THIS IS THE SUPPORT THREAD: Keep this thread on topic! All order related questions go here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4988526All other comments/general questions go to the anouncment thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=4974036.0__________________________________________________
Getting StartedIf your Apollo did not come with an SD card or are looking for the latest image release (that now includes Full Node support!), check out the post below for instructions/links
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5081750.msg48523685#msg48523685Below are the quick getting started instructions that you should have also received inside your Apollo, with more details following and an FAQ section at the end. This thread is a great resource for additional questions, and is always monitored so if you have additional questions that are not covered below please feel free to post.
- Carefully remove the ASIC miner from its anti-static packaging. Be sure not to touch any PCB components on the exposed bottom of the miner
- Remove the Micro SD card from its package. Careful not to touch the gold contacts on the card when handling. The card has been pre-burned with the latest version of the Apollo OS image and is ready to run (Please see link above if you did not receive one and need to burn your own)
- Turn the ASIC miner over so the blue micro-controller is exposed. You will find the silver Micro-SD card slot at the back of the micro-controller board. Carefully insert the Micro-SD card into the slot, and push in until you feel a “click.” This indicates the SD card has been correctly inserted.
- Plug in your network ethernet cable to the ethernet port on the back of the miner.
- Plug the supplied AC power cable into the APU-200W Power supply, and the other end into your AC socket (please note the power cable is for NA markets, the power supply works in all markets (120 and 240v), but you will need an adapter or your own AC cable). Plug in the two 6 Pin PCIE output cables into both power ports of the Apollo. Make sure the 6 Pin connectors are firmly plugged into the Apollo, the cable will overheat if it does not have good contact. Turn on power supply switch, and the Apollo should start booting!
WARNING: If you are using your own power supply make sure both PCIE plugs are plugged into the Apollo
NEVER Plug in two separate power supplies into the same Apollo THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD - Once your miner successfully boots you will see a slow, then fast flashing yellow LED during boot up and power on sequence. If network connectivity is successfully established you will see a steady green LED + random red flashes indicating normal mining activity
- Connect your PC, tablet, or mobile phone to your local network and navigate to futurebit.local to start setup. If the dashboard does not show up, you will need to manually find the IP address of your device. Use an IP discover tool like Angry IP Scanner to scan your local network, and input the IP address to your web browser to access your miner’s dashboard. Both your PC/Smartphone and the Apollo MUST be on the same network/router for you to be able to access the dashboard. You can also log into your router directly to find your Apollo and its IP address if a scanner does not work
- Once you reach the dashboard a quick setup screen will pop up. Enter your pool credentials and password for your dashboard and click save. Please wait a few seconds and you will be prompted to enter your dashboard password. (Please visit litecoinpool.org/help if your new to mining and are looking for a quick and easy pool to get started with). All pool creditials (including worker name/passwords) are CASE sensitive...make sure you enter everything exactly as instructed by your pool
- Thats it! You should be presented with your Apollo’s dashboard and mining on your pool. If you ordered through Amazon/ebay or any of our third party retailers be sure to register your products here futurebit.io/reg for important updates and future features for your Apollo!
Full Node InstructionsFull Update Post here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5081750.msg54272660#msg54272660If you want a plug and play Full Node upgrade without needing to follow all the steps below, we have provided kits at cost with all the hardware needed to get started in a few minutes. It includes everything you need and is a matter of swapping out an SD card and plugging in a USB drive if you dont want to deal with doing all the prep work yourself.
