The Scottish Boinc Team

scole250 wrote:Which linux distribution to install on a pi 2? I don't want a desktop, just a server install. I'm most familiar with ubuntu 14.04. This? https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 6&t=100553

As a command line OS, Lubuntu will not differ very much from Ubuntu. Me, I am just a GUI child -with grey hair- and with Ubuntu (my 2nd AM1 system) presently at 15.10, and Lubuntu (My FM2 system) at 16.04...My two RasPi2's both running Raspbian Jessie, btw.

scole250 wrote:Which linux distribution to install on a pi 2? I don't want a desktop, just a server install. I'm most familiar with ubuntu 14.04.

This? https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 6&t=100553

Yeah that should work just lovely.

scole250 wrote:Which linux distribution to install on a pi 2? I don't want a desktop, just a server install. I'm most familiar with ubuntu 14.04.

This? https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 6&t=100553

What projects can you/do you mostly run, using the Pi2 with Ubuntu?
Most projects with Pi apps ask specifically for Raspbian.
I use my Pi's mostly for Enigma at the moment.

Dirk Broer wrote:What projects can you/do you mostly run, using the Pi2 with Ubuntu?
Most projects with Pi apps ask specifically for Raspbian.
I use my Pi's mostly for Enigma at the moment.

I ended up installing Raspbian. I wanted to use it run a little BU some more but got tired of baby sitting the ASICs. Now it just runs NCI projects and Goofy.

I can recommend Enigma and -if and when there's work- FiND for the Raspi 2 and 3.

scole250 wrote:Which linux distribution to install on a pi 2?

Running one of my Pi 3's on Ubuntu Mate 16.04 for Raspberry at the moment


Tip: do not enable rotating background and screensaver as it might corrupt your SD-card.
Edit: Running BOINC seems to corrupt the SD card too (might be caused by the lack of swap disk in the image)

Alez wrote:Does it have a lego case Sorry, couldn't resist.

Like this, the SmartiPi, a Raspberry Pi case with LEGO and GoPro mount compatibility (standard with blue, red, green and grey cover plates)?


or more plain, the Pi-Blox (also in red, white, yellow and black):

There's a 'new' Raspberry Pi 2, and it is a kind of a hybrid.

Previous new Raspberry Pi -Raspberry Pi 3- was also a kind of a hybrid, bringing us a 64-bit SOC with a 32-bit instruction set (logically, given the 1 GB of RAM)

The 'new' Raspberry Pi 2 (Model 1.2) takes the biscuit: It is identical to the Pi 3, except for the lack of Bluetooth and WiFi and the slower clock speed (900 MHz instead of 1200MHz).
It is also identical to the previous Raspberry Pi 2 (Model 1.1) except for the SOC used (a Cortex-A53 based Broadcom BCM2837 instead of a Cortex-A7 based Broadcom BCM2836).

As it is -over here- more expensive than the Raspberry Pi 3, I leave it be for the moment...

Guessing it more of a replacement model rather than an upgrade ?

New family members caused a new family photo:

Though the oldest records of the Raspberry Pi family claim that the arch version was round and actually tasted like raspberry, I'll confine myself to those models that were designed by the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
In the beginning that was but one Pi and it's model was..Model B. Not a bad beginning when you're constructed in the same country that gave us Terry Pratchett. Mind you: it was still 2012 back then.
Model B (aka 0002) later -2013- got a brother named Model A (aka 0008), which was cheaper and simpler by virtue of having no network capability, just one USB port and having no more than 256MB of RAM.
Introduced in June 2014 there was an illegitimate kind of offspring introduced that needed a Compute Module development board to be able to function, the so-called Compute Module(aka 000d), known for its hideous prices at the resellers, especially the combo of development board and compute module, charging hundreds of euro's for them. They can stick them where the sun doesn't shine! Actually a very painful experience, viewed by the GPIO pins...
In 2015 the youngest family member of the first generation (though some claim it was a child of Model A) saw the light: the Raspberry Pi Zero (aka 900092), that for the sake of cheapness had lost all that was not strictly needed for basic operation, including a large part of PCB surface.

That first generation has in common that they are all based upon the Broadcom BCM2835 SOC, featuring an ARMv6Z architecture ARM11 CPU and a VideoCore IV GPU. There are some minor variants/descendants worth mentioning of the first generation:
Variants:
Where there is profit there will be people or companies that will help themselves to a share of it, sometimes even without knowledge of the original manufacturer. In a klatch-as-klatchian-can the models 0003 and 0004 can be said to be minor variants of 0002, but China-made 000d -that came out in both red and blue instead of the familiar green- defies family resemblance. Revision 2.1 of the Model B (aka 00oe) was again UK-made, while 000f was again China-manufactured, but green this time.

