ASICMiner USB group buy- orders closed, pay for extra!

[SilentSonicBoom]

Arklan, hope the ankle heals.Maybe start another group buy after this one?

[arklan]

Arklan, hope the ankle heals.Maybe start another group buy after this one?

i'm considering it.

[SilentSonicBoom]

Arklan, hope the ankle heals.Maybe start another group buy after this one?

i'm considering it.

Thanks.

[AnonBitcoinBuyer]

I'm also interested in buying one, hopefully in time to have it shipped directly from arklan.  PM me your asking price.

[Henchman24]

yea, it's cool. i won't be shipping out this first batch til tomorrow.

Speaking of shipping tomorrow, it would probably be a good idea to ask your post office what their cutoff time is for domestic Express Mail.  At my post office it's 1:30 PM.  Any Express Mail shipments not received before the cutoff time will not arrive the next day, but the day after.

Which would suck, since we also wouldn't get them Monday, it being Memorial Day.  I'd really hate to lose 3 additional days of mining.   

i'll check on this early morning and get over there in time with as many as i can.

I don't know why I put the word "additional" in there.  It's not like the shipping hasn't been amazingly fast.

Pardon my unintended drama.  It was the bitcoin fever talking. 

[GreatBug]

yea, it's cool. i won't be shipping out this first batch til tomorrow.

Speaking of shipping tomorrow, it would probably be a good idea to ask your post office what their cutoff time is for domestic Express Mail.  At my post office it's 1:30 PM.  Any Express Mail shipments not received before the cutoff time will not arrive the next day, but the day after.

Which would suck, since we also wouldn't get them Monday, it being Memorial Day.  I'd really hate to lose 3 additional days of mining.   

i'll check on this early morning and get over there in time with as many as i can.

I don't know why I put the word "additional" in there.  It's not like the shipping hasn't been amazingly fast.

Pardon my unintended drama.  It was the bitcoin fever talking. 

I just checked my mailbox for the third time today, and they still arent there. What am I doing wrong? :/

[Klestin]

I just checked my mailbox for the third time today, and they still arent there. What am I doing wrong? :/

You'll need a large snake and some white paint, before opening the door.

[mr2dave]

I purchased 3 miners.  Once I found out the were shipping, I quickly did some research and I figured a raspberry PI would be the best thing to control these...

 All things being equal, I would imagine the computer you typed that post from would be the best thing to control them. Not sure why you want to complicate matters further by bringing a Pi into the mix, other than gaining hacking experience.

Yeah, that is part of the interest.... gaining experience.  This rig, is a big gaming rig that produces a lot of heat so thats the other reason... so I would prefer the small cool pi.

Another factor is to power a mining system "off the grid" as a proof of concept.

Again, anyone that plans to run their USB's on a pi, let me know your setup.

I'll be mining with a Raspberry Pi running minepeon. It includes cgminer compiled with ASIC support: http://minepeon.com/index.php/Main_Page
It's really easy to install and configure. The system runs headless and everything can be configured and monitored via a web interface.

I've also ordered a 7 port industrial USB hub that can take 7-24V DC input to simplify powering everything: https://www.bitcoinstore.com/startech-com-mountable-rugged-industrial-7-port-usb-hub.html

I don't know if this is the most efficient way to do it, but it has got to be close.

aahzmundus, sorry for the redundant PM.

[Henchman24]

I've also ordered a 7 port industrial USB hub that can take 7-24V DC input to simplify powering everything: https://www.bitcoinstore.com/startech-com-mountable-rugged-industrial-7-port-usb-hub.html

I don't know if this is the most efficient way to do it, but it has got to be close.

aahzmundus, sorry for the redundant PM.

Hopefully that will work just fine for you.

However, USB 2.0 (spec'd at .5 amp per port) just doesn't seem to allow any power overhead.  Wouldn't it be better use a USB 3.0 like this one, to guarantee 1.5 amps per port:

http://www.coolgear.com/productdetails1.cfm?sku=USBG-7U3ML&cats=434

What about just popping them into open blue USB ports on our rigs?

[aahzmundus]

I've also ordered a 7 port industrial USB hub that can take 7-24V DC input to simplify powering everything: https://www.bitcoinstore.com/startech-com-mountable-rugged-industrial-7-port-usb-hub.html

I don't know if this is the most efficient way to do it, but it has got to be close.

aahzmundus, sorry for the redundant PM.