https://shop.futurebit.io/products/apollo-full-node-upgrade-kitNOTE: Batch 1 customers can not run a Full node on the current MCU hardware due to memory limitations, and need an MCU swap linked on our store above
If you bought our Full Node upgrade kit, you can skip to step 5 below
1) Update your Apollo OS to the latest Full Node update linked below
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5081750.msg48523685#msg485236852) Running a Full Node on the Apollo requires an external USB drive. For a USB drive you can use anything from a good USB 2 magnetic based drive, a good quality USB thumb drive, or even an external SSD. Basic requirements are > 64GB of space, and 4k random write speed that exceeds 2 MB/s. You can test your drive by downloading the following software
Windows:
https://crystalmark.info/en/software/crystaldiskmark/Mac:
http://www.katsurashareware.com/pgs/adm.htmlThe recommended USB flash drives we have tested are below and all can be found for less than 20 USD:
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/usb-flash-drives/usb-3-1-flash-drive-fit-plus-64gb-muf-64ab-am/https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/memory-storage/usb-flash-drives/usb-3-1-flash-drive-bar-plus-64gb-titan-gray-muf-64be4-am/https://www.lexar.com/portfolio_page/jumpdrive-m45-usb-3-1-flash-drive/Keep in mind that real external USB SSD/Disk drives will be more reliable and be prone to less corruption/reboots while running a full node, but that above is a good balance vs cost to getting running quickly if you dont have a spare external drive. Cheap USB flash drives will probably not work at all and choke up the system, but we have had limited success with some if you want to try them out.
3) The drive either needs to be formatted in windows FAT32, or Linux EXT4 format. At the root level of the drive you need to place a folder with the name "Litecoin" (case sensitive).
4) The drive will need to be pre-loaded with a recent copy of a Litecoin Full Node chainstate and blocks folder placed inside the "Litecoin" folder on your drive. If you are already running LitecoinCore wallet version 16+ you can simply just copy your whole data directory into the Litecoin folder on the USB drive. This needs to be done since it will be very inefficient to download and validate the whole blockchain on an Apollo (it could take weeks from Block 0). While it is possible, if you dont want to wait for a full sync I am providing a weekly updated snapshot of Litecoin blockchain data thats inside the same MEGA download link for the update image. This is way faster as the time it takes to download ~20GB of data is orders of magnitude quicker than downloading and validating the whole chainstate on an Apollo due to its limited compute resources. Of course the downside is that you trust me to be providing a valid blockchain (which anyone can verify if they wanted too).
5) Boot the unit without the USB drive first. You obviously need to set up your Apollo again, and if you boot with the USB drive plugged in it will cause the UI to become unresponsive at times while the Full Node is loading, so you want to set it up first.
6) After you have setup the mining side of your Apollo, plug in your USB drive and reboot the system from the navigation menu. If you setup your drive correctly the Node will start up in the background after the Apollo reboots. Loading can take up to half an hour initially, but once it loads you will be presented with the new Node Dashboard with all the stats of you running node.
7) The node should automatically configure your router to open port 9333 via UPnP, and you should see more than 8 connections in your dashboard. If it stays on 8, this means you need to manually open the port to your Apollos IP address in your router port forwarding rules. If you dont do this your node won't be counted as a public node.
8 ) Tell all your crypto friends your miner runs a full node, and you now have a device that embodies one of the purest versions of satoshi's original vision.
Always shutdown your Apollo through the Dashboard shutdown menu when running a Full Node, and wait for the front LED to turn off/Red before turning off powerNever Remove the USB drive while the Apollo is running, even if you have shutdown the node. The system offloads critical swap operation to the USB drive instead of using the onboard SD card, and you will crash your ApolloLED Status Lights-Slow Blinking Yellow LED: System Boot/Hardware initialization
-Fast Blinking Yellow LED: Hardware passed all checks/inits, started bfgminer/connecting to pool
-Slow Blinking Green LED: Bfgminer successfully started and connected to pool
-Slow Blinking Green LED + Random Red flashes: Normal miner operation...Red flashes indicate each share returned by ASIC board and show low level miner activity
-Solid Red LED: Hardware fault or system shutdown (Red LED during normal operation means hardware monitor detected a fault with either the voltage regulator, Fan operation, or abnormal PCB temperatures).
-Stuck on Blinking Yellow: Your unit is not getting a proper internet connection from your router, so double check your internet/router settings, or your pool information is incorrect/cannot connect to pool. Check your pool URL/credentials or contact pool operator.
-Back Ethernet LEDs: Other than showing normal network activity during boot, these are also a good diagnostic tool during power up/boot. When you apply power both Green/Yellow ethernet lights will flash together several times indicating proper boot sequence off the SD card. If the lights dont come on at all / or they just remain on and dont flash a few times it means your SD card was not flashed properly, is corrupted, or it was not inserted correctly/all the way in the slot.
