Anybody experience with Fedora 18 and the boinc-client?

[Dirk Broer]

I installed Fedora 18, downloaded BOINC and tried to get it running. It doesn't.
Am I dim/dumb/just plain stupid? (remember: 'Yes' is no option)
The Boinc manager starts, but can't connect to the boinc-client.
It appears that the installer should have placed binaries in /usr/bin, but hasn't done that.

[Dirk Broer]

Solved! Well, at least partly solved. The boinc client runs, but it does not yet recognise my A6-3500's HD 6530 as a crunching capable GPU, nor the GT 630 that is running the system's only video output (darn F1A75 mobo). But I will get there too.

[Dirk Broer]

Want to loose your marbles? Wanna go stark raving mad? Like to insult your monitor?
Try installing Linux on a APU-filled F1A75 mobo with an nVidia card and use both the APU and the nVidia card for Boinc -if you can get that far.
Linux will go just as mad as you do. I had hoped Ubuntu would be better than Fedora, but now the system has really turned against itself.
In an effort to update itself it now lost the AMD micro code and will not boot anymore in no matter what mode (already tried all options using 'shift' during boot)
I'm tempted to just buy another 64-bit Windows DVD to be able to work with the darn box...or re-write OS/2 into OS/64

[AMDave]

Your GPU driver will need to be recompiled if the system did a kernel update.
Just depends on which one you made primary.
If it is booting to a blank screen wait for it to do that, then press CTRL-ALT-F4 to get you to a login prompt
Then login with your username
then use the SUDO command to install your proprietary driver.

In your case you are using the AMD APU and the external NVidia.
Personally, I'd make the APU primary (in BIOS)
I'm much happier with the state of AMD drivers in Linux than NVidia (each to their own)
I have removed my NVidia card altogether, replaced it with another AMD card. Now all ATI/AMD GPU.

Also you had problems with the BOINC installs earlier.
Don't use the distro RPM or DEB packages.
They are buggy and out of date.
Download the boinc client from http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php
eg use the web browser or install wget and type this
$ wget http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dl/boinc_7.0.44_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh
put the file into a folder in user-space
cd into the folder
$ chmod 755 boinc_7.0.44_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh (to make it executable)
then run it
$ ./boinc_7.0.44_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh
this will unpack it
I use a couple of additional scripts in my bin folder to start the client and manager separately

If you have set up your X11 config properly it will automatically detect your APU/GPU

PS - if you are in a working linux GUI and press CTRL-ALT-F4 and want to get back to the GUI, press CTRL-ALT-F7 and you should be back in your GUI environment

HTH

[Dirk Broer]

I've come at the point that I need to buy a new harddisk, Ubuntu can't do anything with the old one anymore....

Removing the nvidia card is not an option, replacing it with an AMD card is (the mobo has no video output)

The various projects seem to need (far) more than either Fedora or Ubuntu are willing to give at a fresh install.
When I started BOINC under Fedora or Ubuntu there was need for e.g. LibGLut (for Leiden)
Is there a Boinc-tailored distro around somewhere giving all needed libraries?

[Terry1953]

Sounds like you are having fun with the Linux system. I just installed my first SSD and I think I might be in love.

[Jason1478963]

We are currently trying LinuxMint with cinnamon desktop to get a few GPU linux machines on WCG.

[Dirk Broer]

$ chmod 755 boinc_7.0.44_i686-pc-linux-gnu.sh
Is there any reason to choose the 32-bit version over the 64-bit one?
(Apart from the fact that everything goes horribly wrong with my 64-bit version)

[AMDave]

no no.
I just scraped a link of the BOINC page without paying too much attention to which one it was.

I have install 64 bit linux on all my machines.
Then install the ia32libs - this is so that the 32 bit client apps will work under 64 bit BOINC
Then install 64 bit BOINC.
Then install any libs that your distro is missing that the BOINC client needs.
Usually the boinc and boinccmd will run fine, but the boincmgr complains if a GUI lib is missing which tends to happen.

[Dirk Broer]

If you have set up your X11 config properly it will automatically detect your APU/GPU HTH

Hi the hi to you too (HTHTYT)!

I've re-installed Ubuntu 12.10, changed to proprietary driver, I have a Catalyst Control Center.
Still BOINC says 'No useable GPU found', while the HD 6550D is properly presented in CCC.

