BRP4 support for old x86 machines

Stranger7777
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Topic 198243

Please add support for old x86 machines (those who don't support SSE2, but support SSE) for BRP4 small tasks along with Android and old Intel GPUs. There was ready application for these. It is especially interesting in nothern hemisphere to add an additional heating. And it will help to keep up with the data coming from Arecibo.
There are a lot of such machines. They can not already do GWs in time, but yet can do BRP4 easily.

Stranger7777
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BRP4 support for old x86 machines

Up.
Is it still possible? We've now got a lot of unusable SSE only capable machines, that can not crunch FGRP4 due to lack of possibilities But they still can help crunching BRP4 short tasks.
So I beg someone there to answer something definite about this. Thank you in advance.

Bernd Machenschalk
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My memory may fool me, but

My memory may fool me, but AFAIR there has never been a BRP4 app version that didn't require at least SSE2. We had such GW applications for some time, but not since we have been analyzing "S6" data.

In any case I don't think the project will take the time to officially maintain yet one or two more platforms for that little computing power we may gain.

However, as you know, the BRP source code is publicly available. I suggest you download it, just search-and-replace "sse2" by "sse" in the build.sh script and the src/Makefile*s and have a try on rolling your own.

BM

BM

Stranger7777
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RE: My memory may fool me,

Quote:
My memory may fool me, but AFAIR there has never been a BRP4 app version that didn't require at least SSE2. We had such GW applications for some time, but not since we have been analyzing "S6" data.


GW apps successfully worked on SSE only capable machines until the end of last S6 run. FGRP apps are still working but toooo slow for those. But I remember those times when BRP tasks were working on such rigs and they are still faster than Android devices.

Anyway, thank you for suggestion. I'll try to build BRP app myself. What compiler should I use? Is is working under Windows?

Bernd Machenschalk
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We use gcc (usually 4.4.4.),

We use gcc (usually 4.4.4.), MinGW-gcc to compile fro Windows on Linux. If you want to build on Windows, MSYS might help; we never used it.

BM

BM

noderaser
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Out of curiosity, what are

Out of curiosity, what are you running that doesn't have SSE2? That would have to be something pre-Pentium 4 or Athlon64 in my experience.

Stranger7777
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RE: Out of curiosity, what

Quote:
Out of curiosity, what are you running that doesn't have SSE2? That would have to be something pre-Pentium 4 or Athlon64 in my experience.


Nothing special :)
I have lots of Celerons and Pentium 4s whith Northwood or Wilamette cores. They aren't capable of SSE2 yet. And even SSE2 capable Celeron D is not comfortable with FGRP4 but was suitable for even last S6 run and old CPU BRP4 WU's that are now crunched on Androids.

Stranger7777
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1) Just downloaded BRP

1) Just downloaded BRP sources and didn't found there SSE2 in build.sh or makefiles. Maybe I downloaded a wrong verion?
2) How can I change version number for the compiled app to be under 1.00?
3) I stuck with PKG-CONFIG that I cannot find for Windows. I only see a suggestion to use Cygwin instead of MSYS.

Bernd Machenschalk
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RE: 1) Just downloaded BRP

Quote:
1) Just downloaded BRP sources and didn't found there SSE2 in build.sh or makefiles. Maybe I downloaded a wrong verion?

Indeed, FFTW is not not compiled with SSE2 (it is for FGRP, though), just SSE.

Maybe the following binaries do work for you out of the box (just with an app_info.xml):

einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.22_i686-pc-linux-gnu
einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.22_windows_intelx86.exe

BM

BM

Stranger7777
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Thank you Bernd. While

Thank you Bernd. While composing app_info.xml I apparently found einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.33_windows_intelx86__BRP4SSE.exe in my BOINC installation. Set up anonymous platform for this. Works fine but I have to see whether it validates against others.

Stranger7777
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The next step was to find

The next step was to find similar OpenCL app. I found and donwloaded it.
einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.34_windows_intelx86__opencl-intel_gpu.exe
But something in my app_info.xml doesn't allow to download those tasks for GPU.
What am I doing wrong with it?


einsteinbinary_BRP4

einsteinbinary_BRP6

einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.33_windows_intelx86__BRP4SSE.exe

einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.34_windows_intelx86__opencl-intel_gpu.exe

einsteinbinary_BRP6_1.39_windows_intelx86__BRP5-cuda32-nv301.exe

einsteinbinary_BRP4
099
7.0.0

einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.33_windows_intelx86__BRP4SSE.exe

einsteinbinary_BRP4
098
7.0.0

einsteinbinary_BRP4_1.34_windows_intelx86__opencl-intel_gpu.exe

einsteinbinary_BRP6
099

CUDA
1

7.0.0

einsteinbinary_BRP6_1.39_windows_intelx86__BRP5-cuda32-nv301.exe

[/code]

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