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Hi guys , i just wanted to ask if someone controlls his mining rig with a mk802IIIs or mk802III ? just wanted to know if it works well or if there are some Problems. I know it only got wifi, but you could buy a usb to RJ45 or use wifi, but i dont know how the wifi performs. Got many Problems with wifi on some cheap China devices. So are there any field reports about wifi or stability issus  ? :)

Based on the specs it should outperform the pi...

for all who don´t know this device :

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Brand-New-Rikomagic-5th-MK802IIIS-Android-4-1-Dual-Core-1-6G-Bluetooth-3D-8GB-Mini/717865410.html

I'm not currently using mine to control rigs as I am waiting on some to arrive.  But I have played with the mk802IIIs and the WIFI problems are quite bad.  As the unit gets hot the wifi just simply stops working and also the HDMI causes interference to the WIFI.  

BUT I have modded mine a bit and solved most of the issues.  I cut a hole in the top of my mk802IIIs and stuck a copper heatsink on the main chip.  This made a major difference.  For one it made the whole unit much faster.  The WIFI no longer cut out and the range of the WIFI increased too.  I also modded it further by opening it up and moving the WIFI antenna to the outside of the unit.

I dont use HDMI for it now as I've set it up to remotely access it - now all I need is some devices to hash with  ;)

Hope this helps.

edit: changed mk802III to mk802IIIs

Hi, thanks for your reply.

I ordered one a few days ago, i could cancel the deal and get a raspberry PI. But i wouldn´t use HDMI too and maybe go for lan and buy a usb to lan device.

I dont have much experience in usb to lan, do you think this works well with Linux ?

Would you recommend canceling the deal and get a PI instead ? So if it got heat issues, why dont remove the whole case and just apply a big heatsink ?

Thank you  :)

I've not used the raspberry PI, so I really dont know  ;)

I would think the usb to lan works fine as it will work with the Android os on the unit, which is based on linux.  I'm sure someone else on here will know much more about this than me.

I wanted to keep the case on it so it looks relatively good still plus it does exactly what I needed.  It doesn't need much more of a bigger heatsink, just enough to take that heat off the chip and stop it going thru the board.  Really they should have put a heatsink on it in the first place.

Yes, USB Ethernet adaptors are well supported under linux -- there isn't great variety in the chips that are used in these. In my case I got the cheapest one from Amazon, which was in fact a "Wii Lan Adaptor" -- note that they won't necessarily advertise Linux compatibility. USB Wifi adaptors are a bit more tricky, but if you do the research you can find a Linux compatible Wifi adaptor cheaply, e.g. I use a TP-Link TL-WN722N / TL-WN722NC which has a proper antenna + long cable (this one was considerably stronger than a simple usb-dongle without external antenna which I also had, i.e. let me reliably connect to a network which my phone and laptop couldn't connect to).

Ok so thanks for your Information :)

I found several good Linux roms for the mk802IIIS so i think i could get usb to lan to work. Maybe i´ll consider to build my own case and mod the antenna.

Yeah heat going trough the board isnt good, especially on the cheap PCB and solder they might use.

Ok qualalol, then i will give the usb to lan a try. Yeah my wireless modem is in the top floor, but im considering putting the mining rig in the cellar. Maybe i´ll use a extender if the lan adaptor fails.

Thanks, so if i get it, i´ll do a test and Review. If i got the same Problem, i´ll do some mods and post it back in here :-)

I've been using an MK802II for many months now, hosting my FPGA singles. No issues whatsoever, and I don't for see any issues with asics. No heat issues or WiFi issues, and the CPU is stronger than the pi, even tho its not a dual or quad core like the new ones.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7216.msg1376515#msg1376515

Nice pics, seller told me that there is now a improved Revision of the MK802IIIs which does´nt have those Problems anymore. Lets see ;)

MK802IIIs is way more powerful than raspberry Pi! Better choice!
I haven't had any problems with wifi. You can also buy an usb lan adapter with usb hub for +-15$. But I still haven't got it working with my Logitech MX5000 Bluetooth desktop with Android.
Great piece of toy! ;D

True, the pi is slow with its 700mhz arm cpu and can only run linux.

So i maybe consider buying this here  http://www.aliexpress.com/item/1G-RAM-8G-SSD-double-COM-RS232-ports-with-Intel-Atom-N270-1-6Ghz-cheapest-mini/777789273.html

Should take 13W (3W more than the MK802 and about 10W more than the pi)

It can also run windows, i´m a little noob at using linux :-) and it also got ethernet, there is also a version with integrated wlan.

So my question to you, are there any performance losses using windows to control miners ??

Thanks for your reply´s guys :-)