Hi - thinking maybe refreshing an old topic and making life simpler for people like me who want to try Linux in a box and need a "How to" guide. I have run out of windoze licenses and want to try putting Linux on a xeon box to run Boinc. Linux 4.9 or 4.11 I have seen on others crunching POGS.
Does anyone have any quick tips or a dummies guide to talk penguin that might get me up and running quickly with a boot Linux O/S? The bare xeon box I have has a CDRom so can install a Linux O/S from an ISO.
Appreciate any assistance. Thanks.
Well often people recommend Ubuntu or one of its variants for those inexperienced with Linux. However for some unknown reason, I had repeated trouble installing it so have been using Linux Mint for a few years now without any trouble.
I use the Xfce desktop environment variant as that one is supposed to be "lighter" in terms of the amount of resources it uses. Whether there is actually that much difference in resource use between the different Mint desktop environments I don't know. Seeing as I use it only for BOINC then lighter is better for my needs. Others who use Linux as their main operating system prefer one of the more fully featured "heavier" front ends.
Although Mint is a separate distribution, it is still based on the "guts" of Ubuntu. This is good because it downloads many of its updates from the same software servers (repositories) as Ubuntu. I have had no trouble with regular Mint updates and even updated from Version 17 to Version 18 easily.
There is also a Debian based Mint LMDE but being quite sudophobic I haven't tried it. I probably should because it is reported to be faster and more responsive than Ubuntu based versions. However it also requires more Linux fu and Debian package fu and is said to be a bit rough around the edges. So that scared me off. Struggling with Linux command line peregrinations in Tartarus is definitely not my cup of tea.
Some of the Linux distributions have what is called a live version which can be booted directly from a USB stick. It means you can test out a few different distros and see if you like how they look and feel. Then you can install from that USB to your HDD or SSD if you think that distro is acceptable.
Years ago I used a stripped down Linux called Dotsch UX. It was fast for BOINC. However it stopped getting updated and the old Linux libraries it contained meant it became incompatible with more and more BOINC projects. So I had to reluctantly stop using it. I haven' t looked recently but previously had been unable to find a similar stripped down Linux suitable for BOINC. I tried a server version once that had no GUI but administering it proved beyond my capabilities without risking Linux induced mania.
Here is what I used for Ubuntu
https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-ubuntu-desktop
I used Rufus to put a boot copy on a thumb drive and it installed in about 15 minutes.
Thanks for the responses JN and DM - will get onto this today. Downloading ISO's now ...
Greetings FindersKeepers
Just another one to try is Linux Mint 18.1 cinnamon desktop. Easiest one I have found to use especially on older equipment.
Regards
In my defense Dingo - I did actually search for Linux and saw only thread comments. Did not notice this header. Apologies. Bashhead
Ok so the xeon box I intend to install Linux on supports a full set of drivers for either of RHEL ver4.x or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server ver12.
Is it stretching the friendship to see if anyone has a DVD box set of either for loan?
Am out of my league to understand if linux drivers are supported across different flavours of Linux ....
Am closer to getting RHEL v7 onto a xeon box with OEM driver support .... baby steps for me.
Has anyone on the forum used Scientific Linux? https://www.scientificlinux.org/
Am going to give it a try also as it appears to be a re-authored RHEL ... wondering if anyone has experience.
Sorry, I have only used Raspian and Ubuntu and have yet to successfully install a nVidia driver on Ubuntu. You are blazing new ground here. :wink
My Ubuntu machines are outperforming Win10 on POGS.
DM .. if by blazing you mean burning up a crudload of time better spent fishing, then yes.
NVidia x64 driver for Linux x64 http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/118290/en-us ?? No good to you?
Have found 2 GTX driver flavours 375.66 and 367.44 for my 1050's and 1060's ... will burn that bridge if and when I get to it.
Quote from: FindersKeepers on June 08, 2017, 10:45:54 AM
DM .. if by blazing you mean burning up a crudload of time better spent fishing, then yes.