BTW: By coincidence (?) the same error message my son presently gets for his HD 3850 under WindowsXP

[AMDave]

- without re-reading previous posts ---
which arch 32 or 64? ( I expect probably AMD64 )
which proprietary driver & version? (I recommend 12.10 but for the APU I saw success with 12.9)
which version of BOINC? (I recommend 7.0.44)
did you have the various libs, source, headers, compiler etc, installed before executing the Catalyst installer as root?
after the install did you execute aticonfig --initial as root (or use sudo) before reboot?
does the mobo have an on-board GPU? (if so can you turn it off or demote it in BIOS?)
does your xorg.conf match/resemble that of others who have it working?

That's just a quick list of places where things go wrong.
Note that there are a few good instructions out there and there are many wrong and/or incomplete ones.

[Dirk Broer]

- without re-reading previous posts ---
which arch 32 or 64? ( I expect probably AMD64 )
which proprietary driver & version? (I recommend 12.10 but for the APU I saw success with 12.9)
which version of BOINC? (I recommend 7.0.44)
did you have the various libs, source, headers, compiler etc, installed before executing the Catalyst installer as root?
after the install did you execute aticonfig --initial as root (or use sudo) before reboot?
does the mobo have an on-board GPU? (if so can you turn it off or demote it in BIOS?)
does your xorg.conf match/resemble that of others who have it working?

That's just a quick list of places where things go wrong.
Note that there are a few good instructions out there and there are many wrong and/or incomplete ones.


AMD64
I finally got a complete screen using the non-free update version that comes with Ubuntu. It really beats me what version it is. Can you do anything with 9.00.11-120920a as version number?
I started with the 32-bit 7.0.27 version that you can install via Ubuntu -plus meta package-, and upgraded that to 64-bit 7.0.28
Should not be needed when you follow the step above?
I get an error message, but I may have done it while not being root
Yes, the F1A75-V EVO has an onboard GPU, an A8-3820, and it gets recognised (as SUMO wrestler). As soon as I plug in my HD 6670 I get a black screen though.
I couldn't find any file of that name...


Keep your fingers crossed, I'm going to do all you advised

[Jason1478963]

I have had issues with windows xp getting it to run on WCG with the required opencl. I have been able to get xp64 bit to run after finding out that you are stuck with drivers 11.12 or 12.1 The information i found indicated the opencl support on xp stopped at these drivers. It may be even farther back for the 3850 to run on projects like collatz.

[Dirk Broer]

My son's problems came without updating. He was running 7.0.28 (Boinc) and 10.2 (catalyst)
All of a sudden Moo! (31 Jan) and Collatz (Feb 3) stopped for him.

[Terry1953]

The 6850 is what it finally took for me to move up to Win7. Like most people I hate change but, before I went through all the hassle of which drivers to use for opencl I just went ahead and put out the cash for 7. I wanted the 64 bit system anyway. I have another 8350 to build yet but I'm having fun with the GPU's so it can wait. I need to get the cooling down better anyway. Wife thinks it's funny that it's Feb. and we have the windows open in the bedroom all the time even with the heat ducts closed off.

[Jason1478963]

My son's problems came without updating. He was running 7.0.28 (Boinc) and 10.2 (catalyst)
All of a sudden Moo! (31 Jan) and Collatz (Feb 3) stopped for him.

I thought it was BOINC giving the message No usable GPU found. I had a very hard time with xp32 and gave up on it for GPU crunching for now. I tried getting other cards to work on mine for the opencl stuff and in the end I couldn't even get the 4850s detected again to run on collatz. Did newer versions of Boinc stop detecting older card capabilities?

[Jason1478963]

Terry1953 i'm glad your having fun with the gpu stuff and windows 7. I hope the 8350 works out well for you in your next build. The best I found was to dump my heat in a storage tank via heat exchanger and water blocks then circulate it through the hydronic floor to help heat the living room in winter. In the summer time this storage tank feeds my tankless water heater that gets to idle a fair amount. The tankless water heater displayed the water coming in was 120 degrees on a few occasions. I think a small version of cooling tower would be helpful at times or an additional storage tank.

[Terry1953]

Yeah Jason I'm thinking about putting 2 of the 8350's together on a tyan board and using it to run my still.

