How to contribute to Team AnandTech's Gamma Flux Project

rev 1.0 beta

written by Viztech (Ken Anderson) and LeBlatt (Gilles Bonnard).

This FAQ explains how to get started using the DCypher.Net client software to aid Team AnandTech in the Dcypher.Net Gamma Flux project on computers to which you have EXPLICIT PERMISSION FROM THE OWNER AND/OR OPERATOR TO RUN THE CLIENT ON.

Please do NOT install this software on ANY machine that you do not have such expressed permission to access or use.

If you understand and agree with the above statement, you may proceed.

• What is the purpose of this project?

  The purpose of this project is to aid in the design of safer storage vessels for nuclear waste. This distributed project was initiated as a research paper for a college class and is now run by DCypher.Net. The following is a quote from DCypher.Net:

  The client will cast hundreds of thousands of gamma rays from random points within the simulated radioactive source and trace them through the radioactive matter, water enclosure and wall material to calculate the gamma flux field around the storage vessel. This will allow for the construction of better containers as we vary parameters of the enclosure environment. For more information on DCypher.Net projects, click here http://www.dcypher.net/projects.shtml

  The data gained from the Gamma Flux project will not only help us cleanup/store radioactive waste, but will help us advance our understanding in other scientific fields.

  In addition, DCypher.Net has now begun providing a weekly cash prize (currently $100 US) for active partipants.http://www.dcypher.net/win.shtml
  

• OK I'm interested, How do I get started?

  Download the DCypher.Net client software (currently ver. 1.07) from the following link http://www.dcypher.net/install.shtml Clients are now available for Windows 32 bit (Win 95,98,NT4,Millenium,2000) Linux, and Free BSD platforms.

  Install the client on your computer, being sure to enter your email and team #3 for Team AnandTech!
  

• I need more details for configuring the client on a Windows platform.

  First of all, it is important to note that there are 2 different components to the DCypher client, the core- (GF_Win32_Cmdline.exe), and the "bolt-on" GUI- (DCN_GUI.exe). It is also important to note that the current client has support for the CSC project that has been completed.
  

  1. If the DCypher.Net Gamma Flux client is not running, launch it from your start menu, or execute DCN_GUI.exe from the DCypher.net directory.
     
  2. To configure your user information, right click on the client window and select "user information."
     
     • Enter a valid email address (they need to know how to contact you if you win)
       
     • and team #3 for Team AnandTech!
       
     • Click OK to save your changes and close the User Configuration window.
       
     Tip : if you don't want to give your "real" email address, you might find it usefull to subscribe a free email account at hotmail, yahoo or whatever, for distributed computing purposes only.
     
  3. To configure your client, right click on the client window and select "configure client." The "Client Configuration" window opens.
     
     • If you are using a personal proxy, you will need to change the "host server" IP address. More on personal proxies later.
       
     • Under "local client preferences" the first setting of "number of units to fetch" does not pertain to the Gamma Flux project. All Gamma work is generated randomly, so no fetching of work is required. Just leave this value at 5.
       
     • The second setting, "Data output buffer size" is the number of work units that are to be completed before a connection to the keyserver is initiated. Normally you can just leave this number at 5.
       
     • The "Update Interval" in the Core Control Functions is now obsolete
       
     • Be sure to select "DCypher.Net Gamma Flux Client" in the "Project to run" box. (no sense working on a closed project, now is there?)

       Under "Other Options" there are some important settings to watch.
       

     • "Enable Logging" will create a log file called "GFClient.log" in the DCypher.Net directory. This is totally optional.

       Note : there is no cycling option for the logfile, so it will eventually (quite fast) grow to a hige size on disk.

     • The "Run in background" option Should be checked for normal operation! If it is not checked, the Gamma client ill become a high priority process that will have adverse affects on the operation of your computer.
       
     • The "Run on Startup" option is for starting the bolt-on GUI (DCN_GUI.exe) at boot. I would recommend leaving it unchecked if others are using the computer, and checked if you are the only user.
       
     • Finally the "Run Hidden" should be checked under most circumstances, so the core (GF_Win32_Cmdline.exe) executes at boot, and remains running.
       
