Raspberry Pi 400, Raspberry Pi 64-bit OS, and FAHClient

[mwroggenbuck]

The official Raspberry Pi 64-bit OS (not beta) came out recently. I thought I would try the folding at home client on my Raspberry Pi 400 and give my notes on the subject. So I did a fresh OS install and installed the FAHClient.

The official OS is easiest to install via the Raspberry Pi Imager (found here https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/). When you run this tool the 64-bit OS is under the Raspberry Pi OS (other) tab. I am going to assume you know how to use this tool.

You can download the FAHClient for Raspberry Pi here (https://foldingathome.org/alternative-downloads/?lng=en) It is at the bottom under ARM Linux/Raspberry Pi.

I only installed the client. There are Python 2 dependency issues with the control program, and I was not interested in the viewer.

Open a terminal and run the following command in the directory where you downloaded the .deb file.

sudo dpkg -i --force-depends ./fahclient_7.6.21_arm64.deb

I recommend the manual install vs just clicking on the file from the GUI. The manual install will prompt you for a number of items and I don't thing the GUI version of install will (I could be wrong).

It will ask for the following items

1) your name (this is probably the name associated with your passkey)
2) team number
3) passkey
4) how much you want to run (power). I selected full.
5) do you want to automatically start. I selected yes. This will install the client as a service. You can always pause/stop computation via the web interface. The service will continue to run, but no computation (CPU cycles) will happen. You can then restart from the web interface.

You can copy and paste these entries, but they are a little hard to see. Just be sure to backspace (delete) the anonymous entry before you put your name in.

The web client control interface is at https://client.foldingathome.org/

configuration files are at /etc/fahclient

data files are at /var/lib/fahclient

That is pretty much it. With my 400, I seem to be doing a work unit every 1.5 days. This beats the deadline.

You can decide for yourself if you think this is worth it. This website claims every work unit counts. You will not rack up the points you would with a GPU, but then you are only using 7 watts.

I will try to answer any questions you might put in the comments.

[toTOW]

Glad that RPi OS is finally available in 64 bits. It will be more intuitive for RPi users than using another distribution.

[gunnarre]

Thank you. I have ordered one of these. I'll try it out with folding, but it will mainly be used for game emulation.

[MeeLee]

Glad that RPi OS is finally available in 64 bits. It will be more intuitive for RPi users than using another distribution.

It's probably working because Raspberry Pi os still has python 2.7 support.
This is where the manager depends on.
Python 2,7 and down isn't supported anymore in newer versions of Linux.
The last version that fully supported it, was 18.04.

[rbtfrog]

It's not that hard to convert a python2.7 program to python3. I'd be willing to give it a shot if somebody would point me to the files that might need working on, and agree to look over my changes to make sure I haven't made any stupid mistakes.

[Joe_H]

It's not that hard to convert a python2.7 program to python3. I'd be willing to give it a shot if somebody would point me to the files that might need working on, and agree to look over my changes to make sure I haven't made any stupid mistakes.

Someone already has done that, the Python 3 version of FAHControl is available here - https://github.com/cdberkstresser/fah-control. It is based on the open source available here - https://github.com/FoldingAtHome/fah-control. Some of the difficulty was from the origins of the Python code dating back 10+ years, some of the functions used were removed when Python 3 was released.

[danieladougan]

I just set up FAH on my Pi 3B+...or at least I tried to.

I called this machine foldingpi. I installed the FAH client, but I don't know how to actually start it up.

On my main PC, it says "Connecting" and "Inactive" when I check the Pi. How do I make it connected and active?

I have been folding on this machine, but it is a gaming laptop, and I have read that laptops are not well-suited for this due to the way the power supplies are designed...so I am trying to switch over to the Pi. I know I won't get as much folding work done, but I also won't harm my laptop.

I know very little about Linux, and what I do know annoys me for not being more user-friendly.

[JimboPalmer]

Welcome to Folding@Home!

I am not a Linux user nor a Raspberry Pi user, but the minimum Pi is a RPi 4, the 3B is half as fast and most likely not complete any Work Units.