Bitminter client (Windows/Linux/Mac)

[HTML5 Gordon]

I don't have any Block Erupter USB units to test with, but I'm starting to figure this out.

The hashrate currently shows 2x what it should be. This is because the Icarus device had 2 FPGAs which split the noncerange between them, while apparently the Block Erupter has 1 chip doing the nonce range from start to finish.

Just got my USB Block Erupter up and running on my Mac using BitMinter.  Working great.  Currently reporting 671.5 Mhps, so I guess it is running ~335 Mhps.  

Did you have to "probe specific port" to get that working?

What I suspect to be the solution:

Instead of FTDI drivers, get Silabs drivers: http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx

On Mac OS X this gives serial ports with a different filename than the usual /dev/usbserial* from FTDI. With the current BitMinter client that won't work automatically, so you have to open a Terminal window and type

Code:

ls /dev/cu.*

to find the name. Probably /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART. If you have multiple units then they will also have a number at the end. Then click "devices" -> "probe specific port" in the menu, and type in the full path, /dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUART - the device should be detected. Not confirmed to be working yet, so a confirmation would be useful.

Yep, that's exactly what I did.  Worked perfectly.  I'm currently using the beta client, BTW.

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[DrHaribo]

Yep, that's exactly what I did.  Worked perfectly.  I'm currently using the beta client, BTW.

Awesome. Thanks for confirming. I'll get that and the hashrate issue fixed.

[whitefeather]

Yep, that's exactly what I did.  Worked perfectly.  I'm currently using the beta client, BTW.

Awesome. Thanks for confirming. I'll get that and the hashrate issue fixed.

Would it be possible to run a mix of BFL FPGA Bitforce units alongside the USB Eruptors on a single OSX Machine using the Bitminter Miner?

I'm afraid if I use the SiLabs USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers in lieu of the FTDI drivers, the Eruptors will be found but the BFL Units will disappear.

Dr. Haribo, any thoughts on this?

[DrHaribo]

Would it be possible to run a mix of BFL FPGA Bitforce units alongside the USB Eruptors on a single OSX Machine using the Bitminter Miner?

I'm afraid if I use the SiLabs USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers in lieu of the FTDI drivers, the Eruptors will be found but the BFL Units will disappear.

Dr. Haribo, any thoughts on this?

I haven't tested that, but I believe it should work fine.

[whitefeather]

Would it be possible to run a mix of BFL FPGA Bitforce units alongside the USB Eruptors on a single OSX Machine using the Bitminter Miner?

I'm afraid if I use the SiLabs USB to UART Bridge VCP Drivers in lieu of the FTDI drivers, the Eruptors will be found but the BFL Units will disappear.

Dr. Haribo, any thoughts on this?

I haven't tested that, but I believe it should work fine.

Dr Haribo -- I just wanted to confirm that indeed, running both the FTDI driver (for the FPGA Bitforce) and the SiLabs driver simultaneously on one OSX instance does in fact work.

To test this, I grabbed a few BFL FPGA Bitforce units, plugged them into a USB hub.
Then, I grabbed two USB eruptors, plugged them into a different hub.
Plugged both hubs into a test OSX machine which had both the FTDI and SiLabs drivers installed.
Probed specific port for the Eruptors as you instructed in a previous post.
Probed all ports to find the installed BFL FPGA units.

Like magic, they all appeared in the client. Started them all up, and they are happily mining away in harmony.

My only problem now is that it seems Bitminter is under DDOS attack. Darn.

[DrHaribo]

Dr Haribo -- I just wanted to confirm that indeed, running both the FTDI driver (for the FPGA Bitforce) and the SiLabs driver simultaneously on one OSX instance does in fact work.

Thanks, that's good to know

[doosey2]

I'm trying to get bitminter v1.3.2 to work with block eruptor usb on windows 8 x64...

In bitminter, when I "probe all ports for FPGAs", I'm getting the error "Probe failed: No serial ports found" from Bitminter v1.3.2

I've installed Silabs CP2102 USB to UART Bridge Controller

And using Zadig to update drivers...

http://24.media.tumblr.com/ed80212ea3cd9c858ab4df03b30041dd/tumblr_mnw46d9mt91spis86o1_500.png

any idea why Bitminter can't find my eruptor?

[DrHaribo]

And using Zadig to update drivers...

Ditch Zadig/libusb and install drivers from http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx then it will work.

[lazlopanaflex]

Hi Dr Haribo,
On my block eruptor, I sometimes see messages like "Icarus (COM3) ERROR: Icarus (COM3) ran out of work. Idling..." and "Not getting any results. Retuning timers". Can I get more info on these, please? I'm running the latest client (v1.3.2).

ty sir

[DrHaribo]

On my block eruptor, I sometimes see messages like "Icarus (COM3) ERROR: Icarus (COM3) ran out of work. Idling..." and "Not getting any results. Retuning timers". Can I get more info on these, please? I'm running the latest client (v1.3.2).

