User manual

BOINC lets you contribute computing power on your home PC to projects doing research in many scientific areas. You can contribute to a single project, or to any combination of them. To get started:

1. Choose projects or, if you run several projects, try using account managers.
2. Download and run BOINC software.
3. Enter your account information.

General information

• How BOINC works
• Usage rules and privacy policy

Running BOINC: basic

• Installing and uninstalling BOINC
  • Windows
  • MacOS
  • Linux
  • Android
  • FreeBSD
• Choosing and joining projects
• The BOINC Manager
  • Simple view
  • Advanced view
• The BOINC screensaver
• Account managers
• Preferences
• Troubleshooting
• Help

Running BOINC: advanced

• Client configuration
• Computing with a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit)
• OpenCL for CPU
• Virtual computing with VirtualBox
• Controlling BOINC remotely
• The boinccmd command-line tool
• Build your own applications ("anonymous platform" system)
• Add-on software
• Using BOINC with modem, ISDN and VPN connections
• Installing BOINC on EC2

Mass deployment of the BOINC client

• Creating custom installers
• Initialization files
• Weak account key
• Running BOINC as backfill in HTCondor pools

Miscellaneous

• Heat and energy considerations
• BOINC Security
• Computation credit
• Publications by BOINC projects
• Creating a skin for the BOINC Manager
• Host identification and merging
• Locating stolen computers
• Proxy servers (why BOINC doesn't have them).
• Teams
• Changes to this Wiki