The Linux Help and Tutorial Thread

[D_A]

There is a small swap partition (1.3GB), but System Monitor has always shown "0 bytes" usage. There's 4GB of memory, and it's never gone over 1GB usage that I've seen - so I figured the swap partition was never being utilized. Maybe it is after all?

This particular machine was built with a specific purpose in mind, and the SSD was a requirement. But since I've re-purposed it for the Supercomputer week, I may go ahead and throw a regular hard drive on it till the 9th...just to be safe.

One other possibility: Where did you change the setting to control the disk writes? If you did it locally, did you save the settings? If you did it on the WCG site, did you a-save and b-reset the local machine to the web based settings?

[josh1980]

I think I just squirted in my pants... this thread could be the most awesome source for linux noobs that want to WCG..

[D_A]

This should help:

 sudo rm -r /dev/pants/sticky

[bearcatrp]

Here is a good question since I haven't done this in awhile. Dual boot. I have win7 on my new baby. starting to concider dual boot ubuntu. Last i did this was suse linux on a ppc macbook. Anything change since 2006 on how to do it? Presuming, install win7 first (done), insert ubuntu disk, follow prompts (plan to install on an empty disk), let it go until done. Suggestions? tnks

[D_A]

Just make sure you read the prompts carefully and it's not hard at all. You don't HAVE to do it in that order but it's the easiest way.

[PoppaGeek]

The Ubuntu graphical install program has a easy to understand graphic of your disks and how they are used and not used. Like D_A said just think about what it is showing you and what you want. I have installed Windows and Ubuntu on same drive with no problems. It will put grub on the boot drive and you can choose from a menu which to boot. As long as it sees everything, drives and OSes, ok there should be no problems.

[SMTB1963]

Use vmstat 2 100 to watch swap file activity. The 2 is delay or refresh rate in seconds and the 100 is repeat. Increase 100 for longer monitoring and lesser for shorter. in the swap column si is swap in and so swap out.

All my machines are AMD and I have never had much luck with lm-sensors. All I ever use it for now is to see if temps rise or drop.

Thanks again! Looks like there's no swap activity - at least according to vmstat.

One other possibility: Where did you change the setting to control the disk writes? If you did it locally, did you save the settings? If you did it on the WCG site, did you a-save and b-reset the local machine to the web based settings?

I did it locally and pressed "OK" in Preferences->disc and memory usage...is there something else I need to do in order for it to save the setting?

This should help:

 sudo rm -r /dev/pants/sticky

he he, Linux humor - I'm finally starting to get it.

[croto5000]

I just wanted to thank everyone for contributing to this thread. I've tried getting into Linux (usually Ubuntu) several times and as such have experienced a love/hate relationship with it. With information like this, it's starting to come together a little bit

[D_A]

I did it locally and pressed "OK" in Preferences->disc and memory usage...is there something else I need to do in order for it to save the setting?

Nope, that should be fine unless you reset the settings.

[PoppaGeek]

BoincTasks is a nice Windows program to monitor your crunchers. To use it all crunchers need 2 files edited. They are gui_rpc_auth.cfg and remote_hosts.cfg. On Ubuntu using the apt-get install method these files are found in /etc/boinc-client/.

gui_rpc_auth.cfg should be empty, delete any text and save. remote_hosts.cfg should have the IP number of the machine running BoincTasks.

If you are running a Linux install with Boinc installed by a different manner please see if the files are in the same /etc/boinc-client directory and post here for others using installs like Dotsch.

[EDIT]
Confirmed by Josh1980 Dotsch installs Boinc in /home/boinc/BOINC so the above files should be found in /home/boinc/BOINC.
From D_A: If you run the Berkley install script from your /home directory then it's installed in /home/<username>/BOINC
[/END EDIT]

See this thread for more on setting up BoincTasks to monitor and manage boinc clients on Linux and Windows.

Thanks for all the feedback, looks like this thread was a good idea. Please do not hesitate to ask a question. I'll do what I can to get you an answer. If you do not understand something in the thread ask, others might not either as it was not explained well. Also please add any tips or tricks you have found useful.

Thanks!

[josh1980]

this should help:

 sudo rm -r /dev/pants/sticky

rofl!

@Poppageek - I have a VM running Dotsch linux at home. When I get home tonight I'll post the location to this thread.

[PoppaGeek]

TIP:
If you want to see statistics such as CPU load, tasks, memory usage and swap usage open Applications > Accessories > Terminal then start Top. If you use the System Monitor you will see the CPUs load run from 0% to 100% but mostly bouncing around. The reason is System Monitor and Xorg the X Window system that SM runs under runs at a higher Priority than WCG does. So WCG gets less CPU time than System Monitor. You can see this by starting Top and watching it a minute then starting the System Monitor and watching Top. After a minute or 2 close System Monitor. Also in the column PR in top lists the PRiorities of the tasks running. WCG runs at 39 and System Monitor and Xorg at 20.

So use Top in Terminal not System Monitor.

[josh1980]

I checked my Dotsch Linux 1.2 and the correct location for the gui_rpc_auth.cfg and other associated files is /home/boinc/BOINC.

[D_A]

That all depends. If you just run the Berkley install script from your /home directory then it's /home/<username>/BOINC while if you install BOINC (in Ubuntu) from the repositories then the location is /etc/boinc-client.

edit: corrected a bad path

[PoppaGeek]

Dotsch Linux install's Boinc when you install it. The distro is specifically built to install and run Boinc from HD, USB stick, CDROM or diskless clients and server. So Josh confirmed Boinc default install from CD is a Boinc home directory.

Thanks Josh.

Added note to post #35

[D_A]

I just realised I messed up one of the paths I listed, anyway. Editing it now.

The point I was trying to make is that things can be in different places in Linux depending on how you install things.

[PoppaGeek]

I just realised I messed up one of the paths I listed, anyway. Editing it now.

The point I was trying to make is that things can be in different places in Linux depending on how you install things.

Yep and that is what we are trying to document so it is easier for people to find the files.
Dotsch creats a boinc user and Boinc runs as Boinc and all files are owned by Boinc. So you need to log in as user Boinc and or use sudo alot to make changes.

Thanks!

[OldChap]

In my efforts to investigate Linux I came across Peppermint....anyone tried it? ...supposed to be light

[D_A]

Ooo! Ooo!

Here's a handy little thing:

find - finds files and directories on a linux system

eg

find / -name boinc-client

the form is: the command, then the starting directory (the search starts here and can go deeper but not above this directory. can be anything, in this case the search would start in the root directory), the -name signifies that the thing it's looking for is named "boinc-client"

The command is actually FAR more powerful than this example shows, but that's what man pages are for

[D_A]

Old Chap, I'm familiar with Mint Linux, which is a derivative of Ubuntu, but not Peppermint.

[OldChap]

http://peppermintos.com/ if you want to read up

[D_A]

Ahhh, ok. Cloud centric.
My inherent paranoia kicks in when I look at cloud based solutions. (my Ubuntu rig doesn't take the suggested 10 minutes to load up from a cold boot, either )

[PoppaGeek]

Nice on D_A!

@OldChap, Never heard of it, will look it up.

[OldChap]

I don't really understand cloud but is this the possibility of running/controlling all rigs from one ..like all cores belong to the main rig? that would be interesting.

[D_A]

Well, that's kind of the concept but in this case the "cloud" is web based so all your major apps and data storage are "up there" somewhere. Private clouds, to me, have enormous potential for things like rendering and intermittent heavy workloads. Private being where you own all the machines in the cloud system, ie another kind of cluster. Public clouds, where you're accessing someone else's resources, strike me as a security nightmare and massive data theft begging to happen.