I'm all for simplifying. And I understand how important it is to be brief on such summary displays. But all it says is "elapsed". So, I thought I'd follow my nose to answer the "elapsed what?" question.
I hit help, first link is "BOINC Help"... no doc there to help answer my question. Second link is "BOINC Manager help", ok, that makes sense, I'm running BOINC Manager (whether I know that or not)... it takes me to help text with screenshots that haven't been updated since the version I upgraded from. It did not bring me to the portion of the page that describes the "tasks" tab, even though that was what I was on. And it describes only the status, and the task operations. Nothing else on the display. My pixel size, and preferred browser window size means that the contents pane on the display was placed right over the first screenshot. Warning: the following sounds like complaining. I'm simply trying to be concise and complete. Skip the next paragraph if you are sensitive. So, there was no "what's new" that popped up when I installed. There was no "30 second walk-through of new BOINC features" highlighting the changes in the client. The help text was not specific to my BOINC version. I was left to locate for my self the appropriate area of the single long page that has all of the help for the advanced view (It was not sensitive to the tab). And if I'd had no internet connection at the time, I presume I'd have been no further along at all. Once I reached the help text, translated the column heading to the old "CPU Time" value shown there, I find that the column is entirely undocumented. ...other than these hurdles, I found the new client very easy to use and learn more about :) I would suggest the addition of fly-over text to the column headings for further detail. Then I wouldn't have to hit help in the first place. I suspect most users are not familiar with "wall-clock time" either. But MANY users are interested in credits, and therefore focused on CPU time. And, if I power off my machine for 3 hours here, I'll bet I discover it isn't "wall-clock time" either. It is actually something more like "time in active status". So, to put something out there for discussion, I'll propose that the column heading of "elapsed" is fine, with the addition of flyover text that says "This is the total time the task has been in a 'Running' status. To see actual CPU time used by the task, select the task and use the 'Properties' command button. Since tasks run at low priority, time will elapse at a faster pace then actual CPU time used on the task." ...or perhaps with GPUs etc. also possible, you replace "CPU" with "processing". Running Microsoft's "System Idle Process" will never help cure cancer, AIDS nor Alzheimer's. But running rose...@home just might! http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/ --- On Mon, 4/27/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: > From: [email protected] <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [boinc_dev] 6.6.20 and work scheduling > To: "Maureen Vilar" <[email protected]> > Cc: [email protected], [email protected], > [email protected], "Richard Haselgrove" <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, April 27, 2009, 8:02 AM > It means wall time. Can we > think of a "non techy" term that means the same > thing that can be clearly distinguished from CPU time? > > jm7 > > > > > > > > > Maureen Vilar > > > > <[email protected] > > > > > m> > > > > To > Sent > by: > Richard Haselgrove > > > boinc_dev-bounces > <[email protected]> > > > �[email protected] > > > cc > > > [email protected], > > > > [email protected] > > > 04/26/2009 04:38 > > > Subject > > PM > Re: > [boinc_dev] 6.6.20 and work > > > scheduling > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > I haven't got BOINC 6.6.16 or later so my version has a > 'CPU time' column > in > the Tasks tab. > > I'm assuming this column is now called 'Elapsed time'. > There's a problem > with this. To elapse just means to pass. 'Elapse' doesn't > specify what sort > of time is passing. The phrase 'Elapsed time' could refer > to CPU time or > GPU > time or wallclock time. How will anyone know what sort of > time is measured > in this column? > > Mark Pottorff who is a sophisticated BOINC user has > misunderstood the > meaning of this new column header, which isn't surprising > because it could > mean three different things. Thousands of other BOINC users > will also > misunderstand it. They will assume it means the same sort > of time as in the > To completion column ie crunching time. > > This column header should be changed. It should specify the > type of > time that has elapsed. It could say 'Wallclock time'. (The > word elapsed > isn't necessary because everyone knows that time passes.) > > Mo > _______________________________________________ > boinc_dev mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev > To unsubscribe, visit the above URL and > (near bottom of page) enter your email address. > > > > _______________________________________________ boinc_dev mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ssl.berkeley.edu/mailman/listinfo/boinc_dev To unsubscribe, visit the above URL and (near bottom of page) enter your email address.
