Linux mining distro for the Raspberry PI - MinePeon

[MineForeman.com]

Update: MinePeon 0.2.4.6 just hit sourceforge and you can get it at;-

http://sourceforge.net/projects/minepeon/files/latest/download?source=files

Because of the Apache 2.2 to 2.4 changes you will need to download and re-image (backup/restore if you want)

A short list of changes are;-

MinePeon 0.2.4.6 release notes

Cgminer 4.0.1
Bfgminer 3.10.0
Technobit HEX cgminer updated to 3.12.3 now supporting;-
hexminera hexminerc hexminerb hexmineru hexminer8
Plugins;- mariogrip's live plugin system implementated
Updates;- mariogrip Live update implemented
Arch Linux updated
CSRFGuard implemented to avoid CSRF attacks
Apache 2.4 replaces Apache 2.2
PHP moved to fastCGI
Design halt, reboot and restart little prettier
Languages mariogrip Languages implemented
Norwegian mariogrip implemented
Console Menu implemented for common functions (more to come)

Bug fixes:

• When saving pools, it says "failed to restart miner" but it did restart
  miner is not changing back to original pool
  Donate sleeps between disable and remove pool (makes more stable)
  miner is (sometimes) not changing to Donate pool.
  Switch pool not working
  Minepeon cannot access the api (miners)
  Not listing devices (bfgminer)
  ++
  

Enjoy!

Neil

=== Older Post ===

UPDATE: MinePeon 0.2.4 Release

Read more at MinePeon 0.2.4 Release

Joint the forums for support.

Neil

=== Original Post ===
Hi All,

For some time I have been working on building a lightweight Linux for the Raspberry PI in my spare time with the intention of making it freely available for all to use.  I am very experienced with Linux and have been running my own Arch Linux GPU miners for quite some time now so I have cleaned it up (a lot) ported it over to ARM for the Raspberry PI.

Anyway, it seems that ASICs might be available soon and I would like to have it ready for that but it is missing one exceedingly important ingredient, testing.  I have done as much testing as I possibly can but my resources are somewhat limited, while I have a tone of GPUs I don't own any FPGAs that I can test with (and I certainly aren't going to buy one now) so I thought I would come to the community and ask for a bit of help.

So, if you have a Raspberry PI and a FPGA (or even just a PI if you just want to CPU mine for testing purposes) and want to help it would be appreciated, it is still in what I would call early alpha but it should be usable.  I have had one CPU mining for over 300 hours now without interruption.

I am hosting the images over at SourceForge so you can grab it from here;-

https://sourceforge.net/projects/minepeon/files/release/

The Official site is a bit raw as of yet, I am no graphic artist, and very dyslexic (no joke, its why I got into computing in the first place) but it has a few instructions and tips that will hopefully help just about anyone get it going is avalable here;-

http://mineforeman.com/minepeon/

Thanks for any help you can offer, honestly even a report that you can understand the instructions and get a login prompt will help.  If you report issues here I will try to get back to you as soon as possible with fixes.

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[BenTuras]

I have a Raspi B with a Ztex board and will test your Linux this week.
One question: Do you know about the USB problems of the Raspi and have you checked the many forum threads about them, for example http://www.raspberrypi.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=12097 or https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=118669.0 ?

[MineForeman.com]

Do you know about the USB problems of the Raspi

Painfully aware.  It is my largest concern and the reason I need testers, I have given the ports absolute hell in testing and I have not been able to reproduce the problem.

My Kernel and build is significantly different then what they are using but without plugging in an FPGA who knows.  I actually have my cross compile tool chain ready to start to compile for a few different development boards but my first choice is the RasPI

Thanks for helping with the testing though!

[maxi75]

Testing with 4 BFL singles...

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4736/minepeon2.jpg

[MineForeman.com]

That looks encouraging.  Now we just have to wait till we see if the USB ports explode!

BTW: Can I use your screen shot?  I will blank out your username if you want (or give you full credit).

[maxi75]

One hour! And rasp is still alive

Nice statistics MineF!
http://www.webpagescreenshot.info/img/555279-1232013125807AM

This is setup, usb hub is not powered
http://img837.imageshack.us/img837/8246/rpi2.jpg

Ofc u can use everything I posted

[MineForeman.com]

I cannot take too much credit for the starts, they are part of cgminer api.

Nice set-up though .

[mokahless]

mineforeman.com, you are amazing. I will test the image on my pi if I get the time. I have no FPGAs but have no other use for my pi at the moment.

Edit: The image just BARELY doesn't fit on my 4GB kingston SD card. I look forward to testing when you release the 2GB version you mention on your site.

[MineForeman.com]

The image just BARELY doesn't fit on my 4GB kingston SD card. I look forward to testing when you release the 2GB version you mention on your site.

If your using Linux and dd to write your image it will probably still work just pop it in.  If your using Win32DiskImager I am not sure, did it write up until the point that it ran out of space?  If it did it should still go.  (I don't use the windows version all that much)

The partition table will be foobar in both cases, it will just have a bung development partition and you may have problems mounting it but its not needed for mining.

