FPGA development board "Icarus" - DisContinued/ important announcement

[reedlaw]

I got my board on Thursday and was thoroughly impressed. The packaging was protective and neatly packed. Everything needed to get up and running was included. After plugging in the board I cloned the Icarus software, read the README for the mining software, modified the .sh file (I am on Ubuntu) and it started working. The board itself is very tidy. It has several LEDs and a power switch. I haven't explored its potential as a development board yet, but I'm sure it would be equally useful there. Thanks ngzhang for the great work!

One slight issue is the mining software seems to always run at 50% of one of my CPU cores (Intel Core i7). Not sure if it's the python version I'm running or the software, but I'm wondering if this would run well on a low-powered PC or even a Rasberry Pi. Anyone try this yet?

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[randomguy7]

I plan to run the boards using an alix 2d2 (500 mhz geode cpu), I can report back when I have some results but that might take some time.

[allinvain]

I got my board on Thursday and was thoroughly impressed. The packaging was protective and neatly packed. Everything needed to get up and running was included. After plugging in the board I cloned the Icarus software, read the README for the mining software, modified the .sh file (I am on Ubuntu) and it started working. The board itself is very tidy. It has several LEDs and a power switch. I haven't explored its potential as a development board yet, but I'm sure it would be equally useful there. Thanks ngzhang for the great work!

One slight issue is the mining software seems to always run at 50% of one of my CPU cores (Intel Core i7). Not sure if it's the python version I'm running or the software, but I'm wondering if this would run well on a low-powered PC or even a Rasberry Pi. Anyone try this yet?

That is not normal. I am also running the miner (temporarily) on a Windows 7 box with also a Core i7 (920) CPU and I notice no cpu usage from the python process. What version of python are you running? I'm using the recommended 2.7.2 (64 bit)

[ngzhang]

I got my board on Thursday and was thoroughly impressed. The packaging was protective and neatly packed. Everything needed to get up and running was included. After plugging in the board I cloned the Icarus software, read the README for the mining software, modified the .sh file (I am on Ubuntu) and it started working. The board itself is very tidy. It has several LEDs and a power switch. I haven't explored its potential as a development board yet, but I'm sure it would be equally useful there. Thanks ngzhang for the great work!

One slight issue is the mining software seems to always run at 50% of one of my CPU cores (Intel Core i7). Not sure if it's the python version I'm running or the software, but I'm wondering if this would run well on a low-powered PC or even a Rasberry Pi. Anyone try this yet?

by my experience the CPU usage will be a zero.

[allinvain]

Just to clarify to load a different bitstream we need the Xilinx platform cable, right? In other words it can't be loaded via USB like say the x6500 boards.

[xiangfu]

Just to clarify to load a different bitstream we need the Xilinx platform cable, right? In other words it can't be loaded via USB like say the x6500 boards.

correct. we need the Xilinx cable. I have tried to flash with urjtag and other cable. this one: [http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Milkymist_JTAG-serial_daughterboard]. after select the cable. and run 'detect'. it can't detect any chip .  anyone have idea on this?

thanks

[Defkin]

I got my board on Thursday and was thoroughly impressed. The packaging was protective and neatly packed. Everything needed to get up and running was included. After plugging in the board I cloned the Icarus software, read the README for the mining software, modified the .sh file (I am on Ubuntu) and it started working. The board itself is very tidy. It has several LEDs and a power switch. I haven't explored its potential as a development board yet, but I'm sure it would be equally useful there. Thanks ngzhang for the great work!

One slight issue is the mining software seems to always run at 50% of one of my CPU cores (Intel Core i7). Not sure if it's the python version I'm running or the software, but I'm wondering if this would run well on a low-powered PC or even a Rasberry Pi. Anyone try this yet?

Have to agree about the packaging etc. Received in 5 days from shipment date. I think what really impressed me was that the plugpack came with the correct 240v pins for Australia.


Running 3 boards off a micro atx atom 525, no fan on cpu just heat-sink, 80w PSU (overkill), and using almost 0 CPU.

[allinvain]

Just to clarify to load a different bitstream we need the Xilinx platform cable, right? In other words it can't be loaded via USB like say the x6500 boards.

correct. we need the Xilinx cable. I have tried to flash with urjtag and other cable. this one: [http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Milkymist_JTAG-serial_daughterboard]. after select the cable. and run 'detect'. it can't detect any chip .  anyone have idea on this?

thanks

Thanks for the info I guess I have to hit ebay for a kit.

