Raspberry Pi alternatives that can run multiple BFL singles, ASICs ?

[CrazyGuy]

Since the Raspberry Pi's USB issues prevent it from running even one single reliably, are there any alternatives around 60-85 dollars that people are using for mining? The Mele A1000 and MK802 look promising but I'd like to know if anyone is using them before I purchase and give it a try. 

If the quest is hopeless I may just spring for a book sized atom based machine like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856205007

[dooferorg]

Atom MiniITX systems are awesome. You can put together a reasonable system pretty cheaply.

Beware the Atoms newer than the D510 and D525 don't work with any 64-bit OS, which is all I've installed for the last few years on any system. Facepalm why Intel disabled 64-bit on the newer Atoms 

I personally would make my own (since tiny/whiny fans honk me off) and by doing it yourself you can make better choices on the case, fans and PSU. Google 'picoPSU' for a silent power supply too Get a powered USB hub and you're set.

[logansryche]

or try here http://www.mini-itx.com
Their usualy pretty cheap and some come with the cpu and memory already installed.
Just a thought to an alternative.

[crazyates]

I don't know of too many systems that you can get for under $100 that arn't used, but MiniITX and are the direction you want to be looking. HTPCs are pretty famous for being low power and quiet.

However, why spend upwards of $100 just to buy a raspi, when you could just take any old laptop and run your ASICs? You can literally take any Dell laptop and mine on as many USB ports as you can get for dirt cheap.

[SLok]

Bought a used netbook with an ssd, with the screen off it uses maybe 20 watt max. It is on for a week now, mostly doing nothing, as a sort of stability test.

[CrazyGuy]

I ended up repurposing an old dell pentium D workstation. I suspect it will use up around 120 watts. I was really looking to get my controller's energy consumption as low as possible.

[Phraust]

I'm using a seat gate dockstar with arch Linux.  Works fine hosting 5 FPGA singles and it draws about 5 watts on its own.

I've pulled it from it's case and have it set up in a small otter box with a little external USB drive.  No wireless, though I imagine most Linux capable USB dongles would work pretty well.  I think I bought it for like $50.

[wogaut]

Since the Raspberry Pi's USB issues prevent it from running even one single reliably, are there any alternatives around 60-85 dollars that people are using for mining? The Mele A1000 and MK802 look promising but I'd like to know if anyone is using them before I purchase and give it a try.  

If the quest is hopeless I may just spring for a book sized atom based machine like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856205007

Not correct, depending on HW/SW details. I used to have issues with the older Linux distro and some older cgminer too (I have a 256MB RPi)
After updating its system and cgminer, I am running it with a BFL Single for close to 2 months now without ever needing to touch it.

With regard to multiple Singles, it depends on the specific USB hub.

[crazyates]

I ended up repurposing an old dell pentium D workstation. I suspect it will use up around 120 watts. I was really looking to get my controller's energy consumption as low as possible.

I'd try everything you can to get the power consumption lower, and you could potentially get to half of that. Disable hardware (firewire, sound, etc) in the BIOS, unplug DVD drives and hard drives, use a USB drive to boot from, and only use like one case fan.

[Chalkbot]

I'm using a seat gate dockstar with arch Linux.  Works fine hosting 5 FPGA singles and it draws about 5 watts on its own.

I've pulled it from it's case and have it set up in a small otter box with a little external USB drive.  No wireless, though I imagine most Linux capable USB dongles would work pretty well.  I think I bought it for like $50.

Phraust,

I'm curious about this setup. Isn't the Seagate Dockstar just a hard drive network adapter? How do you configure it to run an OS? Do you have any pictures of your setup? Would appreciate any more info you could provide.

Thanks.

[CrazyGuy]

Since the Raspberry Pi's USB issues prevent it from running even one single reliably, are there any alternatives around 60-85 dollars that people are using for mining? The Mele A1000 and MK802 look promising but I'd like to know if anyone is using them before I purchase and give it a try.  

