GekkoScience has a new stickminer that does 300+GH

[n0nce]

~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.

I believe at any price, Compac F will never ROI and even with Apollo BTC it's going to be tight. If you don't spend a lot of money (e.g. a handful of sticks), it's a fun project to play around with and you do get no-KYC satoshis in regular intervals. But if you have a higher budget, I believe everyone can manage a way to set up an industrial miner in such a way that doesn't bother them.
There are multiple project online where people get industrial miners very silent (e.g. through acoustical insulation and / or placing them outside); ROI is definitely easier on those, but you need a higher budget. If you're spending thousands on stick miners though, in my opinion, it's better to go the industrial route. Unless you have to have your miners sitting on your desk..

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[Sledge0001]

I believe at any price, Compac F will never ROI and even with Apollo BTC it's going to be tight. If you don't spend a lot of money (e.g. a handful of sticks), it's a fun project to play around with and you do get no-KYC satoshis in regular intervals. But if you have a higher budget, I believe everyone can manage a way to set up an industrial miner in such a way that doesn't bother them.
There are multiple project online where people get industrial miners very silent (e.g. through acoustical insulation and / or placing them outside); ROI is definitely easier on those, but you need a higher budget. If you're spending thousands on stick miners though, in my opinion, it's better to go the industrial route. Unless you have to have your miners sitting on your desk..

For the home miner with either the Compac F or others as you mention I believe its more about a lottery ticket than ROI...

As they say with the lottery "you have to play to win" and I can say with 100% certainty and have shown proof that the Compac F's are more than capable to solve or find a block based on my block reward on CK's pool.

A statistical anomaly in my case? Well.... Yes, No, Maybe???  Who knows but these USB stick miners have beyond a doubt been proven capable.

Personally for me it comes down to 2 things heat dissipation and electrical costs. In my opinion Sidehack / GekkoScience has hit the "sweet spot" with their tunable chips.

I am still adding more to my farm given this downturn and will hopefully have 30 Compac F's running in the near future (I want a total of 30) but.... I'm still waiting on my PI 4 from BitcoinMerch..... Ahem...

Here's to new highs and new lows :beer:

[kurutoga]

Yeah, it's a permission issue.

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

Following-up here to say it was indeed permissions issue. When I used sudo to list USB devices and start cgminer, all works well.

Thanks for troubleshooting with me on this. Got all 3 humming along at 400+ now

[nullama]

~snip~
Following-up here to say it was indeed permissions issue. When I used sudo to list USB devices and start cgminer, all works well.

Thanks for troubleshooting with me on this. Got all 3 humming along at 400+ now

Good to hear it's working now.

Hopefully you managed to make it work without sudo, as there's really no need to run cgminer as sudo and it's always preferable to run any software with as low permissions as possible.

For example, if any malware somehow gets into cgminer, then it would have full access to your entire computer, whereas if you're running it without sudo there will be some actions it cannot do at least.

[Sledge0001]

Okay so I got CGMiner to run at startup on a Pi 4 although I can't seem to actually see it in the terminal it on the pi!  

Here is what I added this to the /etc/rc.local  

Code:

cd /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer

sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u BTCADD.PI1 -p x --gekko-compacf-freq 570 --gekko-start-freq 420 --suggest-diff 128

I see the stats on the pool side but have no idea how to actually view what's running in the usual CGMiner terminal window!

ctrl-alt-f1 does show me the terminal window but its not displayed as it would be if I just entered the commands in terminal.

Any suggestions?

[sidehack]

If you start it in a screen session, you can open up a terminal and connect to that screen session. There's instructions on that within the previous page or two of this thread.

[nullama]

Okay so I got CGMiner to run at startup on a Pi 4 although I can't seem to actually see it in the terminal it on the pi!  

Here is what I added this to the /etc/rc.local  

Code:

cd /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer

sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u BTCADD.PI1 -p x --gekko-compacf-freq 570 --gekko-start-freq 420 --suggest-diff 128

I see the stats on the pool side but have no idea how to actually view what's running in the usual CGMiner terminal window!

ctrl-alt-f1 does show me the terminal window but its not displayed as it would be if I just entered the commands in terminal.

Any suggestions?

Do you need it to be run as sudo?, it's generally not a good idea.

If you want to see the actual output from the console you can call the script with screen, which allows you to detach the process and attach to it from anywhere later on.

Easiest thing would be to create a bash script(let's call it start_cgminer.sh) that does the actual call to cgminer(use absolute paths, not just ./cgminer), then call that instead on /etc/rc.local:

Code:

screen -dm -S miner  /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer/start_cgminer.sh

That will be executed as root, so no need to do sudo. The arguments just mean it starts on the background and names it miner. To attach to that screen, just do:

Code:

screen -r miner

You'll now see the usual output.

