Fedora and Boinc

[trigggl]

Hey Trigggl - is Gentoo hard to setup? Always thought I'd like to try it, but never had a clue where start really. It makes total sense to me - I mean, why not have a "custom OS" for every rig, so it's not loading up stuff it doesn't need and therefore should perform better. I mean, even if it was only like 5% faster...5% on a 24/7 cruncher over a year is a lot!

There is a little bit of a learning curve and it helps to be experienced with command line since that's how most of your install and setup get done. It's especially helpful if you have another box you can ssh from. If you use Putty, you don't even need another Linux box. The handbook is pretty easy to follow as long as you are patient and make sure you read everything.

It's not a distro you begin your Linux experience on. I think the best thing about it is that you're compiling everything for your specific processor. That's what mainly helps your computer to run faster. For instance, on the most recent processor I bought, I compile everything with sse4 support.

I wasn't really interested in Gentoo at first, but it's the only distro I could get to boot the install disc and boot off of the hard drive of my IBM pSeries ppc64. It took me a year or two before I decided to switch my pc to it. It didn't take me long after that to realize I didn't need or want Ubuntu anymore. Now I have everything including a PS3 running it.

If you try it and stick with it, I guarantee you'll know in a year twice as much about Linux and open source as you would otherwise. The Gentoo forum and Bugzilla are your friends.

If you do decide to try it and need help, you can PM me.

[DrPop]

[Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I think this kind of goes along with it.]
Thanks, I am really thinking about it at some point here. One question on the GPUs - does Linux have good GPU crunching support now?

Also, would Gentoo make a good server/cruncher OS or should I stick like Ubuntu or something for the server BOK is sending?

[Steve Bohlen]

Dang, trigggl. You got me wanting to try Gentoo now after that post. Thanks for the rundown.

[trigggl]

[Don't mean to hijack the thread, but I think this kind of goes along with it.]
Thanks, I am really thinking about it at some point here. One question on the GPUs - does Linux have good GPU crunching support now?

Also, would Gentoo make a good server/cruncher OS or should I stick like Ubuntu or something for the server BOK is sending?

I don't know about ATI, but I would say that Linux support for CUDA crunching is just as good as Windows for the most part. I'm doing pretty well on Primegrid and I've also done GPUGrid, SETI, DNETC, Collatz, Einstein, etc. It can be a pain to get the nvidia driver installed, but once installed it works just fine.

Choose Ubuntu if you want quick. Gentoo and Ubuntu, once set up, have similar structures in operation and file system. I would say Gentoo has the easier init script management. Also, Gentoo you install what you want and the dependencies that come with what you want. With Ubuntu, you get what they give you.

For me, Gentoo is way better for handling everything, for you Ubuntu might be better. It's a matter of how much time and effort you want to put into it. With Gentoo, you're not going to get it exactly right the first time. There will always be tweaking and learning as you go. I'm still learning. The Gentoo system gets better with age.

Only choose Gentoo if you have time to work on it. That's the bottom line.

Dang, trigggl. You got me wanting to try Gentoo now after that post. Thanks for the rundown.

I've been thinking the same thing about Arch, but it will probably be like learning a foreign language. Maybe the next time I buy hard drive and have room to play with.

[DrPop]

Thanks for the details! I will probably have to stick to Ubuntu for now, because we want to get that team email server up and running ASAP for the email blasts.
But...now that I understand how it works, I'm definitely interested in learning some about Gentoo, so I'm sure I'll try it at some point.
I appreciate you sharing your hard learned info there!

[Beerdrinker]

Dang, trigggl. You got me wanting to try Gentoo now after that post. Thanks for the rundown.

I´ve always been interested in Arch Linux, as it is supposed to be the fastest distro out there - when one figures it out. Even tried DL it once, but never came past the text install

[Steve Bohlen]

I´ve always been interested in Arch Linux, as it is supposed to be the fastest distro out there - when one figures it out. Even tried DL it once, but never came past the text install

Arch won we over last year when resurrecting a couple of machines just for crunching. The online documentation is very thorough and makes it easy to put on the bare minimum, if that's what you want. I'd agree that it's quick. At least with the minimum installed.

[trigggl]

Arch won we over last year when resurrecting a couple of machines just for crunching. The online documentation is very thorough and makes it easy to put on the bare minimum, if that's what you want. I'd agree that it's quick. At least with the minimum installed.

Your next mission, if you choose to accept it, is to acquire and install Arch on a PS3.

[Bok]

You do also have some other options.

Personally, I'm a fan of Centos, given that in effect, it's just RedHat Enterprise Linux for free. I used to use Gentoo way back when and am still a fan of it (It's live CD's were second only to Knoppix 8 or so years ago) but Centos can be a pretty good alternative to Ubuntu as long as you don't want or need cutting edge packages. It's simple to install and it's VERY stable.

I use it here on both the webserver and database server and have done for years now. I rarely install a GUI, preferring commandline whenever possible. Like Triggl I just use ssh to get on the boxes and they remain headless. Saying that though, the GUI's are easy to use, especially when you are new to commandline control (optional during setup).

It may take you once or twice to go through the install first and scrap it when you realize you wanted the partitions set differently for instance. Not a big deal. The hard drives I've sent in your big package probably contain a working centos install as is, but it'll be a from a few years ago and won't have GUI.

My advice : try each one. Give the live cd from Gentoo a go first and see what you think.

[DrPop]

OK, thanks for the info, BOK. Trigggl PMed me to offer help with a Gentoo install, so I may try that first, as long as it's not too scary. I may become a Linux convert yet. Only problem is I have two "Windows" programs for my office, so I will probably have to keep at least 2 Windows machines around to run them. But...never know.

My only concern is if the credits drop going to Linux. For example, when AndrOINC was the latest and greatest there for CPU credits, I remember Hankey and Mumps reporting in waaaaay less credit that I was getting on my Win7 64 boxes...