Official FutureBit Moonlander 2 Driver and Support Thread

[blockchain49er]

I ordered 2 Moonlander 2 and have them hashing. The problem is that no matter what I do one of the sticks have an error rate of 5-10%. I've tried modifying clock settings, different USB ports, different computers, powered USB hubs, etc.

One stick is <.5% error rate and the other is 5-10% consistently. I've gone as low at 600MHz and as high as 796 each with similar results.

I've purchased directly from the developer on eBay. Not sure if I have a defective unit or I need to tweak the pots maybe?

Interested to hear any ideas on how to troubleshoot this.

Try raising the memory and core voltage. Also some units do show higher error rate, but does not actually affect the hashrate (i.e. the uart controller sometimes spits out garbage, but all the "real" shares still come out properly). Are you also seeing a corresponding 5-10% drop in hashrate?

Yes, it is for sure affecting the hashrate and, as expected, the accepted shares are much lower on the one MLD (similar percentage drop). Even when running standalone on the same USB port as the other device I see 5-10% error rate and a much lower hashrate. I'll try to adjust the pots and will check them first with the multimeter to see if they are even the same.

I'm using one of the recommended powered USB hubs from Amazon which puts out 1.5A per port.

[1714059619]

1714059619

[achtung082]

Any chance someone can write up a step-by-step guide for getting these working on a Raspberry Pi 3B? I'm a Linux novice and most of what I see assumes a certain level of know how. I was hoping to set it up wirelessly on Minera, but at this point I'm so confused I'll take what I can get... Thanks in advance!

so you need the a foolproof copy n paste "just get it to work" description?

i'll write a short version for you that is most probably not perfect - but will most probably work.


Login to your raspberry pi with putty. (if this already is a problem - let me know). - you can as well login locally if you got keyboard and screen attached!

install neccesary library files (thanks to jstefanop for providing this info)

Code:

sudo apt install libjansson-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev

Code:

mkdir miner

 this will create a directory in your home directory for bfgminer.

Code:

cd miner

now you are in the new folder with the name "miner"

Code:

wget https://github.com/jstefanop/bfgminer/releases/download/bfgminer-5.4.2-futurebit2/bfgminer_5.4.2-futurebit2_linux_armv6.tar.gz

this will download the precompiled (ready to run) bfgminer from jstefanop.

now lets unpack this tar.gz file - this is a zipped tarball (something like a .zip file in windows - atleast similar)

Code:

tar xzfv bfgminer_5.4.2-futurebit2_linux_armv6.tar.gz

now theres running lots of text of the files being unpacked into a folder.

lets go into the new unpacked folder!

Code:

cd bfgminer_5.4.2-futurebit2_linux_armv6

here is the complete bfgminer including a short startup script from jstefanop.

now you can either edit the existing start script by using editor of your choice - i am using nano.

Code:

nano start_moonlander2.sh

and change the pool, the username (after -u) the password (after -p) and save the file again

Code:

CTRL + o

or

Code:

STRG + o

depending on keyboard layout.

now thats its saved - quit the editor.

Code:

CTRL + X

or

Code:

STRG + x

you are ready to do a test run!

Code:

./start_moonlander2.sh

now bfgminer will start (hopefully).

if you dont want to edit existing config you can as well try this:

Code:

echo ./bfgminer --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://us.litecoinpool.org:3333 -u jstefanop.1 -p 1,d=128 -S ALL --set MLD:clock=600 >startmoonlander.sh

in this line you change the pool - the username - the password option.
this will create a new file called "startmoonlander.sh" with your options - which can be modified later.

this file cant be used right now cause it is not executable. lets change that!

Code:

chmod +x startmoonlander.sh

and now you can try your new startup script!

Code:

./startmoonlander.sh

if you encounter any errors - describe them as good as possible or show us a screenshot and i bet - we will find a solution!

