To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade..., All about the February 2008 OSX betas

[susato]

UPDATED 9 March 2008 - susato

We're trying to verify that the new OSX-PPC client (version two, released Feb 3 2008) works correctly on G3's, in Terminal and under Increase, and underboth OSX 10.3 and 10.4.  (Leopard won't install on a G3 without a fight).  
Good news for Intel Macs though - the new client is FINE.

If you're folding on a G3 with the standard fah5 PPC client or the  expired fah6 PPC client, we invite you to upgrade and help us test. Follow the directions in the post below, and summarize your results in the Help Central or Folding Software/InCrease forum. (Also send me a pm to draw my attention).

This is not just for you, or for our team, friends, but for the whole Mac folding community.

If you'd rather not upgrade right now, don't feel obliged. The fah6 client that was working in January will continue to fold on happily so long as you don't stop it.    

Good News - an update to InCrease, which will directly download the February '08 beta clients, is available at Calxalot's website.

Keep an eye on these announcements - we're doing our best to keep on top of the new developments and keep you updated.  
Our current recommendation for InCrease users is to download the new InCrease and let it download and install the new beta client for you.  
Our recommendations for Folders using the console client from Terminal, the Stanford "PrefPane" Installer client, or folding on Linux or Windows systems, can be found below.

Thanks for Folding!

[susato]

Latest and best advice to date (edited 9 March 2008)

SMP FOLDING - for multiprocessor Intel Macs

RUNNING SMP UNITS UNDER INCREASE Please update InCrease (see post above) and allow InCrease to download and install the new beta clients for you.  Thanks! 

Steps to upgrading fah6 (smp units) for Intel Macs that were already running smp units:

0.  Stop Folding from inside InCrease.

1.   Download the "Mac OS X (Intel) SMP client console version", version "6.01 beta2" Do *NOT* download the "Mac OS X (Intel) SMP client Installer" version.  

2.   The downloaded file is titled "FAH6.00beta2-OSX-Intel-Console.tar".  Opening the file creates a folder entitled "FAH6.00beta2-OSX-Intel-Console".  The folder should contain the following two files:

    -   fah6
    -   mpiexec

3.   If you installed Increase using the default locations, you should have a folder titled "smp" located at: [ (name of your hard disk) -- Users -- (your user name) -- Library -- Application Support -- InCrease -- bin -- smp ].  (in path shorthand, ~/Library/"Application Support"/InCrease/bin/smp) The easiest way to find the folder may be to use the Finder's search capability to look for "smp".  

[NOTE:  There are two folders called "InCrease", one located at the same level as the Application Support folder and the other located within the Application Support folder.]

4.   In the "smp" folder you should find only the following two files:

    -   fah6
    -   mpiexec

Replace the fah6 file with the newly downloaded one and things should be back to normal.  To be on the safe side, also replace the fah6 file in ~/Library/"Application Support"/InCrease/bin and the fah6 and files in ~/Library/InCrease/unit1  (and .../unit2 and .../unit3 etc if you have an 8- or 16-way machine)

Then restart Folding from inside InCrease and it should pick up from where the old client left off.

If anything about this procedure doesn't work for you, please post about it in the forum and send me a PM or an email (team.mac.osx  "hat" gmail "taught" com) -- Thanks!

RUNNING SMP UNITS IN TERMINAL (using the console client by itself)
Go ahead and update.  
1) Stop folding; back up the queue and work folder in your folding directory.
2) Trash the old client in your folding directory  (Grant suggests trashing the current Folding core as well)
3) Download the "Mac OS X (Intel) SMP client console version" from http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download
4) Move the new fah6 file into your folding directory  (the mpiexec provided in the download is the same as you are using already)
5) Start Folding again.
6) when everything is confirmed working, clear out your backups.

SMP FOLDING WITH THE STANFORD "PREFPANE" INSTALLER

Beberg has made it just about effortless - Go to System Preferences, click the Folding@Home icon, and disable folding.  Then go to [http://folding.stanford.edu/English/Download]Stanford's downloads page[/url] and download the "6.10 beta 2" client, which is the installer version.  Open up the package and follow the directions in the installer, then check your name/team settings and start Folding again.

UNIPROCESSOR (PPC) FOLDING

RUNNING STANDARD UNITS ON A G3 or G4 in Terminal
Download the new client and use it to replace your current copy of fah6.  Designate it as executable using the chmod +x command in Terminal (see "Running standard units on a G4 under InCrease"), then run it in the usual way.    PM or email me (email is team.mac.osx  "hat" gmail "taught" com) about your success with a G3 - we are trying to confirm that the new client works properly on all compatible Macs.

RUNNING STANDARD UNITS ON A G5 in Terminal
See the instructions above, but be sure to replace each copy of fah6 that has been folding for you - typically 2 on a G5 duallie or 4 on a G5 quad. Then PM or email me (email is team.mac.osx "hat" gmail "taught" com) about your success on the G5 - we are trying to confirm that the new client works properly on all compatible Macs.

RUNNING STANDARD UNITS ON A G3 in InCrease  PPC users using InCrease - Please update InCrease and allow InCrease to update your folding clients.
If you are already running the fah5 client, you can just keep going, but if you wish to upgrade, follow the directions for the G4.

RUNNING STANDARD UNITS ON A G4 in InCrease
The new PPC client released on February 4 works with the G4, but the client has to be made executable using Terminal commands before InCrease will recognize and run it. Download the client and rename it fah6.  Place it into the folder where the current fah6 is (for a typical InCrease setup on a PPC, this is ~/Library/InCrease/cpu1.  Open a Terminal window (Terminal is in Applications -> Utilities) and at the prompt, type
   cd ~/Library/InCrease/cpu1

(or type cd and drag the icon for the folder into the Terminal window, then hit return.  Next type
   chmod +x fah6; ls -la

This will display a list of all the files in the folder.  Look in the left hand column of the row containing fah6; you should see some x's in there.

Now close the terminal window.  In InCrease preferences for Launch, make sure that fah6 appears as the client of choice. Start InCrease.   Watch the forums for announcements about an InCrease update, and when the new InCrease is available, update to the new version.  

We still have sparse data on running the new fah6 beta on G3's, so let us know how it works for you.  If you have any problems, we can guide you through installation of the older fah5 client.

RUNNING STANDARD UNITS ON A G5 in InCrease
See the instructions for the G4 but remember to place the executable version of the new client in each folder where you have an instance of Folding to run.

Fellow admins - please feel free to edit new info and developments into this post. It will be moved to the FAQs eventually.

THANKS for reading and for Folding!

[susato]

Sorry for the bump!  The first two posts in this thread have been edited, so have a look.

Keep on folding and if you happen to find the servers empty of work units, be patient. The Pande Group has a ton of fires to fight with their PS3 client, and they have to work on it when Sony is available, meaning right now They'll fill up our servers again soon enough.

[Emerik]

Like I said in the mail, starting to fold with Increase is always a fight for me, I only get
-------- Queue Dump of Unit at ~/Bibliotheek/InCrease/unit1 --------
qd released 21 February 2008 (fr 063); qd info 21 February 2008 (update-qd.pl)
Can't open <queue.dat> file

[susato]

Emerik, I'm moving your question to the Help Central forum and will answer it there.

BTW, Calx estimates that a new version of InCrease will be available around March 1, 2008.