted to do the SETI, I would have joined the OptiBoard team.

I posted about these BOINC "science at home" applications - hoping to attract more volunteers ...
http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17454

----------


## Sean

Hmmmph.....with the exception of Rick seems as though everyone else has stopped. Maybe it has to do with the longer WU's.....i dont blame people for not wanting to give up that much cpu time.I myself am running running it on one of my P 3.4 HT's and have been thinking of shutting one of the cores down as of late. Why not join the team?.......

----------


## rinselberg

Hello, Sean

If I joined the OptiBoard SETI team, I would have to run SETI only, and not any of the other BOINC projects.

I like running some of the other projects, such as the "Einstein" gravity wave experiment.

_Yours truly_

----------


## Sean

Understood.......:) What kind of RAC are you getting with the mini?

----------


## rinselberg

Well, now that you (Sean) are asking ...

We started running the Intel target versions of SETI and Einstein just about June 1.

Einstein@home statistics
total credit to date: 9150
RAC: 354

SETI@home statistics
total credit to date: 7757
RAC: 278

I set the BOINC parameters to run the science applications "full throttle", 24/7. I don't remember the few parameters that are adjustable, but whatever they are, I set them all for maximum throughput. This must be loading the Mac to the _limit._ It has a temperature-controlled, variable-speed cooling fan and that fan has been running at the _highest_ speed, ever since I updated to the Intel targets and maxed out the parameters. Before, I hardly ever noticed the fan, because it always ran at the _lowest_ speed.

The CPU temperature has been as high as 183 degrees F --! But I did some checking of an online database, and that does not seem to be out of line for these new Intel core Macs.

Now here's the truth: I have the Mac running SETI. The cooling fan is on high and the CPU is at 130 F. I suspend SETI processing. In a few minutes the fan slows down until I can't hear it anymore and the CPU goes down to 84 F - the lowest I've ever seen. I restart SETI. In a few minutes the fan goes right back up to that high speed again, and the CPU goes back up to 130 F. Proof positive!


*Only you can prevent CPU fires*

----------


## rsandr

> Hmmmph.....with the exception of Rick seems as though everyone else has stopped. Maybe it has to do with the longer WU's.....i dont blame people for not wanting to give up that much cpu time.I myself am running running it on one of my P 3.4 HT's and have been thinking of shutting one of the cores down as of late. Why not join the team?.......


It seems we are keeping the project going at the minute.
How many machines are you running?
I have been trying to catch you up for months but to no avail!

----------


## rsandr

> Wonder where the illustrious leader (QDO1) has been of late.
> 
> Haven't seen a QDO1 post in months.


I hope he is OK, he was a breath of fresh air on these boards.

----------


## Sean

> It seems we are keeping the project going at the minute.
> How many machines are you running?
> I have been trying to catch you up for months but to no avail!


Just one.......a Dual P 3.4 HT ....but i only run it on one of the cpu's with ht enabled. The other cpu i keep to myself :).

----------


## rsandr

> Just one.......a Dual P 3.4 HT ....but i only run it on one of the cpu's with ht enabled. The other cpu i keep to myself :).


Thats impressive, I have about 5 machines running SETI, the best of which is  a 3Ghz Athlon 64.

----------


## Sean

> Thats impressive, I have about 5 machines running SETI, the best of which is a 3Ghz Athlon 64.


Not really......when you look at some other RAC's....besides thats all i have that cpu do.....it dosent do anything but SETI 24/7. Plus two gigs of ram..................but i dont think the Boinc program uses anything over the one gig mark. Come to think of it nothing else much would either......except maybe some memory intense game apps.

----------


## rinselberg

National Geographic was just on cable TV here with a new sixty-minute special on extraterrestrial life.

It sounds like the "odds" of ET have gone up, in the sense that scientists are now looking at planets circling the very numerous "red dwarf" kind of stars as ET candidates, as well as the moons of planets that orbit around the very common binary stars, where two closeby stars are orbiting each other.

Previously, these kinds of solar systems were not considered to be likely candidates for life-supporting planets or moons.


_Flying whales soar above the Blue Moon, a low-gravity world imagined by scientists for the National Geographic Channel TV special Extraterrestrial. Illustration courtesy Big Wave Productions, Ltd._

You can read more about this TV segment here:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...tv_aliens.html


_See why computing with those tedious, old-fashioned bits (binary digits) is becoming so 20th century ...
http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17515_

----------


## rinselberg

Has SETI (the Search for ExtraTerrestrial Intelligence) finally detected the long sought-after radio signal from ET?

Not exactly.

