Building a Little Budget Cruncher

[Aux10]

Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Starting BOINC client version 7.2.42 for x86_64-pc-linux-gnu
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | log flags: file_xfer, sched_ops, task
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Libraries: libcurl/7.35.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1f zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.28 librtmp/2.3
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Data directory: /var/lib/boinc-client
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | CUDA: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 750 Ti (driver version unknown, CUDA version 7.0, compute capability 5.0, 2048MB, 1986MB available, 2082 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | OpenCL: NVIDIA GPU 0: GeForce GTX 750 Ti (driver version 346.47, device version OpenCL 1.1 CUDA, 2048MB, 1986MB available, 2082 GFLOPS peak)
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | OpenCL CPU: Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz (OpenCL driver vendor: Intel(R) Corporation, driver version 1.2.0.43, device version OpenCL 1.2 (Build 43))
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Host name: Kuro-Chan
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Processor: 2 GenuineIntel Intel(R) Pentium(R) CPU G3220 @ 3.00GHz [Family 6 Model 60 Stepping 3]
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Processor features: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl xtopology nonstop_tsc aperfmperf eagerfpu pni pclmulqdq dtes64 monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm pcid sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt tsc_deadline_timer xsave rdrand lahf_lm abm arat xsaveopt pln pts dtherm tpr_shadow vnmi flexpriority ept vpid fsgsbase tsc_adjust erms invpcid
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | OS: Linux: 3.13.0-37-generic
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Memory: 3.81 GB physical, 3.95 GB virtual
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Disk: 142.16 GB total, 126.94 GB free
Thu 02 Apr 2015 11:00:59 PM EDT | | Local time is UTC -4 hours

[zombie67]

Yeah, there's your problem. Your intel GPU is not seen by BOINC.

Let's assume your driver is all good. There are still two more hurdles to make it work for BOINC:

1) BIOS: Default is generally set to disable a GPU in the CPU if you have an external GPU in a PCIe slot. The assumption is that the PCIe GPU is better, so use ONLY that. You have to tell the BIOS to use BOTH.

2) Even after #1, the BIOS sometimes requires PROOF that the internal GPU is actually needed. So you have to have monitor connected to the video out, on the mobo. Even if you are not using it. I plug a crap, tiny LCD into that port.

[Aux10]

Ok, I went into the BIOS and changed the Primary GPU from PCIe to Onboard. It started up using the intel GPU but then Mint gave me an error saying it couldn't start the X session and dropped to command line. When I tried startx is gave me an error saying no display found. I then switched the monitor to the GPU and tried again and the X session loaded normally. Problem is the system is now ignoring the onboard ports and Boinc still won't see the Intel GPU.

[zombie67]

I have been through the same crazy, but with windows and OSX. My eventual solutions have been passed on, but may not apply to your linux path. Good luck with that padawan!

[Aux10]

Ok I took a closer look at the Intel drivers page and it looks like the OpenCL driver I got was CPU only. Intel does have a linux OpenCL driver for HD graphics but strangely it's not free. If I want it I have to buy a Intel SDK for $499. (Oh hell no!) I'm looking around but does any one know of any place else I can find a Intel OpenCL GPU driver for Linux?

[Mumps]

Sorry, I have no Intel GPUs (yet) so I haven't lived that quest.

[Aux10]

This is why I'm not a huge fan of linux. If you want to go beyond general use and do things like Boinc projects, it's pretty frustrating work with.

[Mumps]

Well, I got into Linux because it was free and worked pretty well on old hardware out of the box. These new-fangled "GPUs" and "ASICs" just don't belong.

I've got enough time fiddling with my Ubuntu installs under my belt, that most of the simple, straightforward, projects are no issue. Even just set up a pile of hosts on dDM, which is the first project needing java. (Simple scripted install once the tips are sussed out of Google.) Learned a bit muddling through that. And just having the GPU's crunching took a lot of trial and error to figure out what normally works well for me. But again, my newest GPU is still many generations behind. Following that page I linked from a brand new fresh install repeatedly worked like a charm for me. After trying to fiddle around with installing the nVidia drivers from the Repository, or even earlier attemps from the nVidia downloads, I was commonly left with a system with no functional X at all. So I've lived through that too many times myself.

And, like I said before, Free. With as many hosts as I run, that's important to me. TANSTAAFL.

[Aux10]

When I used the driver from the repository it made x crash every time I tried to start it. It did though solve the blank terminal problem I had so I was able to install the latest nvidia driver manually and once I did that it fixed it. When it comes to an OS being free, it's only fair if it makes you hate it I guess.

[zombie67]

Ok I took a closer look at the Intel drivers page and it looks like the OpenCL driver I got was CPU only. Intel does have a linux OpenCL driver for HD graphics but strangely it's not free. If I want it I have to buy a Intel SDK for $499. (Oh hell no!) I'm looking around but does any one know of any place else I can find a Intel OpenCL GPU driver for Linux?

Collatz has an app for OpenCL GPU on linux. So I am guessing that some people have it, and crunching using it. Slicker would be able to tell who those people are. If he is willing to share, you could ask those people.