Linux status

[qed]

Hello,

I was checking the linux situation about bitcoin mining and it semms not so good. I have a fully working ubuntu system, but for example the pyopencl packet depending on nvidia-common semms pretty dumb to me. Also i did not find any tool to change video cards voltage and RBE is not an option.

Any other solution?

[TenthReality]

Blame the vid card makers here not the bitcoin community sadly.  The whole situation is a bit of a nightmare all around.

[qed]

Blame the vid card makers here not the bitcoin community sadly.  The whole situation is a bit of a nightmare all around.

I'm not blaming anyone :-)
Voltage control for me is an huge thing. My 3 cards are working with a reduction of over 20% of voltage and less than 10% in frequency, the power drained has been lowered by a large margin. I don't feel like switching on linux for mining due to the high power consumption, heat and noise.

[grndzero]

Hello,

I was checking the linux situation about bitcoin mining and it semms not so good. I have a fully working ubuntu system, but for example the pyopencl packet depending on nvidia-common semms pretty dumb to me. Also i did not find any tool to change video cards voltage and RBE is not an option.

Any other solution?

My linux rig works just fine, as do many others. You're bringing up 2 different issues at the same time.

1) OpenCL being dependent on nvidia packages.
2) Tweaking the video card in Linux

You options for OpenCL are to install the ubuntu packages and block the nvidia driver from loading if it causes you any problems or to compile the opencl package manually like the example here http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3359.msg47174#msg47174

aticonfig in linux will let you change the CPU and memclock but no, not the voltage. If you're familiar with RBE then you should be familiar with flashing BIOS's in which case you can pick a BIOS that will give you the voltage to allow you to get whatever clock speeds you want.

I don't want or need the option to tweak the voltage or BIOS in linux. I got the BIOS I wanted to get the speed I'm looking for then let it work.

Linux is not Windows and it was never designed to be Windows. It was designed to be a workhorse. Some people have made it more user friendly and some vendors have added support at different levels, but it's not "not good" because of your expectations.

[TenthReality]

Blame the vid card makers here not the bitcoin community sadly.  The whole situation is a bit of a nightmare all around.

I'm not blaming anyone :-)
Voltage control for me is an huge thing. My 3 cards are working with a reduction of over 20% of voltage and less than 10% in frequency, the power drained has been lowered by a large margin. I don't feel like switching on linux for mining due to the high power consumption, heat and noise.

I blasically fought this same issue awhile back with a 3d rendering thing I was working on for my company, end result, I hate OpenCL crap under Linux, it gets even worse when you start using some of the new Tesla/Firestream style cards.  Companies are just unwilling to invest the time to do it right, but will sue any OSS person who tries to do it themselves....

[qed]

Hello,

I was checking the linux situation about bitcoin mining and it semms not so good. I have a fully working ubuntu system, but for example the pyopencl packet depending on nvidia-common semms pretty dumb to me. Also i did not find any tool to change video cards voltage and RBE is not an option.

Any other solution?

My linux rig works just fine, as do many others. You're bringing up 2 different issues at the same time.

1) OpenCL being dependent on nvidia packages.
2) Tweaking the video card in Linux

You options for OpenCL are to install the ubuntu packages and block the nvidia driver from loading if it causes you any problems or to compile the opencl package manually like the example here http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3359.msg47174#msg47174

aticonfig in linux will let you change the CPU and memclock but no, not the voltage. If you're familiar with RBE then you should be familiar with flashing BIOS's in which case you can pick a BIOS that will give you the voltage to allow you to get whatever clock speeds you want.

I don't want or need the option to tweak the voltage or BIOS in linux. I got the BIOS I wanted to get the speed I'm looking for then let it work.

Linux is not Windows and it was never designed to be Windows. It was designed to be a workhorse. Some people have made it more user friendly and some vendors have added support at different levels, but it's not "not good" because of your expectations.

As you failed to read, my system IS working but it's just stupid how OpenCL (meant to be working on both AMD and nVidia cards) has a nVidia package dependance.
I'm an engineer working for more than 10 years as a network administrator and i'm developing security related applications, but thanks for your "linux review".

