(Vanity) FreeRepublic Folding@Home Project Update (We're in the Top 1,200!)

Free Republic Folders Stats Page ^ | 12/25/2005 | me

[texas booster]

OK, new thread for the next week.

First, a big shout out to the SETI members who have added CPUs to the effort. Remember, its Team 36120, NOT Team 0.

Next, congrats to all for bumping our team up to 104 processors and 76 users. We have a number of new users in the team, with Clara Lou, fzx12345, SamfromLivingston, brityank, manwiththehands and Tami all popping onto the hit list this week.

Malsua, uriah and Ken in Texas are solidly in the top 10. Malsua is continuing to add systems and now accounts for 10% of the FR total. Great job!

Free Republic Folding@Home Stats Page

On the global front, Free Republic Folders is now listed at # 1196. We are poised to overtake (today):

carletonu (maybe in MN?)
Helms-Deep
2*ian
Dynadues
Soluchis
Greece and soon the
University of Pennsylvania!

We were passed by one team, SISD. My guess is that this team really is the computers of an Independent School District that were all "volunteered" to fold over the holidays. They are producing points at a rate of 37,000 points per day. As we gain members from the 100,000 FReepers that visit JimRob's place I expect that we will have a much greater long term growth than them.

[texas booster]

Go to

http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html

and download the proper client for your system I use the Windows XP GUI client. Run the program and enter "36120" under the team name.

It is as simple as that. The client stays in the background and folds proteins when you are not running anything else. You should turn off screensavers, allowing the monitor to turn itself off after 10 minutes or so.

You can also read prophetic's instructions in post # 68. He nails it for the F@H console version.

[texas booster]

With 11 systems you have a chance to catch up to Malsua, Ken in Texas and uriah to see who becomes our top producer. We have several new users that are gunning for them.

Malsua has the 11 systems. I have a measly four systems for now, which will soon drop to three.

My 20,000 points are the result of one average system running for about a year. I'll get passed by within a month. Still it fun knowing that I contribute to something bigger than myself.

[Seamoth]

I've got a FILE_IO_ERROR on my Xeon box... Googled it and it looks to occur on dual processor machines. Had to restart my WUs (agh). Looking at the filelogs closely, it seems that they're both working on the same protein; I downloaded and ran 2 separate clients (one console, one GUI). Is this expected behavior, or should they be working on different proteins?

[texas booster]

The second team # 47733 was set up by systematic. He moved his systems over to the older group once he found it.

I found one active user, JSL, who has their system configured for team # 47733.

If anyone knows how to contact that person, please FReepmail them and ask them to update their team number.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I think that happened to me when I first downloaded. The first two systems downloaded a 3750 frame unit. Now the 3 units seem to be running different proteins.

[ican'tbelieveit]

Hopefully we find JSL. Getting close to 1100. When I started last week, we were over 1500, looking good.

[Seamoth]

Grr... I tried deleting my queue on my console, and restarting a new WU, and the GUI console picked up on that WU. They're reading from the same queue somehow. I'll fiddle with copying files around.

[texas booster]

The only way that your systems would be running the same protein is if they are calling from the same directory.

See post 52 and post 89 from ken from texas.

Here is a note from the F@H FAQs:

---

Does Folding@home run on dual processor machines? Yes, you can. Additional processors must run the console version (with the "-local" command-line argument if run on Windows). First, make additional directories for each processor and copy the FAH Console executable file into each. Then configure them with the -config switch, filling in settings for each. It is very important to make sure that under the "Advanced Settings" option each copy is given a unique machine ID (from 1 to 8). The first copy will default to a machine ID of 1, so additional copies should be given IDs of 2, 3, 4, etc. Each may then be run out of their installed directory, using the -local switch on windows.

Is there anything special I should do to run on a cluster? The main aspect to consider is to make sure that the CPUID for each machine is unique. To help fight from having duplicate IDs, the windows versions (v. 3 and later) keep their IDs in the registry and the Linux version (v. 3.11 and later) keep it in a special file MachineDependent.dat.

Ways to avoid duplicating IDs:

If you install each client individually, then it's impossible for there to be problem with a duplicate ID.
If you use the recent Windows version and have single processor machines, then you should also be fine (for duals, see the above).
For a Linux cluster, make sure that if you copy the directory, you DON'T copy the MachineDependent.dat file. This file will be auto generated by the client to get a new ID.

Can I download more than one unit at a time? The algorithm we use works best if everybody downloads one work unit at a time, and checks back after each unit is completed, so therefore there is no option to download multiple units. If you have multiple processors in your computer, it is possible to have each processor work on a different unit; see what to do here. Don't try to run two copies on different machines that use the same directory on the same filesystem, either-- they NEED to run in different directories.

---

Clear as mud? Sorry about that. The net rsult is that each instance of F@H running on a multiprocessor system will need its own directory and its own unique machine ID.

[Seamoth]

The instructions are perfectly clear... followed 'em to the letter... the results aren't clear. Thanks for helping though!

[Seamoth]

Okay, I uninstalled both programs and paid more closely to the installation process.

It seems that upon installation, the console program looks for a preexisting work folder in the registry keys (which the GUI version installs). So, that's where the conflict was coming from.

Crossing my fingers now.

[Klutz Dohanger]

I've gotten 3 multiprocessors up and running... here's what I did.

1. First, I uninstalled the gui version,and deleted any directories, that had the console version.

2. Created a directory called FAH

3. Under FAH, created a subdirectory for each processor, called FAH1, FAH2, etc

4. Downloaded the console client executable into the subdirectories.

5. Going to each subdirectory at a time, launched the client, and if you're not duplicating, the first time you launch it, it will go into configuration mode.

