Ubuntu Natty Narwhal 11.04 Mining Guide / HOWTO

[Inaba]

Yeah this guide isn't intended for the Live versions of Ubuntu, only for dedicated installs.  Some people have apparently gotten it working, but it's just such a hassle and hard drives are dirt cheap and you are somewhat limited with a live install...

I plan on figuring out how to do this from a USB stick, after that I will probably look into adjusting for a Live install, but both come after I finish my current project which will hopefully be announced RSN.

[chungenhung]

does the stream sdk 2.1 support 6950 card?

[Felex]

I did it all again, and now it's all installed, but it has one problem:

Code:

fgdsg@dfgdsgsdgdsg:~/poclbm$ ./poclbm.py
No device specified or device not found, use -d to specify one of the following

[0]	AMD Sempron(tm) 140 Processor
[1]	Cypress
[2]	Cypress

What do i have to do to run it?

I wrote ./poclbm.py -d 1, but i get this:

Code:

Problems communicating with bitcoin RPC 

[Dyaheon]

I did it all again, and now it's all installed, but it has one problem:

Code:

fgdsg@dfgdsgsdgdsg:~/poclbm$ ./poclbm.py
No device specified or device not found, use -d to specify one of the following

[0]	AMD Sempron(tm) 140 Processor
[1]	Cypress
[2]	Cypress

What do i have to do to run it?

I wrote ./poclbm.py -d 1, but i get this:

Code:

Problems communicating with bitcoin RPC 

You need to point your miner somewhere for it to work. i.e. create account+worker at btcguild and use http://www.btcguild.com/how_to_connect.php for instructions.

See also ./poclbm.py -h for help.

[Felex]

LOL, i skip over that step. 
Thank you very much.

[snidd111]

I feel like a n00b here, but does your guide work with nvidia chips? i read through all the pages and there's only one comment that I shouldn't use nvidia if it's onboard.

[Inaba]

No, it doesn't.  It's for ATI only.

[SchizophrenicX]

Hi inaba, I'm using a USB stick Ubuntu LiveCD w/ persistence. I'll get back here to let you know if it works. I'll be doing x86 & x64 installations. Btw great guide. Theres another guide on the x86 yesterday but the commands vastly differs from yours, I'm pretty intrigue haha. Anyway let you know how things turn out.

[Internet151]

After tinkering with this for dozens of hours, I finally got this working on a USB flash drive. Yet after running through the 32-step configuration and restarting, my remote desktop client (Teamviewer) only shows me a black screen for this computer. Would any of you happen to know what's causing this and/or how to fix it?

[chungenhung]

Can anyone do a quick guide on how to make it work with Phoenix miner?
Would I be able to simply download the Phoenix miner and start running or does it needs to be compiled?
Sorry, I am a noob when it comes to Linux.

[Inaba]

After tinkering with this for dozens of hours, I finally got this working on a USB flash drive. Yet after running through the 32-step configuration and restarting, my remote desktop client (Teamviewer) only shows me a black screen for this computer. Would any of you happen to know what's causing this and/or how to fix it?

Can you SSH into the box?

Can anyone do a quick guide on how to make it work with Phoenix miner?
Would I be able to simply download the Phoenix miner and start running or does it needs to be compiled?
Sorry, I am a noob when it comes to Linux.

Phoenix is downloaded as a part of this guide. You use it in the phoenix directory.

[chungenhung]

ok, i see.
So, how do I run multiple instances each with its own window showing the progress?
I am guessing opening up a terminal, run instance 1, open another terminal, run instance 2, etc.
Ultimately I am looking to create shortcuts on desktop where I can just double click to launch individual miners.
Could you show the code to do that?

Thanks mate, will send donations

[Inaba]

Someone else should be able to help you with that.  I don't use Phoenix as it's too unstable.  But yes, you can open one terminal window for each instance.

[voxobscuro]

Hey there, I think I've about got everything sorted but I've got one last hangup.  poclbm.py doesn't list the graphics card.  
I installed SDK 2.4, but other than that I followed the 64bit portion of the guide.  Well written too, thanks a lot. 

