I guess it's just a feedback post, since I don't really expect any of the current problems I'm mentioning to be fixed, which is another kind of negative feedback. Actually, it seems like some of the problems eventually do go away (with the notable exception of the dead team problem), so it doesn't really matter much. I even think the low-key approach is fundamentally better from a scientific perspective.

The main feedback of this post is to note that the Linux client seems quite flaky these days and is creating a rather negative impression, at least for this particular user. Lots of (long-term and recurring) problems with server access at your end, but even when the servers can be accessed, they often decide that there is no suitable work available for various Ubuntu machines. Other times they send work units that are too large to be completed within the deadline on the usual operating schedule of the particular machine. That should be avoidable by checking to logs, I would think... (That problem often bothers my Windows computers, too.) Even worse than that is the newest symptom, in which a server decides there is some suitable work available, the work is downloaded and started, and then the client freezes at this end with a 'waiting for memory' message. Plenty of swap available, but it probably needs real RAM and it judged the problem size inappropriately.

My employer only officially sanctions this particular project, but it often seems like it would be less trouble to switch to some of the other BOINC projects... I played with a couple of them when I was first learning Ubuntu stuff, and most of them seemed to create a rather more favorable impression than this one.