The graphic (courtesy of Berkeley National Laboratory) accompanies a new article about pulsars - and the speculation, well-founded or not, that the characteristic radio signals emitted by pulsars may signify the work of an extraterrestrial intelligence.

See Pulsars: What Are We Missing?


Quicksand!
Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden
"Remember the Maine(s) ..."
Sky Monsters
sabermetrics
Guess what?
Evolution - the eyes have it!
B612 - the cure for (aste)roid rage?
Where's the boof?
The second Big(gest) Bang
Postcard from Tora Bora
Gravity's Rainbow
Scientists building new telescope - at bottom of the sea

Just a baker's dozen of the latest reasons to make RinselWorld** your next Internet port of call ...

----------


## rinselberg

*SETI@home/AstroPulse Beta*

I just started running the beta test version that is delineated on the webpage (above) as *setiathome_enhanced 5.17* ... it's only crunched through a single work unit, but so far - no problems with it on my end. I've been discovering that there is more to SETI@home than just a search for recognizably intelligent radio signals. If you are running SETI@home, you may be interested in this new post on the *science* of SETI@home:

*Put this in your pipe and smoke it ...*



More than just a search for little green men

----------


## DragonLensmanWV

Boy, I just checked on the team and it seems no one is running SETI anymore. I was going to join since my old team is pretty inactive also. I have over 500,000 credit and now I'm only running one computer out of about 8 available.
I'll join up if we can get a few more participants going.

----------


## rinselberg

When King (QDO1) set up the Opticians Worldwide team, he set it up for people who want to run SETI@home exclusively. In addition to SETI@home, I've also been running SETI/Astropulse Beta Test, Rosetta, Rosetta Alpha Test, Einstein and Hydrogen@home. I have a Mac with the Intel architecture. If you're running on a Windows, Linux or Unix rig, you have access to a different and larger set of @home programs, vs. Mac. It doesn't matter what team anyone joins or whether they join any of the teams. You can run any of the @home programs that are supported on your rig without joining any of the teams.

For the record, I joined the BOINC Synergy team.



Quantum physics: Backward in time research goes forward ...

----------


## DragonLensmanWV

> When King (QDO1) set up the Opticians Worldwide team, he set it up for people who want to run SETI@home exclusively. In addition to SETI@home, I've also been running SETI/Astropulse Beta Test, Rosetta, Rosetta Alpha Test, Einstein and Hydrogen@home. I have a Mac with the Intel architecture. If you're running on a Windows, Linux or Unix rig, you have access to a different and larger set of @home programs, vs. Mac. It doesn't matter what team anyone joins or whether they join any of the teams. You can run any of the @home programs that are supported on your rig without joining any of the teams.
> 
> For the record, I joined the BOINC Synergy team.
> 
> 
> 
> Quantum physics: Backward in time research goes forward ...


Oh, so that's a group that pools all their BOINC projects together. That is one massive group!:D:D

----------


## tianwa

Interesting it is,count me in^^

----------


## Sean

I've just recently taken over the foundership of Opticians World Wide. :)
Anyone else care to join. :idea: As of late there have been a good deal of sign up's................but thats it....there signing up.....but not running the software.  :cry:

----------


## tianwa

yes,running the software is  important!!!
That's the key

----------


## Sean

tianwa,

Let me be the first to say...welcome to Optiboard ! And to Seti as well.  :Cool:

----------


## tianwa

Thank you,sean.Glad to be here.

----------


## PhotonicGuy

Is the SETI program still on? Where can I read more about it?

----------


## rinselberg

> Is the SETI program still on? Where can I read more about it?


http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

----------


## DragonLensmanWV

> http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/



I seem to be the only one still running SETI@home in my old group. That's me at the top.
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/team_...=expavg_credit

----------


## PhotonicGuy

thanks  rinselberg , I'm an science fiction fan so I'm interested about this. Can someone tell me , how many resources(CPU,RAM) the program from SETI, wich analyzes radio telescope data, uses ?

----------


## DragonLensmanWV

> thanks  rinselberg , I'm an science fiction fan so I'm interested about this. Can someone tell me , how many resources(CPU,RAM) the program from SETI, wich analyzes radio telescope data, uses ?



You can set it to constantly run in the background if you have a beefy setup, or it can just run as a screensaver. Either way, it's not an intensive program, it just uses unused CPU cycles. And if you have a super video card, it can also use your GPU to process.

----------


## Dpareynolds

Part of being human is the inability to think in infinite terms, i.e. We've already been conquered and successfully resisted infinite times, we've been found infinite times, etc. It's likely there are infinite co-existing universes, given the small space limitations.

----------


## Sean

..

----------

