Asteroid -- a new Mac mining client (0.9.7)

[Karin]

Got some good coverage on ZDnet this morning!
    Bitcoin and Litecoin mining with Asteroid for Mac

And an article I consulted on for cryptocoins was posted by the same author this weekend:
    A crypto-currency primer: Bitcoin vs. Litecoin

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[nwoolls]

Got some good coverage on ZDnet this morning!
    Bitcoin and Litecoin mining with Asteroid for Mac

And an article I consulted on for cryptocoins was posted by the same author this weekend:
    A crypto-currency primer: Bitcoin vs. Litecoin

Congratulations! 

[perezoso]

Apologies if this is the wrong place - I didn't see a separate CGMiner for Mac thread.

Is anyone else considering using CGMiner for Mac with (finally shipping?) Hashfast hardware?  

CGMiner for Mac seems to be immediately updated with other CGMiner releases (thanks!) and, I assume, includes CGMiner mods for HF.  Correct?

I assume that Asteroid, as it relies on an older CGMiner build, will not work with HF hardware.

[Karin]

CGMiner for Mac seems to be immediately updated with other CGMiner releases (thanks!) and, I assume, includes CGMiner mods for HF.  Correct?

Correct!

I assume that Asteroid, as it relies on an older CGMiner build, will not work with HF hardware.

Correct at the moment, but my internal builds of Asteroid support a variety of different miners, including old and new versions of cgminer.  Once it is released, it will be on the same update schedule as my cgminer for Mac OS X builds.  But at the moment, yes, you are correct

[perezoso]

CGMiner for Mac seems to be immediately updated with other CGMiner releases (thanks!) and, I assume, includes CGMiner mods for HF.  Correct?

Correct!

I assume that Asteroid, as it relies on an older CGMiner build, will not work with HF hardware.

Correct at the moment, but my internal builds of Asteroid support a variety of different miners, including old and new versions of cgminer.  Once it is released, it will be on the same update schedule as my cgminer for Mac OS X builds.  But at the moment, yes, you are correct

Excellent.  Thank you.  Once I get some hardware (assuming they ship some hardware), I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

[wontonforevuh]

I get an incorrect worker username/password error.

Am I supposed to put in my account.workername in the Worker username field? or just the workername?

[danosphere]

Anyone concerned with heat issues using asteroid (or any other miner) on a rMBP? I have a 15" rMBP and the CPU Heatsink temps during normal usage are around 36-45C, when I run asteroid they are pretty much pegged around 61-64C. This seems a bit hot. I know Macs don't have the best cooling but I'm worried I'll return to a dead macbook one of these days (I run asteroid at night).

Anyone else have this concern or run into issue / can speak to the legitimacy (or not) of this concern? I do have the macbook propped up for increased airflow and I even try and open a nearby window to allows outside cool air to be drawn into the cooling system.

Thanks

[chopsticks]

I get an incorrect worker username/password error.

Am I supposed to put in my account.workername in the Worker username field? or just the workername?

Depends what pool you're working in.  Be careful and note if the delimiter should be "." or "_"

An example:

 chopsticks.workername    <-- works in GHASH.io
 chopsticks.workername    <-- does NOT work in BTC Guild!
 chopsticks_workername   <-- works in BTC Guild

[Blackbird0]

Anyone concerned with heat issues using asteroid (or any other miner) on a rMBP? I have a 15" rMBP and the CPU Heatsink temps during normal usage are around 36-45C, when I run asteroid they are pretty much pegged around 61-64C. This seems a bit hot. I know Macs don't have the best cooling but I'm worried I'll return to a dead macbook one of these days (I run asteroid at night).

Anyone else have this concern or run into issue / can speak to the legitimacy (or not) of this concern? I do have the macbook propped up for increased airflow and I even try and open a nearby window to allows outside cool air to be drawn into the cooling system.