[Askit2]

I do not want to offend you but perhaps if you want someone else to make a software miner for Icarus you could do what BFL did and provide the guy that wrote CG miner and UFasoft miner remote access and some sort of API ( I would guess with your files being publicly available it isnt likely hard to do.). I doubt I am suggesting anything you have not already thought of. If existing miners can use yours as well then Icarus has current and possibly future changes to pool connection systems. My thought is it could free up your time to create and sell hardware  and as long as your hardware is supported the end user gets upgrades with the new releases of the software.

[CoinSpeculator]

Can someone who speaks english write up a guide?  Trying to deal with this mishmash of guides that don't go together and are written for linux has consumed 2 hours for me.  Tried emailing the creator and he sent me a link to python 2.7 then ignored my further questions...

I double click the miner.py file and it definitely starts doing something.  I don't know if it's actually mining.

[allinvain]

Can someone who speaks english write up a guide?  Trying to deal with this mishmash of guides that don't go together and are written for linux has consumed 2 hours for me.  Tried emailing the creator and he sent me a link to python 2.7 then ignored my further questions...

I double click the miner.py file and it definitely starts doing something.  I don't know if it's actually mining.

Checkout the first post on this thread. Or you can follow my quickly slapped together guide...

Step 1: Download and install the USB_UART driver, it's PL2303HXD:

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?id=31

*note: you may have to reboot your machine after the installation of this driver*

Step 2: Download and install python 2.7

http://python.org/getit/

Step 3: Install the serial / jsonrpc / curses libs into the python27/Lib folder. Typically python should be installed in C:\Python27. I've uploaded all the python libs (zip format). Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4r79856dlccv6n3

3: Go to where you stored your miner (ngzhang's) and edit the MINER.BAT (don't just run the miner.py!). The miner.bat file should look something like this:

start c:\python27\python.exe miner.py -u http://bitcoinsuperstar:supersecretpassword@btcguild.com:8332 -s com6

4: Once you've made sure you have the proper info for your chosen mining pool programmed into that batch file (miner.bat) just double click it and enjoy your uber fpga hashing rig. At this point it is safe to crack open a beer and chug it down with deep satisfaction Job well done!

[hardpick]

Can someone who speaks english write up a guide?  Trying to deal with this mishmash of guides that don't go together and are written for linux has consumed 2 hours for me.  Tried emailing the creator and he sent me a link to python 2.7 then ignored my further questions...

I double click the miner.py file and it definitely starts doing something.  I don't know if it's actually mining.

Checkout the first post on this thread. Or you can follow my quickly slapped together guide...

Step 1: Download and install the USB_UART driver, it's PL2303HXD:

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?id=31

*note: you may have to reboot your machine after the installation of this driver*

Step 2: Download and install python 2.7

http://python.org/getit/

Step 3: Install the serial / jsonrpc / curses libs into the python27/Lib folder. Typically python should be installed in C:\Python27. I've uploaded all the python libs (zip format). Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4r79856dlccv6n3

3: Go to where you stored your miner (ngzhang's) and edit the MINER.BAT (don't just run the miner.py!). The miner.bat file should look something like this:

start c:\python27\python.exe miner.py -u http://bitcoinsuperstar:supersecretpassword@btcguild.com:8332 -s com6

4: Once you've made sure you have the proper info for your chosen mining pool programmed into that batch file (miner.bat) just double click it and enjoy your uber fpga hashing rig. At this point it is safe to crack open a beer and chug it down with deep satisfaction Job well done!



good write up

Step 3: Install the serial / jsonrpc / curses libs into the python27/Lib folder. Typically python should be installed in C:\Python27. I've uploaded all the python libs (zip format). Here is the link:


no install required --- just copy and paste --- into python27/Lib folder --- make sure  it is "serial folder only"  not serial/serial (2 folder inside one another)

[ngzhang]

Can someone who speaks english write up a guide?  Trying to deal with this mishmash of guides that don't go together and are written for linux has consumed 2 hours for me.  Tried emailing the creator and he sent me a link to python 2.7 then ignored my further questions...

I double click the miner.py file and it definitely starts doing something.  I don't know if it's actually mining.

oh, it looks like your email fire wall block my mail with attachment.
please check the github. in the download folder.

