Folding@home howto

rich99million

rich99million

rich99million

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The following is a collection of setup guides for the Folding@Home project - if you're interested in taking part in the project please feel welcome to. If you want more information about Team OcUK then see the Team OcUK Forum where these guides and more will be posted once completed.

Thanks :)


Client setup guides

Single Client - GUI Version - Graphical Client for single CPU machines
Single Client - Console Version - Service Client for single CPU machines
Dual Clients - Console Version - Ideal for HT-Enabled or Dual CPU machines
Stopping F@H from making your games minimise - Switch to the non-graphical version
Setting up a Back-up client to cache emergency WUs - stash a cache of deadlineless WUs

Linux Auto Installer "A Must Read " - guide to using Finstall for Linux
Linux Fold-Server - A Better Solution - information for setting up a diskless Folding Farm with Linux
FAH on a bootable 8MB+ PenDrive - another really small diskless linux solution

Other Information

Production boosting tips - how to squeeze every last drop of credit
Reinstalling a Console Client From a Backup
Useful Links
Team OcUK Stats Signatures


All guides are written in my own patronising style - sorry if this offends but you can't complain that there's not enough detail :p
Thanks go to KE1HA, dav1d, dunc, Bob[UK], diogenese, and Concorde_Rules aswell as the rest of Team OcUK for their help and support :)
Big thanks also go out to Garp for his hard work on the Folding Stats siggies and hosting the whole lot - top fella! :cool:
 
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Single Client - Gui Version

Setting up GUI Client - Windows NT/2000/XP

1. Download the client from the download page - the current version is v5.03

2. Run the installer, click Next -> Yes -> Next to take you to the User Information tab. Enter the name you want to be known as, this will identify you in the stats.
The name is case sensitive and must only contain letters, numbers, or the underscore "_" character as a space. You can search on the download page to check that the name isn't already in use.
Don't worry too much about getting a totally unique name just as long as nobody in Team 10 (OcUK) is already using it.

3. Keep clicking Next to install the client into the default location C:\Program Files\Folding@Home
Installation is complete - click Next to start the client and view the readme.

4. You should now see a little red protein icon in the Notification Area/System Tray.
Right-Click the icon and select Configure... from the pop-up menu.
On the User tab change the Team number: to 10 - this is OcUK's team number.
On the connection tab you should be able to clear all the boxes for most internet connections.
Click OK to apply the changes.

5. The client should now have downloaded a WorkUnit and a suitable Core and should be working on it.
Double-clicking the red icon will bring up the Folding@Home Display.
The left side of the screen shows information about the current WU including its name, the core, and an estimated finish time based on the work done on it so far (don't worry about this yet).
In the bottom left corner if all is well you will see the word Working... if not then wait a few minutes as it may still be downloading and initialising.

6. Locate the shortcut in your Startup folder and change its properties so the target reads:
"C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\winFAH.exe" -forceasm
Disable any screen saver that is set to run - many screensavers will hog the CPU and make your WU take longer.
Instead select Blank Screen or Turn off Monitor after XXmins from the power settings. The GUI client comes with its own screensaver however it is not required since the client runs extremely low priority in the background.

7. For a points boost you can choose to receive Large WUs, these require a lot more physical memory than the standard WUs (typically about 140MB) and as such you will receive extra points for doing them.
If you have 512MB or more of RAM you shouldn't have a problem running them along with your usual programs.
To recieve Large WUs tick the box at the bottom of the connections tab in the client configuration - "Allow receipt of work assignments..."


The client is now installed and configured - a shortcut has been placed in your Startup folder so the client will run automatically when you log in.
You will not appear on the stats system until your first WU is completed and the stats database updated (usually once an hour).
Often the first WU will take especially long, just try to be patient and look forward to getting a different WU afterwards.


Happy Folding :)


Back to Index
 
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Single Client - Console Version

Setting up Console Client - Windows NT/2000/XP


1. Download the text-only console client from the download page - the current version is v5.02
Save the file directly into a new folder (i choose C:\Program Files\Folding@Home).

