Asteroid -- a new Mac mining client (0.9.7)

[Anonymailer]

It appears the BFGMiner definitely has better performance in terms of what it's reporting to the pools, but it's still a bit slow.

Within the miner I'll get 660-680 MH/s, but only about 580-600 are getting reported by the pool.

This is observed using MacMiner 1.3.17 (which may not be the latest build or official release version).

In MacMiner, the FPGA/ASIC miner works great except that every once in a while it'll just stop. I can set up a notification for idle workers but it always happens when I'm at work and can't take the hour round trip to restart the buggers.  

Hopefully the BFGMiner will run with greater stability, even if I'm losing several dozen hashes/second. Better that than huge swaths of downtime.

Hey, interesting to hear about the different hashing rates, is this with ASICs or GPU mining, and what rates were you seeing with cgminer?

The 1.4.6 beta version of MacMiner updates bfgminer to a version slightly newer than the 3.1.3 release (as a few bugs were fixed afterwards) and BFG Miner and FPGA/ASIC Miner should automatically restart if it stops unexpectedly. Please give that a shot and let me know how it goes for you!

[1715183350]

1715183350

[th3asias]

Am interesting in testing. i have 2 ATi 7950 working in a Mac Pro..

Thanks.

[wlwesq]

It appears the BFGMiner definitely has better performance in terms of what it's reporting to the pools, but it's still a bit slow.

Within the miner I'll get 660-680 MH/s, but only about 580-600 are getting reported by the pool.

This is observed using MacMiner 1.3.17 (which may not be the latest build or official release version).

In MacMiner, the FPGA/ASIC miner works great except that every once in a while it'll just stop. I can set up a notification for idle workers but it always happens when I'm at work and can't take the hour round trip to restart the buggers.  

Hopefully the BFGMiner will run with greater stability, even if I'm losing several dozen hashes/second. Better that than huge swaths of downtime.

Hey, interesting to hear about the different hashing rates, is this with ASICs or GPU mining, and what rates were you seeing with cgminer?

The 1.4.6 beta version of MacMiner updates bfgminer to a version slightly newer than the 3.1.3 release (as a few bugs were fixed afterwards) and BFG Miner and FPGA/ASIC Miner should automatically restart if it stops unexpectedly. Please give that a shot and let me know how it goes for you!

Will do. The different hashing rates is with ASICs. CGMiner was producing hash rates around 330 Mh/s per ASIC, but the pool was reporting rates about 60% of that figure.

[gr33k]

I'd like to beta test if spots are still open

[purelithium]

I have a ModMiner Quad device that I'd test the software on. Let me know how to get the software if you want me to test it.

[mumuchwal]

Sent a PM, very interested to beta test and dig into the software's functionnality to eventualy make it crash then bug report.

Please get back to me :)

[Karin]

Asteroid is now in public beta!
Thank you to all the private beta testers who helped get Asteroid to where it is now!  I'm constantly blown away by all the emails and texts I get from people interested and offering to help.

You can download the latest version here.

Biggest new feature is MobileMiner support!  Now you can monitor Asteroid and all your devices from your iOS or Android-based smartphone.  Here's a screenshot of MobileMiner showing stats from Asteroid:



Automatic software updates will keep you up to date with Asteroid automatically.  Also, use the in-app "Send Feedback" command to send me any bugs, comments, and/or suggestions, as that will also automatically include the relevant debugging log files I need to solve any problems.

There are a few major known bugs with this current release:

1) Some USB-based devices are generating about 60% of the work they should be, despite showing a normal hashrate in Asteroid.  This is the biggest development priority right now, and with help from the cgminer devs I've tracked the error down to an included library that I'm currently putting through the wringer.  Asteroid will alert you after hashing for 30 minutes if it detects you are subject to this bug, with a few questions to help me narrow down the problem.  You may also check your pool's stats page to see if they're seeing the same hashrate as Asteroid tells you, or if it is low and therefore subject to this bug.

1) UI bug when plugging in new USB-based devices.
Workaround: Plug in device before starting Asteroid, or ignore the problem for now

2) UI bug with multiple identical mining devices
Workaround: none, but rest assured that Asteroid is still mining with them (see the in-app miner console for details)

I've also updated the first post with more screenshots.

[HellDiverUK]

I intended helping with the beta, but I never got my Hackintosh working properly. 

But, good news is I just ordered a MacBook Pro, which should be here tomorrow.  I'll certainly be trying out Asteroid with some Block Erupters as soon as I can.

[Karin]

Version 0.9.3 now out -- download

Should fix the problem with USB-based miners not generating all the work they should be due to flaky libusb libraries interacting with cgminer on Mac OS.  I've actually had to downgrade the version included with Asteroid, but it seems to work well.  You can expect ~40% more credit from pools and more consistent hashrates.  Although please let me know how it goes

Still some known issues, the biggest of which are a couple of UI issues surrounding multiple identical devices (even though Asteroid says it's not working, it really is -- check the miner console), and adding a device while Asteroid is running.

[ct1aic]

Version 0.9.3 now out -- download

Should fix the problem with USB-based miners not generating all the work they should be due to flaky libusb libraries interacting with cgminer on Mac OS.  I've actually had to downgrade the version included with Asteroid, but it seems to work well.  You can expect ~40% more credit from pools and more consistent hashrates.  Although please let me know how it goes

Still some known issues, the biggest of which are a couple of UI issues surrounding multiple identical devices (even though Asteroid says it's not working, it really is -- check the miner console), and adding a device while Asteroid is running.

