GekkoScience 2Pac/Compac BM1384 Stickminer Official Support Thread

[DKirk]

Well there's your problem. You're trying to pull a full amp through the port and the Pi doesn't like it. That's why basically everyone uses a powered hub.

It's odd that it has worked for a month, but is getting flakey now.
I down-speed to 100 and it's working much better.
Thanks

Your issue will likely go away if you use a powered hub. I had similar problems using a cheap POS "powered" hub until I did some troubleshooting and found it was actually pulling the majority of power from my Pi. Up until then it would randomly crash... Now that I have an actual powered hub the problem has gone away. It's not expensive to get a Plugable hub off amazon, like $30.

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[ricknamer]

Well there's your problem. You're trying to pull a full amp through the port and the Pi doesn't like it. That's why basically everyone uses a powered hub.

It's odd that it has worked for a month, but is getting flakey now.
I down-speed to 100 and it's working much better.
Thanks

Your issue will likely go away if you use a powered hub. I had similar problems using a cheap POS "powered" hub until I did some troubleshooting and found it was actually pulling the majority of power from my Pi. Up until then it would randomly crash... Now that I have an actual powered hub the problem has gone away. It's not expensive to get a Plugable hub off amazon, like $30.

Agreed - this is a great little USB hub - can easily handle 3 overclocked sticks.

[chiwalfrm]

What are you guys mining with these USB stickminers?  They don't appear to make anything on Bitcoin due to low hash rate, am I right?  I see these sold on HolyBitcoin.com for $65.  A Bitmain Antminer S9 sells for $1415 or roughly 21.77x more.

Assume you buy 22 of these to equal the S9's price, that's 11 GH/sec times 22 = 242 GH/sec, compared with the S9's 11.5-14 TH/sec.  So Hashpower per dollar isn't competitive.  Just wondering what coins can be mined with these?  I like the concept a lot since it is silent compared with a regular Antminer.

Thank you for any information.

[DKirk]

What are you guys mining with these USB stickminers?  They don't appear to make anything on Bitcoin due to low hash rate, am I right?  I see these sold on HolyBitcoin.com for $65.  A Bitmain Antminer S9 sells for $1415 or roughly 21.77x more.

Assume you buy 22 of these to equal the S9's price, that's 11 GH/sec times 22 = 242 GH/sec, compared with the S9's 11.5-14 TH/sec.  So Hashpower per dollar isn't competitive.  Just wondering what coins can be mined with these?  I like the concept a lot since it is silent compared with a regular Antminer.

Thank you for any information.

I started out with these sticks but I got smart and ran the numbers just like you pointed out. If you want to actually earn Bitcoin it makes more sense to buy any used Antminer out there as far as I can tell. I think it appeals to people with limited space who see this more as a hobby than serious investment, but could be wrong. Just wait though until Sidehack comes out with his pod and then the numbers might shift the other way...

[sunk818]

Just wondering what coins can be mined with these?  I like the concept a lot since it is silent compared with a regular Antminer.

You can buy used Antminer S5 for $150 USD. 1 Terahash: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Newest-BTC-miner-Antminer-S5-speed-1200G-28NM-BM1384-Bitcoin-Miner-ASIC-miner-better-than-avalon/32259519981.html

what can you mine with a Gekko 2Pac? Any SHA256 coin. I make about $0.01 per day per 2Pac stick. I expect to recover my investment in about 50 years assuming I continue to make a penny a day, there's no inflation, and electricity is free.

Just wait though until Sidehack comes out with his pod and then the numbers might shift the other way...

I wish someone would come out with a x11 USB ASIC. Then I'd have an ASIC for all algorithms on multipool.us!

[der_wasi]

I´m running 2 sticks at 250 MHz making currently 0,12 $ a day. Power costs are about 0,2 to 0,25 $ a day.
I think the most people here do this as a hobby.
But I´m thinking about doing some cloud mining. If the bitcoin price rises any further it is a good investment. My pool offers a lifetime contract with a one time price and daily fees. At the current bitcoin price it´s even after 200 days. And after that it´s lifetime earnings as long as it´s profitable (profit > daily fees).

[NoComply]

My 2Pac has been running well for several months. However, lately it has started to mis-behave.
It will run for 1-2 minutes, and then disappear. It requires me to unplug the USB port and re-plug it back into a different port in order for it to get recognized again.
Plugging into the same port does not cause the 2Pac to be seen, it must be into a different port.

