365 Days of Folding = 4,119,990 pernts

Tomorrow will mark exactly one year since my son and I became addicted to the cause. Lots of the [H]orde have been folding longer or fold faster but I just got to thinking how it took almost exactly 6 months to reach 1 Mil and 6 more months for the next 3 Mil (thank you GPU folding). I remember when I discovered how many more points the SMP would give than 2 classic clients. Then the discovery that you could run 2 SMP's on a quad...I think I got dizzy trying to comprehend 2800ppd out of the CPU! Well, you guys know how the rest of this story goes. Now there's 3xQ6600's, 2x8800GT, 3x9800GT, PS3, dual core laptop, and single core laptop all crunching away. Every time I hear about someone I know getting cancer, I feel like all this matters besides being just an outlet for my nerdness. I fold for the [H]orde because I was a fan of the HardOCP website long before I knew what folding was. I commend all the regular contributors on this forum for being so patient and understanding and treating everyone with respect. I predict a long and bright future for this team. Thanks all and fold on brethren.

You've made a very impressive contribution . 4mil points in a year is definitely a very big commitment. I, and I'm sure everyone else who's in this for the cure as well, very much appreciate all that you've put in to the F@H project, and I hope that as time goes on, you'll be able to add even more .

By the way, if you think that 2800PPD on a quad is a lot, try running the Linux SMP client on all four cores - you could end up with nearly double that number. Going from a single SMP client using 3 cores on my Q9550 to a single Linux VM folding with the SMP client on two cores, I increased my PPD from this CPU by 50%. If I was able to run another VM on the other two cores (I can't since I'm using one for the GPU client and the other one is for everything else), I'd probably be putting out upwards of 5000PPD from my CPU alone.

Zero82z - I've considered trying linux but I just know nothing about it. I have enough trouble keeping my windoze boxen running along. This is where my nerdness maxes out Your point is well taken...maybe someday when I have more time.

Wesleynator said:

Zero82z - I've considered trying linux but I just know nothing about it. I have enough trouble keeping my windoze boxen running along. This is where my nerdness maxes out Your point is well taken...maybe someday when I have more time.

Click to expand...

If you need help, I'd be happy to give it . All you have to do is ask. There's plenty of info around here on how to set up a Linux folding box, and it's really not that complicated.

Very Impressive glad to have you involved in the project!

Thanks, Sunin. I remember when the Sunin mower ran over me!!

That is truly impressive. I will come up on my one year anniversary in 34 days.

Wesleynator said:

Thanks, Sunin. I remember when the Sunin mower ran over me!!

Click to expand...

I remember it as a stream roller.



OP:

4 Mil points in a single year is very nice block of points. Thank you for the contribution to the project, and the [H]orde!

Great contribution to a excellent cause. Thanks for participating.

Wesleynator said:

I've considered trying linux but I just know nothing about it. I have enough trouble keeping my windoze boxen running along. This is where my nerdness maxes out Your point is well taken...maybe someday when I have more time.

Click to expand...

You don't really have to get involved with Linux to run Linux F@H. You can do it pretty easy on your Windows quads. VMware Server is a free download from here. That link will allow you to register for free license keys. Not sure if the Server 2 keys work with the Server 1.0.x versions but I and several others prefer version 1.0.x mainly due to the interface.

After installing VMware server you can get Linux folding going by using Notfreds folding CD to configure and download an ISO that'll run in VMware. Set that CD up to match your "personal" folding info and whatever your network workgroup name is, set it for SMP for 2 CPUs and you're Linux folding...

Any help you need with getting it going should be readily available here.

nomad8u said:

Great contribution to a excellent cause. Thanks for participating.



You don't really have to get involved with Linux to run Linux F@H. You can do it pretty easy on your Windows quads. VMware Server is a free download from here. That link will allow you to register for free license keys. Not sure if the Server 2 keys work with the Server 1.0.x versions but I and several others prefer version 1.0.x mainly due to the interface.

After installing VMware server you can get Linux folding going by using Notfreds folding CD to configure and download an ISO that'll run in VMware. Set that CD up to match your "personal" folding info and whatever your network workgroup name is, set it for SMP for 2 CPUs and you're Linux folding...

Any help you need with getting it going should be readily available here.

Click to expand...

OK - decided to give it a try. I downloaded vmware, installed it, and set up a virtual machine. I also downloaded the notfred iso image and burned it to a cd. Now, I'm lost. What do I do next? I've tried several things thinking I would just stumble into making it work...such as rebooting with the CD in the drive. Thanks.

Which version of VMWare are you using? If you're using Server 2, you need to download the console plugin.

Using version 2. I did just download the console plug in. I also copied the fold.iso file to the vm machine directory and the console displays a message that says:

Diskless Folding version 081114 by Nick Reilly
Processor type: x86_64
Found 2 processors
User: Wesleynator
Team: 33
Big Packets: big
Advmethods: yes
Memory: MB
Backup every 15 minutes

**edit snip**

SMP instance per 2 CPU's

Setting up instance 1
Hard drive image is corrupted, not backing up

So is it working?

