Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread

[dwood443]

If someone is mining on the Apollo BTC node and by some miracle they (or you) find a block - are they (or you) rewarded somehow? Does the node software on the Apollo somehow reward the finder?

No the node is just part of the bitcoin network and helps secure it.

What's the point of anyone mining from a FutureBit node if there is no reward? What purpose is there to secure something you aren't rewarded for? Why waste electricity, time, bandwidth, hassles for just a good feeling?

Didn't think so - that's why I just use it as a SHA256 miner - dump the node.

If everyone thought like this we'd have nothing to mine

[1714054951]

1714054951

[devincrypt]

If someone is mining on the Apollo BTC node and by some miracle they (or you) find a block - are they (or you) rewarded somehow? Does the node software on the Apollo somehow reward the finder?

No the node is just part of the bitcoin network and helps secure it.

What's the point of anyone mining from a FutureBit node if there is no reward? What purpose is there to secure something you aren't rewarded for? Why waste electricity, time, bandwidth, hassles for just a good feeling?

Didn't think so - that's why I just use it as a SHA256 miner - dump the node.

If everyone thought like this we'd have nothing to mine

If all nodes gave no rewards no one would be mining. Doubt if anyone connected to a FutureBit BTC node realize they're wasting their energy and time because they'll get nothing.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

If all nodes gave no rewards no one would be mining.

Aside from P2P ones, nodes do not issue rewards -- they are ONLY repositories for storing blockchain data (edit: and provide you with direct access to the blockchain when using a hard wallet like Trezor et al). Period. Virtually NO ONE 'mines to a node' for a myriad of reasons. Even solo miners mine to a pool that runs (pool) software which in-turn uses a local node for its data.
Again you miss the advertised point of the system: The node is only to support the blockchain.
The miner is intended to be pointed to a pool - not itself.

[jeyzeus]

What's the point of anyone mining from a FutureBit node if there is no reward? What purpose is there to secure something you aren't rewarded for? Why waste electricity, time, bandwidth, hassles for just a good feeling?

You miss the whole point of the system. As has already been said, the node is just there to help keep the blockchain widely distributed and secure. Period.

Unless you have an excellent connection to the BTC network - preferably one giving fast connections to networks used by the big pools - even if you find a block using your node for (solo) mining would just most likely result in you having orphans issues (and losing) because of slow propagation time to the other pools. The miner is the main part but - since there is controller running it that most of the time has a lot of free clock cycles available, might as well use it as node as well...

I kind of disagree with this. The point of running a node is to be able to broadcast your own transactions without using a 3rd party. Whenever you use a client like trezor wallet suite or the ledger app, you are using their node to transmit your bitcoin on the block chain. You are essentially trusting someone else to be honest with your bitcoin.

while running a node does benefit the network because you seed block data to other nodes, verify other transactions & "listen" for attacks, there is a benefit to running one yourself and using the data you verified yourself to transmit a transaction. you don't need to trust anyone to send a transaction. in an emergency such as a nation state attack, running your own node would be the only way to 100% broadcast a transaction with privacy & assurance.

--

That said - does anyone know how to actually install bitcoin core on this thing? I am new to linux/ubuntu and not very familiar with how to trouble shoot things. I tried installing Bitcoin Core but didn't really have any luck It would be nice to be able to use this device to broadcast transactions using my local node's data.

I have never installed or used Bitcoin Core or sent a transaction using my own node. If anyone can point me in the right direction, I would definitely make a DIY video & post it on YT so others can do so as well.

[NotFuzzyWarm]

<snip>
I kind of disagree with this. The point of running a node is to be able to broadcast your own transactions without using a 3rd party. Whenever you use a client like trezor wallet suite or the ledger app, you are using their node to transmit your bitcoin on the block chain. You are essentially trusting someone else to be honest with your bitcoin
....

And running this device as a node lets you do exactly that. So will running any BTC node on any other device, even a RasPi. (thanks for bringing that up, edited my post to reflect that).
The miner portion is just that - a miner - and has nothing (directly) to do with anything regarding what you describe.

And of course being a miner, it has to be pointed at a pool, be it one you setup yourself (and linked to the Apollo node if you don't care about the likelihood of losing blocks due to orphans) or one of the existing ones such as KanoPool, -ck solo pool, ViaBTC, etc.

re: setting it up, um, have you checked the 1st post in this thread?  
   

[jeyzeus]

<snip>
I kind of disagree with this. The point of running a node is to be able to broadcast your own transactions without using a 3rd party. Whenever you use a client like trezor wallet suite or the ledger app, you are using their node to transmit your bitcoin on the block chain. You are essentially trusting someone else to be honest with your bitcoin
....

re: setting it up, um, have you checked the 1st post in this thread?  
   

Yes.

The portion I am having confusion is this:

"All blockchain data is stored on the NVME drive which is located at /media/nvme on the linux system. It is also accessible on the desktop via the file browser."


I installed bitcoin core using the "snap" program listed on the bitcoin.org website.

