Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread

[Cyph3r99]

Hello,

I recently purchased the FutureBit Apollo BTC full node.  It was running fine.  Then I updated the Ubuntu software (at the request of a pop-up that appeared on the dashboard screen).  Now the miner will not work correctly.  When it restarted following the software update, the dashboard would not load.  I tried restarting/unplugging the miner.  Now when I turn it on, no light at all appears on the front of the miner.  When I turn it on, the fan runs at the high intensity (not eco level) but nothing happens.  I can't remote into the dashboard. 

I have no idea what to do to get it going again.  Any advice?  Is there a way to do a hard restart/full reset?

Thank you!

I just had the same problem with my Apollo. Please help!

[crypto_curious]

Hello,

I recently purchased the FutureBit Apollo BTC full node.  It was running fine.  Then I updated the Ubuntu software (at the request of a pop-up that appeared on the dashboard screen).  Now the miner will not work correctly.  When it restarted following the software update, the dashboard would not load.  I tried restarting/unplugging the miner.  Now when I turn it on, no light at all appears on the front of the miner.  When I turn it on, the fan runs at the high intensity (not eco level) but nothing happens.  I can't remote into the dashboard. 

I have no idea what to do to get it going again.  Any advice?  Is there a way to do a hard restart/full reset?

Thank you!

Oh no, bricking Apollo software on update is back again. 

[n0nce]

Hello,

I recently purchased the FutureBit Apollo BTC full node.  It was running fine.  Then I updated the Ubuntu software (at the request of a pop-up that appeared on the dashboard screen).  Now the miner will not work correctly.  When it restarted following the software update, the dashboard would not load.  I tried restarting/unplugging the miner.  Now when I turn it on, no light at all appears on the front of the miner.  When I turn it on, the fan runs at the high intensity (not eco level) but nothing happens.  I can't remote into the dashboard. 

I have no idea what to do to get it going again.  Any advice?  Is there a way to do a hard restart/full reset?

Thank you!

Oh no, bricking Apollo software on update is back again. 

It's not unlikely that Dagwood7 either did a full distro upgrade to 22.04 LTS or that the user got a unit that didn't yet have the latest Futurebit OS on it.
It would be great to get confirmation / clarification; I bet also for jstefanop and his team.

[cryptodank]

I have just setup a Futurebit Apollo Full Node. On my phone, and two other computers PC's I can login into Futurebit OS dashboard and see the mining, however on one PC I can log in, but it shows the miner inactive. I have tried different browsers, (Firefox, Edge, and Chrome) I have cleared browser history and cache. Only one PC is like this, the other 2 machines , and my phone work fine. Any ideas as to why only 1 computer shows inactive?
Thanks
 

[MLOMBANA]

Drive Almost Full - 456.74GB out of 457.45GB used ... what happens next.

Anyone have any idea what happens the drive finally is full on the miner? I've been watching the drive space dwindle now for the last couple of weeks and I'm pretty sure that sometime between Sunday and Wednesday of this week it's finally going to happen. So that said what will happen, will the units, die, will there be an automatic FIFO delete?

Is there a good idea of what can be deleted via SSH'ing into the box, I don't use the node but it has run and I'm sure there is data in there that could free up some space if someone can tell me what to delete that won't cripple the miner.

Looking for suggestions.

Thanks

futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$ df
Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             1902880         0   1902880   0% /dev
tmpfs             395612     15996    379616   5% /run
/dev/mmcblk1p1  14899824   5905236   8815336  41% /
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120         4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            1978056         8   1978048   1% /tmp
/dev/zram1         49584     10632     35368  24% /var/log
/dev/nvme0n1p1 479669928 478929108    236052 100% /media/nvme
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/111
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/1000
futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$

[heslo]

Drive Almost Full - 456.74GB out of 457.45GB used ... what happens next.

Anyone have any idea what happens the drive finally is full on the miner? I've been watching the drive space dwindle now for the last couple of weeks and I'm pretty sure that sometime between Sunday and Wednesday of this week it's finally going to happen. So that said what will happen, will the units, die, will there be an automatic FIFO delete?

Is there a good idea of what can be deleted via SSH'ing into the box, I don't use the node but it has run and I'm sure there is data in there that could free up some space if someone can tell me what to delete that won't cripple the miner.

