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Thread: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

  1. #1
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    How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    Great link for the initial setup of VBox Linux. There are some particulars to Boinc that aren't covered but I'll be glad to help, as will Bryan (I love volunteering people,) just PM your questions. We'll be adding to this thread as questions arise.

    A couple of things to start. After installing VBox and Extension Pack, but prior to installing your chosen Distro, go to SYSTEM --> PROCESSOR and enter the number of cores. 4 core 8 thread, enter 8, etc. The slider rarely works so enter it in the box on the right. Under Motherboard, give it half of your system memory. Under NETWORK --> attach to: BRIDGED ADAPTER. This assigns an IP address to the vm, NAT will not. Under GENERAL ---> ADVANCED select drag and drop and shared clipboard as BIDIRECTIONAL. Now you can install linux. When it asks about HHD to set up I personally like Fixed at about 40gb. Keep in mind, when it says it will delete anything on the drive, it's talking about the virtual 40gb Drive you just set up, not your windows install. Once installed go to Software Manager, type in BOINC as a search and install the boinc client-manager. Once installed you're ready to crunch under Linux.

    I'll get to the cc_config and app_config files later, but this will get you going.
    Last edited by Al; 06-30-15 at 05:43 PM.



  2. #2
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    Al and I both use Linux Mint. There are 4 different flavors of Mint; Xfce, Mate, Cinnamon, and KDE. Xfce's user interface (GUI) is the least robust (not needed for BOINC) and goes all the way to KDE which is the most Windows like. There are subtle differences between the interfaces and what can be done by the GUI. Al and I plan on doing a step-by-step tutorial (at some point) on how to get BOINC up and running. We use the Xfce version so if you want to tag along then that might be a good choice. Of course with Vbox you can install different versions and play around till you settle on one of them.

    YOU DON'T HAVE TO KNOW MUCH TO CRUNCH BOINC IN LINUX!!!

    We will give instructions on how to:

    Install in VBox
    Install onto USB stick
    Dual boot your PC (run native Linux at will)


  3. #3
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    So why should you be interested in running Linux? There are some projects that run more efficiently (more credits) in Linux vs Windows ie Edges, Sztaki, Denis, LHC .... There are some projects that are Linux only; WEP (Wanless), BealF. Projects like MindModeling will quite often have Linux work but nothing for Windows.

    VBOX INSTALLATION:

    There are couple of things that aren't covered by the tutorial link Al gave.

    1. On the VBox download page shown there is the main program and down below that there are EXTENSIONS listed. You want to download both of those. After you have installed VBox then double click on the extensions executable and it will install those.

    2. VBox will create its own "virtual" HDD. It is nothing more than a file on your REAL HDD so don't get your knickers in a knot when it says it is going to format the drive and all data will be lost.

    I think the minimum size of virtual HDD that will work for today's Mint is 12G. That will get Linux up and running but you will be SEVERELY limited on usable disk space. Linux, like Windows, uses a swap space. This is an area of the drive for doing memory dumps if you hibernate or sleep your computer. Linux recommends 1.5X times your memory size for this storage area. You have no control over a VBox installation as to how much disk space is reserved for that. On a REAL Linux installation it can be controlled.

    On a couple of my machines I did VBox installations of 20G size but with 24/48G of memory there were projects that I couldn't download enough WU for all threads because the usable disk space was too small. I typically make my virtual HDD for 30G (or more for the big RAM boxes).

    WHERE TO STORE THE VIRTUAL HDD
    By default VBox will install your virtual drive under: c:/user/your name/Virtual VMs. If you are like me and have a small SSD for your main drive but also have a 2nd drive with bunches of storage then you can have VBox use the 2nd drive for the VM HDD. Just create a folder on the 2nd drive (ie Virtual HDD) and when you are setting up the virtual HDD for a VM machine just point it at that location.

