Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread

[crypto_curious]

Hi,
I haven't received any reply, so asking again:
Any news on standalone apollo-miner binary? It's been now 3 months since the release. Miner binary crashes a lot for everyone. GUI full package uses the same binary, so problems exist for everyone. Also miner not stopping mining and using power full power when no connection to the pool, it should be idling. Furthermore, Mining Rig rentals pool is not supported, because of "::: ROLLING_MASK ::: Not supported" error (cgminer works just fine). These two problems have been reported on github, but has not been acknowledged. For standalone miner users, Raspberry Pi binaries were promised, still no sight of it. I can't use Apollo miner on perfectly fine and supported (by manufacturer) Raspberry Pi 1, zero, and other devices.
I know GUI is important, but no reason to delay fundamental part of Apollo which is miner software?
When can we expect update to apollo-miner? Thanks.

[pancakedeluxe]

im just running it without the ssd installed / node, anyone else doing the same? Eagerly waiting for the node / solo mining update

[devincrypt]

im just running it without the ssd installed / node, anyone else doing the same? Eagerly waiting for the node / solo mining update

Removed it - don't want it - does nothing for me - has ZERO value to me - Main and 2 slaves purring perfectly.

[wavelengthsf]

which video cards are you using ?

This is a dedicated mining system with ASIC chips. You can't mine BTC with a video card.

[V3XED]

Finally tried out some of the other modes on the Apollos in the last few days.
Had a very delightful and surprising discovery.

In Eco mode....  I was getting 2 th/s @ 76w per th/s
in Balanced mode.. I get  2.5 th/s @ 64w per th/s    

So, not sure why but balanced mode actually offers better wat per wat performance for me.
Also, it was a more substantial hashrate increase than I expected too, with 25% performance gains over eco.

So, if your out there just chillin on ECO with your miners, I recommend trying out the other settings and seeing what you get.
 

[gt_addict]

Finally tried out some of the other modes on the Apollos in the last few days.
Had a very delightful and surprising discovery.

In Eco mode....  I was getting 2 th/s @ 76w per th/s
in Balanced mode.. I get  2.5 th/s @ 64w per th/s    

So, not sure why but balanced mode actually offers better wat per wat performance for me.
Also, it was a more substantial hashrate increase than I expected too, with 25% performance gains over eco.

So, if your out there just chillin on ECO with your miners, I recommend trying out the other settings and seeing what you get.
 

Same here. There isnt much in it between ECO and Balanced. I think ECO was more for keeping noise down. Balanced is the best for me really 2.5Th at 66w Th/s. ECO was around 62w-ish for 2Th.

[dwood443]

Finally tried out some of the other modes on the Apollos in the last few days.
Had a very delightful and surprising discovery.

In Eco mode....  I was getting 2 th/s @ 76w per th/s
in Balanced mode.. I get  2.5 th/s @ 64w per th/s    

So, not sure why but balanced mode actually offers better wat per wat performance for me.
Also, it was a more substantial hashrate increase than I expected too, with 25% performance gains over eco.

So, if your out there just chillin on ECO with your miners, I recommend trying out the other settings and seeing what you get.
 

Thanks for the suggestion. Mine also similar results but I also noticed less errors. My second miner was showing more errors than the first miner. But changed to balanced and they now about the same.

[edonaldson]

Finally tried out some of the other modes on the Apollos in the last few days.
Had a very delightful and surprising discovery.

In Eco mode....  I was getting 2 th/s @ 76w per th/s
in Balanced mode.. I get  2.5 th/s @ 64w per th/s    

So, not sure why but balanced mode actually offers better wat per wat performance for me.
Also, it was a more substantial hashrate increase than I expected too, with 25% performance gains over eco.

So, if your out there just chillin on ECO with your miners, I recommend trying out the other settings and seeing what you get.
 

Thanks for the suggestion. Mine also similar results but I also noticed less errors. My second miner was showing more errors than the first miner. But changed to balanced and they now about the same.

Do the stock PSUs work with Turbo mode?  What has everyone experience been?

[wavelengthsf]

Do the stock PSUs work with Turbo mode?  What has everyone experience been?

They should! Turbo mode is 200W, eco is 125W - the PSU is rated for the full 200W.

Better to not run at 100% of the PSU capacity though. I run turbo but use an off the shelf 500W PSU.

