[ale] how do I - icon starts script starts 4 scripts

[Ron Frazier (ALE)]

Scott,

I want to thank you for the very detailed response you gave.  This gave 
me enough information to solve the problem.  I thought I'd share the 
solution in case others might benefit from it.  What I think is useful, 
is the way I've stacked multiple scripts together and attached them to 
an icon.  This can be handy whether you're mining or not.

Here is a simplified version of the MINER1 script that runs the specific 
process for graphic card 1.  There will be a MINER2, 3, and 4.

#!/bin/bash -eu
# script to start litecoin mining on the first graphic card
cd ~/cgminer
export -task-specific-stuff-
./cgminer -lots-of-special-parameters-for-gpu1-only-
echo "Press enter to continue."
read junk

I got the -eu part on the bash line from a book, which adds in some 
special error checking for bash.
The last two lines force the script to pause before closing its window 
until you press enter.

For MINER2, 3, and 4, I've temporarily commented out all lines except 
the last two, so I can use them for testing.

Here is the START-MINERS script, which starts each individual miner 
script, in its own separate window, with it's own separate geometry and 
title.

#!/bin/bash -eu
# program to start all mining scripts
cd ~/mining-scripts
# commands to start the first miner
mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+100 -t "Miner 1" -e ./miner1 &
# commands to start the second miner
mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+250 -t "Miner 2" -e ./miner2 &
# commands to start the third miner
mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+400 -t "Miner 3" -e ./miner3 &
# commands to start the fourth miner
mate-terminal --geometry=70x4+1800+550 -t "Miner 4" -e ./miner4 &
echo "Press enter to continue."
read junk

I have to use mate-terminal to activate Mint's terminal emulator.  The 
--geometry option (mentioned by both you and Brian) sets the window size 
for each MINERx script as well as a location so they all stack up on the 
right of my monitor.  The -t option specifies a unique title for each 
window.  Each MINERx program is started with the "&" command (also 
mentioned by you and Brian) so the master script keeps on going without 
waiting.  For some reason, I had to put the read command at the end of 
the START-MINERS script or the sub scripts never kick off.  I have no 
idea why.

I'd rather have a delay in the START-MINERS script so it would terminate 
without me pressing a key.  I haven't found out how to do that.

Finally, here's how I created an icon in GNOME to kick off the whole 
enchilada.

Right click on the desktop, click create launcher, select type: 
application, name: Start Miners, command: mate-terminal -e 
/home/ron/mining-scripts/start-miners, click OK.

Now, upon clicking this icon, it starts the start-miners script, which 
in turn starts MINER1, 2, 3, and 4, which in turn post 4 terminal 
windows on the screen and run the processes I want them to.

Very cool.

Thanks again for the help.