Gives a error when starting, the old GPU error, but then starts mining with the GPU of my MacBook. Thanks for the update.

[Karin]

Gives a error when starting, the old GPU error, but then starts mining with the GPU of my MacBook. Thanks for the update.

Excellent, that's expected behaviour.  Asteroid detects it's getting an error -54 from the mining engine, alerts you, and then restarts the engine with a set of modified settings that works.  I *should* save that setting between launches, but it doesn't yet.  I'll put that into the next update, and thanks for the feedback! 

[purelithium]

What does it mean if the hashrate bar is yellow? Also, there is a weird UI bug that causes the address balance to overlap with the mining info in the lower right corner.

Like this:

[Karin]

The hashrate bar indicates your current hashrate relative to the maximum since you last launched Asteroid.  If it dips too far below that max the bar turns yellow, and further still it turns red.  It's supposed to indicate visually if there's perhaps a problem with one of your miners (imagine 10+ block erupters connected and one goes down, pushing the main hashrate bar into yellow since that one erupter isn't contributing anymore -- you would notice it quickly).

Sometimes, for reasons I'm not yet sure, the hashrate on USB Block Erupters goes up to 350+MH/s for a few moments.  So when the hashrate returns to normal (as you're seeing), the bar turns yellow since it's now below its maximum.

I'm keeping a close eye on USB drivers and block erupter performance, so if/when I find a more compatible arrangement I'll implement it asap.

I just noticed that overlapping address balance issue myself, thanks for mentioning it!  I'll fix it in the next release.

[purelithium]

Thanks! Interesting software, I really like it.

[nwoolls]

The hashrate bar indicates your current hashrate relative to the maximum since you last launched Asteroid.  If it dips too far below that max the bar turns yellow, and further still it turns red.  It's supposed to indicate visually if there's perhaps a problem with one of your miners (imagine 10+ block erupters connected and one goes down, pushing the main hashrate bar into yellow since that one erupter isn't contributing anymore -- you would notice it quickly).

Slick idea!

[ct1aic]

How can I enter Mac OS X cgminer's "screen mode --> screen -r" as I do with Linux (in my RPI)?

Also, with 2 USB Block Erupters, It keeps mining with supposedly only one USB Block Erupter, with "335.6MH/s" @ Asteroid green display. The AMU-2 keeps giving 0, @ the Devices/AMU-2 display. I swapped them... same.... AMU-1 - 0.

But Miner Console gives me correct information: 667 MH/s and both AMU's accepting shares.

Sent Asteroid feedback.

[Karin]

How can I enter Mac OS X cgminer's "screen mode --> screen -r" as I do with Linux (in my RPI)?

I'm afraid I don't understand the question.  If it helps, you can add command-line options via the "Mode" menu.  If you want to add parameters before cgminer gets executed that might be a bit more tricky, but certainly not impossible.  What did you have planned, exactly?

Also, with 2 USB Block Erupters, It keeps mining with supposedly only one USB Block Erupter, with "335.6MH/s" @ Asteroid green display. The AMU-2 keeps giving 0, @ the Devices/AMU-2 display. I swapped them... same.... AMU-1 - 0.

But Miner Console gives me correct information: 667 MH/s and both AMU's accepting shares.

Yeah, this is a known issue with multiple identically-named devices at the moment.  I've rewritten the code and this bug is still being a bit elusive, but I'm still working on it.  You're entirely correct though, the you are getting the correct full hashrate (as you can see in the miner console), and it's simply a display bug.

Sent Asteroid feedback.

Very awesome, thanks!  With the logs I get from people it's easy to see what's working or not.  Even when things are running smoothly, I still like seeing other people's setups, if Asteroid is doing what it should, etc.  So thanks again

[ct1aic]

How can I enter Mac OS X cgminer's "screen mode --> screen -r" as I do with Linux (in my RPI)?

I'm afraid I don't understand the question.  If it helps, you can add command-line options via the "Mode" menu.  If you want to add parameters before cgminer gets executed that might be a bit more tricky, but certainly not impossible.  What did you have planned, exactly?

Hi and thanks for your kind answers, Karin.

I would like to get access to this cgminer console:

[purelithium]

So I see this weird UI bug. I tried clicking the little blue triangle while the miner was initializing, waiting for the info to pop up, then I see it just overlaps with the big hashrate bar, creating the lovely composition above.

[Karin]

I would like to get access to this cgminer console:

Aha, I see now!  There is a way to do this when the miner is launched, but it's not as easy to get access to that console on-demand.  I'll add the option to show it at launch in an upcoming version.

I know of a way to show the full text console on demand, but it's a bit more difficult to implement.  Fortunately, I have to add some of that functionality as part of sandboxing in order to get Asteroid into the Mac App Store, so it will likely be implemented eventually!

So I see this weird UI bug. I tried clicking the little blue triangle while the miner was initializing, waiting for the info to pop up, then I see it just overlaps with the big hashrate bar, creating the lovely composition above.

Yes, that's the other big known issue at the moment.  Fortunately they're just UI-related, but I know it's annoying, I see it myself

The best way to avoid it while waiting for the next version of Asteroid is to wait for the status line to say "Mining" before hitting the twistie for the device list.