Im about fed up....

[jws2346]

Yep.. thank god for Notfreds Linux client and VMware. I've neither the time nor the inclination to fight the SMP clients or learn Linux.

The only real issue I had was with getting Fahmon to pickup the VMs on a reliable basis but Fahspy took care of that.

You ain't just a ' kiddin' brother computer addict (nomad8u)

I still don't understand all I know about VMWare, let alone being proficient in Linux. I find you really don't need to be that proficient in Linux for just folding

Late the other night I had a HD crash and burn on one of my Q6600's runnin' LinSMP under the Ubuntu v8.04 OS (it had 2x clients originally) For a temporary fix (I'm a pernts w[H]ore I didn't want no down time ) I just DL'ed the notfred CD for 4x cores, burned it to a CD, went into BIOS and set it for DVD boot, pluged in a little 1 GB flash drive and back to folding city I went. (15 mins or 20 mins max downtime). I've been using that configuration for a couple of days until the "pony express" (UPS) delivered a new 80 GB SATA HD from the egg. (I still think smaller drives are faster, at least I know they're cheaper)

This diskless/headless notfred CD is a "no brainer". Until someone mentioned it was Linux I hadn't even thought about it. I can't get over how easy it is

@ capreppy: thanks for pointing out the 2x cores or 4x cores CD setup. That way setting it to 2x core I think you can run 2x clients of LinSMP on a quad core CPU . I knew I was using a quad core CPU so when I saw the check mark for 4x cores I just automatically checked it

FOLD ON!

 

[Pocatello]

4 years ago when I started folding, it was a set it and forget it.....now its like a friggen job keeping it going......

I don't have the time to tinker with this shit either, especially @ work.

the work involved in keeping the clients running has gone from "set it and forget it" to extremely time consuming.

If I only had one boxen running one SMP and one GPU... I would still need to check it twice daily to see if it was doing anything. I've got my points fluctuating all over the place due to no fault of mine. Buggy clients, buggy collection servers.... aaaahhh!

Having multiple boxen running has increased my IT support time to crazy levels.

 

[APOLLO]

the work involved in keeping the clients running has gone from "set it and forget it" to extremely time consuming.

If I only had one boxen running one SMP and one GPU... I would still need to check it twice daily to see if it was doing anything. I've got my points fluctuating all over the place due to no fault of mine. Buggy clients, buggy collection servers.... aaaahhh!

Having multiple boxen running has increased my IT support time to crazy levels.

Completely agreed. It's almost like a part-time job in and of itself especially if you're running anything above 2-3 systems. Multiple clients and client types, multiple OS setups, VMs, processor affinity settings, OC tools, network configurations, etc. Juggling all of that is becoming an acrobatic feat.

 

[HighYield]

Having multiple boxen running has increased my IT support time to crazy levels.

+1
I don't even feel guilty about not really attempting to load that new "beta" SMP on my boxens and instead just replaced with the new fah.exe file that Xilikon provided the link for. Many thanks to relic and others who posted their early experiences with the new SMP clients.

 

[SatTech]

This is precisely why I've stuck with the console client. Seems like every time I try the SMP client, it ends up crashing and burning after a while. Given my work schedule (28 days away, 14 days at home) I need something that just works. I know I'm missing out on some PPD, but I'd rather be doing 3 x consoles at approx 350 PPD each than a couple of SMP's that may only run for a few days and sit crashed for 4 weeks until I get home and can restart them...

 

[Pogo]

If only I could get the new smp client running as a service properly, i'd be set. as it is, i've got too many systems to manage and most are still running the old beta client. i'm going to end up running the old beta client for some time to come unless they fix this.

 

[Kendrak]

If only I could get the new smp client running as a service properly, i'd be set. as it is, i've got too many systems to manage and most are still running the old beta client. i'm going to end up running the old beta client for some time to come unless they fix this.

Nothing wrong with that.

They know they need to fix it and they are working on it.

I have some systems with the new, and some with the old. If the systems threw a fit with the new I installed the old exe. All my boxen are happy.

 

[aldamon]

Linux SMP under VMWare FTW !!!

<smartass>

WCG FTW. Zero downtime.

</smartass>

 

[SmokeRngs]

This is precisely why I've stuck with the console client. Seems like every time I try the SMP client, it ends up crashing and burning after a while. Given my work schedule (28 days away, 14 days at home) I need something that just works. I know I'm missing out on some PPD, but I'd rather be doing 3 x consoles at approx 350 PPD each than a couple of SMP's that may only run for a few days and sit crashed for 4 weeks until I get home and can restart them...

