GekkoScience Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[Mikestang]

No, these devices are meant for hobbyists to have some fun. Not for profiting a FARM.

Well maybe not a Farm - like to make a living off of. But something enough so I'd have some extra cash.

I currently make 25 Cents per month at the current exchange rate and on one stick.

You'd make more going through the trash for aluminum cans.  You'd make much, much more pan handling at the end of a freeway off-ramp.  Perspective.

[ZedZedNova]

I currently make 25 Cents per month at the current exchange rate and on one stick.

Well, if that is the case, multiply $0.25 by the number of sticks to figure out your monthly income at this point in time. Be prepared for that income to never fully materialize, and in fact be a lot less than you think or expect. There are a lot of variables that are beyond your control and that affect your income from any miner.

Look at cost/GH and I think you'll quickly conclude that the stick miners are not particularly cost effective for earning lots of cash. They are great as a learning tool that might earn you a few cents if you mine long enough.

If you are serious about earning money with a miner you probably need to be looking at something like A Bitmain S7, S7-LN, or S9, or an Avalon A6, or an equivalent. Essentially current generation and last generation miners. I think that any miner made prior to that technology would need free electricity to have a chance at earning you money.

Cheers,

- zed

[AgentRuan]

Hey guys.
I'm very new to mining BitCoins, and I'm having some troubles with my new GekkoScience Stickminer.
I have read the thread and I have been getting very confused. I tried to follow the directions but am not getting any luck. I have tried both BFGMiner and CGMiner but I must be doing something wrong.
Can someone help me and go step by step through the process? I already have a worker in a BitCoin mining group, as well as a BitCoin wallet.
Thank you all so much for helping. I have tried my best but really seem to be stuck. Sorry for the dumb question.

[gt_addict]

Download the cgminer gekko version. Make sure you use zadig to change the drivers in Windows (if you are using Windows).

Then plug it in and it should work (if not u plug and try again). Mine run at 250freq no problem with the flat surface of the voltage adjustment perpendicular to the top edge of the stick (near the USB port).

[AgentRuan]

Download the cgminer gekko version. Make sure you use zadig to change the drivers in Windows (if you are using Windows).

Then plug it in and it should work (if not u plug and try again). Mine run at 250freq no problem with the flat surface of the voltage adjustment perpendicular to the top edge of the stick (near the USB port).

Thank you so much! Do you have a link to the CGMiner Gekko version? I can't seem to find it.
Once again, I really appreciate the help!

[gt_addict]

Download the cgminer gekko version. Make sure you use zadig to change the drivers in Windows (if you are using Windows).

Then plug it in and it should work (if not u plug and try again). Mine run at 250freq no problem with the flat surface of the voltage adjustment perpendicular to the top edge of the stick (near the USB port).

Thank you so much! Do you have a link to the CGMiner Gekko version? I can't seem to find it.
Once again, I really appreciate the help!

It's on page one of this thread  all the main info is there. It's not well signed posted though, about half way down the first post cgminer-gekko.tar.bz or something like that. It's a link 

[AgentRuan]

Download the cgminer gekko version. Make sure you use zadig to change the drivers in Windows (if you are using Windows).

Then plug it in and it should work (if not u plug and try again). Mine run at 250freq no problem with the flat surface of the voltage adjustment perpendicular to the top edge of the stick (near the USB port).

Thank you so much! Do you have a link to the CGMiner Gekko version? I can't seem to find it.
Once again, I really appreciate the help!

It's on page one of this thread   all the main info is there. It's not well signed posted though, about half way down the first post cgminer-gekko.tar.bz or something like that. It's a link  

Thank you so much!!! I have located the file and downloaded it
In regards to running it, do I just plug my GekkoMiner into my computer, create a .bat file in the main files, and run it? I use SlushPool.
In the bat files, do I just put in :

cgminer -o stratum+tcp://us-east.stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u AgentRuan.worker1 -p x

Then, I just run the .bat? Since it doesn't work. a message just pops up for a split second and closes itself.

[sidehack]

With very few exceptions, if you have a question that can't be answered by information in the first post, either you're not reading carefully enough, not understanding what you're reading, or the hardware itself is busted.

[AgentRuan]

With very few exceptions, if you have a question that can't be answered by information in the first post, either you're not reading carefully enough, not understanding what you're reading, or the hardware itself is busted.

I think I'll check the hardware. It's brand new but just in case
I followed the directions on the first post without success. I tried with BFGMiner as well as CGMiner.
I think one issue is that my computer isn't quite detecting the miner.

Actually, for the line of code that needs to be added to the .bat file, do I need to mention a voltage or something? Since it's currently just:
cgminer -o stratum+tcp://us-east.stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u AgentRuan.worker1 -p x

Thank you so much for the help Sorry for asking all these questions. I'm fairly new to this.