I rebooted and the Bitcoin core icon showed up but now when I start it up i tried selecting "/media/nvme/Bitcoin" as the directory but that did not appear selectable on the Bitcoin core installer. I typed it in manually hoping it would find it because the folder is definitely there if I look locally but the Bitcoin core program doesn't seem to find it and now whenever i try to start Bitcoin core it just says "Error initializing settings: failed saving settings file: unable to open settings file: /media/nvme/Bitcoin settings.json.tmp for writing"

I tried editing the permissions but it says that I am not the owner. I don't even know how to uninstall so I can attempt to reinstall lol  . So not totally sure what to do now.

I wouldn't mind using this with Umbrel or something like mynode if that is easy and/or possible but idk how to install those either. i suck at linux lol.

The miner portion is just that - a miner - and has nothing (directly) to do with anything regarding what you describe.

Yep, agreed! Just wanted to point out that running a node on any device isn't just a "support the network" kinda deal. some people think its pointless (i did when i first got into BTC) but it's definitely in one's best interest to use your own node to broadcast transactions.

[jstefanop]

Hey guys update for the core system is ready to be pushed to you all, but since this is our first foray into "OTA" updates we want to test everything outside our internal testing before we send an update that bricks everyones system (just kidding this is highly unlikely but still want to test any weird update edge cases).

If you know your way around the terminal (need to be able to ssh into the system, or access terminal on the desktop via a monitor), DM me your email and ill add you to our tester group. Would be helpful if you had issues with your miner needing manual restarts or the UI bug where your stats are not displayed when viewed over the webUI.

[heslo]

Hey guys update for the core system is ready to be pushed to you all, but since this is our first foray into "OTA" updates we want to test everything outside our internal testing before we send an update that bricks everyones system (just kidding this is highly unlikely but still want to test any weird update edge cases).

If you know your way around the terminal (need to be able to ssh into the system, or access terminal on the desktop via a monitor), DM me your email and ill add you to our tester group. Would be helpful if you had issues with your miner needing manual restarts or the UI bug where your stats are not displayed when viewed over the webUI.

DM sent mate. I had the UI bug so I'd be keen to see if this fixes my problem

[crypto_curious]

Hi guys,

I successfully reverse engineered full package Apollo, to be headless Armbian.



Things done:
Orange Pi 4 (Apollo's controller) 7mm fan increased to full 5V, it was overheating before
Default Ubuntu system (without security updates, because that interferes with Apollo GPIO solution for apollo-miner) replaced with Armbian Buster (basically Debian 10 with Arm tweaks)
NVMe drive stolen and put into my PC  
USB 1TB HDD installed instead. It's really hot where it lives now (in the attic) so I even give it heatsink and fan  
HDD formatted with Btrfs so I see checksum corruption errors, if any to happen
Because I couldn't figure out custom GPIO work jstefanop did on Ubuntu, which is also prone to breakages when system is getting updates as we seen after release, I plugged in a short USB cable from miner to Orange Pi 4. Now my full package Apollo talks via USB cable, not via GPIO
apollo-miner binary doesn't work on Debian 10, so I imported required GNU C Libraries and dependencies from Debian 11
no root required for apollo-miner binary
full startup of bitcoind and apollo-miner via crontab and screen
standalone apollo-miner crashes every few days, known issue, mine runs it bash loop and never stops mining
bitcoind runs in a loop and never stops even if Internet breaks, also it start only once 1TB HDD USB drive is mounted, if drive fails, bitcoind will not start to prevent starting in default directory and filling microSD card completely
Telegram bot updates twice a day:


No need for GUI anymore when I have reports like this. 🥰

[gt_addict]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

[heslo]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

I fit a 10mmx25x25 in there... JUST. Screws won't fit and I had to use two small little balls of glue to mount the fan to the heatsink (the screw heads hit the plate above otherwise).... but it works. I was limited because anything local here was a 10mm and 7mm was a long wait so I took the chance. It's also a Nidec fan so it's good quality but yeah it works and my temps are fine, it's just a little "hacky" to get it to fit

[gt_addict]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

I fit a 10mmx25x25 in there... JUST. Screws won't fit and I had to use two small little balls of glue to mount the fan to the heatsink (the screw heads hit the plate above otherwise).... but it works. I was limited because anything local here was a 10mm and 7mm was a long wait so I took the chance. It's also a Nidec fan so it's good quality but yeah it works and my temps are fine, it's just a little "hacky" to get it to fit

See thats what I’m finding (although I have some 25x7mm) fans now and they are ok, the better brand/quality are all 10mm thick. I may get a 10mm blower and see if I can alter the screw fixings so the heads sit below the frame.

