Hi all.
Being new to Unix and UBUNTU, with extensive help from UBUNTU support I managed to install BOINC. Strange enough, UBUNTU installes the 5.4.11 version, which according to
http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php
is made for windows (I would have expected 5.4.9, but with the manually installed version happened just the same): The button "show grafic" is permanently deactivated.

According to http://wiki.debian.org/BOINC and the troubleshooting section there I first tried it with:
"xhost +local:" return-msg:
"non-network local connections being added to access control list"
No change at all, even after reboot.

Next I looked for the stderror-out-file:
/var/lib/boinc-client/slots/0/stderr.txt:
and found there a couple of lines I am neither able to interpret nor to act upon:
-------------------
Graphics are disabled due to configuration...
# random seed: 3072481
# cpu_run_time_pref: 10800
SIGSEGV: segmentation violation
Stack trace (21 frames):
[0x89e9907]
[0x8a019bc]
[0xffffe420]
[0x89e0941]
[0x876d4e8]
[0x83c5a65]
[0x83bc8fe]
[0x88b3f51]
[0x8698b5c]
[0x84810a5]
[0x85b45d1]
[0x869956d]
[0x897a2b4]
[0x874a52a]
[0x848d0e4]
[0x8497a91]
[0x872d8d1]
[0x8452cb2]
[0x8563338]
[0x8a60ea4]
[0x8048111]
-------------------
So I was adviced to take this to the project board.

For crunching itself the grafic is of no importance, in this respect this is not a big problem. Since I am running BOINC (Seti) since years on windowsboxes without major problems I feel rather discomfortable that things don't work as smooth under Unix.

Anybody skilled enough to give advice? (If possible step by step :).

---

Gruß, Gerhard

Which project were you trying the graphics on?

It depends on the project if the science application has graphics capability for Linux. You could test graphics on the Pirates@Home project.

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Adding to that advice, the one project where the graphics do work for (almost) sure is Einstein@Home.

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Thanks for the advice. My answer is so late, because I am used to get an email notification as soon as someone posts to a subject I opened. Since I didn't get anything I thought nobody replied.

...

1. I run Rosetta. Under Windows all work fine, also grafics are available.

I went to the pirate-site. As indicated, I created a new account and joined the project. BOINC terminated this action with an error-msg, and in the message-tab I found the entry
'Fetching configuration file from http://pirates.spy-hill.net/get_project_config.php'
Thats it. Nothing else (visible for me) happened. In the project tab there is after this action no additional project registered.

Spending some time to find out what this pirate project does without finding an answer I went to their help page and found there a contribution in relation to grafics and linux, 'Last modified: 27 Jan 2005 14:03:37 UTC'(!)

http://pirates.spy-hill.net/forum_thread.php?id=253
Pirates running Linux may get the lalanne application, which is being used to test building a portable graphics app for Linux. This requires a mix of static libraries (for the things not on every box) and dynamic libraries (for the GL and X11 graphics on your box) and it's tricky stuff. Missing library errors are likely until we get the mix right.

Sorry to say, but such kind of specialist stuff is NO help for me.
Any other ideas?

Gru�, Gerhard

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Gruß, Gerhard

Rosetta doesn't have graphics on Linux yet. Something yet to be developed.

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Rosetta doesn't have graphics on Linux yet. Something yet to be developed.

Thanks - yout made it clear. I have now to find out who then is responsible for the "Molecule" Screensaver in Ubuntu which is crashing the system.

Furthermore: Can anybody definitely answer the question, if BOINC 5.4.11 is made to run (also) on a unix system? I have no fundamental knowledge about operating systems and therefore have no opinion if and under which conditions application software for windows can run also on unixsystems.

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Gruß, Gerhard

BOINC is cross platform.

There are downloads on the main download page for Win, Linux and Mac. Others have ported it over to some of the other unixes.


I don't think there's a 5.4.11 for Linux, the release version is 5.4.9. And I don't think there is a current alpha client for Linux either.


Or am I reading your question wrong?

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Kathryn :o)

The difference between 5.4.9 and 5.4.11 is for Windows machines only: It fixes the bug where a personal firewall prevents the BOINC screen saver from running, causing your computer to lock up. (Mostly Mcafee and Norton based PFWs).

