BITMAIN AntRouter R1: 1st wireless networking device with bitcoin mining chip

[Mikestang]

here is how to setup your R1 for bridged wired to wifi mode.. please excuse any typos.

Thank you!  I only have rudimentary networking understanding, but if I understand bridging correctly this will allow you to use the R1 on an existing network with wifi to connect other devices that do not have wifi built in to said network, right?

The user mods are what is going to make this little toy worth using, too bad they didn't put an S7 chip and little fan in it so we could all get 30GH/s out of it instead of 5...

[xZork]

aarons6, thanks for the guide!  I got half way done with step 9, did a reset and now can't access the R1.

Going to do a reset and try again, not sure what I did wrong.

[notlist3d]

aarons6, thanks for the guide!  I got half way done with step 9, did a reset and now can't access the R1.

Going to do a reset and try again, not sure what I did wrong.

I agree aswell read through it a few times at this point.  Seems like solid guide. 

I should get my R1 tomorrow so hopefully I can test it out then.

[xZork]

Considering when these started shipping, it is amazing to see so many people already coming out with guides to manipulating these little bastards! Truly a great community.

[notlist3d]

Considering when these started shipping, it is amazing to see so many people already coming out with guides to manipulating these little bastards! Truly a great community.

It shows promise.  I'm not sure if Bitmain supports this kinda open project community or if they did not want to spend money to try to harden R1 where it could not be modded.  I kinda think we are lucky that they would have to spend time and money building and testing a more secure software on only allowing official firmware and such.    I hope this continues through all their products so far they have all been left pretty wide open for community.

And the price of a R1 compared to a big miner makes it a easy choice to mod.  I don't mind a brick of small money, a brick on a 1k miner I would loose a little sleep over.  This I would not.

So I'm excited to play with it hopefully tomorrow.

[xZork]

Has anyone been able to get the wifi to wifi bridge to work? My unit is inaccessible after this step...

at this point you will probably get kicked off the R1s IP it will display web page not available... because we just setup a new wifi and well it kind changed a few things internally.. you gotta just reboot it.

I do get kicked, on reboot it just hangs.

[aarons6]

im only using mine as a wired to wifi bridge too.. altho i have done it.. and i just redone it and it works.
i am talking with him over irc to see if there is something i did i didnt write down in the instructions..

one thing to note, using wifi to wifi bridge really taxes the cpu.. almost 100%
1204 root hostapd -P /var/run/wifi-phy0.pid -B /var/run/hostapd-phy0.conf 92% 3%

[ldp]

What is color of the LEDs ?  (Needed for the OpenWrt port)

[aarons6]

What is color of the LEDs ?  (Needed for the OpenWrt port)

green

[xZork]

MyAntRouter@bitmain.com is a special user ID which is combined with the Btimain's user ID of original buyer who bought this router from Bitmain directly

So what does this mean for group buys?   BITMAIN?!    


Does that make my user ID not valid?!

[CrazyGuy]

MyAntRouter@bitmain.com is a special user ID which is combined with the Btimain's user ID of original buyer who bought this router from Bitmain directly

So what does this mean for group buys?   BITMAIN?!    


Does that make my user ID not valid?!

I don't believe that's what they mean. Enter in your full email address that you use to log in to bitmain/antpool.

[aarons6]

ill just leave this here.. 

[RichBC]

Not the easiest box to get apart. There is no trick you just have to get a thin blade in the the join of the metal parts & prise it apart.

The case is the heatsink with thermal pads being pressed onto the top of the ASIC and also the copper areea on the rear of the PCB. The main rectifier diodes are also have pads.



Inside there are three tapered legs that support the main board and also are an interference fit in holes in the other part. You just have to apply enough force to get it apart. There is then a bit of joggling to get the USB connector clear of it's cut-out. It is easier to reassemble with the main board not on the pillars as the USB can then be positioned correctly before pushing it all together.

A few more pictures.









UART Connections are clearly marked.  




Rich

[notlist3d]

Not the easiest box to get apart. There is no trick you just have to get a thin blade in the the join of the metal parts & prise it apart.

