While the project devs work on the Windows app, VM solution or whatever they have in mind, here is a fairly easy way for Windows users to get going. Briefly it requires downloading and installing VirtualBox then downloading and importing a Linux virtual machine I have created for you. This method saves a lot of work for you.

1) Download and install VirtualBox

Download and install the Windows version from this page .


2) Download the Linux virtual machine

It's named dotschux_1.2_64b_vm.ova, get it here. Save it to disk, remember the name of the folder you save it to. It's about 750 MB so it's a BIG download but it can't be helped. Yes, it is compressed, no it does not have a .zip extension but trust me it IS compressed. Don't try to uncompress it, VirtualBox Manager will take care of that.

3) Import the Linux virtual machine

On the Windows Start menu start Oracle VM VirtualBox which is better known as VirtualBox Manager which is the name I will use to refer to it. Click File -> Import -> Choose, navigate to the folder to which you saved dotschux_1.2_64b_vm.ova, select dotschux_1.2_64b.ova and click Next, tick the "reset MAC address" box, click Import, wait until the import is finished (may take several minutes).

4) Setup BOINC in the virtual machine

After the import is finished you should see a VM (a virtual machine) named dotschux_1.2_64b in VirtualBox Manager's main window, click it to highlight it then click Start. The VM will start in a new window and Dotsch/UX will boot in it. At the login prompt use boinc for the username then hit ENTER, use boinc for the password followed by ENTER also. You can change your username later if you want but it really isn't necessary, your BOINC credits will go to the account you attach the host to not to boinc.

Once the VM is booted you'll see an icon named BOINC manager icon on the desktop. Click it and attach to whatever projects you want.

The Dotsch/UX virtual machine is as close to having a separate Linux machine as you can get without actually having one. The VM has no knowledge of the Windows host machine it is running on and therefore cannot affect/attack the host machine in any way other than the standard ways any machine on the same LAN can affect/attack.

You can run BOINC on the Windows host simultaneously with the BOINC in the VM however you should decrease the number cores available to BOINC on the host by whatever number of cores you wish to allocate to BOINC in the VM. I believe the VM is configured to use only 1 core. Subsequent discussion in this thread will probably get around to steps for changing the number of cores the VM can use which will allow you to allocate more than 1 core to BOINC in the VM, if you feel the need to.

5) General Linux stuff to get you started

You can install any one of several different desktops in Linux. I'm not talking different wallpapers or themes on the same desktop like in Windows I am talking different desktops that not only look different but work different and have different functionality too. Dotsch/UX comes with a desktop named gnome and on the gnome desktop the Applications menu item at the top left corner is equivalent to Windows Start menu. Dotsch didn't include many applications in Dotsch/UX because his intention was to keep it small enough to install on and boot from a smallish thumb drive so you won't see much just some basic/essential stuff. You may install more apps if you wish but you might need to increase the size of the virtual disk from the current 4 MB to do so. Let's leave that discussion for another day.

6) Shutting down the VM

There are 2 ways to shutdown:

a) Click System -> Shutdown -> Shutdown. This actually shutsdown the OS and when the VM notices the OS is shutdown it shuts itself down too. When you restart the VM from VirtualBox Manager the OS needs to reboot which can take several minutes, not that there is anything wrong with that.

b) Click the X in the upper right corner of the VM then click Save The Machine State. This method doesn't actually shutdown the OS it just pauses execution of the VM, saves its state then exits the VM. This is a faster way to exit the VM and it takes less time to restart too because the OS doesn't need to reboot it just resumes execution where it was paused and saved, not that this is a better way, it's just a little faster. There are certain things you cannot do with a VM that has been shutdown this way but that's a discussion for another day.

7) Limitations

As mentioned earlier, the VM was created with a 4 GB disk which doesn't leave room for a lot of expansion. It was created with 512 MB RAM which may be more than is necessary. I haven't played much with it but it seemed sluggish with only 256MB RAM, perhaps 384 MB would be adequate. Dotsch suggests 2 to 2.5 GB just for the OS so I have left 1.5 to 2 GB for BOINC and whatever other apps you may want to run in the VM.