Code:

$sudo aticonfig --lsa
* 0. 01:00.0 AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series

* - Default adapter
$./poclbm.py 
No protocol specified
No device specified or device not found, use -d to specify one of the following

[0]	AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
$

I also tried testing pool mining on the CPU to see if I did everything right...but I think I've missed something because this is what I get:

Code:

$ ./poclbm.py --device=0 --user=___ --pass=___ --host=btcguild.com --port=8332
No protocol specified
Exception in thread Thread-2:
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 552, in __bootstrap_inner
    self.run()
  File "/usr/lib/python2.7/threading.py", line 505, in run
    self.__target(*self.__args, **self.__kwargs)
  File "/home/vox/sources/poclbm/BitcoinMiner.py", line 272, in miningThread
    self.loadKernel()
  File "/home/vox/sources/poclbm/BitcoinMiner.py", line 373, in loadKernel
    binaryW = open(cacheName, 'wb')
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: '942631b5db2d61ba4bbed015ac746f71.elf'

Problems communicating with bitcoin RPC^C                   
bye

I did some searching around in the thread here, and read through much of it to solve my other problems, but nothing no this front.  I appreciate any insight.

EDIT:  I'm not sure if it matters.  The machine currently has a monitor installed, but I did all the config remotely.  I'm not planning on leaving a monitor attached to it, but I'm going to run it as a headless server/miner.

Thanks
-vox

[befuddled]

Well one thing I did before following the instructions that's not explicitly there in the instructions, as mentioned in my post above, is I installed the proprietary ATI drivers. On the "Ubuntu Software Center", there was a package for the proprietary ATI fglrx driver. The ATI-APP-SDK 2.4 installation notes says that it requires these in order to work. If you don't install those first, don't you just get the default open-source "radeon" driver? Maybe that's why those who don't see their GPUs as available devices aren't detecting them. The OpenCL stack needs the proprietary ATI driver. I don't know for sure. Maybe someone who knows can confirm or deny.

[voxobscuro]

I do have the AMD drivers installed.  I did that bit last night when I installed Ubuntu.  Good thought though....I had to double check to make sure I had done that.

Weird enough, now that I'm logged into the front end, I get this:

Code:

No device specified or device not found, use -d to specify one of the following

[0]     Barts
[1]     AMD Phenom(tm) II X6 1055T Processor
$

No idea what "Barts" is...but I'm going to try mining with it!

Edit: nope. Same "permission denied" error message.  I wonder if I messed up some ownership somewhere...

[Internet151]

After tinkering with this for dozens of hours, I finally got this working on a USB flash drive. Yet after running through the 32-step configuration and restarting, my remote desktop client (Teamviewer) only shows me a black screen for this computer. Would any of you happen to know what's causing this and/or how to fix it?

Can you SSH into the box?

Can anyone do a quick guide on how to make it work with Phoenix miner?
Would I be able to simply download the Phoenix miner and start running or does it needs to be compiled?
Sorry, I am a noob when it comes to Linux.

Phoenix is downloaded as a part of this guide. You use it in the phoenix directory.

Yes, and I can still see the mouse move on the Ubuntu machine and left/right click still works through Teamviewer's black screen.

[Inaba]

Why are you using Teamviewer if you can use SSH?  Just do everything from SSH, running a desktop is kind of pointless on a mining box.  Is there some reason you want to maintain access to the desktop?

[SchizophrenicX]

Hi Inaba. Does not running a desktop and have everything in command help reduce power consumption? I'm currently using LinuxCoin and it boots into desktop, after I have all my miners set up I just unplug the monitor. I'd like to know if there is certain advantage to 'not' running a desktop. I'm still trying to grasp what is SSH . Could u point me in the right directioN?

[befuddled]

No idea what "Barts" is...but I'm going to try mining with it!

"Barts" is the ATI codename for the 6800 chipset. "Cayman" is the 6900 series.

As far as permission denied: yeah either your user doesn't have permissions or the file isn't executable, e.g. "chmod a+x phoenix.py" & cetera.