MK808 as mining station/controller for FPGA/ASICs, HW limitation

[zxyzxy]

Hello, just wanted to ask, how does one go about mining on MK 808? or MK802 II-III, does not really matter, the point is.. machine is without ethernet port.. i never tried this, is it even possible to mine without any difficulties using wi-fi? i read everywhere its not a good way to do things for obvious reasons.. subquestion to this,  what optimal internet speed/connection do i need to run things smoothly?
another question, would it work if i used usb hub and ethernet usb adapter? as the machine has only one USB port, has anyone successfully tried this?
and last, if i used usb hub for powering: 1. ethernet adapter; 2. FPGA/ASIC; 3. keyboard/mouse, would the energy distribution suffice for every connection to the hub or should i use powered hub? alternative, i could SSH my way in, so that would mean only ethernet adapter and FPGA/ASIC needs the power, which option should work or works for you?

Thanks.

[ice_chill]

You need Windows or proper Linux to run the mining software, isn't the PC you mentioned Android ?

[crazyates]

I just got my MK802 II in the mail 2 days ago, and an 8GB uSD card (to flash linux onto) and a 10 port powered USB hub will be here both within a few days. You cannot go wrong with a powered hub, esp if you plan on using keyboard/mouse/ethernet adapter. I plan on powering the MK802 off the powered USB hub, booting into Linux, and running CGMiner on any devices on the hub. I've only got 1 Single to test it on, but I've got several ASICs on pre-order. I don't expect network traffic to be an issue, even over wifi, as the newest CGMiner, stratum.ozco.in, and vardiff makes network traffic pretty very tiny, and best of all independent of hashrate. I'll update this thread later this week with any results, good or bad.

Side note: I don't expect it to be any different than running on a Rpi. The main difference is that this includes wifi out of the box, rather than an ethernet port. Rpi ran into stability issues that can be corrected if you know what you're doing, and I'm planning on running into at least SOME type of setback. I'm hoping I don't, but that's just being a little optimistic.

[Clearfly]

Just got my UG802 (Dual core, bigger ram version of the MK802).
Planning on the same thing, booting with Linux Ubuntu to run minning setup.

This port of Ubuntu (still a work in progress) looks like it will do the trick:
github.com/AndrewDB/rk3066-kernel

Thread on its development:
http://www.slatedroid.com/topic/40717-ubuntu-linux-for-the-ug802/



For your MK802 you can boot with this kernel:
http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000/mele_ubuntu_image/

Instructions here:
http://liliputing.com/2012/06/how-to-run-ubuntu-linux-on-the-mk802-74-pc-on-a-stick.html

[crazyates]

There are a number of Linux builds for the 802. Here's a quick list: http://liliputing.com/2012/07/linux-distributions-that-can-run-on-an-mk802-mini-pc.html

I choose this one, as it's supposed to be pretty fast, as its built with armhf: https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/2/topics/82 EDIT: I could not get the wifi to work.
My second choice would be this one, as it's packaged by Rikomagic themselves: http://rikomagic.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90 EDIT: This one has some wifi improvements, and works great.

The second image is much larger (1.5GB vs 180MB), requires an 8GB uSD card rather than a 4GB, and has some really big issues downloading properly. You'll have to use downthemall or something that can resume a partial download. Once it is installed, everything works, and actually comes with a lot more apps included than the first image.

Neither fully support the internal GPU for acceleration, but I don't care about that, if it's just for mining. As long as the wifi and USB are 100% stable, I'm happy.

[zxyzxy]

thanks for all the usefull links! i heard some builds have problems with the wifi, so i am glad that some others are working good. i would be very interested in knowing if the wifi is satisfactory for mining, thanks in advance!

[zxyzxy]

btw UG802 has the same size 1GB DDR3 memory as MK802-808?

[crazyates]

There are a number of Linux builds for the 802. Here's a quick list: http://liliputing.com/2012/07/linux-distributions-that-can-run-on-an-mk802-mini-pc.html

I choose this one, as it's supposed to be pretty fast, as its built with armhf: https://www.miniand.com/forums/forums/2/topics/82
My second choice would be this one, as it's packaged by Rikomagic themselves: http://rikomagic.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90

Neither fully support the internal GPU for acceleration, but I don't care about that, if it's just for mining. As long as the wifi and USB are 100% stable, I'm happy.

So I got my 8GB uSD card in the mail today, and tried the 12.06 with armhf, and couldn't get the wifi to work. So I tried the 12.04 by Rikomagic, and got the wifi to work on that one.

I downloaded all the CGMiner dependencies, and compiled CGMiner. It's really finicky trying to get it started with my unpowered, El Cheapo USB hub, but it is mining on my BFL Single. Success! Once it's mining, it seems stable, but its only been like 20 minutes. I'll swap it over to a powered 10 port hub as soon as it comes in the mail, and then I'll test it for long term stability. After that, its just setting CGMiner to run on startup, and setting up remote login.

[Clearfly]

btw UG802 has the same size 1GB DDR3 memory as MK802-808?

MK802 had 512Mb Ram, MK802 II has 1GB Ram (both have Single Core CPU) correct me if i'm wrong.

UG802 1GB Ram, and Dual Core CPU.

Glad you got it working crazy, will try this weekend when i get my microSD card, tried standard 8Gb SD card in USB reader but it wouldn't boot off it.

[crazyates]

btw UG802 has the same size 1GB DDR3 memory as MK802-808?

MK802 had 512Mb Ram, MK802 II has 1GB Ram (both have Single Core CPU) correct me if i'm wrong.

UG802 1GB Ram, and Dual Core CPU.

Glad you got it working crazy, will try this weekend when i get my microSD card, tried standard 8Gb SD card in USB reader but it wouldn't boot off it.

The MK802 had 512MB of RAM. The MK802+ upgraded that to 1GB of RAM. The MK802 II still had the same chipset and 1GB of RAM, but overall was a slight board redesign that added some power and ESD protection, as well as improved HDMI, WIFI, and extra USB ports.

Edit: See my MK802 II in action here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7216.msg1376515#msg1376515