If one port is unusable, how do you make it usable again? I assume it´s a hub? Do you power it off? Or restart the system?

Im running on a RPI3, so it has 4 USB ports.
All I do is stop cgminer with a ^C, unplug and replug into a different port and restart cgminer.
No reboot or power cycle needed.

Not related to your problem but thought I'd mention that its possible to 'reset' the USB ports via the command line without replugging. I don't have it to hand but it's mentioned over on the Pi forums with some discussion and pictures of different cmds to reset different ports. Off the top of my head you can reset 2 ports at a time (top pair or bottom pair) or all 4 at once. Quite handy for remote management.

[Baliw]

Consider wear and tear, an average lifetime of this stick would be?

[sidehack]

Depends a lot on your "wear and tear". Stock settings, adequate cooling - could be years. High overclock and no fan - days, maybe hours.

[sunk818]

I´m running 2 sticks at 250 MHz making currently 0,12 $ a day.

What are you mining if you don't me asking. I'm making $0.01 a day at 20 GH/s

[sunk818]

Not related to your problem but thought I'd mention that its possible to 'reset' the USB ports via the command line without replugging. I don't have it to hand but it's mentioned over on the Pi forums with some discussion and pictures of different cmds to reset different ports. Off the top of my head you can reset 2 ports at a time (top pair or bottom pair) or all 4 at once. Quite handy for remote management.

This let me a rabbit hole, but found a tool called devcon.exe that Microsoft puts out. In theory, you can restart USB controllers or USB devices. I had cgminer running and 2Pac would not restart (as it was being used). I've had better luck restarting 2Pac after I quit cgminer, restart the USB devices via devcon.exe (devcon.exe restart *PID_EA60*) , then restart cgminer. Put in a batch file loop. Your mileage may vary... Otherwise, I'm going back to USB HuB with hard power switch and a power timer that will turn off USB HUB every hour.

[der_wasi]

What are you mining if you don't me asking. I'm making $0.01 a day at 20 GH/s

I´m mining with a total average of 55 GH/s with my two sticks. My pool is the bitcoin.com pool.

[mradentz]

Greetings.

Has anyone successfully compiled the vthong/cgminer for these really cool looking sticks (thanks in advance vh/sidehack!!!) on OS X (Sierra 10.12.6) lately and its working for you?

Here's my situation:

- 1 2pac on on ANKER 5v hub.
- Total String voltage set @ ~1.47v. -  double...  triple...  every try (you know what they say about insanity, right?)...  voltage checked.
- compiled vthong/cgminer from git using all instructions provided throughout this thread, the various README texts & the ckolivas/cgminer thread using autotools build process as well as trying the ./configure, make, make install method.  (--enable-gekko --enable-icarus) Even tried Homebrew but no new taps for the 2pac code.
- removed all other usb devices (usb hub, keyboard & mouse excepted)
- ran the "sudo usermod -G plugdev -a `whoami`
sudo cp 01-cgminer.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo reboot" commands.  I'm thinking that is for the Linux build process, but wtf at this point.  No go.
- every time cgminer is launched (in Terminal) this is the output:

 [2017-12-08 20:57:05.386] Started cgminer 4.10.0
 [2017-12-08 20:57:05.387] Loaded configuration file /Users/**user**/.cgminer/cgminer.conf
 [2017-12-08 20:57:05.387] Fatal JSON error in configuration file.
 [2017-12-08 20:57:05.387] Configuration file could not be used.
 [2017-12-08 20:57:05.775] GekkoScience detect (253:7) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), resetting
 [2017-12-08 20:57:05.775] failed usb_init
 [2017-12-08 20:57:06.221] No devices detected!
 [2017-12-08 20:57:06.221] Waiting for USB hotplug devices or press q to quit
 etc.

I've tried the older solutions suggested in both threads - Fabulous Panda, Asteroid (I think its called), etc.

Maybe I'm in the wrong thread for this issue and apologize in advance if so...  but I'm just at wit's end.

I have very basic coding skills (in fact, the last thing I wrote WAS actually in BASIC!?!) so please be gentle and would you very very intelligent folks maybe offer some suggestions, pointers, links, anything that might help get me on the right track.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[sidehack]

Have you tried compiling without Icarus support? You don't need it for either Gekkoscience stick, VH's driver is better. Might be causing conflicts in the detection process.

