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Request for Linux install guides to be updated

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 5:59 pm
by Baiqing
I was going to start folding on my headless Linux servers so I went to the F@H Linux guide to find out how to do that. However, the client packages on their are out of date and I think that caused a few of my WU to be uncredited? (or maybe bad config, who knows)

First off, the express installation guide fooled me into thinking an image actually contained links to the install, so I went to the manual installation page for Debian and found out that the instructions actually led to me install an older version of the client. Somehow the debian-testing folder only contained v7.4 FAHClient software while debian-stable had the proper v7.5 clients. I recommend changing those links to point to:

Code: Select all

https://download.foldingathome.org/releases/public/release/fahclient/debian-stable-64bit/v7.5/latest.deb
to avoid further confusion.

In addition, since I wanted to fold using the GPU on said server, I needed to have OpenCL installed. I recommend including those instructions within the guide as well.

Re: Request for Linux install guides to be updated

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 7:32 pm
by STR1D3R_2
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Re: Request for Linux install guides to be updated

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:11 pm
by Baiqing
STR1D3R_2 wrote:I have been using this guide for a few years on each new Linux rig. Lots of great info here
on the evga forums
Guide-to-BuildInstallSetup-your-own-MultiGPU-Linux-Folding-Rig

unable to post links lol
Thanks! You can post the link in a quote block as that is allowed.

Re: Request for Linux install guides to be updated

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:18 pm
by STR1D3R_2
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Re: Request for Linux install guides to be updated

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 9:27 pm
by Baiqing
STR1D3R_2 wrote:

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https://forums.evga.com/Guide-to-BuildInstallSetup-your-own-MultiGPU-Linux-Folding-Rig-m2682398.aspx
Copy n paste
:D
Really nice writeup! However it doesn't fit my headless Linux setup. In addition as the author stated that "Software setup is outside the scope of this guide", we probably need a good guide for people who wants to install the newest F@H Client software!

Re: Request for Linux install guides to be updated

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2020 10:05 pm
by David_Wheeler
Linux distro's are so varied so it's a little tricky for a definitive guide, but there is a process, and the gotchas can usually be figured out with some Google-fu.

1) Chose a server distro. I chose Fedora 31 which was a mistake because it's too bleeding edge and FAH isn't. The distro SSL package and Python are too new, although Python is irrelevant for a headless server running FAHClient only.
2) Get the nvidia driver installed. Again, tricky since the some of the driver needs compiling and even nvidia is a bit behind the bleeding edge distros: include files in the wrong place. Blob compiled with an older GCC than the kernel.
3) Install FAH. Configure the client for external FAHControl from a windows box. The FAH config and firewall need to be opened up. The FAH install tries to install everything even if only FAHClient is needed and that triggered the Python problems. 7.4.4 managed to install OK.

That's all you need. I think choosing a more stable distro might help. The very latest nvidia driver at least fixed the missing includes, but introduced the compiler version fail. Installing ignoring the error worked. I didn't debug anything, just Googled around and tried the most professional sounding solution. Since it was a bare metal install I didn't lose much when a solution failed and a full reinstall was required.