RBE is not working propely on HD 6900 series and, anyway, are you suggeting me to:

1) Flash the bios on windows of all my 3 cards.
2) Boot on linux.
3) Start the miner.

When i want to play some FPS or Starcaft II, that's happening more than once/day

4) Reboot on Windows.
5) Flash back all the 3 video cards
6) Reboot the system
7) Play the game.

Sounds smart, isn't it?

[grndzero]

As you failed to read, my system IS working but it's just stupid how OpenCL (meant to be working on both AMD and nVidia cards) has a nVidia package dependance.

Debian based system packages are maintained by volunteers. And just because it has that package dependency doesn't mean that it will only work with Nvidia cards. It just means that it will install some Nvidia packages with it. If you don't like it then send the maintainer an e-mail and find out why it is that way, ask them to change it, or find a way around it. You're complaining about something that is given to you freely. Again, this is about your expectations.

RBE is not working propely on HD 6900 series ...

Again, something that is free

1) Flash the bios on windows of all my 3 cards.
2) Boot on linux.
3) Start the miner.

When i want to play some FPS or Starcaft II, that's happening more than once/day

4) Reboot on Windows.
5) Flash back all the 3 video cards
6) Reboot the system
7) Play the game.

Sounds smart, isn't it?

EDIT: If I was going to do that I'd use a bootable flash drive and dos.

If you're going to mine part time and can't be separated from your games and Windows then just do it in Windows since linux can't meet your needs and expectations.

[qed]

As you failed to read, my system IS working but it's just stupid how OpenCL (meant to be working on both AMD and nVidia cards) has a nVidia package dependance.

Debian based system packages are maintained by volunteers. And just because it has that package dependency doesn't mean that it will only work with Nvidia cards. It just means that it will install some Nvidia packages with it. If you don't like it then send the maintainer an e-mail and find out why it is that way, ask them to change it, or find a way around it. You're complaining about something that is given to you freely. Again, this is about your expectations.

RBE is not working propely on HD 6900 series ...

Again, something that is free

1) Flash the bios on windows of all my 3 cards.
2) Boot on linux.
3) Start the miner.

When i want to play some FPS or Starcaft II, that's happening more than once/day

4) Reboot on Windows.
5) Flash back all the 3 video cards
6) Reboot the system
7) Play the game.

Sounds smart, isn't it?

If I was going to do it that was I'd use a bootable flash drive and dos.

If you're going to mine part time and can't be separated from your games and Windows then just do it in Windows since linux can't meet your needs and expectations.

No, it will only work on nVidia cards because there is a conflit in opencl libraries. Free, doesn't mean not working and was you suggesting RBE.

I can't understand the underlined sentence, try to write it in english.

[gjs278]

I have a bit of a problem with rbe as outlined here: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5073.0

does anyone know a way I can overvolt my 5870?

[error]

Why don't you just:

1. Boot Linux.
2. Play Starcraft II.

[FooDSt4mP]

As you failed to read, my system IS working but it's just stupid how OpenCL (meant to be working on both AMD and nVidia cards) has a nVidia package dependance.

Debian based system packages are maintained by volunteers. And just because it has that package dependency doesn't mean that it will only work with Nvidia cards. It just means that it will install some Nvidia packages with it. If you don't like it then send the maintainer an e-mail and find out why it is that way, ask them to change it, or find a way around it. You're complaining about something that is given to you freely. Again, this is about your expectations.

RBE is not working propely on HD 6900 series ...

Again, something that is free

1) Flash the bios on windows of all my 3 cards.
2) Boot on linux.
3) Start the miner.

When i want to play some FPS or Starcaft II, that's happening more than once/day

4) Reboot on Windows.
5) Flash back all the 3 video cards
6) Reboot the system
7) Play the game.

Sounds smart, isn't it?

If I was going to do it that was I'd use a bootable flash drive and dos.

If you're going to mine part time and can't be separated from your games and Windows then just do it in Windows since linux can't meet your needs and expectations.

No, it will only work on nVidia cards because there is a conflit in opencl libraries. Free, doesn't mean not working and was you suggesting RBE.

I can't understand the underlined sentence, try to write it in english.

BS.... lots of ATI miners use Linux.... Ubuntu even. 

