Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread

[quickmr2]

I currently have 2 btc miners one has stopped working, just a solid red light this is the one with the node and the other one is plugged in via usb and is working....I've tried restarting it many times fan comes on for a few seconds then nothing.

they have been running flawless for months and both are in balance hashrate

Have you checked if it's connecting to the pool?

Maybe there's an issue with connectivity and there's no work delivered to the miner.

You would need to give more details for anyone to be able to help.

What's the output of the miner?, is it connected?, mining?, what does the dashboard say, etc.

it fixed itself thanks


if i wanted to add some extra cooling to the units where should i place the fans top,bottom or sides?

[1714212857]

1714212857

[nullama]

~snip~
it fixed itself thanks
if i wanted to add some extra cooling to the units where should i place the fans top,bottom or sides?

It doesn't really matter that much, the thing that matters is that you need to keep the flow moving from A to B.

That is, don't point two fans into the miner for example, instead, put them one after the other so that the flow continues.

Visual representation:

Code:

Do this:
~~> MINER ~~>

Don't do this:
~~> MINER <~~

You can try different configurations, top/bottom, left/right, etc, and then measure how fast is the internal fan spinning after you changed something (look at the RPMs). Keep changing configurations until you get the lowest RPMs

[n0nce]

...
Thanks a lot! Is the GPIO protocol anything 'special' or just internal USB? Because if it was, maybe someone can come up with a kernel patch to apply to an arbitrary Debian or other Linux installation

I can only guess they used some special library, that's completely unnecessary.

Hey kano, little necro-followup: the binary that is used for controlling the Apollo via USB is the exact same one used in 'Futurebit OS'. It checks whether a serial device is found on serial port 2, which is inactive by default on the Orange Pi 4. You also can't easily activate it.

To get GPIO working easily, I just copied the compiled device tree file from the Futurebit OS, but I'm sure with enough time, someone interested can go through original Armbian and Futurebit dts files and write down just the differences so people can do it themselves.
But in essence, from first glance, it appears that port 0 and 2 are swapped and some other little changes are made in the device tree.

When jstefanop says:

Unfortunately the GPIOs require kernel level changes to make coms work with the board, so its not an easy change.

These kernel level changes are basically a few edits to the device tree, from what I can tell.

[jstefanop]

Finally have all 16 online! 

Each "workername" has a "Full" version with 3 Standards attached!

85% power and 60 Frequency!

   "workername": "x.ApolloBTC1",
   "hashrate1m": "13T",
   "hashrate5m": "13T",
   "hashrate1hr": "13T",
   "hashrate1d": "12.9T",
   "hashrate7d": "6.08T",
   "lastshare": 1655261006,
   "shares": 1150554964,
   "bestshare": 1067318666.263625,
   "bestever": 1067318666
  },
  {
   "workername": "x.ApolloBTC2",
   "hashrate1m": "13.1T",
   "hashrate5m": "13.8T",
   "hashrate1hr": "13.2T",
   "hashrate1d": "13.1T",
   "hashrate7d": "6.13T",
   "lastshare": 1655261008,
   "shares": 1160196367,
   "bestshare": 5705086819.772847,
   "bestever": 5705086819
  },
  {
   "workername": "x.ApolloBTC3",
   "hashrate1m": "15T",
   "hashrate5m": "13.9T",
   "hashrate1hr": "13.2T",
   "hashrate1d": "13T",
   "hashrate7d": "6.09T",
   "lastshare": 1655261007,
   "shares": 1149377795,
   "bestshare": 1561958236.972086,
   "bestever": 1561958236
  },
  {
   "workername": "x.ApolloBTC4",
   "hashrate1m": "14T",
   "hashrate5m": "13.2T",
   "hashrate1hr": "12.3T",
   "hashrate1d": "6.96T",
   "hashrate7d": "3.09T",
   "lastshare": 1655261008,
   "shares": 581432584,
   "bestshare": 2545683025.957528,
   "bestever": 2545683025

Lets see a pic of that setup!

[pancakedeluxe]

I have a Full Apollo with 2 standards hooked up.

Is it possible to add additional standards to my Full package with a USB hub?

Thank you kindly 

[keonisurfs]

I am running a standalone on a RPi 4 and here are the steps that I went thru to get it running.

