We should be making Rev 1.4 of the Controller available later today or tomorrow if our testing today goes ok. The main feature of this build is the first usage of the up/down cabling and it is a very simple implementation that we have done to use it. With Rev 1.4 you have the option to pair up boards to use a single USB interface. On the Master board all 4 com ports are used to support 4 pairs of FPGA 2 pairs on the Master and 2 pairs on the Slave. So long and short of it is that you get to use half the USB cables that you needed previously.
If you don't want to use up/down cabling Rev 1.4 will operate pretty much as Rev 1.3. There is 1 dip switch change for Master/Slave selection but otherwise pretty much what you have seen in Rev 1.3.
We are still looking at the implementation of more complicated schemes that will use up/down for either bigger board clusters or even an entire rig and that will come later. Meanwhile the Rev 1,4 will hopefully make it a bit simplier on the USB setup for all of you with multiple boards setups.
We are also experimenting with removing the power feed from USB to the controller to see if it is just better to power the Controller always from the 12V feed. There is a possibility that might cause an ennumeration issue so it's not confirmed we will do this yet but if does look the better configuration we will cut that in to production on boards serial number 0700+.
We are also closing the general pre-order now with the general intention that it will become a stocked item from October onwards. Large orders will possibly still have a lead time and also tend to clean out available stock so it won't always be immediately available.
That is what it's good for Isokivi. Mostly it was an update for those with a lot of boards. Is it just me or is some piece of the puzzle missing, I mean ductaping two boards together and tossing out one usb-cable wont be likeley to work. |
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As far as my boards are concerned the latest 200Mhs bitstream takes the bounty. I have been hearing about issues with pre #50 boards,but Im fairly sore most or all of us can agree that that has got to be a hardware issue.
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Rev 1.4 of the Controller is now available. Dip switches as follows:  And whats this good for ? |
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The 200Mhs bitstream in this pack seems like a winner. I need more ppl testing it, input on wether or not the documentation is as required. http://www.makomk.com/~aidan/shortfin-dcmwd4c-20120811.7z Im seeing an average speed of 800Mhs reported at poolside, one troublesome core-pair is pooping out an invalid rate of 3,15%. but it seems like we have a winner, I dont have a long enough test-run yet, but there should be no uptime-issues to be expected. If you want your word in on wether or not this qualify's for the bounty: the time to act is now, test it, call out about missing or insufficient documentation, do something. |
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I am very pleased to report that the bitminter-mining client would now seem to support and work with carinsmore1's solong as they have an icarus compatible bitstream in them. I can report hashing, valid shares and the mining speed being about what it should be with makomk's 200 and 180mhs shortfin icarus bitstreams. This is a java-based, extremeley easy to use miner that is tied to a specific pool (bitminter). I mine at this pool and consider it the best one out there. Infact the only non-awesome thing about the client is that it is not open sourced, for obvious reasons. You can find the beta-client that supports icarus at: http://bitminter.com/beta/beta.jnlpThe pools website is: https://bitminter.com/It's a mid-sized rapidly growing pool. That is hop-proof, pays tx-fees, merged mining. To try it out you'll need to: 1. register an account. 2. dl and run the client. 3. select devices->probe all ports for fgpas. 4. wait for ~20sec per fgpa for the client to figure out timings (yes automatic!) 5. feel your ass grow as the coins roll in. See you on the leaderboards. [edit] Looks like there might be some issues to work out, but I cant submit 100% accurate reports for drharibo (pool op and developer of the client) because I dont have a 100% working hub/cable setup (hub#3, cable #13 in try now). If someone with a rock-solid setup tests this, please drop drharibo a line or two. He can be found here on the forums and on irc at freenode. |
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Yohan would you be able and/or willing to supply us with the schematics for cm1 ?
..were still confused as hell about a lot of the hardware issues and this could help.
If that is not possible could you simply state wether or not the controller chip is powered through USB ?
