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There is a potential buffer overrun problem in the networking code of the client, that is fixed with a newer version. Unfortunately it can't run on Freesco :-( Note, that to exploit this vulnerability, a potential attacker would have to trick the client into contacting a fake server rather than the actual SETI@home server. So far, no seti client has ever been attacked in this manner.
Due to information released late Jun 2004about the coming decline of the current Seti client, to be renamed Seti Classic, there will be no more work done on this package.
No, running the seti client will not overload or burn out the CPU. Of course it will, in uptime, show a load of "load average: 1.00, 1.00, 1.00". Wasn't this, what you wanted? No wasted cycles.
It will eat memory though, about 15 MB. So don't try to make it run in sparse memory. At least 32 MB is required, preferably more.
In order to get a smooth working Freesco box when running a seti client some modifications has to be done up front.
Due to cautious design decisions, the math coprocessor is disabled by default. It has to enabled again to bring some ompfh in the calculation. When I struggled with the original seti package the estimate went up to 990 days for the calculation of a single WU w/o coprocessor. A little too long. E.T. might come and go back before any WU was finished ;-)
Remove the "no387" item under dos, here marked in red color.
The referenced part of router.bat.
"c:\router\loadlin c:\router\kernel initrd=c:\router\ramdisk bootdev=hda1 root=/dev/ram0 vga=4 no387 no-hlt panic=15"
Also by wary design the processor isn't allowed to halt. Especially some Cyrix processors doesn't like to halt intermittently. If your processor can take some halting, then let it do. By doing so the processor will run a lot cooler and as a result a longer life.
Remove the "no-hlt" item under dos, above marked in blue color.
To make any installations on your Freesco box, a keyboard and a monitor must be connected and your privileges have to be root.
Start from the point where this how2 is assumed to begin.
[Linu x] cd
Ready to fetch the seti client? Here we go.
[Li nux] installpkg http://www.abc.se/%7Em989/Frsco/pkgs/seti_0.18_ysby-027
Which is quite working by itself. At the beginning there's a question whether you want to proceed. Well, make up your mind and do finish.
Begin seti client work.
[Li nux] rc_seti -t
It will ask for some initialisation info. When you finished this, it will grab the first WU and start crunching. Start another console, alt+F2, and stop the client.
[Linu x] rc_seti stop
If you have already assigned as a seti shop and you now wants the calculation to be done exclusively on your Freesco box, after you have supplied your email address and the client fetched a new WU, I suggest you stop for a short moment.
[Lin ux] rc_seti stop
Move to where the seti client is residing.
[L inux] cd /mnt/router/packages/seti
Edit the file olWU and insert the # of the last completed WU.
[Linux] edit olWU
Exchange the right 0 with the reported # and save. Get ready to start again.
[Lin ux] cd
Now it's time to start the seti client for the real work.
[ Linux] rc_seti start
As I'm curious how the seti client progresses thru current WU I've added an additional program, shseti that starts together with the client. The program shseti outputs every 4 hour some info on screen 4, like this.
SetiWU 21:48 hrs 54% SetiWU 25:47 hrs 67%Sometimes I want to have a picture how things are going. Included is another tool to show some details about what/how the client is doing it's business. All calculations is done in integers, so some results might differ from the same in floating point. If you need more accurate results then this is not the tool to use.
[Linu x] rc_seti -r
+-------------------------------------------------------------+ SEstat v0.14 - day 23 10:28 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX----- Processing speed: ........ 3% per hour Est processing time: ..... 31:43 Recording time: .......... Mon Apr 15 2003 @ 18:53:49 WU replenishment: ........ Dec 22 @ 16:11 Average proc time: ....... 57:13 Notified results: ........ 3075 +-------------------------------------------------------------+Typing a "ps" should show a 'setiathome' looking for the signal from outer space.
[Lin ux] ps
6609 R 1 setiathome ./setiathomeThe complete name of the used client is "setiathome-3.03.i386-pc-linux-gnulibc1-static". It should work on any x86/Linux system. This is from the Department of Superfluous Information :-)
If you for any reason, vacation?, wants to make a pause in the outer space surveillance but still make the current WU finish up, just put a file named "stop_after_send.txt" in the seti directory. (A file, so named, is supplied in the accmps directory.) Later when/if you like to start another session of outer space surveillance, remove the file and restart the seti client.
Keep an eye on your phone bill, if/when E T calls home ;-)