Greetings - Astrali

These don't work as described in Linux raspberrypi 4.1.19+ #858 Tue Mar 15 15:52:03 GMT 2016 armv6l

"./bfgminer: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.17' not found (required by ./bfgminer)"

I'm pulling updates and doing some testing. Does cgminer work? I never had good luck getting bfgminer, it's always seemed temperamental. I stopped using it back when block errupters were a thing.

[Xantor1234]

This seems to be the only setting that works, If I set it higher, or lower it fails to respond. 800 is not even in your list of preset clock speeds. I've adjusted the power, lowered it, raised it, not difference. It is hashing at about 3.4Mh/s with HW:251/.20% in the last 21hrs.

If you set it to something not in the list it will go to the default speed.

Try to start at the low end of the speed table, and work up from there. Adjust core voltage when it no longer hashes reliably.
Don't start anywhere near 800 until it's tuned in and you're sure the temperature is manageable.

[Xantor1234]

quick question.

I have 1 stick that will hash just happy at 924, another won't budge past 796. Can I set them to run those frequencies on the same scrypt?

Yes:

... -S MLD:all --set MLD@COM7:clock=924 --set MLD@COM8:clock=796

(official notation should be --set MLD@\\.\COMx:clock=nnn but this works as well)

[lennyNO]

I have 1 stick that will hash just happy at 924, another won't budge past 796. Can I set them to run those frequencies on the same scrypt?

Not sure what you mean by "won't budge past..."? What happens if you set both (or the 2nd only) at 924Mhz? It does not start at all. Have you increased the core voltage? The currentdraw can, when not tuned carefully, be humongeous at those clockspeeds, so the best advice is to increment one step at a time, and see what happens. E.g., both at 796, then both at 800 etc. It could be that your powersupply (in the usb hub) simply can't deliver the current needed.
Tweaking the pot meters to keep the units hashing at desired hashrate AND at the lowest power (=heat) is fun, but not trivial.

[achtung082]

Any chance someone can write up a step-by-step guide for getting these working on a Raspberry Pi 3B? I'm a Linux novice and most of what I see assumes a certain level of know how. I was hoping to set it up wirelessly on Minera, but at this point I'm so confused I'll take what I can get... Thanks in advance!

so you need the a foolproof copy n paste "just get it to work" description?

i'll write a short version for you that is most probably not perfect - but will most probably work.


Login to your raspberry pi with putty. (if this already is a problem - let me know). - you can as well login locally if you got keyboard and screen attached!

install neccesary library files (thanks to jstefanop for providing this info)

Code:

sudo apt install libjansson-dev libcurl4-openssl-dev

Code:

mkdir miner

 this will create a directory in your home directory for bfgminer.

Code:

cd miner

now you are in the new folder with the name "miner"

Code:

wget https://github.com/jstefanop/bfgminer/releases/download/bfgminer-5.4.2-futurebit2/bfgminer_5.4.2-futurebit2_linux_armv6.tar.gz

this will download the precompiled (ready to run) bfgminer from jstefanop.

now lets unpack this tar.gz file - this is a zipped tarball (something like a .zip file in windows - atleast similar)

Code:

tar xzfv bfgminer_5.4.2-futurebit2_linux_armv6.tar.gz

now theres running lots of text of the files being unpacked into a folder.

lets go into the new unpacked folder!

Code:

cd bfgminer_5.4.2-futurebit2_linux_armv6

here is the complete bfgminer including a short startup script from jstefanop.

now you can either edit the existing start script by using editor of your choice - i am using nano.

Code:

nano start_moonlander2.sh

and change the pool, the username (after -u) the password (after -p) and save the file again

Code:

CTRL + o

or

Code:

STRG + o

depending on keyboard layout.

now thats its saved - quit the editor.

Code:

CTRL + X

or

Code:

STRG + x

you are ready to do a test run!