Hopefully that will work just fine for you.

However, USB 2.0 (spec'd at .5 amp per port) just doesn't seem to allow any power overhead.  Wouldn't it be better use a USB 3.0 like this one, to guarantee 1.5 amps per port:

http://www.coolgear.com/productdetails1.cfm?sku=USBG-7U3ML&cats=434

What about just popping them into open blue USB ports on our rigs?

You could do that, but to me the main benefit of an ASIC is the power efficiency, and since they do not need a full rig to power them, why use one?  A Pi is cheep and cool, and I kinda wanted one anyway for messing with stuff... this was just a good excuse to get one personally.

If your desktop is always on, it makes no difference... but I turn my desktop off.

[mr2dave]

Hopefully that will work just fine for you.

However, USB 2.0 (spec'd at .5 amp per port) just doesn't seem to allow any power overhead.  Wouldn't it be better use a USB 3.0 like this one, to guarantee 1.5 amps per port:

http://www.coolgear.com/productdetails1.cfm?sku=USBG-7U3ML&cats=434

What about just popping them into open blue USB ports on our rigs?

Hopefully, indeed. I thought about going with a USB 3.0 hub for the extra current as well.
Friedcat said that the sapphire batch draws 500-510mA, so it should be fine, but we shall see.
Either way, I'll post results and power consumption shortly after I get my 4 sticks.

[PeZ]

FYI..these USB 3.0 Hubs are backwards compatible to the 2.0 and 1.1 specs. I assume these devices are detected as 2.0 devices. This means your smart 3.0 Hubs that can put out 900mA will step down the power to 500mA when it detects these, and cut them off if they request too much power over the spec. We'll need to do some testing and people should report their results.

[friedcat]

USB Driver for windows:

http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx

[turtle83]

If anyone would like to point me in the right starting direction, I would appreciate it.  Things like what OS I should put on my pi, what miner I should use...  I plan to buy this: http://www.amazon.com/Anker%C2%AE-Uspeed-7-Port-Adapter-Chipset/dp/B006TT91TW ... can I use that to power the pi, and then also plug it into the PI for splitting to the USB miners?  or will that create some sort of infinite loop of doom... (pure ignorance here).

I got a cheap shitty unbranded chinese hubs to use with my pi (with ztex). cant use more than 2 units cause its shitty.

To answer your question specifically, there wont be any loop thingy. The power jack on pi is not real usb port. Its just a power port . The data pins are not used/connected. So u can power a pi from the same hub the pi uses.

Package includes: 1 USB 3.0 7-port Hub / 1 12V 3A Power Adapter / 1 USB 3.0 Cable (3 feet) / 1 User Manual.

Means u can use 1 pi + 5 usb erupter cause i think each needs 0.5A ... hmm.. 12V 3A .. i thought USB is 5v.

One thing u need to be careful. You dont want the hub to backfeed power from the raspi's USB(not power) port, many hubs have this problem. even if the pi boots up it would become unstable, or writa garbage on the SD card.  work-around is to block the usb pin 1 with electrical tape or smthn... (i being cheap bastard used piece of  paper ). OR  cut out the +ve wire from the usb cable...   - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Standard_connectors

The image im using is from http://sirlagz.net/2013/02/14/raspbian-server-edition-version-2-3/

Running it completely headless, never had to touch monitor or keyboard with it. Cgminer compiles without any fuss at all. Should be really trivial if uve ever used a real OS like linux. Windows n00bs might needs step by step guides...

I need to buy some decent hubs for myself...

[arklan]

well, the first 200 are packed, now i just need to print shipping labels for them -the printer, of cours,e is in my brothers bedroom.... so none of that for a while. but i should be able to get the packages listed as packed on the spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjCZrDbAiz_PdE4tbDR3X3owMHNMb1NyekJGWHN4QlE&usp=sharing) out before noonish.

for those ordering:

1-3: they're in foam padding inside a plastic case inside a thin walled box. this is how they came to me. i'm gonna tape em shut and slap the label on... if it fits. if it doesn't.... uhm... envelopes i suppose? given the foam padding they're in they should be fine.

4-10: as you can see in my previous pictures, they came in boxes of ten. i'll seal these up and label em. for under ten, they'll be cut to size.

