Arch's folding at home team

Pudge · 2006-02-27 08:04:23

Hi all;

I hope this post is in the proper Forum Index. If not, mods should feel free to move it.

I read on this site that Judd started Arch Linux to give something back to the Linux/Open Source community. Well, Judd and all the devs have done a noble and altruistic job of putting out a great distro. Well done everyone.

However, some of us, myself included, don't have the time or expertise to contribute directly to the Arch effort. I also read in the thread about the new server fund, that some were too financially strapped to donate monetarily to the Arch effort. Well, here is another way to donate. Donate your spare cpu cycles to the Arch Linux folding team. Give something back to an even bigger community in the name of Judd and all the devs.

I'm new to this forum, so I don't know if this has been discussed before or not. How about a folding section, or a distributed computing section to the forum? A place where members can discuss folding farms, options for the folding at home client, etc. A distributed computing section would also make more people aware that Arch even has folding and Seti teams. Or is this too off topic for the intended nature of this forum?

The Arch Linux Team is currently at 840th place. When we get in the top 800, extremeoverclocking.com starts computing individual statistics for each member of the team. Such as this http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/ … =&u=101114
and this
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/ … =&u=101114
and more team statistics such as this
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/ … s=&t=10688

Let's set a goal to get the Arch Linux team into the top 800 and turn on these stats.

I have been folding for about a year and a half for another team. Recent administrative decisions there have made me decide to leave that team, and I decided to fold for Arch since all my Linux computers have Arch on them. If you have any questions about setting the client options to maximize the points per day, or on how to set up an inexpensive dedicated folding computer, just ask and I will try to answer.

Pudge

aSlocum · 2006-02-28 15:52:59

im far new to arch and read about the folding@home and the group yesterday... so i just installed it via pacman und run it at bootime.
so i "spend" one more cpu (Pentium M 1.6ghz) to the group

one question... there is that stats html in file:///opt/fah/MyFolding.html and there is one line:
Current/latest unit
Unit name, download time, progress: unitinfo.txt

unitinfo.txt is a link to file:///opt/fah/unitinfo.txt ...but that file does not exists. i know folding is working because my cpu is at 100% all the time but where can i see some info WHAT he is doing at the moment?

is there some sort of monitor app i can install? i tried adesklets but they seem not to work with the xfce4-svn version.

Pudge · 2006-02-28 17:24:20

aSlocum wrote:

where can i see some info WHAT he is doing at the moment?
i

aSlocum;

Welcome to the team!

The Folding At Home client logs information into a file named FAHlog.txt FAHlog.txt should be in the same directory as FAH504-Linux.exe.

You can set how much information gets logged with the verbosity flag when the folding client is started. Verbosity levels are from 1 to 9, with 9 being the most information and default is 3. To change the verbosity level, start the client like so:
./FAH504-Linux.exe -verbosity 9
for the most information.

To view this information, find the FAHlog.txt file and simply cat it such as:
cat /home/don/folding/FAHlog.txt
in my case. Or you can use the tail command to get a running output of FAHlog.txt, such as:
tail -f /home/don/folding/FAHlog.txt

Here is a sample if it's output, with verbosity at default level 3

--- Opening Log file [February 27 02:11:56]

# Linux Console Edition #######################################################
###############################################################################

Folding@Home Client Version 5.04beta

http://folding.stanford.edu

###############################################################################
###############################################################################

Launch directory: /home/don/folding
Executable: ./FAH504-Linux.exe
Arguments: -advmethods

