TR Forums

Posted: **Sat Jan 13, 2007 9:39 pm**

Recently I installed the Linux x86-64 Linux SMP client and my points are climbing fast.
I normally get about 400 ppd from this rig running 2 normal clients in winblows.
I installed Mandriva 2007 x86-64, then the SMP client.
Now this rig gets 1000 ppd.(A 600 PPD increase)
Nice improvement @ zero cost.
And that makes me smile!:D

If your running 2 single clients in your dual comps, I suggest you change to the SMP client...

Posted: **Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:16 am**

guess i will have to look at it when i get back to work and my dual core workstation.

Posted: **Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:26 pm**

Do any of NotFred's cool tools support 64bit & SMP Folding?

Posted: **Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:12 am**

Lupine wrote:
Do any of NotFred's cool tools support 64bit & SMP Folding?

You will have to wait a bit for that.

Posted: **Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:47 pm**

I'm having issues with getting a x64 Ubuntu machine to fold. Well more to the point I'm an ubernoob with Linux. I got the Ubuntu X64 version to load on a X2 4600 and the system has detected just about everything. But after I download the client, extract it and try to run it I get problems. It tells me it can't find fah5, no such file or directory.

Now I marked the file "executable" if I don't at least I get a permission error when I try to enter the ./fah5 -configonly

I have the machine for about a week and a half, wanted to see how many units is could turn in using the SMP client. Any help?

Posted: **Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:43 pm**

I've been meaning to install that version of FAH on my workstation but if you can wait for monday i'll do it then and post some instructions then.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:14 am**

monts wrote:
I've been meaning to install that version of FAH on my workstation but if you can wait for monday i'll do it then and post some instructions then.

Great. Thanks for the help. Just so you know, we're missing out on the said machine's processing power until I get an answer....so.....no hurry unless you're pre-occupied with our current team standing.

Just kidding. (I've reconnected the WinXp drive to it to work on some of those damn 212x WU's) Thanks for any help you or any other linux pros can offer. Keep me posted.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 1:24 am**

i tried ubuntu folding for a bit(never actually got any unit complete as the first one i got was having problem...which was common at the time so i stuck w/ vista folding) but did u d/l ther quired library??

here are the notes i took down for my own use when i tired it back in december if it helps

Typed " sudo apt-get install ia32-libs"
downloaded the smp client and then typed ./fah5

1. Logged in as "user"- create a folder in your user Home directory that you're going to use as your FAH directory.
2. Navigate to Stanford's client download page and download the SMP client to the folder you created.
3. With that folder open, open a console from the folder's toolbar, under Tools. If you have a (your) username@(name-of)host:~home/SMP client/boxen$ then you're ready to type ./fah5 -advmethods -forceasm -local -verbosity 9, the hit Enter(Return). You'll see the usual deployment of the executable take place. What you won't see is the oppertunity to put your username and team number in...not to worry.
4. After a bit, just CTRL+C to kill the client; then go to the folder that you're folding the client in, open the config document, edit it and "save".
5. Restart the client with ./fah5. I don't know if you have to add the flags manually again; perhaps someone can clarify that issue.

i was able to get it going without stopping it first by running it with config only first to set the username/etc first before starting the program. hope this helps

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 2:56 am**

Don't know if you need ia32-libs as it is supposed to be a 64bit client.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:54 am**

it is needed if the distro didnt come with it.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 9:57 am**

Hey that worked. After I loaded the 32-bit lib it took right off. Sweet thanks for the help guys.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 4:51 pm**

Download and install Mandriva 2007 x86-64.
It works well for SMP folding.
It has all the proper 32 bit and 64 bit libraries.

Just install Mandriva 2007 then the linux smp and it will work perfectly.

Installation of Client
1. Log in as "user"- create a folder in your user Home directory that you're going to use as your FAH directory.
2. Download the Linux-64 client and unpack to FAH directory.
3. Open console/terminal. Change dir to the folding directory you created. When in FAH directory, type "./fah5 -advmethods -forceasm -local" in console. Setup is like normal client.