Looking for suggestions.

Thanks

futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$ df
Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             1902880         0   1902880   0% /dev
tmpfs             395612     15996    379616   5% /run
/dev/mmcblk1p1  14899824   5905236   8815336  41% /
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120         4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            1978056         8   1978048   1% /tmp
/dev/zram1         49584     10632     35368  24% /var/log
/dev/nvme0n1p1 479669928 478929108    236052 100% /media/nvme
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/111
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/1000
futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$

Best bet is to do like lots of us have done and upgrade to a 1TB SSD. But to answer your question, I have no idea what will happen once you reach max capacity. I'd imagine you'll just stop downloading new blocks

[MLOMBANA]

Any recommended drives that are known to work with no issues. Thanks for the quick response!
Miguel

[heslo]

Any recommended drives that are known to work with no issues. Thanks for the quick response!
Miguel

Any NVMe drive will do. I used a Crucial 1TB which is the bigger version of the 500GB already in there but yeah, whatever you can find from a reputable brand at a good price

[jstefanop]

Hello,

I recently purchased the FutureBit Apollo BTC full node.  It was running fine.  Then I updated the Ubuntu software (at the request of a pop-up that appeared on the dashboard screen).  Now the miner will not work correctly.  When it restarted following the software update, the dashboard would not load.  I tried restarting/unplugging the miner.  Now when I turn it on, no light at all appears on the front of the miner.  When I turn it on, the fan runs at the high intensity (not eco level) but nothing happens.  I can't remote into the dashboard. 

I have no idea what to do to get it going again.  Any advice?  Is there a way to do a hard restart/full reset?

Thank you!

Oh no, bricking Apollo software on update is back again. 

It's not unlikely that Dagwood7 either did a full distro upgrade to 22.04 LTS or that the user got a unit that didn't yet have the latest Futurebit OS on it.
It would be great to get confirmation / clarification; I bet also for jstefanop and his team.

They are doing the distribution update to 22.04. We need to disable this prompt in future image release as only 20.04 system and security updates are supported.

If you do the major distribution update it will still brick the system and you'll need to reflash. Only perform the normal sudo apt update/upgrade on the system.

[jstefanop]

Drive Almost Full - 456.74GB out of 457.45GB used ... what happens next.

Anyone have any idea what happens the drive finally is full on the miner? I've been watching the drive space dwindle now for the last couple of weeks and I'm pretty sure that sometime between Sunday and Wednesday of this week it's finally going to happen. So that said what will happen, will the units, die, will there be an automatic FIFO delete?

Is there a good idea of what can be deleted via SSH'ing into the box, I don't use the node but it has run and I'm sure there is data in there that could free up some space if someone can tell me what to delete that won't cripple the miner.

Looking for suggestions.

Thanks

futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$ df
Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             1902880         0   1902880   0% /dev
tmpfs             395612     15996    379616   5% /run
/dev/mmcblk1p1  14899824   5905236   8815336  41% /
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120         4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            1978056         8   1978048   1% /tmp
/dev/zram1         49584     10632     35368  24% /var/log
/dev/nvme0n1p1 479669928 478929108    236052 100% /media/nvme
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/111
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/1000
futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$

Best bet is to do like lots of us have done and upgrade to a 1TB SSD. But to answer your question, I have no idea what will happen once you reach max capacity. I'd imagine you'll just stop downloading new blocks

Yes all Batch 1-2 Apollos will need to upgrade their SSD drive soon. If you dont your node will stop working.

As we mentioned from the beginning we did this on purpose since 1TB drives were nearly 200 USD then. You can get good 1TB drives for around 75 USD now, and a 1TB drive will last at least 4 years even if every block is full going forward.

[crypto_curious]

Drive Almost Full - 456.74GB out of 457.45GB used ... what happens next.

Anyone have any idea what happens the drive finally is full on the miner? I've been watching the drive space dwindle now for the last couple of weeks and I'm pretty sure that sometime between Sunday and Wednesday of this week it's finally going to happen. So that said what will happen, will the units, die, will there be an automatic FIFO delete?

Is there a good idea of what can be deleted via SSH'ing into the box, I don't use the node but it has run and I'm sure there is data in there that could free up some space if someone can tell me what to delete that won't cripple the miner.

