Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-18 02:01:10

Hi,
I was wondering if you could put Arch Linux's Folding@Home team in the newletter. Our team's website can be found here:
http://vspx27.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/main … mnum=45032
Right now we only have 3 members, but I am sure that the extra advertisement will bring more and give Arch good publicity.

dtw · 2005-08-18 06:08:13

I'll do it tonight

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-18 06:44:11

Thanks!

sullivanva · 2005-08-18 12:30:40

I'm taking a chance here, because you could be using my CPU cycles for some nefarious plot.

If you do take over my PC, could you please not attack any government institutions?
Go after one of those evil corporate entities, OK?

I see that it's niced down, but it does seem to grabbing a lot of CPU.

Tasks:  93 total,   2 running,  91 sleeping,   0 stopped,   0 zombie
Cpu(s):  2.0% us,  0.0% sy, 98.0% ni,  0.0% id,  0.0% wa,  0.0% hi,  0.0% si
Mem:    512072k total,   503552k used,     8520k free,    18680k buffers
Swap:  1028120k total,   566908k used,   461212k free,    92040k cached

  PID USER      PR  NI  VIRT  RES  SHR S %CPU %MEM    TIME+  COMMAND
 6707 root      39  19 70732  10m  724 R 97.6  2.1   0:10.56 FahCore_65.exe
15075 root      15   0  111m  87m 3844 S  1.3 17.4  45:25.67 firestarter
 5721 root      15   0  164m  13m 3776 S  0.7  2.7 202:54.17 X
 3268 f350851   16   0  145m  55m  15m S  0.3 11.0  15:06.34 firefox-bin
    1 root      16   0  1468  440  420 S  0.0  0.1   0:02.14 init
    2 root      RT   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 migration/0
    3 root      34  19     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.01 ksoftirqd/0
    4 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:01.39 events/0
    5 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 khelper
    6 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kthread
    8 root      20  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 kacpid
   88 root      10  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:06.17 kblockd/0
  140 root      11  -5     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 aio/0
  139 root      15   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   2:04.52 kswapd0
  142 root      25   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 jfsIO
  143 root      25   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 jfsCommit
  144 root      25   0     0    0    0 S  0.0  0.0   0:00.00 jfsSync

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-18 13:47:33

The nice value is the same as mine. It only uses your idle CPU cylcles so you should not see any performance drop. Have you noticed any slow downs in speed?

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-18 14:04:08

sullivanva wrote:

I'm taking a chance here, because you could be using my CPU cycles for some nefarious plot.
If you do take over my PC, could you please not attack any government institutions?
Go after one of those evil corporate entities, OK?

lol
I do not think you have to worry about me taking over your computer since Stanford is the one in charge of Folding@Home. It could be very possible that the whole protein folding thing could be just a ruse to make us think that we are actually helping the world. They might actually be using our computers to create a new mind control drug which will be released into our water supply and force us all to their bidding. :shock:

Rotonen · 2005-08-18 17:50:10

By the way would there be a way to restrict the program only to use a defined amount of cpu time instead of "all that is available" ? Because if I'm using 100% for a long time, heating will be an issue (I'm getting a new cooling solution when it manages to fit into my budget).

An alternate solution would be a nice magical script that asks me under which conditions the cpu time should be donated (ie. from 2am to 8am or "when screensaver is on", the first can be done via cron, but don't have the skill to do anything about the latter and such more complex things).

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-18 18:34:50

What would be really nice is a daemon that watches your temp via lm_sensors and shuts it down whenever it gets too high. I am not sure exactly how to do this though. I don't know if you use kde but there is a program called ksensors that will let you set programs to run whenever temperature gets to "alarm" level which user specifies. You could shut down folding@home whenever it reaches said level though it is not able to run another program whenever it reaches lower level so you wouldn't be able to restart it. You might be able to find another program that does something similar only allows you to run different programs at multiple levels of temp. Probably the easiest way would be to go with the cron job.

crontab -e
0 2 * * * /etc/rc.d/foldingathome start
0 8 * * * /etc/rc.d/foldingathome stop

As you can see crontab uses this format:
MIN HOUR DAY MONTH DAYOFWEEK COMMAND

Also note that you must specify full pathname otherwise it will not work.
For more info check out the crontab man page.

sullivanva · 2005-08-18 21:45:46

They got a FAH Forum over there at Stanford. I'm going to see what they say.

Good idea of using the cron.

I just don't want it to interfere with my computing the last digit of Pi.

3 years so far, and I think I'm getting close.

My cron:

0 8 * * * /etc/rc.d/foldingathome start
0 17 * * * /etc/rc.d/foldingathome stop

dtw · 2005-08-18 22:26:37

What details do you want me to include in the newsletter?

I mean which of the details on the team page do you want included? How do people sign up? More info dude!

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-18 22:33:28

Please include team page, team number, number of members, score, and ranking. People can sign up by downloading the package in the aur and using team number 45032 when they set it up. Thanks again!

dtw · 2005-08-18 22:59:20

ok - i will adopt the AUR pkg into [community] tomorrow too to make it easier for everyone

dtw · 2005-08-18 23:25:04

ok - it is in [community]

I have made some changes, please test it!