[100knot2dae]

Hi,
I haven't received any reply, so asking again:
Any news on standalone apollo-miner binary? It's been now 3 months since the release. Miner binary crashes a lot for everyone. GUI full package uses the same binary, so problems exist for everyone. Also miner not stopping mining and using power full power when no connection to the pool, it should be idling. Furthermore, Mining Rig rentals pool is not supported, because of "::: ROLLING_MASK ::: Not supported" error (cgminer works just fine). These two problems have been reported on github, but has not been acknowledged. For standalone miner users, Raspberry Pi binaries were promised, still no sight of it. I can't use Apollo miner on perfectly fine and supported (by manufacturer) Raspberry Pi 1, zero, and other devices.
I know GUI is important, but no reason to delay fundamental part of Apollo which is miner software?
When can we expect update to apollo-miner? Thanks.

Considering that your request is getting constantly ignored, along with other feature requests like solo mining, I tend to believe there won't be any updates available in the foreseeable future.

[jstefanop]

Better to not run at 100% of the PSU capacity though. I run turbo but use an off the shelf 500W PSU.

Also correct, yes, maybe FutureBit has more info about the actual rating of their PSU's - maybe the product pages just say 200W but there's a little headroom built in still?

Edit: From product pics it seems the absolute max that can be pulled from it, is indeed 16,7A, which is 200.4W...
Maybe suggestion to FutureBit to upgrade their PSUs to e.g. 220W units for the next iteration
I also always over-spec PSU's when building PCs for example, it's really common practice and they also run more efficient at around 70-80%, I think.

It can run in turbo and is rated for that, but there is little headroom, OCP will kick in at about 210-220 watts.

Next gen PSU will be able to run at ~300 watts.

[jstefanop]

Hi,
I haven't received any reply, so asking again:
Any news on standalone apollo-miner binary? It's been now 3 months since the release. Miner binary crashes a lot for everyone. GUI full package uses the same binary, so problems exist for everyone. Also miner not stopping mining and using power full power when no connection to the pool, it should be idling. Furthermore, Mining Rig rentals pool is not supported, because of "::: ROLLING_MASK ::: Not supported" error (cgminer works just fine). These two problems have been reported on github, but has not been acknowledged. For standalone miner users, Raspberry Pi binaries were promised, still no sight of it. I can't use Apollo miner on perfectly fine and supported (by manufacturer) Raspberry Pi 1, zero, and other devices.
I know GUI is important, but no reason to delay fundamental part of Apollo which is miner software?
When can we expect update to apollo-miner? Thanks.

Considering that your request is getting constantly ignored, along with other feature requests like solo mining, I tend to believe there won't be any updates available in the foreseeable future.

They are not ignored, we have other priorities. Lots of software work will be complete in the fall, most of it is being worked on now.

[100knot2dae]

Hi,
I haven't received any reply, so asking again:
Any news on standalone apollo-miner binary? It's been now 3 months since the release. Miner binary crashes a lot for everyone. GUI full package uses the same binary, so problems exist for everyone. Also miner not stopping mining and using power full power when no connection to the pool, it should be idling. Furthermore, Mining Rig rentals pool is not supported, because of "::: ROLLING_MASK ::: Not supported" error (cgminer works just fine). These two problems have been reported on github, but has not been acknowledged. For standalone miner users, Raspberry Pi binaries were promised, still no sight of it. I can't use Apollo miner on perfectly fine and supported (by manufacturer) Raspberry Pi 1, zero, and other devices.
I know GUI is important, but no reason to delay fundamental part of Apollo which is miner software?
When can we expect update to apollo-miner? Thanks.

Considering that your request is getting constantly ignored, along with other feature requests like solo mining, I tend to believe there won't be any updates available in the foreseeable future.

They are not ignored, we have other priorities. Lots of software work will be complete in the fall, most of it is being worked on now.

Good to know then, thanks for the update.  I just started to get worried about this since there was no feedback at all until now.

[100knot2dae]

It can run in turbo and is rated for that, but there is little headroom, OCP will kick in at about 210-220 watts.

Next gen PSU will be able to run at ~300 watts.

Great to hear, thanks a lot! In case I want to get something more powerful right away though, regular ATX PSU's come to mind at first. Anything wrong with a single rail Seasonic PSU? I should be able to just connect a PCIe cable to it and use it for the Apollo right?

That's perfectly fine, using a 600W bequiet PSU here. (A PSU's efficiency sweet spot is around 50-60%, so consider that for your choice)

[V3XED]

It can run in turbo and is rated for that, but there is little headroom, OCP will kick in at about 210-220 watts.

Next gen PSU will be able to run at ~300 watts.

Great to hear, thanks a lot! In case I want to get something more powerful right away though, regular ATX PSU's come to mind at first. Anything wrong with a single rail Seasonic PSU? I should be able to just connect a PCIe cable to it and use it for the Apollo right?