Sincerely,

Ron


On 4/17/2013 3:36 PM, Scott Plante wrote:
> (answers inline)
>
> > So, my first question is how do I set up a basic script file
> > with these commands in it.  I can fill in all the details later.
> >
> > cd ~/cgminer
> > export .....
> > ./cgminer .....
>
> Yes, you can do that. You'll need to set the execute bit using "chmod 
> +x miner1" or "chmod 755 miner1" or similar.
>
> Usually you'll want to put this as the first line of your script:
> #!/bin/bash
> But it's not strictly necessary. It comes into play usually when 
> you're in one shell and the script is written for another, but it's a 
> good habit to get into.
>
> > Also, how do I put comments in the file?
>
> bash and most Linux shells use # to start comments. Anything after the 
> pound on a line is a comment.
>
> > Now, as I said, the command for each graphics card
> > is unique.  So, I need to set up a MINER2, MINER3,
> > and MINER4 scripts, which are customized for the
> > individual graphics cards.
>
> Well, you could make one script that takes a parameter and use 
> something like:
> if [ "$1" = 1 ]; then
>   #miner1 specific commands...
> elif [ "$1" = 2 ]; then
>   #miner2 specific commands...
> #and so on...
> elif [ "$1" = --all ]
>   #I'll come back to this
> else
>   echo "USAGE: $0 [--all|miner-num]" 1>&2; exit 1
> fi
>
> You could also use "case" instead of if/elif/else/fi and that might be 
> cleaner. As always, there's more than one way to skin the cat.
>
> > Finally, I want to create a master script to start all the other
> > 4.  Here's the trick.  I want the master script to start each of
> > the sub scripts in its own window and continue executing
> > commands in the master script.  I don't want the master
> > script to hang waiting for MINER1 to exit before executing
> > MINER2, and so forth.
> >
> > Let's say that the master script is called START-MINERS.
>
> Well, do you really need separate windows or do you just need parallel 
> execution? Generally, you can use the ampersand (&) at the end of a 
> line to run that command in the background. If the miner commands have 
> output you want to view on the screen, you can start an xterm to open 
> a window for each one. I use kde, so I tend to use konsole but for 
> this purpose xterm will work or you can check the options for whatever 
> terminal window you like to use. In the above script under "--all" 
> where I said I'd come back to it, you could put:
>
> for miner in 1 2 3 4
> do
>   xterm -e $0 $miner &
> done
>
> dollar-zero is the current script so you're re-running the current 
> script once each for 1, 2, 3, 4. Although since it's just 4 you might 
> just repeat the command four times instead. Or go the other way and 
> have a config file that defines each miner instance, but that seems 
> like a down-the-road enhancement.
>
> > Finally, I want to kick off the whole thing from one icon on
> > the desktop which triggers START-MINERS which triggers
> > MINER1, 2, 3, and 4.  I don't care if the master script has a
> > terminal window left on the screen or not when it's done.
> > However, when it's finished, there should be 4 active terminal
> > windows on the screen mining on 4 separate graphics cards.
>
> In kde, you can right-click on the desktop, select "Create new->Link 
> to application" and then fill in the boxes. I imagine you can do 
> something similar in Gnome.
>
>
> > Even better, I'd like the windows to automatically size themselves
> > to a certain size and stack up all in a column on the monitor.  Better
> > still, would be to have the whole thing auto start when booting.
>
> xterm and most X Windows programs accept certain standard options, 
> which you can see by running "man X". In this case you can specify the 
> size and location with "-geometry". So for example:
>
> xterm -geometry 80x30+10+10 -e $0 $miner &
>
> as the xterm command. You could just specify 4 (or however miner 
> instances you have) separate xterm commands instead of the "for" loop, 
> or you could also do math in the shell based on the miner number. That 
> might be more trouble than it's worth, though.
>
> As to starting automatically on boot, you have the issue of needing to 
> be logged in to start the xterms. You'd probably want to send the 
> output to a log file for the actual miner commands, then when you 
> login you could have a command that starts the xterms with "tail -f 
> logfile" instead of actually running the miners directly. In this 
> scenario you'd create an /etc/init.d script to start the actual miner 
> processes. You probably want to see where you can get with the above 
> before jumping into that.
>
> > If you can help me with all or part of this puzzle,
> > I'd greatly appreciate it.  Thanks in advance.
> >
> > Sincerely,
> >
> > Ron
>
> Well, that should get you started anyway. I typed these commands 
> mostly off the top of my head, so there may be some "miner" errors (ha 
> ha). You will find the docs for the if/then/elif/else/fi and case/esac 
> under "man bash". You can man xterm for details on other options. 
> Reply with more specific questions as you get into it, if you need to.
>
> Scott
>
>
>
> -- 
> Scott Plante, CTO
> Insight Systems, Inc.
> (+1) 404 873 0058 x104
> splante at insightsys.com
> http://zyross.com
>


-- 

(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone.  I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such.  I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)

Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O)   Leave a message.
linuxdude AT techstarship.com
Litecoin: LZzAJu9rZEWzALxDhAHnWLRvybVAVgwTh3
Bitcoin: 15s3aLVsxm8EuQvT8gUDw3RWqvuY9hPGUU

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