Note to self: CentOS Yum cache

to save bandwidth when doing multiple installs from netinstall.iso

to remember to change /etc/yum.conf

keepcache=0

to
 
keepcache=1

This will keep all the packages downloaded as cached.

Google Chrome in CentOS? You will have to wait

Rant warning:
Gah!
Another crippling experience of working with CentOS.

I still can't install chrome despite google having an official linux port due to an outdated package (lsb) on CentOS 5.4

Others are having the same issues.

Installing R on CentOS 5.4 64 bit

create R.repo file in /etc/yum.repos.d/

[R-project]
name=R project for Statistical Computing repository
baseurl=http://rm.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/CRAN/bin/linux/redhat/el5/x86_64/
failovermethod=priority
enabled=1
gpgcheck=0
priority=15

yum install R

Propograte rpms across cluster..
/var/cache/yum/R-project/packages/R-2.10.0-2.el5.x86_64.rpm

ATI Catalyst™ 9.11 Driver on CentOS 5.4

Tried to install ATI Catalyst™ 9.11 Driver on CentOS 5.4 with the Integrated ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics in the motherboard GA-MA785GT-UD3H (rev. 1.0).

1st try failed.
looking at the error log at
/usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log

Turns out that I need to install the kernel headers before I install this driver.
installed the header rpm for 2.6.18-164.6.1.el5-x86_64
and it works fine now.
Yet to benchmark it though.
will try this soon

256 MB  Radeon HD 4200

[15:06:33 ~]$ glxgears
13524 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2704.076 FPS
14208 frames in 5.0 seconds = 2841.537 FPS
18396 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3679.084 FPS
18753 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3750.495 FPS
15337 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3066.924 FPS
18235 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3646.986 FPS
18245 frames in 5.0 seconds = 3648.970 FPS

[15:07:58 ~]$ /usr/bin/fgl_glxgears
Using GLX_SGIX_pbuffer
2983 frames in 5.0 seconds = 596.600 FPS
4220 frames in 5.0 seconds = 844.000 FPS
4225 frames in 5.0 seconds = 845.000 FPS
4213 frames in 5.0 seconds = 842.600 FPS
5879 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1175.800 FPS
6707 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1341.400 FPS
6278 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1255.600 FPS
6580 frames in 5.0 seconds = 1316.000 FPS

No fuse-ntfs-3g on CentOS 5.4!!

[root@node00 ~]# yum install fuse fuse-ntfs-3g
Loaded plugins: fastestmirror
Loading mirror speeds from cached hostfile
 * addons: mirror.usonyx.net
 * base: mirror.usonyx.net
 * extras: mirror.usonyx.net
 * updates: mirror.usonyx.net
Setting up Install Process
Package fuse-2.7.4-8.el5.x86_64 already installed and latest version
No package fuse-ntfs-3g available.
Nothing to do

What????????
This is so sad.... apparently ntfs is broken from 5.2 onwards.. How can this happen?

Install VirtualBox on CentOS 5.4

Got the RPM for RedHat Enterprise Linux 5 (RHEL 5) from the virtualbox.org site
After downloading, I got this error from the install

No precompiled module for this kernel found! ...
Compilation of kernel module FAILED! ...
Please consult
   /var/log/vbox-install.log
to find out why the kernel module does not compile.
Most probably the kernel sources are not found.
Install them and execute
   /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
as root.

Found this fix trying it now

New Job new distro

Have started in a new job!
but basically am doing Next Generation Sequencing Bioinformatics.
Sounds like a mouthful but hope it goes well.

1st week was spent on sourcing a cheap cluster for analysis. but 'cheap cluster' is an oxymoron!

Playing around with CentOS now. So far, its less than enjoyable compared to Ubuntu. Especially the 7 CDs or single DVD downloading.
I can't understand why making people download so many RPMs would be a good thing for bandwidth or convenience.

I miss my Ubuntu box. but setting up a HPC cluster using Ubuntu might be tricky without tech support.

Any advice for those familiar with ABI Solid's offline cluster setup?