     • Click OK to save your changes and exit the "Client Configuration" window.
       
  4. Right click one more time on the Client window and select "Start Core" to begin casting rays. The "Block Progress Indicator" will show your completed work and your rate in rays/second. Your work will be flushed to DCypher.Net automatically when an internet connection is detected and your completed work units equal 5 or above.

  That's It! You are now contributing to the project and Team AnandTech!

• Where do I go to see my statistics?

  Click on: http://stats.dcypher.net/ Select Gamma Flux Stats
  

• How do I read the statistics?

  When I read overall stats it shows my WUs at 605 , but for Gamma Flux stats only at 305 WUs, which is the same as it shows contributing to the team. Are these supposed to be different?

  Yes they are. Actually, Dcypher.net came up with a way to show overall work done by participants in all projects, be it on CSC, Gamma Flux or whatever. Each WU done in a particular project is worth n overall WUs. They have not yet implemented Overall Team Stats. If you browse GammaFlux stats only, you'll see the actual number of WUs you did for Gamma Flux.
  

• Why does my client not flush?

  First guess (and a common issue), if under Windows 95,you must upgrade to Winsock 2.0. Here's the link: http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/wuadmintools/s_wunetworkingtools/w95sockets2/
  

• I’m behind a firewall, and Port 80 is the only open port. What do I do?

  The "host server" IP address should be changed from the default to port80.dcypher.net and port 80. If this doesn’t work try IP 24.141.163.62. This is what port80.dcypher.net currently resolves to. Some firewalls require an IP address instead of a DNS entry.
  

• How do I use a machine that has no direct connection to the internet?

  One way is to sneakernet.

  You have to
  

  1. stop the client (gui and core) on the machine that you are harrvesting.
     
  2. copy the GammaOut.dat file to a floppy.
     
  3. rename the GammaOut.dat file to act as a backup.
     
  4. restart the client to get back to work.

  The same thing is true on the machine you use to send the files. You have to
  

  1. flush the client.
     
  2. stop the client(gui and core).
     
  3. copy the GammaOut.dat file from the floppy to the directory that contains the client. This will overwrite the empty GammaOut.dat file that you just flushed.
     
  4. start the client.
     
  5. flush the client.
     
  6. normal operation automatically resumes.

  Don't do anything with the GammaIn.dat file. It contains the block in progress.
  

• I have several machines connected on a LAN. Is there a way to consolidate all their output?

  If you are running the dcypher client on several machine through a LAN, you may find it usefull to set up a personal proxy. A proxy is an application that interfaces between the clients and the keyserver : it collects work units from the clients, and sends them to the keyserver. The advantages of using a proxy are :
  

  1. clients don't need an internet connection. They just need a TCP/IP connection to the proxy. Only the proxy needs access to the internet.
     
  2. If you have an expensive phone connection, using a proxy will cut costs down by grouping communications.
     
  3. You can set the proxy to generate a logfile, allowing you to monitor all of your client's activity in one place.
     
  4. There are programs like The MagicMan's LogParser at http://www.talknet.de/~Thomas.Drechsler/downloads/TheLogParser.zip (471k) that automate this task, and provide statistics.
     
  5. A proxy is an easy way to get your work units through a software firewall : just run the proxy on the same machine as the firewall.

  Note : the proxy has currently no option to run hidden, so it would not be wise to run it on a machine that is used by someone else, as they may terminate it, and put all your client offline.
  

• How do I set up a proxy?:
  
  1. Download the latest version from http://www.dcypher.net/install.shtml It should come as a zip file named dproxyxxx.zip (xxx being the version, currently 107).

     Note there is currently a version for Windows 9x, NT and 2000 platforms only.
     