Thanks

If you're very concerned, purchase one of these bad boys: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_n_0?rh=n%3A172282%2Cn%3A2243862011%2Ck%3Alaptop+fan+pads&keywords=laptop+fan+pads&ie=UTF8&qid=1389497508&rnid=493964

I've been using one on laptops for years, from back in the days when I ran BOINC on all my machines.

[Karin]

Asteroid 0.9.6 is now out
Download here or run "Check for updates..." from the in-app Asteroid menu

Absolutely countless bug fixes and improvements.  Asteroid can now use multiple mining engines simultaneously, meaning you get the latest version of scrypt-mining software, the latest version of bitcoin (sha-256) mining software, and any other specialized forks of cgminer, thus guaranteeing you the latest driver support.  Yet you'd never know the difference -- everything is integrated into a single, consistent UI.


Change log is as follows:

• Adds support for new ASICs (including bitfury, nanofury, and yes, Antminer U1)
• Updated to latest cgminer engine (still supporting GPU mining though!)
• New device detection and display code
• USB driver conflicts are resolved when detected and relevant
• Fixed scrypt settings recommendations
• Detects previous crashes and offers to send diagnostic logs
• New default intensity values for quicker first-time mining
• Added menu option to semi-permanently disable conflicting drivers
• Fixed bug preventing adding more than one custom pool
• Fixed apparent spike in scrypt hashrates due to a logging bug
• Countless bugs fixed
• Numerous UI tweaks to improve user experience
• Removed BTC value monitoring in preparation for a new, better, feature to debut in 0.9.7
• CPU usage of Asteroid reduced by 60%

Please remember that Asteroid does not need any extra drivers or installs of any kind, nor any knowledge of the command-line!  True plug-and-play.

Here's the new MobileMiner login screen, which provides instant feedback on your login details.  Login information is also stored in the Mac OS X keychain, so they are remembered with each new version of Asteroid without ever needing to re-enter them.

[nwoolls]

Here's the new MobileMiner login screen, which provides instant feedback on your login details.  Login information is also stored in the Mac OS X keychain, so they are remembered with each new version of Asteroid without ever needing to re-enter them.

Congratulations on the new release! That screen alone looks fantastic 

[perezoso]

CGMiner for Mac seems to be immediately updated with other CGMiner releases (thanks!) and, I assume, includes CGMiner mods for HF.  Correct?

Correct!

I assume that Asteroid, as it relies on an older CGMiner build, will not work with HF hardware.

Correct at the moment, but my internal builds of Asteroid support a variety of different miners, including old and new versions of cgminer.  Once it is released, it will be on the same update schedule as my cgminer for Mac OS X builds.  But at the moment, yes, you are correct

Excellent.  Thank you.  Once I get some hardware (assuming they ship some hardware), I'll try it out and let you know how it goes.

Hi Karin -

HF hardware is finally in hand, although it arrived while I was out of town (groan).  Am still planning to use cgminer for mac to control the first babyjet and more that are on the way.  Hopefully we'll see 3.11 compiled on your site soon?  Willing to be a guinea pig here if you create a version of asteroid that will support HF hardware, with the 3.11 mods.  Plan to try to get up and running Sunday evening, North America time. Thanks!

[Thom]

Anyone concerned with heat issues using asteroid (or any other miner) on a rMBP? I have a 15" rMBP and the CPU Heatsink temps during normal usage are around 36-45C, when I run asteroid they are pretty much pegged around 61-64C. This seems a bit hot. I know Macs don't have the best cooling but I'm worried I'll return to a dead macbook one of these days (I run asteroid at night).

Anyone else have this concern or run into issue / can speak to the legitimacy (or not) of this concern? I do have the macbook propped up for increased airflow and I even try and open a nearby window to allows outside cool air to be drawn into the cooling system.

Thanks

Get SMC-FanControl. It's a menubar item with which you can max out all your fans.

