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

[zxyzxy]

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/12/raspberry-pi-laptop/ this is kinda great

[allinvain]

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?

Have you had any "comm" errors with your current setup. I've been having some woes with cgminer with multiple bfl singles. You can find some more details here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=128789.60

So far I've been forced to switch to bfgminer 2.10.2. Not sure if this will work reliably for the long term, so I too may be forced to go the netbook route or some sort of atom/mini itx type of solution.

[ewibit]

Regarding power consumption, I did some research and here's what I found from various Interwebs sources:

Raspberry Pi Model B: 3.5 Watts (Wikipedia)
BeagleBone:              1.5 @idle, 2.5 @peak during boot (BeagleBone reference manual PDF)
MK802:                    3 Watts peak (Couldn't find definitive source. This from http://romanrm.ru/en/a10/mk802-server)

would be nice to know on which devices it is possible to install Linux (e.g. Ubuntu on http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rikomagic-MK802-IIIS-Mini-PC-Blue-Tooth-Mobile-Remote-Control-STB-box-RK3066Cortex-A9-1GB-RAM/708073648.html)

[RaTTuS]

Regarding power consumption, I did some research and here's what I found from various Interwebs sources:

Raspberry Pi Model B: 3.5 Watts (Wikipedia)
BeagleBone:              1.5 @idle, 2.5 @peak during boot (BeagleBone reference manual PDF)
MK802:                    3 Watts peak (Couldn't find definitive source. This from http://romanrm.ru/en/a10/mk802-server)

would be nice to know on which devices it is possible to install Linux (e.g. Ubuntu on http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Rikomagic-MK802-IIIS-Mini-PC-Blue-Tooth-Mobile-Remote-Control-STB-box-RK3066Cortex-A9-1GB-RAM/708073648.html)

well the Raspberry will not run ubuntu but it will run debian and the 3.5w is basically when it is running at full tilt
the model A [coming next month ? maybe] will be less power but will not have network and only 1 USB -
the MK802 will run Ubuntu - and it is about that wattage - though my RPi is more stable than the MK802 over long periods

[stevegee58]

The BeagleBone comes with Angstrom Linux but I've had it running Ubuntu as well.

[crazyates]

the MK802 will run Ubuntu - and it is about that wattage - though my RPi is more stable than the MK802 over long periods

My MK802 II that has been running for weeks on end with no issues wants to disagree with you, but he can be a little feisty, so I'm posting on his behalf. Some versions of Ubuntu are more stable than others, but I've found one that's rock solid on my device.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7216.msg1376515#msg1376515

I just checked, and it's been running my Single for over 2 weeks with no crashes, hiccups, or anything. And this is over wifi, powering the device off the powered USB hub that it's then controlling.

[ewibit]

MK802:                    3 Watts peak (Couldn't find definitive source. This from http://romanrm.ru/en/a10/mk802-server)

ist this (nearly) the same with another branding?
http://www.pearl.de/product.jsp?pdid=PX1345&catid=1602&vid=932&curr=ATS&wa_id=995&wa_num=4067
TIA

[Carlton Banks]

Not seen a mention of these boards: http://www.hardkernel.com

The only bad thing about these things is that the site doesn't accept BTC. Otherwise, they sound fantastic: 2GB of RAM and 6 USB connectors kind of sold it for me. And it's using the Samsung Exynos SOC, so it should have plenty of CPU (and RAM) left over for other stuff. From the complaints I hear from people using these mini-boards, stale shares and reliability are not an insignificant problem. I'd love to hear some first hand experience of the latter with an Odroid offering (I reckon the CPU and RAM should solve the stales issue). I may even dip my toe myself, but not until they appear on Bitmit or something.

I ordered the U2 last week and I also just got a Pi I'll do a comparison assuming if and when I ever get a couple of asic's to to run on them.