[Dirk Broer]

I've now got pretty much all that is needed to run BOINC under Ubuntu 12.10, but still the &^%%$#:5censored: message appears 'No usable GPU found':BangHead:, pointing to a missplaced link in the OpenCL libraries:cussing:
Mind you: I could run the CPU projects if I wanted, but I want my GPUs to work as well on this box.
Mind you2: Ubuntu 12.10 standard has NO xorg.conf, but following AMDave's suggestions a very meagre one has formed, missing all pointers to the card/APU in use.

[AMDave]

press CTRL-ALT-T to get a terminal window to open
in it type fglrxinfo and report back what it shows

9.00.11-120920a is Catalyst 12.9 beta but in which Ubuntu removed the AMD "testing" logo

[Dirk Broer]

press CTRL-ALT-T to get a terminal window to open
in it type fglrxinfo and report back what it shows

I pinned the terminal to the launchpad! Just click and go...

dirk@ASUS-F1A75V-EVO:~$ fglrxinfo
display: :0 screen: 0
OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: AMD Radeon HD 6550D
OpenGL version string: 4.2.11903 Compatibility Profile Context

There's no doubt that the video driver has installed, it is just that BOINC can't find the OpenCL that went with it.
My guess is that the BOINC application runs as a deamon, so the GPU does not get detected. How to disable that in Linux?

do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.44 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Libraries: libcurl/7.27.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1c zlib/1.2.7 libidn/1.25 librtmp/2.3
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Processor: 4 AuthenticAMD AMD A8-3820 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics [Family 18 Model 1 Stepping 0]
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Processor: 1.00 MB cache
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt arat cpb hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | OS: Linux: 3.5.0-23-generic
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Memory: 6.81 GB physical, 7.49 GB virtual
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Disk: 65.98 GB total, 56.91 GB free
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | No usable GPUs found
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Config: GUI RPC allowed from:
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | No general preferences found - using defaults
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Reading preferences override file
do 14 feb 2013 02:25:49 CET | | Preferences:


I have BOINC where the distro would want it, not in my home directory.
I had a hell of a time to get the AMD driver installed and being able to see the entire desktop including lanchpad and top menu, as the AMD driver seemed to break Compiz and therefor Unity as well.

[AMDave]

Did you install BOINC from the OS repository or did you download the zip-file from the boinc site?

edit - scratch that - I see you have downloaded 7.0.44

[Dirk Broer]

Both, I first installed 32-bit 7.0.27 from the OS repository and upgraded that with a 64-bit 7.0.44 version from Berkeley

[AMDave]

mm.
I have had problems with that in the past.
you need to 'purge' the old repository sourced BOINC client from the OS otherwise bits of that get run because it is still in the PATH

$ sudo apt-get sudo apt-get purge boinc boinc-client boinc-manager

That should remove the OS repository version without touching your downloaded version

Something else you can do is add the group "video" to your login username

It doesn't say "Running as a daemon" in the log that you posted so that's not the issue.

[Jason1478963]

fx8350s are what i have. I haven't played with the opteron 8350s as i never could justify the quad socket setup costs. We did get a few 2419s that do pretty well for getting badges based on runtime. They are 40 watt 6 cores at 1.8ghz per core.

[Jason1478963]

Our experience with linuxMint cinnamon went pretty well. The only problem we have is that there isn't enough delay when BOINC starts and then the GPU is not detected. When BOINC is restarted after everything is done booting it detects the GPU and goes to work. Dad followed some online instructions to get it to load last, but it didn't work consistently. Its not a huge problem as uptimes have been good for the most part.

[Dirk Broer]

Well, I'll be dripped in dogshit.....
It turns out that the sole problem all these people who are using GPUs under linux have with boinc is that the order of starting things up is wrong!

reading this posting from Skip Da Shu (http://boinc.berkeley.edu/dev/forum_thread.php?id=6307) set me to stop and restart boinc and look and behold:

do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.44 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Libraries: libcurl/7.27.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1c zlib/1.2.7 libidn/1.25 librtmp/2.3
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Processor: 4 AuthenticAMD AMD A8-3820 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics [Family 18 Model 1 Stepping 0]
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Processor: 1.00 MB cache
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt arat cpb hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | OS: Linux: 3.5.0-23-generic
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Memory: 6.81 GB physical, 7.49 GB virtual
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Disk: 65.98 GB total, 56.08 GB free
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6x00 series (Sumo) (CAL version 1.4.1741, 1024MB, 741MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 14 feb 2013 19:20:02 CET | | OpenCL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6x00 series (Sumo) (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 1024MB, 741MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)

So now for the bonus: adding my new HD 6670. If all works well, swap APU with my A8-3870K and add another HD 6670. I might even catch up with AMDave in WCG again.....