To exit, just press Ctrl-A, and then Ctrl-D. That is, hold Control, press A. Then release everything. Then hold Control, press D. That will detach the process, and you can come back again as usual.

If you want to run the process as another user instead of root, you can do so with this command instead(let's use pi as the user):

Code:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S miner  /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer/start_cgminer.sh"

And finally, to check if you have any scripts running in the background, you can simply do:

Code:

screen -list

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Okay so I got CGMiner to run at startup on a Pi 4 although I can't seem to actually see it in the terminal it on the pi!  

Here is what I added this to the /etc/rc.local  

Code:

cd /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer
sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u BTCADD.PI1 -p x --gekko-compacf-freq 570 --gekko-start-freq 420 --suggest-diff 128

I see the stats on the pool side but have no idea how to actually view what's running in the usual CGMiner terminal window!
ctrl-alt-f1 does show me the terminal window but its not displayed as it would be if I just entered the commands in terminal.
Any suggestions?

Yes. The Compac-F's will not run with vh's versions of cgminer as it lacks the driver needed for the chip the F uses... You need to use Kano's updated one (he wrote the driver for the F). He also cleaned up a lot of vh's previous code that Sidehacks older sticks use. P.3 of this thread has all the details.

[Sledge0001]

Thank you @ Nullama.

I felt I should elaborate on the exact steps I needed to follow to get CGMiner to auto start and to work with the BitcoinMerch Pi 4:

1. Create a file called start_cgminer.sh in the following folder /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer
2. Edit the file with a text editor to include:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
cd git/vthoang/cgminer

sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://solo.ckpool.org:3333 -u YOURBTCADDRESS.WORKERNAME -p x --gekko-compacf-freq 400 --gekko-start-freq 320 --suggest-diff 128

3. Replace YOURBTCADDRESS with your Bitcoin Address
4. Add your workername directly after the . following your BTC address. for example:    1KfQmhug959W79PHfASLym3Z17bJ6ohxNb.Miner
5. Right click on the file you created, go to permissions and make sure "anyone" can execute the file.
6. Open Terminal
7. Type in:

Code:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

8. directly above the exit 0 type:

Code:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S miner /home/pi/git/vthoang/cgminer/start_cgminer.sh"

9. Press CNTL + X to save
10. Hit the Y key to confirm
11. Hit your enter key to exit
12. Reboot your pi typing

Code:

reboot

and hitting enter
13. When your Pi is back online open terminal again and type:

Code:

screen -r miner

And you're in business!!!!!!

[Sledge0001]

Yes. The Compac-F's will not run with vh's versions of cgminer as it lacks the driver needed for the chip the F uses... You need to use Kano's updated one (he wrote the driver for the F). He also cleaned up a lot of vh's previous code that Sidehacks older sticks use. P.3 of this thread has all the details.

Actually this one does

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Yes. The Compac-F's will not run with vh's versions of cgminer as it lacks the driver needed for the chip the F uses... You need to use Kano's updated one (he wrote the driver for the F). He also cleaned up a lot of vh's previous code that Sidehacks older sticks use. P.3 of this thread has all the details.

Actually this one does

Then he must have updated it with Kano's driver because no non-Bitmain driver for the chip existed before that.

[nullama]

~snip~
Then he must have updated it with Kano's driver because no non-Bitmain driver for the chip existed before that.

Interesting.

I had a bit of a look, and found a quote from kano stating what you described before:

That other 'w' version removes all the git code ownership information, adds a security risk (extranonce) and they release a windows binary with who knows what in it.
If they can't even use git properly, I'd worry about using any code they added to cgminer ...

If you want to use a version other than mine, for the pre CompacF Gekko miners, you must use VH's version.
He wrote the original Gekko driver.
I pulled all VH's Gekko code to my master cgminer git, updated it and added the CompacF to it.

And then went on to check the github page of VH, and found that the latest commit was done in December 2018: https://github.com/vthoang/cgminer



Since the Compac F was released last year or so, there's no way it can be included in that repo. Unless I'm missing something...

As far as I know, the only maintained repo containing support for the Compac F is the one from kano: https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer

[Sledge0001]

Okay so based on consensus I guess it is in my best option is to remove the CGMiner version that came from BitcoinMerch.com and install Kano's version.

So here is the update to what I had to do to get Kano's Version running on the BitcoinMerch Pi4.

