Boinc in Rapsberry?

Sounds good

Still, I'm not really interested in Radioactive@Home, QuakeCatcher and Enigma, MilkyWay on the other hand looks like something useful, to which I'd happily contribute.

Hopefully the BOINC team and the associated project teams will soon recognize the potential in the Raspberry Pi. They are selling more and more Pis world-wide and people are probably more willing to run such projects 24/7 on low-power machines (like the Pi) than to keep juice-greedy computers running, which have an effect on their electricity bills. So let's hope that in a few months all BOINC projects will be supported out of the box

Doesn't look like it's supported natively though (i.e. platform specific):

[Enigma@Home] This project doesn't support computers of type armv6l-unknown-linux-gnueabihf

Another anonymous platform candidate though.

This is strange, as the projects overview of supported platforms clearly mentions the Raspi under Raspian :

http://www.enigmaathome.net/apps.php

This page is usually database driven by BOINC, so it's not human edited but reflects the actual configuration of the project. I suspect that the platform string is somehow not matching their configuration. Maybe they use "armv6l" ?

There are ways to force teh boinc client to report any specific platform name as an "altenative platform", see here : http://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/Client_configuration

That might do the trick to get work from Enigma@Home


Cheers
HB

Yeah, I had a squiz at the boinc raspbian packages. arch got set to arm on compile:

arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf

Mine is this when it got compiled as I didn't override:

armv6l-unknown-linux-gnueabihf

I suspect they're matching against arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf ...Sigh...

Not their fault. They can't go adding every combination of possible types in their project.xml and reading it in all the time.

I'm not fussed at the moment as I've got too much going on these Raspberry Pi's now anyway! Might look at overriding later.

Using boinc-client Raspbian package. As expected (output lines of interest):

Code: Select all

08-Dec-2012 01:10:02 [---] Starting BOINC client version 7.0.27 for arm-unknown-linux-gnueabihf
08-Dec-2012 01:11:31 [http://www.enigmaathome.net/] Master file download succeeded
08-Dec-2012 01:11:36 [http://www.enigmaathome.net/] Sending scheduler request: Project initialization.
08-Dec-2012 01:11:36 [http://www.enigmaathome.net/] Requesting new tasks for CPU
08-Dec-2012 01:12:31 [Enigma@Home] update requested by user
08-Dec-2012 01:12:34 [Enigma@Home] Sending scheduler request: Requested by user.
08-Dec-2012 01:12:34 [Enigma@Home] Requesting new tasks for CPU
08-Dec-2012 01:12:37 [Enigma@Home] Scheduler request completed: got 0 new tasks
08-Dec-2012 01:12:37 [Enigma@Home] Project has no tasks available

Unfortunately, no tasks available.

I can proudly report that my Raspberry Pi has finished its first BOINC task. It is a Seti@Home task, completed in slightly less than 3 days (with the Pi running all the time at 100% CPU usage). The task is validated, everything is fine. This is also the first validated project of The Raspberry Pi Team
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/result.php?resultid=2735246884

@Un4Seen - that is great!

Just like to let everyone know that theSkyNet POGS now also supports anonymous platform and their client works on Raspberry Pi (Raspbian). Haven't validated yet though. See my post at: http://ec2-23-23-126-96.compute-1.amazonaws.com/pogs/forum_thread.php?id=156. I'm currently doing volunteer work for them to help out. It's a neat little project some of you may be interested in donating computing power to. Abstract:

theSkyNet POGS is a research project that uses Internet-connected computers to do research in astronomy. We will combine the spectral coverage of GALEX, Pan-STARRS1, and WISE to generate a multi-wavelength UV-optical-NIR galaxy atlas for the nearby Universe. We will measure physical parameters (such as stellar mass surface density, star formation rate surface density, attenuation, and first-order star formation history) on a resolved pixel-by-pixel basis using spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting techniques in a distributed computing mode. You can participate by downloading and running a free program on your computer.

You can find pre-compiled raspbian working binaries at https://github.com/dcarrion87/boinc-rpi/tree/master/project_pogs/bins.

This is great! I'm having mixed results though. First time I installed, everything went smoothly, boinc downloaded project files and ran SETI, Milkway & Einstein simultaneously... though SETI started reporting work units as complete without doing any work. Re-compiled against Boinc 7 and after many permissions issues got Boinc back up and running, though the client refused to contact the project servers for work.

Complete wipe of my SD card later and a reinstall from the raspbian repo, I've got the projects back! This time, even though I'm using the BAM! account mgr, only the 3 projects i've installed applications for appear in boinc-manager (instead of all projects that appeared when I compiled the src myself), and my Raspi is only running one application at a time. It did download an Einstein work unit, before it automatically cancelled itself and decided to run SETI on its lonesome.

