Folding Forum

All right I know absolutely nothing about native Linux but I am thinking about setting up a couple of my folding rigs with Linux. I know this is a matter of opinion but I would like to know what version of Linux is the easiest to operate and install does good with folding and you do not have to be a genius to set up folding on the CPU and the GPU's. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also how many times should I expect to fail before I get it right.

Everyone will have their favorite flavor. If the system is only to be used for folding, server distributions are the best. I happen to use Fedora 14 because I'm using a secured wireless network and that can be tricky to get running without using some of the GUI toys in Fedora. I also use some of the many good applications in that Linux distro (such as GIMP) so I loaded the X-server graphics packages. I was unable to get Wine optimized and get GPU folding running well with Fedora (GPU slowdowns when running SMP).

If you plan to do both GPU and SMP, I would suggest you follow one of the Linux Wine threads to the letter and use their recommended distributions. Expect with most that you will need to run the NSCD service or you will not be able to get your SMP client to work. The folks who hang out in the Linux thread are really sharp nerds who will be able to help you with any problem. For me, Linux equates to about a 25% increase in speed with my X6 processors over Windows and it is very stable.

HendricksSA wrote:For me, Linux equates to about a 25% increase in speed with my X6 processors over Windows and it is very stable.

Really? I was under the impression that A3 on windows had reached a level of performance equal to that of Linux?

And for the OP, I suggest that if your rig is purely for folding, then notfred's folding ISO generator is your best bet.

Otherwise, stick to Ubuntu, it has a lot of support and is relatively easy for newcomers.

Ubuntu is the easiest in my limited experience.

You can run Ubuntu from a CD or memory stick to see what it's all about before risking a HDD install. It installs right beside Windows if you wish, and when you boot, it has a pop-up that asks which O/S you want to boot from. Most my machines have both in case Windows crashes and can't recover.

In fact, having a Ubuntu disk handy is a great tool to repair Win machines.

Grandpa_01 wrote:All right I know absolutely nothing about native Linux but I am thinking about setting up a couple of my folding rigs with Linux. I know this is a matter of opinion but I would like to know what version of Linux is the easiest to operate and install does good with folding and you do not have to be a genius to set up folding on the CPU and the GPU's. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Also how many times should I expect to fail before I get it right.

IMHO, if you're doing more than one GPU, stick to windblows and use FAH GPU Tracker. It is amazingly simple, especially when there are multiple GPUs.

Right now, the "in" thing to do is run linux and then wine the windows console client so that bigadv works. Some people report a few k difference between that and Windows-native. I use linux for my desktop ... and just bought an 8 thread xeon so I can have my desktop computer actively folding.

I will agree with the above about using ubuntu, however, it may not be the most stable. I was ubuntu's biggest fanboy until 10.04 and 10.10. We had some desktops at work simply crash running 10.10. I researched, found, tried, and love Fusion Linux. A kind soul remixed Fedora 14 32 bit and calls it Fusion Linux. I have found it will install in 1/3rd the time ubuntu does and everything WORKS immediately. I use this first on any new install. Sadly, the Asus motherboard under my new-used xeon made life difficult for Fedora, so I'm in ubuntu. I'm using 10.04 because I want the LTS edition.

Best,
Chris

I just chime in and state I have been folding with Slackware for as long as I have been folding. Right now I have two machines one 32-bit, one 64-bit dual-core.

I normally boot to run level 3 (command line). When I need the GUI I simple run startx. When done I exit out back to the command line. Sort of like have a server with all the goodies. Only time X is running is when I need to use it. Like right now.

I like Debian Lenny 508 for my folding blades. It is "old stable" but avoids the whole "NSCD service" problem. Most are a CLI installs without any GUI or desktop. I access them with ssh from my "Daily Driver".
Anyone know which Ubuntu Live version is the last before the whole "relocation error / NSCD service" problem cropped up ?

have been folding since Jan 07. almost exclusively on fedora { since FC6 }. Currently have 3 Quads & 2 C2D's running F10.
F10 was the last one that handled SMP with no patches or work-arounds needed. I have gotten SMP up on F12 & F14, just as an excercise to confirm it works. All 5 boxes have at least one GPU!. The Quads run SMP & 1 GPU{ 9800GTX+ }.
The Dual Cores run 2 GPU 's. One box has a 9800GTX+ paired with a GTX275, They use the same driver, so they play very well together.