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I try to make things clear with other words and some more explanations � sorry, it get lengthy.

Coming from Windows I tried a newly published Linux-Debian distribution called Ubuntu 6.10. Ubuntu has a grafic user interface similarily to windows. Furthermore, there is a menu item called 'Add/Remove Applications' and there BOINC mgr was listed. I checked the box besides and installed it, � but nothing worked.

Investigating the problem I found, that the BOINC mgr version installed was 5.4.11, but from the BOINC downloadpage http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download_all.php it seemed clear to me, that this version is made for windows-systems, for Unixes the best joice would be 5.4.9.

On 2006-11-11 I put the problem to the Ubuntu support page in adddition to a posting from a guy who faced just the same symptoms (see https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/boinc/+bug/68854) and uttered that I beliefe that Ubuntu installes the wrong BOINC version.

2006-11-12 a guy named Frank answered my posting and told me, that the problems I face are not due to a wrong version of BOINC manager, but because I didn't install the boinc client. (Coming from Windows my experience was that BOINC manager and client were always installed in one step). I had some problems where to find and how to install the client (on the BOINC downloadpage no separate client is offered). I was told, that this can be done with the help of a so called packet-manager named 'Synaptic' included in Ubuntu. While with the 'Add/Remove Applications' menu only those application softwares are listed that come with a *.desktop-file, Synaptic allows to install packages without such such *.desktop file.

OK, I found in Synaptic the BOINC client and also installed it. Soon after this I joined project Rosetta as a returning user. Things so far worked fine, except:
a) The butten �show grafic� on the task-tab was permanently deactivated
b) not yet clear at this moment that there might be a connection to problem a), returning after a period of idleness I found Ubuntu repeatedly frozen.

I put the problem a) to the supportgroup and on 2006-11-12 (same threat as mentioned before) and got soon after this an answer:

And that means that the project does not support graphics output under Linux
or that the task is currently not running. If the graphics button is active
make sure that the application is allowed to access the X display by running:
xhost +local:
See the paragraph about graphics on http://wiki.debian.org/BOINC for more
details.

Following the advice in the given link I came to the point to find the errormsgs in /var/lib/boinc-client/slots/0stderr.txt.
I put those findings to the threat and got the answer, that they cannot help me, I should put this problem to the project board, since it is project specific. And so here I am and opened this thread 2006-11-12.

In the meantime on 2006-11-22 I opened another thread because of problem b) mentioned before (freezing Ubuntu)
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/boinc/+bug/72942
The last message displayed on the frozen system was always: "Constructing molecules ..."
Next day a guy nicknamed 'snik' replyed that it is just the same problem he posted already in thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=303894 .
Investigating the problem resulted in the impression, that joining Rosetta project installs also the grafic screensaver, but in an insufficient manner: With �show grafics� it is deactivated, but it is installed in the list of available screensavers. Since my screen-saver settings were 'ad random' it always took a couple of hours until the �Molecules� screensaver was selected again at random and made my system freeze.

2006-11-24 I put this problem to the Rosetta-Unix-board
http://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/forum_thread.php?id=2630
and got 2006-12-06 an answer corresponding to yours:
aa) There are not yet grafics for Rosetta in Unix
bb) and in respect to the BOINC downloadpage: 5.4.11 is the wrong version for Unix systems.

And now I face the following situation

• Frank in https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/boinc/+bug/68854 didn't think that 5.4.11 is a wrong version for Ubuntu
  
• BOINC manager 5.4.11 and the client in fact runs without any evident problem on Debian-Ubuntu
  
• No one until now could definitely clarify if 5.4.11 is a valid joyce for Unix or not. From the BOINC downloadpage it is not - but it is running. I am not an expert on operating systems, just from my experience I find, that usually for Windows and Unix-systems different versions of application software are offered � so it is somehow mysterious why 5.4.11 works on Ubuntu.
  
• With installation of Rosetta it seams that a screensaver is installed called 'Molecules' which freezes the system. (I would have to make a complete new Ubuntu installation to find out if this screensaver is already delivered as part of Ubuntu)
  
• I am told that Rosetta for unix has no screensaver, but the Windows-version has one.
  