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I have a new development to post... As you all know makomk jumped in with some of his icarus improvements, and that resulted in a mostly stable bitstream which had some great jumps in performance for everyone. In addition, I was working on trying to work around some of the board level issues on the cairnsmore and also making several other improvements to the bitstream as a whole. (some new fixes just came down the pipe this morning from Enterpoint which might help improve stability further). Lastly, I've been working on another mining core on the side which I had hoped to make some money off of. Well in light of all this, I had a chat on IRC with makomk, and we have decided that I'm going to release all my work so far, (even though it's still unstable, we're rapidly working on fixing that). And makomk will share all his "tricks" and work so far. Together we're working with some additional help from TheSeven as well. To collaborate on a single opensource bitstream project which hopefully will have many improvements for everyone. Initially this will be targeting the Cairnsmore, but we're going to try and keep it "hardware agnostic" if possible. And of course 100% opensource, including project files required to build it, and it can be built purely in Xilinx ISE (no third party tools). In addition, I'm now officially open sourcing my new bitstream (the new hashing core) which is still incomplete, but has huge potential I think. So with all this combined, this bitstream has the potential of being a great new boost to the bitcoin FPGA mining community as a whole. Anyway, with this agreement, we've agreed, that if the community decides that we "qualify" for the bounty, we will be splitting the bounty down the middle 50/50. This way we're no longer competing, but instead cooperating to deliver a new improved bitstream to the community. Which is good for everyone. Hopefully makomk will pop in here shortly and confirm this from his end with a post. And of course, here is the shiny new github where all our work will now live directly in the public eye: https://github.com/pmumby/hashvoodoo-fpga-bitcoin-minerSo if any of you find problems/issues, please use the issues tracker on github to submit them, so they can be worked on as they are found. If you submit issues, please provide as much detail as possible. Also if anyone has anything to contribute, ideas, suggestions, or wants to work on porting to another board, let me know, I'll let you get involved as a collaborator. I'll post more news once I have it! This is the best news ever, imho you will qualify for the bounty. |
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This is a make-shift guide for windows users for faster, permanent flashing. I have not yet tested it, but apparrentley Slipbye has had succes with it. It also gets us out of the virtual machine (for good ?) 21:13] <TheSeven> http://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb-win32/files/libusb-win32-releases/1.2.6.0/libusb-win32-devel-filter-1.2.6.0.exe/download[21:14] <TheSeven> install that, make sure the board to be flashed is plugged, start the libusb filter wizard [21:14] <TheSeven> select the USB composite device which shows an ID of 0403 8350 [21:14] <TheSeven> install the filter driver for that [21:14] <TheSeven> download this: https://xc3sprog.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/xc3sprog/trunk/xc3sprog.exe[21:14] <TheSeven> create a new file called cablelist.txt in the same directory [21:15] <TheSeven> put this line inside that file: [21:15] <TheSeven> cm1 ftdi 20000000 0x0403:0x8350: [21:15] <TheSeven> open a command prompt in the directory where the files are and run these commands: [21:15] <TheSeven> set CABLEDB=cablelist.txt [21:15] <TheSeven> xc3sprog -c cm1 [21:15] <TheSeven> it should detect the fpgas a this point you want to copy the .bit files you'll be using to the same folder as xc3sprog is in. [21:16] <TheSeven> if that worked, you can go ahead with flashing like usual [21:16] <TheSeven> xc3sprog -c cm1 -p 0 -Ixc6lx150.bit file_to_be_flashed.bit Enjoy your 1-3hours of spare time per day  |
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Copypasta from the bounty thread: I would once again like to urge more people who own cm1's to contribute to this bounty, you know there are a handfull of brillian individuals workin very hard at the moment to provide us a more efficient tool for earning. Most of you are allready benefitting from this. Im not saying it's only because of this bounty.. but Im fairly sure the pace things have been progressing for the last week or so has much to do with this bounty and as any well-informed virtual miner knows time is everything in this game.https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=94317.0 |
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Where Im at now:
Makomk's 190mhs bitstream on all boards, two fgpa pairs only working at half the expected rate. For some ppl identifying which pair is failing has been as easy as unplugging the usb and checking what led stays on. For me they all stay on, so in order to flash a functioning bitstream to all fgpa-pairs I'd have to do a fairly annoying amount of flashing and seeing what works. Does anyone have any toughts on how I could identify the failing cores ?