  2. Unzip that file to a folder of your choice. The files contained are:
     
     • dproxy.exe : the program itself
     • dproxy.ini : the configuration file
       
  3. Now, edit dproxy.ini to fit your needs :
     
     • inBufMax : defaults to 5. Set this to the number of work units the proxy has to collect before it flushes to the keyserver.
     • outBufMax and outBufMin : these values were used for the CSC project, where fetching of work units was required. Leave them alone.
     • LogFile : name of the activity log to generate.
     • LogEmail : whether the logfile must state the email that work units are processed for. Allows you to detect if you set a client to a wrong email, which would loose you the work done. Defaults to 1 for true.
     • Server : IP adress or machine name that your proxy will flush to. Set to 209.240.46.116 or keys.dcypher.net. Can be the main keyserver (default) or another proxy.
     • ServerPort : Defaults to 4356. Port on which the proxy will communicate with the server.
     • ListenPort : Defaults to 4556. Port on which the proxy will wait for incoming communications from clients.
     • TimeoutPeriod : defaults to 60. Number of seconds of inactivity after which a communication is considered lost.
       
     You can leave all default values, but increasing inBufMax will allow the proxy to communicate less often.
     
  4. Start dproxy.exe
     
  5. Set all your client's "host server IP address" to the address or machine name of your proxy.
     
• I have more questions. What should I do?

  You can

  1. post replies to this thread
     
  2. Send Private Message to Joe O and/or viztech
     
  3. Read the Dcypher.Net FAQ at: http://www.dcypher.net/faq.shtml
     
  4. check out the Dcypher support forum: http://stats.dcypher.net/forums/
     
• What’s the easiest way to install the client under Windows?

  go to http://www.dcypher.net/install.shtml pick a client. For Windows (all flavours) I recommend the ZIP version.

  Download it. Create a new directory. I recommend C:\DCypher.NET Unzip the downloaded file to the new directory you just created. I recommend using Winzip, but any unzipping tool will work. Edit the cscclient.ini file.

  Start the DCN_GUI.exe program. More to follow
  

• What do the lines in my cscclient.ini file mean? What should they look like?

  Note: The lines beginning with # do not belong in the ini, they are comments provided by MagicMan.

  UserID = your email address

  # This is obviously the eMail address you are cracking under

  Team = 3

  # Team 3 is Team Anandtech

  Server = keys.dcypher.net

  # This is the main DCypher keyserver DNS.  The team proxy is on hold until the next proxy release.

  ServerPort = 4556

  # This is the port the pproxy listens on

  inBufMax = 5

  # Number of requested WUs. This is ignored for Gamma Flux (GF)

  outBufMax = 5

  # Number of completed WU's to trigger keyserver connection

  # Max is 50

  DoConfig = 0

  # Initially set to 1 to force the user to configure the client

  CPUType = 0

  # CPU typu 0 is autodetect. Use 0 if you aren't running it on a

  # Pentium MMX then use 2

  Logging = 0

  # Don't create a .log file

  BeNice = 1

  # BeNice = 0 would give much less cpu time to other tasks than BeNice = 1 does

  Offline = 1

  # Do not attempt to connect to the keyserver when outbufmax is reached

  # You must manually right click on the client to flush

  # If you have a permanent connection to the internet

  # or don't mind the client dialling itself, then you can make this a 0

  CoreTime = 10

  Contest = 2

  # Contest = 2 is GF, DON'T CHANGE THIS

  AutoRun = 0

  RunHidden = 0

• Forgive me, what exactly is GammaFlux? Where can I find out some info about it?

  http://www.dcypher.net
  

• Is there another way to Sneakernet?

  You can use a batch file or two.

  This one will get the data onto a floppy:

  Written by The MagicMan -

  ---

  << @echo off

  echo stop > c:\commands

  move c:\commands c:\progra~1\dcypher

  :going

  if not exist c:\progra~1\dcypher\commands goto stopped

  goto going

  :stopped

  move c:\progra~1\dcypher\GammaOut.dat a:

  echo y | copy a:\GF_Win32_cmdline.exe c:\progra~1\dcypher

  c:\progra~1\dcypher\GF_Win32_cmdline.exe -9 >>

  ---

  The easiest way to get stuff off the floppy is probably to put the client on the floppy and run this batch file:

  ---

  echo flush > a:\commands

  echo stop >> a:\commands

  a:\gf_win32_cmdline.exe

  ---

• What is Distributed Science?

  DCypher.net recently merged with ProcessTree. Their goal is to include other clients in the future that will actually pay you back for CPU time. Not here yet, but in the future. For more information see: http://www.dcypher.net/merger.shtml