[sidehack]

From the first post:

=========
=How to Run=
=========

GekkoScience cgminer:

./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.mining.eligius.st:3334 -u 1BURGERAXHH6Yi6LRybRJK7ybEm5m5HwTr --compac-freq 150
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

==============
=Voltage Adjustment=
==============
In order to get the best performance out of your stickminer, you'll want to adjust voltage.  The compac does not support software voltage adjustment, it is actually a hardware setting.  Voltage is set by a small potentiometer (you'll see a screw which can be turned) right next to the USB jack.  Turning the screw clockwise increases voltage; counter-clockwise decreases it.

There is no voltage setting in the command line. There is a frequency setting.

[gt_addict]

You will need to set the freq in the bat file aswell.

--compac-freq 150

Would be a good place to start. If you want to go higher get a mains powered USB hub, a Y splitter cable (female end for the gekko, two males ends for two ports on the hub). That way the gekko will get enough power without burning out your USB port on your computer  

You can change the "150" to whatever number you want (the higher you go the more power it needs and you will need to adjust the voltage potentiometer on the stick itself), my gekko will go upto 300 on the setup I've got but is happy/stable at 250-260.

[AgentRuan]

From the first post:

=========
=How to Run=
=========

GekkoScience cgminer:

./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.mining.eligius.st:3334 -u 1BURGERAXHH6Yi6LRybRJK7ybEm5m5HwTr --compac-freq 150
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

==============
=Voltage Adjustment=
==============
In order to get the best performance out of your stickminer, you'll want to adjust voltage.  The compac does not support software voltage adjustment, it is actually a hardware setting.  Voltage is set by a small potentiometer (you'll see a screw which can be turned) right next to the USB jack.  Turning the screw clockwise increases voltage; counter-clockwise decreases it.

There is no voltage setting in the command line. There is a frequency setting.

Thank you so much for helping me
I'm fairly new to the world of BitCoin and I'm not exactly a computer whizz.
I have downloaded the gekkoscience.com/misc/cgminer-gekko.tar.gz file in the first original post, plugged in my GekkoScience stick, added a new word document to the file labelled start.bat, and saved the file. Inside the file is
./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://us-east.stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u AgentRuan.worker1 -p x --compac-freq 150
However, when I try to run it, the commandprompt-like thing pops up and disappears before i can read it.
Maybe my computer is failing to detect the USB?

[gt_addict]

Are you using a Windows computer or Linux based?

[AgentRuan]

Are you using a Windows computer or Linux based?

I'm using a Windows 8.1 MSI GP60 Laptop. Is the coding made for Linux?

[sidehack]

Copy the zlib dll from a stock Windows cgminer folder into the cgminer-gekko folder and try again. Assuming you've installed the libusb driver for the stick as well (probably via Zadig)?

[gt_addict]

The tar.bz file is for building it yourself (on raspi usually). You would need the zip file on the first page of the thread. Then do as sidehack has said and copy the zlib.dll file from the standard cgminer (in the mining software section of the forum). Copy that over to the gekko version, run zadig to change the drivers on the cp2102 uart controller to winusb, then run the bat file.

[AgentRuan]

The tar.bz file is for building it yourself (on raspi usually). You would need the zip file on the first page of the thread. Then do as sidehack has said and copy the zlib.dll file from the standard cgminer (in the mining software section of the forum). Copy that over to the gekko version, run zadig to change the drivers on the cp2102 uart controller to winusb, then run the bat file.

Sorry for sounding stupid... But... What's a zlib.dll file? I went through the files of the original CGMiner and the closest thing I found was a folder called lib...

[gt_addict]

It's in there trust me I had to do the same thing. Search every folder within the main cgminer (standard version) and copy it over to the gekko version.

[AgentRuan]

It's in there trust me I had to do the same thing. Search every folder within the main cgminer (standard version) and copy it over to the gekko version.

So, currently, what I have done so far is:
1. Plug in my new GekkoScience Compact BM1384 StickMiner into my powered USB 2.0 port of my MSI GP60 Laptop
2. Went to the first post and downloaded the gekkoscience.com/misc/cgminer-gekko.tar.gz file
3. Extracted the file onto my desktop
4. Got the original CGMiner and got the zlib.dll file and directly copied and pasted it into the file that's gekkoscience.com/misc/cgminer-gekko.tar.gz file
5. Opened the file and created a new word document within the file
6. typed in ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://us-east.stratum.bitcoin.cz:3333 -u AgentRuan.worker1 -p x --compac-freq 150
7. saved the file as start.bat as all documents
8. deleted the old, useless word document
9. Double clicked the bat filed labelled start.
10. The command prompt thing goes on and immediately disappears. At first, I didnt' know what it said until i took a screenshot, which says "." is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file

I'm hopeless at this, aren't I?

[cavaliersrus]

run your bat then unplug and plug in your usb sometimes that helps