Running distributed.net client (dnetc) on a RPi3B+?

Is any-one using the distributed.net client (dnetc) on a RPi3B+? It works OK on a Pi1 but when I run the obey script on a Pi3 I just get an empty box.

I only found out that a RISC OS distributed.net client existed when I read this thread!

I get the same result running on the ARMBook :(

I’m not familiar with the client either. My guess is that it may have been ported, which makes GCC a likely candidate. Older GCC apps were often not ARMv8-safe, although in most cases updated versions are available (eg. via the GCC autobuilder/PackMan). This is only a guess, though, as I’ve not seen the program in question.

Actually, a google search shows a last update of 2009, which barely puts us in ARMv7 era. The info mentions it being compatible with Iyonix.

Pi v1 used same ARMv5 instruction set (by default) as Iyonix, so we could be dealing with software that’s only 32bit safe, not ARMv7 let alone v8. I still haven’t downloaded it, but perhaps someone might look into updating the port and feeding it back to distributed.net?

It doesn`t look like the full source is available.
They seem to make enough of the source available to test a platform, but it`s not able to download workloads.

I`m going to get intouch with the admins over at distributed.net and see if they would be willing to make the source for the RISC OS version available.

I`ve emailed the support address for distributed.net.
Looks like the current port was created by Peter Teichmann. I`ve also sent Peter an Email.

I tried this on my Titanium board this morning, this produced an error;

’Cannot open <25> for I/O redirection
Fatal signal received: segmentation fault.

I’ve been in touch with Peter regarding the distributed.net client, the big question is, how much interest is there in getting this updated?

Picture of full error here

Is any-one using the distributed.net client (dnetc)

Found it.

It works OK on a Pi1 but when I run the obey script on a Pi3 I just get an empty box.

Unpatchable SWPs looks to be the RPi3B stopper. Otherwise it needs exceptions off, a dubious practice.

Here are a couple of links for any-one interested in how RISCOS compares to other platforms in work done for current projects

http://stats.distributed.net/misc/platformlist.php?project_id=28&view=tco
http://stats.distributed.net/misc/platformlist.php?project_id=8&view=tco

I know from the last update field that at least one other person is contributing to the project using the RISCOS client. As for how much interest there is in updating the client, in all honesty I doubt very much, all I can say is that I’d be interested but don’t have the skill set to do it myself and have no idea how much work it would be.

Running the dnetc executable through PatchSWP, does at least allow the benchmark to now run on the ARMBook.

Looking at those links that Ken posted above, I was pleasantly surprised how high up the ranking that RISC OS is!

Looking at those links that Ken posted above, I was pleasantly surprised how high up the ranking that RISC OS is!

+1
Maybe there’s just very few contributors overall so 1 or 2 RO users can feature.

Just a quick follow up, Peter is away for several weeks, but has emailed to say he will look into updating the client.

That’s great news, thanks Rob

All we need now is a BOINC client, then we can start looking for them there aliens!

“All we need now is a BOINC client, then we can start looking for them there aliens!”

Wouldn’t that be something :-)

Problem is, it’d probably just trigger a whole load of false positives and point at all us “alien RISC OS users”!