Looking for suggestions.

Thanks

futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$ df
Filesystem     1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
udev             1902880         0   1902880   0% /dev
tmpfs             395612     15996    379616   5% /run
/dev/mmcblk1p1  14899824   5905236   8815336  41% /
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /dev/shm
tmpfs               5120         4      5116   1% /run/lock
tmpfs            1978056         0   1978056   0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs            1978056         8   1978048   1% /tmp
/dev/zram1         49584     10632     35368  24% /var/log
/dev/nvme0n1p1 479669928 478929108    236052 100% /media/nvme
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/111
tmpfs             395608         8    395600   1% /run/user/1000
futurebit@futurebit-btc:/$

Best bet is to do like lots of us have done and upgrade to a 1TB SSD. But to answer your question, I have no idea what will happen once you reach max capacity. I'd imagine you'll just stop downloading new blocks

Yes all Batch 1-2 Apollos will need to upgrade their SSD drive soon. If you dont your node will stop working.

As we mentioned from the beginning we did this on purpose since 1TB drives were nearly 200 USD then. You can get good 1TB drives for around 75 USD now, and a 1TB drive will last at least 4 years even if every block is full going forward.

Easy fix for this is pruning - bitcoin core configuration setting. Basically node will only keep latest x GB of blocks (amount of it is freely configurable). Older blocks will not be stored. That way node will continue to operate, without serving 2009-2010 era blocks, but still online. Alternative is node crashed, and we don't want that.

Code:

How do I use the prune option in Bitcoin core?

The command that you need to reduce storage size is prune=N where N is the target size in MiB that you’d like to allow.

prune=0 – Disables pruning mode

prune=1 – Allows manual pruning via RPC

prune=550 –  Automatically deletes previous block files to stay below this target size.

This should be added to Apollo GUI as soon as possible.
Alternatively, you can make a script or one liner to add this configuration option to bitcoin conf file, so affected users can apply this.

[n0nce]

A raspberry pi 3 isn’t enough, or?

It should be fine!
Apparently, it's also 64-bit, so you can follow Raspberry Pi 4 instructions.

Get the binaries from below, and follow the instructions.

Apollo BTC Standard Software/Instructions


If your purchased an Apollo BTC Standard USB controlled version please find the software binaries for your system and instructions below:

https://github.com/jstefanop/Apollo-Miner-Binaries/releases/
[...]

Drive Almost Full - 456.74GB out of 457.45GB used ... what happens next.
~snip~

I'd honestly buy a 1TB drive and call it a day. Deleting stuff here and there will just cause you issues in the long run and there's not much to be deleted, anyway. Most of that storage is just blockchain. If you start pruning it, you can basically forget about running Lightning later down the road when they add a Lightning app.

~snip~
This should be added to Apollo GUI as soon as possible.
Alternatively, you can make a script or one liner to add this configuration option to bitcoin conf file, so affected users can apply this.

I disagree; pruning significantly reduces the utility of a Bitcoin node, and if you're paying an extra $300 for a full unit and run it 24/7, you better get all the benefits of it, right.

[crypto_curious]

I'd honestly buy a 1TB drive and call it a day. Deleting stuff here and there will just cause you issues in the long run and there's not much to be deleted, anyway. Most of that storage is just blockchain. If you start pruning it, you can basically forget about running Lightning later down the road when they add a Lightning app.

Oh, that's interesting, so pruning to about 500 GB (cutting out oldest 2009-10 blocks), or whatever is the number to keep node running in a month time when it runs out.. Does that cause LN nodes to fail immediately? All LN implementations have this issue?

~snip~
This should be added to Apollo GUI as soon as possible.
Alternatively, you can make a script or one liner to add this configuration option to bitcoin conf file, so affected users can apply this.

I disagree; pruning significantly reduces the utility of a Bitcoin node, and if you're paying an extra $300 for a full unit and run it 24/7, you better get all the benefits of it, right.

We all know what users *should* do (upgrade the NVMe), but majority will never touch or open their device, 512GB drive will stay there forever, with Bitcoind node crashed. This phenomenon is called tyranny of the default. Apollo 512GB drive shipped? That's what will be there still when that Apollo will meet its maker in 95% or more cases.