IF you seem to do everything correctly but get the error message "bash: ./fah5: No such file or directory" you need to install the 32-bit libraries. Run this command: "sudo apt-get install ia32-libs"

If you need more step by step info just ask..
Hope this helps.

Posted: **Sun Feb 04, 2007 10:53 pm**

Just remember, if you're running a Windows dual core machine and don't want to go through the hassle of booting another operating system, or replacing Windows, you can run the free VMware server software inside Windows and get the benefit of the extra points from running the Linux SMP client without having to worry about Linux as a main OS. Very nice thing, that. Hotdog explains most of how to do it in his thread, Hotdog's Experiences.

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 4:24 am**

I just installed it on my Opensuse 10.2 installation. I tried to run that finstall program so I wouldn't have to start it manually every time but I couldn't get it to work, not sure what the problem is as I got it working on Ubuntu in the past.

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 5:10 am**

Oops, didn't get a chance to look at it, my back was a bit dodgy today, try and look at it tomorrow.

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 6:33 am**

Ragnar Dan wrote:
Just remember, if you're running a Windows dual core machine and don't want to go through the hassle of booting another operating system, or replacing Windows, you can run the free VMware server software inside Windows and get the benefit of the extra points from running the Linux SMP client without having to worry about Linux as a main OS. Very nice thing, that. Hotdog explains most of how to do it in his thread, Hotdog's Experiences.

I'd run VMware but my X2-3800 doesn't support VT. And I hear that is they key to having the VMware solution work fast.

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 8:41 am**

I'd run VMware but my X2-3800 doesn't support VT.

My old S939 X2-3800+ runs it just fine (VMware Server + Ubuntu 64bit). Around 600 to 700PPD when not OCed (depends what else I'm working on so could be higher than that if left alone). And I also run a regular CPU client that does another 50PPD or so on that system

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:23 pm**

Tarx wrote:
I'd run VMware but my X2-3800 doesn't support VT.

My old S939 X2-3800+ runs it just fine (VMware Server + Ubuntu 64bit). Around 600 to 700PPD when not OCed (depends what else I'm working on so could be higher than that if left alone). And I also run a regular CPU client that does another 50PPD or so on that system

Hum, I'll have to give it a whirl. I'm loading Linux on a Dual Processor Dual Core Xeon server right now...Wonder what that will do PPD wise..
Druid rubs his hands and says.."Yes....Yes....."

Posted: **Mon Feb 05, 2007 12:56 pm**

Update:

My Dual Processor, Dual Core Xeon server is processing a SMP workunit in Ubuntu x64.

It's doing 1% every 4 minutes. It should be able to get thru 4 WU's a day at that rate if the other SMP projects run at about the same speed.

Ubuntu is great! I swear Linux has made leaps in usability since I last played with it. I loaded it on a HP ML350 Server and it picked up the SAS/SATA raid controller and the NIC with no additional tweaking needed.

Semi-Off Topic... On the other machine I loaded it on I think it used just a standard VGA drivers because the performance looks horrible with a 6800GT. I tried loading the drivers via Nvidia install utility, but I have to exit the x windows server to load them.... Ah...how do I exit the xwindows portion of Ubuntu so I can load the drivers?

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:06 pm**

OK, moving a discussion from dragongoddess's thread, I'm now prepared to complain about the SMP servers. I can't upload my completed WU, and I can't get a new WU either. Stanford, you test my patience, especially considering that another SMP server is apparently up and running.

Edit: And now it worked, both upload and new WU. Bugger.

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:42 pm**

Getting sent to 0.0.0.0 (the Gulag for SMP WUs) happens every so often. Basically no WUs are available to be sent (restarting the client a dozen times doesn't change that - I've tried!). It usually takes a few hours before it resolves itself.
I strongly suggest to have a regular folding console client running in any case - it will take advantage of this, plus also that the SMP client uses about 80% of the CPU, and that there are long pauses for submitting & obtaining new WUs. And from what I can tell, minimal performance hit on the SMP client.

Posted: **Tue Feb 06, 2007 11:50 pm**

Yep, that's what I'm doing, too. I did set both my Windows console clients to stop just to test whether there was any difference at all. I'm still on the last WU of one of the clients, but that should end sometime over night.