6. Follow the on-screen menus, and then when it asks you for advanced, make sure that you say yes. Continue with the defaults, until it comes to where it asks you for machine ID. For FAH1, enter 1, FAH2, enter 2....

7. Leave the cmd box open, until you've finished configuring all of your processors. In the explorer box, for that processor, you'll notice that the program creates several log files, and a work directory.

8. Close the cmd boxes, and then under control panel, find administrative tools, and services.

9. In the services windows, right click on the first FAH entry, and then properties. in the bottom window, "run variables", put a -local Apply, and then right clicking again, start the service. Repeat for your other FAH entries.

10. You can check the progress, by browsing to these FAHx and FAHy directories, and clicking on the FAHlog... and it will tell you current progress, and what run#, etc it is currently working on.

Not as nice as the gui, but far more efficient.

[papasmurf]

You've got my attention! So, tell me what I can do, and how to do it. I've got the following spare untis sitting in the garage...

1-dual cpu amd 2800/512
1-dual cpu intel 733/256
1-sgl cpu intel 700 PIII/256
1 sgl cpu intel 900 celeron/256
1-sgl cpu amd 400/64 K6 laptop

I don't know if I have enough router capacity, but I do have an old 24 port hub, will that be ok?

I don't have enough monitors and keyboards to go around (even if I did, it would blow my panel LOL), can I install the client and remove the monitor and keyboard to the next box and so on?

Papasmurf

[Seamoth]

Ahhh... good, very *nix-y steps :o) Wish I'd gotten your advice a bit sooner--I got it working by uninstalling all FAH programs and then installing the console, and then installing the GUI afterwards. The console program had been looking for the GUI's work path in the registry keys. Yours is quite a bit more neater, though, and I'll probably need them if the console starts looking in the registry keys at every bootup, rather than just at the install.

[BitDrifter]

I went ahead and signed up. I leave my computer on all the time so I figured it can be doing something useful when I'm not using it.

[Klutz Dohanger]

I don't know if I have enough router capacity, but I do have an old 24 port hub, will that be ok?

I don't have enough monitors and keyboards to go around (even if I did, it would blow my panel LOL), can I install the client and remove the monitor and keyboard to the next box and so on?

As long as you've got some sort of broadband, you should be fine, as long as you don't start them all at once, and try to get six or seven simultaneous downloads of the WU files... The hub is fine, probably 10mps, but since your broadband is only 1-3mps, it's more than adequate to hang the units off of. Most older units aren't real cooperative without a keyboard and mouse attached, (if you're using PS/2 devices) but once a unit is booted, and running, you can snatch the monitor, and use it elsewhere. If they've got USB ports however, and a cheap set of USB peripherals, you can snatch them out, after bootup and startup... and they won't moan and complain, unless they reboot.

[Seamoth]

For the dual CPUs--follow Klutz Dohanger's excellent instructions in #111. The default FAH instructions didn't work for me (probably a "feature upgrade" they neglected to document). The single CPUs don't need anything special.

Sure, you can get by with the kind of setup you suggest if you're confident in your boxes' stability. Unless you have dial-up, I'm sure that your router can handle several computers. There might not be enough Ethernet ports for all 5 computers, in which case you'd attach an ethernet hub to your router with a crossover cable.

Personally I rarely use my keyboard/monitor with my Xeon box. I use TightVNC and a wicked wireless intranet setup to interface with my Xeon box's desktop directly from my laptop. If you run WinXP on all 5 boxes, you'd be able to use the built-in Remote Desktop to accomplish the same thing with a lot less hassle.

(Disregard this post if you're not a Windows user...)

[Seamoth]

If you can't get by without keyboards/mouse, but you don't want separate ones for every computer, there's always the option of buying KVM switches, such as this one. The only downside is that the boxes sharing the keyboard/mouse have to be physically close together.

[papasmurf]

Well, here was my thought...
I guess I need to go to some website and d/l a client...I'll do that, install it on the first box, and let it run. Yank the monitor and kb, and repeat the process on the others. From what I read here, I don't think I'll need to "see" the machines, just monitor that they are working and on line, I can do that without a monitor or keyboard.

The machines are...win2k and one win98.

I'm sure the hub will work, just didn't know if that would support your bandwidth needs. I have cable @ 3/256

Nothing else will be running on these machines and they'll be in a seperate workgroup from my other machines.

I just need instructions...
Where do I sign up and d/l the client?
Is the client self configuring or do I need some info to set them up?
Anything else, like name of group, etc. Post back and I'll set it up in the am.

Thanks,
Papasmurf

[Klutz Dohanger]

Download link is in post #10. The XP/2000 graphical client is only 361kb, so you can download both the XP/2000 and the 98 client to a single floppy, for installation.

The hub will be sufficient to connect your boxes to the router. As long as you don't start all the clients at once, you connection is plenty good enough. Most of the time, the network is idle, and only comes into play, when starting a new run, and then you might have 5-10mb worth of stuff to download/upload per machine... 99% of the time, they're not consuming any bandwidth at all, just periodic uploads and downloads, and those are only like 500kb max, or about 1 high quality jpeg's worth, every 45 minutes or so.

No special setup instructions. I'd try a single graphical client on each machine, until you get used to how it runs. The only thing you have to do, is ensure that you use the same username for each installation.. .ie... "papasmurf", and then once you launch the client the first time, make sure that you put in team 36120 ... to credit you to the FReeper folders.

There are various links for checking stats, and all of them are linked in this thread. It'll probably take a good 12-18 hours for your first contribution to show up, and maybe longer, depending on what sort of project you get downloaded to you.

[paulat]

I downloaded the software and got driver mismatch error message with exit as the only option.

What should I do? I don't see that error in the FAQ.