Ubuntu Desktop Installation Guide for F@H

There's no benefit at all?

Not for a simple smp only install, its quick, lean and doesn't go through hoops if you don't have the correct dependancy packages. The v7 is still very much in beta for *nix and a pretty gui is no help on a CLI only install...
 
Not for a simple smp only install, its quick, lean and doesn't go through hoops if you don't have the correct dependancy packages. The v7 is still very much in beta for *nix and a pretty gui is no help on a CLI only install...

This.

Once there is a benefit for using v7, I'll update this guide or publish a new one for a v7 install in Linux.
 
I can't get Folding and Langouste auto start on boot.
This is my rc.local:

Code:
cd /home/andy/F@H && sudo -u andy ./fah6
sudo -u andy langouste3 -l 8880 -D

exit 0

Folding starting OK, but not Langouste.

Any ideas?
 
What is the response if you execute the Langouste line there from the command line?
 
The problem is that since you aren't starting F@H as a service or using nohup/screen or putting it in the background somehow, nothing beyond it starting in rc.local can run. Flipping the sequence (start langouste before F@H) would actually work, but you still have the underlying issue of needing to somehow start the F@H client in the background.
 
Doesn't the guide cover starting fah in background screen? Why not just use that?
 
I can't get Folding and Langouste auto start on boot.
This is my rc.local:

Code:
cd /home/andy/F@H && sudo -u andy ./fah6
sudo -u andy langouste3 -l 8880 -D

exit 0

Folding starting OK, but not Langouste.

Any ideas?
\

sudo statement is wrong. langouste3 is not starting up in the fah client directory.

Code:
cd /home/andy/F@H && sudo -u andy ./fah6
sudo -u andy "cd /home/andy/F@H && langouste3 -l 8880 -D"

exit 0
 
Doesn't the guide cover starting fah in background screen? Why not just use that?

Yes, it does - thanks for reminding me. Here is a re-paste of a portion of post #5:

===========================================================

Code:
sudo nano /etc/rc.local
Add to this file:
Code:
cd /home/[user]/fah && sudo -u [user] screen -d -m ./fah6
My user is fah, so my rc.local file ends up like this:
Code:
#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.
cd /home/fah/fah && sudo -u fah screen -d -m ./fah6
exit 0
This causes fah to start on boot as your user in a detached screen. To access it, type:
Code:
screen -r
To detach, hold down the Control key and hit A then D.
 
\

sudo statement is wrong. langouste3 is not starting up in the fah client directory.

Code:
cd /home/andy/F@H && sudo -u andy ./fah6
sudo -u andy "cd /home/andy/F@H && langouste3 -l 8880 -D"

exit 0
Actually, it isn't wrong. Langouste can be started in any working directory as long as it's
started by the user that also runs FAH client.
 
When I run thekraken -i in the fah directory, I get this:
thekraken: The Kraken 0.7-pre15 (compiled Fri Mar 1 15:37:31 CST 2013 by
thekraken: Processor affinity wrapper for Folding@Home
thekraken: The Kraken comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; licensed under GPLv2
thekraken: wrapping FahCores in '.'
thekraken: finished, found no files to process
My core exe is called FahCore_78.exe. It seems to me that thekraken is not programmed to find that version. Is there anything I can do?
 
That suggests you're running fah in uniprocessor mode (not SMP).

Check if -smp parameter is included either in the command line or in client parameters in client.cfg.
 
That suggests you're running fah in uniprocessor mode (not SMP).

Check if -smp parameter is included either in the command line or in client parameters in client.cfg.
You were right. Thanks!
 
Yes, it does - thanks for reminding me. Here is a re-paste of a portion of post #5:

===========================================================
snip

I've followed this and for some reason when I boot my system it starts FAH, but it sits waiting for me to enter config info again (User name, team, etc) but if I manually execute FAH it loads as normal and starts working. Any suggestions?

This is what my rc.local looks like-

sudo -u loft langouste3 -l 8880 -D
cd /home/loft/fah && sudo -u loft screen -d -m ./fah6
exit 0
 
How do you "manually execute FAH"? It sounds like you have more than one fah directory.
 
From terminal. Go to fah directory in home directory and then type "sudo ./fah6"
 
Ugh.

So here, you are starting the client as the user:

loft said:
cd /home/loft/fah && sudo -u loft screen -d -m ./fah6

and here

loft said:
Go to fah directory in home directory and then type "sudo ./fah6"

as root.

I suspect that your fah files are already owned by root which is causing your troubles
and what you need to resolve. Having root-owned stuff in your home directory is generally
considered messy and asking for trouble.

0. Stop FAH

1.
Code:
sudo chown -R loft ~/fah

2. Do not ever start "loft's" fah as root.
 
Thanks for the info. Turns out that's exactly what I did... :X

It dawned on me earlier when I was eating dinner with the gf. I promptly left the table and fixed it. Of course she got a little miffed that I left family time to "play" but it's working flawlessly now so it was worth it.

Now onto HFM... well maybe tomorrow. Thanks again!
 
A small tip: in the section where you show how to make fah run at each boot, it's a bit confusing that the user name is fah. Would be less "messy" if the USER "fah" was replaced with something like "<user>".
 
