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

[triforcelink]

My system keeps hanging on the post screen when I try to boot through USB. Is there a way I can install this onto a hard drive?

[lodcrappo]

Ok.. the promised automatic fixer seems to be working well.  The process to get it onto an existing system is a little different than previous fixes, but no big deal.  Once it is installed, you'll be able to receive all future updates much more easily.

So, to add the auto fixer to your system, in a root shell:

Code:

cd /

apt-get install libarchive-tar-perl libwww-perl libterm-prompt-perl
(say yes to any prompts)

wget http://aaronwolfe.com/bamt/updates/bamt_fixer.tar

tar xvf bamt_fixer.tar

This will install a new tool, the fixer.  To check for and install updates, all you need to do is:

Code:

/opt/bamt/fixer

The tool will find updates, show you whats in them, and let you install them.  Highly recommend update #4, which will update the phatk kernel with improvements for a little better hash rates.

[fitty]

New patch is working awesome. Running two rigs, 4x58xx and 3x6950s for last 12 hours.

[lodcrappo]

My system keeps hanging on the post screen when I try to boot through USB. Is there a way I can install this onto a hard drive?

Well, it could be done but it is probably more work than it's worth.  Probably faster to figure out what's up with your system or find another tool, to be honest. 

In principle, you could use the BAMT tools on any linux system.  First get the ATI drivers, APP SDK, and opencl set up.  Then copy the stuff from /etc/bamt, /opt/bamt, /opt/miners, and the mine* init scripts in /etc/init.d (these might need some adjustment depending on how a given linux does init).  Other stuff is superfluous but you might want /usr/bin/gpumon, the phoenix munin plugins, the web cgi status thing, etc.    All of this stuff can work on any system, but the effort to make it happen could be large.

You might also be able to copy the raw partitions to a hard disk and install grub or some boot loader.  Again, might be quite a project but if you're experienced with such things probably not impossible.

[drgr33n]

check out my vid on how to install linuxcoin to a HDD. The principle should be the same using BAMT.

http://www.linuxcoin.co.uk/wiki/index.php/HDD_install

[gdomod]

same here
run gparted in terminal

Gparted your prefered hdd or usb
like
/dev/sdb1 ext4, /dev/sdb2 swap

/dev/sdb1 minimum space are 3GB

Code:

mkdir /mnt/hdd
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/hdd

rsync -avH --exclude=/proc/* --exclude=/dev/* \
--exclude=/sys/* --exclude=/tmp/* --exclude=/lost+found \
--exclude=/var/tmp/* --exclude=/boot/grub/* \
--exclude=/media/* --exclude=/live/  \
--exclude=/mnt/* / /mnt/hdd

sudo mount -o bind /dev /mnt/hdd/dev
sudo mount -t proc /proc /mnt/hdd/proc
sudo mount -o bind /sys /mnt/hdd/sys
sudo mount -t devpts devpts /mnt/hdd/dev/pts
sudo chroot /mnt/hdd /bin/bash

apt-get install grub2
grub-setup /dev/sdb
grub-install /dev/sdb

nano /etc/fstab

none         /dev/pts      devpts    defaults      0 0
proc         /proc         proc      defaults      0 0
/dev/sda1    /             ext4      defaults      0 1
/dev/sda2    none          swap      sw            0 0

[Fjordbit]

Does this support 32-bit? I'm a little dissatisfied with Windows running on my rig.

[lodcrappo]

Does this support 32-bit? I'm a little dissatisfied with Windows running on my rig.

yes it does.  i mine with some old equipment so 32 bit support was always a priority.

[gnar1ta$]

What do I have to do to take a look at this in VMware Fusion?  I just get not bootable when using the img file.

[lodcrappo]

What do I have to do to take a look at this in VMware Fusion?  I just get not bootable when using the img file.

The image isn't an ISO or other traditional media image, it is a raw image of the entire usb device.  If you could convince fusion to look at it as a raw disk image, it might work.  I know you can boot bamt in qemu by just using it as a hard disk, but not sure if the vmware family lets you do that.