[02:11:56] - Ask before connecting: No
[02:11:56] - User name: Pudge (Team 45032)
[02:11:56] - User ID: XXXXXXXXXXXX
[02:11:56] - Machine ID: 7
[02:11:56]
[02:11:56] Loaded queue successfully.
[02:11:56] + Benchmarking ...
[02:12:05]
[02:12:05] + Processing work unit
[02:12:05] Core required: FahCore_7a.exe
[02:12:05] Core found.
[02:12:05] Working on Unit 08 [February 27 02:12:05]
[02:12:05] + Working ...
[02:12:05]
[02:12:05] *------------------------------*
[02:12:05] Folding@Home GB Gromacs Core
[02:12:05] Version 1.86 (August 28, 2005)
[02:12:05]
[02:12:05] Preparing to commence simulation
[02:12:05] - Looking at optimizations...
[02:12:05] - Files status OK
[02:12:05] - Expanded 27102 -> 178457 (decompressed 658.4 percent)
[02:12:06]
[02:12:06] Project: 2107 (Run 1240, Clone 70, Gen 0)
[02:12:06]
[02:12:06] Assembly optimizations on if available.
[02:12:06] Entering M.D.
[02:12:26] (Starting from checkpoint)
[02:12:26] Protein: p2107_lambda_5way_melt_4_10011
[02:12:26]
[02:12:26] Writing local files
[02:12:26] GB activated
[02:12:26] Completed 9500000 out of 12500000 steps (76%)
[02:12:26] Extra SSE boost OK.
[02:31:15] Writing local files
[02:31:15] Completed 9625000 out of 12500000 steps (77%)
[02:49:18] Writing local files
[02:49:18] Completed 9750000 out of 12500000 steps (78%)
[03:07:07] Writing local files
[03:07:07] Completed 9875000 out of 12500000 steps (79%)
[03:24:45] Writing local files
[03:24:45] Completed 10000000 out of 12500000 steps (80%)
[03:42:18] Writing local files
[03:42:18] Completed 10125000 out of 12500000 steps (81%)
[04:00:04] Writing local files
[04:00:04] Completed 10250000 out of 12500000 steps (82%)
[04:20:30] Writing local files
[04:20:30] Completed 10375000 out of 12500000 steps (83%)
[04:38:58] Writing local files
[04:38:58] Completed 10500000 out of 12500000 steps (84%)
[04:59:16] Writing local files
[04:59:16] Completed 10625000 out of 12500000 steps (85%)
[05:18:18] Writing local files
[05:18:18] Completed 10750000 out of 12500000 steps
(86%)

There are monitoring programs out there. Some of the monitoring programs are quite in depth, giving estimated time of completion for the WU, etc., but I find that FAHlog.txt is sufficent for me.

To find out how many points a WU is worth, go to
http://fah-web.stanford.edu/psummary.html
and look up the project number. In the above example it'sProtein: p2107_lambda_5way_melt_4_10011 so look up p2107 and it's worth 404 points and information about the project is linked to on the right.

Hope that helps.

Pudge

Edit:
Here is a link to a monitoring program (FahMon) at the Folding At Home support forum,
http://forum.folding-community.org/viewtopic.php?t=8505
but I have never used it and can't comment on it.

pikass · 2006-02-28 17:42:01

Maybe i get something wrong about this entire folding thingie, i can see the great advantages some extra statistics would have ... but i have no idea how this would help the devs? Is there some sort of compensation i'm not aware of?

codemac · 2006-02-28 20:18:42

It's a charity project. It doesn't help archlinux other than having a better reputating with folding@home. You should probably click on all the links in the above posts, then procede to read them.

trapdoor · 2006-02-28 22:29:53

I joined the team too....

1270 · 2006-03-01 06:52:47

I have been forgetting to start the client up before I went to bed. I have now started it in a virtual terminal.

Pudge · 2006-03-01 08:08:59

pikass wrote:

Maybe i get something wrong about this entire folding thingie, i can see the great advantages some extra statistics would have ... but i have no idea how this would help the devs? Is there some sort of compensation i'm not aware of?

There are different ways of being a philantropist. You can become a multi Billionaire and start a foundation in your name, such as Bill Gates. But I don't have the resources for that. You can donate money to charitable causes. But I'm not always sure where the money actually goes. Or, you can take something that you already have sitting in front of you, namely your computer, and put it to good use. Who knows, maybe the next work unit folded could be the one that leads to a big break through helping to eliminate a terrible disease from humanity.

In my opinion, folding at home is a way to give something back to society. Any knowledge gained by FAH beomes public property. Judd originally started Arch Linux because he said he wanted to give something back to the linux/open source community. I think that the devs picked up on that spirit also. Why else would they toil for long arduous hours for no monetary compensation? So, in my opinion, folding for the Arch Linux team is a continuation of that spirit of giving something back.