Are you using Linux or windows? Also I know this is a broken record but try different USB cables, Also try a good Powered USB hub. The powered USB hub allowed Makomk's bitstream to actually work on my board 62-177. I also use the powered USB to update the controller just in case its providing a less noisy update for some reason. Windows 7 64-bit, unpowered hub (only one working for me!), usb3 port, cgminer 2.6.1. Sadly I have a fairly limited amount of suitable-looking usb-cables lying around and after buying 2 hubs and contributing to the bitstream bounty Im actually pushing my RoI further. Does anyone know of a method suitable for testing usb-cables ? |
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I would once again like to urge more people who own cm1's to contribute to this bounty, you know there are a handfull of brillian individuals workin very hard at the moment to provide us a more efficient tool for earning. Most of you are allready benefitting from this. Im not saying it's only because of this bounty.. but Im fairly sure the pace things have been progressing for the last week or so has much to do with this bounty and as any well-informed virtual miner knows time is everything in this game.
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Where Im at now:
Makomk's 190mhs bitstream on all boards, two fgpa pairs only working at half the expected rate. For some ppl identifying which pair is failing has been as easy as unplugging the usb and checking what led stays on. For me they all stay on, so in order to flash a functioning bitstream to all fgpa-pairs I'd have to do a fairly annoying amount of flashing and seeing what works. Does anyone have any toughts on how I could identify the failing cores ?
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Regarding the Makomk's shortfin icarus 190mhs bitstream, things for me after the 14h testrun. Bounty terms and pledges.
These are the final terms:
1. We need to be able to upload the bitstream on to boards with an usb cable. Check.
2. The bitstream needs to achieve an average speed of 760Mhs/board. Reports of this not happening on some boards, lets wait for more reports on this. 719Mhs, I do have 2/16 cores in there that arent apparrentley working and I have the option of plugging in a slower bitstream to these fgpa pairs. In my opinnion a solution achieved via this is kind of touch and go in relation of the bounty terms. AND im not going to try it for now because asfar as I know the recommended "swap is if fail" bitstream (makomk's 160mhs) wont detect the boards in cgminer... correct if im wrong here.
3. The bitstream does not include any forced donation of hashingpower.
4. The bitstream needs to be able to run stable without manual intervention for 48 consecutive hours. Not there yet, but things are looking good.
5. Enterpoint's own bistream development is excluded from recieving the bounty, however if they deliver before anyone else does it closes the bounty.
6. The bistream needs to be open sourced and documented. Not yet.
7. Many people have pledged more, under very specific terms, I will not count those pledges in to the total in this post, just to keep things simple.
8. If the bistream is released before 31.8.12 (8-31-12 for confused Us-residents) there are signifigant additions to the bounty that will be listed in a separate total, ilnluding the entire bounty.
9. glasswalkers solution, even if released by enterpoint will qualify for the bounty if all other qualifications are met.
/ccc?key=0Au2jspuzErkedHhDSEt5aTVPcUNMMjg4STVnOWV3VkE#gid=0[/url]
This is my opinnion of the state of the bounty, imho the race is still on, but we do have a clear leader. |
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Regarding the Makomk's shortfin icarus 190mhs bitstream. Bounty terms and pledges.
These are the final terms:
1. We need to be able to upload the bitstream on to boards with an usb cable.
2. The bitstream needs to achieve an average speed of 760Mhs/board. Reports of this not happening on some boards, lets wait for more reports on this.
3. The bitstream does not include any forced donation of hashingpower.
4. The bitstream needs to be able to run stable without manual intervention for 48 consecutive hours. Were not there yet, waiting for more reports on this
5. Enterpoint's own bistream development is excluded from recieving the bounty, however if they deliver before anyone else does it closes the bounty.
