Folding Forum

I do a lot of work with people where I try to install as much software as I can with silent switches. It would be great if I could add Folding@home with some sort of silent/administrative install. Thanks for all the work being done!

Welcome to foldingforum.org, mountiedm. Thank you for your interest in a simplified install procedure.

For some people, the Points are so attractive that they will try to find silent ways to "borg" somebody else's machine in spite of the EULA which says you must have the permission of the owner to run the software on hardware that you do not own personally. A silent install just makes it easier to violate the rules.

A reasonable compromise might be to signify your intention to download the client on the website, make 2 or 3 "Yes I agree" choices. and start folding. That may work for a few folks but I'll bet that 99% of the new donors will be back within minutes asking "How can I optimize my client?" and "Do I need a passkey?" and "All my points are going to Team 0 and User Anonymous, how do I change that?" and then "I have a XXX CPU and a YYY GPU. Shouldn't I be getting more than ZZZ PPD?"

Be careful with loading FAH on a lot of desktop computers in one place, the wattage can really add up. think 300 watts x 5 computers. 1500 watts is over the allowed by a 15 amp circuit on 110v, and a fire hazard for 14 gauge romex wires. It's pushing the limit on 12 gauge too.

You have to take into consideration the max amperage on the fuse/breaker panel too. In the winter time the excess heat from the computers can be chalked up to efficient heating, but in the summer time when energy is much more expensive, it can really cost a lot to run and cool.

All of that said, it is not hard at all to make a silent install, the executables and configurations reside in the same base folder.