[Peao]

I do not want to offend you but perhaps if you want someone else to make a software miner for Icarus you could do what BFL did and provide the guy that wrote CG miner and UFasoft miner remote access and some sort of API ( I would guess with your files being publicly available it isnt likely hard to do.). I doubt I am suggesting anything you have not already thought of. If existing miners can use yours as well then Icarus has current and possibly future changes to pool connection systems. My thought is it could free up your time to create and sell hardware  and as long as your hardware is supported the end user gets upgrades with the new releases of the software.

+1 for this idea.

I remember the BFL's post @ CGMINER's topic:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg692304#msg692304

[O_Shovah]

Im working on my ARM host plattform with xubuntu.
But it seems i missed something with the syntaxes.
 

Code:

o_shovah@Zuse:~/Desktop/Icarus/miner_software/simple_ver$ sudo python miner.sh
  File "miner.sh", line 3
    WORKER=http://ngzhang1983@msn.com_3:1234@pit.deepbit.net:8332/
               ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Any ideas ?

[server]

Im working on my ARM host plattform with xubuntu.
But it seems i missed something with the syntaxes.
 

Code:

o_shovah@Zuse:~/Desktop/Icarus/miner_software/simple_ver$ sudo python miner.sh
  File "miner.sh", line 3
    WORKER=http://ngzhang1983@msn.com_3:1234@pit.deepbit.net:8332/
               ^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax

Any ideas ?

WORKER="http://ngzhang1983@msn.com_3:1234@pit.deepbit.net:8332/"

maybe use quotes " or '

[ngzhang]

I do not want to offend you but perhaps if you want someone else to make a software miner for Icarus you could do what BFL did and provide the guy that wrote CG miner and UFasoft miner remote access and some sort of API ( I would guess with your files being publicly available it isnt likely hard to do.). I doubt I am suggesting anything you have not already thought of. If existing miners can use yours as well then Icarus has current and possibly future changes to pool connection systems. My thought is it could free up your time to create and sell hardware  and as long as your hardware is supported the end user gets upgrades with the new releases of the software.

+1 for this idea.

I remember the BFL's post @ CGMINER's topic:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg692304#msg692304

OK i know. wait for a few days.

[CoinSpeculator]

Checkout the first post on this thread. Or you can follow my quickly slapped together guide...

Step 1: Download and install the USB_UART driver, it's PL2303HXD:

http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?id=31

*note: you may have to reboot your machine after the installation of this driver*

The file PL2302HXD does not exist on this page.  I just downloaded the first one since that seemed to be the most accurate for my system (Win 7 64bit)

Step 2: Download and install python 2.7

http://python.org/getit/

Step 3: Install the serial / jsonrpc / curses libs into the python27/Lib folder. Typically python should be installed in C:\Python27. I've uploaded all the python libs (zip format). Here is the link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?4r79856dlccv6n3

3: Go to where you stored your miner (ngzhang's) and edit the MINER.BAT (don't just run the miner.py!). The miner.bat file should look something like this:

start c:\python27\python.exe miner.py -u http://bitcoinsuperstar:supersecretpassword@btcguild.com:8332 -s com6

4: Once you've made sure you have the proper info for your chosen mining pool programmed into that batch file (miner.bat) just double click it and enjoy your uber fpga hashing rig. At this point it is safe to crack open a beer and chug it down with deep satisfaction Job well done!

I had to change com6 to com4 for it to work properly.  Otherwise I got this:

"serial.serialutil.SerialException: could not open port com6: [Error 2] The systems cannon find the file specified."

Also python closed itself immediately upon that error and I couldn't read it unless I took a screenshot.

Working now! ~400 Mhash/s

[allinvain]

Excellent! Glad it's working for you now. Welcome to the FPGA party

Yeah I used com6 only as an example. The com port you need to use can be determined by going into the device manager and looking under the Ports section.

"PL-2303 USB to Serial Bridge (for HX, TA, EA chip versions)" so yeah you're right there is no _specific PL-2303HX file but that generic zip file contains support for it and other versions as well.

[ngzhang]

released a 400MH "overclock" bitsteam for alpha test. on the github.
notice that this bitsteam is not guarantee stable on all boards. and extra cooling for the PCB (not only for the chip heat-sink) is needed.
by present architecture, maybe this is the end.