This needs to be addressed.

[n0nce]

I'd honestly buy a 1TB drive and call it a day. Deleting stuff here and there will just cause you issues in the long run and there's not much to be deleted, anyway. Most of that storage is just blockchain. If you start pruning it, you can basically forget about running Lightning later down the road when they add a Lightning app.

Oh, that's interesting, so pruning to about 500 GB (cutting out oldest 2009-10 blocks), or whatever is the number to keep node running in a month time when it runs out.. Does that cause LN nodes to fail immediately? All LN implementations have this issue?

You can apparently do it with LND, but it's going to be more resource-intensive. Keep in mind that LND is already much more resource-intensive than Core Lightning, so I'd always go for the latter on such embedded low-power systems.

According to the documentation:

Note that since version 0.13 pruned nodes are supported although they cause performance penalty and higher network usage.

The lightning daemon will poll bitcoind for new blocks that it hasn't processed yet, thus synchronizing itself with bitcoind. If bitcoind prunes a block that Core Lightning has not processed yet, e.g., Core Lightning was not running for a prolonged period, then bitcoind will not be able to serve the missing blocks, hence Core Lightning will not be able to synchronize anymore and will be stuck. In order to avoid this situation you should be monitoring the gap between Core Lightning's blockheight using lightning-cli getinfo and bitcoind's blockheight using bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo. If the two blockheights drift apart it might be necessary to intervene.

This needs to be addressed.

I think it should be addressed by telling them to get a 1TB m.2 drive, which today are dirt-cheap..

[crypto_curious]

I'd honestly buy a 1TB drive and call it a day. Deleting stuff here and there will just cause you issues in the long run and there's not much to be deleted, anyway. Most of that storage is just blockchain. If you start pruning it, you can basically forget about running Lightning later down the road when they add a Lightning app.

Oh, that's interesting, so pruning to about 500 GB (cutting out oldest 2009-10 blocks), or whatever is the number to keep node running in a month time when it runs out.. Does that cause LN nodes to fail immediately? All LN implementations have this issue?

You can apparently do it with LND, but it's going to be more resource-intensive. Keep in mind that LND is already much more resource-intensive than Core Lightning, so I'd always go for the latter on such embedded low-power systems.

According to the documentation:

Note that since version 0.13 pruned nodes are supported although they cause performance penalty and higher network usage.

The lightning daemon will poll bitcoind for new blocks that it hasn't processed yet, thus synchronizing itself with bitcoind. If bitcoind prunes a block that Core Lightning has not processed yet, e.g., Core Lightning was not running for a prolonged period, then bitcoind will not be able to serve the missing blocks, hence Core Lightning will not be able to synchronize anymore and will be stuck. In order to avoid this situation you should be monitoring the gap between Core Lightning's blockheight using lightning-cli getinfo and bitcoind's blockheight using bitcoin-cli getblockchaininfo. If the two blockheights drift apart it might be necessary to intervene.

This needs to be addressed.

I think it should be addressed by telling them to get a 1TB m.2 drive, which today are dirt-cheap..

I just had a quick look at major electronics retailer in my country (UK), their cheapest brand new 1TB NVMe drive goes for equivalent of 74.91 USD. Elsewhere in Europe and further, prices will get only worse, with exception for US where I expect it is cheaper to get it.
Good luck telling thousands of people everywhere on Earth to go and spend 75 bucks because their bitcoin node is failing. If this is "dirt-cheap" for you and you think people going to do it, you're dreaming. I bet most of Apollo users don't even look at this forum, so they have no idea their drives are almost full.

As long as Apollo stock software does not ship with any Lightning Node, prune mode should be enabled urgently for 512 GB drive users, otherwise we will lose all these nodes Apollo has enabled to be in existence.

Alternatively, jstefanop can develop special SD card image for batch 1/2 users with 512 GB drive, with pruning and no LN node enabled. Default image for everyone else would have no such limitation. That will sort out non-techy users who will just re-flash and node & miner will continue working without replacing any parts.

