Spot_E.T. Newsletter      02/29/04
http://www.setiathome.us/news.htm

http://www.setiathome.us
http://www.boinc.us
mdbader@flash.net
Join our Team -
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/fcgi-bin/fcgi?cmd=team_join_form&id=43256

No pretty graphics or fancy fonts, but lots of good links :-)

Table of Contents
01) My Favorite Utilities
02) Team History
03) Team Web Site History
04) My SETI Farm
05) Team Reports
06) Our Team Message/Listserver
07) My Quick SETI Links
08) BOINC/SETI II
09) Domains
10) SETI Gear
11) Who's Who
12) SETI Newsgroups and Message Boards
13) Lindows Deals
14) Team SETIQueue Server
15) Our Team Web Sites
16) SETI Certificates and Milestones
17) Team Founder
18) SETI Facts
19) Thanks

01) My Favorite Utilities
    http://www.setiathome.us/mysoft.htm
    a) SETI
       setispy - everything you ever wanted to know about you SETI
       setiteam - used to produce daily team reports
       setisig - message signature of my SETI statistics
       setiqueue - caches extra work units
       setidriver - caches extra work units
       checkseti - monitor workstations and produces HTML code
    b) Security and Privacy
       firewall - zonealarm by zonelabs
       naviscope - ad blocker and privacy
       google toolbar - popup blocker
       antivirus - avg
       cookie wall - analogx.com
    c) Anti-Spam
       popfile
       I tried many anti-spam programs. I like this one as it is
       open source, there is a lot of discussion and new versions.
       It uses bayesian filtering.
       But mostly because it has a web interface. I can access my email
       from any computer as well as over the Internet.
    d) Spyware
       SpyBot/Search and Destroy
       AdAware

02) Team History
    http://www.setiathome.us/history.htm
    The team was started by myself adding a few friends and
    associates. It was sponsored by my company LAN Solutions.
    But was open to all individuals, companies, schools,
    churches etc. We felt it would bring in more members if
    the name was changed. We selected Spot E.T.
    With a dog (spot) catching a flying saucer.
    Double meaning as in Spot E.T.
    We have our own team icon for SETISpy.
    We are doing really well in the rankings.
    121st of out all 108425+ teams. (top 200)
    3rd out of 19100+ small company teams. (top 200)

03) Team Web Site History  started 10/19/99
    When SETI started in 1999, there was no central point for SETI
    third-party utilites, SETI statistics or places of information
    within the SETI web site. As I found them I started a web site.
    I am doing the same thing with BOINC/SETI II.
    Once a team was formed I added statistics for other team members.
    At one point I redid the web site, but many members liked the
    current format, so that a single page can be searched and printed.
    We've grown to a pretty good size team.
    164 members in 22 countries.
    Maintaining all the statistics is now a much bigger job.
    I've tried several real-time statistics.
    Several have come and gone, as they can't handle the bandwidth.
    (number of people hitting their servers).
    Even the ones I currently use are designed for a single user to
    add to their web site, but our page hits their server 164 times.
    Once for each member. I have to remember some people only have
    dial-up, our web site takes some time to load. You get spoiled
    with broadband. (DSL or cable modem).
    Many of the statistics are available via the SETI web site,
    setiawork.com, my daily SETITeam reports, or P-Stats.
    http://mike-bader.no-ip.com/boinc/
    http://mike-bader.no-ip.com/
    http://www.setiathome.us/pstats.htm

04) My SETI Farm
    http://www.setiathome.us/setifarm.htm
    a) Operating Systems
    windows95, windows98, windows98se, windowsme, windowsnt, windows2k
    windowsxp, windows2003, linux and lindows.
    b) Hardware
    old and new pcs, many donated, taken in trade or purchased at a
    really good price.
    http://www.setiathome.us/hardware.htm
    c) Software
    At first I liked SETIBuf for work unit caching.
    It is a series of batch files. Being an old DOS guy and
    programmer, I liked to know what is happening and that I can
    modify the batch files to fit my needs. As my SETI farm grew,
    I had a standard set of software and routines, linking all
    computers to a central monitoring station with a SETI utility
    CheckSETI. It allowed me to access the status via any computer
    using a web interface or even the Internet.
    http://www.setiathome.us/setistat.htm
    http://www.setiathome.us/statseti.htm
    But soon I had more computers and reached the maximum of 26
    drive letters. I now started to use easier setups and gave
    up some of my control for ease and additional features. I started to
    use SETIDriver as it was quick and easy, and it allowed me to
    quickly change the SETI client priority.
    I liked all the things SETIQueue can do. It's probably more
    than a person with 1 or 2 computers needs. A little
    harder to setup. But you can do so much with it as far as
    statistics, reports and graphs. It increased my daily
    output by controlling distribution of the work units.
    There are many good links for setup and several team members
    are using it. There are sample screens as well as an additional
    front-end script.

