GPU Folding on Linux - Complete Setup

[Lord British]

These instructions will help you get started gpu folding on 64 bit Linux.

I overclocked the firmware of my video card since I didn't have any luck with nvclock changing the speeds. I do still use nvclock to change the fan speed. There are plenty of tutorials out there about overclocking your firmware. So, I won't go into that.

This will install Ubuntu, GPU folding client, compile SVN FahMon, compile nvclock, and all the tools required. All italicized comments are terminal commands. There is a space after every http address and @ symbol in the folding client so that it doesn't compress the address. You will have to remove it for the command to work.

You may want to have this list available on a different computer for some of the addresses.

1 - Download and install Ubuntu 8.04.4 - http ://mirror.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/CDs/hardy/ubuntu-8.04.4-desktop-amd64.iso

2 - sudo apt-get update
3 - sudo apt-get dist-upgrade (may take a while)
4 - sudo apt-get install wine build-essential libgtk2.0-dev libqt4-dev xorg-dev subversion libwxgtk2.8-dev openssh-server libcurl4-openssl-dev

5 - winecfg (click ok once started - no need to configure anything)

6 - wget http ://www.fold4life.com/ffiles/cudart.dll.so -O ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/cudart.dll
7 - ln -s ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/cudart.dll ~/.wine/drive_c/windows/system32/nvcuda.dll

8 - Add nv to the list of DISABLED_MODULES - sudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common

9 - sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop and relogin - hit ALT-F1 to go to login console

10 - wget http ://us.download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/180.29/NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-180.29-pkg2.run
11 - wget http ://developer.download.nvidia.com/compute/cuda/2_0/linux/toolkit/NVIDIA_CUDA_Toolkit_2.0_ubuntu7.10_x86.run
12 - chmod +x NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-180.29-pkg2.run NVIDIA_CUDA_Toolkit_2.0_ubuntu7.10_x86.run

13 - sudo ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-180.29-pkg2.run
14 - sudo ./NVIDIA_CUDA_Toolkit_2.0_ubuntu7.10_x86.run
15 - sudo sh -c "echo '/usr/local/cuda/lib' > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/cuda.conf"
16 - sudo ldconfig
17 - sudo reboot

18 - cd ~
19 - wget http ://www.linuxhardware.org/nvclock/nvclock0.8b4.tar.gz
20 - tar xvzf nvclock0.8b4.tar.gz
21 - cd nvclock0.8b4
22 - ./configure (./configure --disable-gtk --disable-qt --disable-x --disable-nvcontrol for completely headless nvclock)
23 - make
24 - sudo make install
25 - nvclock -i (will give error message about a directory the first time)

26 - cd ~
27 - svn export http ://svn.fahmon.net/trunk fahmon
28 - cd fahmon
29 - ./configure --prefix=/usr
30 - make
31 - sudo make install

32 - cd ~
33 - mkdir folding
34 - cd folding
35 - wget http ://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/folding/release/Folding @home-Win32-GPU_XP-623.zip
36 - unzip Folding @home-Win32-GPU_XP-623.zip

37 - wine Folding @home-Win32-GPU.exe -configonly -forcegpu nvidia_g80
38 - wine Folding @home-Win32-GPU.exe -verbosity 9 -forcegpu nvidia_g80

Starting apps from terminal:

fahmon (for PPD)
nvclock -i (for card info, speeds, and temps)
nvclock -f -F 100 (run gpu fan at 100%)

For multi card setups:

nvclock -s (shows card numbers)
nvclock -c 1 -f -F 100 (changes card #1 fan to 100%)


**edit** forgot to add line to install cuda libs and copy them. Also added openssh server.
**edit2** add nv to disabled modules list.
**edit3** Updated nvidia cuda drivers, cuda libs, cuda wrapper. Thanks to Hyperlife for wrapper at Folding Forum.
**edit4** Add libcurl to dependencies for newer version of FahMon
**edit5** Removed external wine dependency (ubuntu version is current enough), updated Ubuntu 8.04.2 to 8.04.4, nvclock 0.8b3a to 0.8b4

[hrsetrdr]

and to those brave souls pioneering this here-to-fore uncharted turf! I can only wish that some day my level of expertise could match such accomplishments.

[Lord British]

Believe it or not, it is just as stable as running on Windows with this setup. Give it a shot

[Sir_Loin]

Rock on bitches!

(sorry, I just love headbanger smilie)

[Amaruk]

Cool! Thanks LB!

I'll be happy to Dummy-proof those instructions this weekend.

~~~Edit 9/28/08 05:00 UTC ~~~

Made it to step # 15

Losing the GUI wasn't that big of a deal (I used to run DOS instead of 3.1.1 because it was faster on my old laptop) but for some reason I can no longer execute commands. I can type them out but using the Enter key simply moves the cursor down to the next line.

Tried three different keyboards - no dice.

Reinstalled Ubuntu - didn't help.

Installed Xubuntu instead - still not working.

So I've given up on GPU folding for the time being and put it to work as an SMP client.

Then I tried to set up FahMon. That failed too. 'compiler cannot create executables'

Enough fun for one day I think.

Good night all.

[N4PSN]

Hey LB where you have Ubuntu 7.10, I need to change that to Ubuntu 8.04 since I am running 8.04 Right??????
This is just because I don't know.

73, Larry

[Lord British]

Made it to step # 15

Losing the GUI wasn't that big of a deal (I used to run DOS instead of 3.1.1 because it was faster on my old laptop) but for some reason I can no longer execute commands. I can type them out but using the Enter key simply moves the cursor down to the next line.

Sorry, I didn't see your response until just now. Try hitting alt-f1 at the point when you can no longer execute commands.. I might have just hit that without thinking about it.

Then I tried to set up FahMon. That failed too. 'compiler cannot create executables'

Which step did you get that error?

Hey LB where you have Ubuntu 7.10, I need to change that to Ubuntu 8.04 since I am running 8.04 Right??????
This is just because I don't know.

Nope, there is no 8.04 version. They don't support it yet so I just use the 7.10 version. It works fine

[Amaruk]

Sorry, I didn't see your response until just now. Try hitting alt-f1 at the point when you can no longer execute commands.. I might have just hit that without thinking about it.

No worries. Thanks, I'll try that this weekend.

Which step did you get that error?

./configure (run within fahmon folder)

[Lord British]

I didn't think I missed a package but maybe I did. I would guess the following packages are already installed but just to make sure.

Try adding one of the packages at a time:

apt-get install libc6-dev

then try and ./configure

If that still doesn't work, add:

apt-get install libc6-i386

[Amaruk]

Have them both, as well as libc6-dev-i386.

[Amaruk]

Just a quick note - I put the 8800 back in Hammersmythe for now as this will improve production, but I plan on trying this again in the future.

Also, using Alt - F1 did the trick. Thanks LB!

[Lord British]

I am still looking on this one. I might have to reinstall a system from scratch to find it. There has to be a package missing. I'll let you know

[Lord British]

I installed Ubuntu 8.04 in VMware Fusion 2.0 following the instructions but I skipped from steps 9 through 25. Fahmon compiled fine. I'm really at a loss now.

[Sir_Loin]

Nice guide, LB. I didn't bother with fahmon, but all else is good. I think it's worth mentioning flags can now be added during configuration, so when you do launch, it's just a simple wine Folding @home-Win32-GPU.exe. The extra space before the @ caught me, but thankfully DPA was there to pop me on the back of my head

[DPA]

I've confirmed that you do not need an active X session to run the gpu client. All that is needed aside from what is posted above is the nvidia kernel module loaded i.e. modprobe nvidia.

Dave