Just a quick question, last night before I installed this on the server I was setting up, on the 1st menu, one of the choices was to do an integrity check on the disk. I ran it, and it came back with 4 corrupted files on the disk. Being concerned, I re-downloaded it, and burned a new copy on a different brand of CDR, got the same message. I don't know which 4 were bad, it didn't say, but it seemed to install properly. Can anyone else confirm this, or is it just my system? Thanks

That's how my copy was that I downloaded from Dotsch's FTP. I DLed it from there again and got the same MD5 hash on it, so I think that's the way it's supposed to be.

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Linux laptop:
record uptime: 1511d 20h 19m (ended due to the power brick giving-up)

I checked the label of the USB and it is simply named "disc". I plugged it into a windows machine and can see the label with no special characters.

I am not familiar with Linux, so don't understand how to utilise the mlabel command, but the name of the USB doesn't look to be a problem anyway?

Any more ideas?

Looks like the label is OK. Eventualy you can try to rename the label in windows.
I am sorry, I have no quick fix for this problem and must reproduce this.
Could you please send me the outputs from "cat /etc/mtab" "mount" and " df".

Not had chance to look at this any further yet, but discovered this morning the client would still run from the USB stick operating system - just not automatically, so left the machine chomping on a couple of WUs.

I am working away this week so not going to have a lot of time to look any more into this.

Has anyone else managed a USB stick install yet? Would like to hear how you got on and whether you encountered any problems such as the one I did?

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Well, got the server installed, been up and running for a couple days, no hiccups, waiting on my boards to try the 1st diskless config. Just for fun I pulled up the system monitor, and under resources I noticed the CPU history was running at about 20% before I brought it out of screen saver mode, and is now running at 51.2%, without anything else that I can see is running.

Under Processes, the only thing I see running is gnome-system-monitor, everything else is sleeping. Is this normal behavior for this OS? It seems pretty high useage for pretty much nothing running on the system. I just went back into Resources, and it was just in the time I was in Process bumping between 1-20%, but when I bring up the Resources screen, it's up to 50% again.

It's a P4 1.6 with 768 meg of ram. Would this run much better with 2 gig on it (the max this board supports), as I know Windoze loves memory, does Linux react the same, the more memory you feed it, especially as this is the the server of the Diskless workstations. I saw on one of the pages that it recommended 768 meg of ram, which is what I have, but is 2 gig going to make a difference in the way it runs?

Thanks for the info to a newbie Linux user.

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Well, got the server installed, been up and running for a couple days, no hiccups, waiting on my boards to try the 1st diskless config. Just for fun I pulled up the system monitor, and under resources I noticed the CPU history was running at about 20% before I brought it out of screen saver mode, and is now running at 51.2%, without anything else that I can see is running...

I had this same issue when I first installed Linux. You need to turn of the processor scaling. I used the command "sudo apt-get remove powernowd" and then setting the processor usage to 100% in boinc manager. This should give u full processor utilization. Check this link

You will still see the status in resource monitor as sleeping, I guess this is normal, cos even I get the same.
______________

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It's a P4 1.6 with 768 meg of ram. Would this run much better with 2 gig on it (the max this board supports), as I know Windoze loves memory, does Linux react the same, the more memory you feed it, especially as this is the the server of the Diskless workstations. I saw on one of the pages that it recommended 768 meg of ram, which is what I have, but is 2 gig going to make a difference in the way it runs?

Thanks for the info to a newbie Linux user.

The memory for the depends on the number of diskless clients which are connected and primarly of the usage of the graphical desktop. If you install more memory, as more the OS can buffer the IO requests for the diskless clients. But, I think that you hardware would be OK. - If you see some bottlenecks on the server, you can also install some memory later...
If you have setup the server, you can also manualy deactiate the graphical desktop and re enable it again via command line, if you would do some administration tasks with the graphical desktop. - The diskless server setup and installation of the diskless clients would also be posible via the command line.
How many diskless systems do you wan't to setup ?

Well, I am starting out with one, soon to be 2 (one Q9550 and one Q6600), hope to get to 4, and maybe, if everything goes well, I could someday have up to 8 running at once. They will be either Q6600's or Q9550's (if/when the price drops more). I am going to test them both out, not sure the difference in energy useage compared to output, it will be an interesting comparison. They will unfortunately be running stock, as Intel boards don't O/C, I've heard, but are usually quite solid. The clients will have 2 gig of ram on them, and with on board video and networking, I won't have any add in cards to worry about.

The server has a 16 gig HD, I had thought that would be big enough but looks to me that if I get to 8 of them all running off the server, I might have a space shortage. I plan on using a graphical desktop as I haven't done command line since my DOS days, which will of course increase disk requirements per client.

If there's any more info I can provide, let me know, and if you have a good link to detailed instructions for setting this setup up, it would be appreciated, as Linux is something pretty much completely new to me.