Linux SMP has had no problems for me in a very long time. The only thing I really keep an eye on is my GPU client for the most part.

<smartass>

WCG FTW. Zero downtime.

</smartass>

Linux SMP: No downtime unless there is a power outage at my place and everything kicks back on once power comes back with no interaction from me.

Sure, the damn Stanford servers go down but my Linux clients recovered once the servers were back up.

And yes, I have three personal systems running WCG as well as a couple of borgs.

 

[jws2346]

Thanks SmokeRngs, I'm sure glad you chimed in on the "no problemos in the downtime department". Here I've been getting more gray hairs worrying about why my 3 boxen weren't giving me more headaches then they were. I just figured I didn't have enough boxen to sweat it (like the "heavy duty" folders). I have 1x Q6600 crunching with a WinSMP client and a GPU2 client (no problemos), I have 1x Q6600 doing the VMWare thing, host WinXP and the client Ubuntu v8.04 (no problemos, I kinda like it because it's been picking up core2's lately) and last, but not least, I have a E6600 doing the notfred CD headless/diskless thing. (because it's separate from my other two boxen I even forget sometimes to clean the "dust bunnies" out of it on my little once a month or so maintenance foray)

Other than the usual rebooting for windose updates, power glitches for more then 10 mins or so (I ain't had none of them lately) and my tired ole' TrippLite 850 can handle 10 or so mins, my sometimes "musical swapping" of CPU's, OS's, etc and of course the "always freaking happening" server problems, power problems or just general "D'oh" problems that Stanford U always has it's been a kinda' turn it on and walk away type thing with me. The only attention I pay to my 24/7 folders is check the H20 (my quads are WC'ed), clean out the "dust bunnies" and make sure the fans are all spinin'.

I better stop braggin', next thing I know we'll have a earthquake where I live. It wouldn't stop my folding, but it'd probably screw up the electric power (damn electric keepers, what's a little ole' 6 on the ritcher (SP) scale, only kiddin')

OBTW, I had to put blue lighted fans on my boxen so I knew they had power and were running.

Edit: I forgot my last downtime of 15 or 20 mins, my HD went out on one of my quads so I did the notfred CD thing. The HD (old 40 GB) had been folding previously in other configurations. (like with different OS's, CPU's, boxen, mobos, etc for a lot time (maybe three years ?, I'm "el cheapo" to the max)

FOLD ON!

 

[SatTech]

Linux SMP has had no problems for me in a very long time. The only thing I really keep an eye on is my GPU client for the most part.


Linux SMP: No downtime unless there is a power outage at my place and everything kicks back on once power comes back with no interaction from me.

.

Yeah, I've given some thought to a VM with the Linux client. I dabbled with a VM for a little bit, but unfortunately ran out of time. My next two weeks at home will hopefully allow me some time to investigate it a little further.

 

[Pogo]

is there a vmware image of not freds client? anyone run it that way?

 

[Tigerbiten]

is there a vmware image of not freds client? anyone run it that way?

Yes.
Its Here.
I dont as I've built my own disk image.

Luck ...........

 

[drgnfang]

I'm running a CentOS disk image I believe. To lazy to make slamd work.

 

[Vediovus]

I've got virtualbox sitting on my freshly formatted c2d box and I think I'm gonna give the linux smp client a try after I see where the OC on it maxes out. Not having to babysit a smp client will be nice.

 

[brycejones]

I switched most of boxen over to WCG because I don't have the time to keep updating/checking on clients right now. I'm hating the hit my FAH productivity has taken, but man is my WCG productivity up.

 

[aldamon]

I switched most of boxen over to WCG because I don't have the time to keep updating/checking on clients right now. I'm hating the hit my FAH productivity has taken, but man is my WCG productivity up.

Sounds like you'll be tearing up the WCG charts. Cool.

 

[nomad8u]

is there a vmware image of not freds client? anyone run it that way?

Oh yeah! Three clients between two quads paired up with three GPU clients = 19-20kppd with VERY little fuss. If you need some help getting set up and running just shout.

 

[OldGuru]

My last attemp at the Win SMP It wouldnt run if I over clocked one MHz, but that was months ago.Native linux most stable, I like suse linux best, Ubuntu is easiest for linux N00b!