[ANN][BLC] Blakecoin Blake-256 for GPU/FPGA With Merged Mined Pools Stable Net

[kramble]

I have an ATX PSU available any special connectors needed?

That should work fine, it has 4 pin molex, 6 pin molex and barrel connector (possibly 3.5mm, not sure). I haven't plugged it in yet but I intend to use the ATX PSU in my main PC (lots of spare connectors, currently using a 4-pin molex for the ztex board). You'll need to download the support materials from http://www.enterpoint.co.uk/cairnsmore/cairnsmore1_support_materials.html

I'll probably start on this on Monday and will keep the thread updated on my progress.

The ztex port is finally beginning to come together. Solved the HW errors issue so now its just a matter of adding the second core and ramping up the clock speed in the build. I've not yet found out why it will only load in three of the four fpgas. It could be a missing bitgen parameter or maybe a startup timing issue. And by pure fluke I've solved two blocks today during testing 

[1714856369]

1714856369

[1714856369]

1714856369

[bronan]

does have any of the new cgminer have blake or which version has blake256 ?

[kramble]

does have any of the new cgminer have blake or which version has blake256 ?

I'm pretty sure its not in the official cgminer. Melnikalex did a hacked version upthread but this only works for GPU mining.

I'm doing a hack of cgminer 3.1.1 for the fpgas, though this won't support GPUs (I'm not a software expert so I'm pretty limited in what I can accomplish). Hopefully someone more experienced can take my mods and do something more professional with them. It'll be a couple of days before I've got something useful but my initial hack for icarus/lancelot is up on my github (only source patches for linux ATM, though I do have a working MinGW build environment for Windows now).

[bzyzny]

sorry, i know i asked this before but does the blakecoin cgminer support linux or only windows? I got errors when trying to compile it on linux. or do i just need some special dependencies? I am using the same computer that i used to compile litecoin cgminer with no problem. thanks for any info

[sacskate]

I've got some BLC for sale, pm with offers.

[kramble]

sorry, i know i asked this before but does the blakecoin cgminer support linux or only windows? I got errors when trying to compile it on linux. or do i just need some special dependencies? I am using the same computer that i used to compile litecoin cgminer with no problem. thanks for any info

Yeah, I got errors when I tried compiling Melnikalex's version on raspi. It appears its been pre-configured for MinGW on Windows. My workaround was to download a fresh copy of the official sources (version 3.3.1 as per the NEWS), then copy over the changed files from the blake version (I used md5sum to compare the entire directory in one go) ... there are quite a few (its actually based on yakminer according to the README) so I cheated and just copied all of *.c and *.h. Then build as normal, at which point I came unstuck as the blake hashing code is bracketed in #ifdef HAVE_OPENCL which requires a GPU build (not appropriate for the raspi). You may have better luck building on a mainstream linux.

[meta.p02]

I'm working on a p2pool fork for Blakecoin.

Right now I can't get the blake hash to work properly... for some reason...

Code:

ProcessMessages(version, 128 bytes) : CHECKSUM ERROR nChecksum=916c82af hdr.nChecksum=4bc57200

Trying now to check whether it is an endianness error...

(BlueDragon747... why oh why did you use blake hash for the checksum... D:)

at the time it made sense to use a faster hash for as much of the wallet hashing as possible  

in Blakecoin you get about three blake256(checksum) per sha256(sha256(checksum)) so it makes sense to use it but the cost is compatibility with the Bitcoin/Litecoin software 

are you using pure python blake8.py that kramble has modded or the python pow module?

Oh? There's a python module? thank god :collapses:

I tried making a C extension (like the litecoin_scrypt module for scrypt) from the blakecoin code and spent the entire day doing it...

Is there a link to blake8.py?

[BlueDragon747]

I'm working on a p2pool fork for Blakecoin.

Right now I can't get the blake hash to work properly... for some reason...

Code:

ProcessMessages(version, 128 bytes) : CHECKSUM ERROR nChecksum=916c82af hdr.nChecksum=4bc57200

Trying now to check whether it is an endianness error...

(BlueDragon747... why oh why did you use blake hash for the checksum... D:)

at the time it made sense to use a faster hash for as much of the wallet hashing as possible  

in Blakecoin you get about three blake256(checksum) per sha256(sha256(checksum)) so it makes sense to use it but the cost is compatibility with the Bitcoin/Litecoin software  

are you using pure python blake8.py that kramble has modded or the python pow module?

