Beta Testers for Screensaver wanted

[Brian the Fist]

We have essentially finished the new version of the DFP screensaver (coded by Greg Pintilie). It is infinitely better than the previous one in every way. We'd like to ask some of you to test it for us though. I've attached it to this message.

If you don't already have the 'official' screensaver, you need to download and install that first. Then take this file (Foldtraj.scr) and overwrite the existing one (in C:\windows\system or c:\winnt\system32 or c:\windows\system32, on Win98, NT/2000 or XP respectively).

Also put df_logo.bmp in c:\program files\distributed folding project\ or wherever you installed the screensaver too.

Please let us know any video or other problems you experience, or any weird behaviour, preferably by responding in this thread so the same bug doesnt get reported more than once.
There are lots of configuration options so please look through these in the Screensaver settings dialog, and try them all! Also, while it is running, you can use the numbers 1-6 to switch render modes and Shift+1-4 to switch camera modes. Report any starnge or unusual phenomena to us so we can fix it before wide release.

Thanks and hope you enjoy it!

[wirthi]

I just downloaded the screensaver (I usually use the text-client), it worked perfectly.

Then I copied the two files as described. When try to start or to configure the screensaver now, I get this message (translated from German, so it will read different in original English):

Foldtraj.scr - Component not found

The Application could not be startet, because glut32.dll was not found. Perhaps it works if you re-install the application. [OK]

Working on Win XP; I don't have a glut32.dll in the windows directory.

I guess I'm missing some GL library?

[m0ti]

Yep, glut is a common GL library.

You can always google it, though.

[Brian the Fist]

Sorry, here ya go. Put this in the same dir as Foldtraj.scr (see my previous message above). You'll probably need this unless you've already installed glut.

[pfb]

Downloaded it and tried to enter my handle but got an error message 'Unable to write settings to registry' - and the log and handle files are prefixed with !0çw. When the saver tries to run the screen goes black then comes back - I have got the glut32.dll file you posted.

My OS is Windows XP Home SP1 - files created are:

!0çwfoldtraj_screensaver.log
!0çwhandle.txt

[runestar]

Did you install the official screensaver first? If so, configure it through that one first or just copy the handle.txt file to the same directory you install the screensaver to.

RuneStar½

[runestar]

Okay Brian, here's the preliminary report.

First of all these were fixed options:

Resolution: 1024x768x32
Zoom Factor: 100%

I went through and checked ALL the combinations of these:

Display Mode
Display Quality
Camera Mode

Also, I used the Extra RAM option.

So far it looks good. I'm going to pick one of the faster displays and let it run overnight but I haven't seen any of the problems from the old screensaver so far.


COMMENTS:

Request: Option to configure the # of structures to upload. (Can you set the server to 10,000 for now?)

Request: Hotkey to Upload now.

Question: With a low zoom factor, is it suppose to "bounce" around on the screen? You didn't make any mention of this.

Complaint: I believe the logo is a little too big... have you considered shrinking it down and possibly softening the background color? At the minimum, if you reduced the height to be the same as the top of the text to the bottom of the text that would look a lot better.

Coodles: I love the font and the rotating lattices. The font makes me think of Tron and watching the protein in lattice (bonds, bonds and atoms) reminds me of something out of the science station on Star Trek.

Request: Possibly For power users, option to display progress for monitoring purposes. I don't know if Jeff could get dfGUI to monitor the screensaver, but it be interesting to get an idea of the various speeds of the screensaver in different combinations.

Suggestion: Add an option for default settings based on user choice of resolution, i.e. Low, Medium, High

For example: Low might be 800x600x256 using the backbone. High might be space-fill at 1024x768x32 and rotating.

Coodles: Picks up current resolution and color depth. I run at higher than 1024 so that's a nice option and saves a bit of video mode switching.

