[augie]

This is a guide for people who are already running GPU2 folding on Windows and still have quite a few cycles to mop up on other cores.

What is required

Download VMWare Server 1.08 binary package (146MB) Make sure to register to get your serial key and activate your account.
Download Ubuntu 8.04 LTS making sure you choose the 64 bit option, the file should read "ubuntu 8.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso Don't worry if you have an Intel CPU, this works on both platforms and don't ask me why they named it as such. (700MB) Burn the ISO to CD using your burning application or you can grab a nice small and free application like ImgBurn I also recommend Ubuntu 8.04 as it's faster by %30 than the 8.10(latest release) at the moment for folding.

Oh, enable vitualization in BIOS if applicable to you.

Installation

The VMWare installation is an easy wizard though will take as long as 15 minutes, just make sure you choose Linux-Ubuntu 64 from the dropdown list, the bridged ethernet option, 768MB of memory and hit the '2 processors' radio button and give 5GB for the installation, here's what the settings option in the VM tab should look like:



Start the VM, go to task manager find the vmware-vmx.exe entry, rght-clk/Set Affinity and click off cores 2 and 3 on a quad, then OK out. You will have to do this every time you reboot the host. Then install the default Ubuntu ISO entering the appropriate info when required. It'll also take about 15 or 20 minutes.

Time to install the math library from the 'terminal'. You can find that under Applications/Accessories. Works much like the Command Prompt in Windows.

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sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Open FF and go and grab Linux (x86) and BSD *combined uniprocessor and SMP client* (64-bit required for SMP) If all goes well, then you'll see a xxx.tar.gz file on your desktop.

Double click it and extract it to /home/your username/folder of your choice, I use a short folder name for ease of typing:



Use Terminal to navigate to your folder, this is for my setup:

cd folding (commands are case sensitive)
cd FAH
"./fah6 -smp -forceasm -verbosity 9" without the quotes to start the client. Don't forget the space between each term. (I have to find the ASCII character for a space, it's a 'b' with a slash through it.)

OK, so you now got it going on your quad! Just one step left to get the PPD maximized is to set the affinity in the Task Manager for your VMWare, click on 'Show processes from all users' right-click vmware.exe and choose affinity to either cores 0/1 or 2/3. That's it man!

Happy folding!


BTW, comments/constructive criticisms are very welcome as I write this. Also, I'l be expanding this tutorial at a later date so that less experienced users can get VMWare folding up and running with more detailed instructions and screenshots.

[SonicSpeed]

Last I checked though you cannot run a 64-bit guest from within a 32-bit host.

[augie]

Last I checked though you cannot run a 64-bit guest from within a 32-bit host.

You would normally be correct, however you can run an X64 as it runs inside a virtual machine running under Windows Vista X86 in this case.

[augie]

OK, I cleaned this guide up, so it's back up here and as said above I'll be making this more friendly for folks who have never used Linux before. (It's not that hard.) I now have Windows 7 loaded up and working and will be making the rest of the 'user friendlier' guide from there as it will work in Vista and XP also. Again, please post your experiences or criticisms or corrections. Thank you.

WTF! (Erm, that term should only be used in the DC forum for obvious reasons. )

Way To Fold everybody!!!

[augie]

Guide has been updated.

Change log:

Added the following line:

Start the VM, go to task manager find the vmware-vmx.exe entry, rght-clk/Set Affinity and click off cores 2 and 3 on a quad, then OK out. You will have to do this every time you reboot the host.

Assigning affinity improved my production by %20

Added the -forceasm flag to the start up command string, this will clean up your logs somewhat:

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./fah6 -smp -forceasm -verbosity 9

[yeshuas]

I have dual gigabyte lan on my MB, is there a way to assign its own lan instead of using the bridged

[imnuts]

I have dual gigabyte lan on my MB, is there a way to assign its own lan instead of using the bridged

I think the only thing you can really do is change which LAN/network adapter the bridged network connects over. I don't think there is a way to have it use the specific device.

[augie]

Updated! Following was added for your folding pleasure.

OK, so you now got it going on your quad! Just one step left to get the PPD maximized is to set the affinity in the Task Manager for your VMWare, click on 'Show processes from all users' right-click vmware.exe and choose affinity to either cores 0/1 or 2/3. That's it man!