NVidia x64 driver for Linux x64 http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/118290/en-us ?? No good to you?
Have found 2 GTX driver flavours 375.66 and 367.44 for my 1050's and 1060's ... will burn that bridge if and when I get to it.
Oh, I downloaded the driver and did the install via a terminal window but BOINC still sees no usable GPU. Has not been a problem as 2 of them have only 1 GTX 460 and one a 570 and are no good for crunching anyway. I'll figure it out someday. Probably fat fingered something.
I am really hoping I get to have as much fun when the time comes. :faint:
Sounds like it might be a kernel issue .. as per this ...
http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/367.44/README/
Refer section 4: http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/367.44/README/installdriver.html
I am comfortable with the thought Windoze is an overloaded bucket of shyte, Linux offers known performance benefits ... as long as the sanity holds out long enough to get things up and running.
Slowly piecing together a dummies guide to wasting time ... anyone curious on the heritage of their specific Linux flavour? More than 100 distros to choose from.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Linux_Distribution_Timeline.svg
Greetings FindersKeepers
I have two machines running Linux, but they are not setup as servers though, but I gotta dig out my guide that has gotten me up and crunching BOINC CPU & GPU (NVIDIA) within a short period of time.
Will get back to you shortly with what I used.
Regards.
Greetings All
This is the guide I came up with from about this time last year, that got me crunching GPU on SETI, remember this is for Linux Mint 18.1 which is Ubuntu based.
Clean install of Linux MINT Cinnamon on HDD
Once in desktop, do the Software Updates
Restart computer if it asks to, otherwise open up a web browser and navigate to the following websites to add the PPAs to your software resources list via the command line.
https://launchpad.net/~graphics-drivers/+archive/ubuntu/ppa
https://launchpad.net/~costamagnagianfranco/+archive/ubuntu/boinc
Open up Driver Manager (Menu - Administration - Driver Manager)
Select the latest one (381.22, well that one was the version when I did my last computer) from the list. Once complete it will ask to restart.
Upon restart and back in desktop,
Open up the following link in your web browser and download the DEB package.
http://www.ubuntuupdates.org/package/core/xenial/multiverse/base/nvidia-modprobe
use GDEBI to install NVIDIA-MODPROBE.
Or you can add it via your package manager.
use Synaptic Software Manager to install BOINC (select BOINC only). It will advise of the dependancies it will download to complete installation.
Restart and once back in desktop, run BOINC, then jump to event log to see your outcome, hopefully it will be the same as mine below.
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Starting BOINC client version 7.6.2 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Libraries: libcurl/7.35.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1f zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.28 librtmp/2.3
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 670 (driver version 361.42, CUDA version 8.0, compute capability 3.0, 2047MB, 2006MB available, 2634 GFLOPS peak)
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 670 (driver version 361.42, device version OpenCL 1.2 CUDA, 2047MB, 2006MB available, 2634 GFLOPS peak)
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Host name: ducati85mille-System-Product-Name
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Processor: 4 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q9400 @ 2.66GHz [Family 6 Model 23 Stepping 10]
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx smx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm sse4_1 xsave lahf_lm dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | OS: Linux: 3.19.0-32-generic
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Memory: 7.80 GB physical, 8.00 GB virtual
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Disk: 450.45 GB total, 421.87 GB free
Tue 26 Apr 2016 18:32:55 AWST | | Local time is UTC +8 hours
This is the output from my log from last year, but you still get the point.
I used this same guide get 2 of my machines up and running SETI on GPUs using the Petri Special App, but your experience may vary due to Distribution or System requirements.
I have played around with Red Hat (long time ago), Mandriva (long time ago), Debian, Mint KDE, Mint Mate, Mint Cinnamon, Unbuntu, Xubuntu and Mint XFCE. I just found a liking for MINT Cinnamon.
Dont forget about Coolbits if you are using NVIDIA cards, I used option 5 to enable manual fan control.
Regards
Mark
:thumbsup: TD ... will use that on an older intel box tomorrow to try it out.
