i used to play with Linux a few years ago. i'm thinking
of building or buying a 2nd hand rig and setting it up
for Debian Ubuntu. How well does MW run on linux ?
Sorry I don't use Linux so can't help with that question.
Greetings
There is a few of us here that a running linux boxes, but I not to sure if anyone is running AMD GPU cards though.
I myself and rebooting a box with Linux Mint with an NVIDIA GPU, just found this one so easy.
But our Captain, Dingo, well he might have some more info, as he has delved into the nuts and bolts of runnings Linux boxes.
Cheers
What i was thinking of doing was using my NVidia card in the
Linux box and getting another RX580 to put in the Windows rig.
All of mine are nVidia. I think Chooka and Tazz have AMD cards. I think Chooka has one or more in Windows machines.
My only Linux box with a GPU is running an Nvidia GTX-750. Installing the correct drivers was very easy.
I have tried Linux with an AMD R7 260X and had no luck with getting the driver to work. Boinc couldn't see the GPU even though the OS was using it with no problems.
Well then Linux and a NVIDIA card are a good start.
I always use Ubuntu now as I have been using it for a couple of years and find it the easiest to find answers on. If you download the new Ubuntu 20 version the NVIDIA CUDA drivers are available to download out of the box.
## The command line syntax is:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -----> If the update said there were new packages to download and install.
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
##OR if you know the driver number you want:
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-440
## Reboot the machine
sudo reboot
## To check for the currently used graphics driver execute:
sudo lshw -c video
##Another alternative could be to use mesa utils:
sudo apt install mesa-utils
glxinfo -B
## If you wish to know what graphics card your system is using execute the following command:
lspci -nn | grep -E 'VGA|Display'
OR
sudo lshw -c video
That should be it
Speaking if Linux, I discovered yesterday that running Linux with Universe@Home yields more than DOUBLE the amount of credits! (My 3950X does almost 400K/day vs another 3950X running Linux doing 1.3Mil/day) :cry
I'm pretty gutted by this news actually as I like Universe@Home and I don't run Linux (nor do I have any wish to run it)
I'm a bit torn now whether I should bother crunching U@H any more with such woeful credits for Windows users :thumbdown:
Hey Chooka03
If one of the machines is a spare, ie just a cruncher, its not that hard these days to setup a linux cruncher.
There are plenty of people here now, that run Linux, majority Ubuntu
Especially with your Threadrippers, it would be a blast to crunch.
Happy Days
Regards
Yeah...not going to happen mate. I really can't be bothered with Linux.
It will DEFINITELY not happen on my main rig 3950X. I'll probably just crunch somewhere else other than Universe@Home. Plenty more projects that are more Windows friendly.
Quote from: chooka03 on November 25, 2020, 06:03:45 AM
Yeah...not going to happen mate. I really can't be bothered with Linux.
It will DEFINITELY not happen on my main rig 3950X. I'll probably just crunch somewhere else other than Universe@Home. Plenty more projects that are more Windows friendly.
You can run Linux on VirtualBox. It would be a little Linux machine on your Windows machine. These are the directions for Windows 10 https://www.c-sharpcorner.com/article/how-to-install-ubuntu-on-windows-10-using-virtualbox/
Hmmm thanks Dingo. I read through all those instructions. I might try it on my threadripper at some stage.
Question.... is Linux better than Win10 for most BOINC projects? I'm not talking about Linux specific projects like MLC........ just generally whether the credits are better for most/some/all projects if you run Linux instead of Win10.
I could install Linux on my crunchers which I don't have a monitor hooked up to but I guess I'll also then have to install BOINCTASKS and relocate them again.
The difference in credit for Universe is just staggering. It may not be worth the effort if it only benefits 1 project. I'd hate to have to switch between the 2 O/S depending on the project I'm crunching. A VM would make it a bit easier though because I could continue to use my PC with Windows 10 but run BOINC with the VM.
Thanks for the link Dingo.
Long ago I used to sometimes set up my computer to dual boot Linux & Windows, but in recent years, I have been downloading virtual machines from this website ...
https://www.osboxes.org/ (https://www.osboxes.org/)
They have virtual machines for lots of different Linux distributions that you can just download and start using.
I downloaded an Ubuntu VM recently that I'm using for Gaia@home and a few other projects at the moment.
I think virtual machines are really good for learning & experimenting.
In VirtualBox you can take snapshots of your virtual machine at any time, so if you mess something up, you can easily revert back to a previous state.
It's nice to be able to have both Windows & Linux - you can keep using the Windows programs that you're used to, but you also have access to lots of useful Linux software as well.
Edit :I read that there is an important limitation to running BOINC in a VM though.
If you take a look at this website : https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/VboxApps (https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/VboxApps)
It says ...
QuoteCurrently you can't run GPU applications in VirtualBox VMs.
OK, if i understand correctly i can download an Ubuntu VM
to this W10 computer and continue to run MW on the GPU's
in Windows and at the same time run Universe ( or something else )
on the CPU's using Linux ?
i already have VirtualBox on this rig.
Yes, that's right.
I mainly do it so that I can crunch projects like WEP-M+2 Project & Gaia@home, which don't have Windows applications.
You can choose how many of your CPU threads to assign to the VM.
At the moment I have 4 threads assigned to my VM, so I can crunch 4 CPU workunits simultaneously in the VM.
