FAH GPU Tracker

[CadBane]

Me and my friend have been designing and programing a folding container program that has been very successful and we just moved it to the 2.79Beta with support for GPU3 and choosing which gpus run GPU2 and which run GPU3. The program is the FAH GPU Tracker V2. You can get info and download it from the evga forums (i am sorry i can not post a link yet but the forum wont let me) or by googling the name of the program as it has been posted widely on the internet due to its success. I mainly figure out ascetic improvements and Jedi95 hes the mastermind behind the program. I must say its working quite nicely and i have a PhII x6 folding AdvMethod, 8800 folding GPU2 and a GTX470 Folding GPU3 on the same machine at the same time.

[toTOW]

Here the home of the project : http://jedi95.uuuq.com/tracker.html

I have a few question to make sure your program doesn't violate the EULA : how do "install" the clients ? do you download them from Stanford server ? I also see that there are field to configure username, team number and passkey ... does the program alter the client.cfg file ?

[CadBane]

The purpose of the project was to make a client that could manage and track all of the F@H client with utmost simplicity. This program works as install Configure and run. The most thorough installation guide can be found on the new site for the project that I am still working on but have not finished yet. Ill sent you that in a pm. I really need to get more about this from jedi as he programs it. I just come up with ways to improve simplicity and ascetic looks. What the program does is it uses stanfords config files it just adds in the various flags you guys have set up to enable different things through the configuration panel of the program instead of hard coding it by hand. All files included are included with the rar file. All new files needed will be included with the program updates. At no time does it connect to stanford servers. The program is an all inclusive UI for GPU, CPU, CPU smp for simple and easy setup of the client and monitoring of status. The original files are used like you would have if you just used the stanford programs but without multiple client setup windows or tray icons. IT DOES NOT CONNECT TO STANFORD SERVERS. The unaltered applications for folding that stanford distributed that are contained within the main folder are the only things that connect in order to send and receive WUs, they work the way stanford intends and do nothing but what stanford has programed them to do.

[toTOW]

I looked at your rar package, and I have to remind you the FAH EULA :

You may not alter the software or associated data files.

You may only use unmodified versions of Folding@home obtained through authorized distributors to connect to the Folding@Home servers. Use of other software to connect to the Folding@home servers is strictly prohibited. This prohibition includes 3rd party installers which download directly from Stanford web sites, unless written permission is granted from Stanford University.

Distribution of this software is prohibited. It may only be obtained by downloading from Stanford's web site (http://folding.stanford.edu and pages linked therein) or the web site of one of our commercial partners (Sony, NVIDIA, and ATI).

Source : http://folding.stanford.edu/English/License

[CadBane]

So we would have to try and get something from stanford. The people that use this love the simplicity it provides in setting up their systems in a very short while. If its not to be then please archive this away. This was a post i was originally giving as a suggestion that got moved and made it own separate topic.

[CadBane]

What hasn't been mentioned yet, and maybe because there is hope for a central 'control application' for all local clients, is that not only status queries and events would be usefull but also an external api to control/configure clients. Configuring is possible externally using .net streamwriter/readers and process.standardout and standardin but it's cumbersome, controlling is only possible by sending a wm_close command which works but I would like more options like pause to be issued externally. For instance one could then implement a 'pause all clients' when a preconfigured kind of application is detected ( like a game or an otherwise compute intensive application ).

If a central monitor and control center from Stanford is in the pipeline this offcourse can be ignored.

If not, enabling this type of control will enable 3rd party developers to take that burden on them, I treid in the past but I wasn't able to do everything I wanted, and the things in which I succeeded like making a gui for configuring console clients are not efficient ( for a single client, I have to start -configonly 2 times, one for reading standard settings, one for reading advanced settings ( due to diffrent configuration options in gpu/smp clients it can not be done in one read ) and this can take up to 15 seconds just filling in the gui with current settings. Applying them needs to start the process, write values to standardout, and then read all settings back with again two reads to verify.

EDIT by Mod: Due to the splitting and merging of topics, this quote no longer came from this topic. The original post is here.

