I found that to move the BOINC folder required editing run_client and run_manager such that the full path of BOINC is updated to reflect the new location. There's even a script that updates the run_* scripts. From the folder containing BOINC, I can type ". ./BOINC/binstall.sh" and the change is done. :-)

It is not that I want to move anything necessarily ... I am running down my tasks on the machine so that if'n I figure this out I can abandon as few tasks as possible.

The goal here is to come up with a configuration that is as painless as possible and works. I am not sure how much I need the handy icon in the menu, nice, but dispensable if I can get an easy command t run ...

Additionally, I need for it to be automatic on start as I do not always look at some of the systems so the package install is nice because it does work that way.

But I am not at all sure that if I try the current set-up to use the package's data directory that it won't have problems with sub directory permissions as some things seem to have been made with root ...

So, I guess the question is, now that i have a "working" 6.4.5, though I did not try to attach to anything, how do I make the last connections so that on boot the /home/paul/BOINC version will start up and start running ... Once I have that recipe and my cache is run down I can make the change to the new version and then I can see if I can actually run a GPU Grid task there ...

Then comes the hard decision ... how do I distribute my cards ... :)

---

But I am not at all sure that if I try the current set-up to use the package's data directory that it won't have problems with sub directory permissions as some things seem to have been made with root ...

Why mess with permissions or a system wide copy?
A user-installed copy of BOINC in the user's home folder works just fine.

So, I guess the question is, now that i have a "working" 6.4.5, though I did not try to attach to anything, how do I make the last connections so that on boot the /home/paul/BOINC version will start up and start running ...

I admit, I've never actually tried running BOINC entirely from a command line.
Anyone?

I admit, I've never actually tried running BOINC entirely from a command line.
Anyone?

Not interested in running it from the command line ...but how do I launch BOINC Manager automadically?

That is the 64 dollar question.

I mean, I did get it to start, though I did not attach to projects ... the test was to see if 6.4.5 would see the 8500GT, which it did ... I was trying to salvage the work, though I can just run down the queue (in progress) and abandon it when it is pretty low ...

But, when I ran the ./run_manager (or whatever the script was) it started the BOINC Manager, now, how do I get that script to run automagically? WIth that in hand I can uninstall the package and move on with the tests ...

I mean, I finally got past:
- the video driver not installing (silent fail fixed by turning off the restricted driver), and,
- The install not running the binary (got the right binary), and,
- the card not being seen (added video group, has to be number 44, and added self to that group), and,
- running down work I signed up for (I know, abandon it, the project does not care, except I do, I hate to waste tasks when there is no real need to do so), and,
- ran the task on the Q9300 to completion so that I can remove the 9800GT to move it to the Linux box, and *YET*,
- I still need to be able to have autostart of the BOINC Manager on boot ...

{edit}
Who in their right mind wants, in this day and age, to run things on a command line?

I certainly don't ... I have other things to do with my spare time ...

{edit}
I may have that fixed too ... it certainly works with a log out and in ... I added the startup task with ./BOINC/run_manager and it starts up the 6.4.4 (I think they blew the update on the number) BOINC Manager against the running 6.2.14 BOINC Client that is still working down the tasks I have ... I will run that list down till morning and when it is light I think I will abandon the remainder and reboot and see if I can make the 6.4.5 side work as a new install ...

{edit #2}
Well, I decided to abandon all hope and try the new local install ... and the SUM of all the changes and beating on the system and it now seems to be working as I would expect ... still a little fooling about I suppose to get the ability to re-open BOINC Manager if I close it for one reason or another ... but the add to the start up programs list worked, attach to projects worked (though it did not recover my "lost" tasks (sadly) so I have a new crop that I will be working through now. The GPU *IS* detected, but I am getting the no work for your processor message ... so I don't know if the server is snubbing me because of the 8500GT is not considered fast enough (though it should be barely qualified) or if there is no work for linux systems ... time will tell ... when Nancy gets up and I can make more noise I think I will move the 9800 GT over there to see if it is picked up and what happens then ...

The adventure continues ...

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Who in their right mind wants, in this day and age, to run things on a command line?

I certainly don't ... I have other things to do with my spare time ...

Ha!
Maybe some people have other things to do with their spare time than design graphical user interfaces. ;-)

Your words about running BOINC "on boot" inspired the curious thought about command-line BOINC. :-) Before the graphical interface comes up, there's nothing but commands.

Really, it's a curiosity, not something to get excited over. ;-)

Now a version of BOINC that plays nice with a system by actually honoring requests _not_ to use a specific GPU devices allocated to other purposes, or that doesn't make boneheaded decisions like estimating the number of GPU devices with the CPU core count...
_That_ would be more exciting. :-)

The adventure continues ...

BOINC manager just finished grabbing another work unit about 10 minutes ago here, so the GPUGRID server's good.
Hopefully, BOINC will run happily with your new GPU!

