Best Linux OS for Mandelbulber with OpenCL

[tryptophan]

Hello I would like to install the easiest/best Linux OS so I can run the new OpenCL version of Mandelbulber. Are there any specific builds/libraries I should install? I would like to install Linux on a flash drive or portable disk and change the boot order in my bios so I don't have to partition and or mess with my current boot disk. Also I have an install disk of RedHat linux from a few years ago I could use and possibly update but I would prefer to use a free and smaller lighter version. I would only be using the Linux OS for Mandelbulber so I wouldn't need very many OS features other than my graphics card drivers and networking.

I'm also wondering if Mandelbulber will make use of the two Quadro 5000 graphics cards in my machine or just one card (with or without a SLI cable connecting the two).

I find the fractals Mandelbulber can create incredible but I find it very difficult to work with waiting for the image to update and am hoping the OpenCL version will be much faster.


Any help would greatly be appreciated.
thanks
Keith]

[taurus]

Hello I would like to install the easiest/best Linux OS so I can run the new OpenCL version of Mandelbulber...

so do i! i am not a linux expert - rather the opposite - but i ran several distributions in the past years. some native, some in virtual machines and i collected some experience about the usability of those distributions.
first of all i have to advise against suse. the ease of use is unreached, but only for standard apps provided by the standard suse repositories. the trouble starts normally after installing a proprietary graphics driver. i never managed to keep a graphics device (mostly amd/ati) fully operational for more than two months (the native open gl mode went nuts after some time) and even the installation of the pure cpu versions of mandelbulber sometimes worked and sometimes did not. so hands off!

the best choice seems ubuntu or linux mint (a derivate of ubuntu). personally i prefer linux mint, cause i don't like the unity desktop of ubuntu. but this is a matter of taste. both ditribs can handle the debian packages of mandelbulber, without running debian (which is not suitable for newbies) so you won't need to afflict the command line.

unfortunately i deleted my linux partitions after upgrading to win 7/64 (and i won't rebuild for a test environment that possibly won't work) and i'd be pleased as well for tipps about running linux from a stick.

have fun! 

[tryptophan]

Thanks for the tips. I ended up installing Ubuntu on a usb stick which was really simple. I just followed the instructions on the Ubuntu site and I had Ubuntu running in about 10 min. Also I guess you can choose whether or not to use the unity desktop so when Ubuntu loaded it was very similar to Windows with a taskbar on the left side.

After I loaded Ubuntu I followed Buddhi's instructions on the 1.11 forum topic for Linux and got Mandelbulber up and running no problem. I then attempted to get the Linux Nvidia driver installed for my graphics cards and ran into some problems. Basically Ubuntu wouldn't allow me install the driver because it stated the Nouveau driver needed to be stopped to install it. I then asked my roommate to help me out (who knows Linux quite well) and he tried a few things but said he couldn't get it going unless recompile the distribution without the Nouveau driver. So now I'm wondering do I need the Nvidia driver to fully take advantage of the openCL aspect of Mandelbulber?

thanks
Keith

[JohnVV]

tryptophan

as for the nvidia driver the best place to ask would be over as LinuxQuestions or the Ubuntu forum
https://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/
http://ubuntuforums.org/

http://www.ubuntu.com/support
https://help.ubuntu.com/11.10/index.html




I have been a Linux( RHEL,CentOS,ScientificLinux,Fedora,Arch,OpenSUSE,)  user for YEARS .
for the "NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-295.20.run" or 32 bit "NVIDIA-Linux-x86-295.20.run"
the short of it is you need to BUILD the linux kernel mod
THEN
Build a NEW boot image ( new intred )to remove the kernel based Nouveau driver

However Ubuntu has a *.deb for that and apt-get will auto do what you need

you WILL need the opensource "Nouveau driver " for the fancy bootloader graphics
but you can fall back to the old one
also the .run MUST be installed with X11 OFF no gui running , text only

he couldn't get it going unless recompile the distribution without the Nouveau driver.

not quite
just black list it ( the .run will auto add that )
then REBUILD the boot image
"dracut" will do that