[Dirk Broer]

Geronimo!:new_2gunsfiring_v1:

do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Starting BOINC client version 7.0.44 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Libraries: libcurl/7.27.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1c zlib/1.2.7 libidn/1.25 librtmp/2.3
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Processor: 4 AuthenticAMD AMD A8-3820 APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics [Family 18 Model 1 Stepping 0]
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Processor: 1.00 MB cache
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm 3dnowext 3dnow constant_tsc rep_good nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid pni cx16 popcnt lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs skinit wdt arat cpb hw_pstate npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save pausefilter
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | OS: Linux: 3.5.0-23-generic
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Memory: 5.83 GB physical, 7.49 GB virtual
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Disk: 65.98 GB total, 55.77 GB free
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Local time is UTC +1 hours
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6x00 series (Sumo) (CAL version 1.4.1741, 2048MB, 1886MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak):qleft7:
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | CAL: ATI GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6x00 series (Turks) (CAL version 1.4.1741, 2048MB, 2016MB available, 1152 GFLOPS peak):qleft7:
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | OpenCL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6x00 series (Sumo) (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 2048MB, 1886MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | OpenCL: ATI GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6x00 series (Turks) (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 2048MB, 2016MB available, 1152 GFLOPS peak)
do 14 feb 2013 22:25:13 CET | | Config: use all coprocessors:wav:

[Ramjet]

There is a new boinc client also, 7.0.52 I believe, now we can start updating all over again. :(

[AMDave]

Oh no. You are going to make me run my tests again this weekend

My goddess is going to be pissed :sad5:

:icon_lol: :icon_lol: :icon_lol:

[Dirk Broer]

There is a new boinc client also, 7.0.52 I believe, now we can start updating all over again. :(

There's even an Android version, now you can run the latest BOINC version on your telephone

[Jason1478963]

So we should be able to look into running it on our farms of Raspberry PIs. :icon_lol:

[Dirk Broer]

And this is how a Raspberry PI farm looks like.
http://www.kurzweilai.net/images/raspberry_pi_supercomputer_5.jpg
Seems to have been built in Lego Land!

Found the picture in an article (http://www.kurzweilai.net/southampton-engineers-build-a-raspberry-pi-supercomputer#!prettyPhoto) that further states:

"1x RPi (Rasberry Pi) CPU: 175MFlops GPU: 26GFlops for 1.5W. 64x RPi total floppage: (26+0.175)*64 = 1675 GFlops for 96Watts, giving an efficiency rating of 17.45 GFlops/W
In comparison an AMD 7970 (GHz edition) has slightly more than 4TFlops (4000GFlops) for 225 W, giving an efficiency rating of 17.78 GFlops/W
So not bad in terms of overall system performance, but it is still about 2x more expensive per flop vs an equivalent desktop based supercomputer."

[Terry1953]

Looks like he spent a fortune in cables and Lego's. I do like the way he numbered the banks 3, 4, 5, 6...

[AMDave]

I am re-running my tests today.

I did find that my previous test of the linux_amd64 Catalyst 13.1 driver was flawed.
There was a remnant of the generic 'updates' driver that was left behind and interfering with the 13.1 driver causing the lockups.
This could also have caused the multi-gpu tests to fail
The remnant has now been removed and tests restarted

[Dirk Broer]

Hi AMDave,

Looking by your WCG scores over the last days you sure must have an impressive multi-GPU line-up hidden deep in the while loop.
My own multi-GPU systems are just two Llano's, combined with a HD 6670 each.

I will re-launch my A6-3500/F1A75 with two nVidia cards soon, but that's just for Seti and Einstein, as they are rather low-end
(GT 9500 and GT 315). Also under 64-bit Linux, and I might try Fedora18 again, just for the fun.
If it does not work out: LinuxMint with the cinnamon desktop.