BOINC manager just finished grabbing another work unit about 10 minutes ago here, so the GPUGRID server's good.
Hopefully, BOINC will run happily with your new GPU!

I think the initialization of the new install put BOINC into deadline panic and so because the CPU / GPU resource shares are still killing me ... it also may be a issue with the 8500GT ... not sure yet ... It is working down the initial load of work and we shall see in an hour or two ...

When it gets more light here in a couple hours I will pull the 9800 GT and put it in the Linux boxx and see what happens then ... in the mean time I am also coping with a spate of additional tasks from my detaching from the Account Manager BAM! when I used it to connect all my boxes to all my basic projects (to save typing in the e-mail and password) ... not a big issue ... I suspended most tasks on the i7 in that I am trying to get Cosmology over the hump so I can start to work on the next project on my list of goals ... no big deal, just some more care and feeding ...

I *DID* note that on the Q9300 the 9800GT while processing a SaH task was only using 1 to 3% CPU ... and the new application for that project seems to be much better behaved ... but that is a decent load, well, I would prefer 1% or less ... but that is just me ... :)

---

Not interested in running it from the command line ...but how do I launch BOINC Manager automadically?

This is a Zen koan, a paradox worthy of a true master!

Are you trying to run boinc at boot time or automatically when you log in?

../BOINC/run_client runs boinc without the graphics interface (manager).
../BOINC/boinccmd allows you send commands to the boinc process (boinccmd --help). This works even if the boinc manager is running.

Curt

Not interested in running it from the command line ...but how do I launch BOINC Manager automadically?

This is a Zen koan, a paradox worthy of a true master!

Are you trying to run boinc at boot time or automatically when you log in?

../BOINC/run_client runs boinc without the graphics interface (manager).
../BOINC/boinccmd allows you send commands to the boinc process (boinccmd --help). This works even if the boinc manager is running.

Curt

No zen, though I suppose you could see it that way ...

I wanted and want the GUI to come up on log in with BOINC started ...

I figured it out, I think, and so far it has survived one re-boot so I think I have it... I will feel better about it after I have run it for a little while ... and, tehe best of all I don't have to open terminal to run the command line command ...

---

and so the adventure comes to an end, at least for the moment ...

What I *DID* seem to discover is that Linux, even with the latest drivers does not seem to like two GPUs ... or it sure prettends to not like two GPUs ... when I had either the 9800GT or the 8500GT installed I could get the system to boot, when I had both installed it would not start the graphics engines.

That was me ... someone smarter might be able to get other results...

Sadly, during the 47 reboots and the inability to get work I reluctantly put the 9800 GT back in the Q9300 and it is back to work there ... silently stealing my CPU cycles ...

Even sadder, the 8500GT stopped working during the last shuffle ... so now I have to run the Linux box with an ATI card I had laying about ...

And I am worn out again ...

Though during one of the last go rounds I did reinstall the last of the restricted drivers (177 something) and BOINC came up with it recognizing the 9800 GT as a CUDA processor ... sadly GPU Grid insisted that there was no work for the Linux world ... so ... back to the other plan ... when I look at the server display, and assume that it is accurate I should have been able to get work ... no idea why I couldn't ...worse I couldn't process it anyway now ... sigh ...

{edit}

The best news of the day is I hit goal for Cosmology this morning and am on to the next project to push ...

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Could be that Linux needs both Cards to be the same in order to work but I could be wrong on that, UL1 probably knows more about that than I do ???

Could be that Linux needs both Cards to be the same in order to work

I recently swapped out a GTX 260 for a GTX 295, with no issue.
The graphical interface always attaches to the card in the first PCI-E slot.
Again, version 180.22 packages for nvidia-kernel and nvidia-glx are installed.

Attempting to install a weak 8500GT as a second GPU device for BOINC does seem to push the borderline of practicality.
Even so, I'm cool with trying weird combinations. Just don't wear yourself out. ;-)

BOINC came up with it recognizing the 9800 GT as a CUDA processor

It seems Paul had nearly everything working.
I can only imagine why BOINC refused to play.

In my opinion the easiest way to a nice BOINC installation that starts automatically is using the BOINC package from the repository. Once installed you can pin that release in the apt configuration and it won't be automatically upgraded. As these 6.2.xx releases don't support coprocessors you'll now need to update your installation manually.
Download and execute BOINC, stop the running processes:
# [add boinc user to group video]
# [download latest BOINC]
# sh boinc_6.4.5_x86_64-pc-linux-gnu.sh
# cd BOINC
# invoke-rc.d boinc-client stop

Copy some files and restart BOINC:
# cp boinc boinccmd boincmgr /usr/bin/
# maybe cp libcudart.so to /var/lib/boinc-client/
# invoke-rc.d boinc-client start

done. Thats how I do it for quite some time now. Altogether not that complex and you can enjoy the advantages of proper start and stop scripts as well as separating BOINC from user data. Imagine someone breaks into a poorly managed BOINC project, cancels all WUs and sends CopyUserDataToServerInRussia.exe as new application version to your host. Better not having BOINC running as your user then ;-)

Regarding BOINC on the console. Well, BOINC itself is just a console tool, its the BOINC manager that gives you a GUI. BOINC works without it, the manager isn't needed at all. You can manage the whole thing with boinccmd as well.