[drgr33n]

If its a img you can clone it accross cant you ?

Code:

dd if=/path/to/bamt.img of=/dev/sdX
dd if=/path/to/bamt.img of=/dev/sdX count=1 bs=512

[lodcrappo]

If its a img you can clone it accross cant you ?

Code:

dd if=/path/to/bamt.img of=/dev/sdX
dd if=/path/to/bamt.img of=/dev/sdX count=1 bs=512

yeah that should work from within vmware to copy from the image file to a vmware disk I'd think.  you would need a linux vm running already, unless there is some way to create a vmdk from an image?

[drgr33n]

Yes i think vmware has the necessary tools as well but I can never remember what tools are included in what version when it comes down to vmware. To many variants between packages lol but you can also use qemu. The previous instructions was to install to a HDD. If BAMT is running debian you can do this inside BAMT.

Code:

apt-get update;apt-get install qemu
qemu-img convert bamt.img -O vmdk bamt.vmdk 

Then open the VMDK in vmware.

[gnar1ta$]

This did not work -  but I'm fairly sure it was user error.

Code:

dd if=/path/to/bamt.img of=/dev/sdX
dd if=/path/to/bamt.img of=/dev/sdX count=1 bs=512

This did work with just a slight variation in OS X. 

Code:

qemu-img convert bamt.img -O vmdk bamt.vmdk

VMware is giving me a memory error, but Virtualbox opens the vmdk.

Thanks for the help.

[fitty]

Always update your motherboards BIOS if you have any issues.

I had a ton of problems booting BAMT on the MSI 890FXA-GD70. Once I updated the BIOS everything worked fine.

[tysat]

Always update your motherboards BIOS if you have any issues.

I had a ton of problems booting BAMT on the MSI 890FXA-GD70. Once I updated the BIOS everything worked fine.

What bios version did you upgrade to?  I have that mobo as well and had some issues trying to boot BAMT.

[fitty]

Always update your motherboards BIOS if you have any issues.

I had a ton of problems booting BAMT on the MSI 890FXA-GD70. Once I updated the BIOS everything worked fine.

What bios version did you upgrade to?  I have that mobo as well and had some issues trying to boot BAMT.

I honestly can't tell you. Maybe A1 or 1A.

Download Liveupdate from MSI

http://download1.msi.com/files/downloads/uti_exe/LiveUpdate.zip

Run it, click scan. Select the MB Bios update. It will detect the right BIOS and let you update it via floppy or through windows. Took about 2 minutes.

[tysat]

Always update your motherboards BIOS if you have any issues.

I had a ton of problems booting BAMT on the MSI 890FXA-GD70. Once I updated the BIOS everything worked fine.

What bios version did you upgrade to?  I have that mobo as well and had some issues trying to boot BAMT.

I honestly can't tell you. Maybe A1 or 1A.

Download Liveupdate from MSI

http://download1.msi.com/files/downloads/uti_exe/LiveUpdate.zip

Run it, click scan. Select the MB Bios update. It will detect the right BIOS and let you update it via floppy or through windows. Took about 2 minutes.

Thanks!  I'll give that a shot when I get off work.

[lodcrappo]

Fixes #5 and #6 are available via the auto fixer.  #5 solves some bugs (thanks for the reports guys, keep them coming) and #6 makes the web dashboard work better, and gpumon prettier.

[lodcrappo]

Released fix #7 on the news that the "improved" kernel in fix #4 actually lowers hash rates for some cards, particularly the 5770.

This fix provides alternate phatk kernels:

phatk        = mainline BAMT kernel, unchanged from version in fix #4
phatk-bamt04 = BAMT kernel from prior to fix #4
phatk-1.50   = stock phoenix 1.50 kernel
phatk-svn    = current development kernel from Phoenix SVN

You can specify which kernel to use per GPU in /etc/bamt/bamt.conf

Experiment, let me know what you find.  Happy to add additional kernels/patches if you guys find any more tweaks.  I'll keep SVN version reasonably current and add any future Phoenix releases as new options.