How-To: Ubuntu cruncher! Install and forget

[Evantaur]

boinc detects ati when ran from my home dir but not when i use init.d/boinc-client start

not sure why...investigating later

fixed with this
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=6307

[Yeroon]

What programs are reccomended to check cpu, gpu, and mem overclocks in a debian based os? Currently doing it pretty blindly and would like to push for more.
Have psensor for cpu load/temp (athlon II x3 400e)
AMDOverdriveCtrl (i386) for gpu temp/oc.
No way of seeing per core loading/throttling (not likely with the current temps) or gpu load.
Thanks

[D_A]

The whole point of these is that you set 'em and forget 'em. Worrying about anything but temps pretty much defeats the purpose.
For thermal monitoring I use lm-sensors. On a server install (no GUI) you check the readings from the command line with the command "sensors". On a desktop install you can install something like sensors-applet to monitor those and any other available temps.
For clock speeds there's something called (something like) CPU frequency scaling monitor, and the system monitor can track various CPU loads and graph them for you in the task bar. I'm not sure about GPU load monitoring, but sensors-applet can monitor GPU temperature if you configure lm-sensors (sudo sensors-detect) after installing the proprietary GPU drivers. It can also monitor per-core temperatures.

[Yeroon]

Temps aren't an issue, I'd just like to make sure the overclock is stable enough to do science without errors.

[D_A]

The only way to do that is to creep the clocks up until you start getting errors (check your results status on the My Grid page at WCG) and then back off, just like you'd have to in any other operating system. CPU load monitors won't provide any useful help in that situation.

[OldChap]

I'm only mentioning this because I read about it somewhere but look for something called conky to monitor gpu.

[yojimbo197]

In case anyone wants the commands:
I'll assume you're starting with a fresh system.
Download the installer file to your home directory and run it.
Open the newly created BOINC folder and open a terminal there.
If the terminal opens in your home folder just cd BOINC to get to the right one.

sudo su
apt-get update
apt-get install boinc
/etc/init.d/boinc-client stop
cp boinc boinccmd boincmgr /usr/bin/
/etc/init.d/boinc-client start
exit

If there are any major issues just post 'em up.

So I installed Ubuntu 12.0.4 LTS on my Q9550 rig. I downloaded and ran the BOINC installer
Typed sudo su
Typed apt-get update-Bunch of downloads and setting up lines appeared
Typed apt-get install boinc-Setting up lines appeared.

Then a line *Setting up scheduling for BOINC core client and children: appeared
followed by chrt: failed to set pid 15164's policy: No such process , which appeared 3 times
Then "Could not write to /proc/15164/oom_adj:"
followed by
"Setting up boinc-manager (7.0.27+dfsg-5ubuntu0.12.0.04.1)...."

and then it stalled right there

Did I miss something, some setting or command?

[D_A]

I've seen that before but don't remember what causes it. I'll have a dig and get back to you.

[D_A]

Try removing and reinstalling BOINC.

From the command line:
sudo apt-get remove boinc boinc-manager
sudo apt-get install boinc boinc-manager

The boinc client and manager used to be separate packages. Either they've been combined into one now, which could cause issues for those running server installs, or you added a wildcard at the end of one of those commands.

[yojimbo197]

Thanks DA. I used those two commands and then went back and repeated the installation. This time it worked. Though now I can't seem to get GPU workunits, even though my graphics card is recognized. I'll have to figure that one out today. Thanks again!

[D_A]

You also need to go to your profiile on the WCG MyGrid page and enable GPU work. If you've done that, start a new thread and post whatever messages you're getting in your BOINC logs.

[yojimbo197]

Let me try to clarify:

I did the following after getting Mint 14 cinnamon running. and getting the fglrx driver from the repository...... It should look familiar

apt-get ia32-libs This was a mistake ...more on this later

wget http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_7...c-linux-gnu.sh

replace the version numbers with whatever version you're after. If you're not sure go here and look: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl
This will download the file directly from Berkley to the current directory, which should be your home directory.
Next set the file as executable

sudo chmod +x boinc_7.0.42_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu.sh

and then run it

./boinc_7.0.42_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu.sh

That will create a directory called BOINC in your home folder. Change into it.

cd BOINC

now we'll copy the relevant binaries

sudo cp boinc* /usr/bin/

and we restart the client

sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client start

Client did not run...asked the question above then re-read what I had asked and realised that it should have been apt-get install ia32-libs

Now the client would run but I could not start manager so I asked again then went searching for others with this problem too.

Result! Found mention of this and looked to see if 2 files were loaded one called libwxgtk and another called libssl. libwxgtk was missing so I got it from the repository.

Now, from inside the BOINC folder hitting the start_manager worked as it should.

With manager working I have now attached to wcg and have downloaded GPU workunits...only running a single thread for tonight ...it is late enough. I will look at app-config tomorrow.


Thanks for your input D_A. I can always depend on you to make me think about what I am doing.

What repository are you talking about where you got the libwxgtk and libssl files?

[D_A]

Let's start with which version of BOINC you installed. Depending on the version you could well have the wrong version of libssl on your system.
Alternatively, open a terminal and enter:

ldd boinc | grep ssl

and then

ldd boincmgr | grep gtk

and post the output.

