KNIME on WSL2

Hi,
Pretty new to KNIME. I have been looking at it as a platform to get back into datamining and model building. My previous employer used IBM SPSS modeler which was a fantastic tool for this - but there is no free to use version and it’s too costly for an individual.

So I’m here looking at knime and trying to get used it’s quirks etc.

I am still not sure what platform is best to run this on, I have a machine with 48GB RAM, an NVidia 3060 and lots of SSD/HDD.

I’m familiar with Linux and windows but was hoping I could put my nvidia card to use in some of the workflows.

My PC is running windows 11 pro - so it can also run hyper-vm and WSL2 ubuntu installations. And the latest version of WSL and nvidia drivers allow the WSL machine to use the nvidia card.

What are peoples practical experiences for the best platform to run KNIME on - especially with respect to machine learning with GPU support?

Many thanks for any replies

@robertlb
Welcome to the forum.

From experience, I would start off running KNIME in the native Windows environment. I a m not aware that any of the nodes support GPU calculations at this time. Though this may change as more capability is added using Python scripting nodes or nodes developed with Python (very new). In that case it is a question of whether the Python code and its dependencies supports the Windows platform. The underlying OS appears to be less of a problem now than it used to be.

You can run KNIME under WSL2, but the Eclipse platform that KNIME is built upon uses the Java Swing library, which didn’t work well with WSLg (the gui part of WSL) when I tried it. Though, like most things in life, this situation may change with updates to the Eclipse platform and WSL. However, given that this is a very niche use case I wouldn’t anticipate much support for fixing problems quickly.

Hope that helps. Would suggest keep things simple and consistent with everyone else’s configuration until you have used the software for a while, it is easier for everyone to give support if you need.

DiaAzul

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Hello @robertlb,

additionally this topic might help:

There are also other topics discussing same/similar subject so try forum search. Welcome to KNIME Community :wink:

Br,
Ivan

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Thanks I did do a search before posting but found the posting dates to be quite old so may not have been relevant anymore.

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Thanks for your response. Yeah I will probably just spend the next week or so figuring out how this works. I have some experience with Alteryx too - but my main experience was with IBM SPSS Modeler which I used to solve real problems in manufacturing. So now the frustration of “why would they do it like that!” begins as I learn a new tool :wink:

I will leave the trying to be too clever for my own good stuff for later!

now to find some up to date examples. Most of the stuff I’ve seen on the knimehub seems to use deprecated nodes

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Hi robertlb,

Most deprecated nodes have corresponding new nodes. That’s fine to play with old nodes first to get familiar with KNIME :smiley:

Btw, if you used alteryx, you can read this first

Welcome to the new world

HaveF

Thanks. I guess the first order of business is getting used to the thinking process that KNIME has for data connection, collection, merging, deduplicating and typing. 80% of the struggle is always here so getting used to a new tools way of doing it going to be the key to not pulling my hair out! Even if I just use knime for data processing and stuffing the result into either a csv or some sort of database technology to then work on it in python for data mining it will be a big boost.

I downloaded the book you recommended and I’m going through it right now. Helps a lot! Much appreciated.

I personally think KNIME is a much more intuitive platform than Alteryx once you get the basics. I have Alteryx licenses on my computers and haven’t opened the program in over a year at this point…

My main drive used to be IBM SPSS modeler which I used for years so would be able to do things without even really thinking about it. I played with alteryx a bit - it was OK but never got the same familiarity i had with SPSS modeler.

It’s just going to be a case of putting in the time - I’m currently looking at anything that looks like a tutorial I can find. I’m always happy to be pointed to any resources that are not first page google results! :slight_smile:

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