There's no monetary reward. FAH is like peeing your pants in a dark suit, it gives you a nice warm feeling even though no one notices.

Just my $.02

Pudge

Pudge · 2006-03-01 09:01:58

Here is a pic of one of my dedicated folding comuters, running Arch Linux of course.

The micro ATX mother board with integrated graphics is mounted on a piece of plywood with stand offs, with a cardboard drive cage with a fan in the rear. It's like the Nisson Xterra, everything you need, nothing you don't. The hard drive was picked up at a computer liquidation place for $25 USD. I think it's a 20 Gig 5400 rpm ATA. But you don't need a fast hard drive for folding.

Here's my "folding Farm"

Nestled on some storage shelves in the utility room, amoungst the Ziplock bags, etc. One computer is sitting on the box my cable modem came in. You can't see it, but there are four computers that share a monitor, keyboard, and mouse through a 4 port KVM switch.

All my Linux computers are networked using openssh. On my main computer, I open 4 terminal windows in one virtual desktop, ssh to each folding computer, do tail -f folding/FAHlog.txt and I can now monitor all four folding computers from one virtual desktop on my main computer.

For a dedicated folding computer, all you need is a micro atx MoBo with integrated graphics & integrated LAN, a cpu/heat sink, about 256 to 512 meg Ram, the cheapest hard drive you can find, and I use the 300W psu's that my friends jettison when they buy a new case. Add the base Arch Linux plus openssh, and you're good to go. Once Arch is up and running, you can even run a dedicated folder without a monitor, keyboard, or mouse. Use ssh from another computer to start FAH, monitor FAH, and stop FAH. Some have even figured out how to boot from a server on the LAN, create a Ram Disk, download the FAH client from the server, and run FAH diskless. Don't have to buy a HD and less power used. However, I'm not smart enough to figure that out so I buy cheap hard disks.

You don't need the X server or a Windows Manager for dedicated folding. In fact, it folds faster without them.

Just some examples of what can be done.

Pudge

Pudge · 2006-03-01 16:21:39

Here is another advantage to having at least one dedicated folding computer. One of my folding computers has a large (160 Gig) hard drive. I use this hard drive as my archival hard drive. I backup all my MP3's there. Plus I wrote a script that backs up my main computer's home directory to a .tar.gz file and copies that file to the archive hard drive every night using crontab.

The first thing you have to do is make it so you can use scp in a script to copy files without being prompted for a password. To do this, log into the computer that will be backed up as your user. Generate a public / private key pair on this machine as such:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 2048
Generating public/private rsa key pair. Enter file in which to save the key
[Just hit enter to accept the defaults]
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase)
[You want to hit enter twice, you need an empty passphrase for this to work.]

This should generate the public/private keys and put them in
/home/don/.ssh/
Your public key should be in a file named id_rsa.pub

Next you need to copy the contents of id_rsa.pub to the computer that will used for the backups and put it in a file named
/home/don/.ssh/authorized_keys
Authorized_keys can contain keys from multiple PCs, so if it already exists and contains text in it, you need to append the contents of your public key to it.

From the computer to be backed up, you should now be able to ssh into the backup computer without a password.

Next, install this script on the computer to be backed up in /home/don/bin/dailybackup

# This file creates and gzips a backup of your home directotory in a tarball
#  then copies that zipped tarball to another computer via scp

# This file is run daily at 02:30 by crontab

# The following variable represents the pathname where the temporary backup .tar.gz files will be placed
# DO NOT put a / on the end of PATHNAME  i.e. /home/don/bin/ is incorrect
 PATHNAME="/tmp"

# create new backup file name as the day of the week, i.e. Sunday, Monday, etc
 FILENAME=`date +%A`

# create new backup file
 tar --create --verbose --exclude=/home/don/MP3 --exclude=/home/don/.thumbnails --exclude=/home/don/.mozilla/firefox/o9zzpirt.default/Cache --gzip --file=$PATHN AME/$FILENAME.tar.gz /home/don

