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The Ksetiwatch window simply consists of a series of tabs where the information about running SETI@home locations is sorted in a more or less logical manner. Since Ksetiwatch is able to monitor as many SETI@home clients as you like, all information is organized in lists which are updated in frequent intervals. The list entries can easily be sorted in ascending or descending order by clicking on the respective header.
By default Ksetiwatch logs completed work units automatically. Of course, for successful logging Ksetiwatch has to run in the background when the SETI@home client finishes a work unit. In case you have upgraded the SETI@home client to version 3.x, Ksetiwatch automatically modifies the log file (SETILog.csv) so that the new pulse and triplet data can be logged as well. The old log file will be stored to SETILog.old. Please note that this feature is untested with network directories, so if the log files mean a lot to you, make a back-up.
Ksetiwatch makes use of KDE's session management. This means that it's not necessary to close the program when logging out of KDE, or to restart it when starting a new KDE session. Optionally, Ksetiwatch will even start the SETI@home client(s) at start-up.
The contents of the tabs and the options you have will now be described in detail.
This tab displays the current status of your SETI@home clients. It shows the progress of data crunching, the processing efficiency, and the top scores of the actual work unit. In detail:
In addition, the Analysis tab is the place where to control the list of SETI@home clients you wish to monitor. This is done via a popup menu which appears when you click the right mouse button over the list of SETI@home locations. The right-click popup menu consists of the following functions:
At the bottom of this tab there are a few more things. If you want to manually refresh the list entries you can click the Refresh button. Keep in mind that clicking the button might not necessarily have an effect, since newer versions of the SETI@home client update their files only once a minute. Furthermore, there is a combo box allowing you to decide which clients are to be shown in the list. For instance, you can selectively display only the clients which are running or have completed a work unit. This is especially useful for people who manage a long list of SETI@home clients. Finally, two buttons are provided for accessing this help and the Ksetiwatch homepage.
If you have enabled the `dock-at-panel' feature (see Options), the small icon in the KDE panel can inform you about the status and the progress of a selected SETI@home client. Just choose the location you wish to monitor this way by a single mousebutton click. You can even monitor two different locations in the KDE panel by starting a second instance of Ksetiwatch!
The Data Info tab contains all important information regarding the work units currently processed. This includes:
The User Info tab presents details about the users running the specific SETI@home locations:
Here you will find all the work units you have processed before sorted with respect to the location. In order to view the logged work units for a specific location, you just have to select the SETI@home location in the tree view at the left (if the tree view is in a collapsed state, double-click on "SETI Locations"). At the right side, you will then find the corresponding list. The following details are provided:
Clicking on "SETI Locations" in the tree view gives you a summary list of all SETI@home locations. Here you will get the following information:
Both the tree view at the left and the list of work units have a right-click popup menu with a few extra functions. Selecting a location in the tree view with a right-mouse-button click and choosing "Show on Skymap" opens the skymap window with all completed work units of the respective location. Doing the same with "SETI Locations" all logged work units will be displayed on the skymap. Alternatively, choosing "Reload Locations" updates all entries in the "Completed Work Unit" tab. This may be useful if you think that the displayed list is not up-to-date.
Selecting a work unit in the list of completed work units and choosing "Show on Skymap" opens the skymap window only with the highlighted work unit. If you leave the skymap window open and repeat the same thing with other entries, these work units will just be added to the skymap (without deleting the old from the skymap). This way you can build a customized view of your favorite work units.
Ksetiwatch has some global settings which you can modify here.
Refresh Interval: This slider allows you to adjust the time interval between subsequent refreshs of the list entries. Since the latest SETI@home clients update their state files approximately once a minute, a value around 60 seconds is sufficient.
Time Format: Here you can switch between two time formats: either hours:minutes:seconds (hh:mm:ss) or days:hours:minutes:seconds (dd:hh:mm:ss).
Report New Peaks: When Ksetiwatch has found a new high peak or Gaussian it can report it to you via a message box. Enabling "Yes, Record Peaks" lets Ksetiwatch report only absolute record scores. If you additionally enable "in current WU", new high scores found in the currently processed work units will be reported as well.
Dock at Panel: When you minimize Ksetiwatch this switch allows you to minimize to the panel, thus freeing up precious space in the taskbar. To open the Ksetiwatch window again just click on the icon in the panel. Right-clicking the icon provides a popup menu with some commands to control the selected SETI@home client.
Show Grid in List Views?: Here you can decide whether you want to have a grid in all list views. Especially for large lists a grid enhances readability.
Adding or editing a SETI@home location is done via a dialog box. Mandatory entries are "Description", which must contain a descriptive name for your SETI@home location, and "Seti@home Directory", the directory where the SETI@home client is located. Optionally you can use the Browse button ("...") to select the corresponding SETI@home directory. Make sure that each SETI@home location has a unique color by pressing the Color button and selecting a color you like. This color will be used in the skymap window to mark the position in the sky the work units have been recorded.
Ksetiwatch can start the SETI@home client for you at start-up. Enable this by checking "Invoke SETI@home Client at Start-up?". Command line arguments can be passed to the client by entering the desired options in the "Command Line Arguments" field. For example, if you have a dial-up line adding "-stop_after_process" is highly recommended. See the SETI@home README for details on valid command line arguments.
By default Ksetiwatch logs completed work units automatically. If you prefer not to log completed work units, or you are doing your logging with other programs, you can switch off this feature by unchecking "Enable logging of work units?".
Clicking the "OK" button saves all entries to disk and closes the dialog. All settings are reloaded automatically whenever you restart Ksetiwatch. Clicking "Cancel" discards all changes made in this dialog window.
The skymap window provides a convenient way for you to see in which part of the sky your work units have been recorded. The work units are represented by circle markers which are painted in the color you have chosen for the respective SETI@home location. The appearance can be customized via a right-click popup menu. You have the following options:
Beginning with version 2.0 the SETI@home client provides more detailed information on Gaussian signals allowing a graphical representation of experimental and calculated (fitted) data. Exactly this is shown in the Gaussian window. Experimental data are drawn in red, whereas fit results are depicted in white. The appearance of the graph can be customized via a right-click popup menu. You have the following options:
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