[WFO]

WARNING: THIS CLIENT & GUIDE ONLY APPLY TO DUAL-CORE MACHINES AND QUADS! DO NOT ATTEMPT INSTALLATION ON SINGLE-CORE CPUs.

VMware only supports two cores in each guest OS. To take advantage of all 4 cores you need 2 complete Linux installs in VMware with different machine IDs.

If you use Vista 64, VMware Workstation and VMware Player are Vista compatible. Personally, even disabling signed drivers, I never got VMware Server to work. I did read one post saying it has to be run as admin. That won’t get you past the signed driver requirement though.

Are 2 instances of the SMP in VMware better than 1 install of the Windows SMP? Yes. On stock Q6600s, your 24hr. average will be 900-1200 points higher. Both clients are still beta and that may change.

Do not try to launch VMware immediately after a full reboot. You won’t be able to connect to the local host. It takes a little time for the VMware services to be up and running.

This is written for those that want to get in on the SMP feeding frenzy but don?t want to lose the functionality of their Windows machine or dual boot. If you are Linux illiterate, have no fear. You can do this in 1.5 hours or less. For those new to Linux, I recommend Ubuntu or Xubuntu. Xubuntu is billed as light version of Ubuntu and will give slightly faster frame times.

First stop is the VMware website.
http://www.vmware.com/download/server/
Click on the orange balloon and register for your free S/Ns. You can get up to 100. I just put the company I work for and other as job description where asked. Save the serial numbers and download the .exe . It works on x64 and XP.
Next you want the Ubuntu 7.10 or Xubuntu 7.10 desktop-amd64 .iso. They can be downloaded here…

Ubuntu http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download Don’t forget to check the box saying you want the 64 bit version!!!

Xubuntu http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/DVDs/...u/7.10/release/ Once again you need to select the 64 bit version!!!


Burn your .iso and you are ready to play.
Click the .exe to start the install. You will get an error message about ISS not being installed or improperly configured. Ignore it and continue. It will appear to hang when the blue progress bar has traveled across the screen. Don’t worry. It’s still installing. Give it time. Enter the S/N when prompted and click finish. Reboot if prompted to do so. Otherwise launch VMware/Local Host/OK. Click New Virtual Machine/Next. Typical/Next. Select Linux/Ubuntu or Other Linux 64bit. Use network address translation. Select disk space allocated. I used 8GB. Selecting less and you won’t have room for pictures, music or other extras you may want to add Check allocate disk space now/ finish. Click edit Virtual Machine settings. Highlight Processor. Select 2. Double check ram settings. 1740MB is the Max recommended. Default is 384. I use 512. 384MB works fine.
Insert the Ubuntu/Xubuntu CD. Click Open Existing Virtual Machine and the CD will launch. If by some chance it doesn’t, open and close the CD tray. Or you may have to close and re-launch VMware. Select Start or Install Ubuntu. The Live CD will boot. When the Desktop is loaded, click “Install.”
My selections during install were?
English/Forward
Time Zone Los Angeles
Set time/ your local time whatever it is
Keyboard -U.S. English/ Forward
Select your Username and password
Select Use Entire Disk. It will only use what you previously allocated. Don’t worry. Your data is safe.
The next screen will show all choices previously selected. Select Install or back if you need to change something. After the install you will be prompted to remove the CD and restart the OS. When the desktop is reached, from the drop down menus on top of the screen, click System/Administration/Update Manager. Xubuntu is Applications/System/Update manager. Install all updates. Feel free to get a cup of coffee or an adult beverage while this takes place. When the updates are installed, you’ll need to open the terminal. Applications/Accessories/Terminal. Minimize the Terminal. Open the Firefox browser and go to Planetamd64.com and come to this page. Copy and paste the following command into the Terminal Window. I say copy and paste because any typing errors will just ruin your day. Leave the browser open. You will be bouncing between these instructions and the Terminal as you copy and paste.

sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Press "Enter." Enter password when prompted. Press “Enter” again. Enter y to continue when prompted. Note the smp will not run without the above 32bit compatibility libraries. Some distros like Fedora Core 7 already have them.

All finished? Good! Open your home folder. “Places/Home Folder.” In Ubuntu. In Xubuntu there is already a shortcut on your desktop. Right click and create a new folder called “folding” Open it right click and create another new folder called “FAH”

In Firefox go to the F@H download page… http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download

Download the Linux x86 x64 SMP client to the desktop in the guest OS. Right click and copy the file. Paste it inside the “FAH” folder. Right click again and select “extract here.” You can move the .tgz file to the trash once the files are extracted.

Close the FAH folder and go back to your Terminal.