2. Before running the console think of a name you want to be known as, this will identify you in the stats.
The name is case sensitive and must only contain letters, numbers, or the underscore "_" character as a space. You can search on the download page to check that the name isn't already in use.
Don't worry too much about getting a totally unique name just as long as nobody in Team 10 (OcUK) is already using it.

3. Run the Console executable.
The first time you run a fresh Console client it will ask you the following configuration questions:

User name [Your folding name]
Team number [10]
Launch automatically at machine startup, installing this as a service [yes]
Ask before fetching/sending [no]
Use internet explorer settings yes/no (depending on proxy settings)
Use Proxy yes/no
Allow receipt of work assignments and return of work results greater than 5MB in size (such work units may have large memory demands) yes/no (not advisable on machines with 256MB RAM or less)
Change advanced options [yes]
Core Priority [idle]
CPU Usage [100]
Disable highly optimised assembly code [no]
Pause if battery power is being used (useful for laptops) yes/no
Interval, in minutes, between checkpoints (3-30) [I choose 10]
Request work units without deadlines [no]
Ignore any deadline information (mainly useful if system clock has errors) [no]
Machine ID (1-8) [1]

On entering the machine id the client should start downloading your first Work Unit and a suitable core.
If you make a mistake with the config you can reconfigure the console by running it with the -config flag.
Once the client has successfully downloaded a WorkUnit and started work on it stop the client by pressing CTRL+C when the window is active.

4. Run regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and find the Folding@Home service
WARNING - Editing the registry, if done wrong, can seriously ruin your system. You do so at your own risk.
Edit the imagepath entry for the folding service to include the -forceasm -verbosity 9 switches for example:
C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\FAH502-Console.exe -svcstart -forceasm -verbosity 9
Exit regedit.

5. Disable any screen saver that is set to run - many screensavers will hog the CPU and make your WU take longer.
Instead select Blank Screen or Turn off Monitor after XXmins from the power settings.

The client is now installed and configured - it is set to run as a service and will work even when nobody is logged in.
You can stop or start the service manually by going into Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
You will not appear on the stats system until your first WU is completed and the stats database updated (usually once an hour).
Often the first WU will take especially long, just try to be patient and look forward to getting a different WU afterwards.

To keep tabs on what the client is doing have a look at FahMon - a very simple yet effective monitoring tool


Happy Folding :)


Back to Index
 
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Dual Clients - Console Version

Setting up Dual Console Clients - Windows NT/2000/XP


1. Download the text-only console client from the download page - the current version is v5.02
Save the file directly into a new folder (i choose C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\Console1),
then copy it into a second new folder (i choose C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\Console2).

2. Before running the console think of a name you want to be known as, this will identify you in the stats.
The name is case sensitive and must only contain letters, numbers, or the underscore "_" character as a space. You can search on the download page to check that the name isn't already in use.
Don't worry too much about getting a totally unique name just as long as nobody in Team 10 (OcUK) is already using it.

3. Run the Console1 executable.
The first time you run a fresh Console client it will ask you the following configuration questions:

User name [Your folding name]
Team number [10]
Launch automatically at machine startup, installing this as a service [yes]
Ask before fetching/sending [no]
Use internet explorer settings yes/no (depending on proxy settings)
Use Proxy yes/no
Allow receipt of work assignments and return of work results greater than 5MB in size (such work units may have large memory demands) yes/no (not advisable on machines with 256MB RAM or less)
Change advanced options [yes]
Core Priority [idle]
CPU Usage [100]
Disable highly optimised assembly code [no]
Pause if battery power is being used (useful for laptops) yes/no
Interval, in minutes, between checkpoints (3-30) [I choose 10]
Request work units without deadlines [no]
Ignore any deadline information (mainly useful if system clock has errors) [no]
Machine ID (1-8) [1]

On entering the machine id the client should start downloading your first Work Unit and a suitable core.
If you make a mistake with the config you can reconfigure the console by running it with the -config flag.
Stop the client by pressing CTRL+C when the window is active.