    Now that you have Linux up and running, for a small fee Al will be glad to tell you how to get BOINC running .... he accepts all forms of payment (he's a ho)


  4. #4
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    If you do actually get started, get linux installed and get crunching with BOINC, you'll probably first want to tweek the cc_configure file. This is where the limited linux you'll need to know comes in to play. Go to the bottom left corner and click, up comes a menu. Click on terminal or search for terminal depending on your Distro. At the command promp type: sudo gedit then enter your password.
    this gives you Superuser rights to edit text files. Click OPEN --> FILE SYSTEM --> ETC --> BOINC-CLIENT

    there you will find the cc_config. Click to open and delete what's there and replace with this basic cc_config and/or anything else you normally have in your cc_configs

    <cc_config>
    <options>
    <report_results_immediately>1</report_results_immediately>
    <allow_remote_gui_rpc>1</allow_remote_gui_rpc>
    <skip_cpu_benchmarks>1</skip_cpu_benchmarks>
    </options>
    </cc_config>

    SAVE the file. Rereading the config files may work, but more than likely you'll need to restart BOINC. Just shutting it down only closes the GUI, it doesn't stop the actual client. To do that you'll need the 2nd linux command you'll ever need. Open the terminal again (MENU --> TERMINAL) and type at the command prompt: sudo service boinc-client stop

    When you get the command prompt back again, type: sudo service boinc-client start

    Click the menu, search for "boinc" click on the program and back comes the GUI, already crunching.



  5. #5
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    Quote Originally Posted by Sphynx View Post
    A couple of things to start. After installing VBox and Extension Pack
    Don't forget that the Extension Pack is a Client/Server arrangement. Installing the Extension Pack on the Host is only half the install. You also need to follow that with installing them on the Guest. Without that, many of the Extension features don't work and both the Mouse and Video optimizations are not functional. If you're running the Guest from within a window, it's as easy as choosing the Devices->Insert Guest Additions CD Image option. If you're accessing it from another machine using Remote Display, it's a bit more convoluted. If the Host Extensions are installed, that should add an ISO to the available media you can "insert" into the Guest CD drive to get them installed. Find the path by using the File->Virtual Media Manager menu option within the VirtualBox Manager to review the "Optical Disks" available. Once you know the Location, which is shown after you click on the VBoxGuestAdditions.iso in the list and look at the bottom, you can go to VirtualBox Manager for your running Guest and choose the Settings->Storage option. Pick the "Empty" CDROM drive and click on the CD looking icon to the upper right to pick that ISO you just located. As long as you're logged in to the guest, it should autorun and prompt you if you want to Run what the guest just found on the CD you inserted.

    Another note, you can enable Remote Display and access the guest just like it's another Windows machine. Under Settings->Display->Remote Display, check the box to "Enable Server." (You can even turn this on and off without restarting the Guest or Host.) Once that's done, from any Windows machine, you can use the "Remote Desktop Connection" tool found under the Accessories menu on your Windows Start Menu. Just enter in the IP Address of the Host machine to connect to your Linux Guest. So that should make it easier than installing something like TeamViewer.
    Last edited by Mumps; 06-30-15 at 09:47 PM.

  6. #6
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    I'm seeing an issue on my machines that are running VMs I could use some help with. For instance on one T5500 workstation with 24 threads and a single GPU, I am running 6 threads of CPU in VM and 16 threads of CPU in windows along with SETI on the GPU. Also running Process Lasso. My GPU usage is very poor when doing this... when I stop CPU work in VM and increase concurrent units in Windows to 22, my GPU usage goes to 90%+. This seems to be happening on my other machines too.

    Is it best not to run CPU work on VM and Windows at the same time? Should I disable Process Lasso when doing so?



  7. #7
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    There's overhead just to run the VM. Try backing off 1 core either in Windows or VM and see how it runs.

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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    Quote Originally Posted by scole of TSBT View Post
    There's overhead just to run the VM. Try backing off 1 core either in Windows or VM and see how it runs.
    Yep!


  9. #9
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    Quote Originally Posted by scole of TSBT View Post
    There's overhead just to run the VM. Try backing off 1 core either in Windows or VM and see how it runs.
    I'm already leaving 2 threads for GPU... I should leave 2 more for VM? How am I supposed to keep up with all the badge whores?!?



  10. #10
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    Re: How to setup VBox and Run Linux on your Windows System

    Quote Originally Posted by FourOh View Post
    I'm already leaving 2 threads for GPU... I should leave 2 more for VM?
    How are you allocating threads to the BoincClient running under windows? <ncpus> or % of processors in prefs?
    How many cores/threads is the VM defined with and how is BoincClient in the VM allocating threads?

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