To configure the client type:

cd folding/FAH ...press “enter”

./fah6 –smp –configonly ... press “enter”

Team#45862 Of course!

One new item is the request for a passkey... Stanford's description:

What is a passkey?

The passkey is a unique identifier that allows you to prevent others from cheating in your name. Obtain a passkey from Stanford's web site (see below), enter it when you configure the client, and the client and servers will do the rest. Previously we have not had such an identifier in Folding@home (usernames for example could be shared by many people). You should keep your passkey secret. Please see the Passkey FAQ for further discussion of passkeys.

Where can I get a passkey?

http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/getpasskey.py

I have passkeys installed on all my clients. No points bonuses have been given out as hinted yet.

Make sure you say yes to WUs greater than 5MB or you will get error messages while folding. Don't disable highly optimized assembly code. And don’t select more ram than you gave the Virtual Machine. Now just type:

./fah6 –smp –forceasm –verbosity 9

Press “Enter” and away you go. I always leave the Terminal Up and just minimize the VMware. The screen will be black when you bring it up. Just click the curser in the black part of the screen and you are in Ubuntu/Xubuntu. To free the curser, press Ctrl-Alt. You can disable screensaver to avoid the black screens. You can also close the VMware box and vmware will comtinue running as a service.

With the V6 client you must use the –smp flag or it will download a standard client. Failure to use the –smp will destroy a smp client on a restart. You will lose your work!!! Stanford will have a check in place when the client comes out of beta.

Please note... if you have shut down the client, use Ctrl+C. To shut down VMware, first use System/quit/shut down from Ubuntu/Xubuntu. When the guest shuts down, click File and Exit in VMware. Not using this procedure will cause your computer to hang on shut down because Linux and VMware are still running. When restarting Ubuntu and the SMP client, bring up the Terminal and navigate to the folder the SMP is in. Type:

cd folding/FAH
press enter

And lastly the command...

./fah6 -smp –forceasm –verbosity 9

OPTIONAL: To make it a little easier for yourself, one can make a script by running following commands:

echo "./fah6 -smp –forceasm -verbosity 9" > FaH
chmod +x FaH
Now you'll just have to run
./FaH

The above are case sensitive.

Please note I am recommending the –forceasm flag not for the purpose of forcing optimizations on but because the client won’t check the previous shut down. Even when shut down normally there are message text errors that sometimes abort the job and cause you to lose work. This helps with that and saves most WUs from doom.


The above may sound complicated but it is very easy. I did it with no previous VMware or Linux experience. Have fun and enjoy your extra points!!!

Other misc. notes... VMware will display a notification in the lower left hand corner that you do not have VMware tools installed. You don't need them to make this work. Too, task manager will only show 90-94% cpu usage. This is normal. It is not a performance hit from VMware. Do not run a Windows folding client at the same time as running the SMP.

VMware is known to have time keeping issues with the guest OS. Frame times may not and probably will not match actual times. Don’t worry! This is normal. Let ‘r run and your points should double. You can run FAH from the command line only. No GUI to get reportedly faster frame times. At the log in screen, hit Ctrl+Alt+F1 to launch the command line app. Log in normally. Ctrl+C stops the client. Ctrl+Alt +F7 switches you back. This is strange. Running the command line makes you think you are living in the 60's running Dos.


This post has been edited by WFO: Oct 28 2007, 03:55 PM

[RJsPC]

Nice work WFO

topic pined

[WFO]

Nice work WFO

topic pined

Thanks R.J.! I'm no guru so suggestions for improvement appreciated. PM me and they will be added where appropriate.

[ozdealer]

just a quick question as I'm on holiday and really haven;t had time to look into this fully.

Once you have the linux client up and running, I take it that you don't run any windows clients at the same time? ie the linux client will use the availabel cores and multitask?

[WFO]

just a quick question as I'm on holiday and really haven;t had time to look into this fully.

Once you have the linux client up and running, I take it that you don't run any windows clients at the same time? ie the linux client will use the availabel cores and multitask?

That's correct. Disable any Windows folding client. prior to running the SMP on Linux. For some reason the SMP will only show 80% cpu usage in task manager. This is by design. Even Stanford's benchmark machines only used 80% cpu. It's still faster and better for science than running 2 clients 100% on both cores. The SMP is all you want or need when running.

[WFO]

Guide edited to prevent people from downloading a 32 bit version of Ubuntu instead of the 64 bit version.

[usmcdcf]

Great guide WFO! Thanx! I was reading somewhere in VMware help (Ithink?) that loading the VMware tools will give me better mouse control, and better graphics. I am wondering if this is true and if it is, maybe it is something that could be in the guide.

[hamltnblue]

You might get better stuff with the tools but if you're only using it for folding then what's the point? It would just use up more hard space and possibly system resources.

