[De-classified] Avalon 4.1 miner review

[macgyver007]

Hi,

Is it possible to connect Avalon 4.1 directly to PC (Linux) via USB (PC running cgminer with avalon 4.1 drivers only)? If yes, are there some instructions? Or does it absolutely needs dedicated controller?

Yes of course it is possible but a waste of power to use a full size pc when a RPi is $30-40ish, runs Linux and does that job already, not to mention power usage is minimal compared to a dedicated desktop of any sort.
I did all of my tests using the TP-Link but am going to get RPi rev B just to have....the newest model of that is a lot better but there is no firmware support for that yet only revision B
I think that there are no other instructions for connecting to a Linux based unit as its already been done in the most efficient manner but that's just my opinion...how many units are you planning to deploy?
I have always been a fan of stand-alone miners but after seeing this interface I want to see how well it can manage more than 1 unit...seems a total waste to have a controller just for 1 miner but then this is geared for multiple unit deployment

[rigrenter]

Hi,

Is it possible to connect Avalon 4.1 directly to PC (Linux) via USB (PC running cgminer with avalon 4.1 drivers only)? If yes, are there some instructions? Or does it absolutely needs dedicated controller?

Yes of course it is possible but a waste of power to use a full size pc when a RPi is $30-40ish, runs Linux and does that job already, not to mention power usage is minimal compared to a dedicated desktop of any sort.

The point is that this miner will sit right next to a PC which is constantly powered on anyway (for other purposes). So how do I connect Avalon4.1 directly to a Linux PC? Do I only run cgminer wih some parameters and it will detect avalon4.1 miner automatically?

[macgyver007]

I see your point but unfortunately I cant help you with this setup... you can find some info here for compiling under linux
http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/
Use CGMiner 4.9 as it has support for Avalon 4.1 if you compile it with Avalon support flag and once you get it going it would be great if you could let us know how you did it  

[lowbander80]

I have seen many user in this forum including me that dont have the skill or the time to learn using these miners without a controller and go into the time wasting story to test different things and specially drivers usb connection cables etc.(someone will say ok but you learn thrue this)
so how much more will be to be build with a controller inside and all the trimming and tuning to be done with software??? with a single ethernet cable???
they build this kind of excellent hardware and they dont put the controller.
its like selling a car without a wheels...
there must be a reason except cost I believe but can find out what it is..

[philipma1957]

I have seen many user in this forum including me that dont have the skill or the time to learn using these miners without a controller and go into the time wasting story to test different things and specially drivers usb connection cables etc.(someone will say ok but you learn thrue this)
so how much more will be to be build with a controller inside and all the trimming and tuning to be done with software??? with a single ethernet cable???
they build this kind of excellent hardware and they dont put the controller.
its like selling a car without a wheels...
there must be a reason except cost I believe but can find out what it is..

well I thought about this.  If you have a  pair of rasp pi's  and 2 or 3  sd cards .  you will never have down time due to a dead controller.

So if you run 6-10 of these off one rasp pi you have instant backup.

The settings are all software and if you do bad settings  just slap in the second card.  If you kill off the rasp pi just pull the second one out.  So if you want to mine these in bulk the rasp pi is better then a built in controller

downside of these is you want just 1 it will have more wires then an sp20e.

[nicehash]

If anybody is interested, our test Avalon4.1 is running fine on NiceHash.com. Here is compiled binary for Linux 64 bit (includes extranonce.subscribe, compiled from our official cgminer fork ): https://www.nicehash.com/download/cgminer-Avalon4-Linux64.zip

If you are using Ubuntu you can simply connect your Avalon4.1 and run cgminer from the above zip file:

sudo ./cgminer -o stratum+tcp://stratum.nicehash.com:3334 -u yourBitcoinAddress -p x --avalon4-automatic-voltage --avalon4-fan 40

(--avalon4-fan is percentage of fan speed)

Here is a screenshot of under-clocked ("avalon4-voltage" : "7000", "avalon4-freq" : "320:310:300") Avalon4.1 running on NiceHash.com: