Greetings, Intro ===== People running computational projects such as GIMPS normally end up running "headless" computers. These are systems that do not have monitors and keyboards, or perhaps they do but it isn't convenient to use them. Some such headless users are fortunate enough to be able to run their systems continuously, but for those with their systems in bedrooms and the like, it is normally inconvenient to keep turning systems on and off. Content ======= Over time I have written several short utilities to enable headless computers to run with the minimum of effort. These are all for Linux, but could be easily converted to other Unix types. I hereby offer them to all who are interested! Descriptions ============ js-shutdown ----------- This program shuts down your system when a button is pressed on a joystick. Consequently headless machines can now be powered down (as well as up) without requiring any login, either local or remote. A simple push-button switch can be used instead of a joystick. /etc/init.d/mprime.sh --------------------- Start and stop mprime automatically. Includes automatic log file redirection. clock-sync ---------- A simple program to time-step badly drifting clocks on bootup. This script can be run before logging has started. Why use this instead of the more professional NTP daemon? Because otherwise your logs will always begin with the wrong time, and only be corrected later. This program uses expect and rdate. status monitors --------------- Simple ways of remotely monitoring the progress of calculation programs. These involve simple additions to existing files. Download ======== ftp://lettuce.edsc.ulst.ac.uk/gareth/distrib-utils.tar.gz Thanks to Brian Beesley for generously providing the hosting service. Yours, ======= Gareth Randall ======= _________________________________________________________________________ Unsubscribe & list info -- http://www.scruz.net/~luke/signup.htm Mersenne Prime FAQ -- http://www.tasam.com/~lrwiman/FAQ-mers
