Perhaps some were never delivered.
Perhaps some were damaged in transit.
Perhaps some users can't figure out how to connect the tube etc.
Perhaps some users can't get it to work with linux.
Perhaps some USB ports just can't start the detector up.
Perhaps some users only connect to the internet once a week.
Perhaps some users didn't even install BOINC.
Perhaps some users electrocuted themselves ;)
Perhaps it's a government conspiracy :)

Seriously, the typical user is surely smart enough to deal with nearly all of the above. Best case, 140 detectors are missing off the map? Very strange.

But I guess you know who they were sent to and can correlate the connected ones to orders and find out who's AWOL, then send an email/letter pointing them here for support?

Cheers,

Al.

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Only 189 detectors showing today.

Are 50% of them really not in use or is there something wrong with the server/database/map?

Cheers,

Al.

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I lost 2 detectors to Deutsche Post, they never arrived with the user.
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Gruesse vom Saenger

Many detectors are not connected because this project won't allow them to connect using the given URL. Sounds crazy but it's true. Detach your host then try to join again. When the wizard tells you it's not the URL of a BOINC project then do exactly what 90% of users are going to do and copy 'n paste the URL from the home page into the wizard. That assumes some 90% even realize there is a homepage and have bothered to read it or are even capable of reading it which we know from experience is not a wise assumption. Anyway, in the vein of general optimism, see how far you get with that procedure. <snickers>

Right. That's why my detector isn't reporting and it's going to stay that way until the server is configured properly.
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That assumes some 90% even realize there is a homepage and have bothered to read it or are even capable of reading it which we know from experience is not a wise assumption.

Many detectors are not connected because this project won't allow them to connect using the given URL. Sounds crazy but it's true. Detach your host then try to join again. When the wizard tells you it's not the URL of a BOINC project then do exactly what 90% of users are going to do and copy 'n paste the URL from the home page into the wizard. That assumes some 90% even realize there is a homepage and have bothered to read it or are even capable of reading it which we know from experience is not a wise assumption. Anyway, in the vein of general optimism, see how far you get with that procedure.

My problem? LOL. Saenger you should know by now that I don't have problms. I have solutions.

On the homepage *I* see the URL is http://radioactiveathome.org/boin. No,not a typo here, that is exactly what I see, that is exactly what many users will see, that is what they will use. No, they won't fix it. Because their eye/brain will adjust what they see to what they usually see (Google reading and sight words to understand why that happens) and so the problem and the solution will elude them. Yah, it *is* a simple solution for the user to just add the c but simplicity alone doesn't guarantee it will happen.

Getting attached is just one thing. After a user attaches they can have problems getting the device on the map. I could not believe it until I actually saw it but some people actually cannot grasp online maps... zooming, panning, thinking... it's too much. For many, many people half-baked is good enough so attached but not pinned to map works just fine for them because the tasks come, the results go, the lights blink, it's all good. Except it's not. Geeks like us often know what we need to do even before we get the device in our sweaty little paws but we are a minority. There are people inquiring about the device in this forum and it is obvious from their posts they are technology challenged and it will be a struggle for them. They won't struggle. They'll just do it half-assed and tell themselves whatever lies they need to hear and ignore any truths they don't need to hear to convince themselves it's setup properly. That's the way people are, admit it and curry their favor or go against their grain and lose them.

This project has the least expensive detector on the market. They can well afford to add a GPS to the device and make the thing goof-proof. Cutting corners on the USB in version 2 saved a whopping $5 and caused a $100 problem. Add a GPS and fix the "pin to map" problem too. You'll still have the least expensive detector on the market and you will *always* have the least expensive detector because your labor is given for free and users would rather spend an additional $5 and have a device that works out of the box as opposed to saving a piddling $5 and having a device that requires recurring attention. The device has a certain novelty at first and for that brief period of time they'll tinker with it but after the novelty wears off the device's need for attention becomes an annoyance so they will ignore it rather than go through the hassle of coming to the website to look up which page they need to go to to pin the thing to the map again (in the case where a user detaches and reattaches for one or more regularly occurring reasons).

That is far, far more truth-talking than 99% of you can stand so I know in advance it's going to get ignored. And you'll continue to wonder why only 50% of the devices are on the map. Until your attention gets diverted to something else then you'll stop worrying about it. Ain't it a wonderful world!
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I got a mail that my detector (ID 3742) has no location set, but when I want to add it to the map, an other ID is shown for my computer (3070).

I got a mail that my detector (ID 3742) has no location set, but when I want to add it to the map, an other ID is shown for my computer (3070).

OK, now logged in with my own account, but when I click on "add" it only shows my computer and no further option.

OK, now logged in with my own account, but when I click on "add" it only shows my computer and no further option.

Read the instructions <======= a very novel idea

Saenger never throws away an opportunity to correct me therefore I conclude he agrees with me: guilty on two counts of bad action with a URL.

Anyway I decided to attach my host in spite of my earlier "refusal" and guess what I discovered... more bad action. I attached a Linux machine, it downloaded the usual files and the app plus a task. When the task started it crashed. Here are the Event Log entries:

22-Dec-2012 15:13:53 [---] Fetching configuration file from http://radioactiveathome.org/boinc/get_project_config.php
22-Dec-2012 15:14:43 [Radioactive@Home] Master file download succeeded
22-Dec-2012 15:14:48 [Radioactive@Home] Sending scheduler request: Project initialization.
22-Dec-2012 15:14:48 [Radioactive@Home] Requesting new tasks for CPU
22-Dec-2012 15:14:49 [Radioactive@Home] Scheduler request completed: got 1 new tasks
*** stack smashing detected ***: ./boinc terminated
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
Segmentation fault

So, as an update to this thread; is the process of joining the project (with boinc) and establishing a dot on the map more successful and streamlined now? I'm not really expecting any difficulty, myself.