8) Acknowledgements

I used Dotsch/UX to create the VM. Dotsch/UX is just another flavor of Linux more specifically another Ubuntu derivative. It uses the Ubuntu kernel. Dotsch/UX was created by Dotsch, a boincer and Linux guru you may have run into in the forums. Very smart cookie that Dotsch. I can't say he knows everything about BOINC and Linux but I am confident that if he doesn't know it then it's probably not worth knowing ;-)

Ooops! The link to the VM provided in step 2 in the previous post is broken, my bad. Download it here instead. It provides a VM for 64 bit CPUs. I didn't create one for 32 bit CPUs because I don't think there is a demand for one but I will if anybody asks.

Also, the VM would probably run well in 256 MB RAM if the GUI were disabled. That would mean you would have to use a command line interface to control BOINC but that's easily done when you're attached to only 1 project.

I could use a 32 bit version

/edit - Never mind I found it thanks anyway

I didn't make a 32 bit version available until just a few minutes ago so I don't think you found it. It's named dotschux_1.2_32b_vm.ova .

yo9u are correct. I found dotsch_ux-12_i386.iso. for a while I was wondering why steps did not match your instructions. Then I read your post and file names again.

Sorry.

Like my son says, I'm an "old guy" lol

No problem. Let us know how it works for you.

It was easy to install and it works well. I definately need more ram.

Thanks

Hi everyone,

Well sorry but after running VirtualBox for LHC Test4Theory@home I did not like it and I don't intend to install it again on my machine.
So if we can't get a Windows app., I will not be able to participate here......
Any ways I don't see why i would have to adapt for a project, when I think the project should adapt for the most widely used OS.......

Sorry guys,
Gentilli.

It was easy to install and it works well. I definately need more ram.

Thanks

What makes you think you need more RAM, is your computer sluggish when the VM is running? If so we can make a few adjustments which should help. First, the total number of projects running on your computer should not exceed the number of cores you have. I see you have 2 cores and I assume that before you installed VBox you allowed BOINC to use both cores in order to run 2 projects simultaneously. Now that you have BOINC running in the VM you cannot allow the BOINC running in the real machine to use 2 cores because then you would have 3 projects running which would cause a lot of task switching and perhaps sluggish performance in your own computing tasks. You should go into the BOINC preferences on the real machine and set BOINC to use only 50% of the cores. Then you'll have 1 project running on the real machine plus the one in the VM for a total of 2 projects. Try that if you haven't already done so and let us know if it helps.

There are other adjustments we can make too if the above suggestion doesn't help but let's just try one thing at a time.

Hi everyone,

Well sorry but after running VirtualBox for LHC Test4Theory@home I did not like it and I don't intend to install it again on my machine.
So if we can't get a Windows app., I will not be able to participate here......

It's not surprising you don't like running VirtualBox after running Test4Theory. The problem is not with VirtualBox, it's with the way the T4T project uses VirtualBox. To be specific the problem is with the wrapper T4T uses to start/stop the VM. Their wrapper was a total disaster from the very beginning of the project and they have done next to nothing to fix it.

The implementation I have proposed in this thread does not use a wrapper and it completely avoids 99% of the problems encountered at T4T. If you would try it I think you would see it's much better than the T4T implementation.

Any ways I don't see why i would have to adapt for a project, when I think the project should adapt for the most widely used OS.......

Sorry guys,
Gentilli.

But what if the project cannot adapt to the most widely used OS? What if it is impossible for them to adapt? Maybe in the future there will be a native Windows app but if you want to crunch this project now and you run Windows or OS X then my proposal is the easiest option for you. And maybe there will never be a native Windows or OS X app. I have a hunch you can't understand how that could possibly be and that (it it's true) tells me you don't understand how computers are programmed so you're just going to have to take the word of those of us who do understand computer programming when we tell you it's possible in theory but maybe not in practice.