Cool, I'd love to hear how well that ODROID thing performs in general too. With 4 1.7 GHz cores, 2GB RAM and a 450 MHz GPU, it'd surely be in contention for doing a pretty good job as a dedicated HTPC, or maybe a webcam node. And if it did can do the job of acting as a controller for at least one ASIC device, it could be a good solution for a rig with multiple ASICs (I'm thinking to cut down on single points of failure; having a capable mini-ITX PC controlling all your boards is all well and good, until it breaks and you've got thousands worth of mining boards sitting around waiting for the replacement to be delivered).

Let us all know which model you got too, the ODROID-U2 or the ODROID-X2

[Bigal]

Well it finally came yesterday after a couple of e-mails and a couple of phone calls with fedex apparently the description wasn't good enough on the shipping papers and it was on some kind of FCC hold in customs and I needed to fill out some form which I didn't have a clue of some of the info needed I just told the guy on the phone it was a mini LED controller and he said no problem and released it right away.

I haven't messed with it too much yet but this is blazingly fast compared to the pi, running the modified Linaro Ubuntu 12.11 from a 16gb eMMC module it boots to the desktop in less than 15 seconds and it's snappiness rivals my desktop with a ssd drive in it now I'm sure it won't be quite as fast if it was running from a micro sd card. They are still working out some kinks in the image and the gpu drivers aren't enabled in ubuntu yet and the hdmi out has terrible overscan on my tv but I'm sure it will get straighten out soon and there are some things I haven't tried yet to fix it.

I did build the latest cgminer just to test out the cpu quickly and it gets ~500khs per core so ~2Mhs total for the 4 cores now that's with the current performance profile they have set in the latest ubuntu image which clocks the cpu to ~2Ghz I forgot to put the watt meter on it to see what it reads but I'll do that next time I remember to do so.

Anyway here are a couple of pics of it next to a raspberry pi and a arduino uno for size comparisons, it's really quite small!

[crazyates]

Well it finally came yesterday after a couple of e-mails and a couple of phone calls with fedex apparently the description wasn't good enough on the shipping papers and it was on some kind of FCC hold in customs and I needed to fill out some form which I didn't have a clue of some of the info needed I just told the guy on the phone it was a mini LED controller and he said no problem and released it right away.

I haven't messed with it too much yet but this is blazingly fast compared to the pi, running the modified Linaro Ubuntu 12.11 from a 16gb eMMC module it boots to the desktop in less than 15 seconds and it's snappiness rivals my desktop with a ssd drive in it now I'm sure it won't be quite as fast if it was running from a micro sd card. They are still working out some kinks in the image and the gpu drivers aren't enabled in ubuntu yet and the hdmi out has terrible overscan on my tv but I'm sure it will get straighten out soon and there are some things I haven't tried yet to fix it.

I did build the latest cgminer just to test out the cpu quickly and it gets ~500khs per core so ~2Mhs total for the 4 cores now that's with the current performance profile they have set in the latest ubuntu image which clocks the cpu to ~2Ghz I forgot to put the watt meter on it to see what it reads but I'll do that next time I remember to do so.

Anyway here are a couple of pics of it next to a raspberry pi and a arduino uno for size comparisons, it's really quite small!

Which one is that, the U2? Is that this one http://dx.com/p/u2-mini-android-4-0-network-multi-media-player-w-wi-fi-hdmi-tf-black-4gb-ddr-iii-1gb-145864? ? I might have to pick one up for $20!

Apparently you meant a different U2. This is the correct one: http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php

[Carlton Banks]

Well it finally came yesterday after a couple of e-mails and a couple of phone calls with fedex apparently the description wasn't good enough on the shipping papers and it was on some kind of FCC hold in customs and I needed to fill out some form which I didn't have a clue of some of the info needed I just told the guy on the phone it was a mini LED controller and he said no problem and released it right away.

I haven't messed with it too much yet but this is blazingly fast compared to the pi, running the modified Linaro Ubuntu 12.11 from a 16gb eMMC module it boots to the desktop in less than 15 seconds and it's snappiness rivals my desktop with a ssd drive in it now I'm sure it won't be quite as fast if it was running from a micro sd card. They are still working out some kinks in the image and the gpu drivers aren't enabled in ubuntu yet and the hdmi out has terrible overscan on my tv but I'm sure it will get straighten out soon and there are some things I haven't tried yet to fix it.