How to Install 64-Bit OS on RPi 4 (4Gb) and get FutureBit Apollo BTC Standalone miner working


Get 64-Bit Raspberry Pi Image
https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_arm64/images/
Image with Pi Imager
Have to use Custom Image option for now as 64-bit version is not listed.
Raspberry Pi Imager Tool (https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/ )

Boot RPi with new card
Perform normal settings (SSH, Wifi, password, etc.)
Optionally:  sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade to get all updates applied.

Download RPi software from:
https://github.com/jstefanop/Apollo-Miner-Binaries/releases/
Get the aarch64 files and download and expand to folder of your choice
These are the Apollo miner executable along with start/stop scripts
Scripts will need editing for the user’s pool information, otherwise your mining power will benefit someone else.   

Install Prerequisites for Apollo Miner
Sudo apt-get install screen
Required for the Start_all script

Update Libstdc++ code
Append a line to file “/etc/apt/sources.list”
Type: Sudo nano /etc/apt/sources.list to edit the file.
Add this line:    deb http://deb.debian.org/debian sid main 
Ctrl-w, Ctrl-x to save and exit.
Then run
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install --only-upgrade libstdc++6

Confirm your Standalone Apollo-BTC is visible:
ls /dev/ttyACM*
You should see this form of output for each attached standalone miner:  /dev/ttyACM0

Cd into your miner folder and type this to get started:
sudo ./start_apollo.sh
Or this if you have more than one unit:    sudo ./miner_start_all.sh  

I documented this as I was going thru sorting out the issues that I had, but I think it will get you up and running..

Thank you for these detailed steps! I found your post because I get this error:

sudo: ./start_apollo.sh: command not found

Even after following your instructions, I still get this error. What do you think I'm doing wrong?

[texgeek]

Hey, aparentelly im getting shares, but i got error on prompt.



Here in the last lines




 

Im running windows.

I just download the folder from releases link, configurate the file, and run as adm.


i Need some help   

[texgeek]

Finally have all 16 online!  

Each "workername" has a "Full" version with 3 Standards attached!

85% power and 60 Frequency!

   "workername": "x.ApolloBTC1",
   "hashrate1m": "13T",
   "hashrate5m": "13T",
   "hashrate1hr": "13T",
   "hashrate1d": "12.9T",
   "hashrate7d": "6.08T",
   "lastshare": 1655261006,
   "shares": 1150554964,

..................

Do you got 'lucky' with solo and got some good rewards?

[Sledge0001]

Do you got 'lucky' with solo and got some good rewards?

Indeed I did

I'm back down to 12 running at the moment as I work through a few what I believe to be USB gremlins.

The USB 3.0 ports seem to work perfectly on a few of my "Full" versions that have been purchased second hand and to be clear when running the "full" versions alone without any other standards connected they work fine.

It appears that on 3-4 of these controllers I'm having the same issue with the single USB (I assume it is a 2.0) port is just not working.

I've reflashed to the stock OS build on several sd cards, moved controllers to different units but just can't see to get more than 2 standards running specifically when introducing any device to that single 2.0 Port (not even a USB keyboard seems to work)

Tonight I am going to throw a USB hub into the mix off of one of those 3.0 ports and see how I make out.

Lets see a pic of that setup!

I really need to do a rack cleanup before I snap any images. My shits a mess right now! lol.

[a1 Hashrate LLC2022]

Do you got 'lucky' with solo and got some good rewards?

Indeed I did

I'm back down to 12 running at the moment as I work through a few what I believe to be USB gremlins.

The USB 3.0 ports seem to work perfectly on a few of my "Full" versions that have been purchased second hand and to be clear when running the "full" versions alone without any other standards connected they work fine.

It appears that on 3-4 of these controllers I'm having the same issue with the single USB (I assume it is a 2.0) port is just not working.

I've reflashed to the stock OS build on several sd cards, moved controllers to different units but just can't see to get more than 2 standards running specifically when introducing any device to that single 2.0 Port (not even a USB keyboard seems to work)

Tonight I am going to throw a USB hub into the mix off of one of those 3.0 ports and see how I make out.

Lets see a pic of that setup!

I really need to do a rack cleanup before I snap any images. My shits a mess right now! lol.

