Raspberry Pi Model B for use with Bitcoin

[cp1]

PS It says it right here:

E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?

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[elrodvoss]

i saw the commands in the string, but I tried a few and was not sure the order or placement. 

but ill try that command string and post what is produces.

[elrodvoss]

That was it.  The update command did it.

Ran that, then ran the Python install, then proxy install and it works.  Nice. 

Thank you all so much for the effort and putting up with me.

[cp1]

Cool -- the more errors like this you see the more you'll get used to dealing with them.  And don't forget to add a password!

[bitjoint]

Hi guys, I'm also planning to use the rasp with a stratum proxy for an ASICminer I 've just got. How's been your experience so far? Are y'all using system's python? or should I go with virtualenv/pip? 

[ik2013]

LOL @ the Nexus 7 idea. 4x as expensive (if you buy an 8GB used, and it is discontinued btw), and I really doubt you will be able to get it working as intended....the USB OTG on the N7 is very picky and only works with some peripherals. As for the second screen...do you have a TV with HDMI, or even a composite video jack? Then you don't need to buy an extra screen.

Excellent advice imaging the cards after it has been configured.

[bclcjunkie]

hey Tony good stuff one thing i noticed, the protos don't have heatsinks installed, is that by design? also if you were to focus on litecoin capable raspberries you'd make a killing...

We are putting together a Raspberry Pi - FPGA mining platform.

Our thought is :
 - Raspberry Pi provides command/control/status (as well as initial configuration of the) FPGA's
 - FPGA's run fully pipelined, unrolled SHA256
 - up to 4 FPGA cards per Raspberry Pi (2 FPGA's / card = 8 FPGA's per Raspberry Pi)
 - each FPGA card should be capable of 1000-1200 MHash/sec

Each FPGA card consists of :
 - 2 Cyclone V - A9 parts (301K LC each / 602K LC total)
 - clock speed should be between 250-300 MHz (as we're using Cyclone V - 28 nm Altera technology)

Our web site is :  http://www.raspberrycoins.com

The Pi is small, low power, and since it's running Linux/Unix should be quite stable.  Since the Pi's can easily be networked using ethernet, this means you have an ability to scale.  Our belief is this unit will be quite power efficient (being an FPGA, but also at 28 nm, we're more power efficient and higher speed than last generation tech.)

FPGA technology means this system might be able to be retargeted for other purposes in the future, by downloading
a new bitstream.

Best Regards,

Tony

[turtle83]

whenever you're missing a .h file you should look for any missing dev packages
try this:

sudo apt-get install python-dev

and please add a password to your pi account (actually you should make another account and disable ssh access to pi)

Here is the result that I got:

pi@raspberrypi ~ $ sudo apt-get install python-dev
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  libexpat1-dev libssl-dev libssl-doc python2.7-dev
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  libexpat1-dev libssl-dev libssl-doc python-dev python2.7-dev
0 upgraded, 5 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
Need to get 2,699 kB/31.6 MB of archives.
After this operation, 42.2 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Err http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/ wheezy/main libssl-dev armhf 1.0.1c-4+rpi1
  404  Not Found
Err http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/ wheezy/main libssl-doc all 1.0.1c-4+rpi1
  404  Not Found
Err http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/ wheezy/main python-dev all 2.7.3~rc2-1
  404  Not Found
Failed to fetch http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/pool/main/o/openssl/libssl-dev_1.0.1c-4+rpi1_armhf.deb  404  Not Found
Failed to fetch http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/pool/main/o/openssl/libssl-doc_1.0.1c-4+rpi1_all.deb  404  Not Found
Failed to fetch http://mirrordirector.raspbian.org/raspbian/pool/main/p/python-defaults/python-dev_2.7.3~rc2-1_all.deb  404  Not Found
E: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt-get update or try with --fix-missing?
pi@raspberrypi ~ $

Code:

sudo apt-get update

[giulianoob]

https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update
I've been using this tool to manage the rPi firmware without re-imaging the SD card. If you have a 512MB pi, I'd recommend a 384/128 memory distribution between CPU and GPU; except if you're using it via the terminal only, in that case 496/16. To set this, run rpi-update <value>, for example "rpi-update 384".

And the basic stuff, apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo sync. Don't install bitcoind on the device, you will destroy your SD card's life expectancy with the constant read/write it has to do.

