Add-Ons

Hardware freaks trying to make some sense out of a bunch of numbers

This page contains a list and descriptions of different add-ons to make your SETI@Home experience more enjoyable! I will also try to point out good features/useless features of each, and why i think one may be alittle bit better than another. Enjoy.

This is alittle program written by Roelof J. Engelbrecht used to "spy" on the progress and performance of the command line SETI@Home client. This program as most of the add-ons i have seen basically take a look at the information included in the .txt files that the SETI client produces and then modifies/presents this information to the user in a (hopefully) useful way. The graphical Win9x GUI client produced pretty pics and some info, but was quite slow....SETI Spy as with other add-ons tries to provide the user with this information, while not taking up precious CPU cycles away from the client.

Features of SETI Spy:

--- easy download and installation....just d/l the 200kb executable and drop it into the SETI client folder. it is useful to create a shortcut to desktop or start menu. click and run

--- shows information in a small window. Contains information about the current CPU time passed for a WU, estimated total time for a WU, the estimated time left and the percentage completed. There are different tabs which show information on the "Performance" of the client (processing rate, processing speed, and processing efficiency), processor infomation, environment information, and also a tab for setup information.

--- if you have multiple clients in different folders, or even are running the clients remotely you can track the client through one program. (seems alittle confusing to set up though).

--- there is also a nice little "keep alive" option (if you are running it locally). With this option you can set it up so SETI Spy can check periodically to see if the client is still running. If it has quit then it will restart the client. This is a nice feature since at times if after finishing a work unit and the SETI client fails to connect to the Berkeley servers the client will shut down.

--- logs completed work units with the time they completed and the CPU time for that work unit. One word of note is that SETI Spy must be running in the background or the work units when completed will not be logged.

The Good and the not so Good

SETI Spy is a good program if you want to check the process of the current work unit you are running. It is small and unobtrusive, and quickly shows the pertinant information. It is nice to see the progress of remote clients running also. The not so good includes needing multiple shortcuts if you are running the client in a couple of different folders on a local machine. The keep alive option is a nice one, but it is not absolutely necessary for the text client since you can easily write a batch file which can accomplish the same thing. If you want in-depth information about your client and the work units processed also this isnt the add-on for you. SETIWatch may be a better bet.

If you want alot of information from your SETI@Home experience, SETIWatch may be your addon. While not as small as SETI Spy, SETIWatch more than makes up for it in options and information. To get the most out of SETIWatch you also need to use SETILog. They are separate programs but for the most information you should use them both.

SETILog

SETILog is a small program that is used at the end of a work unit to grab all the pertinant information from a the completed work unit and saves it in a log file. SETILog is accessed through a .bat file called RunSETI.bat. This batch file is used to run the SETI client and at the end of the work unit runs SETILog, and then restarts the SETI client. This is a copy of what RunSETI.bat looks like:

:Start
seti.exe -stop_after_process
if exist result.txt goto SaveLog
if errorlevel -1073741510 goto Stop
goto Start

:SaveLog
if errorlevel 0 SETILog.exe
goto Start

:Stop

SETILog copies the information into a file called SETILog.csv. This file is then used by SETIWatch, or you can do your own analysis using something like Excel.

SETIWatch

What SETISpy does, SETIWatch takes it a bit further....which is great for those people who cant get enuff information. So what does it give you? A hell of alot! First off i will give ya the different options they include: current analysis info, current work unit info, user info, info on completed work units, and options. I will give a break down of them.

Analysis

Shows the location (folder) of the current work unit, status (running, or stopped), % done, CPU time completed, CPU time left (estimated), estimated completion time (day and hour), % per CPU hr, Mflops, strongest peak and strongest gaussian for the current work unit.

Data Info

Show the location (in sky coordinates) of where the current work unit was scanned, time the work unit was recorded, source and base frequency of the work unit

User Info

Shows the user name, # work units completed, total CPU time, and the user registration time/date

Completed Work Units

This shows information from the SETILog.csv file, which logs the information from completed work units. It lists each work unit completed and information for each work unit.This information includes: date logged, work unit name, CPU time (to complete WU), % per hr, strongest peak and gaussian, and the data info (shown above) for each work unit.

In addition to this information, There is a section for "all locations" (explained below) which shows total work units, total CPU time, average CPU time/WU, average %/hr, top peak and top gaussian. (phew that is alot of info!)

Options

You can keep SETIWatch open all the time and it will refresh, you can set the refresh from 1 sec to 5 min. This will update the information for the current work unit being processed. Also there is a button for "SETI Locations". If you want to run batch files to process multiple work units (for those without a dedicated internet connection) you can install the SETILog.exe and RunSETI.bat in each of several folders. with the SETI Locations option you can specify where SETIWatch will look for the SETILog.csv files. You can add as many locations as you want to, and SETIWatch will display the info in the Completed Work Units tab. You can look at individual folder log files or look at the overall info.

BUT THAT ISNT ALL!
In addition to all of the above, In the data info and complete work unit tabs you have the option to take a look at one or all of the work units in a "sky map" which will show you where in the sky the work units were recorded. Lastly, in the completed work unit tab you can also take a look at a calendar view to show what day and how many work units were recorded on that day. Lots of info if i do say so.

What SETI Spy does for simplicity, SETIWatch does for thoroughness. I use SETIWatch instead of SETI Spy.......Why? because it gives me the info i want. Currently i do not use the option of running SETILog at the end of a work unit, but it still gives me the info i need. I currently have 7 folders each with a work unit and client. I run a batch file to run each work unit sequentially (cuz i dont have a dedicated connection and i am unable to automatically dial up). I have SETIWatch set up to look at each folder. When the SETI client finishes one work unit it goes to the next folder and processes that one. When i come home i can fire up SETIWatch and i instantly will get info on one page for ALL of the current work units i have in the folders. I can see the time it took to finish the work units (before i upload the results to Berkeley), and i can see what work unit/folder it is processing currently.

I havent found anything i do not like about SETIWatch, but for those who may run on remote machines, SETIWatch does not have an option to access the info from a local machine like SETI Spy does. Another advantage of SETIWatch is that you only need to have one file, placed anywhere, no shortcuts are needed. You can configure within SETIWatch where your SETI folders are and the program will get the data from that.

I think that is all for now....there are a couple of other Win9x add-ons i will talk about later.....for a future date.

-zAmboni

-Lamb Chop Home