Posts by Combat Marmot

1) Message boards : Questions and problems : Ubuntu 18.04 + Radeon HD 4890 + "No Usable GPU" (Message 93124) Posted 7 Oct 2019 by Combat Marmot Post: Thanks Gary, I hadn't realised the difference in version number. New plan required!
2) Message boards : Questions and problems : Ubuntu 18.04 + Radeon HD 4890 + "No Usable GPU" (Message 93112) Posted 6 Oct 2019 by Combat Marmot Post: Thanks for your reply Keith. You're absolutely right that AMD now publish a later version of the drivers for Linux. However, https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-amdgpu-unified-linux shows these don't support cards earlier than the HD 7700. Regardless, I've given them a go following the approach in https://einsteinathome.org/content/quick-guide-how-install-opencl-amd-gpus-linux-kubuntu-1804-and-similar-distro but it leads to the same result.
3) Message boards : Questions and problems : Ubuntu 18.04 + Radeon HD 4890 + "No Usable GPU" (Message 93107) Posted 6 Oct 2019 by Combat Marmot Post: Background - Since winter is on the way, and my home is electrically heated, I had a cunning plan to use a spare ATI/AMD Radeon HD 4890 and an old PC in combination with a raspberry pi to switch the PC on and off in response to temperature. The aim was to complete some useful work while generating the heat. Unfortunately this plan has fallen flat on its face. I've been reading around the issue and this post comes closest to matching my problem: https://einsteinathome.org/content/older-radeonati-gpu-and-ubuntu-drivers-revisited ...but what works for them does not work for me. Other pages such as this one https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-install-the-latest-amd-radeon-drivers-on-ubuntu-18-04-bionic-beaver-linux are useful but pitched towards newer cards. These are the things I have tried: 1. Radeon 4890 + Ubuntu 18.04 "as installed" -- Failed This results in the "No usable GPU" message from the BOINC Manager event log. 2. "Control test" Nvidia 1060 + Ubuntu 18.04 + "nvidia-driver" 430 package -- Success The GPU is identified and completed a Milkyway@home workunit. I took this to mean that it wasn't a BOINC permission issue, which appears to have been an issue in the past. 3. Radeon 4890 + Ubuntu 18.04 + "Oibaf" PPA -- Failed This was installed using: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers sudo apt-get update sude apt-get upgrade The PC was rebooted but there's the same error (No usable GPU) 4. Radeon 4890 + Ubuntu 18.04 + "Padoka" PPA -- Failed The Oibaf drivers were purged: sudo ppa-purge ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers The PC was rebooted and the Padoka drivers were installed: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:paulo-miguel-dias/mesa sudo apt-get update sude apt-get upgrade The PC was rebooted and again there is the same error. 5. Ubuntu 12.04 and Catalyst 13.1 drivers -- Failed The last available Linux driver for the Radeon 4890 is version 13.1. Due to Xserver and kernel updates, it is incompatible with later versions of Ubuntu (i.e. the automated installer will fail). So I went back to what I thought was the most recent compatible version of Ubuntu to try. This has some severe short comings e.g. the BOINC manager version is very old. I tried this in slightly different ways i) Using the ATi installer directly ii) "Building the package" e.g. sudo sh amd-driver-installer-catalyst-13-4-x86.x86_64.run --buildpkg Ubuntu/precise (I adapted the instructions shown in Section 5 of this page: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/AMD) Each time it would enter an infinite loop (errors regarding 'broken pipe' and 'battery status') after rebooting. This could not be stopped thought CTRL-ALT-F2 (or any F number), so I had to wipe and retry each time. Possible conclusion? I will be honest that I don't fully understand the difference between the drivers provided by default in the Ubuntu install (with are x.org drivers) and those from the Oibaf or Padoka packages. However... The 4890 is part of the RV700 series of cards. The table on https://www.x.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/ shoes that OpenCL for these cards is 'TODO'. So my conclusion is that, since Oibaf and Padoka are both based on the x.org drivers, then they will not support opencl either and that's why BOINC cannot identify the card as usable. The questions 1. Is my conclusion correct (that OpenCL for the card is not supported by x.org so it cannot be recognised by BOINC in the absence of a functioning proprietary driver)? 2. Or is there a way to get an ancient card like the 4890 working on a modern distribution of Linux (relatively easily)? If you read this far, thanks. PS. If it isn't possible, then I hope this post saves someone some time in future. PPS. In the past, the "No Usable GPU" seems to been caused by BOINC starting before opencl has initialised. In my case, restarting the BOINC client sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client restart did not solve the issue. I also believe that this problem was resolved in subsequent releases of the BOINC software.
4) Message boards : Promotion : BOINC Merchandise based on Participation Levels? (Message 19804) Posted 27 Aug 2008 by Combat Marmot Post: Hi, Any chance the EU store could have polo shirts similar to those in the US store? Or would they not be profitable enough? I'd certainly prefer a BOINC polo over a T-shirt, but that's just me. I'll be buying a t-shirt anyway if it's not possible. Edit: Perhaps I should have said 'popular enough' instead of popular. I don't know how these things work and I would obviously not want the store to loose money. Which polo do you like? The white or black? You should ask Rytis since he established the EU store. As far as being popular, that's not an issue with Spreadshirt. The store will host the site despite popularity, and I don't profit from the sales anyway. I emailed Rytis who has now very kindly added a white BOINC polo to the EU store. I fully agree with the idea of checkpoint/cobblestone promotional items. Perhaps they could be self bought from a central place (maybe the spreadshirt stores) using some sort of 'unlock code' - but I'm not sure how that would actually work. Certainly adding some numbers to the items would show there are targets to drive for and might encourage people to stay with the project rather than installing it shortly after hearing about it and then uninstalling a few days later. Having said this, it does seem a little sad that people need further prodding to donate spare clock cycles to worthy causes when it really costs them nothing.
5) Message boards : Promotion : BOINC Merchandise based on Participation Levels? (Message 19614) Posted 19 Aug 2008 by Combat Marmot Post: Hi, Any chance the EU store could have polo shirts similar to those in the US store? Or would they not be profitable enough? I'd certainly prefer a BOINC polo over a T-shirt, but that's just me. I'll be buying a t-shirt anyway if it's not possible. Edit: Perhaps I should have said 'popular enough' instead of popular. I don't know how these things work and I would obviously not want the store to loose money.

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