05) Team Reports - statistics (leaderboards)
    I try to post the reports every day.
    The source is from several SETI web pages, other web pages,
    SETITeam and a few other SETI utilities.
    It's a good indication of your daily results.
    But it may not be 100% accurate.
    a) SETI stats aren't always updated.
    b) Several programs and utilites base their information on
       data from SETI.
       http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/fcgi-bin/fcgi?cmd=team_lookup&name=Spot_E.T.
       http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_1.html
       http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/stats/team/team_type_0.html
    c) They may be in different parts of the country/world.
       So different time zones or local time at midnight.
    d) I may not be able to run the reports at exactly the same
       time every day.
    e) Users may queue up or save completed work units, and return
       them in a batch. They may not have sent them in before I
       or other web sites/utilities calculate their statistics.

06) Our Team Message Server/Message Tips
    Our team uses http://www.topica.com for our message/listserver.
    http://www.topica.com/lists/spot_e_t
    We were using another that went commercial.
    Our members do not want to use yahoo due to all the spam.
    Topica has a few quirks and a message size limit.
    But it's the only one we have found so far that will easily
    handle our daily reports.
    You can read and reply to each message via email, get just a
    reduced digest, or read online. From a web interface.
    It isn't required for team membership, but it's where we chat
    and where I post the reports and announcements.
    Right now it is open to the public, thinking that we may
    let people look and then get interested in joining our team.
    Member are invited and must reply to the message, click on a
    link within it, or apply via the topica.com web site. (opt-in)
    Visitors to our web site can click on a link.
    You can just read the messages online via a web interface, or get a
    shorter digest sent to your email. With 174 members se sometimes
    send a lot of email back and forth.
    To reduce this and make it easier for users, we try to add a tag
    to the message subject so that you can easly filter them.
    http://www.setiathome.us/fyi.htm

07) My Quick SETI Links
    a) http://www.setiathome.us/quick.htm
       I use these many times a day.
       There is a section called Mikes Corner.
       You may find some of those interesting or they may give you
       some ideas for links of your own.
    b) http://www.grc.com
       Lots of security information and test your firewall.
    c) http://www.blackviper.com
       Operating system tweaking.

08) BOINC/SETI II
    http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/boinc_transistion_plan.html
    http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/ap/
    BOINC is an application that will run several projects,
    one of which will be SETI II. It will
    have some features better than SETI I, but also lack some at the
    moment. Utility writers are starting to create some add-ons, but the
    file formats and things will probably change before release,
    so a lot of them are holding off.
    So far there is BOINCView, BOINCLogx, BOINCSpy, BOINCStats.
    A project to create BOINCQueue just started at sourceforge.net
    Unlike SETI I the source code for BOINC and the SETI client is
    released. So I expect it will be easier for third-party utility
    writers.  BOINC and SETI II are still in beta.
    I expect it will be a while yet before public release.
    20 of our SETI I team members are beta testing.
    Other members are welcome to beta test and help find bugs.
    But beta testing isn't for everyone.
    The program may blow up, data and statistics may be lost.
    But the results are going into a production data base at SETI.
    http://setiboinc.ssl.berkeley.edu/ap/team_display.php?teamid=111
    http://www.boink.dk/index.php?page=team_statistics&project=astropulse&teamid=111
    For the latest information, BOINC teams stats and links go to
    http://www.boinc.us

09) Domains
    To get your own domains has gotten less expensive.
    I use http://www.buydomains.com
    $16 per year. You can find cheaper ones, but I have never had a problem,
    it's easy to use and includes URL redirection and email forwarding.
    I have setup domains setiathome.us and boinc.us, just for SETI.

10) SETI Gear
    Some of us are talking about SETI T-Shirts, Coffee Mugs, Hats etc.
    Perhaps even getting some made as Spot_E.T.
    If you are interested or have ideas send them.
    If you have a source for these items, let me know.

