folding@home install

[Teepike]

How do I go about installing Folding@home on a mandrake 9.0 using kde? I have somewhat of an idea on how to do rpm's and tar, but the linux version of folding at home has an extension .exe which naturally being a friggin newb i'm clueless.. any help? A link to the page with the program i'm talking about is here (http://www.stanford.edu/group/pandegroup/Cosm/)


That should take you to a page where then you can click download, I noticed that the linux version has an .exe extension and well.. Not sure what to do.. Any suggestions? (( besides go back to windows, still trying to tinker more with linux :-) ))

[pvd212]

its a microsoft program the .exe gave it away

[mdwatts]

Why not just read and follow the Linux installation instructions as they have posted on http://folding.stanford.edu/linux.html ?

[Penrich]

Its not a microsoft program - the .exe file is correct for linux.

to quote from the link mdwatts gave:
To use this program, make sure that you can execute it (chmod +x LinFAHxxx.exe) and then run it ./LinFAHxxx.exe


Also see this thread (http://www.linuxnewbie.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74030)

[Teepike]

See that (chmod +x LinFAHxxx.exe) and then run it ./LinFAHxxx.exe ) confused the hell out of me when I saw it and it made no sense to me. Believe me when I said I was a linux newb. I"m learning as I go though so bare with me :-) I'll check the link out. Thanks fellas

[Teepike]

Still trying to get this working. The examples I saw on the folding site doesn't seem to be of help to me, try using them with no success. Are there any real newbie guides out there for the completely stupid short bus riding newbies?

[mdwatts]

What is not working, the installation or the running of the app?

[Teepike]

Assuming its part of what I"m gonna have to use i'm not understanding the (chmod +x LinFAHxxx.exe) and then run it ./LinFAHxxx.exe ) thats required to run the program. Am I supposed to replace the x after the chmod +x with something or leave it as an x? Its these probably simple things that are hurting me more than anything.

Actually, is there any receantly released books out there that explains all these commands and what they stand for? If so please recommend away cause i'm more than willing to read them as long as they actually explain the commands and not assume I know the basics etc.

[Penrich]

Download the file FAH3Console-Linux.exe from http://folding.stanford.edu/download.html to somewhere sensible like your home directory

Open a console - you should be in your home directory

type (or cut and paste) the following commands (an ENTER at the end of each line, of course)
mkdir folding
mv FAH3Console-Linux.exe folding
cd folding
ls
chmod +x FAH3Console-Linux.exe
./FAH3Console-Linux.exe

That should get you set up! The ls command I always like to do to make sure I moved the file properly. I don't think you need to be root to change the permissions on the file (I'm not at my linux box right now to check), but if you get a "permissions" error when issuing the chmod command, the type su, enter your root password, and try the command again... if the chmod +x doesn't work, try man chmod!

[Teepike]

hehe, now that I can grasp, thanks man I'll give it a shot!

[Teepike]

It worked :-) Much appreciated !!!

[Penrich]

The first few install you do in Linux are going to be eye openers! You will (have!) found that it ain't windows! Don't worry, though. By the time you've installed a few things, it'll start getting clearer! Good job, and Welcome (to Linux and F@H)!

[Penrich]

Thanks for the kudos, jjordan. As a newbie myself (ignore the post count - its mainly from /dev/random) I am still very aware that the first few things one trys in Linux are not going to be self-evident when one has a Windows background.

However, I won't take all the credit. mdwatts answers many many more posts than I could ever hope to do. His style is to point people in the right direction for the help that they need, or sometimes to just bump a post so that someone else will see it. He tends to give specific advice only in certain circumstances where absolutely necessary. As mod, that is the only way he can handle all his responsibilities here. Often, that is enough, as the poster may have just overlooked something. From teepike's responses to mdwatts and my initial posts, it was clear that he needed a more detailed approach. I'm just glad that I nearby and could help him out...

[sarah31]

I would just like to add that as far as those instructions go that MD pointed to they are pretty straight forward. I was still very green when i first installed F@H and i had no trouble processing the instructions. I feel here that perhaps it was necessary for the person to familiarize themselves with what chmod is/does and the options, such as "+x", mean. Tons of people get pissed off with man pages but most will help you out and the more you become familiar with the commandline the more you will realize that "man foo" should answer the majority of your questions.

now this not to say thaqt all documentation out there is good but in this case it is pretty straight forward.

Just my 2 cents

[Teepike]

My biggest problem with reading manuals online is the fact I have a crt monitor and it rather hurts my eyes to read too long. My refresh rate won't go higher than 85mhz so i'm stuck with that.. What I need is a LCD and I can get in some good reading!

[mdwatts]

Thank-you Penrich and Sarah.

Penrich... You got it exactly right. I do not like to spoon feed, only give a little nudge in the right direction.