[n0nce]

I just had a quick look at major electronics retailer in my country (UK), their cheapest brand new 1TB NVMe drive goes for equivalent of 74.91 USD. Elsewhere in Europe and further, prices will get only worse, with exception for US where I expect it is cheaper to get it.
Good luck telling thousands of people everywhere on Earth to go and spend 75 bucks because their bitcoin node is failing. If this is "dirt-cheap" for you and you think people going to do it, you're dreaming. I bet most of Apollo users don't even look at this forum, so they have no idea their drives are almost full.

They can sell flip used drive for 25 bucks without a problem, then it's just 50€. I think if they afford to pay $1000 for an Apollo, they can save up another 50 for a new drive.
Otherwise they could also attach something they already have, USB-based, like a USB HDD and symlink a few things over to that.
It will all be a hacky solution though, and having an 'elegant' setup just has its cost, I guess.

As long as Apollo stock software does not ship with any Lightning Node, prune mode should be enabled urgently for 512 GB drive users, otherwise we will lose all these nodes Apollo has enabled to be in existence.

And later on, ultimately, jstefanop can develop one image for batch 1/2 users with 512 GB drive, with prune enabled and LN node disabled, and second image for everyone else, with LN enabled and no pruning. That will sort out non techy users who will just re-flash and node & miner will continue working without replacing any parts.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think pruned nodes don't seed at all, anyway. So we don't 'lose' more nodes if they start pruning as opposed to them just shutting down.

[crypto_curious]

They can sell flip used drive for 25 bucks without a problem, then it's just 50€. I think if they afford to pay $1000 for an Apollo, they can save up another 50 for a new drive.
Otherwise they could also attach something they already have, USB-based, like a USB HDD and symlink a few things over to that.
It will all be a hacky solution though, and having an 'elegant' setup just has its cost, I guess.

I wish that be true, but tyranny of the default, or inertia, wins.

Personally, my batch #1 Apollo has been working without NVMe since the beginning, I stole the NVMe right away to put in my PC and gave Apollo a USB 1TB spinning rust. Its been working like that for over a year until I retired this configuration.
I still have NVMe though, as my PC boot device and / partition, complemented with two other 1TB SATA SSDs in RAID1 mode.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think pruned nodes don't seed at all, anyway. So we don't 'lose' more nodes if they start pruning as opposed to them just shutting down.

That I don't know.
I hope jstefanop can look urgently at this matter and find some solution.

[Sledge0001]

Still really hopeful to see the difficulty and best shares submitted by each miner.  As a solo miner I feel this is really missing as a check and balance to verify pool stats.

[crypto_curious]

Quick question:

How can I keep screen enabled and emulate a monitor connected, when there isn't one connected via HDMI?
Right now I resort to HDMI dummy plug so Orange Pi 4 thinks there is a monitor connected. Autologin is enabled in Ubuntu user settings and Gnome session starts nicely. But without monitor/dummy plug connected, nothing starts and x11vnc won't let me login remotely.

I am using original Futurebit image with Armbian system.

[satosato42]

Hey folks- longtime reader, rarely calling.

I’ve been running 6 apollos (one full node, 5 standard) with 6 more on the way (same as previous, 1 node, 5 standard).

Since I’ve been running them, I have had minimal to no problems. Are there any updates I should be pushing to increase mining?

My biggest problem, which I think is because of my ISP, is when my internet “burps” or loses connection for a minute or two, I have to manually restart the miners. They are hard wired via Ethernet to a router. No big deal… when I’m home. Is there a way to somehow access my Futurebit site when I’m not on my home network? A friend mentioned port forwarding?

I’ll preface that I have a solid understanding of network technology, but nowhere near advanced. Fortunately I learn quickly.

Im sorry if this has already been discussed, I wasn’t what to search for when trying to find answer.

If anyone could point me in the right direction or any material that can help I’d be greatly appreciated.

Thanks and happy mining!

Chickywinger


P.s. @jstefanop the usb hot wiring is working great! Thanks again

If you haven't updated since you received them now would be a good time to update your main unit to the latest image. There have been updates that have resolved the issues with needing to restart after an internet outage.

I'm having this exact problem and I've updated to the latest software. Everytime the Futurebit loses connection, it's gone forever until I restart it. In my case this means a hard restart because I don't have a monitor or keyboard connected to it. Is there something I can do to fix this? Maybe create a script that starts on startup and constantly checks for connection and if none is found it restarts the unit after 30 minutes of no connection or something like that?