Screensaver bug

[dbuske]

Technically not a bug, but close. When the mainframe (network) is busy ie. changing proteins, the screensaver will be unable to send the data to the mainframe. How the screensaver handles this situation is the problem. The screensaver will just get a black screen and sit there like the program is frozen. It is not frozen, but takes way to long to report this to the user. It just seems frozen.
Then it might do 1 of 2 things: Finally start the folding normally, or close down and return to the desktop. It seems random.
How this error condition should be handled is to as soon as the program finds it can't send data, to immediately report that to the user. Then as soon as possible start up the folding. Data can be sent later.
Going out to the desktop makes it difficult to restart the screensaver because it just causes the same thing to happen again.
The screensaver justs needs a little tweaking to make it even more user friendly.

I am using WinXP.

[Brian the Fist]

Not sure exactly what you are referring to, but it is probably waiting, trying to contact the server. It must wait for a certain period of time before giving up (called a timeout). If you have a slow/poor connection, or the server is busy, it could take up to 30 seconds to get a response. If it didnt wait, you might never reach our server. If you wish to avoid this somewhat, set the screensaver to 'temporarily not connect to the internet' and it won't have this delay. Then undo this option say, once a week, when you want to upload data.

[dbuske]

No, the program should be written better. It waits for over 3 minutes, which is way to long. I have DSL 512, so there is no reason for the program to take this long. At least there should be a message up on screen saying it is accessing the mainframe during this period.
After failing to contact the mainframe, the screensaver certainly shouldn't dump back out to the desktop, which will start the same thing again. It is a matter of having a proper, good communicating interface to the user.
It is a screensaver, so when done on the computer the user leaves. The screensaver should start up itself. If it dumps back to the desktop, it kind of defeats the purpose, don't you think?

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by dbuske
I have DSL 512, so there is no reason for the program to take this long. No reason on your setup. What about the people that are using dialup?

[dbuske]

That shouldn't matter. The program can be made to tell whether a connection can be made or not and report it. A message on screen telling the user what it is doing and not leaving a black screen would help.
It is more important for the screen saver not to dump out to the desktop, because then the screensaver is not running and folding proteins. Since it is a screensaver, the user wouldn't necessarily be there to restart the screensaver after it dumps back to the desktop.
I thought this would be self-evident.
Apparently, this is a problem for Linux also and maybe all version of the client and screensaver. Check out this link: http://www.free-dc.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4572

[Brian the Fist]

Sorry but Im still not clear what you are talking about. Perhaps if you provide me with a clear, step-by-step account of what you are doing to get this problem I can take a look and figure out if this is intended behaviour or not. Include any changes from the defaults you have made to the screensaver settings.

[dbuske]

It is silly to report the settings. Run the screen saver when a changeover is occurring. It will not be able to connect to the server. A black screen will show up and just sit there for minutes. Then you will get a message saying it couldn't access the server and go back to the desktop.
You do see that going back to the desktop is not good, because the folding program will not be running.
Pure and simple when the screensaver can't access the server, it needs to NOT dump to the desktop, but start up the folding program by default.
I don't see how you can't see this. Please have someone else read the posts and I am sure they will see the point. Something is blocking you from seeing this.

It doesn't matter if this behavior is intended or not, it does not work for the end user. They need the screensaver to start folding even if the user is not there to restart it when it dumps to the desktop. Turning off internet connection is not an option, I want the stats to be kept updated.