BOINC on Linux for the novice
24 Aug 2005 3:01:57 UTC
Topic 189747
(moderation:
I have a fresh install of Gentoo 2.6.12 on my system. (It's taken me quite a bit to get this far from scratch!) It boots to the generic login prompt. What do I have to do in order to install BOINC and run it? I'm a complete novice to Linux, so please be gentle and talior your response to a novice level. Do I need to load a desktop (KDE, X or Gnome) in order to run BOINC? Do I need to install any special libraries or anything else to get up and crunching? Thanks in advance!
BOINC on Linux for the novice
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You could just du 'emerge boinc', but that installs a newer version of boinc, which maybe not working with all project.
Download boinc: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh make it executable and just run it. It will create a new folder, named BOINC, where you find the boinc and the boincmgr binaries.
Now run boinc and attach to your projects, thats all!
RE: Do I need to load a
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Boinc can (and should) be run without X running (probably also without X even being installed).
I would start boinc from a virtual terminal either directly (actual bash command: "./boinc -return_results_immediately") or as a cron job (using "at" with the "now" option.)
When not using the computer for anything else, it makes sense to log out of X and let boinc have all the resources that X uses - and even worse, resource-gobbling desktops like KDE or GNOME. IMHO it's a very good idea to keep default runlevel (in /etc/inittab) to 3 and start X manually as needed (using the std "startx" script,f.i.).
No special libraries or anything exotic is needed to run the precompiled stuff - a std vanilla workstation installation will do just fine.
Greetings, Mr. Ragnar Schroder
You don't need a desktop or
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You don't need a desktop or window system to run BOINC, also you shouldn't need to install additional libraries. Just log in and type:
[pre]
wget http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh
sh boinc_4.43_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh
./BOINC/boinc -attach_project http://einstein.phys.uw.edu KEY
[/pre]
Replace "KEY" with the account key you got sent by email.
You terminate BOINC by pressing Ctrl-C.
After that you can simply run it with
[pre]
~/BOINC/run_client
[/pre]
to follow the messages in the terminal, or
[pre]
~/BOINC/boinc -redirectio &
[/pre]
to have them written to a file in the BOINC directory.
BM
BM
Thanks everyone. I'll give
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Thanks everyone. I'll give that a try when I get back home from work this evening. I haven't been this excited about learning a new OS since I started using OS/2 back more than a few years ago. I've been living in the Windows world for too long and have grown lazy!
Bernd, I was able to
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Bernd,
I was able to download and extract the boinc core client, although I went with the 4.72 version. When I try to run and attach to the project with my account key, I get a Master fetch failed message and a can't connect to URL http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu message. (you gave an incorrect address in your instructions below, although I tried that as well). I'm able to ping http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu but the BOINC client can't seem to get there. I'm stumped right now, but I'll keep playing with it to see what I can do.
David
Make sure BOINC can use the
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Make sure BOINC can use the internet. If the firewall does not allow it you won't get the connection. Worse case you can turn off the firewall and allow a connect then turn iit back on till you can figure out what needs to be done.
I'll check the hardware
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I'll check the hardware firewall in my router.
Does gentoo include a software firewall in a fresh install? (This is literally the first thing I'm doing since the install.) If it does, I'll have to do some research on how it can be configured.
RE: I'll check the hardware
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No
iptables -L shows you the current filter rules.
RE: You don't need a
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Hi everyone, I'm also a newbie when it comes to the command-line :)
Will this append to or replace the file?
I assume you will still be able to use CTL-C to end the program.
Thanks :)
Need Help? Try the excellent Unofficial BOINC Wiki!
We are the BOINC. Prepare to be assimilated.
'anthrax beats WinXP' - The Register
RE: RE: Does gentoo
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No joy. I didn't compile with support for iptables or it's not installed because that command doesn't run anything. (Sounds like I'll want this eventually!)
I completely disabled my hardware firewall but still couldn't get BOINC to attach to http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu. Master fetch failed messages and can't connect to URL errors continue no matter what I try. Outbound port 80 is wide open and I'm able to ping http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu just fine. I'm able to wget the BOINC software (thanks again for those instructions!) but just can't attach when I go to run ~/BOINC/run_client -attach_project http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu KEY.
Very frustrating. I thought I'd try to go the graphical route and try to attach to the project from the GUI client. I managed to install X. After some configuration I'm able to get startx to load but have no clue what to do with it from there. Trying to run boincmgr from there just tossed up some ASCII garbage into a XTerm window.
I booted back into Windows XP and resumed crunching from there. I'll have to work through these teething pains learning linux for a while longer before I'm able to crunch from it. :(