[bitjoint]

https://github.com/Hexxeh/rpi-update
I've been using this tool to manage the rPi firmware without re-imaging the SD card. If you have a 512MB pi, I'd recommend a 384/128 memory distribution between CPU and GPU; except if you're using it via the terminal only, in that case 496/16. To set this, run rpi-update <value>, for example "rpi-update 384".

And the basic stuff, apt-get update && apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo sync. Don't install bitcoind on the device, you will destroy your SD card's life expectancy with the constant read/write it has to do.

Downloading! Thanks!!!

I'm going to operate it 100% of the time as a headless server from the terminal, so I won't need any GPU... Would it be possible to completely remove the GPU mem usage (i.e. 512/0) with this script? It makes sense to reduce it to the minimum possible amount (eliminating it completely)...

[ewitte]

If only you had some cheaper models say $500.

I ordered a raspberry pi for testing.  May get a hold of an older IV model FPGA.  What is the expected has rate on that?   I saw the Altera III was about 70MH/s but couldn't find results for IV.

[ewitte]

LOL @ the Nexus 7 idea. 4x as expensive (if you buy an 8GB used, and it is discontinued btw), and I really doubt you will be able to get it working as intended....the USB OTG on the N7 is very picky and only works with some peripherals. As for the second screen...do you have a TV with HDMI, or even a composite video jack? Then you don't need to buy an extra screen.

Excellent advice imaging the cards after it has been configured.

Discontinued?  I got a new one off ebay for a pretty good price.  Its a birthday present for my 2 year old lol.  Surprisingly she figures it out pretty good.  Knows how to slide to unlock, etc.

[DBG]

If there is ever a request for an application(s) that runs via the latest firmware/software update packages on Raspbian let me know via PM (I've been using Debian as a straight form for almost 15 years and Ubuntu for about half that time [Debian-based]).  I've seen some common request (latest version of ZNC, IPv6 support via HE [Hurricane Electric] Tunnel, etc) that I will start a github project for soon (the time between now and E3 = me super-swamped, but weekend nights are normally somewhat free; having an active social life is highly overrated  ) and just like the rpi-update tool, you'll be able to pull and then run with one command.  Even though I have multiple units at different clock speeds, unless someone starts waving a burning Union Jack in front of my townhouse, I code/test everything to run on a Raspberry Pi Model B Revision 2.0 (512MB) (this means stock 700mhz CPU clock, an assumption of at least 256MB RAM available for the CPU - unless a graphics intensive project is ever released - personally I have my memory set up to dynamically scale the GPU down to 16MB [specifically set to a value of "16384" but that's just because of how Raspbian is setup atm] or go as high as 384MB, but that is a topic for another time).

Also Tony (sorry that is my real name, so I feel like I'm talking to myself), I love your kits (the only improvement I could possibly request would be some small, self-adhesive heatsinks, esp. for the Pi's Broadcom chip, but that is a super-easy after-market addition for those that desire it.  Unfortunately I recently lost all but ~0.21BTC via MiningUnited.com - if all goes well I will get those coins back and will invest in the "CM1 - Single" at the very least.  I know you aren't a big company and don't have hardware to give away to press/developers, but if you'd like my input on possible low-cost improvements, feel free to let me know (I've been focusing on electronic hobby industrial design as part of my MFA for the last two years so I've gotten familiar with projects such as these; hopefully with the surge of ASIC chips floating around on the open market for a fairly cheap price will allow for those to be introduced into the next line of models).

Spambots already love me, so I won't post my personal e-mail here, but if anyone has anything they would like to ask or talk to me about, feel free to send a PM and I will most likely get back to you within 24h (if not much sooner).  I will return to freenode within the week as well, I just need to finish soldeing some FPGA PCI-E test boards and put my desktops back together (I've been having way too much fun with a hardware emulated Sega Master System via 2 FPGAs... it could fit on a 1.5 million gate chip with room to spare but I'm using junked parts  ).  Cheers! - Tony R./D(ee)BG

[yxt]

having an active social life is highly overrated

there is no RL, just afk 

[tony_357]

We will likely have (small) heat-sinks on the FPGA's in the production version (just for make sure they run cool).   Cyclone V (28 nm FPGA's) runs about 40% lower power than the previous generation technology (45 and 65 nm technology nodes).   We will need to take temperature readings using dual Cyclone V FPGAs running at speed, but we will likely just include small heat sinks anyway (FPGA's also can run a little faster if they are cooler, so that might give a small performance boost).