[AMDave]

I now have 3 out of 4 AMD GPUs working with Catalyst 13.1 [AMD64]
2 HD7770 on Win7 AMD64
but only 1 out of 2 HD5770 on Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal) AMD64 - in Gnome3 now as Unity will not give a menu
-- Having a tough time getting the 2nd Juniper card in this box recognized by BOINC even though it is now running the second LCD and the cc_config is there
-- Xinerma enables the multi-screen desktop but prevents BOINC from seeing both GPUS
-- disabling Xinerama enables BOINC to see and use both GPUs but the 2nd screen is white and every time I log into the desktop it adds another set of menus. (got up to 5 at one stage!)
-- needs work

the 3rd Juniper (5th) card is still working fine on another box with Catalyst 12.10 on Ubuntu Quantal (12.10) and Unity

single gpu + single monitor is not a problem
multi-gpu + multi-LCD is where the problems are at with the latest driver

still working on it though :biggrin:

[Dirk Broer]

disabling Xinerama enables BOINC to see and use both GPUs but the 2nd screen is white
Same here with Catalyst 12.10 on Ubuntu Quantal (12.10) and Unity

[Dirk Broer]

Xubuntu 12.10 is now running on the ASUS-F1A75 and it's trusty 65 Watt A6-3500.
As I had no more AMD cards, it runs for the time being on a nVidia GT630.
I will now go to sleep (almost 4 in the morning, starting to hit the wrong keys) and tomorrow will add the integrated HD 6530 and perhaps an extra GT315

[Dirk Broer]

There is a new boinc client also, 7.0.52 I believe, now we can start updating all over again. :(

7.0.54 spotted in the wild...

[Jason1478963]

time for 7.0.56

[Dirk Broer]

Xubuntu 12.10 is now running on the ASUS-F1A75 and it's trusty 65 Watt A6-3500. As I had no more AMD cards, it runs for the time being on a nVidia GT630. I will now go to sleep (almost 4 in the morning, starting to hit the wrong keys) and tomorrow will add the integrated HD 6530 and perhaps an extra GT315

The ASUS-F1A75 (http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/F1A75/), having no video output of it's own, relies on the discrete graphics card when it comes to being able to use the integrated graphics of the APU.
From my experience so far I can now safely say that at least under Linux -Fedora, Ubuntu, Xubuntu- a nVidia card is unwilling to cooperate with this, as it forces the AMD signals past it's touchy nVidia parts. And nVidia does not want that! It might mean that AMD could perhaps be able to use both CUDA and Physics this way, without ever having paid for it.
After testing all possible settings in the BIOS, I am now left with a system that will only work without a video card -that is to say: when I now place a nVidia card, the system will not start-
The system will start up without a card, network becomes active. I hope to be able to restore the system using a HD 6670, otherwise I will do it remotely.

The GT630 continues to my AM2 mobo, where it will be used to install the even lighter Lubuntu -provided the experiments as described before did not blow it up-...
The good news so far: Lubuntu is being installed and the GT630 still functions:icon_razz:

I hope to have both Xubuntu and Lubuntu up and running later today. Next step: to install 64-bit BOINC 7.0.56 onto them.

The experience with Ubuntu and Xubuntu before made installing the 32-bit distro version of BOINC a matter of minutes on Lubuntu, thanks to the Synaptic package manager.
Now for the restore of Xubuntu..... Both the light versions make no use of Unity and are very responsive.
Xubuntu runs now on the GT315, will continue tomorrow

[rgammon51]

I have some limited success. There are two remaining unsolved issues.

1. Boinc does not recognize that my Nvidia card has OpenGL capability so the applications that depend on that will not run

2. Boinc cannot communicate with BAM! This means that all projects must be added manually.

The Nvidia driver is otherwise flawless.

OTOH, The combination of BOINC, Chrome, a music player and a terminal session seems to cause Fedora to to freeze (power button or pull the cord on the back)

I am running Fedora off an SSD with the BOINC data directory linked to a directory on the hard drive where Ubuntu resides

Chrome is so wonderfully FAST on Fedora 18, it makes me think that my quad AMD 2.5GHZ with ATI graphics has doubled or tripled its capacity to process data. Note that with the NVidai card installed, the ATI portion of the chip is disabled.

[Dirk Broer]

Hello and welcome rgammon51!

Fedora, you would want to eat your hat while installing aps....Just kidding, I didn't even get as far as you while trying to install Fedora 18 on my F1A75/A6-3500 combo together with the GT630 that now powers my Lubuntu install. Fedora wouldn't buy the two graphical units, and nor would Xubuntu or Lubuntu. The F1A75 is now powered by a GT9500/GT315 combination, but even two nVidia's coupled to two monitors on Linux -Xubuntu here- is not trouble free. I think I'll buy either a HD 6570 or a HD 6670 to make the most use of the -now redundant- HD 6530D inside.