Rotonen · 2005-08-19 00:23:27

jftaylor21 wrote:

What would be really nice is a daemon that watches your temp via lm_sensors and shuts it down whenever it gets too high. I am not sure exactly how to do this though. I don't know if you use kde but there is a program called ksensors that will let you set programs to run whenever temperature gets to "alarm" level which user specifies. You could shut down folding@home whenever it reaches said level though it is not able to run another program whenever it reaches lower level so you wouldn't be able to restart it. You might be able to find another program that does something similar only allows you to run different programs at multiple levels of temp. Probably the easiest way would be to go with the cron job.

Well my temperatures go too high in a matter of seconds with full load so using F@H will be a problem (usually my cpu usage isn't that high unless I'm compiling something, but that only takes a short while and therefore poses no significant problems for me).

So does anyone know a way to limit F@H (or any app for that matter, I might be interested in using my box to render an animation with blender later on) cpu usage to a certain percentage..?

elasticdog · 2005-08-19 04:29:44

From my understanding, I think F@H will only be running when there is idle time for the CPU, so if you happen to be doing other work, it will not be taking any cycles away from you...thus rendering something in Blender should work as expected. The temperature problem, however, is a whole other ball of wax...

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-19 06:27:17

I found a tool called fahlimit that is supposed to limit your processor usage. I have never used it so I do not know how well it works. Here is a link:
http://calxalot.homeip.net/downloads/

dtw · 2005-08-19 09:14:57

Rotonen wrote:

So does anyone know a way to limit F@H (or any app for that matter, I might be interested in using my box to render an animation with blender later on) cpu usage to a certain percentage..?

So, let me get this straight. You want to be involved in a distributed processing project but you don't want them to be using the full power of your CPU? Makes sense to me...

Rotonen · 2005-08-19 10:33:45

dibblethewrecker wrote:

So, let me get this straight. You want to be involved in a distributed processing project but you don't want them to be using the full power of your CPU? Makes sense to me...

Well if I donate blood, I'm not letting them drain all of it, am I..?

That aside, it'll just be a temporary solution until I can get an alternate cooling solution. jftaylor21, thank you, that seems to fit my needs.

dtw · 2005-08-19 10:51:28

Rotonen wrote:

Well if I donate blood, I'm not letting them drain all of it, am I..?

Hmm a salient point, but would you let them use everything you didn't need?

sullivanva · 2005-08-21 22:03:51

I went out to the site, and I don't see any results from my box.

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-22 00:24:36

Did you enter 45032 as your team name? You should be able to tell if you go to this link:
file:///opt/fah/MyFolding.html
I personally bookmarked this link so I can check up on it from time to time. Also, you will not see your name on the list until you contribute at least one work unit to the team. If you need to change your team number you will need to enter the following commands as root:

/etc/rc.d/foldingathome stop
cd /opt/fah
./FAH502-Linux.exe -config
/etc/rc.d/foldingathome start

sullivanva · 2005-08-22 00:36:41

How long does it typically take to complete a unit?

Let's say you check out a unit, and you don't complete it as fast as someone else. They may have moved on to another project, or re-assigned your unit to someone else because they thought you weren't going to return with it?

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-22 00:47:18

I have a athlon 64 3200+ with 512 mb ram and a work unit can take anywhere from less than a day to 2 days to finish when I run Folding@Home 24/7. They do set an expiration date for work units, though you can set Folding@Home to only accept work units that have no expiration date. They usually give you plenty of time to finish the work unit though (a week or two) so this should not be an issue unless you run Folding@Home only a couple hours a day. In that case you should reconfigure Folding@Home to only accept work units that have no expiration date.

sullivanva · 2005-08-22 01:11:34

Have you got the gdesklet monitor and control to work for you?

jftaylor21 · 2005-08-22 03:53:27

I've never really used gdesklets as I am a kde user. I normally just check Folding@Home stats through file:///opt/fah/MyFolding.html

Arch Linux

#1 2005-08-18 02:01:10

Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#2 2005-08-18 06:08:13

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#3 2005-08-18 06:44:11

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#4 2005-08-18 12:30:40

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#5 2005-08-18 13:47:33

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#6 2005-08-18 14:04:08

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#7 2005-08-18 17:50:10

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#8 2005-08-18 18:34:50

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#9 2005-08-18 21:45:46

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#10 2005-08-18 22:26:37

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#11 2005-08-18 22:33:28

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#12 2005-08-18 22:59:20

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#13 2005-08-18 23:25:04

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#14 2005-08-19 00:23:27

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#15 2005-08-19 04:29:44

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#16 2005-08-19 06:27:17

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#17 2005-08-19 09:14:57

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#18 2005-08-19 10:33:45

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#19 2005-08-19 10:51:28

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#20 2005-08-21 22:03:51

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#21 2005-08-22 00:24:36

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#22 2005-08-22 00:36:41

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#23 2005-08-22 00:47:18

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#24 2005-08-22 01:11:34

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

#25 2005-08-22 03:53:27

Re: Arch Linux Folding@Home team in newsletter

Board footer