Thanks!

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This is excelent software, well done Dotsch for the effort you put into this!

Top news story on United BOINC; http://www.unitedboinc.com/en/news/1-latest-news/203-dotschux-a-usbdisklessharddisk-boinc-ubuntu-linux-distribution-

Well done Mate!

John.

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Dotsch, having a few issues with the install, and I'm sure it's all me, as I am struggling with configuring Linux. I have tried following the dir's on your page, but ran into a problem right off the bat. I opened up a terminal window, and tried editing the config file using the sudo vi command, it brings up the file, but doesn't allow me to edit it, it just beeps at me. Probably something pretty small and silly, but can't find a way to edit it. Thoughts?

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Dotsch, having a few issues with the install, and I'm sure it's all me, as I am struggling with configuring Linux. I have tried following the dir's on your page, but ran into a problem right off the bat. I opened up a terminal window, and tried editing the config file using the sudo vi command, it brings up the file, but doesn't allow me to edit it, it just beeps at me. Probably something pretty small and silly, but can't find a way to edit it. Thoughts?

Oh, I am very sorry I have written to use the "vi" editor in the documentation. The vi editor is not very beginner friendly... I will address this in the documentation. Thank you !

Could you please try "sudo nano ...." for a text editor, or "sudo gedit ...." for a graphical editor instead the "sudo vi ...." variant to edit the config file.

Thanks, that works much better. Now, a couple questions to configure my IP and subnets. My basic is setup which I got off of one of my windows machines is:

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Now, I want to set up this Gamer Lounge (GL) router to have it's own subnet to itself, to segregate it from my main network. Would I need to set it up with a static IP addy from my main router, and then let the GL serve up IP addys via DHCP on this subnet? This gets a little confusing... Do I have the gist of it, or am I missing the mark?

Then, when I am in the server config screen(diskless.conf), what should up set for the diskless server and the subnet? I think I am getting closer now. ;)

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Thanks, that works much better. Now, a couple questions to configure my IP and subnets. My basic is setup which I got off of one of my windows machines is:

IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.102
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1

Now, I want to set up this Gamer Lounge (GL) router to have it's own subnet to itself, to segregate it from my main network. Would I need to set it up with a static IP addy from my main router, and then let the GL serve up IP addys via DHCP on this subnet? This gets a little confusing... Do I have the gist of it, or am I missing the mark?

You did not need a seperate DHCP server for the diskless clients. The diskless server includes a diskless server itself which handles the additional requiredd options for the diskless client setup.
So it would be contra productive if the GL acts as DHCP server. Also if the GL get's the IP from DHCP is posible, but I recommend you to setup a staticly IP for the router on the interfaces to the diskless systems and to your other network.

Then, when I am in the server config screen(diskless.conf), what should up set for the diskless server and the subnet? I think I am getting closer now. ;)

The subnet is the other (new) subnet you would like to setup. The server IP is the IP address of the Dotsch/UX server in this new network.

If I understand you right, the setup you plan looks like this example :

Subnet 192.168.1.0/255.255.255.0 : Windows Clients + 1st router to the Internet (192.1687.1.1)
|
| 192.168.1.2
GL Router
| 192.168.2.2
|
Subnet 192.168.2.1/255.255.255.0 : Diskless Server (192.168.2.3) and Clients (192.168.2.4...254)

Does anybody have an expirance report about the installation and usage of the USB/HDD/Diskless installation and usage ? - Before I push out the next release I would like to catch up your expiriances and feedback....

Well Dotsch, the install went well, I've ran into some config issues when I was playing with the IP stuff, but that isn't a problem with your distro, it's me doing stuff I am not familiar with (workstation autodetect didn't work, I put in the MAC addy manually, still didn't see it so that's when I started playing figuring it was a router issue).

Sent a question to a Linux Questions website ( IP config question ) Linuxquestion.org post but haven't had a reply yet. I think I'm just going to reload it, since working on it for over 3 hours this weekend couldn't restore it to it's defaults. (dumb, I know, seeing as it would have only taken an hour or less to Fdisk it and start over, but I _am_ trying to learn, and can sometimes be too stubborn for my own good)

I have a question though, is this a 32 or 64 bit OS, and is it the optimized client? I finally have the parts for all the clients in, now it's just a matter of getting it all to work together...

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Well Dotsch, the install went well, I've ran into some config issues when I was playing with the IP stuff, but that isn't a problem with your distro, it's me doing stuff I am not familiar with (workstation autodetect didn't work, I put in the MAC addy manually, still didn't see it so that's when I started playing figuring it was a router issue).