1. I think you mean OpenCL. Try the non-open source nvidia driver 310.14, that will support OpenCl -and OpenGL for that sake- and should be one of the standard drivers available to you. It might be disguised as proprietary 'current'.
In case you already have the correct driver: Have you already tried to stop and restart the BOINC-Client? Worked wonders for me.
2. Open BAM! on another computer and asign your projects to the new host. Did you install BAM! as project manager on the new machine? Have you selected projects to be installed on new machines -within BAM!- by default?

From Chromium on Lubuntu 12.10 using a nVidia GT630

Dirk

BTW: did you try to connect two monitors, one to the onboard AMD APU and one to the nVidia card while installing? It seems Linux as a whole won't have this while Windows -8 at least- does.
It even gives in GPU-Z nVidia qualities to the onboard APU (physX) !

[Dirk Broer]

Hi rgammon51,

I've looked you up a bit (Dutch IT Police wouldn't have me as they were only interested in my formal education up to 1988), and it seems that you are a real OS/2 expert!
Would you by any chance know whether it is possible to use OS/2; EComStation or eCS/2 on 64-bit systems using more than 4Gb of memory?

[Jason1478963]

What is the reasoning to buy a 6xxx card when 7xxx cards are out with better energy efficiency? I do know the 7770 will do circles around a 5870 on WCGs openCL project, but I'm not sure how the openCL support is on the 6xxx cards compared to the 7xxx cards. It seems the 7xxx cards aren't much more money here when buying new. Would it cause issues running 7xxx next to an APU or are you looking to use crossfire?

[Dirk Broer]

Yep, the CrossfireX with an APU needs either a HD 6450, a HD 6570 or a HD 6670. There are as yet no HD 7xxx cards that run together with the APU in CrossfireX.
It will do no harm to run them -HD 7xxxs- along an APU in either Windows or Linux, but on Linux only other AMD cards are possible along an APU, or so it seems.

The efficiency of the DDR3 HD 6670 is not to be laughed at, it does 1,536 GFlop/Watt tdp, better than the HD 7750 and but slightly less than the HD 7770.
When compared with the nVidia camp only the GTX 660Ti, GTX 680 and GTX 690 are more power efficient. The DDR3 HD 6670 is far cheaper on purchase though.

Note that the DDR5 HD 6670 is far less power efficient due to its higher tdp. Same holds for the DDR3 HD 6570 vs the DDR5 HD 6570

[Dirk Broer]

I'm much happier with the state of AMD drivers in Linux than NVidia (each to their own)

Well, today I decided to give the A6-3500 it's much needed HD 6670 (A DDR3 model from Sapphire with 2Gb, purchased with a 10% AirMiles rebate) in order to get it's HD 6530D going.
Whereas the crunching-capable nVidia drivers for the cards that previously fuelled this cruncher could be installed from within Xubuntu (as could be done for the GT 630 in my Lubuntu box),
I have to repeat the same procedure followed with my Ubuntu box in order to get the A6-3500 rolling again. The drivers as supplied with the Ubuntu distros are just not crunching capable it seems.
At least I have no worries about Unity on my Xubuntu box! But I should have taken heed at AMDave's advice to stay away from the 13.1 drivers. That, coupled to the F1A75 own peculiarities and the fact that I thought it couldn't hurt to leave one nVidia card in the box, resulted in a machine that would only boot to a prompt and would not want to start the GUI, no matter what.
So I've taken out the nVidia card and re-installed Xubuntu on the F1A75, now using the HD 6670 and tomorrow hopefully also the HD 6530D.

[Dirk Broer]

More than a month later, but progress has been made!

The solution appeared to be

a hand-written xorg.conf mentioning both GPUs
and
sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --initial


Xubuntu sees both GPUs now, BOINC does as well, but.....