Code:

./start_moonlander2.sh

now bfgminer will start (hopefully).

if you dont want to edit existing config you can as well try this:

Code:

echo ./bfgminer --scrypt -o stratum+tcp://us.litecoinpool.org:3333 -u jstefanop.1 -p 1,d=128 -S ALL --set MLD:clock=600 >startmoonlander.sh

in this line you change the pool - the username - the password option.
this will create a new file called "startmoonlander.sh" with your options - which can be modified later.

this file cant be used right now cause it is not executable. lets change that!

Code:

chmod +x startmoonlander.sh

and now you can try your new startup script!

Code:

./startmoonlander.sh

if you encounter any errors - describe them as good as possible or show us a screenshot and i bet - we will find a solution!

Greetings - Astrali

These don't work as described in Linux raspberrypi 4.1.19+ #858 Tue Mar 15 15:52:03 GMT 2016 armv6l

"./bfgminer: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.17' not found (required by ./bfgminer)"

I'm pulling updates and doing some testing. Does cgminer work? I never had good luck getting bfgminer, it's always seemed temperamental. I stopped using it back when block errupters were a thing.

HIDAPI is also not found when trying to install the packages.

and

No package 'libbase58' found
when trying to ./configure

[achtung082]

OK, so I was able to build bfgminer from git luke-jr/bfgminer, but not jstefanop/bfgminer. Not sure how to move forward.

[crawlingspleen]

When I posted:
Tuned Solo on 2 different usb hubs. My newest stick won't run without tons of errors or it will slow down after a few min when I would push it past 796.

Update:
Since last night I have added additional cooling and have adjusted the core voltage way past where the 924 needs it to be. Just luck of the asics but I would rather get the most out of them.  924/852 now seems to be as stable as I can get them. Happy with this.

I have 1 stick that will hash just happy at 924, another won't budge past 796. Can I set them to run those frequencies on the same scrypt?

Not sure what you mean by "won't budge past..."? What happens if you set both (or the 2nd only) at 924Mhz? It does not start at all. Have you increased the core voltage? The currentdraw can, when not tuned carefully, be humongeous at those clockspeeds, so the best advice is to increment one step at a time, and see what happens. E.g., both at 796, then both at 800 etc. It could be that your powersupply (in the usb hub) simply can't deliver the current needed.
Tweaking the pot meters to keep the units hashing at desired hashrate AND at the lowest power (=heat) is fun, but not trivial.

[jstefanop]

OK, so I was able to build bfgminer from git luke-jr/bfgminer, but not jstefanop/bfgminer. Not sure how to move forward.

Download the pre-compiled and ready to run binaries...compiling from scratch is not trivial and if one thing is not installed or properly configured it will fail.

[crawlingspleen]

Thank you!

quick question.

I have 1 stick that will hash just happy at 924, another won't budge past 796. Can I set them to run those frequencies on the same scrypt?

Yes:

... -S MLD:all --set MLD@COM7:clock=924 --set MLD@COM8:clock=796

(official notation should be --set MLD@\\.\COMx:clock=nnn but this works as well)

[achtung082]

OK, so I was able to build bfgminer from git luke-jr/bfgminer, but not jstefanop/bfgminer. Not sure how to move forward.

Download the pre-compiled and ready to run binaries...compiling from scratch is not trivial and if one thing is not installed or properly configured it will fail.

Yes, I understand those are the instruction provide but the per-compiled binaries do not work for some reason. If you see my previous comments you can see I have tried these and was getting various errors which I am unable to resolve. This is why I tried building bfgminer from scratch, which does work. It would seem there are some additional requirements to run your fork which are not in the instructions.

Your binaries give the following error:
./bfgminer: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.17' not found (required by ./bfgminer)

[jstefanop]

OK, so I was able to build bfgminer from git luke-jr/bfgminer, but not jstefanop/bfgminer. Not sure how to move forward.

Download the pre-compiled and ready to run binaries...compiling from scratch is not trivial and if one thing is not installed or properly configured it will fail.