[forzendiablo]

i wrote many times that i cannot run this tool on 1 of my macs - i mean it runs but never mines yet dev doesnt care

[Karin]

HF hardware is finally in hand, although it arrived while I was out of town (groan).  Am still planning to use cgminer for mac to control the first babyjet and more that are on the way.  Hopefully we'll see 3.11 compiled on your site soon?  Willing to be a guinea pig here if you create a version of asteroid that will support HF hardware, with the 3.11 mods.  Plan to try to get up and running Sunday evening, North America time. Thanks!

Yep!  It must have came out while I was asleep, but it's compiling now.  I noticed that 3.11.0 will actually lower hashrates for nanofury devices without additional command line arguments, so I'm going to throw some code together to allow the user to reset it if they want.

[Karin]

i wrote many times that i cannot run this tool on 1 of my macs - i mean it runs but never mines yet dev doesnt care

Hey Forzendiablo, I can assure you I do care   You can contact me by text message, email, twitter, the Asteroid forums, these forums, and the in-app Send Feedback in Asteroid.  Which method did you use?  I apologize if it got lost somewhere.

[chopsticks]

Thanks Karin! Excellent work

[perezoso]

No luck here, so far, getting the BabyJet to hash with 3.11.  

Getting a "Hashfast detect (6:3) failed to initialize (incorrect device?)" message.

Update:  It hashes using the PC build of 3.11.  Is this a driver or permissions issue?

[Karin]

No luck here, so far, getting the BabyJet to hash with 3.11.  

Getting a "Hashfast detect (6:3) failed to initialize (incorrect device?)" message.

Update:  It hashes using the PC build of 3.11.  Is this a driver or permissions issue?

Yes, it is a driver issue.  Without knowing more about your particular setup, just copy/paste this into Terminal before you launch cgminer 3.11.0 and it will disable all the known present conflicting drivers:

Code:

sudo kextunload -b com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver; sudo kextunload -b com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64; sudo kextunload -b com.FTDI.driver.FTDIUSBSerialDriver; sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDC; sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDCACMData; sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDCACMControl; sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBFTDI.kext

It may give a few errors but it's not a problem, it'll just complain that some of the drivers you tried to disable aren't installed (which we know), but others likely are installed.

The above is also temporary.  Either logout and in again, or restart your machine, or replace every "kextunload" with "kextload" and run it again.  Any of those will put your drivers back to how they were.

[perezoso]

No luck here, so far, getting the BabyJet to hash with 3.11.  

Getting a "Hashfast detect (6:3) failed to initialize (incorrect device?)" message.

Update:  It hashes using the PC build of 3.11.  Is this a driver or permissions issue?

Yes, it is a driver issue.  Without knowing more about your particular setup, just copy/paste this into Terminal before you launch cgminer 3.11.0 and it will disable all the known present conflicting drivers:

Code:

sudo kextunload -b com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver; sudo kextunload -b com.silabs.driver.CP210xVCPDriver64; sudo kextunload -b com.FTDI.driver.FTDIUSBSerialDriver; sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDC; sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDCACMData; sudo kextunload -b com.apple.driver.AppleUSBCDCACMControl; sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns/AppleUSBFTDI.kext

It may give a few errors but it's not a problem, it'll just complain that some of the drivers you tried to disable aren't installed (which we know), but others likely are installed.

The above is also temporary.  Either logout and in again, or restart your machine, or replace every "kextunload" with "kextload" and run it again.  Any of those will put your drivers back to how they were.

No dice on that, I'm afraid.  It did find the device and it did start to hash (better than before unloading the drivers), but it was throwing a lot of errors (unhandled operation, mainly type 12, I believe) and complaining "device disappeared".  When I killed it, it reported on HFB0, HFB1, and HFB2.  Apparently it kept finding and losing the BJ?

Controller is a Mac Mini Core2, last generation of the ones in the old-style plastic box, "Late 2009", I believe. running OS X 10.9

(BFGminer doesn't work either.  It finds the device, the fans spin up and it apparently starts to hash, but you completely lose control of the process.  Terminal is dead to any inputs, stuck on the add device screen. Only way to kill it is to quit out of Terminal altogether.)

The BJ is good.  It hashes on 3.11 PC version.