GekkoScience has a new stickminer that does 300+GH

[Sledge0001]

You could be butting up against the USB throughput limits, rather than CPU capabilities. You're probably doing what, a combined 5TH? That's a lot of data to move in and out in realtime through a packetized bus.

It actually seems to be a hardware limitation of the Pi4 15 devices. (5.2TH currently)

"Connecting a USB hub to a Raspberry Pi
A USB hub is a device that expands one USB port into several. This will allow more than, the usual, four USB devices to connect to a Raspberry Pi. Up to 15 USB devices can be connected to a Raspberry Pi at the same time."

Stolen from here: https://behind-the-scenes.net/raspberry-pi-usb-ports/

Please, What would be the already tested limit of sticks in a PI4?

If running 3 gekko hubs, one on each usb, with 4 sticks each gekko hub, would it work normally with cgminer?

In that case what would be the maximum recommended frequency with forced ventilation in each stick?

Thank you so much.

As mentioned above I've personally found that you can in fact run up to 15 Compac F's across multiple hubs on a single Pi4, however I also found that I was able to achieve greater speeds (570 currently) on each stick when I used only 3 Compac F's per each GekkoHub.



Now I just need to figure out the autoloading of CGMINER when the PI4 reboots. The BitcoinMerch does have cgminer installed on their PI4 but I'm kinda miffed as to why they didn't include an autorun script at startup.

[n0nce]

Now I just need to figure out the autoloading of CGMINER when the PI4 reboots. The BitcoinMerch does have cgminer installed on their PI4 but I'm kinda miffed as to why they didn't include an autorun script at startup.

You'll want to look into Systemd services.

Here's a guide on how to create them.

I'd recommend to make sure the script has something in the Requires= section that makes sure USB is already up and working and it can already see the sticks.

[BiticaMan]

You could be butting up against the USB throughput limits, rather than CPU capabilities. You're probably doing what, a combined 5TH? That's a lot of data to move in and out in realtime through a packetized bus.

It actually seems to be a hardware limitation of the Pi4 15 devices. (5.2TH currently)

"Connecting a USB hub to a Raspberry Pi
A USB hub is a device that expands one USB port into several. This will allow more than, the usual, four USB devices to connect to a Raspberry Pi. Up to 15 USB devices can be connected to a Raspberry Pi at the same time."

Stolen from here: https://behind-the-scenes.net/raspberry-pi-usb-ports/

Please, What would be the already tested limit of sticks in a PI4?

If running 3 gekko hubs, one on each usb, with 4 sticks each gekko hub, would it work normally with cgminer?

In that case what would be the maximum recommended frequency with forced ventilation in each stick?

Thank you so much.

As mentioned above I've personally found that you can in fact run up to 15 Compac F's across multiple hubs on a single Pi4, however I also found that I was able to achieve greater speeds (570 currently) on each stick when I used only 3 Compac F's per each GekkoHub.



Now I just need to figure out the autoloading of CGMINER when the PI4 reboots. The BitcoinMerch does have cgminer installed on their PI4 but I'm kinda miffed as to why they didn't include an autorun script at startup.

Thanks for the answer Sledge0001, with your experience.
I'm building one with 11 compacF sticks and 3 gekko hubs with PI4.

About the init script did you see our friend's answer above? I asked this question and he went through the step by step how to include the script in the PI startup.

[BiticaMan]

Now I just need to figure out the autoloading of CGMINER when the PI4 reboots. The BitcoinMerch does have cgminer installed on their PI4 but I'm kinda miffed as to why they didn't include an autorun script at startup.

You'll want to look into Systemd services.

Here's a guide on how to create them.

I'd recommend to make sure the script has something in the Requires= section that makes sure USB is already up and working and it can already see the sticks.

I'm waiting for some hubs to arrive and I still can't perform tests, but I left the script ready that is here on the forum at the beginning of the posts.
It launches cgminer whenever the file is closed, from what I could test.

Does cgminer not wait for the sticks to be ready to boot? There is a waiting for usbs message when I start cgminer as I don't have any connected. It seems that he will recognize and start on his own.

If not, could you help with information on how to check if the usbs are loaded in the script?

Thanks.

[kurutoga]

That includes linux compile steps, but to repeat, on linux:

Code:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y

sudo apt-get install -y build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-openssl-dev libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev git

cd
git clone https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer.git
cd cgminer

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=native -fcommon" ./autogen.sh --enable-gekko --enable-icarus

make

I followed this and it worked great to get cgminer on a new raspberry pi image, so thanks for that. My SD card from bitcoinmerch got fried, so I had to buy a new one and setup cgminer.

I'm able to connect to the pool, but cgminer is not recognizing my USB Compac Fs. Getting "No devices detected!" "Waiting for USB hotplug devices or press q to quit"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VN2cWSH2Jy3xum3v5HE2Z_47OFa3uGKE/view?usp=sharing

I read through the readme and numerous threads, but have had no success. Anyone familiar with this?

