Folding Forum

I'm trying to figure out if Ubuntu 10.04 Server can run better for SMP2 than Windows 7 64-bit. To do this I've installed Ubuntu using Virtualbox and it is now running on top of my Windows 7 64-bit. I've also installed a utility in ubuntu called 'origami' to keep track of the progress (percentage completion). This works fine, however I'm looking to for something similar to HFM were it will tell me how much PPD my progress is averaging (with the bonuses applied). Although I haven't even found a way to see the PPD automatically at all (with or without bonuses). I'm operating without GUI, all command prompt based.

Note: If this works out, I intend to install ubuntu server on another older computer. I'm hoping the light operating system will help improve free up resources so the computer can focus more on folding. I've read countless threads that don't really say if linux 64-bit is better than windows 7 64-bit (or the other way around). Some people mention 8.10 or 9.04 as being the best, but I would rather just compare windows 7 newest vs Ubuntu newest, which is better for 64-bit smp2 folding.

Linux and Windows are roughly even in terms of performance. Running a VM isn't the best comparison since the VM has processing overhead that will reduce performance. Virtualbox is also known to not be all that stable for F@h- VMWare is recommended instead, though as mentioned folding in the native OS is better.

That is an interesting test but there is a major flaw:

You are running Ubuntu on Windows via Virtualbox. That is causing unnecessary overhead which will not give you a fair comparison. In order for you to have a fair comparison, you have to run Windows and Ubuntu natively on the same hardware to obtain a valid result. If you want, you can "capture" a WU to ensure that the test results are 100% identical (See the section "Troubleshooting the F@H SMP2 Client: (bigadv only)" in my Guide For Running bigadv On Windows Natively (A3 Core); link in sig) and on your older computer, you first install Ubuntu and run the WU, format/dual boot into Windows and then run the same WU again. You will be having the TPF of the WUs so you use this calculator to get the PPD and inform us of the results.

Wish you all the best.

Well I may have explained this badly. My intention is to figure out how to install ubuntu server 10.04 and run smp2 on it. So far I've got everything down except for figuring out the PPD and maybe settings up wireless internet (though the guides seem straightforward). The methods I use for getting information from the current folding in ubuntu are 'origami stats' (which displays webpage like stats) and 'origami monitor'. Neither state what the TPF is, the closest thing I can imagine the 'monitor' argument shows the percentage complete with start and end times. I guess with some math I could figure out the time, but thats a pain in the butt. Do you guys know of a better set of monitoring tools, or maybe arguments with origami that I'm not aware of?

Note: When I figure all this out, I plan to dual boot or primary install ubuntu with all these features onto it. However since the older computer will be in another room, I figured that it would be much easier to do it on this computer to learn the steps. Virtualbox so far has proven stable for Ubuntu, I'm just not experienced with linux.

I will be looking into alternatives then. Originally I was looking for ways to do what the old windows used to be able to do, something like restart in dos mode. Although the guides I found on google kept mentioning ways of removing packages, but no way to disable them. I would much prefer something like windows 3.1 were you can actually run windows by command, do the modifications, then shut windows down and stay at the prompt. I figure even using a gnome interface or something similar for ease of use, then shutting it down to enhance performance... if thats possible I would much prefer. However I'm now looking into crunchbag linux. Thank you for the suggestion.

Also I would like to mention that this is not a dire situation for me, though I am interested in learning how to do all this. Thanks to those that are assisting me.

Note: Using the many guides out there I was able to get Fahmon and HFM.NET working on Ubuntu Desktop 10.04, though for those who are interested in expanding on knowledge, I found HFM.NET font was much more small than normal. You could still read it, but it was not a comfortable size for me (something like this size).

I'm planning on testing out Crunchbag and Lxde (openbox linux). Both are lightweight distributions. Lxde is available to install over other linux distributions, so I installed the lxde gui package and ran startx. The interface looks good but is very basic, clicks don't always work (maybe virtualbox issue, but other machines work perfect). I was able to install Fahmon fairly easy, however it doesn't give bonus ppd calculations, so its not very useful to me.. (i don't know how to do bonus calculations). HFM.NET which works on standard Ubuntu Desktop 10.04 with some extra side work, did not function for Lxde. I tried the same method and a few other new ones and it would just refuse to work. The best thread i could find is that the HFM program didn't have access to the libraries (they are installed and it was executed with sudo).

To install lxde gui for ubuntu 10.04 To execute the gnome like environment for use Note: the lxde loaded very fast, I wasn't paying full attention but i would say within a few seconds. A very nice suprise. The web browser didn't work, so in order to browse I chose to install midori (firefox like browser thats lightweight):
Midori is now installed, even on the programs menu [Internet -> Midori]. I then went about the process of getting HFM.net and Fahmon (the guides for them exist already):
- Fahmon http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=703180

One last piece of information for Folding on Linux. The package 'origami' confused the living hell out of me. I originally thought it was a monitoring tool. 'origami' handles everything to do with Folding. If you wish to fold smp or cpu on linux, origami seems to be a much easier way of doing it. It will handle the installation of the Folding files and all you have to do is run 'origami' as a command with all username team numbers and folding type info as arguments. As said, there are many guides for it out there, have fun!

This is the guide i used to start folding in Ubuntu with Origami:
- http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1540733