4. Run the Console2 executeable.
Enter the same config information except for Machine ID enter 2
Once the client has successfully downloaded a WorkUnit and started work on it stop the client by pressing CTRL+C when the window is active.

5. Run regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services and find the two Folding@Home services
WARNING - Editing the registry, if done wrong, can seriously ruin your system. You do so at your own risk.
Edit the imagepath entry for each folding service to include the -forceasm -verbosity 9 switches for example:
C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\Console1\FAH502-Console.exe -svcstart -forceasm -verbosity 9
Exit regedit.

If you are using more than one client you may also want to add the -local switch to the image path, this doesn't seem to always be needed unless you've previously had the GUI version installed

6. Disable any screen saver that is set to run - many screensavers will hog the CPU and make your WU take longer.
Instead select Blank Screen or Turn off Monitor after XXmins from the power settings.

The clients are now installed and configured - they are set to run as services and will work even when nobody is logged in.
You can stop or start the services manually by going into Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Services
You will not appear on the stats system until your first WU is completed and the stats database updated (usually once an hour).
Often the first WU will take especially long, just try to be patient and look forward to getting a different WU afterwards.

To keep tabs on what the client is doing have a look at FahMon - a very simple yet effective monitoring tool


Happy Folding :)


Back to Index
 
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Stopping F@H from making your games minimise

Got a problem with the GUI graphics/some video drivers?

All you have to do to switch to the console version is stop the GUI running, remove it's shortcut from the start-up folder. Download the console executeable straight into the existing folder, make a shortcut to it and then add the -configonly switch to the end of the shortcut target so it reads

"C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\FAH502-Console.exe" -configonly

then just answer yes to the service install question and you'll be laughing
the rest of the options can remain the same and it will take up where the GUI left off - may be worth leaving it to finish the current WU first just incase though it shouldn't have any problems at all

If you are planning on using two or more console clients after using the GUI client you will most likely need to add the -local switch to the Image Path in the registry - see the console setup for instructions on adding switches to the service

You can then monitor your client using FahMon or EMIII
 
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Setting up a Back-up client to cache emergency WUs

what i do to avoid any downtime by loss of connection or whatever is to run two clients on each machine

the first client is setup as a main client which runs at higher priority and downloads -advmethods work, the second client is setup as a backup client which runs at standard priority and downloads a cache of deadlineless WUs.

1. Download a fresh copy of the console into a seperate directory - i create a sub-directory in the folding@home directory and name it "backup"
2. Run the console to start the configuration, if it refuses to run then either start it with the -local switch or simply stop the main client (this is just because the client thinks you are trying to run it twice and auto closes)
3. Configure the backup client to request work without deadlines <yes>, the next question will be about reducing network usage by downloading work in batches, select yes again. Finally set the machine ID of the backup to 2 (or in the case of an HT or dual system whatever the next number for that machine is).
4. Stop the main client and restart it with the -config switch, in advanced options change the priority from idle to low.
5. If set to run as services stop both clients and restart them either through the service management screen or simply reboot (never hurts :p)

this certainly works for me - the deadlineless work isn't worth as much as the top-dollar work but in the event of a connection failure it's better than nothing, it's also better for the science than running two normal clients since the WUs with deadlines will be being returned as quickly as possible still :)
running the extra client on my computer only uses an extra 11MB of RAM on my machine as the deadlineless WUs are a lot smaller and use the older Tinker Core that isn't as memory dependant so you shouldn't see much of a performance hit.
 
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to get 600 point WUs almost every time

enable large WUs in the configuration
add the -advmethods switch to your shortcut/image path if set as a service
restart the client and wait for the next WU

-advmethods should get you whatever work has been released after beta testing, as such these WUs can still be a little unstable however points are usually better than wading through a load of normal WUs
 
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Useful Links

Just a few useful links i've thought up for use in the sticky or my personal website - can anyone think of any others that they find useful?