Could be that Linux needs both Cards to be the same in order to work but I could be wrong on that, UL1 probably knows more about that than I do ???

Sorry, can't help on that, because I never tried running different types of cards in one box...

Well, it is moot at this time ... I don't have a spare CUDA card with the apparent death of the 8500GT ... and it did not make sense to me to spend 24 hours futilelly trying to get when I kept getting the no work for your platform and I was able to get work without trouble on Windows ... sigh ...

I had hoped that I could cache some work with the 8500 and then swap in the 9800GT to see if the CPU usage was as low as I hoped at which point I could have made a decision on which card to try to run there ...

I guess I will have to wait in that I can't really see buying another 9800 card even though the price is right when I know it will only have a short life ... I would prefer to wait till I can afford another GTX 295 at which point I will bump the 280 down to the Q9300 system and then that 9800GT would be free to put into the linux box and my productivity will still be higher than otherwise and the "loss" of production on the 9800GT being idle would be easier to bear ...

Heck I have been here just a little over a month and already I am over 500K ... so, one cannot quibble over production ...

---

I took the Time to pull a 8800GT OC Card from another Box & throw it in with the GTX 260 I have running in my i7 until I can get another GTX 295. Anyway the Box (i7) did Boot into Linux, Nvclock 0.8 Beta4 did see both Cards & I could adjust the Fan settings on both cards too.

But BOINC Manager showed just 2 Cuda Processors & would only run 2 WU's @ 1 time even though there was 3 Cuda Processors in the Box. That's why I said I think that both cards have to be the same earlier but still could be wrong on that.

The Box (i7) wouldn't Boot into Windows at all with the 2 different Cards in the Box, it would get to the Point of where it should go into the Desktop & just sit there. I would see Hard Drive activity but it wouldn't go into the Desktop. I switched the Video Cable between the 2 Cards but it didn't make any difference.

I don't really have any urge to run more than 1 Video Card in a Box anyway, it just creates more heat in the Box, more expensive to run because you need a bigger PSU & the Electricity you use. But that's the way some of these Projects seem to be going, make it as expensive as possible for the Participants because it isn't their money (the Projects) that their spending.

YOur experience is 180 out from mine ... I easily got the 295 and 280 or the 280 and 9800 to work in the windows box with no issues.

I could get Linux to see the 9800 or the 8500 or not to boot at all ... maybe it is because it is a much older system? It is like 4-5 years old I think ... well ... no matter, it is running with an ATI card until I can get up the energy to try to see if the 8500 is really dead, or just pretending ...

Well, I did the upgrades and expensive cards for my own pleasure ... gotta have something to keep my brain cells rubbing together ...

Well, the next major move will be to get another i7 I guess ... with that I can shoot the two old Dells with dual xeon HT processors ... only 4 virtual CPUs each but they are so old and slow that even the q9300 beats them for production ...

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only 4 virtual CPUs each but they are so old and slow that even the q9300 beats them for production ...

And there is me with a P4 D 3.2 with HT as the best machine I got...... Fancy sending 'em over the pond if you don't want 'em? :-)))))

Is the 295 comparable to a 260 in terms of noise or is it louder?

Is the 295 comparable to a 260 in terms of noise or is it louder?

As far as I can tell they are the same ...

Of course I have the two cards in the same system at the moment and my computers are all pretty close to one another ... so ...

Is the 295 comparable to a 260 in terms of noise or is it louder?

At maximum speed, the fan of the 295 sounds louder with a slightly higher pitch than that of the 260. This isn't unexpected, as the fan of the GTX 295 maxes out at 1000+ RPM, while the GTX 260 fan maxes out at 800+ RPM.

At full load, there's a very noticeable difference in noise when I set the fans to maintain a reported temperature of 69 to 70 degrees C on each card, because I can set the GTX 260 at a quiet 400 RPM while the GTX 295 requires 950 RPM.

BOINC came up with it recognizing the 9800 GT as a CUDA processor ... sadly GPU Grid insisted that there was no work for the Linux world ...

By the way Paul, did you have work units for other BOINC projects at the time you attempted to fetch work units for GPUGRID?

After adding another BOINC project and receiving some CPU work units, I noticed some weirdness where the BOINC manager (6.4.5 x86_64 Linux) would refuse to fetch additional GPUGRID work units to replace completed GPU work units until the CPU work units from the added BOINC project completed.