[yojimbo197]

Installed Linux Mint 14 Cinnamon.
Installed AMD CCC 13
Installed BOINC 7.0.52
Installed the 32 bit drivers to allow 64 bit Linux to run it

After entering ldd boinc | grep ssl:
libssl.so.1.0.0 right arrow /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libssl.so.1.0.0 (0x00007f366647a000)

After entering ldd boincmgr | grep gtk:
libwx_gtk2u_html-2.8.so.0 right arrow not found
libwx_gtk2u_adv-2.8.so.0 right arrow not found
libwx_gtk2u_core-2.8.so.0 right arrow not found
libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 right arrow /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libgtk-x11-2.0.so.0 (0x00007fa8807fe000)

[D_A]

Ok, the wxgtk stuff isn't there so you'll have to install it.

sudo apt-get install libwxgtk2.8-0

[yojimbo197]

Ok, the wxgtk stuff isn't there so you'll have to install it.

sudo apt-get install libwxgtk2.8-0

Thanks. That worked like a charm.

[D_A]

*bump*
Didn't this used to be a sticky?

[D_A]

Here's some useful material regarding *nix and GPU crunching
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/GPU_computing
Latest ATi Linux drivers:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownloa...eon_linux.aspx
Latest nVidia Linux drivers:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/unix.html

[nanoprobe]

Many thanks to OC and DA. I actually got boinc running in Mint. Can you guys tell me where the cc_config and app_config files go? Kinda struck out on that front.

EDIT: Found where the cc_config goes. DUH!

[Evantaur]

Many thanks to OC and DA. I actually got boinc running in Mint. Can you guys tell me where the cc_config and app_config files go? Kinda struck out on that front.

/var/lib/boinc-client/projects/www.worldcommunitygrid.com/app_config.cfg
/var/lib/boinc-client/cc_config.xml

[Evantaur]

AMD Catalyst™ 13.4 Proprietary Linux Graphics Driver Release Notes

New Features:
The following section provides a summary of new features in this driver version.

RHEL 6.4 Production Support
OpenCL Console Mode Support
Kernel 3.7 and 3.8 Support

if i understand this correctly you no longer need to have graphical desktop open to crunch with GPUs

sadly that driver doesn't work for me cause 7870 XT is not supported (even tho they're supported in 13.3 beta )

[OldChap]

I have not had a chance to try this but when searching I found the following info on ghacks.net http://www.ghacks.net/2010/03/11/wha...on-of-apt-get/

I found it interesting and thought to just paste the necessary here with thanks from me to the author.

First I want to compare the two apt-get options: upgrade and dist-upgrade. The difference between these two is very simple. The upgrade option is used only to install all of the newest versions of the packages already installed on your machine. This is what happens when you see the upgrade upgrade packages through the Update Manager (You know, when you are made aware of notification in your panel and then Update Manager opens to show you which updates are available for your system.)

The dist-upgrade option is quite different from upgrade. But just what does dist-upgrade do? Simple. The dist-upgrade option not only will upgrade all of the currently installed packages on your system it will also handle the dependency changes with new versions of packages. In other words, dist-upgrade will remove obsolete packages from your system, whereas upgrade will not. This function is out of necessity for upgrading from one distribution release to another.

But doesn't it upgrade my distro?

Not necessarily. Although, by itself, dist-upgrade, will prepare your system for a distribution upgrade, the only way it will actually perform the upgrade to a new release is if you have changed your /etc/apt/sources.listfile to reflect the change. In other words, you have to add the repositories for the new distribution in the sources.list file before this can happen.

Well that sounds simple. Yes it is. But it is not the recommended plan of attack for upgrading to a new distribution. Although it will work, there is a better way...by command. The command do-release-upgrade was created specifically for upgrading the operating system to the latest release via the command line. Of course, before you issue this command you will want to check to see if an upgrade is available with the command sudo do-release-upgrade -d. When you do this you you be informed if a new release is available. If there is a new release available issue the command sudo do-release-upgrade and the upgrade process will begin. Of course this is a rather lengthy process and there are risks involved.You could lose packages you have manually installed (that are not supported by the new release) or (worst case scenario) your system could become unstable.

Distribution upgrades are always tricky. I have had them go exceedingly well and I have had them go very awry. It's a gamble. But now you know exactly how to manage the task from the command line. You are now, officially, dangerous.

[OldChap]

Clicked on run manager after updating an install on an old disk, which I had not tried to run before the update.

It opens fine but shows as Disconnected

What to do to get it to connect?

EDIT: Never mind it is a permissions issue. That disk must have been set up to run BOINC as root

[OldChap]

Hey D_A and Co.

How to properly use chown or chmod to give myself permissions to copy a BOINC folder to a stick with a view to retaining this particular machine install after I try a later version of Mint with a view to resolving a Kernel panic issue I have just now

As above it seems to be owned by root just now and I need to undo that.... not just to copy the folder but to run it later.

[Evantaur]

chown -r oldchap /var/lib/boinc-client