General: dependant on what settings you choose, it looks like the screensaver can be as fast as the ASCII client. This is subjective though, but running backbone mode is pretty fast though. Overall its noticeably faster than the old version. I'd say the space-fill model is probably at least as fast as the old version while the lattice (bonds) mode is signficantly faster.

Some extra comments and such after I first wrote this post:
Few other notes and such:

High Coodles: the different model view hot keys!

Request: Hotkey for low/high detail?

Comments: I reduced the logo 75% and it look a lot better. I'll play with shrinking it some more and see if looks better more.

I've only tested it so far on my XP2100. I have a couple of other machines I can test it out on and see how it handles.

Also noticed that the screensaver runs in Normal mode. WIth a lower priority ASCII in the background, it takes up most of the CPU cycles. If you are running the ASCII client with extra RAM, the available RAM will be split up between the two. Both were hovering around 80MB roughly. I suppose for those wanting 24x7 usage, they could run the ASCII client with no Extra RAM and the screensaver with the Extra RAM option.


TTFN,

RuneStar½
The SETI TechDesk
http://egroups.com/group/SETI_techdesk
~Your source for SETI and Astronomy news and resources.~

[pfb]

Originally posted by runestar½
Did you install the official screensaver first? If so, configure it through that one first or just copy the handle.txt file to the same directory you install the screensaver to.

RuneStar½

it's running from the same directory as the CL version...even if I try and change some of the display settings it says the same registry message. If I delete the !0çwhandle.txt file it needs the handle again - it doesn't seem to pick up the exisitng handle.txt file.

[runestar]

Uninstall it, then put it in a seperate directory. Then try repeating the process. See if that helps. Things seem a little funny if you put them together in the same directory...just a feeling, nothing I can really say for sure. (Brian this is in regards to the old screensaver in general and not something caused by the new one.)

It being home edition, I don't suspect there to be a problem but otherwise I would suspect a possible rights problem associated with a windows user account.

If you are comfortable looking at the registry, I might suggest looking in it else I don't advise mucking around in it. =)

RuneStar½

P.S. Hint, never buy the home edition of Microsoft anything . =)

[runestar]

Hey Brian,

If you manually launch the foldtraj ß screensaver (i.e. double-click or short-cut), and you have the screensaver set-up as your current screensaver, it will load another copy again when it comes to the activation time for the screensaver to acitvate.

It may be more than one copy, but its at least one as far as I can tell. If memory serves me correctly, when I beta-tested one of the versions of F@H, it had that same problem. For the next beta release could you add in a check to see if the screensaver is active already?

Aside from that, the screensaver seems a little slow in responding to the ESC. It seems like it doesn't register it the first time you press it. Using the mouse doesn't seem to present this lag.

I haven't seen any errors, so it looks like we are good with that. We're close, but not quite there yet with the screensaver.


That's all for now. I'll try and keep an eye on the repetitive bug and make sure its not happening when the screensaver activates normally.

EDIT - ADD: THis is Windows 2000 SP3 incidentally.

TTFN,

RuneStar½

[pfb]

different folder to CL version = major crash

========================[ Dec 21, 2002 2:00 PM ]========================
ERROR: [000.000] {taskapi.c, line 2086} FileOpen "!0çwÀ.handle.status" failed:

[runestar]

Brian,

I think I found a bug. I came home to my machine which had been running without connecting to the server (the connection by you was getting flaky and I was heading out so I set it to run off-line). I had about 80,000 structures buffered when I exited out by hitting the ESC key.

DF did NOT create a filelist.txt file on exit. I had to manually create it and fortunately it looks like I got credited all the structures. I also discovered something interesting when I was trying to get the screensaver to upload the structures listed... it wasn't taking them so I had to use the ASCII client to do it.

I discovered why the screensaver wasn't doing it. The screensaver is appending the full path to the structure files to the front of each of the filenames in the filelist.txt. So for example if installed to C:\Distributed_Folding, the filelist.txt would read:

C:\Distributed_Folding\fold_a46ftzy0_5000_protein.log.bz2
C:\Distributed_Folding\a46ftzy0_7500_protein..val.bz2
...