Hoping it validates! (and hoping that after it's done with SETI it'll try and grab a Milkway or Einstein unit)

Hoping it validates! (and hoping that after it's done with SETI it'll try and grab a Milkway or Einstein unit)

Hi!

Be aware tho that the Einstein@Home tasks take very long. I have applied some minor optimization to the code and ran it on a PI that actually overclocks to "Turbo" (1GHz cpu, 600 MHz RAM), and it still took more than 7 1/2 days CPU time (the deadline is 14 days).

http://einstein.phys.uwm.edu/result.php ... =325646437

At E@H we are thinking about making workunits specifically targeted for "small" devices like the Pi, but there's no decision yet and anyway that would take some time. Something to look forward to in 2013, I guess.

Cheers
HB

I, for one, would love to run Einstein@Home on my Pi. I've already begun running it on two normal home computers, but I don't dare to try it on the Pi because the tasks are so long. I don't wan't to overclock the Pi at all and occasionally I stop BOINC on the Pi for a few hours because I'm testing other things on it. Even Seti@Home has assigned a gigantic task to the Pi now, which will likely take 20 days to complete, but that's OK, because the Seti@Home deadlines are much more tolerant. So what I'm trying to say here is that I'd love to run some smaller E@H tasks on the Pi, which can be completed in a few (2-4) days at most.Or, if that's not possible, why not extend the deadline to 30 days or more?

So what I'm trying to say here is that I'd love to run some smaller E@H tasks on the Pi, which can be completed in a few (2-4) days at most.Or, if that's not possible, why not extend the deadline to 30 days or more?

Eventually we will have smaller tasks at E@H, latest in Spring 2013, I guess. Extending the deadline has some ill effects like causing lots of tasks to stay in "pending" state, where one volunteer must wait for another volunteer's host to double check and confirm the result. Credits are given only after this validation step, and in general users hate waiting too long for the credits to be added to the account. It's also a bit of an extra strain on the Database (size-wise) to have that many results in pending state, but that is a minor concern compared to the first one mentioned above.

Cheers
HB

Eventually we will have smaller tasks at E@H, latest in Spring 2013, I guess. Extending the deadline has some ill effects like causing lots of tasks to stay in "pending" state, where one volunteer must wait for another volunteer's host to double check and confirm the result. Credits are given only after this validation step, and in general users hate waiting too long for the credits to be added to the account. It's also a bit of an extra strain on the Database (size-wise) to have that many results in pending state, but that is a minor concern compared to the first one mentioned above.

Cheers
HB

Yes, it makes sense. OK, in that case I'm looking forward for the moment when smaller tasks will be available for computers with less CPU power

Great to see people have BOINC running on the RPi.
I'm still trying without luck ... using the standard BOINC download (sudo apt-get install boinc) gets me version 7.0.27.
What BOINC version are people with completed tasks running?

TIA, Ray

Great to see people have BOINC running on the RPi.
I'm still trying without luck ... using the standard BOINC download (sudo apt-get install boinc) gets me version 7.0.27.
What BOINC version are people with completed tasks running?

TIA, Ray

I'm using 6.12.34. I just followed the install instructions kindly provided by dcarrion87 here:
http://burdeview.blogspot.com.au/p/raspberry-pi-boinc-project-ive-created.html

Hello to all, This is my first post in this thread.

Will be possible to run more task (or complete more quickly) using two (or more) Raspberry-Pi units in a "bramble" cluster setup?

I´m lucky enough to have two units and would be happy to dedicate them to the Seti@home project for a while.

Hello to all, This is my first post in this thread.

Will be possible to run more task (or complete more quickly) using two (or more) Raspberry-Pi units in a "bramble" cluster setup?

I´m lucky enough to have two units and would be happy to dedicate them to the Seti@home project for a while.

From what I know, you will not be able to share the tasks between the Pis, but each of them can run tasks individually if you instal BOINC on both. Be prepared, however, that Pis that are not overclocked, like mine, run a SETI task from 3 to 15 days...

Thanks for the clarification, Un4Seen.
I am not a Linux person so I can just about follow what's needed as described in that link but I am a bit confused with a couple of basic things before I start investing yet more effort:-
a) Am I right in assuming that the end result of compiling BOINC as described does not install the BOINC UI and instead all control comes from the terminal command boinccmd?
b) On the main BOINC website there is a link to download client software 6.12.34 for e.g., Linux x86/x64 etc. I assume that download should fully install both the UI and the client. Is that true?

NOTE:- a long time back I remember trying to manually install an older version of BOINC in Linux to replicate the automated package install complete with the UI ... and failed miserably.

