I wrote about using Grid computing to fight cancer a while back using leftover Azure credits.
So now with Corona having the world in its grip, it’s time to shift our attention to that nasty virus and throw some CPU cycles at it instead.

If you have an Ubuntu machine running somewhere and you want to install the Folding@Home client on it, you can do so by following the simple steps listed below.

First download the FAH client application:

wget https://download.foldingathome.org/releases/public/release/fahclient/debian-testing-64bit/v7.4/fahclient_7.4.4_amd64.deb

Then, run the installer. It will guide you through the setup process.

sudo dpkg -i --force-depends fahclient_7.4.4_amd64.deb

Just choose a name and an optional team. You best let it start automatically as well.

That’s basically it. Since you’re running it all headless, there’s no need for any of the other packages listed on the site.

You can check if things are running by checking the log file stored in /var/lib/fahclient/log.txt

If you want to change the configuration after installing the client in /etc/fahclient/config.xml you have to start and stop the client like this:

sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient stop
sudo /etc/init.d/FAHClient start

If you had the World Grid Computing client installed already, you can stop that by using:

sudo /etc/init.d/boinc-client stop

If you want to full install instructions for the FAHclient or installation instructions for other flavors of Linux, check out the official installation guide.
Once it’s running and processed a few work units, you can check your stats at this URL: https://stats.foldingathome.org/donor/yourname

Have fun kicking Corona ass!