[Viper666]

running X windows is a huge hog of memory and processor,the rar i posted just loads the terminal,since U have to run fah from a terminal anyway,no need for all that other crap,id say %20 of your folding power is lost running all the crap,if U dont like my setup U can follow WFO guide,where it starts in the teminal,except for the unzip part use

amd@PlanetAmd64 tar xzf FAH_SMP_OSX.tgz



I just want everyone to get the most out what were doing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This post has been edited by Viper666: Dec 29 2006, 08:09 PM

Attached File(s)

 Memory.bmp ( 960.05K ) Number of downloads: 29

 

[Pyr0]

my normal vmware image of ubuntu with the smp client might take up more diskspace, but it seems to use around the same ammount of memory
 vmware.JPG ( 66.29K ) Number of downloads: 80

[Viper666]

my normal vmware image of ubuntu with the smp client might take up more diskspace, but it seems to use around the same ammount of memory
 vmware.JPG ( 66.29K ) Number of downloads: 80

Normal do U have a graffical interface like Xwindows running?If u do X windows is using cpu that could be folding thats the point !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Out of your %70 10-20 is running xwindows not folding



Pyr0 Im the one put U all up on this now im trying to show how to get the most out of it !!!!!!!!


Seems U missed the %99 processor usage on my pic Because your looking for the negative in my post not the positive , I just made it to the top 100 U keep doing what your doing ill keep doing what im doing ,and ill keep my knowelge to my self,and ill wave when I blow past u on points.

This post has been edited by Viper666: Dec 29 2006, 08:30 PM

[Pyr0]

oic, yes i do, it's just the default vmware image i downloaded from necron's link ( Ubuntu-6.10-desktop-amd64.zip) http://isv-image.ubuntu.com/vmware/
 vmware.JPG ( 127.53K ) Number of downloads: 70


dude i'm not trying to argue and i apologise if my post gave off that impression.
i just thought removing the graphical interface would slim down memory usage too

i'll have to wait until these units finish before i try your text only version

[hamltnblue]

Considering that there is only 80 percent being used by vmware and only half my memory, wu's are coming in just over 6 1/2 mins a frame. Not bad. With the extra overhead available the only way I see that it would run faster would be if you ran from linux directly and not through vmware.
Either way thanks for the input getting running. definitely a plus for the team.

[Viper666]

oic, yes i do, it's just the default vmware image i downloaded from necron's link ( Ubuntu-6.10-desktop-amd64.zip) http://isv-image.ubuntu.com/vmware/
 vmware.JPG ( 127.53K ) Number of downloads: 70


dude i'm not trying to argue and i apologise if my post gave off that impression.
i just thought removing the graphical interface would slim down memory usage too

i'll have to wait until these units finish before i try your text only version

you dont have 2 it will just start a new VM

[RJsPC]

FYI to all

I'm uploading Viper666's file to my server ATM, so the DL speeds should be better

(uploading from my PC, and my upload speed sucks so its taking forever but should be done soon)

[Pyr0]

Seems U missed the %99 processor usage on my pic Because your looking for the negative in my post not the positive , I just made it to the top 100 U keep doing what your doing ill keep doing what im doing ,and ill keep my knowelge to my self,and ill wave when I blow past u on points.

well i'm not too sure what that was all about, but i had already apologised if my post had seemed harsh before you edited your post with all this

and i don't think it will be too hard for you to eventually pass me with all those cores folding when the 2 pc's i have aren't even folding 24/7

[Viper666]

FYI to all

I'm uploading Viper666's file to my server ATM, so the DL speeds should be better

(uploading from my PC, and my upload speed sucks so its taking forever but should be done soon)

this is for small minded people that dont see the big picture

if something makes a 1% difference and 60 people are doing it thats a %60 increase times 7 days a week times 30 days a month,the lil things I post on a single machine dont seem like much, but on 60 or 100 they could be alot of points in the end


60% for our team FOLD ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hamltnblue]

Actually it would be 1% for the team but you're right, every bit counts. The way I see it also is since you showed us the VMware method, several have boosted their PPD significantly. So a percent off of an already significant increase is ok if someone wants it to look good too.
Funny thing is that in a few days the number of nodes will drop quite a bit but points will raise since dual core folders will only have 1 node folding instead of 2.

[RJsPC]

this is for small minded people that dont see the big picture

uncalled for

[necron66]

Pyro, even after the time Ive been on this site, I am still mesmerized by your avatar.

btw, I have the vmware smp client folding on my core 2 part time (5m 10s frames), Ubuntu installed on the 805 and folding part time 10m 20s frames), and trying to get vmware to install and run on my x2 with out much success.

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