11 or 12: custom boxes.

20: two boxes of ten taped together and wrapped in paper.

20+: custom boxes.

with luck, the other 330 will arrive today - it's already in Cincinnati. hopefully i can get the rest packed and to the post office today before they close. if not, tomorrow morning.

[LazyOtto]

Nice status updates, Arklan, thank you.

Even though, <grumble, grumble, grumble> mine ain't in the packed list.

-- edit

Oh, and my sympathies on your twisted ankle. Don't stress it.

[arklan]

Nice status updates, Arklan, thank you.

Even though, <grumble, grumble, grumble> mine ain't in the packed list.

-- edit

Oh, and my sympathies on your twisted ankle. Don't stress it.

thanks. ankles actually doing better now - i can walk! ...ok, well, limp and hobble, but still. don't need the crutches. those things suck.

[LazyOtto]

"limp and hobble"

Then you shouldn't get hassled by parking in the handicapped spot at the Post Office. 

[aahzmundus]

If anyone would like to point me in the right starting direction, I would appreciate it.  Things like what OS I should put on my pi, what miner I should use...  I plan to buy this: http://www.amazon.com/Anker%C2%AE-Uspeed-7-Port-Adapter-Chipset/dp/B006TT91TW ... can I use that to power the pi, and then also plug it into the PI for splitting to the USB miners?  or will that create some sort of infinite loop of doom... (pure ignorance here).

I got a cheap shitty unbranded chinese hubs to use with my pi (with ztex). cant use more than 2 units cause its shitty.

To answer your question specifically, there wont be any loop thingy. The power jack on pi is not real usb port. Its just a power port . The data pins are not used/connected. So u can power a pi from the same hub the pi uses.

Package includes: 1 USB 3.0 7-port Hub / 1 12V 3A Power Adapter / 1 USB 3.0 Cable (3 feet) / 1 User Manual.

Means u can use 1 pi + 5 usb erupter cause i think each needs 0.5A ... hmm.. 12V 3A .. i thought USB is 5v.

One thing u need to be careful. You dont want the hub to backfeed power from the raspi's USB(not power) port, many hubs have this problem. even if the pi boots up it would become unstable, or writa garbage on the SD card.  work-around is to block the usb pin 1 with electrical tape or smthn... (i being cheap bastard used piece of  paper ). OR  cut out the +ve wire from the usb cable...   - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Serial_Bus#Standard_connectors

The image im using is from http://sirlagz.net/2013/02/14/raspbian-server-edition-version-2-3/

Running it completely headless, never had to touch monitor or keyboard with it. Cgminer compiles without any fuss at all. Should be really trivial if uve ever used a real OS like linux. Windows n00bs might needs step by step guides...

I need to buy some decent hubs for myself...

Sadly I am mostly a windows noob, although I have limited experience with linux but not on any serious level.  I plan to try and use MinePeon, but it also appears that the current version of it does not include the most up to date mining software that I suspect I will need since updates to those programs were made recently to support this... So i will have to figure out how to update the mining software... i think?

Thank you for the tip on blocking the pin on the usb port on the pie to avoid issues.

Looks like my devices are not packed yet, probably good because I am not ready for them yet!?! They are coming to fast!

[bigbeninlondon]

I've also ordered a 7 port industrial USB hub that can take 7-24V DC input to simplify powering everything: https://www.bitcoinstore.com/startech-com-mountable-rugged-industrial-7-port-usb-hub.html

I don't know if this is the most efficient way to do it, but it has got to be close.

aahzmundus, sorry for the redundant PM.

Hopefully that will work just fine for you.

However, USB 2.0 (spec'd at .5 amp per port) just doesn't seem to allow any power overhead.  Wouldn't it be better use a USB 3.0 like this one, to guarantee 1.5 amps per port:

http://www.coolgear.com/productdetails1.cfm?sku=USBG-7U3ML&cats=434

What about just popping them into open blue USB ports on our rigs?

You could do that, but to me the main benefit of an ASIC is the power efficiency, and since they do not need a full rig to power them, why use one?  A Pi is cheep and cool, and I kinda wanted one anyway for messing with stuff... this was just a good excuse to get one personally.

If your desktop is always on, it makes no difference... but I turn my desktop off.

Mine is being added to my mining rig; always on + no real extra power required = fuck ya.