Running out of work can happen if the server is slow or the network between you and the server is slow or down. At one point today there was 20% packetloss, probably due to a problem at the data center, which would cause such a slowdown. This should not happen often.

The message about not getting any results happens if the device was given lots of work but found no results. It may be that the work it was given simply didn't contain any valid proofs of work for it to find. But it can also be that the device has failed for some reason. Because the Icarus protocol is very primitive, it's impossible for your computer to tell the difference. So it sends the device some data it knows that it will respond to, and looks for that response. If there is no response even then, that means there is something wrong.

[lazlopanaflex]

Running out of work can happen if the server is slow or the network between you and the server is slow or down. At one point today there was 20% packetloss, probably due to a problem at the data center, which would cause such a slowdown. This should not happen often.

The message about not getting any results happens if the device was given lots of work but found no results. It may be that the work it was given simply didn't contain any valid proofs of work for it to find. But it can also be that the device has failed for some reason. Because the Icarus protocol is very primitive, it's impossible for your computer to tell the difference. So it sends the device some data it knows that it will respond to, and looks for that response. If there is no response even then, that means there is something wrong.

Ok, thanks for the info. I've only had two stales & 4 miscalcs in ~1.5 hours, will keep an eye on it.

[afroman1131]

Why is it that when i mine on my cpu with bitminter it says i get about 435 KH/s, but if i use say cpuminer i only get 2 KH/s, so whats with that?

[DrHaribo]

Why is it that when i mine on my cpu with bitminter it says i get about 435 KH/s, but if i use say cpuminer i only get 2 KH/s, so whats with that?

cpuminer should be much faster than bitminter client on cpu. Are you sure you're not getting 2 MH/s with cpuminer? Anyway, CPU mining is incredibly slow and not recommended. You can try it to see how bitcoin mining works, but it's useless for making a profit.

[z26y25x24]

can i use bitminter with fpga ztex 1.15y

i test and impossible to work.  Probe failed: No serial ports found

i install http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm  but same problem   Probe failed: No serial ports found

why, what is the problem. since 4h00 now i not found

[DrHaribo]

can i use bitminter with fpga ztex 1.15y

No, only BFL and Icarus-compatible FPGAs are supported. You'll have to use another mining client for that.

[z26y25x24]

cool 4h lost

You'll have to use another mining client for that.  witch miner i can use ??

[DrHaribo]

cool 4h lost

You'll have to use another mining client for that.  witch miner i can use ??

bfgminer and cgminer support ztex FPGAs.. links at bitminter frontpage: http://bitminter.com

[kosmokramer]

Howdy - just discovered BitMinter recently when I got my first few Block Erupters - love it! It's been working great, but recently I ran into an issue. I have one block erupter that works fine in cgminer, but when I attempt to mine with it in BitMinter, this is reported:

"Probe of port COM5 failed: timeout"

This happens every time I try to probe that port, but again, I open up cgminer and it starts mining just fine. Any ideas?

[DrHaribo]

I don't have a single Icarus compatible unit, Block Erupter or otherwise, so it's a little difficult to improve support.

There's an experimental version now at: http://bitminter.com/alpha/alpha.jnlp

I'd like to know how it runs (if at all) on block erupter, actual icarus, and any other icarus compatible devices. Does it work, does it show the correct hash rate, etc.

Howdy - just discovered BitMinter recently when I got my first few Block Erupters - love it! It's been working great, but recently I ran into an issue. I have one block erupter that works fine in cgminer, but when I attempt to mine with it in BitMinter, this is reported:

"Probe of port COM5 failed: timeout"

This happens every time I try to probe that port, but again, I open up cgminer and it starts mining just fine. Any ideas?

You need to install silabs drivers.

http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx

[Troupster]

I don't have a single Icarus compatible unit, Block Erupter or otherwise, so it's a little difficult to improve support.

There's an experimental version now at: http://bitminter.com/alpha/alpha.jnlp

I'd like to know how it runs (if at all) on block erupter, actual icarus, and any other icarus compatible devices. Does it work, does it show the correct hash rate, etc.

Howdy - just discovered BitMinter recently when I got my first few Block Erupters - love it! It's been working great, but recently I ran into an issue. I have one block erupter that works fine in cgminer, but when I attempt to mine with it in BitMinter, this is reported:

"Probe of port COM5 failed: timeout"

This happens every time I try to probe that port, but again, I open up cgminer and it starts mining just fine. Any ideas?

You need to install silabs drivers.

http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx

I'm having trouble getting my USB hub to work on my USB 3.0 ports, but it works fine in my USB 2.0 ports. Any idea where to look to fix this, besides the obvious driver issues? (It will load 6 of 9 eruptors in a usb 3.0 port, but it works flawlessly in a 2.0 port)