I had a computer crash while running WinME, so I decided to convert it to a Win2K machine. Now I find that I am unable to merge the new and old computers. I presume that this is because the computers have a different description OS relating to the OS (I have since also upgraded the CPU).
Message 16870 comments on this, but is there yet a way around this ?

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Sorry, no way around it of which I\'m aware.

In time, the machine count can become a meaningless indicator. Unfortunate, because it renders comparative stats questionable to meaningless.


[Edited an \"ly\" out.]

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"We have met the enemy and he is us." -- Pogo
Greetings from coastal Washington state, the scenic US Pacific Northwest.

Sorry, no way around it of which I\'m aware.

In time, the machine count can become a meaningless indicator. Unfortunate, because it renders comparative stats questionable to meaningless.

So with a big stick in hand, who\'s arm do we need to twist to get some clean-up done?

I\'ve got old machines whose last activity was 2004. Machines with no id, no units, no ip, no nothing... a trash entry. Machines who finished all work in 2005 or have only past due w/u\'s from 2005... all forms of trash. I\'ve taken to hidding them as it\'s such a mess.

Who do we need to write to get some action in this area?

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- da shu @ HeliOS,
"Free software is a matter of liberty, not price. To understand the concept, you should think of free as in free speech, not as in free beer"

There isn\'t anyone, as far as I know. I don\'t think that facility was created, so the programmers would need to add the request to their To Do list.
But I\'m sure they know about the \'problem\'.
At the moment, they are busy with the science, which is what their funders want.

... I don\'t think that facility was created...

Is not host merging and deleting a stock part of BOINC? Does CPDN have/run no jobs that clean up / remove / purge old returned and/or old unreturned work from the ques/dBs? Is this what you are refering to as not being created?

But I\'m sure they know about the \'problem\'.

Do I detect a \'wee bit\' of sarcasm here? Not much of a \'problem\' when you only have 3 computers listed and only 1 that does anything... I\'d guess that it\'s really 1 computer (why will they not merge? They appear identical)

At the moment, they are busy with the science, which is what their funders want.

Ahhh the old \'science card\'. Well let me give you the stock reply also then... there is NO science without the crunchers.

I\'ve a feeling this is a \'BOINC\' thing. Allowing people to merge machines that are not demonstrably the same allows all sorts of shenanighans when it comes to stats. I\'m not personally bothered, but one of the ideals of BOINC was that there should be the option for cross project competition. Having one project changing the way it done poses problems, and it seems to me that this is something that should be debated fully so that the wider BOINC community can reach a consensus. Apart from anything else, it opens the project team to all sorts of complaints and abuse, and Carl has become understandably wary of anything relating to statistics.

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[tongue-in-cheek=on]
[offended]
Skip Da Shu

No sarcasm was even thought of, let alone implied, contemplated, or anything else.

It was a simple statement that there was no need to specifically tell the core team that there were people who wanted their old, now unused, computers removed from the list on the computer page, as said team would most likely already know about it.

My \'3\' computers are indeed one and the same. BOINC, in it\'s infinite wisdom, decided to create them, and 2 others as well, and also gave me a pair of data sets to go with each.
But I\'m playing MY game not BOINC\'s, so they have been merged as much as I care to, and can stay there.

And just to complete the picture, BOINC did the same on spinup, giving me 8 extra computers and two new data sets. Which is why I have 3 spinup models listed in the results of my \'normal\' acount page.

[sarcasm]
And the people to contact, if you wish to, would be Carl and Tolu. Carl\'s email and PM are on his posts in the Message board.
Good luck.
[/sarcasm]
[/offended]
[tongue-in-cheek=off]