Descendants:
Model B sprouted Model B+ (aka 0010) in July 2014. B+ gave us the basic form of the modern Raspberrie Pi's, including the four USB 2.0 ports. The model B+ was also manufactured in China, using a fitting red PCB and also reporting as 0010, just like the original.

Model A sprouted Model A+ (aka 0012) -we observe a pattern here- in November 2014. A+ suffered from dwarf-growth, albeit not in such a severe form as their youngest sibling(?) Pi Zero. It even managed in a later form (aka 0016) to get more memory, 512 MB.

Model Zero has, besides it very basic 1.2 version a 1.3 version (aka 900093, with MIPI interface), a W version (aka 9000C1, Wireless plus Bluetooth) and a sort of illegal WH version (same as previous but also with onbard GPIO headers).

November 2014 family picture of the first generation, taken before the advent of the Raspberry Pi Zero.

The 2nd generation was kicked off by the introduction in February 2015 of the Raspberry Pi Model 2B (aka a01041), a model that would have made Hamlet proud -if he had lived that long. The Model 2B was a jump foreward, as it used a BCM2836 SOC, featuring a Quad-core ARMv7-A architecture ARM Cortex-A7 CPU and.... a VideoCore IV GPU. RAM was increased to 1GB and the speed was increased from the original 700 to 900 MHz.
After the introduction in 2016 of the 3rd generation Model 2B was produced in a variant 2B 1.2 (aka a22042) which used a BCM2837 SOC, featuring a Quad-core ARMv8-A architecture ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and.... a VideoCore IV GPU. This quickly introduced hybrid 2/3 version may be the reason that there are no further descendants and/or subversion of the Model 2. The (un)availabiilty of the BCM2836 SOC may play another role here.

The 3rd generation first saw the light with the introduction in February 2016 of the Raspberry Pi Model 3B (aka a02082), a model that got much lamented for not being named Model 3.14. The Model 3B was another jump foreward, as it used a BCM2837 SOC, featuring a Quad-core ARMv8-A architecture ARM Cortex-A53 CPU and.... a VideoCore IV GPU. Speed was increased to 1200 MHz, and WiFi and Bluetooth were standard onboard features.
Model 3B has variants produced in Japan (aka a32082) and in Brazil (aka a02082), the later made with a blue-green PCB.
A descendant of Model 3B is the Raspberry Pi Model 3B+ (aka a020d3) that differs in a still higher clockspeed (1400 MHz), faster ethernet, two-band WiFi, later bluetooth version and a metal-covered SOC.
The third generation also features a new Compute Module development board with a choice of two Compute Modules: Compute Module 3 (aka a020a0, with 4GB eMMC) and a Compute Module 3 lite (with provision for a SD-card)

I have a Raspberry Pi3 lying around somewhere. Is it capable of doing useful boinc work (preferably for WCG)

davidBAM wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:57 am I have a Raspberry Pi3 lying around somewhere. Is it capable of doing useful boinc work (preferably for WCG)

Yes it can. I have a bunch of android TV boxes that basically only crunch WCG 24/7.

Alez wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 3:18 pm

davidBAM wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:57 am I have a Raspberry Pi3 lying around somewhere. Is it capable of doing useful boinc work (preferably for WCG)

Yes it can. I have a bunch of android TV boxes that basically only crunch WCG 24/7.

You'd have to run Android on the Pi then, as WCG offers no Linux/ARM applications.

Dirk Broer wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:45 pm You'd have to run Android on the Pi then, as WCG offers no Linux/ARM applications.

Thank you !! That just saved me a lot of work

davidBAM wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 8:11 pm

Dirk Broer wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:45 pm You'd have to run Android on the Pi then, as WCG offers no Linux/ARM applications.

Thank you !! That just saved me a lot of work

[mention]Dirk Broer[/mention] is the master of Pi's. ( and Lego )

It surely does look like it

There seems to be a few Android distros out there - including a PAID FOR one - yikes. Which would you recommend please?

davidBAM wrote: ↑Thu Sep 13, 2018 9:13 pm It surely does look like it

There seems to be a few Android distros out there - including a PAID FOR one - yikes. Which would you recommend please?