That's perfectly fine, using a 600W bequiet PSU here. (A PSU's efficiency sweet spot is around 50-60%, so consider that for your choice)

That is an interesting metric I was unaware of.
I am running two units off of a very old 735w single rail unit.
So, just abut dead on that 50% load area.

Ill have to put a meter on  the plug and see what kind of power its actually drawing from the wall compared to the futurebit dash.

[cosmiconion]

Hi, I'm just getting started.
Not the easiest to set up the BTC version. The LTC Apollo much easier (I have one also).
I seem to be mining on slushpool.
for URL eu.stratum.slushpool.com:3333
I have a user name, but it does not show on slush pool.

QUESTION: on the LTC version I can have multiple pools (great for testing performance; testing set up and spill over)
- BTC version you can only have one pool set up.  Why?

QUESTION: on LTC version it is easy to delete your pool set up and start again
- BTC version I can't delete, the pool seems to be always there on reboot
- seems to be always connected to slush pool so I can't delete my worker on slush pool
- slushpool says [auto] disabled and workername offline under "state" but it is mining ...

Thank you

[cosmiconion]

additional question

in pool set up, pools give worker names
- we only have user name in setting up the apollo btc (should we put the worker name here?)

[gt_addict]

Hi, I'm just getting started.
Not the easiest to set up the BTC version. The LTC Apollo much easier (I have one also).
I seem to be mining on slushpool.
for URL eu.stratum.slushpool.com:3333
I have a user name, but it does not show on slush pool.

QUESTION: on the LTC version I can have multiple pools (great for testing performance; testing set up and spill over)
- BTC version you can only have one pool set up.  Why?

QUESTION: on LTC version it is easy to delete your pool set up and start again
- BTC version I can't delete, the pool seems to be always there on reboot
- seems to be always connected to slush pool so I can't delete my worker on slush pool
- slushpool says [auto] disabled and workername offline under "state" but it is mining ...

Thank you

You need to make sure your username on the apollo matches your username on the pool. you can add a worker extension so.... "username.worker"

To change the pool details I going to assume you havent clicked the "SAVE" button at the top once youve changed it. If you dont it will revert back to the last saved settings.

[cosmiconion]

Thanks for reply ... I think I get it
so my "username" . "worker name"

Happy to tip you in $NTBC if you have a wallet Note Block Chain

Do you have any idea why we can only have one pool?
LTC model you can set up multiple pools, for fail over, or just easy switching

Hi, I'm just getting started.
Not the easiest to set up the BTC version. The LTC Apollo much easier (I have one also).
I seem to be mining on slushpool.
for URL eu.stratum.slushpool.com:3333
I have a user name, but it does not show on slush pool.

QUESTION: on the LTC version I can have multiple pools (great for testing performance; testing set up and spill over)
- BTC version you can only have one pool set up.  Why?

QUESTION: on LTC version it is easy to delete your pool set up and start again
- BTC version I can't delete, the pool seems to be always there on reboot
- seems to be always connected to slush pool so I can't delete my worker on slush pool
- slushpool says [auto] disabled and workername offline under "state" but it is mining ...

Thank you

You need to make sure your username on the apollo matches your username on the pool. you can add a worker extension so.... "username.worker"

To change the pool details I going to assume you havent clicked the "SAVE" button at the top once youve changed it. If you dont it will revert back to the last saved settings.

[Biffa]

That's perfectly fine, using a 600W bequiet PSU here. (A PSU's efficiency sweet spot is around 50-60%, so consider that for your choice)

Maybe if you buy a 50% efficiency PSU in 1970  

It is true that PSU's are most efficient at 50% load, but the variation is only 2-3% so you won't even notice it.

Most PSU's are rated at 80+ efficiency which means that a power supply is at least 80% efficient at 20%, 50%, and 100% loads.

Yes there are different 80+ ratings (bronze, silver, gold, platinum titanium) but they are just variations on the theme.

Code:

Power Delivery			115 V internal non-redundant	230 V EU internal non-redundant
Percentage of rated load	10%	20%	50%	100%	10%	20%	50%	100%
80 Plus			 		80%	80%	80%		82%	85%	82%
80 Plus Bronze		 		82%	85%	82%		85%	88%	85%
80 Plus Silver		 		85%	88%	85%		87%	90%	87%
80 Plus Gold		 		87%	90%	87%		90%	92%	89%
80 Plus Platinum	 		90%	92%	89%		92%	94%	90%
80 Plus Titanium	 	90%	92%	94%	90%	90%	94%	96%	94%