At the same time I am continuing to run GPU workunits (and some other CPU workunits) in Windows.
You can also choose how much memory to assign to the VM.
At the moment I have 8GB assigned to the VM.
The physical computer has 32GB of RAM in total, so there is still plenty left over for Windows.
I've made a little progress. I went into the BIOS and turned on the VM part of it to get Ubuntu to install on the VM.
Edit - Bah... I'm close to giving up :compbash:
I got it all working but when I go to download BOINC for Linux, a box pops up and says its a shell file and I need to choose program.
Please don't tell me I have to open a terminal and type a bunch of jargon in to run a file like BOINC?
This looks to be a lot of work that I can't see myself doing across 6 pc's just to crunch Universe@Home with better credits. Linux is not user friendly for people like me who have only ever known Windows.
Edit #2 - Sorry... I just get really frustrated with software. I've always struggled with that stuff. .xml file etc. I hate it! and I'm just used to Windows .exe files which just work.
I'll await a response and see how difficult (my level of difficult) it is to get BOINC installed on Ubuntu via the VM and see how it goes.
Hi Chooka,
There are a few different ways that you can install BOINC.
One way would be to open a terminal window and enter the following ...
sudo apt install boinc-client boinc-manager
But you don't have to manually type these sorts of commands.
You can just copy and paste the command from your browser into the terminal window, then hit Enter.
The Virtual machine I downloaded already had Firefox installed (which is the same browser that I use in Windows), so I can browse the web from within my VM and copy and paste text from the browser into the terminal window.
You can also copy and paste things from Windows as well.
In VirtualBox, if you right-click on your virtual machine, then click "Settings", there are various different things you can set.
If you click "General", then go to the "Advanced" tab, there is a dropdown box for "Shared Clipboard".
I have this set to "Bidirectional" which lets me copy and paste between Windows & Linux or vice-versa.
To paste text into the terminal window, just right-click anywhere in the window and select "Paste".
Another way that I have been installing software is with "Synaptic Package Manager".
It lists heaps of software packages along with descriptions and lets you install or uninstall them without having to enter any commands.
You can just click on the software you want to install and select "Mark for installation", then click the "Apply" button at the top of the screen.
I installed Synaptic with the following command ...
sudo apt install synaptic
Since installing Synaptic I have mostly been using this to install software rather than commands in the terminal.
In Synaptic you can browse through the various categories of software, or do a search for a specific program.
If you search for boinc you will find a package called boinc (the description is "metapackage for the BOINC client and the manager").
Just right-click on it and select "Mark for Installation", then click the "Apply" button at the top of the screen.
A popup appears that says "Mark additional required changes?" - click "Mark".
Click "Apply" again.
Note:
You can also get newer versions of BOINC from the following PPA (Personal Package Archive): https://launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/boinc (https://launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/boinc)
(I can describe how to do this if you want - I just didn't want to complicate things too much)
Oh boy....
Firstly, thank you for this - sudo apt install boinc-client boinc-manager
This actually worked but I couldn't find that simple instruction anywhere. Whilst it worked, I have no idea where it was installed or how to find it. :thumbdown:
I'm just going to leave it for the time being. I'm really not enjoying this and I see Universe@Home is down anyway.
Thanks for your time guys. Hopefully this info will help someone else over time. :thumbsup:
Quote from: chooka03 on November 28, 2020, 10:12:40 PM
Oh boy....
Firstly, thank you for this - sudo apt install boinc-client boinc-manager
This actually worked but I couldn't find that simple instruction anywhere. Whilst it worked, I have no idea where it was installed or how to find it. :thumbdown:
I'm just going to leave it for the time being. I'm really not enjoying this and I see Universe@Home is down anyway.
Thanks for your time guys. Hopefully this info will help someone else over time. :thumbsup:
Normally Ubuntu loads BOINC into the folder /usr/bin It does not have a folder of it's own it is in with all the other user files.
This thread has taught me a lot and given me much
to think about. Thank you everyone.
i'm going to look at a 2nd hand box on Thursday.
it ha a Core i5 6600 in it and i think i'll put Ubuntu
Linux in it.
Can anyone tell me how MW credits are when CPU
crunching in Linux as opposed to Windows ?
Greetings All
Yes, installing via the repository is the easiest, but when you need to muck around with config files, app config files and such, well in Linux Mint, you will find them under /lib/var/boinc-client
Unfortunately, you have to edit under Root/Admin, but with Linux Mint, and using there version of File Explorer, you have an option on the right click context menu, called Open As Root.
Which could mean a headspin for the newcomers
Cheers
I found the usr/bin folder (finally) and I can see some file names like BOINC, BOINCMGR, etc but none of them open if I double click on them. A box just appears and says "There is no application for "shared library" files. Do you want to search for an application?
No idea what to do.
Quote from: chooka03 on December 01, 2020, 09:19:09 PM
I found the usr/bin folder (finally) and I can see some file names like BOINC, BOINCMGR, etc but none of them open if I double click on them. A box just appears and says "There is no application for "shared library" files. Do you want to search for an application?
No idea what to do.
Are you running Ubuntu desktop (GUI) or the Ubuntu server (command line) ??
Hi Dingo,
I've no idea actually but it's all good. I got it sorted :thumbsup:
Thanks for your help :cheers: