BAMT - Easy persistent USB key based linux for dedicated miners/mining farms

[lodcrappo]

The Big A Miner Thing is a custom linux designed specifically for dedicated mining rigs. It boots from a 2GB or larger USB key and is persistent. The base is plain old Debian, and every effort has been taken to remain a "normal" debian system. You can add software with apt and do most anything else you could do on a regular debian box in the usual way.  BAMT supports both 32 and 64 bit systems.

Included are all the drivers, programs, and scripts necessary to very quickly deploy a dedicated machine that will automatically start mining when turned on. This is not an OS you will enjoy using to surf the web or write a term paper. Don't even think about asking why you can't print or where the mp3 player is. This is for miners.

Individual mining processes are started in screen sessions, and so can be viewed remotely via SSH or on the console. Realtime status is displayed on the local console, and performance graphs are available remotely via a web dashboard. Munin node is setup with custom mining extensions and can be connected to from a central server to gather mining metrics from several mining rigs.


This version is now outdated and unsupported. Please see 0.5 thread.


0.5 thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=65915.0

Website at http://bamter.org/

Support/bug tracker at http://bamter.org/redmine/projects/bamt


donations to:  1PoRYaGS56ksQmK7XXLurW3B2zwCAE8PRc  
thanks

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[Anonymous]

Would you create a version for people who dont mine but just want to run bitcoin from a usb stick with persistence ?

Ive been looking for something like that to run from an iron key usb stick.

[lodcrappo]

Would you create a version for people who dont mine but just want to run bitcoin from a usb stick with persistence ?

Ive been looking for something like that to run from an iron key usb stick.

I would think LinuxCoin is a good choice for something like that.  The focus of BAMT is dedicated miners, not something you would actually use as a workstation.

[tysat]

Getting ready to throw a dedicated mining rig together this weekend... this looks like it'll be perfect!

[fitty]

Anyone have a direct download? Torrent is running with 1 peer at 10k a second, 12 hrs remaining.

Also what's the root password?

[lodcrappo]

Anyone have a direct download? Torrent is running with 1 peer at 10k a second, 12 hrs remaining.

Also what's the root password?

root password is changeme, as documented in the included readme.

i see 3 seeds atm, two of which are providing over 200Kbps.

[Maxim Gladkov]

I, currently, have working and fully configured LinuxCoin install. What do you think, should I switch to BAMT? 

[fitty]

Anyone have a direct download? Torrent is running with 1 peer at 10k a second, 12 hrs remaining.

Also what's the root password?

root password is changeme, as documented in the included readme.

i see 3 seeds atm, two of which are providing over 200Kbps.

I got another seed. Thanks for the info!

[lodcrappo]

I, currently, have working and fully configured LinuxCoin install. What do you think, should I switch to BAMT?  

Probably not.  Most of the value in BAMT is that you can deploy a new mining rig in literally 60 seconds.  You've already done that.  If you've got LinuxCoin set up to where it mines on power on automatically, and provides the remote management you need, then no reason to switch.


edit - PS I think LinuxCoin is a very fine Linux and I used it myself for some time.  I would probably recommend it over BAMT in many situations.   It was only when my farm grew in size that I started creating BAMT, because it was too much work to set up and configure so many machines.

[fitty]

I, currently, have working and fully configured LinuxCoin install. What do you think, should I switch to BAMT? 

Probably not.  Most of the value in BAMT is that you can deploy a new mining rig in literally 60 seconds.  You've already done that.  If you've got LinuxCoin set up to where it mines on power on automatically, and provides the remote management you need, then no reason to switch.

Screenshoots look amazing. Got about an hr left in the DL if I can get it up and running I'll toss you a donation this is exactly what I've  been looking for. =)

[lodcrappo]

Edit: don't do this, use the new automated fixer tool - http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28967.msg381175#msg381175

Found some minor bugs in v0.4 image.  Nothing that should effect mining.  This small update will fix them.  To apply, do the following *as root*:

Code:

cd /
wget http://aaronwolfe.com/bamt/updates/bamt_fix_1.tar
tar xvf bamt_fix_1.tar

No restart necessary, fixes will take effect immediately.

[lodcrappo]

Edit: Don't do this, use the automated tool:  http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28967.msg381175#msg381175

Update #2: fixes bug that makes munin graphs quit working if you change hostname.  should work fine now no matter what you'd like to call the rig.

Same technique as before:

Code:

cd /
wget http://aaronwolfe.com/bamt/updates/bamt_fix_2.tar
tar xvf bamt_fix_2.tar

If you're not getting graphs, do this as root:

Code:

/etc/init.d/munin-node restart

I will add an updater script to do these little bug fixes automagically at some point.  

Thanks for the bug reports.

[backburn]

I can attest that BAMT has run extremely well in a production environment. Keep up the good work!

Making this the recommended mining platform for advanced miners on bitclockers.com, will get a tutorial done soon.

UPDATE: Going to seed this on a fat pipe for you.

[film2240]

What's the overhead compared to windows?

In order to get the best from your hardware,overheads from the OS need to be kept to a minimum.