Yes, I understand those are the instruction provide but the per-compiled binaries do not work for some reason. If you see my previous comments you can see I have tried these and was getting various errors which I am unable to resolve. This is why I tried building bfgminer from scratch, which does work. It would seem there are some additional requirements to run your fork which are not in the instructions.

Your binaries give the following error:
./bfgminer: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.17' not found (required by ./bfgminer)

Seems like you have installed debian stuff over standard rasbian libraries (or your just not running rasbian at all). My guess is your have a Pi 3 with some other OS installed. The binaries are compiled for ARMv6 to be compatible with the whole pi lineup(Pi 3 runs emulator for ARMv6) which is missing on your system. If you want it to work out of the box, just reinstall the standard rasbian and run my binaries...that will give you no issues.

[achtung082]

OK, so I was able to build bfgminer from git luke-jr/bfgminer, but not jstefanop/bfgminer. Not sure how to move forward.

Download the pre-compiled and ready to run binaries...compiling from scratch is not trivial and if one thing is not installed or properly configured it will fail.

Yes, I understand those are the instruction provide but the per-compiled binaries do not work for some reason. If you see my previous comments you can see I have tried these and was getting various errors which I am unable to resolve. This is why I tried building bfgminer from scratch, which does work. It would seem there are some additional requirements to run your fork which are not in the instructions.

Your binaries give the following error:
./bfgminer: /lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/libc.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.17' not found (required by ./bfgminer)

Seems like you have installed debian stuff over standard rasbian libraries (or your just not running rasbian at all). My guess is your have a Pi 3 with some other OS installed. The binaries are compiled for ARMv6 to be compatible with the whole pi lineup(Pi 3 runs emulator for ARMv6) which is missing on your system. If you want it to work out of the box, just reinstall the standard rasbian and run my binaries...that will give you no issues.

I don't have a Pi 3 to try, I have a BBB and Pi v1+ B.

Pi v1+ B:
Debian GNU/Linux comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY, to the extent
permitted by applicable law.
Last login: Thu Feb  1 15:48:23 2018 from xxxxxxxxx
miner@raspberrypi ~ $ uname -or
4.1.19+ GNU/Linux
miner@raspberrypi ~ $ uname -a
Linux raspberrypi 4.1.19+ #858 Tue Mar 15 15:52:03 GMT 2016 armv6l GNU/Linux
miner@raspberrypi ~ $ cat /proc/version
Linux version 4.1.19+ (dc4@dc4-XPS13-9333) (gcc version 4.9.3 (crosstool-NG crosstool-ng-1.22.0-88-g8460611) ) #858 Tue Mar 15 15:52:03 GMT 2016
miner@raspberrypi ~ $ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux 7 (wheezy)"
NAME="Raspbian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="7"
VERSION="7 (wheezy)"
ID=raspbian
ID_LIKE=debian
ANSI_COLOR="1;31"
HOME_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianForums"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://www.raspbian.org/RaspbianBugs"
miner@raspberrypi ~ $

BBB:
miner@BBB02:~$ uname -or
3.8.13-bone70 GNU/Linux
miner@BBB02:~$ uname -a
Linux BBB02 3.8.13-bone70 #1 SMP Fri Jan 23 02:15:42 UTC 2015 armv7l GNU/Linux
miner@BBB02:~$ cat /proc/version
Linux version 3.8.13-bone70 (root@a5-imx6q-wandboard-2gb) (gcc version 4.6.3 (Debian 4.6.3-14) ) #1 SMP Fri Jan 23 02:15:42 UTC 2015
miner@BBB02:~$ cat /etc/os-release
PRETTY_NAME="Debian GNU/Linux 7 (wheezy)"
NAME="Debian GNU/Linux"
VERSION_ID="7"
VERSION="7 (wheezy)"
ID=debian
ANSI_COLOR="1;31"
HOME_URL="http://www.debian.org/"
SUPPORT_URL="http://www.debian.org/support/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://bugs.debian.org/"
miner@BBB02:~$

[jstefanop]

Yea stock binaries wont work on the BBB, you would need to get your compiler working correctly on that. Unfortunately this is not the thread for this discussion...there are plenty of threads and how-to's on how to properly setup compiler on your specific linux system and compile bfgminer. As for the pi, looks like your running an older kernel. Id try and do a fresh up to date raspian install on it and you should be good to go.