Part of this problem is not only does it iignore these entries, it will remove them from the filelist.txt without uploading the files.

TTFN,

RuneStar½

[runestar]

Originally posted by pfb
different folder to CL version = major crash

I have no idea pfb. Maybe on Monday Howard can figure it out. Worked just fine on my 2000 rig. Incidentally, I searched my registry and nowhere is my handle stored in it so I don't why the screensaver is babbling about not being able to write the handle to the registry.

RS½

[Brian the Fist]

PFB: I suspect you did not follow instructions. What the heck is the CL you keep using? Anyways, download the normal screensaver first and install it, and re-read my first post in this thread VERY carefully to ensure you install the beta properly.

RS: Thanks for the info, we will look into your bugs first, and later your suggestions.

[pfb]

Re-downloaded the normal screensaver - that works OK

then got the the beta files and put foldtraj.scr into system32 and df_logo.bmp and glut32.dll into the directory into the screensaver directory...then went to configure the screensaver and the handle field was blank. Entered my handle and got an application error when saving:



Also when trying to change the resolution under the screen saver settings I get :



Oh well...

(CL = command line, first try was with the screensaver in the same directory; second and third try was in a different directory. All attempts with the CL version stopped)

[runestar]

pfb,

Just curious about something. First make sure the ASCII client is stopped, then do a Ctrl-Alt-Del and goto Task Manager. Is there anything that looks like folding loaded into memory (would like "foldtraj")?

One other thing I might suggest is start with you virus scanner, and trying shutting down anything in memory one at a time and checking to see if the screensaver works after each shutdown. You should be able to disable the virus scanner from the task bar. If there is anything else you can close down from there, do so also. After that, open Task Manager again (Ctrl-Alt-Del), and try to do an end task on anything you see running, starting from the BOTTOM.

You might get some complaints about not being to shut things down. That's okay because those are probably services. Click OK on any prompt asking basically if you really want to terminate the process.

Also, to possibly help Brian out, can you list your system specs?

TTFN,

RuneStar½

[runestar]

A few things I noticed Brian, might be bugs...

First of all : I installed the screensaver on a another system which hadn't had the screensaver on it before. Both the old and new ones worked fine. This is another 2000 system. I dropped the handle.txt file in and it was picked up with no problem. EIther something is interfering on pfb's system or its something with XP. I don't have XP so I can't test. =/

This has no 3D card in it, and all the protein views displayed just fine in both low and high detail, low and high memory usage, and different zooms levels. (I guess the screensaver is suppose to bounce around on a zoom-out.)

I'm wondering if memory usageand/or lack of 3D card are important factors into how the screensaver responds to user input because...

At one time the ESC gave me an instant response, and then another time I had to press it a few times in succession to get it to quit out..

Also, I seem to be having problems using the mouse to manipulate the view on high detail. Its like the PC is not registering the mouse movements.

These both might be a problem on systems without a 3D card. On low detail I don't have a problem with the ESC key or manipulating the view, nor on my XP2100 system, exceot as noted.


On the camera views, Shift 1-4:
Shift-1 and Shift-4 often look the same, or the view will be the same between the two, with Shift-4 slightly shifted to the right and down. (I'm assuming Shift-1 is default.)

Shift-2 gives me a rotating camera view. (Once again, don't know if this is normal.)

Shift-3 does give a new view. Not always the best angle, but it works.


Just out of pure curiousity, I tried running in 256 colors and aside from the nice seperator line, I didn't see anything when the protein starting running. In backbone view you don't get anything. In other views you get a bunch of pixels along where the protein is drawing. The screensaver obviously doesn't like displaying in 256 color mode. While it is reasonable considering the requirements of the project that 256 colors is not a major issue, you did put the option in. BTW, I did test this on both systems and the behavior was the same on both.