[nullama]

~snip~
I followed this and it worked great to get cgminer on a new raspberry pi image, so thanks for that. My SD card from bitcoinmerch got fried, so I had to buy a new one and setup cgminer.

I'm able to connect to the pool, but cgminer is not recognizing my USB Compac Fs. Getting "No devices detected!" "Waiting for USB hotplug devices or press q to quit"

I read through the readme and numerous threads, but have had no success. Anyone familiar with this?

It should just work.

Two things that come to mind that might be wrong are the following:

1) You didn't compile cgminer correctly. This can be anything, from using another source, as Kano's is the one with support for the Compac F, or not passing the correct compilation flags to include compac f support.

To check this, run the following:

Code:

./cgminer --help

It should print all the options, but in the beginning it should say this:

cgminer 4.12.0
Built with gekko mining support.

If it doesn't say that, there's your issue. If it does say that, then it's time to check the hardware.

2) Check your miner hardware setup.

Is your Compac F connected to a powered USB hub?, does it turn the lights on when giving it power?, Is it receiving enough airflow?.

What does it say when you list the USB devices in your computer? What's the output of this:

Code:

lsusb

[kurutoga]

1) You didn't compile cgminer correctly. This can be anything, from using another source, as Kano's is the one with support for the Compac F, or not passing the correct compilation flags to include compac f support.

2) Check your miner hardware setup.

Here is my output per your recommendation:

1)
cgminer 4.12.0
Built with gekko icarus mining support.

2)
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 2109:1817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub           
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 2109:0817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub           
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

I'm using the USB hub that comes from the bitcoinmerch package: Bitcoin Merch® 7 Port Powered USB Hub. https://bitcoinmerch.com/products/3-x-gekkoscience-compac-f-full-kit-combo-up-to-1-05-th-s

The lights come on for each miner and all have their own Noctua fan installed

[nullama]

~snip~
Here is my output per your recommendation:

1)
cgminer 4.12.0
Built with gekko icarus mining support.

2)
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 2109:1817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub            
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 2109:0817 VIA Labs, Inc. USB3.0 Hub            
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

I'm using the USB hub that comes from the bitcoinmerch package: Bitcoin Merch® 7 Port Powered USB Hub. https://bitcoinmerch.com/products/3-x-gekkoscience-compac-f-full-kit-combo-up-to-1-05-th-s

The lights come on for each miner and all have their own Noctua fan installed

Looks like it's all fine. How do you call cgminer? You need to make sure to call the correct options, like gekko-compacf-detect, and others.

Post either the config file you're using, or the command line that you use to run cgminer. It should detect it automatically.

Also, have you tried with just one at a time?

And finally, is the power supply to the USB hub matching what the USB hub requires? (check what's written on each one, Volts, Amps, etc.)

[kurutoga]

I had the setup up and running with same hub and all 3 sticks before the card got fried, so I'm confident that there is enough power, etc. I have tried with just one stick and it still doesn't recognize.

Here is my cmd line arg:

./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u *btcaddress* -p x --suggest-diff 442 --gekko-compacf-freq 400 --gekko-mine2 --gekko-tune2 60

[sidehack]

Certainly doesn't look fine, if lsusb isn't reporting any sticks.

[nullama]

Certainly doesn't look fine, if lsusb isn't reporting any sticks.

Right, that's the issue then. They're not being recognized in the computer through the USB interface, I just assumed those listed were the sticks but apparently they're not.

The USB hub data line could be faulty?, I think those hubs have independent power and data(power gets drawn directly from the power point, no power is received from the computer, so the sticks can be getting power(they show lights), but the data connection could be faulty, and therefore not showing up in the computer.

OP mentioned the card got fried, maybe in that episode the USB hub data channel got damaged.

I would suggest trying with a different USB hub.

[kurutoga]

Right, that's the issue then. They're not being recognized in the computer through the USB interface, I just assumed those listed were the sticks but apparently they're not.
[/quote]

I was able to get a bit more details just now and this is the message:

USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - GSH device 1:7
See README file included for help
GekkoScience detect (1:7) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), restarting

USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - GSH device 1:8
See README file included for help
GekkoScience detect (1: failed to initialise (incorrect device?), restarting

USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - GSH device 1:9
See README file included for help
GekkoScience detect (1:9) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), restarting

Seems like it's picking them up, but there is a permissions issue. This is where I got lost before.

I tried following https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer/blob/master/README, but no luck (assuming I did right)

LINUX:

The short version:

 sudo cp 01-cgminer.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/


The long version:

On linux, the direct USB support requires no drivers at all. However due to
permissions issues, you may not be able to mine directly on the devices as a
regular user without giving the user access to the device or by mining as
root (administrator). In order to give your regular user access, you can make
him a member of the plugdev group with the following commands:

 sudo usermod -G plugdev -a `whoami`

If your distribution does not have the plugdev group you can create it with:

 sudo groupadd plugdev

In order for the USB devices to instantly be owned by the plugdev group and
accessible by anyone from the plugdev group you can copy the file
"01-cgminer.rules" from the cgminer archive into the /etc/udev/rules.d
directory with the following command:

 sudo cp 01-cgminer.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

After this you can either manually restart udev and re-login, or more easily
just reboot.