If the quest is hopeless I may just spring for a book sized atom based machine like this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856205007

Not correct, depending on HW/SW details. I used to have issues with the older Linux distro and some older cgminer too (I have a 256MB RPi)
After updating its system and cgminer, I am running it with a BFL Single for close to 2 months now without ever needing to touch it.

With regard to multiple Singles, it depends on the specific USB hub.

I've got the 512mb pi with latest distro, firmware, and 2.9.1 cgminer, what are you using?

[wogaut]

256MB version
RPi Firmware: 330751 (release)
Linux raspberrypi 3.1.9+ #272 (Aug 7 2012) "wheezy"
ckolivas-cgminer-v2.7.5-0-gba01226.zip

Also, I have the RPi Linux updated from online depositories in mid October September

[Phraust]

Phraust,

I'm curious about this setup. Isn't the Seagate Dockstar just a hard drive network adapter? How do you configure it to run an OS? Do you have any pictures of your setup? Would appreciate any more info you could provide.

Thanks.

It was originally intended to be a NAS server, but someone figured out how to get linux on it.  It's pretty decent for basic stuff...  I run a small webserver, a znc server, have hosted up to 10 singles on it (using both cgminer and bfgminer), and even compiled and run bitcoind on it (though it took a day and a half to compile, and everything drags to a crawl when it was running).  There is a tutorial for setting up arch on it, though there might be other distros that can work as well.

Here is a photo of it in it's case:



I haven't put any holes in it yet, still thinking what the best way to do that would be, but I cobbled together a USB cable to handle the hard drive.

Here is an old pic of it running a couple singles (5 i think).  Oh, and instead of using the 120 GB USB hard drive/enclosure, it was just running off a 16 GB thumbdrive:



I bought it to goof around with, and it's actually tuned out to be a pretty useful device.  Looking forward to seeing if it can handle the ASICs...

[crazyates]

Phraust,

I'm curious about this setup. Isn't the Seagate Dockstar just a hard drive network adapter? How do you configure it to run an OS? Do you have any pictures of your setup? Would appreciate any more info you could provide.

Thanks.

It was originally intended to be a NAS server, but someone figured out how to get linux on it.  It's pretty decent for basic stuff...  I run a small webserver, a znc server, have hosted up to 10 singles on it (using both cgminer and bfgminer), and even compiled and run bitcoind on it (though it took a day and a half to compile, and everything drags to a crawl when it was running).  There is a tutorial for setting up arch on it, though there might be other distros that can work as well.

Here is a photo of it in it's case:

https://i.imgur.com/ZnRz1.jpg?1

I haven't put any holes in it yet, still thinking what the best way to do that would be, but I cobbled together a USB cable to handle the hard drive.

Here is an old pic of it running a couple singles (5 i think).  Oh, and instead of using the 120 GB USB hard drive/enclosure, it was just running off a 16 GB thumbdrive:

https://i.imgur.com/XSQso.jpg

I bought it to goof around with, and it's actually tuned out to be a pretty useful device.  Looking forward to seeing if it can handle the ASICs...

That's wicked boss. I kinda want one now!

[Chalkbot]

That's wicked boss. I kinda want one now!

Indeed! Thanks for sharing. Someone could probably turn a profit preconfiguring these things as mining controllers. 5W is amazingly low.

[Cablez]

If it could run at least 5 ASICs I would definitely buy one!

[crazyates]

Looks like they're about $40-60 on ebay. I might get one to try it out! Of if someone wants to sell me one for BTC, I might be interested.

[CrazyGuy]

Thanks for sharing Phraust. I think my Dad has one of these lying around, may have to commondere it.

[BitSyncom]

TP-Link 703n, about $25-30. runs openWRT, hook it up to a USB-hub and go.

[Cablez]

What mining software do you guys use for such a small system?  I'm looking at cgminer but on my main rig its fairly CPU intensive.