You are correct in that we are also thinking that this might make a pretty good Litecoin mining platform as well.  The Raspberry Pi - FPGA combination have some very nice features as far as Litecoin is concerned.

Best Regards,

Tony

hey Tony good stuff one thing i noticed, the protos don't have heatsinks installed, is that by design? also if you were to focus on litecoin capable raspberries you'd make a killing...

We are putting together a Raspberry Pi - FPGA mining platform.

Our thought is :
 - Raspberry Pi provides command/control/status (as well as initial configuration of the) FPGA's
 - FPGA's run fully pipelined, unrolled SHA256
 - up to 4 FPGA cards per Raspberry Pi (2 FPGA's / card = 8 FPGA's per Raspberry Pi)
 - each FPGA card should be capable of 1000-1200 MHash/sec

Each FPGA card consists of :
 - 2 Cyclone V - A9 parts (301K LC each / 602K LC total)
 - clock speed should be between 250-300 MHz (as we're using Cyclone V - 28 nm Altera technology)

Our web site is :  http://www.raspberrycoins.com

The Pi is small, low power, and since it's running Linux/Unix should be quite stable.  Since the Pi's can easily be networked using ethernet, this means you have an ability to scale.  Our belief is this unit will be quite power efficient (being an FPGA, but also at 28 nm, we're more power efficient and higher speed than last generation tech.)

FPGA technology means this system might be able to be retargeted for other purposes in the future, by downloading
a new bitstream.

Best Regards,

Tony

[huanix]

I think you're all following a red herring. There is no need to install slush's mining proxy when using stratum anymore - it has been integrated into cgminer for awhile now.

I have been mining on slush with GPU's for awhile now and cgminer does a great job of detecting and connecting to the stratum node.

from: https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer

Q: What is stratum and how do I use it?

A: Stratum is a protocol designed for pooled mining in such a way as to
minimise the amount of network communications, yet scale to hardware of any
speed. With versions of cgminer 2.8.0+, if a pool has stratum support, cgminer
will automatically detect it and switch to the support as advertised if it can.

[bitjoint]

I think you're all following a red herring. There is no need to install slush's mining proxy when using stratum anymore - it has been integrated into cgminer for awhile now.

I have been mining on slush with GPU's for awhile now and cgminer does a great job of detecting and connecting to the stratum node.

from: https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer

Q: What is stratum and how do I use it?

A: Stratum is a protocol designed for pooled mining in such a way as to
minimise the amount of network communications, yet scale to hardware of any
speed. With versions of cgminer 2.8.0+, if a pool has stratum support, cgminer
will automatically detect it and switch to the support as advertised if it can.

Thing is some of us (i.e. using ASICminer) cannot use "cgminer" cos the mining soft is flashed and we're not able to modify it. So we are left with 3 options:

a - run a stratum proxy using a high-cost / high energy consumption device: x86 based
b - run a stratum proxy using a low-cost / low energy consumption device: arm based
c - reflash (hard to accomplish w/o the custom fw)

(please someone correct me if I'm wrong)

I think the choice is obvious.

[ik2013]

LOL @ the Nexus 7 idea. 4x as expensive (if you buy an 8GB used, and it is discontinued btw), and I really doubt you will be able to get it working as intended....the USB OTG on the N7 is very picky and only works with some peripherals. As for the second screen...do you have a TV with HDMI, or even a composite video jack? Then you don't need to buy an extra screen.

Excellent advice imaging the cards after it has been configured.

Discontinued?  I got a new one off ebay for a pretty good price.  Its a birthday present for my 2 year old lol.  Surprisingly she figures it out pretty good.  Knows how to slide to unlock, etc.

Yes the 8 GB was discontinued last year, and it is a fine tablet. I am simply saying that the model you referenced was going to be continuously harder to find as it is not being produced anymore. You should check out the Nexus 7 section on xda-developers for info on USB-OTG support. I wish you luck but I don't see it happening myself..

[weevil]

I am running an RPi model B on raspbian wheezy using slushs' proxy and using it to process data from block eruptor blades ( the 13GH's ones).
However I have noticed that datarates on the blade drop to about 10GH's when I use the RPi. If I use the proxy on a PC it runs at full output through the same network. I can connect up to five blades to this proxy and if it is one or five they all hash at 10G on the RPi and 13 on the PC.
Anyone any ideas on this - USB driver maybe? Clearly a data input not output issue I think.

[cp1]

Check the CPU, RAM, and network usage on the Pi -- remember that it's got less power than your phone.