[BenTuras]

I got my Raspi with a Ztex 1.15x connected and I get "Found unknown ztex board" error. I am using a powered usb hub connected to the raspi. Logitech wireless usb dongle and ztex connected to the usb hub. This is the info I see with screen -r:

 cgminer version 2.10.4 - Started: [2013-01-23 20:11:44] CPU Algo: c
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (5s):128.6K (avg):128.1Kh/s | Q:39  A:0  R:0  HW:0  E:0%  U:0.0/m
 ST: 3  SS: 0  DW: 23  NB: 2  LW: 0  GF: 0  RF: 0  WU: 0.0
 Connected to none diff 1 with LP as user xxx
 Block: 03db2bf99a709eb4...  Diff:2.97M  Started: [20:13:05]  Best share: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [P]ool management ettings [D]isplay options [Q]uit
 CPU 0:                | 128.5K/128.1Kh/s | A:0 R:0 HW:0 U:0.00/m
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 [2013-01-23 20:11:43] Started cgminer 2.10.4
 [2013-01-23 20:11:43] Loaded configuration file /root/cgminer-fpga.conf
 [2013-01-23 20:11:43] Found unknown ztex board
 [2013-01-23 20:11:43] Probing for an alive pool
 [2013-01-23 20:11:44] Long-polling activated for http://mergedmining.btcguild.c
om:8332/LP/
 [2013-01-23 20:11:49] API running in local read access mode on port 4028
 [2013-01-23 20:13:01] LONGPOLL from pool 0 requested work restart
 [2013-01-23 20:13:05] LONGPOLL from pool 0 detected new block
 [2013-01-23 20:13:07] LONGPOLL from pool 0 requested work restart
 [2013-01-23 20:13:08] LONGPOLL from pool 0 requested work restart
 [2013-01-23 20:13:09] LONGPOLL from pool 0 requested work restart
 [2013-01-23 20:13:11] LONGPOLL from pool 0 requested work restart
 [2013-01-23 20:16:20] LONGPOLL from pool 0 requested work restart

:-(

[MineForeman.com]

Ztex 1.15x connected and I get "Found unknown ztex board" error

It might something to do with the libusb headers I am using (ZTEX & ModMiner boards both use libusb).  I am close to another release tonight with quite a few small improvements (Live updating with out having to download a full image being the biggest)  I will push it back and see if I can get that fixed.

The error is generated on line 170 of libztex.c so it is getting detected, just not identified correctly.  When is the late time you updated your firmware?

Thanks for the report, it really helps.

[maxi75]

Pi & 4 BFL singles running stable for 24h!
New record

Good job MineForeman!

[MineForeman.com]

Pi & 4 BFL singles running stable for 24h!

Excellent!!

Just going through the ZTEX & ModMiner stuff now, even if it was detected correctly it would not have worked;-

fpgautils.c:466:        _open_bitstream(path, "bitstreams");

I forgot to copy the firmware in place.  

[mokahless]

The image just BARELY doesn't fit on my 4GB kingston SD card. I look forward to testing when you release the 2GB version you mention on your site.

If your using Linux and dd to write your image it will probably still work just pop it in.  If your using Win32DiskImager I am not sure, did it write up until the point that it ran out of space?  If it did it should still go.  (I don't use the windows version all that much)

The partition table will be foobar in both cases, it will just have a bung development partition and you may have problems mounting it but its not needed for mining.

Sorry, should have mentioned more details. I was using win32 diskimager. It does not attempt to write anything and just lists the number of sectors required and the number of sectors on the SD card in the error message stating that there is not enough room on the disk (and the sectors required are just barely larger than the sectors on the SDcard).
Maybe if I get around to it I will boot one of my machines into linux.

[BenTuras]

I am close to another release tonight with quite a few small improvements (Live updating with out having to download a full image being the biggest)  I will push it back and see if I can get that fixed.

I will try the new image when it is available.

When is the late time you updated your firmware?

I updated the raspi before I swapped 'my' SDcard with 'yours'.

Thanks for the report, it really helps.

My pleasure 

[serp]

This looks promising

Seriously, thanks for doing the work here.  If this stabilizes the usb issues it will be great for miners.

[Morblias]

subscribing. I will test it out once I grab another SD card. Looks promising, appreciate it!

[Morblias]

Got it installed, just tested out CPU quick and it works great! I am a newb when it comes to linux, so I am confused on how to add software. First I tried sudo apt-get install and it said sudo: command not found, so I just tried apt-get install and it said apt-get: command not found. How do I go about installing stuff on Arch Linux?

[K1773R]

Got it installed, just tested out CPU quick and it works great! I am a newb when it comes to linux, so I am confused on how to add software. First I tried sudo apt-get install and it said sudo: command not found, so I just tried apt-get install and it said apt-get: command not found. How do I go about installing stuff on Arch Linux?

man pacman

[MineForeman.com]

Installing stuff?  Do;-

pacman -Syu

To update your repositories and install updates and then search for the package you want with;-

pacman -Ss <name of package you want>

Then install it with;-

pacman -S <name of package you want>

Can I ask what your installing?  If it is useful I had hoped that I had included it but if I have missed something I will include it next time (as long as it is not totally out of scope like X or an MP3 player).

In other news I am about a day or two away from another release that fixes a few things (hopefully ZTEX as well).

The next version will also includes a simple way to enter your pool details in the web interface (no more ssh or putty if you don't want to) and a simple update mechanism so you wont need to download the entire thing every time you do an update.