Frankly: none.
If I were to run Android on an SBC, I'd buy an Odroid. Or, even better: an ASUS Tinkerboard. I might even want to try to install it on my CubieBoard 4 again too -if that still works.
The Raspberry Pi 3 and 3+ run perfectly under Raspbian or even Lubuntu/ARM, but my experience with android on the Pi was a total disaster. YMMV..

Dirk Broer wrote: ↑Wed Sep 12, 2018 7:45 pmYou'd have to run Android on the Pi then, as WCG offers no Linux/ARM applications.

Dirk Broer wrote: ↑Fri Sep 14, 2018 12:05 am Frankly: none.

The Raspberry Pi 3 and 3+ run perfectly under Raspbian or even Lubuntu/ARM, but my experience with android on the Pi was a total disaster

Okay, given that I have to run Android to be able to crunch for WCG, which is the least-painful distro to use please

I can't answer that, but you could use the pi to dip your toe outside the WCG pool. There are many other interesting projects on boinc. Of course what you crunch is entirely your choice.

Okay thanks, I'll probably just put Raspian on it as I can give it other minor network duties too

Give it a go, what's the worst that can happen ? Can't help with the Pi as I've never owned one. All my droids are versions of 4 or 8 core tv boxes. Think I have 11 at the moment in various states of running or not. Biggest issue with all the TV boxes is power. Nearly all have 1A power supplies and to crunch 24/7 you really need 2A supplies or the PSU's die with depressing regularity.

I just loaded Raspian and am now crunching for yoyo@home. It was a breeze.

Currently allowing 75% of CPU time and keeping an eye on the cpu temperature (I only fitted a little passive heatsink)

Alez wrote: ↑Sat Sep 15, 2018 5:27 am Give it a go, what's the worst that can happen ? Can't help with the Pi as I've never owned one. All my droids are versions of 4 or 8 core tv boxes. Think I have 11 at the moment in various states of running or not. Biggest issue with all the TV boxes is power. Nearly all have 1A power supplies and to crunch 24/7 you really need 2A supplies or the PSU's die with depressing regularity.

My Raspberry Pi's have PSU's of at least 2.5A -up to 3.1A for the Pi 3...
Raspberry themselves have an universal adapter that supplies 2.5A and works virtually everywhere due to the exchangeable connectors, giving you power plug in, micro usb out:

davidBAM wrote: ↑Sat Sep 15, 2018 11:29 am I just loaded Raspian and am now crunching for yoyo@home. It was a breeze.

Currently allowing 75% of CPU time and keeping an eye on the cpu temperature (I only fitted a little passive heatsink)

Here's my favorite nerd explaining how Raspberries are meant to be cooled:
[youtube][/youtube]

Things to look out for while running BOINC on the Raspberry

• yellow flash in the right upper corner of monitor = not enough juice (Amps, as in ampere)
• red thermometer in the right upper corner of monitor = cpu is throttling due to overheating

Humph - I am not very impressed by the points awarded (2nd column) by YoYo on my newer Raspberry Pi3. They are only ever a small fraction of the points claimed (first column). The older Pi3 is fine (2nd picture)

Welcome to credit screw, I mean credit new .....

Am now running a couple of Rasp Pi3 computers inside a regular PC case. I am picking up 5V power supply from an unused Molex plug (of the type that used to go on IDE hard disks)

Will be doing the same for Android TV box(es)

Getting about 2400 points per day on Universe@Home from each pi3. Better than a poke in the eye

You need to get WUProp on those systems and all the others. The ARM systems are great for racking up WUProp hours.

To be honest, I've never understood what WUProp is all about. Off to look for a thread.

I ran it on a Xeon core for a while but it just said something like 'low CPU usage' so I figured it wasn't worth running

scole of TSBT wrote: ↑Thu Jan 10, 2019 12:22 am You need to get WUProp on those systems and all the others. The ARM systems are great for racking up WUProp hours.

and some goofy points too .... monkeys / keyboards .... what's not to love

Strange but I only seem to get a single Seti WU on the pi whereas I get 4 of anything else

davidBAM wrote: ↑Mon Jan 14, 2019 9:33 pm Strange but I only seem to get a single Seti WU on the pi whereas I get 4 of anything else

memory requirement ?

My Pi-stack. 2 RPi 2 and 2 RPi 3. Also have, not shown, a RPi B+ and RPi 3 B+. They run Pi-hole.net DNS ad blocker. 3B+ also crunches. Run a combo seti and e@h on all except B+. Used copper GPU memory chip heat sinks and a USB 120mm fan for cooling the stack.