Hey Guys

I need to update those instructions. I believe those binaries I provided should work with version 7.0.27 available via apt. Which project are you having problems with version 7.0.27? I'd like to try and fix it.

On this page I provide binaries: http://burdeview.blogspot.com.au/p/raspberry-pi-boinc-project-ive-created.html. theSkyNet POGS is working well with default BOINC package. You just need to download the project files, place them in your projects folder, and attach. If you need a hand flick me a message with your email and I'll be happy to correspond with you to get you going.

I'll update the instructions shortly.

Here's the stats of the two Pis I have crunching for POGS:

http://allprojectstats.com/show.php?projekt=150&id=3089
http://allprojectstats.com/show.php?projekt=150&id=3481

Cheers

Daniel

Hi Daniel.
I tried all of them and more ... all failed under the latest (automatic) BOINC package install 7.0.27.

Tips:-

Oproject@home would be extremely useful for the RPi as some tasks are very, very short. I have a generic tablet running NativeBOINC and they complete in no time flat. See http://oproject.info/show_host_detail.php?hostid=9178
WUProp@home takes longer but uses virtually no CPU and runs CONCURRENTLY with other BOINC tasks making a 1-core ARM SoC do 2 tasks "simultaneously".

Probably the best place to start is /var/lib/boinc-client/stdoutdae.txt as that log file will contain some hints as to what's going on with the BOINC client. I'm assuming it's failing to start the work at all after attaching?

I'll ask the usual questions like:
- Files extracted to the right place /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/...
- Permissions set to user "boinc" as owner of those sub folders.

I flicked you a message with my private email if you want to correspond there as it might save some forum abuse and be a little more convenient to paste things.

Nah - 7.0.27 just gives the usual "project does not support armwhatever" fails when attaching.

TBH I don't care about forum abuse:- this is important (think 1 mill+ new BOINCers.)

FWIW you'll LOVE that U2 when it arrives - I have 3 crunching via Android

Hmmm, that means that it's attaching using non-anonymous platform. These projects don't support ARM by default, which means you need to attach using anonymous platform.

Did you download an extract the project binaries I posted on my blog to the appropriate directory? Your SETI project folder should look like this (including permissions) before you attach the project from the command line or GUI.

Code: Select all

root@snm-rpi03:~# ls -l /var/lib/boinc-client/projects/setiathome.berkeley.edu/
-rwx------ 1 boinc boinc     428 Nov 24 17:01 app_info.xml
-rwx------ 1 boinc boinc 3285256 Nov 24 17:01 setiathome_enhanced

You should see something like this in /var/lib/boinc-client/stdoutdae.txt if you restart BOINC service/daemon with those above files in place and the project attached:

Code: Select all

10-Dec-2012 14:23:21 [SETI@home] Found app_info.xml; using anonymous platform

Still have a lot to clean-up, but I've re-arranged so the 7.0.27 instruction method is right up the top. See:

http://burdeview.blogspot.com.au/p/raspberry-pi-boinc-project-ive-created.html

Hi Daniel.

You are a proper genius to see that the standard BOINC 7.0.27 on the RPi simply needs a tailored per-project binary that enables crunching on the RPi.
Following your instructions I just got my 1st task running - MW@H. Frankly I don't care when it finishes ... or if it's sucessful as that's down to the RPi hardware, BOINC & BOINC project.
As I said, I'm not a Linux person. I just read the instructions - sometimes having to read between the lines as an educated beginner, tried/failed mis-typed/misunderstood, tried again and ...

Hello! Sucess

I'm sending you a PM ...

All the best, Ray

@Ray_GTI-R

Thanks for your kind words, but I really am just a monkey with a hammer. I just banged a hammer against the source code and eventually got some project binaries . The guys behind some of these projects are the true geniuses.

You said you're a beginner, but I've seen you around on various forums doing some pretty cool stuff. Keep at it!

If anyone is interested, BOINC for Android has become a popular topic on the boinc_dev@ssl.berkeley.edu mailing list. There already exists NativeBOINC, but this one is from the official BOINC project. Lots of work to do, but the guys behind it seem pretty motivated and I honestly think they'll have an app released on the PlayStore in the coming months. Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone wants to watch their progress. Main list starts at: http://www.mail-archive.com/boinc_dev@ssl.berkeley.edu/msg05773.html. You'll see a little APK you can test.

Cheers

Daniel

Hey Guys

OProject@Home ALX and WUProp@Home now available for your Raspberry Pi. See project files on my project page:

http://burdeview.blogspot.com.au/p/raspberry-pi-boinc-project-ive-created.html

These are NCI (Non CPU intensive) class applications. That is, they'll run nicely alongside your SETIs and Milkyways.

Have fun!

Cheers

Daniel