I ask this because I get 400MHash/s from HD 6950 (shader unlocked,core clock OC'd to 895MHz stable and mem clock 949MHZ as going any higher on core clock and lower on mem clock destabilises my system.

Can I OC my card to those setting in your OS?because thats what t takes to raech 40MHash/s on my card.

If this OS is lighter than win 7,then my performance will be boosted even more

What about power saving options for when I need to check my email briefly before resuming mining?

thank you

[lodcrappo]

What's the overhead compared to windows?


In order to get the best from your hardware,overheads from the OS need to be kept to a minimum.

I'm not sure exactly what "overhead" refers to here...  BAMT uses less ram and probably has fewer things contending for I/O and cpu time than the typical Windows installation.  However, if or how that would actually effect a GPU's mining performance I'm really not sure.  

Given a reasonable aggression, your GPU should stay fully loaded regardless of what else is happening on the machine, within reason..  long story short, I doubt any measurable difference would be seen in hash rate between a properly configured machine running either OS.  The driver version and SDK version probably have more effect on hash rate than the OS you use in most cases.

I ask this because I get 400MHash/s from HD 6950 (shader unlocked,core clock OC'd to 895MHz stable and mem clock 949MHZ as going any higher on core clock and lower on mem clock destabilises my system.

Can I OC my card to those setting in your OS?because thats what t takes to raech 40MHash/s on my card.

Yes, overclocking is very easy in BAMT.

If this OS is lighter than win 7,then my performance will be boosted even more

I wouldn't count on it.. but worth a shot.  I'm interested to know either way.

What about power saving options for when I need to check my email briefly before resuming mining?

thank you

I don't quite follow you here.. BAMT is for dedicated miners, it doesn't provide user applications.  Technically there is a web browser, but it's just there for administrative tasks.  Check your email with something else would be my recommendation.

Good luck

[fitty]

I can attest that BAMT has run extremely well in a production environment. Keep up the good work!

Making this the recommended mining platform for advanced miners on bitclockers.com, will get a tutorial done soon.

UPDATE: Going to seed this on a fat pipe for you.

Yeah I've liked it a lot so far.

Has anyone been able to get 4 cards working with it? It only sets 3, starts 3, and doesn't seem to notice gpu3 in the bamt.conf.

I've doubled checked the file, spacing, pools file. Copy/pasted it inside vim so all the spacing looks right. The aticonfig shows 4 cards. For some reason in common.pl it's only pulling the first 3.

[fitty]

I also get this error but it doesn't seem to effect anything.

2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5343] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-0.sock", 21): Connection refused
2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5348] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-1.sock", 21): Connection refused
2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5353] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-2.sock", 21): Connection refused

[lodcrappo]

I also get this error but it doesn't seem to effect anything.

2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5343] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-0.sock", 21): Connection refused
2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5348] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-1.sock", 21): Connection refused
2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5353] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-2.sock", 21): Connection refused

that is normal, just the status read routines trying to talk to a phoenix that isn't there (yet).  no problem.

As for your 4th card issue... the card init routines use the output of "aticonfig --list-adapters" as an index for launching miners.  they then look for matching sections in bamt.conf to tell them if/how to start miners, where gpuX is X from the line output from aticonfig. 

I'm sure it is something easy enough to diagnose and correct, but hard to say when I can't see your system.  maybe you can email me the config files and aticonfig output, anything else that might help?  aaron@aaronwolfe.com

[fitty]

I also get this error but it doesn't seem to effect anything.

2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5343] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-0.sock", 21): Connection refused
2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5348] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-1.sock", 21): Connection refused
2011/07/19 04:15:56 socat[5353] E connect(3, AF=1 "/tmp/phoenix-2.sock", 21): Connection refused

that is normal, just the status read routines trying to talk to a phoenix that isn't there (yet).  no problem.

As for your 4th card issue... the card init routines use the output of "aticonfig --list-adapters" as an index for launching miners.  they then look for matching sections in bamt.conf to tell them if/how to start miners, where gpuX is X from the line output from aticonfig. 

I'm sure it is something easy enough to diagnose and correct, but hard to say when I can't see your system.  maybe you can email me the config files and aticonfig output, anything else that might help?  aaron@aaronwolfe.com

Just sent you an e-mail. Thanks man!

[lodcrappo]

Edit: Don't do this, use the automated tool:  http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28967.msg381175#msg381175

OK gold star to Fitty, found a good bug that will effect people with lots of GPUs.

Here is a new fix tar, unlike previous this includes all fixes to date, so for new users this is the only fix you need apply.  Consider it "Service Pack 1" if you are the Windows type.

To apply it - *as root*:

Code:

cd /
wget http://aaronwolfe.com/bamt/updates/bamt_fix_3.tar
tar xvf bamt_fix_3.tar

To be perfectly clear:  If you haven't applied any of the fixes, you only need to apply this one.  If you have applied 1 or 2 of the fixes, you still only need to apply this one.  So.. in other words.. everybody needs to apply this one and only this one.  For now, until another bug is discovered.

Automatic patching system is in the works and coming soon.