Folding on yellow dog?

[Robokev]

Hi,
Please keep in mind while reading this that I am a Linux noob. I just installed YDL 5 on my PS3 and I was wondering if it is possible to run folding at home? I've tried a couple guides on getting it set up but they don't seem to work. (these had me download the single core and also 64 bit dual core versions.) Does anybody have an idea how to get this running? Any help appreciated.

[thedevilsjester]

Is "folding at home" a Linux application? If not, no you cannot run it.

If so, and there is source code available, it should be a matter of compiling the source code.

If you provide a link to the page where this software is contained I will look into it as much as I can on an x86 distro.

[Robokev]

They have Linux and windows versions. here is a link to the smp version of it. I think that is the one needed. I tried this one and also the single core one.
http://www.stanford.edu/%7Ekasson/folding/FAH_SMP_Linux.tgz
Thanks for you help!

[thedevilsjester]

I cannot find any information on that site about the packages distributed.

The package you linked to is precompiled and as far as I can tell, is precompiled for x86_64 not PPC64. As such would only run on Intel compatible hardware (Intel, AMD, etc...) not PowerPC hardware (PPC, PPC64, etc...)

If the above is not the case (you know for certain that its a PPC64 compile), please link me, not to the package which I have no way of testing, but to the site that links to this package and has more information on it.

[Robokev]

Here is a link to the downloads page with install info. Based on what you said, this version will probably not work on the PS3 but please do see what you can find. Thanks
http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html

[thedevilsjester]

There is no PPC64 version, there are only two Linux versions available and those are the

1. Linux Console (x86)

2. Linux (x86-64 bit, only) SMP client

The version you originally linked me to was, as I suspected the x86_64 version which will only work on 64 bit AMD or Intel proccessors.

There is no version available for PPC64, so unless you can get the source code you are SOL.

Something funny I noticed on that page, the x86_64 downloads were fine (they were proper binaries in a tar ball), but the x86 linux download had a ".exe" extension. I dont know if its an actual PE or if its an ELF with an added, useless file extension, but its odd..

If you still wish to run this, never fear, there is a way. Simply install an open source x86 emulator, and in this emulator install a very small trimmed linux distribution like Damn Tiny Linux (or if you want true optimization try Gentoo with a console only install), and install the x86 version of this program in it.

It is not a perfect solution, but it will work if you must run this program.

Be aware that YDL does not have video hardware drivers, and none of the programs (including the emulators) are taking advantage of the muli core processor, so your speed may not be so good if its a graphically intensive program.

[Robokev]

Okay, i think i'll just wait and see if they come out with a PPC Version. Thanks for the help and quick replies

[Ashaman]

This is the Folding@Home FAQ: http://folding.stanford.edu/FAQ-PS3.html

There is clearly work on a version of F@H that is specific to the PS3, and uses the full power of the cell processors.

However, it's not clear if this code will run under a flavor of linux (with YDL being a likely choice) or if it will run under GameOS.

There is a Folding@Home community forum, and it includes a section for the PS3 client.
http://forum.folding-community.org/foru ... lient.html

As best I can tell from that forum, the client for the PS3 simply has not been released yet, and information about it is very limited.

[jerryyyyy]

I am on the faculty at Stanford and could ask this group, but looks to me like it will be aimed at the game side... will always be on.