# SETI @ Home, what happened to the data display? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 25, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786 "2012-03-25T20:25:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/1 "2012-03-25T20:25:49Z")
I used to use it, and it had this cool screen that showed the data, but now it uses this thing called BOINC that doesn’t seem to show much. Is there any way to get the old display? [Like this.](http://www.flickr.com/photos/arthur_pewty/4200086242/) ---
**Author:** ![Ambihelical\_Hexnut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4491bb/32.png) [@Ambihelical\_Hexnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambihelical_Hexnut)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/2 "2012-03-25T22:30:19Z")
I’m also running SETI@home, but that data display screen shows up OK for me. If you’re using your graphics card rather than your CPU to process the data, you can’t get the graphics for some reason. If you are using just your CPU, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to see the graphics. Try logging into your account on the SETI web site and changing your preferences. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/3 "2012-03-26T00:12:20Z")
Maybe [this](http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_graphics.php)? ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/4 "2012-03-29T10:40:11Z")
Thanks to this thread, I rejoined the project. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/5 "2012-03-29T12:21:44Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > …but now it uses this thing called BOINC that doesn’t seem to show much That’s scientific progress for you. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/6 "2012-03-29T18:12:38Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Thanks to this thread, I rejoined the project. 🙂 Yeah, me too. And when I downloaded it again they remembered my settings and results too. Member since 2000! I haven’t been on there for at least one computer lifetime ago. Probably 6 years. I was running it on an IBM Aptiva boat anchor with a whopping 6 GB hard drive, which was about as big as you could get in 1998. The IT guy at work confidently told me that ‘you will never use all that’. I must have abandoned seti@home when they upgraded to BOINC because my system didn’t meet the requirements, I really don’t remember. I went through another XP computer’s lifetime after that and now I have 64 bit Windows 7. And the seti system recognized my email and I guessed at the old password and bingo, I’m back. I had become a little disillusioned with the whole process but now that exoplanetary searches have found so many possibilities, maybe we will have more viable targets to point at. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seti-home-what-happened-to-the-data-display/616786/7 "2012-03-29T21:26:15Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > That’s scientific progress for you. I see what you did there.