Am committed to RHEL for the xeon server box, hopefully get it done tomorrow also.
Cheers, thanks for replying.
Hey FindersKeepers, all good.
Wow a server box, oh my, thats out of my league lol
Have fun
Regards
The only Linux version that I successfully installed Nvidea drivers on was Centos because they have an excellent group that fix the packages for Centos. Have a look at http://elrepo.org/tiki/tiki-index.php and especially http://elrepo.org/tiki/nvidia-detect
To be honest, I am overthinking everything coming from a windoze bloatware environment where you expect everything to go wrong with your permission. Linux is a paradigm shift in expectations. The RHEL install works and Linux is fully configurable miniware by comparison. It is not the full graphical experience I am used to from windoze but give it a bit of time. I am going to install different flavours just to see what works and what doesn't out of the box without configuration.
To be fair, windoze copied a lot of stuff from unix anyways so the Linux command line is like going back to the heady days of DOS.
A draft for comedic relief ... https://www.dropbox.com/s/jcod63qfh4zpvf0/IDIOTS%20GUIDE%20TO%20INSTALLING%20LINUX%20-%20draft%20revA.pdf
OK ... this is turning out to be a bit of fun. So I am going to explode my dummies document into a hobby project and examine the attached Linux distros (highlighted green). I will discover something useful or blow something up. The intent is to get BOINC running natively on Linux on each setup and compare the performance on 3 different pieces of hardware for each distro, 2 of which will include NVIDIA GFX. I use NVidia natively as that is what is supported by my cad projects.
Updated comedic relief of Linux experiences rev.B https://www.dropbox.com/s/it8kopkweuqgx3c/IDIOTS%20GUIDE%20TO%20INSTALLING%20LINUX%20-%20revB.pdf
Attached jpg for the 11 Linux distros I am going to try - picked randomly based on popularity in no particular order - plus RHEL v7 which I have started with.
note: boinc does not run stock standard on Linux without knowing which libraries to load, so I plan on trying to solve that for the various boinc/Linux versions without using WINE or a virtual box to run windoze.
[attachment deleted by admin]
This should be very interesting to see the results of.
Ubuntu is the main distro I use now, just runs easiest out-of-the-box. I have had one of the smaller distro running on a PII before (I think it was puppy?) but was super slow of course.
If you're feeling very brave and adventures you could also compile your own version of linux that is optimised for BOINC (minimum ram use etc) :wink
Yes ... looks like a bit of fun. Will also run some standard scripts to gauge speed and collect system data. I should add these will all be x64 bit distros - thinking the x32bit might be easier.
Does anyone have a copy of the Dotsch_UX Linux distro that includes Boinc? The site/iso is no longer online. The Boinc Berkeley makes mention of this version - perhaps this answers Seans query.
http://www.dotsch.de/Dotsch_UX
[edit1] vers 1.2 was the most recent Dotsch vers I think.
[edit2] don't suppose anyone has a compiled portable version of Boinc for Linux x64 using static libraries?? would be very handy about now ...