Okay, that's it for this latest round. Will let you know if I discover anything else. BTW, just a suggestion, I think its a reasonable one. Could you make it so that whatever the last protein model view was when you exit to make that the default for next you launch the screensaver... or actually an option like "Last View" would be better for those who want to keep the default the same everytime and you can placate those of us who want to use Last View too.

Best,

RuneStar½

[Brian the Fist]

Ok, does anyone BESIDES runestar have anything to say???

And to Runestar: yes, everything behaves as you describe and as it should. For the Esc key problems, please check - I think you may need to click in the window with the mouse before the keyboard becomes active, that is why you had a problem - can you verify this?

Also, I think we actually intended to remove the 256 color mode, we accidentally left it in, I'll double check on that though. I think almost everyone can work with 16-bit color at least these days.

Also I should point out that the new minimum requirements will be suggested at 400 MHz CPU with a PCI or AGP graphics Accelerator card, so if anyone tests it on a slower CPU or one without a decent video card, please don't bother reporting that its slow and choppy - we know that already.

[KWSN_Millennium2001Guy]

If you make the screensaver version faster somehow be sure to include those improvements in the client version. My farm works best with an unobtrusive, service-based, well-behaved client. I really don't have any use for a screen saver, I've set all of the machines to turn off the monitor after 10 minutes of inactivity. (The only true screensaver in my mind).

Ni!

[m0ti]

KWSN_M2K1;

I think they just improved on the rendering of the protein, so it's faster than the old screensaver but still probably slower than the CLI. That's my guess, but I may be wrong.

[runestar]

Originally posted by KWSN_Millennium2001Guy
If you make the screensaver version faster somehow be sure to include those improvements in the client version. My farm works best with an unobtrusive, service-based, well-behaved client. I really don't have any use for a screen saver, I've set all of the machines to turn off the monitor after 10 minutes of inactivity. (The only true screensaver in my mind).

I don't think its quite as fast as the client after studying it over the weekend. I think it might get UP TO about 90% of the client dependant on the rendering mode and your hardware. Obviously the more stuff and the higher the detail, its going to take more resources. If you're looking for max speed the client is still probably going to be your best bet. Hoiwever, if you are looking for something a little nicer, a screensaver, or to see the actual protein... this is definitely a good bet. I think it blows the F@H screensaver out of the water. You can control what YOU want to see, although a randomizers would be cool too.


Everyone give the screensaver a shot on one of your boxes. Its pretty good screensaver worth checking out. Also might be nice in those science labs out there and helping garner interest in the project. Remember this is how SETI started out, a funky screensaver. Certainly would catch my interest if I was walking by. "Hey, cool screensaver!" is just the kind of thing Brian needs to get them interested. (Yes, SETI is straight graphics, no OpenGL or Direct3D or what not, but al the graphing displays eats up the CPU anyways.)


People without 3D cards or chipsets are going to be disappointed with the performance if they try to crank up the quality, but hopefully they realize just how cheap the PC manufacturers were on their late-model system and the sales guy didn't know jack. But that's a commentary for another thread. =)


TTFN,

RuneStar½

P.S. Sorry, it doesn't do dishes but it does Windows...

[HaloJones]

I installed it and it runs on W2K SP3 with no problems. Whatever setting I set it to for resolution etc. It seems fine but much slower than the text client as a service.

details: 1024x768, 16 bit
100% display
bonds & atoms or backbone (backbone seemed slower)
low quality
static

xp1800
256MB
matrox g550

[runestar]

Odd, backbone seems the fastest on the two systems I tried it out so far. Being the one with minimum extra details to render, seems it should be the fastest.

RS½

[runestar]

Okay Howard,

One more bug report... I know, I'm doing all the reporting... but this one was quite by accident, and its more of a minor cosmetic problem.

When you are selecting the protein views, you can actually type in the boxes including overwriting what's there already. Good news is that it doesn't save it though...at all actually. That is, if you select a new default view and you say make it read for example: "Bonds and Atoms - My Favorite" and then click on Save. It doesn't save either the description or the view you selected.

