I think it's high time for some updates. Many things have been improved or fixed, but I never found the time to actually make a release. So, I'll start today with the SetiContainer class. No big changes here, the complete changelog looks like this:

• Fixed some problems with reporting the status of clients on remote computers.
• Updated the formulas for the TeraFlops calculation.
• Made the debug output optional.
• isClientRunning() method: it now can be checked whether a given process id (pid) is really associated with a running SETI@home client. This is to prevent false information when another process has occupied the pid in the mean time.
• teraFlops() method: TeraFlops value can optionally be calculated for a specific version of the SETI@home client.

As usual, the SetiContainer class can be downloaded here.

A new release for Ksetiwatch will take a few more days. I still have to do some work on the translation, documentation, and the packaging. Please be patient.

I guess you are all wondering what I'm currently up to regarding the development on Ksetiwatch. So, I'll give a brief status report. In the past weeks, the main construction area was the `Completed Work Units' tab. I was struggling for quite a while with myself on how to integrate the display of returned signals into the current design (as you know, Ksetiwatch already logs them since version 2.1.0). The final result, however, seems to be really usable. Click here for a preview.

I received a lot of bug reports in the last weeks, especially with respect to monitoring network shares. Fortunately, all bugs were quite easy to fix. Nevertheless there are some issues with network shares, and some users expressed the wish for a better control of clients on remote computers. Unfortunately, I'm not an expert when it comes to networking. So, if you have a bit expertise in that area and you know some C++/Qt, please contact me.

As mentioned above, I think I have fixed all important bugs in the 2.1.0 release. If you think you have to update before the next release (or if you want to stay on the `bleeding edge'), check out from CVS. Instructions can be found on the SF project page. I always try to keep the CVS repository in a runnable state, so checking out a version from there should be quite safe.

I hope the recent mandatory switch to the 3.03 version of the S@h client went smoothly for all of you. Needless to say that Ksetiwatch is working without problems with the new version. The next release of Ksetiwatch will contain a minor update to the TeraFlops (and hence, MFlops/s) calculation to reflect the additional work that is done by the 3.03 clients.

Along with the work on the recent release of Ksetiwatch, several things have changed in the SetiContainer class. Therefore I decided to release an updated version of SetiContainer. Here is the complete changelog:

• When updating the state file data, the emission of signals can now optionally be turned off.

• In certain situations the stateChanged() signal was emitted too often; this is fixed now.

• Improved detection of the client's state.

• Minor adjustment to the TeraFlops calculation.

• Added sky position parameters to the S@h signal structures (SpikeScore, GaussianScore, PulseScore, and TripletScore). Currently unused.

• Updated API documentation.

Version 0.2 of the SetiContainer class can be downloaded here. Have fun.

A little late, but better late than never. Here is my New Year's release. I have been spending much time in the last weeks on cleaning up the code, which took much longer than I expected. However, the result is worth a download, I think, although you won't find any new eye-candy. The biggest improvement can be seen in the efficiency of the new version, which is the result of using the new SetiContainer class. Ksetiwatch should monitor now at least 50 times more efficiently. On my machine, it takes not more than 0.005 % CPU time, when running in the background.

Another point is the memory leak reported earlier. I could track down this problem to the tooltip text of the dock icon. It should be fixed now. If you nevertheless see an increase in memory consumption, it is probably due to freed memory pages that are still attached to the process. Anyway, please have an eye on that if you intend to keep Ksetiwatch running for weeks.

Apart from that, a lot more has changed or has been fixed. Here is the complete list:

• Major restructuring of the source code. Ksetiwatch uses the SetiContainer class now and monitors clients much more efficiently.

• Setting the tooltip text of the dock icon (which was the origin of a memleak) has been improved. The text is updated only when absolutely necessary.

• After completion of a work unit, Ksetiwatch logs all signals that will be returned to the SETI@home server to a file (`SETIResult.log'). Currently there is no way to view the logged data from within Ksetiwatch. I hope I'll find some time to implement this in a future version.

• Added "Angle Range" and "TeraFlops" to the Data Info and Completed Work Units tab.

• The calculation of the amount of floating point operations (Flops) required to process a work unit depends now on the angle range, thus making the MFlops/s data more accurate. This is based on the work of Roelof Engelbrecht and Lawrence Kirby, who developed corresponding formulas.

• Before trying to start a S@h client, Ksetiwatch checks now whether the client is already running.

• When selecting the lists of completed work units, the WU info was always read twice from disk. By fixing this, displaying the WU lists should now be twice as fast.

• Ksetiwatch stopped monitoring when being in the Completed Work Units tab, Options tab, or About tab; fixed.

• Ksetiwatch should now reliably save its settings when shutting it down, or when logging out of KDE.

• All list views are now correctly updated after editing a location.

• Support for old SETI@home clients with version numbers 1.xx has been dropped. In case you are still using such a client, please upgrade (which is mandatory very soon anyway).

As you can see, a lot of bugs have been fixed, but probably some new bugs have been added. If you find one, please let me know via the Bug Tracker.