Perhaps another newbie question, but is it possible to limit the number of W/U`s downloaded for crunching, i am in the situation that i still have over 300 W/U`s to crunch by the 4th of December`s deadline date, that`s not possible for my computer to do.

Furthermore, what happens to any WU`s that dont make the dead line, do i abort them or what???. Not much point in my opinion, in letting the computer crunch those W/U`s if they go past the dead line.

If there`s a way to limit work units i would be very interested, if so, then a lay mans guide as to how its done would help a lot,

many thanks for your patience.

Tom.

The limit is not for number of WUs, limit is set as 'days of work'
These 'days of work' count all tasks from all the projects (but you seem to only do Asteroids@home)

http://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/prefs.php?subset=global

Maintain enough tasks to keep busy for at least X.x days
... and up to an additional Y.y days


Make this e.g. 3 + 0.1 days (you probably have it set for 5-10 days total)


Asteroids@home tasks take ~1 h on your CPU:
http://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/results.php?hostid=57513&offset=0&show_names=0&state=4&appid=

24 h * 2 cores = ~50 tasks/day
so you can do 300 tasks for 6 days (if computer runs all the time)

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)

BilBg is correct. I would only add that yes, you should abort tasks that have no hope of making the deadline. There is a slow/hard way to abort numerous tasks and there is the faster/easier way. Either way you should set the project to No New Tasks to prevent download of new tasks while you're aborting the old ones, just to save confusion.

The slow way is to highlight a task then click abort. If you have 300 tasks I would first adjust your cache as BilBg suggested then:

1) maximize the BOINC manager window so you can see as many tasks as possible

2) on the Projects tab in BOINC Manager, set Asteroids to No New Tasks

3) on the Tasks tab, click the heading of the Status column to sort the tasks into alphabetical order based on Status, the tasks with status "Ready to start" (RTS) will then be grouped and ready for "mass murder" errrr... mass abortion.

4) click on the first RTS task then hold down the shift key and click on the last RTS task. That should highlight as many RTS tasks as you see on the screen. Then click abort. I use Linux and it may work slightly different on Windows. You might be able to highlight the first RTS task then scroll down to the very last RTS task and highlight them all at once.

5) on the Projects tab, set Asteroids back to Allow New Tasks.

You could just reset the project but that aborts tasks you've already started and have invested some time in. Do it if you want as that is definitely even quicker but be sure to do a project update first to report any completed tasks.

Finally, different people have different opinions on how big or small your cache should be. I prefer a very small cache and the reason is that if something screws up and sends you more tasks than you really asked for, a big cache setting will turn what could have been a small screw up into a big screw up. If you have reliable 24/7 connectivity from your ISP a small cache is all you need. I use 0.1 for the "connect about every" setting and 0 for the "additional days" setting, abbreviated to .1 - 0. .1 - .1 is also a very small cache. If you're new to BOINC and don't have a very good reason for a big cache then don't go any bigger than 1 - 1 for a while and see how that works.

The reason people use big caches is because they worry they will run out of work if the project goes offline for several hours. If that concerns you then consider attaching to a second or third project. It's highly unlikely three projects will all be offline at once.

If your ISP has frequent downtime then consider a larger cache but start small and increase in small steps of about 0.2. Wait about a day or more after each increase for things to settle before boosting it again.

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BOINC FAQ Service
Official BOINC wiki
Installing BOINC on Linux

Many thanks Guy`s, finally got it sorted, i updated, then reset the project after adjusting the cache,all is fine now,many thanks again.

best regards,

Tom.

You have now 'In progress (1282)':
http://asteroidsathome.net/boinc/results.php?hostid=57513&offset=0&show_names=0&state=1&appid=

... which I guess means you use 'Local preferences' (in which case they override web preferences):
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Advanced_view#BOINC_Manager_Menus
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Local_preferences

Do the changes in 'Local preferences' or [Clear] them.
If you [Clear] them - never use [OK] on 'Local preferences' window or they will be set again.

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- ALF - "Find out what you don't do well ..... then don't do it!" :)

Hi BilBg,

sorry, but not being familiar with Boinc i opted to remove the A@h project and then re-join it, this seems to have shifted the abandoned W/U`s from "in progress" to the "error tab" and are now marked as abandoned. Hope that does not mean the W/U`s wont be crunched by other computers???????.

Dont ya just love newbies, LOL.

Regards,

Tom.

Hope that does not mean the W/U`s wont be crunched by other computers???????.

That's exactly what it means. Others will crunch them and your system will get new ones.
Just set your cache to a low limit, the way Dagorath laid out, and you'll be fine.

Many thanks swiftmallard, for the conformation.

regards,

Tom.