11) Who's Who
    Many of our members have SETI profiles;
    Some even have pictures. Check them out as part of
    my http://www.setiathome/quick.htm
    Also several members have links to their own web sites.
    Some are linked from their SETI listing.
    (individual SETI statistics or Spot_E.T. team statistics).
    Others I have placed on the team web site.
    Sometimes we place them into our message signature text.
    Pay them a visit and look around.

12) Newsgroups and Message Boards
    There are three newsgroups
    a) alt.sci.seti
    b) sci.astro.seti
    c) alt.info-science.seti
    Your news server may or may not carry one or more of these.

    As part of the SETI web site there are message boards.
    I don't like these as well. But read them for information,
    as well as I try to help other users and recruit new team members.
    http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/bb/bb.cgi

13) Lindows Deals
    Lindows is a linux distribution that is windows like and easier
    to use than standard linux.
    Microsoft is fighting the name in several international courts.
    So far in the US Lindows is OK, in other countries, for now
    it is known as Lindash. The web site alone is worth a laugh.
    Lin---s.com until the court battles are over.
    There are a few versions, basic, developer, laptop etc.
    It's not free, but deals can be had.
    There is a CNR - Click aNd Run library.
    1839 programs currently in their CNR library.
    You get a trial membership, then it's $4.95 per month or
    $49 per year. For unlimited downloads. This is also where
    you would download new versions. Most of the software is free.
    You could find it elsewhere but would have to look around,
    and this is a central place with an easier install.
    You can also download and run a version from CD, without
    installing it on your hard drive.
    Hope you have a fast Internet connection link broadband
    (cable or DSL), a little hard over a dial-up connection.
    You can get the Lindows Live (run from CD) version for free
    over P2P networks (peer-to-peer). (legal).
    a) Many deals on ebay.com.
    b) You can buy Seagate 40GB hard drives for $65-70 that include
       Lindows at no charge. Through regular sources, or again on
       ebay. Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 7200RPM ATA/100
    c) Currently you can buy a lifetime membership for $100.
       You can then download new versions and use the CNR library
       for life.
    d) Lindows book on www.amazon.com or slightly cheaper over
       the web. List $19.95 U.S. (Can. $31.95)  474 pages paperback
       Lindows fast&easy
       Eric D. Grebler
       Premier Press
    e) There are other deals for system builders, resellers,
       and consultants.
    http://www.lindows.com
    http://www.lin---s.com

14) Team SETIQueue Server
    Merlin runs a SETIQueue server.
    It is open to team members and the general public.
    This can be used when the SETI server is down (or all the time).
    In some cases we can send you faster work units or avoid
    sending you the longer ones.
    Also you get the ability to check your results over the Internet.
    As well as use all the reporting and graphs and statistics of
    SETIQueue without having to install and run it on your
    computer. Change your proxy settings to
    wizard-computing.no-ip.com:5517
    Using your web broswer (Microsoft Internet Explorer/Netscape etc)
    http://wizard-computing.no-ip.com:5517

15) Our Team Web Sites
    a) SETI I
       http://www.setiathome.us
    b) BOINC/SETI II/AstroPulse
       http://www.boinc.us

16) Certificates/Milestones
    See the bottom of your SETI stats page
    http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/fcgi-bin/fcgi?email=mdbader@flash.net&cmd=user_stats_new
    http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/cgi-bin/cgi2?email=mdbader@flash.net&cmd=print_cert&certnum=25000&size=0&color=1
    There is also one from the Planetary Society
    http://planetary.org/UPDATES/seti/seti_certificate_instructions.html

17) Team Founder
    My dad was a radio man in the navy.
    That got me interested in electronics.
    Which led to amateur radio (ham radio).
    That started into computers ... long before there was a
    Radio Shack, Apple or IBM personel computer.
    My computer hobby became my career.
    Working on large mainframe computers, then Mini's, the PC's,
    then into networking them all together.
    I joined SETI May 17th 1999.
    See my profile for more information.
    http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/fcgi-bin/fcgi?cmd=view_feedback&id=35118

18) SETI Facts
    SETI@home has been around for almost 5 years.
    It made the Guinness WorldBook twice.
    People are participating in 226 countires.
    The SETI client has been ported (runs on) 175 operating systems.
    Over 4.8 million people have downloaded it and signed up for SETI.
    About 500 thousand are currently active.

19) Thanks
    Just a quick thanks to all the members for crunching on SETI,
    and chatting together trading tips and sharing their lives
    with us. Thanks to members that have donated time, computer
    hardware and software. Thanks to the members that have created
    SETI utilities.