[edit3] the wayback machine gave me the filename, there appears to be a Linux x64 copy built for Linux Boinc here - [trimmed down] https://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/dotsch_ux-12_x64.iso <-- Sean, this might already have been done
[edit4] have attached the screenshot of the md5 checksum for anyone else interested
[edit5] the iso linked from wayback is the original with the correct md5 https://web.archive.org/web/20160316085550/http://aerospaceresearch.net/dotsch/dotsch_ux-12_x64.iso <-- looks like original ISO
Wayback links to the website -
https://web.archive.org/web/20160506021454/http://www.dotsch.de:80/boinc/Home.html
https://web.archive.org/web/20160316085550/http://www.dotsch.de/boinc/Dotsch_UX.html <-- how to links on bottom of page (read down)
To clarify .. this is the Lars Bausch ISO referred to by Berkeley Boinc https://boinc.berkeley.edu/trac/wiki/DownloadOther
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It is not too hard to compile BOINC for a specific machine. I posted a thread a while ago about compiling on Centos here http://forum.boinc-australia.net/index.php?topic=1994.0 (http://forum.boinc-australia.net/index.php?topic=1994.0)
A couple of years ago a script by Daniel Carrion was created to Compile BOINC on Debian 64 bit. Not sure if it still works, but it is a starting point and I have listed it here:
#!/bin/bash
#
# Load up BOINC on 64-bit Debian
#
# Step 1 - Prepare BOINC for install
#
apt-get -y update
apt-get -y upgrade
apt-get -y install build-essential libcurl4-openssl-dev git automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-openssl-dev libnotify-bin libnotify-dev
mkdir src
cd src
git clone https://github.com/BOINC/boinc boinc_repo
cd boinc_repo
./_autosetup
./configure --disable-server --enable-client CXXFLAGS="-O3 "
make -j 4
cd packages/generic/sea/
make -j 4
cp -r BOINC /tmp
#
# Step 2 - Install BOINC
#
useradd -d /opt/boinc -m boinc
su - boinc -c "mkdir bin"
su - boinc -c "cp /tmp/BOINC /boinc bin/"
su - boinc -c "touch gui_rpc_auth.cfg"
su - boinc -c "chmod 600 gui_rpc_auth.cfg"
touch /etc/init.d/boinc
echo "i" >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo "# BOINC start/stop" >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo "#" >> /eddtc/init.d/boinc
echo 'if [ $1 == start ];then' >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo " su - boinc -c 'boinc --daemon --allow_remote_gui_rpc'" >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo "fi" >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo 'if [ $1 == stop ];then' >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo " su - boinc -c 'pkill boinc'" >> /etc/init.d/boinc
echo "fi" >> /etc/init.d/boinc
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/boinc
update-rc.d boinc defaults
#
# Step 3 - Get some firewall action
#
apt-get -y install iptables-persistent
iptables -P INPUT DROP
iptables -P FORWARD DROP
iptables -P OUTPUT ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 31416 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p icmp -j ACCEPT
iptables-save > /etc/iptables/rules
#
# Step 4 Ask user for BOINC password
#
echo ""
echo "Enter the password you want to connect to BOINC using:"
read BOINC_GUI_PWD
echo "$BOINC_GUI_PWD" > /opt/boinc/gui_rpc_auth.cfg
#
# Step 4 - Reboot the sucker and check!
#
shutdown -r now
Nice one Dingo, I'll be taking that for a spin for sure! :congrats
Sean - that Dotsch UX version by Lars goes a long way to answering your question. It can run live from USB - what else do you need?
If you can find a way to update the old Linux version contained in Dotsch UX that would be very handy.
I used it for years but stopped using it a few years ago because it became incompatible with a number of projects. I have read that good practice is to "statically link" project applications to the libraries required but not all project developers do this. Because Dotsch UX has not been updated for so long the libraries it contains are not always new enough to support project applications that are not statically linked.
It was supposed to be possible to update the Linux version in Dotsch UX but I was unable to do this.
Don't know what statically link actually means or what libstdc++ libraries do, just remember that if I didn't have the right ones some projects wouldn't run.
First successful test run started !!! Boinc 7.6.33 running on Manjero 17.0 with Xfce front end using the pacman package installer. None of the instructions worked from the outset and had to upgrade the system and reinstall boinc twice. After the 3rd attempt found the boinc binaries to start the client without error and is now running via the manager window from terminal. Running on POGS to benchmark against windows 7 using exact same machine previously. Should have some results tomorrow. This is way more fun than I thought ....
