GPU3 download link

[neoeny152]

Is anyone else having trouble with the gpu3 download link?

www stanford edu/~friedrim/Folding@home-Win32-GPU_XP-641.zip

-NeoenY152

[bruce]

Welcome to foldingforum.org, neoeny152.

Where did you get that link? That link was never really supported. It looks like it might have been a temporary one that might have been provided to the be beta team and you have not joined the beta team or followed the discussions there.

The proper way to find supported software is ALWAYS to visit the FAH homepage at http://folding.stanford.edu/English/HomePage. In the "SET" panel, click the "Windows - all versions" link to download the current version which happens to be V7.2.9.

If you do have some special reason to want to download the older version, it can be found by following the link "older versions" (also in the "SET" panel). If that is your choice, please visit the forum topic Any solid reasons for running v6? and help us understand why you're making that choice.

[neoeny152]

Ahhh fancy (I like the looks of the new gui). I havent folded in a while. I was using the old console client I had on my computer and wanted to play around with the gpu stuff. So I went here - http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther - The broken link comes from that page.

I'm getting the new client set up right now, thanks!

NeoenY152

[bruce]

OK. That just moves the web page in question one step earlier? Where did you find the link to http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther? I can't seem to get to it from the home page. Moreover, the first thing it says on that page is to go to the home page.

The "older clients" link takes me to http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download2011 which is the corrected version of "...DownloadWinOther" I guess we need to remove ...DownloadWInOther or redirect it to ...Download2011.

[Jesse_V]

OK. That just moves the web page in question one step earlier? Where did you find the link to http://folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther? I can't seem to get to it from the home page. Moreover, the first thing it says on that page is to go to the home page.

The "older clients" link takes me to http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download2011 which is the corrected version of "...DownloadWinOther" I guess we need to remove ...DownloadWInOther or redirect it to ...Download2011.

There's a number of other places where there is confusing redundancy like that. I believe that all the GPU FAQs have the link, for example: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/FAQ ... PU3#ntoc10 plus it may occur on lots of other pages besides: http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Sea ... wnload+GPU

There is a mix of old stuff and new stuff, and I guess someone just created new pages like ...Download2011, but there were still links to the old DownloadWinOther. With so many interlinks I can imagine that it's a bit of a nightmare to fix.

[neoeny152]

I think google is your culprit, I dont recall my exact steps but here's what I likely did.

I decided to fold again, so I just launched my old console client (likely 6.23), and then decided to see if there was a new client to download. So I googled "fah download" - https://www.google.com/search?q=fah+download. Since google is so customized these days I'm not sure if you'll see what I am seeing ...

The main result is here - folding.stanford.edu/English/Download
With sub results to
here - folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther
here - folding.stanford.edu/English/Download2011
and here - folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadOld

I went to the main link, (haha I do see the suggestion to dl from the home page now) But I scrolled right past that to the different versions on this list since that is what I was used to seeing when I folded years ago. Then at the bottom of that page it says "For expert Folding@home donors interested in running beta version client software for Windows, please go to our High Performance Windows Clients page." (the bold links to folding.stanford.edu/English/DownloadWinOther) Where I attempted to dl the 'gpu3' client (the broken link in question - Windows XP/2003/Vista/7 GPU3 (required for Fermi) no-nonsense console client), the last gpu client I recall trying to get to work.

Based on google's keyword tool terms like 'fah download' and a couple similar searches have 100 or less searches per month, so it looks like this isnt really a big problem. Heh leave it to me to dig my way into 'no mans land'.

Yeah I'd say a 301 redirect on DownloadWinOther would be good. And on Download or Download2011 (they look to be the same) Maybe add the latest client to the list after this -


"List of available clients
Recommended software (based on information furnished by your browser)"

Haha sometimes people aren't very observant .... And sometimes those people are me!

All that said, the new client '7.2.9' fired right up and began folding right away on all my cores + my gpu. Thanks again!

NeoenY152

[Hyperlife]

NeoenY152 is right -- the "High Performance Windows Clients Page" link on the "Older Versions" page (http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download2011) is the only way to download the v6.41 GPU3 client, and the v6.41 links are returning an "Access forbidden" page.

[audioaficionado]

Putting the file up is relatively trivial for PG. There must be some other issues involved in v6.41 that's preventing its immediate reissue.

[Joe_H]

I don't know if there are any problems with the 6.41 client, but there may be paperwork/permissions issues involved in getting the file to put up. The link points to ~friedrim, which to me indicates a personal web page - not a departmental one. That person is no longer at Stanford, and the material may be archived or only available from backups. I know at my university it would take the permission of the nominal file owner before the campus IT people would restore a file and give it to another person or group. This can be overridden, but that takes getting OK's from upper level administrators such as department heads and the dean of a school or higher level administrator to make that happen. If Stanford has similar policies, obtaining the file to put up is not a trivial task.

[art_l_j_PlanetAMD64]

I know at my university it would take the permission of the nominal file owner before the campus IT people would restore a file and give it to another person or group.

Yes, but doesn't Stanford/Pande Group actually own the software/files, not ~friedrim? He or she had the files in their personal directory, but they did not own the files, unless I'm missing something...

[Joe_H]

Yes, but doesn't Stanford/Pande Group actually own the software/files, not ~friedrim? He or she had the files in their personal directory, but they did not own the files, unless I'm missing something...

Campus IT would not necessarily know that, basic assumption under privacy policies would be to treat any files in a defunct account as belonging exclusively to the account holder until told otherwise. University computer environments are not the same as corporate when determining such things, for instance my university has a privacy policy that normally keeps them from doing anything with files and email on my personal account. That applies even though my account exists on their servers. There are departmental accounts where I should place files to be used by others. It is the kind of policy that faculty at many institutions insist on.

As to why the file was located there in the first place, no idea. It could have been initially easier to do for a beta which 6.41 was, with intent to move the file to a more normal download location and that was overlooked at some point. That is just speculation based on the kind of things I have seen happen in the past working at my school. But by having been located in a "private" account, I would be more surprised if complications had not occurred in getting the file back to be available for download.

[7im]

Joe_H's scenario seems likely from similar experience. Also assuming this process recovers the personal files for use, the file or files would not be posted blindly for immediate download. Some requalification / validation process would happen in Pande Labs as well, as does with all client software before posting.

Unfortunately, the wheels in this case, seem to have ground slowly.

[art_l_j_PlanetAMD64]

As to why the file was located there in the first place, no idea. It could have been initially easier to do for a beta which 6.41 was, with intent to move the file to a more normal download location and that was overlooked at some point. That is just speculation based on the kind of things I have seen happen in the past working at my school. But by having been located in a "private" account, I would be more surprised if complications had not occurred in getting the file back to be available for download.

Yes, that's all logical and reasonable, but surely with the weight/authority/standing of Pande Group at Stanford, it should not take weeks and weeks of effort to get the documentation/approvals/red tape cleared up? I realize that the wheels of authority move slowly, but really...

[Joe_H]

Posted recently on the blog, Updated Download - 6.41