Okay, that's it. I said it was minor. Oh BTW, the missus loves the new screensaver. She thought it was cool. She doesn't really understand the project that much, but she liked this new screensaver. Her favorite is the Cartoon view. I think that's a good sign for the screensaver.

Best,

RuneStar½

P.S. When's the next revision of the beta screensaver coming out?

[runestar]

Originally posted by Brian the Fist
We have essentially finished the new version of the DFP screensaver (coded by Greg Pintilie). It is infinitely better than the previous one in every way. We'd like to ask some of you to test it for us though. I've attached it to this message.

If you don't already have the 'official' screensaver, you need to download and install that first. Then take this file (Foldtraj.scr) and overwrite the existing one (in C:\windows\system or c:\winnt\system32 or c:\windows\system32, on Win98, NT/2000 or XP respectively).

Also put df_logo.bmp in c:\program files\distributed folding project\ or wherever you installed the screensaver too.

Supplemental note to Howard's instructions:

For WIndows ME: follow the same instructions as Win98.
(However, by accident I put in System32 (forgot I wasn't on 2000 and when I launched it from there it did run. I didn't try the normal invocation, but theoritically, as long as you do an Install (R-Click on file) Windows should pick it up in the screensaver dialog box. I've seen screensavers run from outside the System/System32 directories before.)


Side Note:
You can actually customize the df_logo. I'm sure someone out there can come up with something really nifty to match the screensaver. While Howard's graphic is really nice, it just doesn't work well when shrunken down. :/

TTFN,

RuneStar

P.S. Is anybody actually running this besides me?

[HaloJones]

I installed it and it works mostly fine but simply isn't as fast as running as a service. For me, I would prefer to have it running all the time as a background process and then becoming a foreground screensaver.

[Brian the Fist]

Ok guys, I realize most people in the forum are 'hard core' and are not running the screen saver, and that's cool. But I see 37 people have downloaded it. So WHERE ARE YOU??? I need to know if the screensaver works on your hardware, that's all. Are there video glitches, does it crash with weird error messages, etc? If you have no problems with it, please SAY so here so we know its OK. With teh vast number of hardware combinations and OSes out there today it is hard to test ourselves and we need your help. Does in work on Windows ME? NT4? 95? 98?
We only have access to Win 2000 and Win98SE in our office so we cannot even verify compatibility with these other OSes without your help! Thanks!

[runestar]

Just a summary of my test systems (home-built unless otherwise noted):

Athlon XP 2000+ @ 2100 / GeForce3 / VIA KT333 Chipset / 256MB PC333 / Windows 2000

Athlon T-Bird 850 / GeForce256 / VIA KX133 Chipset / 256 MB PC133 / Windows 2000

HP Pavilion 7940 - P3 1 Ghz with a bunch of on-board crap, mostly Intel - Windows ME, Windows 2000

Had no problems with installs or running (aside from otherwise noted in logs.)

BTW, Brian, one wierd quark... on one system (before Windows mucked itself up) the screensaver had (OpenGL) appended at the end of it as listed in the Display panel. As far as I know I didn't add that on to the name, and none of the other systems displayed it. I'm unable to reproduce it (except adding it on to the file name). Doesn't affect running in any way though.

TTFN,

RuneStar

P.S. I was wondering where the other 37 people were to. Its been kinda quite here though last couple weeks. Likely everyone is off for the holidays (how dare they not check in on their vacation!).

[runestar]

Brian,

Something I wanted to ask for a LONG time. Isn't the screensaver (old or new) suppose to error log to the install directory? I noticed it always dumps that to the root directory (e.g. C:\ ).

RS½

[Brian the Fist]

It looks in the registry for the install path:

LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SLRI\Foldtraj Screensaver and the key is 'Path'
If it can't find this, it'll barf and use c:\ presumably. Is this key missing on your machine? It shouldnt be if it was installed properly..