Thu 02 May 2013 09:41:42 PM CEST | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6570/6670/7570/7670 series (Turks) (CAL version 1.4.1741, 2048MB, 1993MB available, 1536 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 May 2013 09:41:42 PM CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6570/6670/7570/7670 series (Turks) (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 2048MB, 1993MB available, 1536 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 May 2013 09:41:42 PM CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 1 (not used): BeaverCreek (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 512MB, 0MB available, 0 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 May 2013 09:41:42 PM CEST | Moo! Wrapper | Found app_config.xml
Thu 02 May 2013 09:41:42 PM CEST | | Config: use all coprocessors



But note the OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 1 (not used) and the lack of mentioning the GPU 1 in the CAL line

It turned out that I had to add a line in the xorg.conf for both GPUs, enabling fast TLS:



Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "aticonfig Layout"
Screen 0 "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0" 0 0
Screen "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0" RightOf "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
EndSection

Section "Module"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
Identifier "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
Option "VendorName" "ATI Proprietary Driver"
Option "ModelName" "Generic Autodetecting Monitor"
Option "DPMS" "true"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Driver "fglrx"
Option "UseFastTLS" "0"
BusID "PCI:1:0:0"
EndSection

Section "Device"
Identifier "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
Driver "fglrx"
Option "UseFastTLS" "0"
BusID "PCI:0:1:0"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[0]-0"
Device "aticonfig-Device[0]-0"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[0]-0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "aticonfig-Screen[1]-0"
Device "aticonfig-Device[1]-0"
Monitor "aticonfig-Monitor[1]-0"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection


and now it starts like


Fri 03 May 2013 01:49:42 AM CEST | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6570/6670/7570/7670 series (Turks) (CAL version 1.4.1741, 2048MB, 2000MB available, 1536 GFLOPS peak)
Fri 03 May 2013 01:49:42 AM CEST | | CAL: ATI GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (CAL version 1.4.1741, 2048MB, 2019MB available, 1024 GFLOPS peak)
Fri 03 May 2013 01:49:42 AM CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6570/6670/7570/7670 series (Turks) (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 2048MB, 2000MB available, 1536 GFLOPS peak)
Fri 03 May 2013 01:49:42 AM CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (driver version 1113.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1113.2), 2048MB, 2019MB available, 1024 GFLOPS peak)
Fri 03 May 2013 01:49:42 AM CEST | | Found app_config.xml
Fri 03 May 2013 01:49:42 AM CEST | | Config: use all coprocessors


There's still need to re-start the boinc client in order for the GPUs to be noticed by the BOINC Manager and an extra command needs to be given too:
export DISPLAY=:0

[AMDave]

Quick question...Is there a monitor plugged into each card?

[Dirk Broer]

At the moment there are two monitors connected (d-Sub(VGA) and DVI), yes. Same picture on both screens, no transfer of windows between them.
But mind you: this is a F1A75 mobo, the board itself has no video output, all video communication goes through the discrete card (the HD 6670)
Guess that was the main part of my problems, the software stubbornly trying to make the HD 6530D the main card while communication went through the HD 6670.
Had to manually edit a xorg.conf made via aticonfig --adapter=all --initial -f as it had chosen the wrong bus for the cards, given 1:0:0 to the HD 6530D and 0:1:0 to the HD 6670 while it is the other way around.
http://www.asus.com/media/global/products/seJBPni8yEhwFqIV/DP0NofVJqruY7uuD_500.jpg

[AMDave]

That was my experience too. If you try to change that, one card will stop being visible to BOINC.

[Dirk Broer]

Ubuntu Power!

Got my F1A75-V Evo so far to support three GPUs (one being the APU). The only thing that bothers me is that the BOINC manager reports all three as the same:

do 22 aug 2013 00:56:05 CEST | | CAL: ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (CAL version 1.4.1848, 2048MB, 1778MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 22 aug 2013 00:56:05 CEST | | CAL: ATI GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (CAL version 1.4.1848, 2048MB, 1778MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 22 aug 2013 00:56:05 CEST | | CAL: ATI GPU 2: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (CAL version 1.4.1848, 2048MB, 1778MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 22 aug 2013 00:56:05 CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 0: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (driver version 1272.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1272.2), 2048MB, 1778MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 22 aug 2013 00:56:05 CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 1: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (driver version 1272.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1272.2), 2048MB, 1778MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)
do 22 aug 2013 00:56:05 CEST | | OpenCL: AMD/ATI GPU 2: AMD Radeon HD 6300/6400/6500/6600 series (Sumo) (driver version 1272.2, device version OpenCL 1.2 AMD-APP (1272.2), 2048MB, 1778MB available, 960 GFLOPS peak)

The peak performance of both the HD 6670s lies somewhat higher than that of the 6550D, while the second HD 6670 only has 1024 MB of DDR3 RAM