Bashhead
If this proves the thesis, will expand to another machine and leave it running ... !(breath.held)
You have to remember that POGS has different sized tasks and they take a different amount of time. If you look under "View" Tasks then "Valid" and under "Tasks" you can see how many observations it has done. Trying to compare a task that has done 15 observations and one 6 is not the way to go. Just in case you had't noticed this. :jester:
Stderr output
<core_client_version>7.4.42</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<stderr_txt>
10:11:25 (13048): wrapper (7.5.26014): starting
10:11:25 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (1 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:18:45 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.406250
10:18:45 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (2 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:26:10 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.359375
10:26:10 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (3 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:33:46 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.437500
10:33:46 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (4 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:41:05 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.296875
10:41:05 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (5 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:48:27 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.406250
10:48:27 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (6 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:55:45 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.312500
10:55:45 (13048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (7 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:03:13 (13048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.015625
11:03:13 (13048): wrapper: running ./concat (7 output.fit)
11:03:14 (13048): ./concat exited; CPU time 0.000000
11:03:14 (13048): called boinc_finish(0)
</stderr_txt>
]]>
<core_client_version>7.4.42</core_client_version>
<![CDATA[
<stderr_txt>
09:01:50 (14048): wrapper (7.5.26014): starting
09:01:50 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (1 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:09:25 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.468750
09:09:25 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (2 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:16:58 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.500000
09:16:58 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (3 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:24:36 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.765625
09:24:36 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (4 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:32:04 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.562500
09:32:04 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (5 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:39:35 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.578125
09:39:35 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (6 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:47:11 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.515625
09:47:11 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (7 filters.dat observations.dat)
09:54:37 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.234375
09:54:37 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (8 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:02:09 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.437500
10:02:09 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (9 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:09:53 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.843750
10:09:53 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (10 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:17:33 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.656250
10:17:33 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (11 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:25:12 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.734375
10:25:12 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (12 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:32:55 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.515625
10:32:55 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (13 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:40:42 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.531250
10:40:42 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (14 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:48:18 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.375000
10:48:18 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (15 filters.dat observations.dat)
10:55:57 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.484375
10:55:57 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (16 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:03:42 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 456.515625
11:03:42 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (17 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:11:11 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.406250
11:11:11 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (18 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:18:38 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.078125
11:18:39 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (19 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:26:07 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 446.343750
11:26:07 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (20 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:33:34 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 436.031250
11:33:34 (14048): wrapper: running ./fit_sed (21 filters.dat observations.dat)
11:40:54 (14048): ./fit_sed exited; CPU time 435.984375
11:40:54 (14048): wrapper: running ./concat (21 output.fit)
11:40:55 (14048): ./concat exited; CPU time 0.000000
11:40:55 (14048): called boinc_finish(0)
</stderr_txt>
]]>
Yes Dingo, I did notice that early on. Is why I work on averages of the last 40 valid observations, whatever they happen to be. To measure max performance I average the same task credits per unit of time. For every machine I compared I used their last 40 valid results.
The initial observations look promising for Manjaro. Average of 9% increase in output from the identical machine running windoze, now running Linux. Will leave it run today and work on another machine running test no.2 next. For clarity, ave time per credit has reduced from 24.5 to 22.5 secs which increases daily yield.
Results confirm +8.5% increase in output from Win7 x64 to Linux x64 using i5-2400. This translates to an extra 1280 credits per day output for this machine running POGS.
Linux Manjaro v17.0, pacman updates, using pacman boinc package. Graphic user interface running boinc 7.6.33.
Side by side valid to compare ...
http://pogs.theskynet.org/pogs/results.php?hostid=798189&offset=0&show_names=0&state=4&appid= <= running win7 x64
http://pogs.theskynet.org/pogs/results.php?hostid=801398&offset=0&show_names=0&state=4&appid= <= running Linux x64
Just kicked off a dual xeon x5690 box on redhat running from command using Dingo's script above to compile the boinc service (worked a treat). I didn't get a chance to tidy up the network settings before it kicked off so have left it running. Still some things to sort out. No graphics card on this box so is all CPU only. Have 4 separate boot drives to load 4 different Linux images onto for a side by side boot/run/joyride comparison. Starting with redhat as you can tell ....
http://pogs.theskynet.org/pogs/hosts_user.php?userid=458685
In your pogs account login there is a link to insert an XML file into the boinc run directory, this loads the project automagically when the boinc service starts up.
Starting with no H/T for a baseline - 12 cores running are at 100%.