[runestar]

Yeop, its all there. I figured it would be considering I just did a recent install. Done this on all my machines far as I recall.

<Long pause as Rune checks on a brainstorm>

Okay, some interesting findings here....

On the normal screensaver launch... the foldtraj_screensaver.log is in the install directory and the error.log is in the System32 directory (2000 machine).

When you go into the display panel and either select the folding screensaver or its already preselected when you goto the screensaver tab... it writes an error.log to the root directory and foldtraj_screensaver.log to the install directory.

Also when you launch it from the Display panel, it also writes an error.log to the root directory and foldtraj_screensaver.log to the install directory.

If I launch it from a shortcut, the foldtraj_screensaver.log is in the install directory and the error.log is in the System32 directory.



Okay, while I've been writing this I've been doing some playing around. First I learned the screensaver gets cranky when its time to start drawing and the screensaver is anywhere but System32. =)

Thinking back to the old SETI days, I remembered something similar... so I created a shortcut to the screensaver, changed the "Start In" path in the shortcut to the install directory and guess what... error.log went to the correct place.

Its an annoying Windows bug I think. Back in the old SETI client (and I don't remember if they finally ever fixed it even though I wrote them about it) the default installed shortcut to the SETI client contained no information to the Start-In path. Result was that SETI would dump its files on your desktop.

Here's the kicker, just like your screensaver, there was the path in the registry, which is suppose to be the holy grail of information. Well, shortcuts apparently don't care whats in the registry. If you don't have a Start In path specified it will write whatever it needs to from wherever it gets called.

I'm guessing that the way the screensaver is called is like using a shortcut and so the program decides System32 is the path for the error.log since its not exactly specified in its codebase.

I don't know if there is a way to create an equivalent registry key to start in. However, seems to me if you went and copied the same code that tells it where to write the foldtraj_screensaver.log down to the similar area in the error.log section that should cure it.

TTFN,

RuneStar

[Rotareneg]

Win98 SE, Celeron (Tualatin) 1.2 @ 1.4, 512 megs, Radeon 8500, Catalyst 3.0 drivers, DX9.

Folds proteins at speeds comparable to text client, but the framerate on the screen saver seems rather low, fluctuates around 6-12 FPS. Also, the logo in the corner is sheared to the side.

[edit]
Just tried WinXP, runs nice and smooth although the logo distortion is still there. Same system, Cat3.0 drivers and DX9.
[/edit]

[runestar]

Hmm... I haven't checked logo with DX9 installed. I didn't like the logo so I renamed it until I had time to play with it. Could be either the Radeon or the DX9... will have to check on my system.

Btw, did you try using lower detail and see if the framerate improves? Just curious, and did you wait a couple minutes for the program to ramp up to full speed? I think the different models will give you different framerates just eyeing it.

RS&#189;

[Rotareneg]

All my other OpenGL screensavers run perfect on Win98. The backbone mode seemed fastest, bonds&atoms the slowest, and all were far slower than the slowest on WinXP.

Doing more testing, Under WinXP it's clear the program aims for 25 fps. The display mode has a noticable effect on the folding speed, the more graphically intensive the view the slower the folding. Also, unlike the other modes which seem to run asynchronously from the screen saver, the cartoon mode is tied to the screensaver, only generating one residue per frame.

[Louis]

Originally posted by Rotareneg
Also, the logo in the corner is sheared to the side.

I downloaded it last night, haven't had much time to experiment yet. When I tested it, I got some similar shearing, but in the text. Looked like whenever the text section was updated, it went all streaky across the screen. Then when I shut it down, the video settings were all screwed - you know, like there are hundreds of desktops tiled across the screen, all overlapping and sheared to the side. Can anyone say reboot?

I figure it's probably something in my video setup. I'll play some more later today - Diablo called again last night

I do like how it's tons faster than the old screensaver, seems very close to the text client.

Louis