Official Website
Folding@Home website

Client Downloads
Download Page
Current Preferred Windows Clients:
GUI client V5.03
Text-Only Console Client V5.02

Stats Pages
Stanford Stats Portal
Official Team 10 OcUK Stats Page
EOC Stats OcUK Team Summary
EOC Stats OcUK World Ranking
GeekFolding Stats Team 10 OcUK
StatGFX Folding Signatures
FAH Stats OcUK Active Members

WU Information/Progress Monitoring
Electron Microscope III (EMIII)
FahMon Folding Monitor
Project Summary Page
Server Status Page

Help
Team OcUK Distributed Computing Forum
Folding Community Forums
Official Folding@Home FAQ


Please feel free to post any other links or mistakes in these - It'll hopefully be going into the main sticky as part of the Folding@Home Guide :)

EDIT: Please post any feedback in the Team OcUK Forum with Folding Guide or something similar as the title as i won't often be checking this thread - Thanks
 
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Team OcUK Folding Stats Signatures

Garp said:
Roll up, Roll up ladies and geeeeentlemen.... annoucing the creation of an F@H Stats signature generator, conforming to this 'ere very forums exacting sig rules, being as it is an image of 400x75 pixels, and weighing in at a sweet 3.5kb.

For the moment I've used the OcUK Logo from the forums, and kept its current colour scheme to produce this image, however if anyone else has an image they'd prefer to have in place it is certainly possible to arrange it. I'm investigating what I might be able to do as a way of distinguishing people who've passed certain benchmarks. Shouldn't be too hard. Feel free to come up with suggestions :D

Data is updated at 7am every day (server time.. no idea whether thats GMT or BST, or other!) it can be made more often, but from what I understand the data is only dumped by its source once a day, so not much point!

To utilise the system insert inside of tags the following address:
[url]http://www.paulgraydon.co.uk/fah/fahsig.php?id=[/url]

after the = sign, put your F@H username.
Et Voila, all should be working.
I'm now creating a seperate offshoot for testing / improvement purposes.. I'm going to leave this one alone for now!

edit: actually.. it could do with stating what it is! I might change the image slightly :D[/QUOTE]

Adjusting the colour of the text in the sig

[QUOTE]If you want it white, just tack the following onto the end of the file you call:

&r=255&g=255&b=255

those values (unsurprisingly) are for red, green and blue repsectively. Feel free to experiment :D[/QUOTE]


All thanks to the one and only Garp - with a little help from the AOA folding team guy
Click to expand...
 
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F@H - Linux Auto Installer "A Must Read "

Original Thread posted by KE1HA - here

KE1HA said:
All -

Ok ... I don't know if i was just behind the times or what ... and / or if anyone here uses this script called finstaller or not ... but it's AWSOME !!!!!

A little bit about what this beasty can does do first:

This script does everything for you ... I mean everything ...!!! All you have to do is RUN IT !!.

All this is based on the distribution you have. It auto detects your system to the hilt !!

--> Auto-Detects the number od CPU's !!
--> Creates the folders for each CPU !!
--> Steps you though each CPU client setup
--> Allows for easy editing of the flags < -forceasm -verbosity 9 etc etc > though a pill file called <fah_config>
--> Installs 3rd Party Monitoring applications for you.
--> Creates the service scripts for running at boot time.
--> Creates the Start, Stop, Reload, Pause Scripts for you.
--> Work for RH, DSL < Denian Distro's > Slackware, Gentoo, FreeBSB, Mac OS, it even will allow you to run it through WINE < you can use the windows client > is you state it such on the command line <Example dsl@localhost: /home/dsl$: bach finstaller wine or FreeBSD or whatever switch you need >
--> Tells you havw to run it manually or run the service scripts.
--> Has a "Backup-Utility"
--> 3rd party apps include data.que repair and all sorts of stuff.


This is how i got it to work in Ohhh approx 3 minutes ......!!