# copy backup file to another computer on your LAN
scp -B -p  $PATHNAME/$FILENAME.tar.gz don@mortimer:/home/don/neo4backups

# Erase temporary file
rm $PATHNAME/$FILENAME.tar.gz

Of couse, you will need to adjust pathnames and computer names to suit your situation. Also, use crontab -e to run the file once daily. This script creates and zips a tarball and names it Sunday.tar.gz or Monday.tar.gz etc for each day of the week. After eight days, it will start over writing the backup files on the archive hard drive so you will always have your seven most recent backups and no more.

Using the exclude option, I don't backup my MP3s, or the system's thumbnails, or the Firefox cache files. You will need to adjust this to your computer also. This keeps the backup file to a reasonable size. In my case around 300 to 350 meg. Of course you can tweak the tar command to backup exactly what you want and exclude what you don't want.

Here is a security tip for using openssh. By default, ssh uses port 22. When setting up your ssh_config and sshd_config files, I hgihly recommend you set port to something besides 22. Go to the eight or nine thousands and pick a port not designated for anything. Go to
https://www.grc.com/PortDataHelp.htm
fill in a port number and click jump and it will tell you what function that port is normally associated with.

Pudge

Pudge · 2006-03-09 05:42:35

Congratulations to UberPenguin for being the first Archer to hit 100,000 points for Folding At Home.

Pudge

Pick2 · 2006-05-16 01:16:18

I would like to be the first to congratulate me on joining the Arch Linux Folding @ Home Team !

Pick2

snader · 2006-05-16 10:02:24

I joined the team too, now.

FUBAR · 2006-05-16 12:07:29

How many different F@H statlists are there?! Are they all different projects? I've been folding for a while too, for Arch's team.

I've been asking myself if it's worth the increased power usage though. I'm running a client on an AMD AthlonXP 1900+ Palomino and an AMD Athlon64 3000+ Venice (@ 2.43GHz), I wonder how much more electricity they use because of the constant CPU load.

Pick2 · 2006-05-16 14:14:36

There is Stanford's Stats:
http://fah-web.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/mai … mnum=45032
and EOC:
http://folding.extremeoverclocking.com/ … s=&t=45032
and FAHstats:
http://fahstats.com/t.php?t=45032
and a few others Specialty Stats, like one for Mac Heads:
http://teamstats.macnn.com/fold/stats.p … &range=700
^^^ Hey ! I'm In there somewhere ! ^^^

The De-facto Main Folding Forums has a list of third party Apps here:
http://forum.folding-community.org/view … hp?t=11700

My Favorite app , the only one I use , is named "qd" , which can be had here:
http://linuxminded.xs4all.nl/?target=so … -tools.plc
I use the Mac and Linux versions of "qd" , and you'll need the data file "qdinfo.dat" to go along with it. a simple "qd -cif /fahdir/CPU1" will give you something like:

 Index 3: folding now 541.00 pts (7.560 pt/hr) 50 X min speed; 14% complete
   server: 171.65.103.150:8080; project: 2353, "p2353_lambda_repressor"
   Folding: run 3, clone 11, generation 10; benchmark 1391; misc: 500, 400
   issue: Mon May 15 23:23:11 2006; begin: Mon May 15 22:24:46 2006
   expect: Thu May 18 21:58:27 2006; due: Wed Oct 11 22:24:46 2006 (149 days)
*LD1*

 Index 1: folding now 604.00 pts (7.384 pt/hr) 49 X min speed; 12% complete
   server: 171.65.103.150:8080; project: 2359, "p2359_Protein_G"
   Folding: run 1, clone 9, generation 10; benchmark 1391; misc: 500, 400
   issue: Mon May 15 23:33:00 2006; begin: Mon May 15 22:34:43 2006
   expect: Fri May 19 08:22:46 2006; due: Sun Oct 29 21:34:43 2006 (167 days)
*LD2*

( Well , I have a Few "heads and tails" thrown in with that script LOL )