[heslo]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

I fit a 10mmx25x25 in there... JUST. Screws won't fit and I had to use two small little balls of glue to mount the fan to the heatsink (the screw heads hit the plate above otherwise).... but it works. I was limited because anything local here was a 10mm and 7mm was a long wait so I took the chance. It's also a Nidec fan so it's good quality but yeah it works and my temps are fine, it's just a little "hacky" to get it to fit

See thats what I’m finding (although I have some 25x7mm) fans now and they are ok, the better brand/quality are all 10mm thick. I may get a 10mm blower and see if I can alter the screw fixings so the heads sit below the frame.

Another option which I thought might be to get a slightly lower profile heatsink (and maybe a bit wider to offset that)

[gt_addict]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

I fit a 10mmx25x25 in there... JUST. Screws won't fit and I had to use two small little balls of glue to mount the fan to the heatsink (the screw heads hit the plate above otherwise).... but it works. I was limited because anything local here was a 10mm and 7mm was a long wait so I took the chance. It's also a Nidec fan so it's good quality but yeah it works and my temps are fine, it's just a little "hacky" to get it to fit

See thats what I’m finding (although I have some 25x7mm) fans now and they are ok, the better brand/quality are all 10mm thick. I may get a 10mm blower and see if I can alter the screw fixings so the heads sit below the frame.

Another option which I thought might be to get a slightly lower profile heatsink (and maybe a bit wider to offset that)

That is a very good thought, lower profile but 30mm diameter would be better. Just got to see if one would fit. Also need to know how the current one is fixed. If its any sort of strong adhesive then I won't risk it.

[heslo]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

I fit a 10mmx25x25 in there... JUST. Screws won't fit and I had to use two small little balls of glue to mount the fan to the heatsink (the screw heads hit the plate above otherwise).... but it works. I was limited because anything local here was a 10mm and 7mm was a long wait so I took the chance. It's also a Nidec fan so it's good quality but yeah it works and my temps are fine, it's just a little "hacky" to get it to fit

See thats what I’m finding (although I have some 25x7mm) fans now and they are ok, the better brand/quality are all 10mm thick. I may get a 10mm blower and see if I can alter the screw fixings so the heads sit below the frame.

Another option which I thought might be to get a slightly lower profile heatsink (and maybe a bit wider to offset that)

That is a very good thought, lower profile but 30mm diameter would be better. Just got to see if one would fit. Also need to know how the current one is fixed. If its any sort of strong adhesive then I won't risk it.

From my quick inspection it looked like adhesive thermal tape; I'd say a bit of heat applied and some gentle coercion will get it loose. If you do go down this path let me know, I might do the same thing

[Max1965]

Is there space to squeeze a 10mm thick blower type fan on the SBC heatsink? Or are we limited to 7mm?

I fit a 10mmx25x25 in there... JUST. Screws won't fit and I had to use two small little balls of glue to mount the fan to the heatsink (the screw heads hit the plate above otherwise).... but it works. I was limited because anything local here was a 10mm and 7mm was a long wait so I took the chance. It's also a Nidec fan so it's good quality but yeah it works and my temps are fine, it's just a little "hacky" to get it to fit

See thats what I’m finding (although I have some 25x7mm) fans now and they are ok, the better brand/quality are all 10mm thick. I may get a 10mm blower and see if I can alter the screw fixings so the heads sit below the frame.

I used this one:

Shenzhen Factory Yccfan Ydl3007c05 30*30*7mm Raspberry Pi Cooling Fan.

I installed with 1 screw it forms about 5-10 angle with heatsink, but very quiet and keep temp around 57 - 60°C.

[gt_addict]

From my quick inspection it looked like adhesive thermal tape; I'd say a bit of heat applied and some gentle coercion will get it loose. If you do go down this path let me know, I might do the same thing

Emailed Futurebit. Current heatsink is 25x25x10mm attached with thermal adhesive. Didn’t specify tape or liquid adhesive though.

Ive ordered a few fans, a couple of different sized Sunon maglev ones and a blower style one. Also ordered a dual fan heatsink for a raspi4. Probably won’t fit but it was only £5 which is cheaper than any 1 of the fans lol.

Dual fan heatsink-  https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-cooling/products/dual-fan-heatsink-for-raspberry-pi

[heslo]

From my quick inspection it looked like adhesive thermal tape; I'd say a bit of heat applied and some gentle coercion will get it loose. If you do go down this path let me know, I might do the same thing

Emailed Futurebit. Current heatsink is 25x25x10mm attached with thermal adhesive. Didn’t specify tape or liquid adhesive though.

Ive ordered a few fans, a couple of different sized Sunon maglev ones and a blower style one. Also ordered a dual fan heatsink for a raspi4. Probably won’t fit but it was only £5 which is cheaper than any 1 of the fans lol.

Good to know; let me know how your experiment goes. I'm 99.9% sure they've used thermal tape to stick the heatsink on because I could definitely make it out when looking at it.

Curious to see this dual fan heatsink, can you link it?

[gt_addict]

Any news on the eagerly anticipated update?

[crypto_curious]

Any news on the eagerly anticipated update?

Nothing since release, it's been 2 months already?  I am talking about standalone apollo-miner, not sure about GUI update.