HOWTO: SETI@Home on Linux

Shak · 18 Oct 2002 at 18:59

HOWTO: SETI@Home on Linux

So you want to start SETI on Linux? The best way is to run the Linux client, as it handles VLARS well and gets equally good times.

To set it up you will need the client for that machine. The following clients are available for Linux machines:

i686
i686 with gnulibc2.1: ftp://ftp.cdrom.com/pub/setiathome/setiathome-3.03.i686-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1.tar]Download [/url]
i686 with gnulibc1: Download

i386
i386 with gnulibc2.1: Download
i386 with gnulibc1: Download

If they are 800mhz+ then you will want the i686 clients. If you dont know about your glibc version. Then just use the gnulibc version 1.

To set any one of these clients up you will need to download the client into your /home directory.

Open up a terminal (xterm, konsole etc)

Then untar the tarball:

Code:

sh-2.05a$ tar xvf setiathome-3.03.i686-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1.tar

You should then see the tarballs contents being unpacked:

Code:

setiathome-3.03.i386-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1/README
setiathome-3.03.i386-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1/README.xsetiathome
setiathome-3.03.i386-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1/setiathome
setiathome-3.03.i386-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1/xsetiathome

I usually move this directory to something better named so it is easier to find:

Code:

sh-2.05a$ mv setiathome-3.03.i386-pc-linux-gnu-gnulibc2.1 setiathome

Now cd into that directory:

Code:

sh-2.05a$ cd setiathome

To see all the command line switches for SETI you can run:

Code:

sh-2.05a$ ./setiathome --help

This will present you with:

Code:

bad arg: --help
options:
        -version                show version info
        -login                  log in
        -countries              show list of country codes
        -nice N                 set priority to N
        -email                  send email notification on error
        -graphics               create shared mem segment for graphics
        -proxy hostname:port    connect to SH server through specified
                                   proxy server
        -stop_after_process     stop after current WU - do NOT send result
        -stop_after_xfer        stop after current WU - DO send result
        -verbose                print running status
        -nolock                 skip multiple-instance check
        -socks_server hostname:port     SOCKS proxy
        -socks_user name        SOCKS user name
        -socks_passwd passwd    SOCKS password

I run the client with the arguments -nolock and -email.

This is done by:

Code:

sh-2.05a$ ./setiathome -nolock -email

You will see:

Code:

Welcome to SETI@home.
We use your email address to identify you.
Please type:
    1 to set up a new account (first-time users);
    2 to log into an existing account (returning users).
Your choice (1 or 2):

This presented to you. If you want a new account press 1. if not press 2.

Then input the rest of the details:

Code:

Your email address: [email][email protected][/email]
OK to show your email address on the SETI@home web site? (y/n): y
Your name or nickname: blah
OK to show your name on the SETI@home web site? (y/n): y
Your country number: 213
Your postal code: HD2 2HU
Computer location: 0=unspecified 1=school 2=work 3=home : 3
Everything correct? (y/n) y

Obviously yours will differ to my choices as this is an example.

When you see this in a terminal you're crunching

Code:

All data received.
Scanning data file
Data Info:
Sky coordinates: 15.409 R.A., 19.790 Dec
Recorded on:  2452527.38854 (Mon Sep  9 21:19:30 2002)
Source: Arecibo Radio Observatory
Base Frequency: 1.419931641 GHz
Beginning analysis...
        (This is the last message displayed while the client works.
        To see progress messages between now and completion of
        processing, operate the client with the -verbose option.
        You can also see the progress of the client by looking at
        the 'prog=' line in the state.sah file.

Now you just need to join TeamOcUK at the links at the top of the forum

If you want it to run on an SMP machine, just use two clients running in different directories. I have:

Code:

/home/shak/seti/seti1/setiathome
/home/shak/seti/seti2/setiathome

Enjoy your crunching

Shak