So I was silly enough to install the latest Boinc Manager (6.12.26), violating the "never change a running system" rule.
Rewards for this are as expected: disappointment and frustration!

The Boinc Manager now has several "enhancements":
- A separate message log application window instead of the simple tab in the old version. Now I have to switch between windows when I want to read log messages. Great, for me this is a major no-go ! On top of this the shortcut combination "Ctrl-Shift-m" for this does not work, so you have to access it through the menu all the time. How silly is this?
- The column sort order in the tasks tab has changed. What a nonsense! Forcing users to accept an arbitray look over what they have experienced for years. A smart enhancement would have been to make them user-definable...
- A new "News" tab showing said news. In theory not a bad idea. But it can't be turned off (performance optimization) and additionally produces the feared message bubbles in the task bar that never disappear automatically.
- The tooltip of the task bar icon no longer holds the list of current running jobs.

On top of this the statistics of the "upgraded" client are now splitted into two clients (I know this isn't Boincstats fault as this is related to the Boinc infrastructure...). I hope this evens out over time.

A question to experienced users: Is it possible to downgrade the Boinc Manager software without provoking another round of problems with statistics? I would like to have back the old interface style that served me well for over 1,5 years...

I concur with the disappointment at the new layout...

I concur with the disappointment at the new layout...

Just copy the boincmgr.exe and boinc.dll from the former version into the BOINC program directory.

If you don't have them anymore, reinstall the old version 6.10.58 or 6.10.60 first, save those two files and install the latest version.

AFAIK, the combination is Ctrl-Shift-E


You can copy the 6.10.x boincmgr.exe (along with boinc.dll) to the 6.12.x BOINC program directory and so can run the 6.12 client with the 6.10 GUI (manager).

Gruß,
Gundolf
[edit]Sorry, Crystal Pellet posted while I was composing my answer. [/edit]

Thx for the info about how to roll back the version. I have the .58 version on my other client so I will copy them over after monitoring the development of the remerging of the split client credits.
I guess the split took place because of some dependance on the BM version for deciding which clients belong together, so I now refreshed all projects (including my inactive/suspended) which will hopefully result in a dump of that information to the export data which BStats reads (correct me if i'm wrong on that, but I think this is the procedure that tooks place while building the statistics).
My second guess is I will have to repeat this procedure after copying over the .58 version. The point is I want to be absolutely sure not to create a dead client entry containing some or any amount of points of this client.

I agree with your comments.

I used to test new BOINc software but after a few versions of v6 I stopped. I don't like the changes, particularly moving the Messages tab to a seperate menu and as for the news tab, why can't we choose whether to have it off or on.

If you're going to go to the trouble of reinstalling an older version of boinc you may as well give boinctasks a try. You don't have to use the boinc manager supplied with boinc. Boinctasks is being actively developed, it has a separate messages and notices tab, configurable look, wrt colours, grid lines, it is designed to manage multiple hosts. It's not the official boinc manager so its different from what you are used to, and will take a bit of effort/learning/getting used to, but give it a try you may be pleasantly surprised. FWIW I stopped using the boinc manager back before they introduced the simple gui.

Looks good from what the screenshots show. I'm now completely unsure how to continue with that client, either go back to 6.10.58 or use this software. Had a quick glance over the manual and it shows there are especially some functions to support high volume clients (caching etc.), which is good but would not apply for my clients.
What I would really appreciate is:
- No "hidden" options (Boinc Manager cc_config.xml), meaning at least the ability to really turn off the GPU through the user interface (especially when the GPU is an IGP). BM has it in the UI but switching it of there does not work, you must use cc_config for this otherwise GPU wu's will still be requested despite the UI-setting! To put it simple: Full control over GPU usage.
- Same goes for the "report immediately" function (absent in BM UI). If server load is such a problem, offering this function would not make sense at all. My point of view: Casual crunchers to not create very much traffic (but will create "their" automatic traffic anyway), Boinc junkies will work themselves into the configuration options anyway, thus making it quite likely they will use this switch (and they are the people who will then create much of the traffic/constant server load).
- Ability to user-control the "phone-home" and/or "phone-to" behaviour of the application. Again BM hides it, this includes checking network connectivity, project list refresh, and as of recently news polling (the latter seems not to be controlable at all).
- Ability to force a continuation/completion of wu's on defined conditions (overriding the "switch appliction all xx minutes" option as currently implemented in BM). Example: The most useful condition for me would be to continue computing of a wu if it is already at or above 90%. The managing tool would then not switch applications even if xx minutes are reached. Given the different lenghts of wu's over different projects, there is no point in only tinkering with the xx minutes switch by increasing or decreasing it (that will only move the problem). This aims for some sort of optimized RAC (over multiple projects). Currently the only option would be to to set xx minutes very high, and thus potentially narrowing computing time to a few projects and possibly creating an unsteady RAC (both aspects seen on a per day base). Severly decreasing xx minutes seems not to be a real option when running multiple (many) projects as you may run into memory problems when using it in combination with the "keep apps in memory" option.

About my current situation:
As expected the client credits are in the process of being merged. One thing I noticed is, the "new" client gets an entry for the top 5 credit days (50+k credits). Obviously this is something I don't want to have on record for this client (want to have "real" numbers there ). As of now it seems I lost the real numbers of the "old" client and get some artificial/wrong numbers on the "new" one which I will not be able to surpass by normal crunching. What will be the end state of this process? One client containing all the credits plus a wrong top 5 list and one empty (0 credits) client containing the correct top 5 list? Or will the empty client be merged into the new one, carrying over the correct top 5 list in the process?

All the items you listed are with respect to the BOINC core client, not the GUI interface (manager), and since BoincTasks is designed to replace the manager, it won't cover many of those details.

Gruß,
Gundolf

You had a whinge about the bm - I provided an alternative solution - crunch for boinc or don't - no skin off my nose.

Install both, then make up your mind over time. Running them both at the same time wouldnt be the best idea on the block, only keep one open on screen at anyone time closing any background tasks either may have when closing but there is no reason you cant install both - then just fire it up in stages getting used to it until you form your own opinion.

If at any time you need a break and the old comfort blanket its there to use, close it and fire up the old BOINC Manager. That way you give it a go, but are not feeling backed into a corner by having to chose "now" - you dont have to, install both then please yourself. I did the double install, not made up my mind yet which to use long term, as was pointed out you need to give it a fair shot until used to the way it operates.

Regards
Zy