Step 1. Follow Kano's instructions to install CGMINER on Pi here by running each line in terminal:

CGMiner Git

The master git for cgminer is https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer

CGMiner README https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer/blob/master/README

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

Step 2. Create a file called start_cgminer.sh in the following folder /home/pi/cgminer
Step 3. Edit the file with a text editor to include:

Code:

#!/bin/bash
cd /home/pi/cgminer

sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.kano.is:3333 -u YOURBTCADDRESS.WORKERNAME -p x --gekko-compacf-freq 400 --gekko-start-freq 300 --gekko-mine2 --gekko-tune2 60 --suggest-diff 128

Step 4. Replace YOURBTCADDRESS with your Kano.is username if using Kano's pool. If using CK's Pool then use your BTC Address.
Step 5. Add your WORKERNAME directly after the . following your BTC address/Username. for example:   On Kano's pool: sledge0001.miner on CK's Pool: 1KfQmhug959W79PHfASLym3Z17bJ6ohxNb.Miner
Step 6. Right click on the file you created, go to permissions and make sure "anyone" can execute the file.
Step 7. Open Terminal
Step 8.Type in:

Code:

sudo nano /etc/rc.local

Step 9. directly above the exit 0 type:

Code:

su - pi -c "screen -dm -S miner /home/pi/cgminer/start_cgminer.sh"

Step 10. Press CNTL + X to save
Step 11. Hit the Y key to confirm
Step 12. Hit your enter key to exit
Step 13. Reboot your pi typing

Code:

reboot

into the terminal and hitting enter
Step 14. When your Pi is back online open terminal again and type:

Code:

screen -r miner

And now you're in business using the Kano approved version!!!!!!

Optional:
Step 15. Navigate to /home/pi/git and move the folder vthoang to trash
Step 16. Navigate to /home/pi and move the .cgminer (NOTICE THE PERIOD) folder to the trash
Step 17. Right click on the Trash Bin and empty trash!

[sidehack]

Merch probably installed kano's version, but it doesn't hurt to check.

[Sledge0001]

Merch probably installed kano's version, but it doesn't hurt to check.

Yeah I don't want to risk it plus I realized after the fact that  --gekko-start-freq 300 , --gekko-mine2 and --gekko-tune2 60 wasn't working on the version that came with their pre-programmed Pi 4.

[kano]

Merch probably installed kano's version, but it doesn't hurt to check.

Yeah I don't want to risk it plus I realized after the fact that  --gekko-start-freq 300 , --gekko-mine2 and --gekko-tune2 60 wasn't working on the version that came with their pre-programmed Pi 4.

Well that's a major problem if --gekko-mine2 doesn't work, considering I added that to my git last Oct ... so who knows what hack binary they have put on there.

Before you setup and install the correct version,
the problem may be that they have put their own out of date, incomplete, whatever, hack version of cgminer somewhere on the RPi that runs when you type "cgminer"

So to find and get rid of that, type the following:

cd /home ; which cgminer

So for example if this replied with "/usr/local/bin/cgminer" then you would type:

sudo rm -v /usr/local/bin/cgminer

After deleting it with 'rm' do the 'which' command again to see there are no others.

Then if you install cgminer yourself it usually ends up in "/usr/local/bin/cgminer"

So while installing cgminer yourself may resolve this, the extra commands make sure to remove any 'other' cgminer in your path first.

[Sledge0001]

Well that's a major problem if --gekko-mine2 doesn't work, considering I added that to my git last Oct ... so who knows what hack binary they have put on there.

Before you setup and install the correct version,
the problem may be that they have put their own out of date, incomplete, whatever, hack version of cgminer somewhere on the RPi that runs when you type "cgminer"

So to find and get rid of that, type the following:

cd /home ; which cgminer

So for example if this replied with "/usr/local/bin/cgminer" then you would type:

sudo rm -v /usr/local/bin/cgminer

After deleting it with 'rm' do the 'which' command again to see there are no others.

Then if you install cgminer yourself it usually ends up in "/usr/local/bin/cgminer"

So while installing cgminer yourself may resolve this, the extra commands make sure to remove any 'other' cgminer in your path first.

@Kano,

Although I didn't follow these instructions prior to doing the uninstall / reinstall I did remove any reference I could find to cgminer prior to seeing these instructions.

I then followed the install instructions you provided which seemed to work perfectly on "PI1". Additionally it is in fact based on my experience more stable at higher clock speeds.

I also have a new SD card coming from them due to an OS corruption that I experienced at boot on the 2nd PI I received from them.

In speaking with their support team I referenced this thread and informed them that there version of cgminer they are sending out was out of date which they said they were going to look into.

[kano]

Yeah, but the real answer is, don't trust them to put cgminer on it.

The steps are listed here and linked on the first post.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5355470.msg58200639#msg58200639

[bigdaddymccarron]

Service questions should start with the reseller.

What is the capacitor size between pins 6 & 7 on the USB hub.  The regulator for ports 6 & 7 burnt out and during the process of repairing that capacitor disappeared.

Thanks

[mbtc21]

is it okay to run the compac f with 200Mhz without a cooling fan? I tried it but it gets very hot. What is the maximum recommended working temperature for it?