Folding Forum

I'd like to run Folding at home on my 2 Android phones. And I'd like to see them from my main Windows desktop, which already monitors and controls all the Windows machines, either with FAHControl or HFM.

Where do I get an Android version of FAH? I found one on APKPure, but it seems to be an outdated Sony thing which doesn't allow a remote connection. I found one on github, but there seems to be no installer, it's just a mess of files, I'm not a geek, I don't understand github downloads. The ones in this forum seem to be for Linux. I don't want to install that on my phones, they're already running Android. Can someone help out a non-geek please? I've done 11 years of IT support, but I don't do Linux!

There is no current client for Android phones. At most there is or was work by third party developer(s) to have a monitoring app for Android that will connect to the client on on other systems.

The Sony client was a collaboration with Sony that they ended several years ago. The code was released to open source, but has not been picked up so far for use.

I can assure you there are two, as listed above, and the Sony one works, I didn't try the other as I can't understand Github. But I want one I can connect to remotely.

The Sony client does not have any WUs to process since they shut down the server when they ended support. The GitHub one is the Sony code they released to open source.

The ARM client is only supplied for Linux based systems, and about the minimum system that will process work within deadlines will need a Raspberry Pi 4 or better processor. It is not intended for portable devices like an Android phone.

Ok thanks, I saw the Sony one say running, I guess it lied. I gave up on it as soon as it refused connection from HFM.

I wish people wouldn't leave unusable software lying around for download.

I'll stick them back on Boinc. There's a handful of projects with small programs that will run on them.

Peter_Hucker wrote:I wish people wouldn't leave unusable software lying around for download.

I don't know who is behind APKPure and the client download located there, but they were never an official download source for the client. That only came from Sony, I think through their Android store. The client was only designed to work on their phones, but would work on Android devices similar enough to them. Development stopped around the time the ARM processors started all shifting to big-little devices.

Strange how Sony could invest millions into r&d, just to drop out of it a few years later.

MeeLee wrote:Strange how Sony could invest millions into r&d, just to drop out of it a few years later.

I don't think the amount spent by Sony on this reached into the millions. And the research side of it has applications for other products they sell.

Dreamlab is the only remaining citizen science app on Android and IOS stores.
It's limited but better than nothing.

MeeLee wrote:Strange how Sony could invest millions into r&d, just to drop out of it a few years later.

The Sony client (as does the x86 client) assumed all cores were identical. The near universal adoption of the 3 big.LITTLE architectures crippled their design.

Very few devices designed after their client was written could run it.

1. If you have n wimpy power efficient cores running normally and if any get saturated, you swap in n power hungry more capable cores instead.

2. as in 1. but you can swap just one core from power efficient to power hungry if that is all you need.

3. All cores run all the time but jobs are shuffled to cores best suited to their needs. You don't need the same number of weak and strong cores.

Version 1 could perhaps run the Sony client, but 2 and 3 were doomed. The gen 12 Intel CPUs are having issues with the x86 client because not all cores are identical.

Will there be problems with other multithreaded programs on gen 12 Intels? Like Boinc, or the game Fallout 4?

Odd, the apps shouldn't know.

"Only one cluster can be active at once. In-Kernal switcher: pairing the big and LITTLE core as one virtual core seen by the app. The OS chooses which physical core is active and most efficient, without the app knowing"

From https://www.ubergizmo.com/2013/01/what- ... ig-little/

Yet Intel ones can run both at once. You would think unaware apps would try to use all the cores and end up having everything shunted onto the power cores, but still work, and use the majority of the CPU power. I guess the little cores are just meant for idling stuff like the OS and email.

big.LITTLE approach makes sense in mobile world, but I think it's useless for desktop CPUs and will only bother us.

It would be useful for power saving. My Ryzen 3900XT consumes 40W at idle!

For Boinc and Folding, I think we just use the big cores and leave the little ones for doing system duties. Just set Boinc/Folding to use x cores, where x is how many big cores you have.