The one I sold arrived yesterday.  Is it working correctly? Or does it have the odd usb issue? (note this is my philipma1957 alt account)

[Sledge0001]

The one I sold arrived yesterday.  Is it working correctly? Or does it have the odd usb issue? (note this is my philipma1957 alt account)

Sending you a DM

[texgeek]

Hey, aparentelly im getting shares, but i got error on prompt..
 
......

...

Hey @jstefanop can help?

[a1 Hashrate LLC2022]

The one I sold arrived yesterday.  Is it working correctly? Or does it have the odd usb issue? (note this is my philipma1957 alt account)

Sending you a DM

got it thanks.

[Sledge0001]

Okay so I am back to 16 online!  

It appears that a USB hub is what I had to add to get 3 Standards to run stably on one on my Full node models.

I have 3 others that work fine with having 3 standards running on the integrated USB ports that are built in but hey i'll claim victory by using a non-powered hub which seems to be getting it done!!!

[terra.tec]

Hey, aparentelly im getting shares, but i got error on prompt.


https://i.imgur.com/g1zoCMt.png
Here in the last lines



https://i.imgur.com/EY2fHXx.png
 

Im running windows.

I just download the folder from releases link, configurate the file, and run as adm.


i Need some help   

The miner application creates a write protected stats file if the binaries folder is write protected.

[Sledge0001]

Okay still a bit of cable management and cleanup needed but here ya go!

[nullama]

Okay still a bit of cable management and cleanup needed but here ya go!

~snip~

They look great!

Are you running them solo or at a pool?

[Sledge0001]

They look great!

Are you running them solo or at a pool?

Right now I have them all running on Kano's solo pool. 

[n0nce]

Okay still a bit of cable management and cleanup needed but here ya go!

Wow, that's an insane setup!

My only question would be what's the motivation behind getting 16 apollos and running them in a basically industrial setting, when it comes to upfront cost, location and equipment.
These 16 machines should give you roughly 50TH/s, pulling roughly 4kW and costing over $8k.

When for $2k you can get four Antminer S9s, with similar total hashrate and 5.6kW. Sure, a bit higher power costs, but the extra $6k is a lot to spend on power.
Or you could spend a bit more, roughly $10k on a S19, pull less power (3.5kW) and do almost triple the hashrate ~140TH/s.

My impression of the Apollo is that it's nice as a single 'desktop' unit, where noise is crucial and you just want to 'get your toes wet', without spending too much money on hardware and power.
But it doesn't really scale; for more hash, as long as you have a space to put them where noise doesn't bother you (such as what I can tell in your picture), getting 1 or 2 industrial miners usually nets you more hash and less power draw.

[Sledge0001]

Wow, that's an insane setup!

My only question would be what's the motivation behind getting 16 apollos and running them in a basically industrial setting, when it comes to upfront cost, location and equipment.
These 16 machines should give you roughly 50TH/s, pulling roughly 4kW and costing over $8k.

When for $2k you can get four Antminer S9s, with similar total hashrate and 5.6kW. Sure, a bit higher power costs, but the extra $6k is a lot to spend on power.
Or you could spend a bit more, roughly $10k on a S19, pull less power (3.5kW) and do almost triple the hashrate ~140TH/s.

My impression of the Apollo is that it's nice as a single 'desktop' unit, where noise is crucial and you just want to 'get your toes wet', without spending too much money on hardware and power.
But it doesn't really scale; for more hash, as long as you have a space to put them where noise doesn't bother you (such as what I can tell in your picture), getting 1 or 2 industrial miners usually nets you more hash and less power draw.

I'm on a mission to find a block with these just like I did with the Compac F's (which I am now running 30 of as well). If you look close you can see them in the rack as well as my table behind the rack. I have all 16 of these and 30 Compac F's pointed at Kano's solo pool equaling about 65TH/s.

I really like what these little miners / nodes stand for and do which to me helping secure the BTC blockchain while mining from home. I dig it!!!!

I even went out and bought my parents and nieces / nephews a full node as well as gifts.

I'm pushing right around 14TH @ 1000w with each row of 4 Apollo's and plan to add another standard to each tier. 4 of the batch 4 have been pre-ordered.

I do also have 4 x S19APro's @ 110TH each running @ DelmavaBlockchain which are pointed at ck's pool.

The motherboard is dormant remnants of my Eth rigs which are now offline for about 4 months. Great re-use of the empty racks though.

Heat and noise really prevent me from running larger miners in my existing space.