[cjsummers82]

I have been toying with the frequency and voltage on my MLD...whenever I get above 796 mhz, and play with voltage to get HW errors to minimal, after hashing for several hours, it will start hashing at half the rate it was (i.e. 4 mh/s to 2 mh/s), but the HW errors do not increase.  I can start/stop the stick, and it again starts hashing ~4 mh/s, but after 4+ hours starts to reduce again.  Have verified heat not an issue (hottest heatsink gets is 48-52 C), and seems to keep steady hash rate at lower frequencies.  Any ideas?

[soccerdude71]

quick question.

I have 1 stick that will hash just happy at 924, another won't budge past 796. Can I set them to run those frequencies on the same scrypt?

Yes:

... -S MLD:all --set MLD@COM7:clock=924 --set MLD@COM8:clock=796

(official notation should be --set MLD@\\.\COMx:clock=nnn but this works as well)

So how do I know which MLD is which??? 


thanks
G

[achtung082]

Yea stock binaries wont work on the BBB, you would need to get your compiler working correctly on that. Unfortunately this is not the thread for this discussion...there are plenty of threads and how-to's on how to properly setup compiler on your specific linux system and compile bfgminer. As for the pi, looks like your running an older kernel. Id try and do a fresh up to date raspian install on it and you should be good to go.

Thanks I will try a newer image on the Pi. Do you know what the min version needed is? Thanks for your help.

Re: the BBB, as I stated before I can actually compile bfgminer with no problem at all if I pull from git luke-jr/bfgminer. I can build and run bfgminer on the device with no error, it just doesn't have the driver support. I did this a test to see if there was any difference regarding the dependencies with you fork, which there does appear to be.

thanks again.

[crawlingspleen]

Running windows, I opened "Device Manager" then I unplugged one of the MLD and saw which COM port that one was.
Mine are on COM3 & COM4, from there it was easy as I had marked the "better" MLD and punched in my speed.

quick question.

I have 1 stick that will hash just happy at 924, another won't budge past 796. Can I set them to run those frequencies on the same scrypt?

Yes:

... -S MLD:all --set MLD@COM7:clock=924 --set MLD@COM8:clock=796

(official notation should be --set MLD@\\.\COMx:clock=nnn but this works as well)

So how do I know which MLD is which??? 


thanks
G

[jstefanop]

Yea stock binaries wont work on the BBB, you would need to get your compiler working correctly on that. Unfortunately this is not the thread for this discussion...there are plenty of threads and how-to's on how to properly setup compiler on your specific linux system and compile bfgminer. As for the pi, looks like your running an older kernel. Id try and do a fresh up to date raspian install on it and you should be good to go.

Thanks I will try a newer image on the Pi. Do you know what the min version needed is? Thanks for your help.

Re: the BBB, as I stated before I can actually compile bfgminer with no problem at all if I pull from git luke-jr/bfgminer. I can build and run bfgminer on the device with no error, it just doesn't have the driver support. I did this a test to see if there was any difference regarding the dependencies with you fork, which there does appear to be.

thanks again.

I think what I'm running has kernel version 4.4. There are no dependency differences between my branch, only difference is that it includes the futurbit driver which has not been merged upstream yet.

[ryanyulinruan]

Just got my Moonlander 2 today! I'm very satisfied!
Assembly: 5/5 - Easy to assemble. Not too many parts. No instruction manual or tools needed
Design: 5/5 - Looks beautiful. Quiet. Simple.
Efficiency: 4/5 - I'm getting about 3.5mh/s without any overclock on a USD hub.
Setup: 5/5 - Super easy to set up! Took less than 3 minutes!