A small tip: in the section where you show how to make fah run at each boot, it's a bit confusing that the user name is fah. Would be less "messy" if the USER "fah" was replaced with something like "<user>".

Thanks for the input. I'll be updating this guide hopefully this week with some major changes, and will do something different with this as well.
 
If you are not having issues with your current version, there is no reason to change. The ramdisk part will be a separate install guide that I am currently working on.
 
Musky,

Thanks for updating that Ubuntu SMP setup. When I saw that it had been updated I decided to try it out on my Dell C6100 all 4 nodes, upped my ppd by over 50% using that setup.

Thanks. Appreciate all the hard work. Especially that script.
 
Musky,

Thanks for upgrading the guide, quick question: in the previous guide, it was said not to use BFS w/ 10.04LTS, but it does work with 12.04LTS, is it worth upgrading for that purpose? I'm running 2 Dual Octal and a Dual Hex on 10.04 at the moment without BFS (but I am running the new Ramdisk configuration).

Also, on a complete side note (and I did this because for some reason, as I run domains on both my test environment in work and at home, samba gets a little flaky at times, so I run a lite webserver called cherokee to get access to the fahlog for HFM. On a plus side, It also let me easily transfer configs & such with wget and skip a lot of that type of thing.
 
Ran the script, had to do it 3 times, First time using the server version of ubuntu (normally I did gentoo for servers in the past, and have been using the desktop 10.04 for folding. Didn't realize I had to get gcc and make installed via apt on the default installation, you may want to consider tossing those 2 items into the mix on your script :) Overall, worked great, can't wait to see if it affects my numbers any on the machine I put it on.
 
Ran the script, had to do it 3 times, First time using the server version of ubuntu (normally I did gentoo for servers in the past, and have been using the desktop 10.04 for folding. Didn't realize I had to get gcc and make installed via apt on the default installation, you may want to consider tossing those 2 items into the mix on your script :) Overall, worked great, can't wait to see if it affects my numbers any on the machine I put it on.

Sure enough, Ubuntu 12.04 Server does not have the required packages to install thekraken. I just pushed a fix to the script that installs the missing packages, so you should not have any further issues with it and an Ubuntu 12.04 Server install.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
Probably missed -smp param.

For bigadv you will additionally need -bigadv or -bigbeta -- nowadays they seem to be equivalent.
 
this is only a 2p 771 setup, no bigadev

sorry to be dense, I wasn't prompted for -smp, how do I set it?
 
First, you need to stop the client -- either press Ctrl+C in the terminal with the client, or run: pkill fah6 (from another terminal).

Then, delete the uniprocessor unit -- no point in waiting for it to complete:
Code:
cd ~/fah/
rm -r queue.dat work

Next, you have two options.

Option 1: add -smp parameter at the end of your fah command line, e.g.
Code:
./fah6 -smp
The downside is that you will need to remember to add it every time you start the client.

=================================================================

Option 2: modify client configuration so client applies the parameter automatically

Go to client directory:
Code:
cd ~/fah/
This should return w/o error.

Next, run the command to reconfigure the client:
Code:
./fah6 -configonly

Keep on pressing Enter (retain current value) until you see the following prompt:
Code:
Change advanced options (yes/no) [no]?

Type 'yes' and press Enter.

Keep on pressing Enter (retain current value) until you see the following prompt:
Code:
Additional client parameters. Use space to clear. []?

At the prompt type:
Code:
-verbosity 9 -smp
press Enter afterwards.

Retain remaining values by pressing Enter until you see command prompt back.

Then start the client the way you normally do it (no need to provide parameters at the command line any more), e.g.
Code:
./fah6
 
Just tired this on Ubuntu 13.04 server and my tpf was 10 minuets higher then on debian with v7 (8101)
Lots of people are saying 13.04 is faster then 12.10 and its shouldn't be changing much from now until launch (for server version anyway, desktop version will have change as there is more in it).

Something has changed in 13.04 that is causing a big slow down.
Just a word of warning.
 
got it, I see it was buried in the advanced options

thank you tear
 
For the record, we do not plan to endorse 13.04.

12.04 LTS is the currently endorsed version and we will generally support LTS versions
exclusively.

Read on, though... :)

Just tired this on Ubuntu 13.04 server and my tpf was 10 minuets higher then on debian with v7 (8101)
Lots of people are saying 13.04 is faster then 12.10 and its shouldn't be changing much from now until launch (for server version anyway, desktop version will have change as there is more in it).

Something has changed in 13.04 that is causing a big slow down.
Just a word of warning.
If you still have that installation, please download and run fahdiag while client is running:
Code:
cd $HOME
wget http://darkswarm.org/horde/fahdiag/fahdiag.sh
chmod +x fahdiag.sh
./fahdiag.sh | pastebinit
then paste resulting URL.
 
FYI

One of the servers [darkswarm.org] that hosts fah tools unfortunately went down.

As a consequence, install script is currently not operational.

We are working on alternative D/L locations and hope to have them
available sometime on Sunday, March 31, 2013.

Sorry about the inconvenience.
 
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