[EDIT] Discovered having a graphics card onboard with windoze penalises CPU crunching by about 5% on the 4 core i5's ... by virtue of some cpu overhead. Removing it improved output (staying with just the minimal m/b onchip GPU, no external GPU). As a matter of habit I plan on using only CPU machines for CPU projects (no plugin GFX). If you don't get the same results with a GFX card installed, try removing it if you are doing CPU only projects (rosetta/pogs). As kashi said previously, GPU crunching usually occupies one CPU thread per installed GPU card. I will be testing H/T and no H/T in this side project to measure differences and will tabulate everything for comedic relief. As I noted on a different thread, for dual xeon boxes I have seen a 20% increase in output turning H/T off. Something I want to test further .... as time and patience allows. The numbers for the i5 machine are only getting better running Manjaro. Rock solid consistency in the numbers from the i5 so far. With RHEL I have noticed the gnome process consuming CPU time - I think I will switch Gnome off or pick simpler distro interface - the Xfce on Manjaro looks OK. Am setting workspaces to 1 on everything I do with Boinc.
Am going to open a thread with speed/results/performance separately now that numbers are coming in.
Impressed with the results from Manjaro with the i5 - a clear improvement and rock solid CPU output with running at 3.2GHz. I did hope this would happen from my pogs data spreadsheet which started the whole learning to speak penguin route. Have switched H/T on the x5690's running at 100% and need to put up with fans running at full noise. The thermal management is noisier than windoze with H/T on so will check if I have the same bois config - happy to be doing this in winter. CPU only projects at the moment as this is baby steps for me ... I think it is a legitimate concern that Linux would stress performance more than windoze by pushing things closer to the edge without the same level of programmatic interface to bios/motherboards as windoze might have. I say this as I put headphones on to listen to music with H/T switched on for the x5690's. Thankfully it is a quieter gen7, if it were a gen8 there would be some unhappy campers. Will post Linux boinc performance numbers on a new thread.
Quote from: FindersKeepers on June 11, 2017, 01:55:00 PM
Sean - that Dotsch UX version by Lars goes a long way to answering your question. It can run live from USB - what else do you need?
Thanks I'll check it out when I get some time, got an old dual AMD box here I want to put Linux on. :thumbsup:
Comedic relief document on playing with Linux rev C https://www.dropbox.com/s/wtvlcxavkk47fvn/IDIOTS%20GUIDE%20TO%20INSTALLING%20LINUX%20-%20revC.pdf
I like either of Manjaro or Mint as a play toy. Manjaro edges out Mint as I like simple uncluttered interfaces with a focus on using CPU's to do stuff, not make it look pretty. Either is simple to work with - have only just started playing with Mint today to be fair. All systems I am playing with are x64 bit.
Looking good :bravo
Somebody should one day snap one of these up for $400 and play with Linux on it. Would be a hoot!!!
http://www.graysonline.com/lot/0002-2165107/computers-and-it-equipment/hp-proliant-dl580-g7-rack-mount-chassis-server
4x X7550 in a G7 - would be fairly quiet also.
Now that I am understanding a little bit how to talk penguin - this package link might be usefull for others trying to get Boinc to work properly on Linux - using a recent version 7.6.33.
This is the arch Linux package that installs with pacman using manjaro - but you need to update your repositories.
using $> pacman-mirrors -g
https://pkgs.org/download/boinc <= link to various other packages; this is not an endorsement as these are community repositories
Arch Linux Community x86_64
boinc-7.6.33-4-x86_64.pkg.tar.xz <= this is the package I use on Manjaro with Xorg support via Xfce; it is not listed on the arch AUR
(I am running x64 versions of Linux in all my trials)
On manjaro I enable ufw (firewall) after the initial Linux installation before I connect to the internet - for what little it is worth at least to stop stray ports during testing while I learn to talk penguin.