And Last , but not least , is power consumption !
The PPH ( Points Per Hour ) varies with the type of WU ( Work Unit ) you get , so these are My best case PPH:

Pismo Powerbook is 28 Watts full folding bore at ~2 PPH
Mac Mini is 32 Watts at ~4 PPH
AMD64 X2 ( "LD" above ) blade is 75 Watts at ~12PPH ( times two WU ! )
Opteron X2 blade is 75 Watts at ~16PPH ( times two )
Power Mac G4 X2 is 175 Watts at ~4PPH ( times two )

a Buddies Power Mac Quad Core G5 is 430 Watts :shock: with 4 WU running 8)

with older CPUs , there is not as much difference between idle and full load as you would think , but with the newer ones with power saving technologies , it makes a bigger difference.

A long winded post ? My fingers are getting tired and your eyes are about to fall off

Pick2

Pudge · 2006-05-19 04:33:38

trapdoor wrote:

I joined the team too....

Pick2 wrote:

I would like to be the first to congratulate me on joining the Arch Linux Folding @ Home Team !
Pick2

snader wrote:

I joined the team too, now.

Welcome trapdoor, Pick2, and snader to the Arch folding team. Thanks, every cpu helps.

Nice work Pick2 for reaching the 3rd highest production for team Arch.

Man, uberPenguin sure is making it tough for me to catch up to him! Well, maybe someday.

Pudge

FUBAR · 2006-05-19 07:26:12

I wish I could go downstairs here at work and install the client on every computer, just for one hour. I'd be superamazingproteinfolder number one!

Although I'm really thinking about ditching the distributed computing clients on my own machines in favor of a lower electrical bill. I don't have to pay it, but that doesn't make it free.

Pick2 · 2006-06-30 23:30:30

Well , the bad news is , I had to pull the AMD64 X2 from the Arch Folding Team to another project for a while ...
So I Fired up my Celeron D to take it's place !

But when I'm thru over there ...
I'll put both the AMD X2 and the Opteron 165 X2 back over here for a while to compensate !

I usually turn off half my Rigs thru the Summer , AC on = CPUs off

Pick2

Last edited by Pick2 (2007-02-19 13:50:52)

Pudge · 2006-07-01 02:07:11

Wow, 955,832 points, that's impressive.

How long did it take you to accumulate that many points?

I accumulated almost 500,000 points for Team Sudhian, but it took almost a year and a half to do it.

Nevermind, I just noticed your first record recieved as Plutronics was on 01.01.04 so it took about 2 and a half years.

Congrats on your million when you get there.

Pudge

Pick2 · 2006-07-15 21:06:07

Actually Pudge , 01.01.04 is the date he started ( or restructured ) his data base
I started folding for MacRumors on 2 August 03 , moved to Team MacOSX on 15 september 03.

I started switching a few clients back over here ! We should see a boost by the end of next week

Crazypu · 2007-02-16 20:32:10

I start now my folding adventure.... my Arch-box is online 24/24

Pick2 · 2007-02-18 03:05:27

Welcome to the Folding team , Crazypu !
Fold Long and Prosper !

Pick2

Arch Linux

#1 2006-02-27 08:04:23

Arch's folding at home team

#2 2006-02-28 15:52:59

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#3 2006-02-28 17:24:20

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#4 2006-02-28 17:42:01

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#5 2006-02-28 20:18:42

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#6 2006-02-28 22:29:53

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#7 2006-03-01 06:52:47

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#8 2006-03-01 08:08:59

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#9 2006-03-01 09:01:58

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#10 2006-03-01 16:21:39

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#11 2006-03-09 05:42:35

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#12 2006-05-16 01:16:18

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#13 2006-05-16 10:02:24

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#14 2006-05-16 12:07:29

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#15 2006-05-16 14:14:36

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#16 2006-05-19 04:33:38

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#17 2006-05-19 07:26:12

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#18 2006-06-30 23:30:30

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#19 2006-07-01 02:07:11

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#20 2006-07-15 21:06:07

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#21 2007-02-16 20:32:10

Re: Arch's folding at home team

#22 2007-02-18 03:05:27

Re: Arch's folding at home team

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