Ordered a Asus Tinker Board last night. Going to go with Android and WCG on it. Getting ready for summer months when I have to start shutting down the heavy iron. lol

WCG is a good choice to run. Basically have all my android systems running WCG because it is stable and reliable along with WUProp to keep everything aligned. .

Looked at the CPU specs on the new Pi4 and didn't see a game-changing leap in performance (at least not on paper)

I might be daft but decided to make an offer to an eBay seller for 8 Pi3 instead in the hope that they'd be overstocked. Wish I'd offered less since they accepted right away. Bizarrely I had enough microSD cards from a phase of heavy photography so they are all now running (on computer PSU)

Experimenting with very long-term speculative bunkering on YoYo and DHEP

This lets me power several Rpi3 from Molex connectors on the PC power supply. +5V and ground are the only ones needed



Male Molex is pictured but if you bother with it, you will need a female Molex

Rack of 6 Pi3 sitting between PSU and first GPU in an open rack case. AIO pump is underneath and radiator above. Powered as above via Molex connectors

davidBAM wrote: ↑Sun Jun 30, 2019 4:05 amLooked at the CPU specs on the new Pi4 and didn't see a game-changing leap in performance (at least not on paper)

The ARM Cortex-A72

• Runs faster than the ARM Cortex-A53 (1500 MHz vs 1400 MHz on the Pi 3+),
• Makes use of a 3-way super scalar, instead of the 2-way in the Cortex-A53,
• Makes use of a 5-wide dispatch out-of-order execution for more efficient use of the instruction cycles (the A53 doesn't use out-of-order execution),
• Has a pipeline depth of 15, vs 8 for the A53,
• Has eight execution ports, vs 2 for the A53.

You might call the ARM Cortex-A7x the 'i7' category of ARM, while the ARM Cortex-A5x fall into the 'i5' category -there are even ARM Cortex-A3x CPUs that fall into a i3-like category.
A few graphs to prove it via Gareth Halfacree's "Benchmarking the Raspberry Pi 4"

Raspberry Pi 3 & 3+ vs Raspberry Pi 4 See for more Roy Longbottom's Raspberry Pi Benchmarks and Stress Tests
The real proof of the pudding is BOINC itself of course. I'll climb my bike and ride to Leidschendam tomorrow to buy the 2GB Raspberry Pi 4 model B -the only model in stock at the moment.

Edit: the only thing worth mentioning about the 15-mile bike tour was that I spotted Scottish Highlanders (of the bovine variety) along the A4 (E19). The shop -that was relocated recently after a fire- no longer has a physical store and is a web shop nowadays. I hope they survive the fire and re-open to the public. I like to feel what I buy, before I buy it.

davidBAM wrote: ↑Mon Jul 01, 2019 2:47 pm Rack of 6 Pi3 sitting between PSU and first GPU in an open rack case. AIO pump is underneath and radiator above. Powered as above via Molex connectors

Those are Raspberry Pi 3 model B+'s, as can be seen from the much bigger WiFi chip as compared to the original Raspberry Pi 3 model B -like mine.

Rather than facing the bovine highlanders yet againe,
I ordered two Pi4's -online.
Where's that Dutch bicyclist we saw the other day?

Seems like there is a story I don't know.

Dirk Broer wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 2:00 am I ordered two Pi4's -online.

Spooky - me too

davidBAM wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 1:00 pm Seems like there is a story I don't know.

Dirk Broer wrote: ↑Mon Sep 02, 2019 2:00 am I ordered two Pi4's -online.

Spooky - me too

Will they be delivered at your door at two to two, too?

The story you don't know is at #71

Not sure about that. With courier services in this area, September would be good

I've even ordered at two different stores, to see which courier service/shop combination will be first.
When I was courier myself I once arrived together with two others...

Mine arrived - only to find that I don't have a suitable HDMI cable. Sigh.

I thought I did but turns out mine is mini-HDMI to HDMI, the Pi4 uses micro-HDMI which I've never seen before. Ah well - only £2 but another 2 or 3 days

Mine have still to arrive, but I have a suitable cable -from my de-commissioned BeagleBone Black.
This is the difference:


P.S.: What are you using for cooling? The Pi 4 needs a fan+heatsink combo for BOINC. This is by far the most capable-looking Pi cooler:

Glad you posted. I had only just put on my usual passive copper heatsinks which let me Boinc happily on Pi3. I pulled one off before the thermal glue dried

I left the other one on as, TBH, I am mainly keen to see how the Pi4 copes with the server-side of btsk. Actual crunching is very much secondary & only if btsk copes well with extreme bunkering (I think the Pi4 will cope well as an old laptop runs it fine).