Release notes

What's new in 5.8

• The BOINC Manager offers two different interfaces: 'Simple' (small, graphical, skinnable) and 'Advanced' (maximum information). The Simple GUI allows local editing of preferences. You can switch back and forth between Simple and Advanced.
• CPU throttling: you can reduce CPU heat by limiting the fraction of time that BOINC computes.
• Improved scheduling policies avoid missing job deadlines even on a slow computer with lots of projects.
• You can limit the amount of memory used by BOINC; this lets you compute all the time without losing performance.
• Mac OS X version runs applications in an unpriviledged account, increasing security.
• Snooze button (in the system tray icon) lets you stop computing for one hour.

We recommend that all BOINC users upgrade to 5.8. A detailed revision history is here.

Installing BOINC

Windows

BOINC can be installed in any of several modes:

• Single-user installation This is the recommended mode. BOINC will run while you (the installing user) are logged in. BOINC is listed in the Start menu of you,but not other users. The 'Show graphics' command in the BOINC managerworks only for you. The BOINC screensaver shows applicationgraphics only for you (other users can run the screensaver but will see textual information only).
• Shared installation BOINC runs whenever any user is logged in. BOINC is listed in the Start menu of all users. While BOINC is running, it runs as a particular user (either the first user to log in, or the first to run BOINC). The 'Show graphics' command in the BOINC manager works only for this user. The BOINC screensaver shows application graphics only for this user (other users can run the screensaver but will see textual information only).
• Service installation BOINC runs all the time (even when no one is logged in). BOINC is listed in the Start menu of the installing user, but not other users. The 'Show graphics' command in the BOINC manager will not work for any user. The BOINC screensaver will only show textual information.

Mac OS X

• If your browser has not already done so, expand the zip archive by double-clicking on it in the Finder.
• Double-click on the BOINC Installer application to run the installer, then follow the prompts.
• Close the installer when it is finished. This will automatically launch the BOINC Manager.
• If you want BOINC to be your screen saver, open System Preferences from the Apple menu. Select Desktop & Screen Saver and select BOINCSaver.

Several tools? for Macintosh system administrators are available to:

• automatically run BOINC as a daemon or system service at boot time
• improve security for stand-alone clients
• prevent BOINC Manager from launching automatically when selected users log in.

Linux

BOINC for Linux is distributed as a self-extracting archive. This type of installation requires that you be familiar with the UNIX command-line interface. The download files have names like boinc_5.2.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh. After downloading the file, type

sh boinc_5.2.13_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh

This will create a directory BOINC/ with the following files:

boinc

The BOINC core client

boincmgr

The BOINC manager

boinc_cmd

A command-line tool? for controlling a running core client.

run_client

A script that cd's into the BOINC directory and runs the core client.

run_manager

A script that cd's into the BOINC directory and runs the manager.

You may want to automatically start the core client? at boot time.

Uninstalling BOINC

Windows

Select Start/Control? Panel/Add? or Remove Programs. Select BOINC, then click Remove. This removes the BOINC software only. To completely remove BOINC, delete the BOINC data directory (usually C:/Program Files/BOINC).

Mac OS X

To completely remove (uninstall) BOINC from your Macintosh:

• Move the following files to the trash:
  • BOINCManager.app (from your /Applications/ folder)
  • BOINCSaver.saver (from your /Library/Screen? Savers/ folder)
  • the BOINC Data/ folder (from your/Library/Applications? Support/ folder.)
  • [username]/Library/Preferences?/BOINC Manager Preferences)
• Open the Accounts pane in the System Preferences (accessible from the Apple menu), and remove BOINCManager from your list of Login Items (or Startup Items under OS 10.3.)
• Open System Preferences from the Apple menu. Select Desktop & Screen Saver and select a different screen saver.

Known issues

• (Windows) If BOINC runs at the same time as Windows XP 3-D screensavers, the system becomes sluggish and unresponsive.
• (Windows) Applications that were built before October 2004 do not display screensaver graphics with the Service or Shared install type, or the Single-user install type with the password protect screensaver option on NT based machines.