[mradentz]

Have you tried compiling without Icarus support? You don't need it for either Gekkoscience stick, VH's driver is better. Might be causing conflicts in the detection process.

sidehack...  man, thanks for the speedy response!!!  I'll give it a try and report back, hopefully successfully.

Also, very sincerely thanks for all the effort and wishing you great success with your ongoing & upcoming projects.  I'll stay tuned in fo' sho'.

-
m

[vh]

suddenly had a random thought wondering how this will do in docker.
if the above suggestion doesn't work out, i might have something else to experiment with in a day or so.

[vh]

re:docker
can't seem to map the mac/windows usb devices in so that was a wash.


leaving it in the public docker repo in case someone finds a use for it.

Code:

docker run -it --privileged -v /dev/bus/usb:/dev/bus/usb vthoang/cgminer -o stratum+tcp://pool.ckpool.org:3333 -u 1BURGERAXHH6Yi6LRybRJK7ybEm5m5HwTr -p x --suggest-diff 32 

Dockerfile

Code:

############################################################
# Dockerfile to build cgminer container images
# Based on Ubuntu
############################################################

FROM ubuntu

RUN apt-get update

RUN apt-get upgrade -y

RUN apt-get install -y build-essential git libusb-1.0-0-dev libusb-1.0-0 libcurl4-openssl-dev libncurses5-dev libudev-dev screen libtool automake pkg-config libjansson-dev
     
RUN mkdir -p /opt/git/vthoang && \
    cd /opt/git/vthoang && \
    git clone https://github.com/vthoang/cgminer.git && \
    cd cgminer && \
    CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native" ./autogen.sh --enable-gekko && \
    make -j 2

ENTRYPOINT ["/opt/git/vthoang/cgminer/cgminer"]
CMD ["--url","stratum+tcp://pool.ckpool.org:3333","--userpass","1BURGERAXHH6Yi6LRybRJK7ybEm5m5HwTr","--suggest-diff","32"]

[yourshadow66]

Hi guys,

I was trying to compile/install on Mac OS 10.12.6 (Darwin 16.7.0) to run it with my 2pac stick.
Got installed cgminer v.4.10.0 after fixing some errors in cgminer.rb script.

When trying to start cgminer with '--gekko-2pac-freq' it exits with message 'unrecognised option'. What does it mean? Did I compiled some wrong outdated version?

When I start cgminer with --compac-freq option I can see it running with the following start-up info:

 cgminer version 4.10.0 - Started: [2017-12-09 12:39:22.765]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 (5s):0.000 (1m):0.000 (5m):0.000 (15m):0.000 (avg):0.000h/s
 A:0  R:0  HW:0  WU:0.0/m
 Connected to eu.stratum.slushpool.com diff 128 with stratum as user yourshadow66.worker1
 Block: afd2b715...  Diff:1.59T  Started: [12:39:22.765]  Best share: 0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 USB management Pool management Settings Display options Quit
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 [2017-12-09 12:39:10.522] Started cgminer 4.10.0
 [2017-12-09 12:39:21.764] No devices detected!
 [2017-12-09 12:39:21.764] Waiting for USB hotplug devices or press q to quit
 [2017-12-09 12:39:21.764] Probing for an alive pool
 [2017-12-09 12:39:21.847] Pool 0 difficulty changed to 2048


From the 'USB Management' menu if I select '[L]ist all known devices' I can see the following:

Bus 20 Device 2 ID: 10c4:ea60 bitshopperde 2Pac BM1384 Bitcoin Miner active
1 total known USB device
Hotplug interval:5
0 USB devices, 0 enabled, 0 disabled, 0 zombie


Is this expected behaviour? How to enable my 2Pac device?

[sidehack]

Read the first post.

[sunk818]

Try running it without gekko nor compac option. I recall when I ran ckolivas 4.10, I got AMU as the recognized hardware. The hashrate was really low, but the USB device did recognize. Like I mentioned in my PM, you may have compiled the wrong cgminer (ckolivas) or cgminer from vthoang but without the gekko option enabled. Admittedly, it was a real bitch to compile cgminer of anykind for macOS, so I understand your pain. Keep trying, you'll get there. Just make sure you read the brew install error messages very carefully. Some of the module names are not the same as you have for apt-get in Linux/Ubuntu, so you'll have to try variations in brew to get them to install correctly.