Oh? There's a python module? thank god :collapses:

I tried making a C extension (like the litecoin_scrypt module for scrypt) from the blakecoin code and spent the entire day doing it...

Is there a link to blake8.py?

pure python blake8.py (no need to install)
https://github.com/kramble/FPGA-Blakecoin-Miner/tree/master/MiningSoftware/blake_python

example usage:
from blake8 import BLAKE as BLAKE

BLAKE(256).digest(DataToBeHashed)

C extension pow module (need to install)
https://github.com/BlueDragon747/Blakecoin_Python_POW_Module

example usage:
import blake_hash

blake_hash.getPoWHash(DataToBeHashed)

the pure python blake8.py is best for my testing but both work

[bzyzny]

kramble,

thanks for the tip, after messing with the source code files for about 2-3 hours I finally got cgminer to compile on 64bit linux.  i haven't touched C/C++ in like 5 years, so it's a hack job but it runs however, I am getting continuous errors like this

hash7 8c7143b0 > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 25f275bf > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 da69ea03 > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 2d7d7638 > diff1 0 = invalid

or like this

Error: clSetKernelArg of all params failed.

depending on what settings I use. is this because its not hashing properly, or is this how cgminer tells you you did not find a block? I copied the blake256.cl file from the windows cgminer archive, but i'm not sure its loading properly.
any more ideas would be helpful. Once I can confirm this build is running properly, I will upload the binary and source.

[Spayse]

any pools yet

[kramble]

kramble,

thanks for the tip, after messing with the source code files for about 2-3 hours I finally got cgminer to compile on 64bit linux.  i haven't touched C/C++ in like 5 years, so it's a hack job but it runs however, I am getting continuous errors like this

hash7 8c7143b0 > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 25f275bf > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 da69ea03 > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 2d7d7638 > diff1 0 = invalid

or like this

Error: clSetKernelArg of all params failed.

depending on what settings I use. is this because its not hashing properly, or is this how cgminer tells you you did not find a block? I copied the blake256.cl file from the windows cgminer archive, but i'm not sure its loading properly.
any more ideas would be helpful. Once I can confirm this build is running properly, I will upload the binary and source.

No, that's definitely not hashing properly. Hash7 should be 00000000 for valid hashes. Unfortunately I know almost nothing about the GPU code in cgminer so I'm not going to be of much help. One thing to check is if this is just an occasional error or if all of the hashes coming from the GPU are invalid (the message comes from submit_nonce() in cgminer.c so just log the valid ones as well as the invalids).

[maxsolnc]

It seems that no one buys Blakecoin, I tried to sell some BLC at different prices, and no one was not interested in buying. I think it's because of pool\block explorer absence

[adoalli]

need some pools

[melnikalex]

kramble,

thanks for the tip, after messing with the source code files for about 2-3 hours I finally got cgminer to compile on 64bit linux.  i haven't touched C/C++ in like 5 years, so it's a hack job but it runs however, I am getting continuous errors like this

hash7 8c7143b0 > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 25f275bf > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 da69ea03 > diff1 0 = invalid
 hash7 2d7d7638 > diff1 0 = invalid

or like this

Error: clSetKernelArg of all params failed.

depending on what settings I use. is this because its not hashing properly, or is this how cgminer tells you you did not find a block? I copied the blake256.cl file from the windows cgminer archive, but i'm not sure its loading properly.
any more ideas would be helpful. Once I can confirm this build is running properly, I will upload the binary and source.

there must be endianess problem.
you can try to play with preparation step in cgminer ( findnonce.c, precalc_hash_blake256() ), there calculated midstate, and it not portable for BE/LE platforms.
also when cgminer prepare argument for kernel there also may be endianess problem.

[SpeedDemon13]

It seems that no one buys Blakecoin, I tried to sell some BLC at different prices, and no one was not interested in buying. I think it's because of pool\block explorer absence

That's another reason why it hasn't hit a market. Most markets at least want a block explorer, but most want both block explorer and pool. Plus no services online yet to use the coin.