Tomorrow when I check things I'll see how much difference it has made, if any. Though, I'm going to have to kill the other Windows client manually to get it to quit using any CPU at all, as I found with the first Windows client. But then after a number of frames with nothing else running, I'll see what I see, and almost certainly having verified what you say and was surmised elsewhere, get the Windows clients going again. It does appear that when only one Windows client is running, it does run faster than when both are. Which would imply the VMware software is using both cores and switching between them a bit.

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 9:58 am**

-Druid- wrote:
how do I exit the xwindows portion of Ubuntu so I can load the drivers?

are you using the grub bootloader? you should be able to hit "a" when it shows up during boot, then add "3" to the boot command line to make it start in non-graphical mode.

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 12:57 pm**

So I'm thinking ................................ if I get a quadcore processor .......................... I can run 4 instances of folding on one PC ..................................... using the SMP client ................................ and that nets 2000-3000 ppd from one PC!!!!!

Oh lordy, I can't stop drooling.

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 3:37 pm**

My update:

It does appear that stopping the Windows folding clients while running the Linux SMP client may help it a small amount. But it is very small, maybe a couple of seconds a frame or so, if any. The normal variation is greater than that, so it's probably not worth stopping the Windows clients, at least on my machine.

On the other hand (there's always another hand), I got another 3025 WU today several hours after I restarted my Windows clients and got (crappy) new WUs for them, and it (the 3025 Linux SMP WU) started running, but immediately crashed. Never saw that happen before in the 21 SMP WUs I've gotten so far. It said this when the WU first began running:

[xx:28:38] Extra SSE boost OK.
[xx:28:38]
[xx:28:38] Extra SSE boost OK.
[xx:28:38] Warning:  long 1-4 interactions.
[xx:28:38] Writing local files
[xx:28:38] Completed 0 out of 5000000 steps  (0 percent)
[xx:28:38] ich no further progress can be made.

The upside is that I got a 3027 to replace it, but it does seem to be taking slightly longer than I recall the other one or two I received to run. But it's still better PPD anyway.

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 7:49 pm**

Wooo Hooo.... Think my SMP client turned in a 1400 point work unit around noon today. Thanks for pointing that out Nulfire...

Posted: **Wed Feb 07, 2007 8:34 pm**

I... "Nevuh got a dinnuh/[1400+ point WU]." /Red Buttons

I'm practically cranky over it, too.

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:47 am**

Can't remember the specific options I set on the SMP client that perhaps made it get that WU. Maybe the experimental work units flag? It's set to yes.

Most of the steps in the current WU's I'm getting assigned to the uber machine now are taking it 10 minutes to burn thru. It's a p3029_SMP-emsv-03.

Also eitje, thanks for the tip, I'm going to give it a try tonight on the boot loader setting.

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 10:55 am**

I think the ~1400 point WUs are fairly new, or at least haven't been in circulation for awhile. I've got one churning away on my C2D machine now, as well as my X2. One of my Pentium Ds got one, and it was taking so long I thought something was wrong, so I deleted it, since I'm a horrible human being. In all reality, I don't know if it would have made the cut-off date, as slow as it was going.

The C2D machine and the X2 are both going through them fine, though.

Posted: **Thu Feb 08, 2007 1:26 pm**

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/psummaryC.html

That's the page where I look up projects. I don't see a 3029 listed, but maybe they haven't updated it, or there's another page, or... ?

Anyway, I've got the flags all set the appropriate way, since I did it all by -configonly like I do the Windows console clients when I started (and in fact still have to start it up manually when I stop it, which is now rarely since I reduced the VM's memory footprint). I was wondering if it was because my machine was slow to produce at first, since I had been stopping it during working hours when first running it because the memory footprint had been set higher. But since a P4-D got one, that idea's out the window.

I'll just assume luck of the draw so far. My 3027 finished and was replaced by another 3025... so meh. There's another really high point project separated in the list from the others, the 2605 which is 1760 points.

It wants to be finished in < 4 days, preferably 3. I'll keep waiting to get better WUs.