Who is able to clarify if it is acceptable to run 5.4.11 on Unix-systems (why then the list on the boinc downloadpage telling the opposite)
Who is able to clarify whether this 'Molecule' (in my german installation �Molek�le�) screensaver that freezes Ubuntu is part of the Windowsversion of Rosetta that should not be installed? (BTW: In my windows-system the screensaver in the List is named BOINC, but selecting this displays the typical Rosetta grafic)

Sorry for the length
Gru�, Gerhard

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Gruß, Gerhard

If installing with apt-get/Synaptic, then 5.4.11-1 is the correct BOINC version for Ubuntu 6.10. Ubuntu/debian use dbpkg files to install for their distros with compiled versions to match the C libraries of the distro used. I am running Ubuntu 6.06 and have to run the 5.4.9-1 dbpkg as the 5.4.11-1 package uses updated C libraries that 6.06 doesn't have.

As to the Molecule screensaver, I think that is a standard Ubuntu screensaver. The date on my Molecule is 18 May 2006 and I didn't attach to Rosetta until 18 June 2006. I have no screensavers with a date of 18 June 2006, so I don't believe Rosetta installs a screensaver under Linux. I run the blank screensaver so I haven't seen this problem. I tried previewing Molecule, but it doesn't work. All other screensavers will preview, but not Molecule.

If installing with apt-get/Synaptic, then 5.4.11-1 is the correct BOINC version for Ubuntu 6.10. Ubuntu/debian use dbpkg files to install for their distros with compiled versions to match the C libraries of the distro used. I am running Ubuntu 6.06 and have to run the 5.4.9-1 dbpkg as the 5.4.11-1 package uses updated C libraries that 6.06 doesn't have.

As to the Molecule screensaver, I think that is a standard Ubuntu screensaver. The date on my Molecule is 18 May 2006 and I didn't attach to Rosetta until 18 June 2006. I have no screensavers with a date of 18 June 2006, so I don't believe Rosetta installs a screensaver under Linux. I run the blank screensaver so I haven't seen this problem. I tried previewing Molecule, but it doesn't work. All other screensavers will preview, but not Molecule.

Hi BobCat13, thanks for your reply and special thanks that you registered here extra only to answer to my problems!

3 questions :)

1. Is the 5.4.11 installed via apt-get/Synaptic exactly the same files as included in the installer for windows or is it only the same source code, but specially compiled for Ubuntu 6.10, and therefore - because of the same functionality - has the same version number 5.4.11)? (With other words: If I would download from the BOINC download-page the 5.4.11-version for windows and try to install it, would it work?

2. I have the installation-CD for Ubuntu 6.10 and searched for a file with part of filenam 'molecul' but didn't find anything. The reason could be, that is specially packed in a way the search mechanism cannot find. Is there a way to find out if this screensaver is already included in the distribution of Ubuntu?

3. Please have a look at my original posting in this threat: Can you answer how to interpret or to act upon the information given in /var/lib/boinc-client/slots/0/stderr.txt
Just ignore the error-msgs?

Gru�, Gerhard

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Gruß, Gerhard

1. The Ubuntu 5.4.11 client is different from the Windows client. Ubuntu uses the source code to compile for Ubuntu. The reason that it is 5.4.11 for Edgy Eft is that Ubuntu grabs the most recent source code, which was 5.4.11 at the time of Edgy Eft's release. The Windows version would not work under Linux.

2. Molecule is included with Ubuntu. I checked by booting my Windows box using the Ubuntu LiveCD and Molecule is listed as one of the sreensavers on the LiveCD.

3. The graphics are disabled by configuration message is from the Rosetta application, I believe. Since Rosetta has no graphics for the Linux application, I guess that message is displayed in the stderr.out file. They have stated they are working on Linux graphics, but they need to fix the Windows graphics first since many more people run Windows than Linux. As for the segmentation error, that looks like an error in the Rosetta application. I have gotten those errors a few times, usually after a power outage or after the "no heartbeat..." error. It would seem that Rosetta has trouble resuming the task sometimes and outputs an error like this.

You are welcome for any help I can provide. BTW, I had been reading these boards for quite a while, but finally registered so the threads would show properly, i.e. new posts icon.