FAHControl on Ubuntu 19 / Debian 10 and variants

[ponyatov]

Is all source code is available for a manual build?

There is a rumpkernel concept https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rump_kernel
when all software package is built as a standalone OS-like application without any dependencies on the host system where it runs under virtualization supervisor.

I'm very surprised why the FAH package was not built as a tiny standalone OS image, for example, based on embedded Linux such as Buildroot, or a Docker guest.

Another option in case of some source code is proprietary is using compiling to LLVM low-level intermediate language (.ll files).
These files look like and factically is a platform-independent assembly code, which can be post-compiled on the concrete target hardware with all native optimizations, and libraries installed in the host system. And it should be noted that CUDA extensions also can use LLVM for computation kernels compilations.

[toTOW]

Folding@Home components are closed source.

Keep in mind that this is Folding@Home ... you need to keep things simple for the average user. Plus, development resources of the project are limited so they're focusing on what will bring the most users.

[Joe_H]

Or at least some parts of Folding@home are closed source. Parts are open on the F@h GitHub, and parts are based on the open source OpenMM and Gromacs packages.

[theschles]

If you have Elementary OS 5.1.2 Hera, DO NOT DO THIS. It completely blew up my system and I'm still trying to recover. (yes, there's a disclaimer at the top. PLEASE add to that disclaimer that people with Elementary OS shouldn't do this!)

[Marks]

You can change the dependencies of the fahcontrol package without downloading all these other packages and possibly screwing up your system. Everything that should be needed are the packages 'python-gtk2' and 'python-support'.

I posted my solution here:

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https://askubuntu.com/a/1222631/1060925

[ipkh]

FAHControl is a python app that is available on github. You can pull the repo and build it yourself. You can also add to the efforts to modernize the application. there is plenty of activity and they could use the help.

[bruce]

This completely nuked my X session and I had to ssh in from the laptop to fix the packages.

Didn't end up with it installed in the end either, sadly.

I hope they come out with the update soon.

-brian

I ran the .run file provided by nVidia which nuked my X session, too. I didn't try that more than a few times (cue Homer Simpson: "DoooH") Eventually, I found packages distributed by friends of Ubuntu that did the necessary blacklisting of X components, installed a selected version of the proprietary driver, and then re-activated an undamaged X.

[ipkh]

Running the nvidia file is not recommended for Ubuntu distros.
Just install the one in the official repository. This has the advantage of pulling in other packages needed to actually do folding at home.

[freezer2k]

You can change the dependencies of the fahcontrol package without downloading all these other packages and possibly screwing up your system. Everything that should be needed are the packages 'python-gtk2' and 'python-support'.

I posted my solution here:

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https://askubuntu.com/a/1222631/1060925

THIS!

Should be the Original Post.

Worked like a charm for Ubuntu 19.10. Thank you.

[serafim]

I did not change the python-gnome2 dependency to python-gtk2 but simply removed it so that the line in the control file became "Depends: python-support | dh-python" relying on the fact that all other python programs that use user interfaces actually run perfectly on my debian 10 computer.

At first I installed the fahcontrol_7.5.1-1_all.deb package by

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dpkg --ignore-depends=python-gnome2 -i fahcontrol_7.5.1-1_all.deb

but I got tired of having to remove it prior to all upgrades and reinstall it afterwords so I did as follows
I placed myself in the directory to which I downloaded the fahcontrol package and then

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# make a temporary directory
mkdir tmp
# extract the control information and the package files.
dpkg-deb -R fahcontrol_7.5.1-1_all.deb tmp
# step into where the control file is
cd tmp/DEBIAN/

Edit the control file and change the Dependecy line by simply removing "python-gnome2, " and save the file (I used emacs)

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# step out again
cd ../..
# rebuild the pckage
dpkg-deb -b tmp fahcontrol_7.5.1-1_all.deb
# install it
dpkg -i fahcontrol_7.5.1-1_all.deb

and now it works (until the next version from the developers...)

Edit:
1. Forgot to say that you do all this as root. If you don't unpack and repack as root then you will fail as the files' permissions and ownership will be corrupted.
2. Clarification..

[neek78]

Hi All,

In case it helps, I did a quick and dirty port of fah-control to Python3 and Gtk3 yesterday. As I just signed up to this forum, it doesn't seem to let me post the details in any way due to anti-spam filters unfortunately. Please let me know if anyone is interested.

EDIT: source is here https://github.com/neek78/fah-control-py3

It's a quick and dirty port, but it seems to work so far.

nick

[Juanro49]

@brian

I have the same problem as you with my Debian distro. People should avoid this method with current versions.

Could you provide me with the packages you had to repair or remove?

You can try this viewtopic.php?f=106&t=34148

[WJKierstead]

Thanks. I needed this after upgrading Pop!_OS 20.04. Icons still not populated in menus but I can launch from CLI.

[MeeLee]

Running the nvidia file is not recommended for Ubuntu distros.
Just install the one in the official repository. This has the advantage of pulling in other packages needed to actually do folding at home.

It is actually recommended on 18.10 and older versions to run the .run file instead of the repositories .deb file.
The .run file is able to allow multiple GPUs to overclock and adjust fan curve, without crashing the desktop, like the .deb file does.

The correct procedures, is to go into grub, recovery mode, shell.
Then do:
sudo init 3, before installing the .run file.
in rare occasions you'll need to disable your display manager service (sudo service sddm stop), where 'sddm' could be 'lightdm', 'gdm' or 'gdm3', depending on the distro.
The newest Nvidia drivers work fine even on Ubuntu 20.04, so long you install it via the recovery mode.

The .deb file is really only made for 1 GPU.
If you have a secondary GPU, you can't enable overclocking on the second GPU, without crashing the desktop.