The case is the heatsink with thermal pads being pressed onto the top of the ASIC and also the copper areea on the rear of the PCB. The main rectifier diodes are also have pads.

Thanks for taking one apart! It's great to see the inside of one I was wondering what it would be like.

Were you able to get it back together after?  And did it work find still after?

[RichBC]

Not the easiest box to get apart. There is no trick you just have to get a thin blade in the the join of the metal parts & prise it apart.

The case is the heatsink with thermal pads being pressed onto the top of the ASIC and also the copper areea on the rear of the PCB. The main rectifier diodes are also have pads.

Thanks for taking one apart! It's great to see the inside of one I was wondering what it would be like.

Were you able to get it back together after?  And did it work find still after?

Yes all went back ok, and is still working.   . Remove the main board from the tapered pillars, position correctly, USB in it's slot, over the holes that the pillars will go into, align the lid and press down.

Things to be careful of are not to pull the Antenna wire, it's just goes to one of those stick on ones in the plastic part of the case. Also watch the routing of the wire and make sure it's not under any of the thermal pads. Also make sure the little processor board is fully seated in it's socket, can easily come a little loose.

I have actually dissembled  it again and completely removed the case. Wired up to a Mains lead with a normal plug, connected a proper 2.4GHz antenna and am making some measurements.

Rich

[RichBC]

Just added up the cost of my R1. It's no fun buying stuff to import to the UK....

Antrouter      0.123BTC
UPS         0.084BTC

VAT         0.04BTC
UPS Handling Fee   0.06BTC

Total         0.307BTC

So $82 and nearly 3 x on the Router price... 


Has anyone taken a look at the Mining Statistics page?



I assume 110 is the number of different Routers that have connected to Antpool, it was 90ish Yesterday, less than I would have thought?

Anyone know what the Mining Record Highest Challenge and Mining Score mean? And as to the Utilization, was 0% Last Night then 100% this Morning?

Rich

[valkir]

Im still trying to figure out what all does that mean.
Still no point no where. Will like to have some answer from bitmain!

[Mikestang]

It'll be cool when someone solves a block with it.  Nice that the dashboard includes..."There are 0 miners dug 0 bitcoins".  So we'll know if someone wins the lottery.

It would be cool if someone solved a block with one.  The chances of solving a block at today's difficulty with only 5GH is essentially 0, however, so don't hold your breath!  And the difficulty is only going up from here...

Still, looks like another fun toy to tinker with.  I'll probably buy one.

[notlist3d]

It'll be cool when someone solves a block with it.  Nice that the dashboard includes..."There are 0 miners dug 0 bitcoins".  So we'll know if someone wins the lottery.

It would be cool if someone solved a block with one.  The chances of solving a block at today's difficulty with only 5GH is essentially 0, however, so don't hold your breath!  And the difficulty is only going up from here...

Still, looks like another fun toy to tinker with.  I'll probably buy one.

I think they will get a good amount of sales as a neat fun toy.   On ROI does not make a ton of sense on it's own.  If you use as a U3 controller it makes a good argument of saving money if you were using a PC.

So the U3 controller I actually see as one of it's biggest features.  I think it will help sell some U3's aswell.

[aarons6]

It'll be cool when someone solves a block with it.  Nice that the dashboard includes..."There are 0 miners dug 0 bitcoins".  So we'll know if someone wins the lottery.

It would be cool if someone solved a block with one.  The chances of solving a block at today's difficulty with only 5GH is essentially 0, however, so don't hold your breath!  And the difficulty is only going up from here...

Still, looks like another fun toy to tinker with.  I'll probably buy one.

I think they will get a good amount of sales as a neat fun toy.   On ROI does not make a ton of sense on it's own.  If you use as a U3 controller it makes a good argument of saving money if you were using a PC.

So the U3 controller I actually see as one of it's biggest features.  I think it will help sell some U3's aswell.

maybe if they turn the minimum amount down to 1.
unfortunately at 20 i dont see many people buying them. they will get them 2nd hand.