My solution is to acquire another hard drive, second hand is fine, 10GB or larger, and put it in your computer in place of the Windows hard drive and install Linux on it.
You will then be able to install BOINC and run Asteroids @ Home without any need for a virtual machine.
It is easy to physically swap over hard drives if you need to use Windows again.

You don't need to have a second disk. You can install Linux on the same disk as Windows without destroying Windows. In other words both OSs exist on the same hard drive simultaneously and when you boot the machine you are asked which OS you want to boot and then that OS boots. It's called "dual-boot". You can have many OSs all installed on the same disk, up to a maximum of 128 IIRC, and you just select which one to boot at boot time. You can easily delete any one or all of the OSs and recover the space they used on your disk.

The advantage of installing a virtual Linux machine on Windows is that you can have Windows and Linux running simultaneously, there is no need to boot back and forth between the two. It's also easier to setup than a dual-boot system, especially since I've supplied a virtual Linux machine image for you to simply import, it saves you a lot of work.

The best method for learning with linux is to erase the windows and install linux only. That's how I started to learn with linux. When I needed to do something I just had to learn it and couldn't just boot to windows to do it.

The best method for learning with linux is to erase the windows and install linux only. That's how I started to learn with linux. When I needed to do something I just had to learn it and couldn't just boot to windows to do it.

That's right.

The best method for learning with linux is to erase the windows and install linux only. That's how I started to learn with linux. When I needed to do something I just had to learn it and couldn't just boot to windows to do it.

That's right.

Like many things in life the biggest hurdle is just making the commitment. It's like quitting smoking... the first 3 days are hard but after that you know you did the right thing. Now all you people whose first thought is "I tried quitting smoking and I can't do it", ummmm, that's the reason you can't do it. What Yoda said to Luke Skywalker is true, "Try? There is no try! Just do it". Do it and be free.

I don't think that the hurdle is really so big.
LINUX on these days is able to run very much Windows stuff. I was very surprised when i noticed, that even my favourite games run flawless with the help of wine.

I installed your method & got it to work, several Problems though. It would only run 1 Wu @ a time & I couldn't see the option in BOINC to possible re-set to 4 CPU's, shouldn't really need to do that though. It's on a Laptop & apparently the screen isn't large enough to see the whole Options/Preference Box.

Another thing it looked like it was going to take around 14 Hr's to run a Wu on my 2.67 GHZ Laptop,for 120 Credits it's not worth it, to me anyway. I'll wait for a Windows Application in 2020 from the looks of progress on releasing one & see if the Wu's run faster ...

STE\/E

This Linux noob recently installed Ubuntu 12.04LTS on one box and Ubuntu 12.10 on another using the Wubi installer. Have both crunching away happily. However, I cannot seem to figure out how to show the advanced view in the BOINC manager. The simple view shows only currently running or waiting to run tasks, not those ready to start. Is there some way I am overlooking to show the advanced view? If it requires any command line stuff, I think I'll just deal with the inconvenience.

Version 7.0.27

When the BOINC Manager first starts up it should give you the option for the Advanced View in the lower right hand corner ...

---

STE\/E

Yes, it should be in the lower right corner but it isn't there on my Ubuntu 12.04 and BOINC manager 7.0.27. Fortunately the View menu at the top of the Simple View windows works (at least for me it works), click it and select Advanced. If that doesn't work then I'm afraid even the dreaded command line won't help and (dare I even speak of the horror) you will have to edit a config file. Pray the View menu works, pray very hard. If it doesn't then let us know and we'll bring whisky and a stick to bite down on while you edit the config file.

There is no view menu at the top of the BOINC manager, only a blank area above the tasks box. (quaking in fear...)
Edit: nevermind, I am a fool. Found what you indicated and thankfully it works.
Thanks for the help.