I did build the latest cgminer just to test out the cpu quickly and it gets ~500khs per core so ~2Mhs total for the 4 cores now that's with the current performance profile they have set in the latest ubuntu image which clocks the cpu to ~2Ghz I forgot to put the watt meter on it to see what it reads but I'll do that next time I remember to do so.

Anyway here are a couple of pics of it next to a raspberry pi and a arduino uno for size comparisons, it's really quite small!

Sorry, didn't read properly, you did say U2 in the first place. That sounds like it's living up to the manufacturers performance claims, so that's something at least. That thing's so small that I'd be surprised if some pretty clever household applications of it don't pop up soon, whether it's capable of being a good mining controller or not (I'd be very pleased to hear that it can though, I'd love to help support this little company if possible)

[witherworth]

http://www.wired.com/design/2012/12/raspberry-pi-laptop/ this is kinda great

That's pretty hot... I've considered getting a 3D printer for a while to be able to build a case for my RPI. Ultimately I decided it wasn't worth the several hundred/thousands of dollars for the printer. Although, I know I could find plenty of other uses for the printer than just the case, but maybe later...

[YipYip]

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.

+1

[crazyates]

So the Avalon uses a TL-WR703N. Those can be had for $25 all day long. Any tried to grab one, reflash the newest CGMiner 3.1.1, and see if it works with other FPGAs or ASICs? Could be a nice, cheap alternative?

[Luke-Jr]

So the Avalon uses a TL-WR703N. Those can be had for $25 all day long. Any tried to grab one, reflash the newest CGMiner 3.1.1, and see if it works with other FPGAs or ASICs? Could be a nice, cheap alternative?

Avalon uses a modified WR703N, and even then it performs poorly enough to create practical issues in some cases (pools have to implement workaround hacks).
Additionally, due to the limited flash size (4 MB), you can only install pre-compressed and unchangable firmwares on it, with little breathing room for things like FPGA bitstreams (some of which are over 4 MB themselves!).

[crazyates]

So the Avalon uses a TL-WR703N. Those can be had for $25 all day long. Any tried to grab one, reflash the newest CGMiner 3.1.1, and see if it works with other FPGAs or ASICs? Could be a nice, cheap alternative?

Avalon uses a modified WR703N, and even then it performs poorly enough to create practical issues in some cases (pools have to implement workaround hacks).
Additionally, due to the limited flash size (4 MB), you can only install pre-compressed and unchangable firmwares on it, with little breathing room for things like FPGA bitstreams (some of which are over 4 MB themselves!).

Yep I was just looking at the fact that they doubled the RAM, for one thing. I'm not as concerned about FPGAs and their bitstreams,as I'm mostly looking for something that can work with ASICs. I've had good luck with the MK802II, but I was looking for something that's even cheaper.

[Luke-Jr]

So the Avalon uses a TL-WR703N. Those can be had for $25 all day long. Any tried to grab one, reflash the newest CGMiner 3.1.1, and see if it works with other FPGAs or ASICs? Could be a nice, cheap alternative?

Avalon uses a modified WR703N, and even then it performs poorly enough to create practical issues in some cases (pools have to implement workaround hacks).
Additionally, due to the limited flash size (4 MB), you can only install pre-compressed and unchangable firmwares on it, with little breathing room for things like FPGA bitstreams (some of which are over 4 MB themselves!).

Yep I was just looking at the fact that they doubled the RAM, for one thing. I'm not as concerned about FPGAs and their bitstreams,as I'm mostly looking for something that can work with ASICs. I've had good luck with the MK802II, but I was looking for something that's even cheaper.

Well, you did ask about FPGAs :p

Still, if it were me, I'd want something with enough flash that I can just do a standard OpenWrt install and do opkg upgrade whenever there's a new version, rather than have to fiddle with firmware updates (downtime) which could more easily brick things (more downtime).