[meta.p02]

How do I get the p2pool to calculate the checksum correctly? Currently I use:

Code:

class ChecksummedType(pack.Type):
    #def __init__(self, inner, checksum_func=lambda data: hashlib.sha256(hashlib.sha256(data).digest()).digest()[:4]):
    def __init__(self, inner, checksum_func=lambda data: BLAKE(256).digest(data)[:4]):

The error:

Code:

2013-11-12 20:17:20.430000 Testing bitcoind P2P connection to '127.0.0.1:8773'..
.
2013-11-12 20:17:25.434000     ...taking a while. Common reasons for this includ
e all of bitcoind's connection slots being used...

(in debug.log)
accepted connection 127.0.0.1:11345
ProcessMessages(version, 128 bytes) : CHECKSUM ERROR nChecksum=6d7c16f0 hdr.nChecksum=e5518cb7
disconnecting node 127.0.0.1:11345

The checksum is a single BLAKE(256) iteration, right? Do I have to do anything to the data (e.g. reverse it) before I send it out?

[kramble]

An experimental port of the FPGA Blakecoin miner to the Ztex 1.15y is now available.

Bitstream at [initial version redacted - faster versions now include pll_stop functionality]
Faster version https://www.dropbox.com/s/qlsbvarijcvlfpo/ztex_ufm1_15y1-v06ad-2core-ucf-120MHz-fmax-125.bit
Faster version https://www.dropbox.com/s/jafj67j6gmll97x/ztex_ufm1_15y1-v06ad-2core-ucf-140MHz-fmax-147.bit
Bugfix version https://www.dropbox.com/s/vk3k5sb64b8641o/ztex_ufm1_15y1-v06ad-2core-ucf-140MHz-fmax-147-fixed.bit

Cgminer patches at https://github.com/kramble/FPGA-Blakecoin-Miner/tree/master/cgminer/cgminer-3.1.1

See the README for compilation instructions and a pre-compiled windows build (feedback would be appreciated as to whether I've included all the dependencies for this). Note that you will need to disable GPU mining via --disable-gpu as it is not compiled in, and that the --debug switch may cause it to crash (it does for me). You can (and should) redirect the log output via 2>log.txt for later inspection. Some more detailed instructions here.

WARNING This is experimental. Use it at your own risk. IT MAY DAMAGE YOUR ZTEX BOARD. At the very least, monitor for overheating as the overclock and overheat protections of the original bitcoin code are not currently operational.

On the two boards its been tested on so far, it will only load up on three of the four FPGA devices. I suspect this may be an issue with the default firmware, but it seems fairly harmless. Max speed on three devices is reported at around 1GHash/sec. Use the bugfix version which works on all four devices.

Automatic clock speed management is enabled and the clock will ramp up until hardware errors occur, then back off a little. At least that's what its supposed to do. In practice it ramps up until the FPGA locks-up, reloads the bitstream and backs off one step. You will see several "checknonce failed" messages as the clock reaches maximum. Don't fret as they should settle down pretty soon after. Its a work in progress, any help from the pro's to get this working properly would be appreciated.

Have fun

[wax7]

nice
New job's for my fpga farm.

[trepex]

An experimental port of the FPGA Blakecoin miner to the Ztex 1.15y is now available.
...
See the README for compilation instructions and a pre-compiled windows build (feedback would be appreciated as to whether I've included all the dependencies for this).

When I try this on a Win8 system, I get an error about zlib1.dll missing.
Did you forget to include this library in your zip file?

Do you have a static compiled version for a Raspberry Pi?

trepex

[kramble]

When I try this on a Win8 system, I get an error about zlib1.dll missing.
Did you forget to include this library in your zip file?

Do you have a static compiled version for a Raspberry Pi?

trepex

Thanks, I've updated https://www.dropbox.com/s/xa01f9hhakpsexv/cgminer-3.1.1-blakefpga.zip to include it, and tweaked runblake.bat slightly. Oddly it does not seem to be needed on either of my Win7-64 or Win8-32 boxes, but I do have 7zip installed which may explain it (it will have already installed the library).

I haven't actually built this exact version on raspi, but the previous driver-icarus version did build OK, though its a standard dynamic build, my expertise does not stretch to modifying the makefile for static linking. Its been a while since I originally set up the dependencies for this, so I'm not quite sure exactly what you will need, the build instructions in the original cgminer README are a bit lacking. I'll have a dig around and see if I can find any notes I may have made ... nope, lost in the mists of time, but google did find something http://learn.adafruit.com/piminer-raspberry-pi-bitcoin-miner/install-cgminer seems straightforward enough.