I hope I have found the right place to see if it is ok to do what we are doing with a 3rd party Interface called FAH GPU Tracker V2 which pretty much fills the bill for what the quoted is covering. The Tracker was designed go give the utmost simplicity in setting up the clients for GPUS (GPU2 & GPU3) the cpu and CPU SMP system. We came up with this system after playing around with folding@home learning everything we could for about 2 years and then making a GUI with a Status monitoring system as well as a configuration panel with everything you could ever imagine for setup of clients. We even have implemented a system for remote control of multiple systems such as farm that you can configure them all by use of a web xml file. the system has been tested to work. But the client would have official F@H files in it such as the cores and clients which to use we will need some kind of permission from Stanford. The main thing we have done is to program and create an all around monitoring, configuration and for the most part Noob Friendly setup system. I would like to talk to you more about it, If you would be willing to talk could you please PM me or tell me in this topic?

All core and client files are stock and exactly the same as distributed from Stanford. All that is added is a smart GUI for management.

[codysluder]

Are you saying that if a person installs GPU Tracker, a copy of some of FAH's software will be included, or are you saying that the FAH components will be downloaded from Stanford's website upon demeand? That's a very significant difference. "Exactly the same" doesn't count, and even if it did, the software still needs to update itself whenever it wants to so what you would be distributing would quickly become obsolete.

The EULA is pretty clear. Redistribution of Stanford's software is prohibited.

[CadBane]

That is why I am asking for how I would get that permission. The point of making this system was to make it as simplistic as possible. If a person has to download the clients and then put them into this system that makes everything much more complicated and just download extract configure run.

[7im]

That is why I am asking for how I would get that permission. The point of making this system was to make it as simplistic as possible. If a person has to download the clients and then put them into this system that makes everything much more complicated and just download extract configure run.

Sorry, but that kind of thing isn't handed out like candy. Would you trust someone who just registered in the forum and started posting yesterday. Someone who just started folding a few months ago?

Stanford takes its security very seriously. And up to this point, they've only shared distribution rights with commercial partners such as Google, Sony, ATI or nVidia. http://folding.stanford.edu/English/License

Popping up in the forum isn't the way to get it done. What other demonstrable projects, talents, and/or software projects have you worked on in the past? Introduce yourself! Make yourself known. Show the value of your project, that's how you start the conversation, not by asking for the keys to the city.

[k1wi]

Could you set up your software to download the selected clients (either based on what the software thinks you need, or what the user wants to use), from Stanford? This way, technically the user is still getting the files direct from Stanford....

[7im]

It's not that simple. Read the license I linked above.

[CadBane]

I have been coming in and out of the this forum and reading for quite a while and i have been folding on more than just this name i have also folded under SOC_Phenom_II. I just only got the guts to create an account and open myself to ridicule the other day, and because i started using the GPU3 system. Which I haven't gotten an EUE yet on the 610s and 611s.

[7im]

Looks like that folding account is older, March of last year. And only the ridiculous get ridiculed. Newbs get a weekend pass. (not that you're one of those)

Welcome to the forum.

[John Naylor]

@7im

finstall and folding@work do exactly what k1wi has suggested... surely so long as the clients are not included in the download package, but downloaded directly from Stanford during the install routine, then this script would not be in violation of the EULA? If it is then are finstall and the other scripts not also in violation of the EULA? I would have thought Ivoshiee might have got a telling off by now if that was the case

[codysluder]

A little history:

Several 3rd party installers have been developed. Most had to be redesigned at least once so it would be in compliance with the EULA.

Others have encountered other problems. For example Mac users have a choice between using the Stanford installer or the 3rd party tool called InCrease. I'm not a Mac user, but those who have used InCrease seem to like it very much. Unfortunately InCrease has been installing software components in different places than the latest Stanford installer. (I think they might be using locations that Stanford once used but it has taken some time to get the 3rd party developer to migrate to the new locations.) From my perspective, it's very difficult to help people who report a problem if we can assume they're using the current standard client configurations, and when Stanford decides to make some relatively small change, you'll be faced with people who can't do something important until you make the corresponding changes to your system. Do you and your friend plan to still be doing maintanence on FAH BPU Tracker five or ten years from now?