You need to do this first:
--> With a Normal User Login, "not root", open an exterm window and go to your home directory:

dsl@box:~$ cd ~:

--> Create a sub-folder in your /home directory called foldingathome like so:

mkdir foldingathome

--> cd to that directory:

dsl@box:~$ cd foldingathome

--> Then download the script like so:

dsl@box:~/foldingathome$ wget http://www.vendomar.ee/~ivo/finstall

--> Make the file exectuable:

dsl@box:~/foldingathome$ chmod +x finstall

--> Then Download the Linux FAH502-Linux.exe client < all one line here >:

dsl@box:~/foldingathome$ wget http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/release/FAH502-Linux.exe

--> Make the file exectuable:

dsl@box:~/foldingathome$ chmod +x FAH502-Linux.exe

--> Run the script:
dsl@box:~/foldingathome$ bash finstall < and any options u may want >

--> Follow the instrustions ...< configure clients etc >:

--> Edit a file called < fah_config > that is in the foldingathome directory:

dsl@box:~/foldingathome$ vi ./fah_config

FAH_flags="-forceasm advmethods -vernosity 9"

NOTE: I wouldn't change the FAHLog.txt stuff or rediret it's output, as the 3rd part software queue's off the original file name name FAHLog.txt

--> Now all you have to do ist that the client called folding:

dsl@box:~/foldingathome$./folding {start|stop|restart|status|DoNothing}

--> That can easily be added to any rc.local or boot cron or /etc/init.d location etc etc ..

--> I havent' tested the installService script yet, but eveything else worked smooth as silk.


I'll be updating the DSL Linux USB Key O/S installation with this method for sure. !!!!!

Enjoy !!
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Linux Fold-Server - A Better Solution

Original Post by KE1HA - here

KE1HA said:
All -

I think I found the right answers ..... Finally !!!!!

This is based on DSL 0.9.3 ... the 50MB Linux Distributuion, allthough, the ISO looks to be about 61.5MB or so, not a problem.

I found it when i went looking for some scripts today , < some of you may know about it already > ... It's a Linux distribution deticated to Folding@Home. It's LTSP, Web-Based interface <control, updates and progress preporting >, TFT-Boot ... Looks to be the business.

A Quote from their Page:
Welcome to the home page for Fold-Server. The goal of this project is to provide a small distribution with support for booting other machines over network in a small download size, and hopefully a short setup time. Fold-server is currently based on Damn Small Linux 0.93 (DSL).
Click to expand...

This could save all us Linux guys allot of long hours in trying to deploy a Farm using Diskless Linux Systems.

Have a Look ... DSL Linux Based Fold-Server O/S
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Click to expand...
 
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Originally posted by Berserker
Got this moved where it belongs, before the forum phantom gives it the chop. :eek: :)
Click to expand...
thanks berserker sah - i will get some time in a couple of weeks to complete the guides and then we can see about getting them inserted into the sticky i hope :)

edit: thanks for changing the thread title too - thought it had gone walkies then saw the new name :)
 
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thanks for the feedback - yes i know i have to finish it, life is getting more full in other areas and i'm slacking in some areas these days :eek:

i will prioritise what i have left to get in here - mainly i think a bit on WHY? rather than how is needed quite badly at the top

i shall get there in the end!!! :)
 
kinnison said:
umm... how do i tell it to just use 50% CPU - I missed that on the initial setup unfortunately (service mode)
Click to expand...
stop the service (right click My Computer and select "manage" etc) then make a shortcut to the client and add the -config flag to the end of the shortcut

eg. "C:\Program Files\Folding@Home\winFAH.exe" -config

then you can change the % usage in the advanced configuration

I wouldn't reccomend it though as you'll get a lot less work done :p
of course you may have your reasons - when i stealth installed on my brothers machine i set it to a max of 90% usage so that the other 10% would get most other things done without him even nmoticing a slight difference (very over-sensitive chap)

oh and then restart the service/s
 
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