Sent a question to a Linux Questions website ( IP config question ) Linuxquestion.org post but haven't had a reply yet. I think I'm just going to reload it, since working on it for over 3 hours this weekend couldn't restore it to it's defaults. (dumb, I know, seeing as it would have only taken an hour or less to Fdisk it and start over, but I _am_ trying to learn, and can sometimes be too stubborn for my own good)

In /etc/network/interfaces, you will find the actual network settings.
The tool "nm- connection-editor" is a graphical tool for setup the network config. With "System/Preferences/Network Configuration" you can start tis tool and restore or setup a new network config.

I would recommend you to do the setup step by step. For example create the network for the diskless clients, test it, setup the diskless server, test the network via the live CD, setup of the diskless clients, test it again. And at least, setup the routing and internet access.

As the autodetect has not found the diskless system, it could be that the network was not connected right. - You can also test it by booting the diskless client before the setup from the Dotsch/UX CD, setup a IP, and try to ping the diskless server to ensure your network is OK.

I you like, you can PM me your planed network setup inlcuding the IPs, so I can have a look at it and make you some recommendations.

I have a question though, is this a 32 or 64 bit OS, and is it the optimized client? I finally have the parts for all the clients in, now it's just a matter of getting it all to work together...

The OS is 32 bit in the moment. I am working on the 64 bit distribution and the diskless integration of a mixed 32/64 bit diskless clients on one diskless server.
There is only the BOINC client installed. The disribution did not include any science application, because this is a user choice what projects with which specific application he would like to crunch.
So you must attach to the SETI project with your server, and if you would use a optimized application, install it manualy later.

Well, I just tried the USB Key install and it failed to create a bootable Key. Everything looked good until it told me it was time to reboot with the key in and the CD out. The BIOS indicates it's trying to boot from the USB Key, but then says something about "Remove Pen Drive and try to boot again."

This is a very strange configuration though, so it probably isn't a problem with your procedure. I'm going to try it again tomorrow on a different system.

(An HP Blade with the CD mounted via ILO as a Virtual Media device. Which is in turn your ISO mounted on my laptop using Daemon-Tools to offer to the blade. Then it's also a 64 Gig Kingston USB 150 key. I'll try a slightly smaller USB Key on a system with a real CD drive.)

I checked the label of the USB and it is simply named "disc". I plugged it into a windows machine and can see the label with no special characters.

I have found the bug and fixed it. The fixed script is available at http://www.dotsch.de/Dotsch_UX/install_usb.sh.
You can download it to the system with the USB stick problems and copy it to /opt/dotsch_ux/bin/. For example "sudo cp install_usb.sh /opt/dotsch_ux/bin".

Hey Dotsch, I saw that you are considering another release. Let me know if / when you do it and I will host it again for you - That server space / bandwidth is paid for so it may as well go to good use.

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Well, I just tried the USB Key install and it failed to create a bootable Key. Everything looked good until it told me it was time to reboot with the key in and the CD out. The BIOS indicates it's trying to boot from the USB Key, but then says something about "Remove Pen Drive and try to boot again."

This is a very strange configuration though, so it probably isn't a problem with your procedure. I'm going to try it again tomorrow on a different system.

(An HP Blade with the CD mounted via ILO as a Virtual Media device. Which is in turn your ISO mounted on my laptop using Daemon-Tools to offer to the blade. Then it's also a 64 Gig Kingston USB 150 key. I'll try a slightly smaller USB Key on a system with a real CD drive.)

Do you had success with the installation ?
I guess your problems are caused by the virtualised Blade devices.

Well, I just tried the USB Key install and it failed to create a bootable Key. Everything looked good until it told me it was time to reboot with the key in and the CD out. The BIOS indicates it's trying to boot from the USB Key, but then says something about "Remove Pen Drive and try to boot again."

This is a very strange configuration though, so it probably isn't a problem with your procedure. I'm going to try it again tomorrow on a different system.

(An HP Blade with the CD mounted via ILO as a Virtual Media device. Which is in turn your ISO mounted on my laptop using Daemon-Tools to offer to the blade. Then it's also a 64 Gig Kingston USB 150 key. I'll try a slightly smaller USB Key on a system with a real CD drive.)

Do you had success with the installation ?
I guess your problems are caused by the virtualised Blade devices.

Sorry. Things got a bit crazy at work. But I still hope to give it another try. I hope today...

I finally got my chance to try again. This time I did the USB Installation using a burned CD on a more normal USB bootable server. It successfully installed to the USB Key and I was ablt to happily run it on that host.

One note: I wasn't where I could see the instructions as I was installing this, so I performed both steps 1 and 2 without an intervening reboot. That did cause some errors, but it seems as though BOINC has indeed installed itself correctly regardless. (I have rebooted from the USB key twice since then and BOINC was available both times...)

I then took this bootable USB key back to my Blade server and it happily booted and is currently running there. Now that is sweet! Excellent work there Dotsch!