UK BOINC Team Forum

Just having a look around and seeing what OS people were using at http://boincstats.com/en/stats/-1/host/breakdown/os/ . Usual suspects at the top but looking down I saw at Android #29. Are 436 people taking the mick or have people actually got it to work on Android?

Amazingly it looks like they have - here

hgblade wrote:Amazingly it looks like they have - here

Now THAT'S what I've been waiting for.....Just a shame there's no public links published yet, so it's maybe still in "testing" phase.....

And maybe they can do one for Raspberry Pi as well ???

regards
Tim

The Raspberry Pi question will be really interesting. At £30 a go, imagine the farm you could build if it could only do one of the more simple projects  8)

melter65 wrote:The Raspberry Pi question will be really interesting. At £30 a go, imagine the farm you could build if it could only do one of the more simple projects  8)

Interestingly, the wiki above shows that some dev testing has been made on a Galaxy S11 - which is the phone I use

In fact it would be very simple on a Pi.....a few SD cards (which are getting pretty cheap now) for the OS and BOINC, a high current 5v PSU (which could power multiple Raspberry Pi's, via their USB ports), a few network cables and a startup script (should there be a power outage)....and lots of easy credits to be had

And the newer Model B Pi's have larger RAM as part of their spec.....

regards
Tim

For the PI it would need the individual projects to compile for the arm processor. I imagine some of them do already though CPDN where most of my cpu cycles go does not. I guess the same issue is true of phones. As Android phones use the linux kernel, I don't see why it shouldn't work if you can get the dependencies satisfied. Probably needs something a bit more up to date than my HTC Hero though!

A last thought on this, What does it do to the phone battery life?

catchercradle wrote:A last thought on this, What does it do to the phone battery life?

Hi,

I guess it depends on how intensive the processing is...there are quite a few processes going on while a smartphone is supposedly "idle" - and you can extend the battery life by switching off the Bluetooth and WIFI functionality, so I guess that a BOINC version could be easy on batteries, though (of course) it'll use them up faster compared to BOINC NOT running

It depends on whether you have access to external power, while running BOINC processes....when I'm in the office, my phone charger is to hand, or I use a USB cable to recharge with.

regards
Tim

Hi all,

It now looks like the OUYA device is about to ship in quantity...though those "quantities" might be a bit low to start with

But it could offer another way to crunch WU's via an Android subsystem, at a reasonable price (around $99 each).....??

http://www.ouya.tv for more info on the device.

regards
Tim

That looks promising, but no mention of it's availability yet outside the US and Canada.

Hi all,

The BOINC app on Android is now available to be downloaded onto your Android device.

Projects you can crunch for include: Einstein, Asteroids, WCG, Yoyo, OProject and theSkyNet POGS.

You can set the preferences so it only crunches when you have over 90% battery and there are other options you can tweak.

regards
Tim

Please be very careful running on a mobile phone ..... the op sys may run, but the phone was no built for running BOINC Android on it, and  with some mobiles, likely to run VERY hot.

Watch it like a hawk for the first few hours / a day or so  (checking every few minutes initially).  

At the first sign of an  attempt at frying an egg (!) - get rid of it - quickly.

Regards
Zy

I am using Boinc for android, I have found that if you don't touch the max temp your phone should be ok. Even by adjusting it by +5degC I found the phone unbearably hot. It still crunches for most of the day, though during hot days I imagine it won't be crunching for too long.

Shame you can't connect to a account manager and is very limited on projects

... I found the phone unbearably hot. It still crunches for most of the day, though during hot days I imagine it won't be crunching for too long......

No it will not - because it will melt.

This is nothing new - it crops up every few months - has done ever since data capable mobiles emerged.

Data capable is one thing, being compatible with BOINC programs written for far more powerful processors in well ventilated PC cases is quite another.... at least with BOINC apps on a PC you have the option to run it fast or slow in well ventilated environments, so burn-out time is preventable and a personal choice..

Running BOINC on a mobile will end up frying the mobile. In the end someone will write a BOINC program specifically for mobiles, until that happens, don't bother - just because it runs doesn't mean its safe - it isn't.

At least with a PC you have control over speed, cooling, fans blah blah - so PC burnout is self inflicted. With mobiles there is no such mechanism...

It is just off or burn out..... don't do it.

Found an app specifically designed for this

http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org/about ... icleId=318

The Project Team are good, and the app is specifically designed for this so it will be safe to run. If you want a safe app for a mobile - so far - this one is it.

Doubtless more will appear in time. Just be cautious in only selecting ones written from ground up for mobiles. The one above is safe to run on a mobile, so if you want one - this is the one to go for.

melter65 wrote:The Raspberry Pi question will be really interesting. At £30 a go, imagine the farm you could build if it could only do one of the more simple projects  8)

I saw this little project mentioned on Click a week or three ago....but didn't have time to post a link before now:

http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~sjc/raspberrypi/

So, 64 Pi's and some Lego blocks....the mind boggles as to what that could achieve on BOINC

regards
Tim

Hi all,

Eric Korpela has asked for BETA testers for the new SETI@home app for Android.

The main thread is here:

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/forum_th ... p?id=72710

Please bear in mind that running BOINC on your android device will use up lots of your CPU's "processing" ability and it will run your battery down (if it's not being powered by a charger) - it may also cause the device to overheat.

Feel free to post any questions here, if needs be.

regards
Tim

(Sorry for not being around for what feels a eon)

Anyway I've been using the now stable boinc client for android for a while, and it isn't too bad. HTC have come out with a version "Power to give" which like the main client limited in which projects you can crunch. But you can get Asteroids, S@H, Einstein, boincsimap, WCG, SIMAP and theSkynet POGS.

Pretty simple to set up, tell it to auto start, crunch either upto a point or only on charge only etc.

Well anyway thats what I'm using on the phone, no idea how fast or whatever but its a extra client that works ok.

Simon

I have been using the Android app for a couple of weeks. Im only crunching on Seti, WCG and GPUGrid so far, just to see how it goes.