[nullama]

~snip~

USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - GSH device 1:7
See README file included for help
GekkoScience detect (1:7) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), restarting

USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - GSH device 1:8
See README file included for help
GekkoScience detect (1: failed to initialise (incorrect device?), restarting

USB init, open device failed, err -3, you don't have privilege to access - GSH device 1:9
See README file included for help
GekkoScience detect (1:9) failed to initialise (incorrect device?), restarting

Seems like it's picking them up, but there is a permissions issue. This is where I got lost before.

I tried following https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer/blob/master/README, but no luck (assuming I did right)

~snip~

Yeah, it's a permission issue.

If you're running Ubuntu or similar, try running lsusb with sudo:

sudo lsusb

It should list the sticks.

And if you run cgminer with sudo it should work (sudo cgminer ...)

Of course, you might want to actually run the instructions correctly to not need sudo, but at least running it once will confirm that's the issue.

My guess is that you're not using the correct ticks here (`whoami`). Just change that for your username (kurutoga, or whatever it is), or simply copy and paste each step of the instructions. They work.

[n0nce]

Does cgminer not wait for the sticks to be ready to boot? There is a waiting for usbs message when I start cgminer as I don't have any connected. It seems that he will recognize and start on his own.

Actually, you're right. Then you can just set your service file to start up CGMiner at boot!
If you could repeat the command you use to run cgminer, I can quickly put a systemd service file together for you.

[mbtc21]

Hi,

I try solo mining to my own bitcoin node (v22.0). I installed the latest version of cgminer to mine with the gekkoscience compac f but get an error message from cgminer:

Code:

Pool 0 JSON failed to decode GBT

so I tried to find out why. It seem that cgminer doesn't work with this bitcoin core version. Is there any development in this case?

@100knot2dae modified cgminer to get this working:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5322315.msg56584362#msg56584362

Is this a safe way for mining to my own bitcoin node?

[hZti]

Finally done for a little bit with my Ferrari collection lol.  Quiet, low power and maybe one day I'll hit the lotto LOL!

Raspi4 (8gb)
Noctua NF-A12x25 (x3)
Noctua NF-A4x20 (x6 (Don't really need anymore)
Gekkoscience Hubs (x4 (I have a 5th but the horizontal shared 6A port is burnt up so I use that now for testing)
EVGA Gold 800W PSU (had it just sitting around)
The Egorlabs PMD is reading EVERYTHING but the Pi itself.

Single PCIe to the PSU with splitters to connect the hubs.  Since I have 4 hubs I just jumped 3 together and they all go to the Pi on 1 USB.  Clocks are at 550MHz, all sticks are at 2.9X-3.0X amps and are intendent of sharing any power.

Pardon some of the mess, this is in my garage/shop area kind of in a temporary home.







182-184W of power between all 12 sticks, 4 Hubs, and all the fans.  Pi4 is still on a USB-C to plug.



Been chugging along 3 days now!

If I see your setup I ask myself why you didnt buy a bigger miner int he first place but so many small miners?

[nullama]

~snip~
If I see your setup I ask myself why you didnt buy a bigger miner int he first place but so many small miners?

Well... the Compac Fs are way better in terms of running costs, so if you manage to get them for cheap, you're way better off.

Of course it also depends on many factors as well, like availability for example. Not always you're going to have your preferred miners in stock.

Also, Compac Fs and Apollo BTC are currently the best ones in terms of home mining (no extremely loud fans, nice looking, etc).

You can get way better ROI by just buying any industrial miner, but that's out of the question here. Those are extremely loud, hot, and a bit ugly as well.

[Powell]

Yeah this is just for fun.  I had 19TH/s "farm" back in 2014 that did very well for myself and my brother, on BTCGuild we made right at .9 to 1 btc per day.  If I was going to do this to try and profit or make anywhere near that I would need an absurd amount of hardware, power, cooling, etc lol.

[sidehack]

I had a pretty good setup around then as well, not 19TH but still several, built by recycling returns from an initial investment of $400 in August 2013 just to prove that I could. Mid 2014 I switched from maximizing profit to just buying interesting gear, but that led into building interesting gear. Good times. Sure would be nice to have some of that easy coin right now though, eh?

[Powell]

I had a pretty good setup around then as well, not 19TH but still several, built by recycling returns from an initial investment of $400 in August 2013 just to prove that I could. Mid 2014 I switched from maximizing profit to just buying interesting gear, but that led into building interesting gear. Good times. Sure would be nice to have some of that easy coin right now though, eh?

That's for sure!!  It hurts to look up my old mining address to see what it would have been worth now LOL!

And back in 2014 anything that didn't have a built in PSU was powered by Sidehack/Gekkoscience Dell PSU boards.  Because you the best!