1. Install opencl
2. Install ATI driver from amd.com
3. Install ATI Stream SDK 2.1
4. Get poclbm
5. Run poclbm
6. Profit

No, you can't change voltage, no you can't change clocks beyond what OverDrive allows.  If these restrictions don't work for you, sorry.  Your SOL.

P.S. Try being nice to the people who have it working and are offering their help.  I know my tone isn't the friendliest, but it's a reaction to the existing tone of the thread.  And I'm not looking for help.

[qed]

BS.... lots of ATI miners use Linux.... Ubuntu even. 

1. Install opencl
2. Install ATI driver from amd.com
3. Install ATI Stream SDK 2.1
4. Get poclbm
5. Run poclbm
6. Profit

No, you can't change voltage, no you can't change clocks beyond what OverDrive allows.  If these restrictions don't work for you, sorry.  Your SOL.

P.S. Try being nice to the people who have it working and are offering their help.  I know my tone isn't the friendliest, but it's a reaction to the existing tone of the thread.  And I'm not looking for help.

Maybe you should learn to read before posting. It's better to stfu insted of writing some nonsense.

1. My Ubuntu system IS working, as i wrote.
2. My pc on Windows uses 360W and on linux over 470W at the same hash rate.
3. You do NoT install "opencl", you do install "pyopencl".
4. On Ubuntu 11.04 you do NoT install drivers from amd.com, but you use the third party drivers installation due to the new xorg.
5. ATI Stream 2.1 is NoT working on HD 6900 cards.

The best part is "BS.... lots of ATI miners use Linux.... Ubuntu even.". A lot of people are smoking, is that good too?
At any frequence you use your card you, voltage should be adjusted, even at stock speed. It's depending on the quality of your GPU and can lower temperature, noise and power consumption.
The only reason i see for using linux over windows for mining is when you have more than 4 GPUs.

[qed]

Why don't you just:

1. Boot Linux.
2. Play Starcraft II.

Starcraft II isn't smooth on linux, sadly.

[dust]

The only reason i see for using linux over windows for mining is when you have more than 4 GPUs.

Other reasons to use linux for mining:  Higher reliability, easier remote access and scripting, and no license cost.
I saw no reason to consider windows until memory downclocking was discovered.

Why don't you just:

1. Boot Linux.
2. Play Starcraft II.

Starcraft II isn't smooth on linux, sadly.

I really hate the existence of wine because it gives developers an excuse not to port their games to Linux.  Blizzard games already work with OpenGL on Macs, it can't be that hard.

[FooDSt4mP]

BS.... lots of ATI miners use Linux.... Ubuntu even. 

1. Install opencl
2. Install ATI driver from amd.com
3. Install ATI Stream SDK 2.1
4. Get poclbm
5. Run poclbm
6. Profit

No, you can't change voltage, no you can't change clocks beyond what OverDrive allows.  If these restrictions don't work for you, sorry.  Your SOL.

P.S. Try being nice to the people who have it working and are offering their help.  I know my tone isn't the friendliest, but it's a reaction to the existing tone of the thread.  And I'm not looking for help.

Maybe you should learn to read before posting. It's better to stfu insted of writing some nonsense.

1. My Ubuntu system IS working, as i wrote.
2. My pc on Windows uses 360W and on linux over 470W at the same hash rate.
3. You do NoT install "opencl", you do install "pyopencl".
4. On Ubuntu 11.04 you do NoT install drivers from amd.com, but you use the third party drivers installation due to the new xorg.
5. ATI Stream 2.1 is NoT working on HD 6900 cards.

The best part is "BS.... lots of ATI miners use Linux.... Ubuntu even.". A lot of people are smoking, is that good too?
At any frequence you use your card you, voltage should be adjusted, even at stock speed. It's depending on the quality of your GPU and can lower temperature, noise and power consumption.
The only reason i see for using linux over windows for mining is when you have more than 4 GPUs.

Damn you're an angry person.  I hope someone gives you a hug.

[aistto]

I have a bit of a problem with rbe as outlined here: http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5073.0

does anyone know a way I can overvolt my 5870?

if your 5870 has reference design try to flash asus bios.
try one of these http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/index.php?page=1&architecture=ATI&manufacturer=Asus&model=HD+5870&interface=&memSize=0