6. The bistream needs to be open sourced and documented I dont see this being the case now.
7. Many people have pledged more, under very specific terms, I will not count those pledges in to the total in this post, just to keep things simple.
8. If the bistream is released before 31.8.12 (8-31-12 for confused Us-residents) there are signifigant additions to the bounty that will be listed in a separate total, ilnluding the entire bounty.
9. glasswalkers solution, even if released by enterpoint will qualify for the bounty if all other qualifications are met.
/ccc?key=0Au2jspuzErkedHhDSEt5aTVPcUNMMjg4STVnOWV3VkE#gid=0[/url]
This is my opinnion of the state of the bounty, imho the race is still on, but we do have a clear leader. |
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Makomks 160mhs bitstream ran on my 3 boards for 9,5h before failing, a board had dissapeared from device manager.
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makomk 160.bit on board #62-0008 gives a U: of 0.5 - 0.8 after an hour of hashing using cgminer 2.4.3 on linux.
I'm trying now to flash the 140 MH/s one to see if it is better.
spiccioli
You have the wrong one, the one you want (trust me) is: shortfin_icarus_cm1_test_160.bit |
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Looks like I can report succes on makomk's 160 bitstream, with cgminer 2.61 in windows 7 64-bit.
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There is no rollback from the glasswalker controller via usb. Not atleast with the current instructions.
On a slightly more positive note, Im currently flashing in the latest bitstream glasswalker pushed out and should have something to report in an hour or so.
You can go from 1.3 to 1.4, and 1.4 to 1.3 you just need to toggle SW1 3, and SW6 6. To go to 1.4 you just toggle sw6 6, and to go back I think I needed both toggled. Either way try a combo of the two toggles and it should work, I was able to go back to 1.3 using the normal usb cable but had to figure out the combination it wanted. I went and verified real fast, all you need is SW1 3 off, and SW6 all on and it should flash. Everything you mentioned has been tried, there is no way to get out of the glasswalker controller.The spiprog does not report a problem, but it finishes instantly, so I believe something is still going wrong. Yes, definetley it dosent say Erasing. Or programming nor do the dots .............. appear. Make sure when you plug your USB into your windows machine that the Device Loads correctly in device manager. You should see Under Universal Serial Bus Controllers Cairnsmore1 JTAG Cairnsmore1 PortA Cairnsmore1 PortB Cairnsmore1 SPI If any of those are missing or they have a warning Icon over them they wont work. Check your cable, and try differnt USB ports. Out of 8 ports I have when I log in to windows only 1 port works for the Cairnsmore1 so it took me a bit to find one it liked, no clue why but its a good reason why windows 7 frustrates me. All of that checked out every time, clueless as to where the issue was but it's resolved for now. Also Im using my most reliable port to test this (usb3 works for me fopr some reason) |
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There is no rollback from the glasswalker controller via usb. Not atleast with the current instructions.
On a slightly more positive note, Im currently flashing in the latest bitstream glasswalker pushed out and should have something to report in an hour or so.
You can go from 1.3 to 1.4, and 1.4 to 1.3 you just need to toggle SW1 3, and SW6 6. To go to 1.4 you just toggle sw6 6, and to go back I think I needed both toggled. Either way try a combo of the two toggles and it should work, I was able to go back to 1.3 using the normal usb cable but had to figure out the combination it wanted. I went and verified real fast, all you need is SW1 3 off, and SW6 all on and it should flash. Everything you mentioned has been tried, there is no way to get out of the glasswalker controller.The spiprog does not report a problem, but it finishes instantly, so I believe something is still going wrong. Yes, definetley it dosent say Erasing. Or programming nor do the dots .............. appear. [Edit] Attempt # 50ish and the flash goes trough without errors, I guess I just needed to cycle power ~10 times to luck out. Dipswitch settings: SW1 3 off, everything else on. |
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There is no rollback from the glasswalker controller via usb. Not atleast with the current instructions.
On a slightly more positive note, Im currently flashing in the latest bitstream glasswalker pushed out and should have something to report in an hour or so.
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