Wesleynator said:

OK - decided to give it a try. I downloaded vmware, installed it, and set up a virtual machine. I also downloaded the notfred iso image and burned it to a cd. Now, I'm lost. What do I do next? I've tried several things thinking I would just stumble into making it work...such as rebooting with the CD in the drive. Thanks.

Click to expand...

Glad to see you're willing to give it a try. Looking at what I suggested again (it's been a while since I ran Notfreds, but ran it successfully for months) I think I took you the tough route. Let's try the easy way eh? You've got the hard part done with getting VMware server installed. You can now delete that VM you created so it isn't sitting there eating up HD space.

1. Create a folder on any HD you have available with several gigs of space. Call it "Virtual" or whatever will make it easy to locate.
2. Under that "main" virtual machine folder, two folders (if you're going to run multiple copies on a quad or just one to start with if you like to get it running.) and call them "FAH1 and FAH2" or whatever you like.
3. Head back over to Notfreds site and download the Folding Virtual Appliance here. It's a 16mb ready to run VM.
4. Unzip that file to the folder "FAH" or whatever you called it and if you're going to run two copies, unzip a second copy to the second folder.
5. Fire up the VMware server console and from the "file" menu select "open" and browse to the FAH folder where you unzipped that file and select the "folding.vmx" vm.

Walla... you've got a ready to run Linux folding VM. If you're creating 2 of them just open the second copy and walla again.

Couple of suggestions. You can now edit each VM's settings and you HAVE to setup your folding info (user and team network name (WORKGROUP or whatever you use so you can monitor the vm with FAHmon or FAHSpy) etc.) the first time you start the VM.

For the VM settings, I would suggest setting each VM to a minimum of 640k of ram (that's the default setup) but if you've got the ram to spare, set 768 to 1024 for each one if you can spare it. Also give each VM a distinct name to make it easier to identify it in the console if you run more than one. If you want the vm to start automatically on boot up, Edit the VM settings in "Options" - Startup/Shutdown". Select local system account to modify those settings and enable starting the VM automagically when you boot up.

That should get you going. Once you start the VM, you'll notice during startup that it's configured with notfred's username and his team, as well as the workgroup name of "DISKLESS". It's also set to install to usb on boot if it finds one.

Take note of the IP address you'll see on starting the VM. Enter that address in a browser window to be able to reconfigure that host. Also take note of the hostname as it'll help you locate it on your network after you change your config to whaterer your Windows workgroup is for your home. Once you change the setup, reboot the VM client via the browser interface to the folding client and you're good to go.

That's it. For the second client, just wash, rinse and repeat.

Good luck and post back if you've got any problems.

Wesleynator said:

Using version 2. I did just download the console plug in. I also copied the fold.iso file to the vm machine directory and the console displays a message that says:

Diskless Folding version 081114 by Nick Reilly
Processor type: x86_64
Found 2 processors
User: Wesleynator
Team: 33
Big Packets: big
Advmethods: yes
Memory: MB
Backup every 15 minutes

**edit snip**

SMP instance per 2 CPU's

Setting up instance 1
Hard drive image is corrupted, not backing up

Click to expand...

That's it.. it's working. Ignore that HD image is corrupt message. That's normal when folding from an ISO version.

See my additional post above for an even easier method if you like for future setups. Good job getting it running.

Let it run for a while and it gave an error that it was out of memory and killed the process. I'm going to delete that vm and start over with the "easy" instructions you provided. It'll either work or I'll be crying for more help in a little while. Thanks for taking the time to type out all those detailed instructions.

Hmmm...still having a rough time with this after several hours messing with it yesterday. As you suggested I downloaded the notfred folding appliance and copied it to a couple directories. This VMware Server 2.0 UI gives me fits. I could not figure out how to point vmware to the notfred appliance so I tried telling it to use the iso file again which seemed to work. After letting it run for a few hours (during super bowl) I come back to the remote console and it has about 15 lines repeating the image is corrupt which I understand may be normal. I had allocated 1GB of memory so did not experience the out of memory error like last time. This was set for 2 CPU's. I was also continuing to run the other Windows SMP on the remaining two and performance on it was terrible. New software always takes some getting used to but this stuff is frustrating and more effort at this point than I have to give. My wife and kids don't like it when FAH makes me cranky either Maybe I will try again sometime in the future when I'm bored or in the right mood for a real challenge. Thanks again.

When you first open the web interface and log in, there is a box in the Summary tab called Datastores. In there, the path of the directory for your virtual machines will be listed. Make sure to copy the .vmx file for the notfred VM into that directory for VMWare to detect it.

Once you've done that, click on the Virtual Machines tab on top. Then, click the link on the right titled "Add Virtual Machine to Inventory". You'll see a window pop up with the name of your computer listed, and the datastore containing your virtual machines underneath it. Click on the datastore, and then select the .vmx file in the pane to the right. Click Ok, and then the VM should be listed under the Virtual Machines tab along with the one you've already made. Then you should just be able to start it by selecting it and clicking the Power On link on the right.