Easy firewall setup for Manjaro Linux
http://www.clausconrad.com/blog/easy-firewall-setup-for-manjaro-linux
I am maintaining this document and will issue an update for beginners (like me) who are new to Linux. My defence philosophy is simple - implement protection from the lowest part of the tree to the top (i.e. the low hanging fruit).
Stopping simple scripts and drive-by script kiddies from playing with your junk is easy. You won't be able to stop everything, but at least you can make it harder. This applies to windoze as well as Linux.
I'm going to use this thread I guess to ask a question.
I have Linux installed on a VM running Ubuntu (can't remember what version. 20.4 or something)
When I add Einstein@Home to the project list, my system doesn't fetch Einstein work?
The point of this is I want to see if running E@H on Linux in a VM is faster or slower than Windows.
Is there something I'm missing?
Should just work?
Thx.
While E@H runs faster in Linux, VM's have extra overhead compared to Bare Metal so I would expect it to be slower. Do some tests yourself and find out. Unsure why you aren't getting tasks, has it downloaded all the project files?
There was a thread on E@H talking about it
https://einsteinathome.org/content/linux-vs-windows-performance#:~:text=The%20problem%20is%20your%20boinc,each%20others%2C%20but%20not%20yours.
Hi Abruraspingi,
Oh I have no doubt that a "bare metal" install of Linux would be faster. ALL of the top pc's for Einstein now run Linux.
I'm not a Linux person so I'll stick with the VM that I painfully installed Linux on :)
I'm just not sure why it doesn't download work. I've left it overnight and no tasks downloaded. I might try another project with GPU work and see if it downloads tasks.
Maybe I needed to change a setting in the VM around the video section? No idea.
I'll try another project now.
Ok, so no projects will fetch GPU work. Not even Primegrid.
I'm not sure why?
Edit - ChatGPT tells me why.
"Short answer: the VM can't see your GPU.
That's why BOINC only downloads CPU tasks.
When you run Oracle VM VirtualBox with Ubuntu inside it, the virtual machine does not get direct access to the physical GPU. VirtualBox only exposes a basic virtual graphics adapter meant for desktop display acceleration, not for CUDA/OpenCL compute that BOINC projects use."
Oh well, I guess that's the end of that :)
Ah you didn't state that you were trying for GPU tasks but I should have assumed. No GPU Passthrough in Virtual Box but you can with HyperV
Why aren't you just using WSL and para-virtualisation? I assume that you are using Windows as the host OS?
https://boincsynergy.ca/download/Guida.en.pdf
Further reading
https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/10294
Quote from: Abruraspingi on March 16, 2026, 02:36:06 AMAh you didn't state that you were trying for GPU tasks but I should have assumed. No GPU Passthrough in Virtual Box but you can with HyperV
Why aren't you just using WSL and para-virtualisation? I assume that you are using Windows as the host OS?
https://boincsynergy.ca/download/Guida.en.pdf
Further reading
https://github.com/microsoft/WSL/issues/10294
Hi,
I've never heard of WSL. I'm a complete novice when it comes to pc's, especially software. I was born & raised on Windows so Linux was/is a nightmare for me to work out. I simply put it in the too hard basket.
It was quite the mission to get it setup in the VM... I can tell you!!
That walkthrough looks pretty good. A bit heavy but I might actually be able to follow that as it doesn't sound like it will mess up my Windows machine.
I might test it on one of my rigs... not my main driver in case it stuffs up.
It would be very interesting to see if there are any improvements running projects this way.
Thank you for sharing.
Not sure when I'll get time to play with that :)
Do you have to pay for WSL?
https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nws9k95nmjb?hl=en-US&gl=AU
Dingo did a really good write up here for WSL
https://forum.boinc-australia.net/index.php?topic=3027.msg76728#msg76728
WSL is free and comes as part of Windows but you have to install it. I love Linux as I get sick of using the mouse, it's a weird thing but I don't actually enjoy how Microsoft forces the use of a mouse. Ever since Windows got rid of DOS I haven't truly been happy with the OS. Linux on the other hand has quite the learning curve and some flavours are much easier to use than others. Happy computing and hopefully you pick up some new skills