Folding Forum

I'm using FAH client 7.5.1 on Ubuntu Linux 16.04 and I am wondering if there's a screensaver available since the folding interfers especially with video playback?


Regards, Jonas Jakob Öberg.

Well, it's not a screensaver because it displays nothing, but there's an option to configure a slot to run only on idle -- and that assumes your OS correctly notifies a screensaver when the system is considered idle.

In FAHControl, Right-click on the slot in the Status tab or add the option to your config.

In my experience, you don't need to do that for CPU slots. The GPU has no concept of priority or any way to interrupt one kernel for another one. Those are "advanced"
concepts that only exist when there's an OS deciding what to do next.

When clicking "Configure" and then the "Expert" tab it is possible to add "Extra client options." I've broswed the configuration guide but didn't see any option to only fold on idle: what option name with what value should I add?

I only use windows so not sure it is the same for Linux but in the advanced control if I right click on a cpu slot I can select on idle for that slot iirc … I guess then entering configuration for that slot and editing it would show what the actual flag used is? … Apologies if this doesn't help

Status + rt-click a GPU in Folding_Slots and click ON_IDLE.

Setting it in the ExtraClientOptins as idle / true will apply it to ALL slots. My method applies it to individual slots. I contend that the only part of FAH that's interfering with your other uses of the GPU is the slot using the same GPU. (You may have more than one GPU and I'll bet that CPU folding is properly prioritized by your OS.)

You're welcome to choose whatever works for you.

Another option is to reconfigure your video playback software to rasterize using the CPU rather than the GPU. The programmers who taught your mahcine to rasterize on your GPU made the assumption that nobody would ever use a GPU for anything except rasterizing their video.

Thank you all for your replies.

I managed to find a small script that activates the FAH client when the screen goes blank:

#!/bin/bash

while sleep 30s ; do
state=$(gnome-screensaver-command --query | grep -o "\w*active\w*")
if [[ $state == active ]]
then
sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient start
else
sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient stop
fi
done