Thanks for the responses, I did not realize there were so many different choices when it comes to Linux. Just curious but what is the learning curve when it comes to Linux, I like to think I am fairly proficient around computers but I have never really been around anything but Windows other than Linuxfah and frednotfred which both were fairly simple to set up and run. Does anyone have a general idea of what an average might be to become comfortable around these operating systems. I am leaning toward a duel boot system to start so I can learn how to operate the system.

Linux is the best place to really learn computers ... but it can be an uphill climb. Windows insulates you from practically everything. Linux, especially using CLI, gives you unlimited access (see Pat's comment above). You may find it frustrating to learn and I've not ever found a really good introductory book but it is worth the journey. Once you get the basics down, you will find Windows annoys you because it is so limited. Linux has outstanding on-line manuals and there are good forums for each distribution.

Dual boot is one way to go but it does install a boot manager (GRUB in Fedora's case) on your Windows partition. It works great and using Samba you can have it work perfectly with Windows machines. However, it will remain even if you remove Linux from your disk. A slightly different route is to go with a separate disk for Linux and use the bios boot option to chose your OS. You have to remove power from the unwanted OS disk when you do installs. Advantage - each disk stands alone and can be moved from one machine to another. Have fun!

I'm fairly prficient with computers but agree with HendricksSA that Linux can be an uphill climb. At one time, I learned the Linux CLI but I don't use it very often and have to re-learn it almost every time.

How comfortable are you with the WIndows text window (the CMD prompt or "DOS" )?

There are many flavors of Linux. Most are not that difficult to learn. In fact no different than using Windows for the first time. Especially distributions like PCLinuxOS, Mint and Ubuntu. Even Slacware is not the hard to learn.

Folding may require a bit more effort to install than on Windows, but there is plenty of of help available it you run in to problems on this forum.

Hj47, I've read the discussions about Linux vs Windows with the A3 SMP core. For me, Linux is faster. I forgot to take into account the GPU2 process running on the X6 machine so the improvement is about 18% vs 25%.

Here are the times for one of my X6 machines. Only difference between HFM-timed runs is the OS on the disk. XP seemed to do a terrible job keeping the X6 loaded but CPU-Z showed the cores at 100%. The hardware was the same for each run and the project was the same.

Project 6073. (read as OS-TPF/PPD)
Linux F14 - 3:52/12271
Windows Vista 64 (no GPU2) - 4:32/9447
Windows Vista 64 (w/GPU2) - 4:45/8878
Windows XP Pro 32 (w/GPU2) - 6:37/5482

Project 6701. (read as OS-TPF/PPD)
Linux F14 - 8:44/9672
Vista 64 (no GPU2) - 11:01/6829
Vista 64 (w/GPU2) - 11:24/6485
XP Pro 32 (w/GPU2) - 15:20/4157

For me the Project 6701 Linux speed difference (in this example) is about 20%. For my slower GPUs, running Windows with SMP/GPU gains me about 700 PPD over a SMP-only Linux install using an X6 processor. For the summer months, I'll be switching every box to Linux without GPU clients for a reduction in both electricity and heat.

edited to add time results for Project 6701 and change conclusion.

The just released v6.34 client runs successfully on 64bit Linux again. My Debian Squeeze & Sid machines run the client without the relocation error. See upcoming core changes (bigadv will switch from A3 to A5) for the release announcement of the v6.34 client.

not that hard, one thing it boils down to is if you like brown or blue most ?
brown you use gnome and maybe ubuntu, bluesih kubuntu with kde and that will look somewhat familiar to windows,more so than gnome at least.

the latest versions of opensuse have been very picky about hd persmissions,so much so that editing of systemfiles (fstab) was necessary to fold with smp,because permissions was rather tightened up,so I would stay away from suse for the time being unless editing fstab don´t scare you off.

to make it easy for my self I usually go kubuntu nowadays if I need/want linuxes,but I like kde a lot more than gnome,works pretty much out of the box there.
stable,or very stable debian and fedora is good choises unless you pay for red hat or suse enterprise,mandriva is userfriendly as well,cost a little money for their good versions though.Really like mandriva but it cost some money, to bad.