I would like to convice my sister and my parents to get their computers involved in this project. They each have dialup internet in their respective houses, though, so I\'m wondering how BOINC reports trickle data when there isn\'t a constant connection to the internet?

Is there a way to make it dialup, send the data, and and then kill the internet connection (if it\'s not connected beforehand)? A more preferable way would be to detect whenever the computer connects to the internet, and then take advantage of the opportunity to report the data.

Or would the user have to manually make the program report whenever he or she connects to the internet?

Most of the features catering to dial up users are broken. Dev doesn't think we're much of a priority.

In theory, BOINC is capable of dialing when it needs to, hand disconnecting when it's done transferring data with no user intervention.

This feature has been flaky at best, and is currently just plain broken.

Currently, if BOINC wants to talk to the servers and you are not online, all work will stop. The only way to resume computation is exit and restart the client.

The workarounds for us dial up users are to either stay connected all the time, or disable BOINC network access from the file menu of the GUI. Disabling network access is more of the preferred method for obvious reasons. However, this is also broken... If you exit the client, it forgets you wished to disable network access, and next time you start the client, it will be turned on again. (and of course, if you restart the client when you aren't connected, it will want to talk to the servers and freeze up)

Another downside to disabling network access is that it needs to be turned back on to get more work. (obviously) If you don't keep on top of it, you might have an idle machine for a while.

I just wish they'd get dial up sorted out. Some of us have been screaming about it since beta.

<a href="http://www.boinc.dk/index.php?page=user_statistics&amp;project=cpdn&amp;userid=355"><img border="0" height="80" src="http://355.cpdn.sig.boinc.dk?188"></a>

That sounds pretty uncool.

But does it really halt all work when it is unable to connect to the internet?

I find that hard to believe for this reason: even with my DSL connection, my computer is not completely reliable on the internet, and so BOINC is not always able to connect to the servers to upload trickle results. Despite this, it continues the number crunching, and in the message section it just says "deferring communication with project for [time period, goes up every time it's unable to connect]. Like I said, though, it never stops going on the WU.

&gt; But does it really halt all work when it is unable to connect to the internet?

Yes.

In beta, it would actually crash your system when this happened. It was fixed for the most part, but has surfaced again in the latest release in a lesser capacity. Instead of crashing, it just stops working. Not sure why it has returned. It's always fun when upgrades backslide a bit.

&gt; I find that hard to believe for this reason: even with my DSL connection, my
&gt; computer is not completely reliable on the internet, and so BOINC is not
&gt; always able to connect to the servers to upload trickle results.

Believe me or not. That is your perogative.

Even though your DSL may have connection issues, it is not trying to open a dial up connection is it? Different events here...

<a href="http://www.boinc.dk/index.php?page=user_statistics&amp;project=cpdn&amp;userid=355"><img border="0" height="80" src="http://355.cpdn.sig.boinc.dk?188"></a>

I don't have any problem to run BOINC with a dial-up connection but I have a secret. I'm using <a href="//www.netcplus.com">Browsegate 3</a> to control my phone line access. Browsegate is an all in one Firewall/DNS &amp; DHCP server/NAT server/ HTTP proxy &amp; it's free if your have less than 4 computers on your home/personal network.

You can configure it to dial automatically and disconnect the phone line after "X" minutes of inactivity. Ten minutes it's fine for me but you can reduce the time as needed. Very reliable.

Browsegate is also designed to works with any TCP/IP internet connection (ADSL &amp; cable modem).

&gt; I don't have any problem to run BOINC with a dial-up connection but I have a
&gt; secret. I'm using <a href="//www.netcplus.com">Browsegate 3</a> to control my
&gt; phone line access. Browsegate is an all in one Firewall/DNS &amp; DHCP
&gt; server/NAT server/ HTTP proxy &amp; it's free if your have less than 4
&gt; computers on your home/personal network.
&gt;
&gt; You can configure it to dial automatically and disconnect the phone line after
&gt; "X" minutes of inactivity. Ten minutes it's fine for me but you can reduce the
&gt; time as needed. Very reliable.
&gt;
&gt; Browsegate is also designed to works with any TCP/IP internet connection (ADSL
&gt; &amp; cable modem).
&gt;
&gt;
&gt;
how many machines do you have ive only got one. well actually ive got 4 but there not networked and boinc only runs on the inspirion 1100. will it still work

&gt; Currently, if BOINC wants to talk to the servers and you are not online, all
&gt; work will stop. The only way to resume computation is exit and restart the
&gt; client.
&gt;
&gt; The workarounds for us dial up users are to either stay connected all the
&gt; time, or disable BOINC network access from the file menu of the GUI. Disabling
&gt; network access is more of the preferred method for obvious reasons. However,
&gt; this is also broken... If you exit the client, it forgets you wished to
&gt; disable network access, and next time you start the client, it will be turned
&gt; on again. (and of course, if you restart the client when you aren't connected,
&gt; it will want to talk to the servers and freeze up)

I've been running BOINC since the Beta days, on dial-up, and i've never had any problems like you are describing. If BOINC needs to say upload a result/trickle and you are not online, it will just keep trying until you are online.

BOINC freezing up when it can't talk to servers has also never happened to me, again it will just keep trying, and work will continue to be crunched.

BOINC, while not perfect, runs fine on dial-up (as long as you use the GUI, and can so tell it to upload results when you get online).

Heffed, I see you are running CPDN on one computer, so maybe your problem lies with the computer and not BOINC. Also what are your settings, as I have my settings in windows to never dial a connection automatically, and just upload the results whener I get online.

I think this may just be a case of the program behaving differently on different computers, as so many programs do...

Anyway, I think I still might ask them to give it a try, I think they could handle it.

&gt; Heffed, I see you are running CPDN on one computer, so maybe your problem lies
&gt; with the computer and not BOINC. Also what are your settings, as I have my
&gt; settings in windows to never dial a connection automatically, and just upload
&gt; the results whener I get online.

Yeah, I've also been running BOINC since the beta days, and dial up has always had issues...

It's not the computer. The 3.xx versions would dial with no problems. The 4.xx versions won't.

Many people are experiencing the same problem, and by disabling network access, the problem goes away...

<a href="http://www.boinc.dk/index.php?page=user_statistics&amp;project=cpdn&amp;userid=355"><img border="0" height="80" src="http://355.cpdn.sig.boinc.dk?188"></a>

&gt; Most of the features catering to dial up users are broken. Dev doesn't think
&gt; we're much of a priority.
&gt;
&gt; In theory, BOINC is capable of dialing when it needs to, hand disconnecting
&gt; when it's done transferring data with no user intervention.
&gt;
&gt; This feature has been flaky at best, and is currently just plain broken.
&gt;
&gt; Currently, if BOINC wants to talk to the servers and you are not online, all
&gt; work will stop. The only way to resume computation is exit and restart the
&gt; client.
&gt;
It probably depends on what operating system you use.

I run Linux (Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3 ES to be specific) and I just let the BOINC client run. I originally had trouble making it run climateprediction, although it ran setiathome and predictor OK.

In any case, it is possible to configure the dial up networking module to dial up whenever a process tries to connect to the Internet port. From the point of view of the client program, the attempt fails to connect (as it times out; it takes about 45 seconds to establish the connection), but BOINC client seems to retry after a minute, so it goes through right away on the second attempt.

The dial up networking is set up to drop the connection if nothing comes over the network for 10 minutes. This dropout interval can be set to anything, but it does not make sense to make it much shorter. So if you are running Linux, or have the option to run it, you should have little trouble making the BOINC client work right now.