GekkoScience BM1384 Project Development Discussion

[sidehack]

My toaster is pretty shiny. Also a double-wall wide four-slot with dual digital timers, click-lock pull-out crumb trays and a "bagle" button that only heats the inside elements (which is great for buns too). Be better if it were six-slice (I really like toast) but you know, whatever it's still pretty great.

Also looks like the Pi locked up on me after a while. All lights were on (no network activity, just solid LEDs), unresponsive on SSH and cgminer wasn't running. Power cycle brought it right back. I'm not too familiar with 'em, really, but is there any kind of watchdog timer to automatically reboot should that happen again? Other than that huccup, the 225MHz sticks have been running great. I should probably have been more thorough with core voltage testing (I basically raised it until I saw no errors in a two-minute sample) because errors are still higher than I'd like (HW 365, A 180K) but actually it's not terrible for what's being done.

[philipma1957]

My toaster is pretty shiny. Also a double-wall wide four-slot with dual digital timers, click-lock pull-out crumb trays and a "bagle" button that only heats the inside elements (which is great for buns too). Be better if it were six-slice (I really like toast) but you know, whatever it's still pretty great.

Also looks like the Pi locked up on me after a while. All lights were on (no network activity, just solid LEDs), unresponsive on SSH and cgminer wasn't running. Power cycle brought it right back. I'm not too familiar with 'em, really, but is there any kind of watchdog timer to automatically reboot should that happen again? Other than that huccup, the 225MHz sticks have been running great. I should probably have been more thorough with core voltage testing (I basically raised it until I saw no errors in a two-minute sample) because errors are still higher than I'd like (HW 365, A 180K) but actually it's not terrible for what's being done.

do you have a b   pi with the big sdcard  ?

they run pretty well if you have a quality sdcard.

if you are have a model using a micro card B+ and model B 2 the micro card can overheat.

this sdcard linked is really good.  for the model b pi

http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Memory-SDSDUN-008G-G46-Newest-Version/dp/B00M55BS5O/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1435527858&sr=8-2&keywords=sandisk+8gb

as for toaster I have white plastic  with 2 big wide long slots.  (sounds a little bit dirty )  but makes good toast.

[cavaliersrus]

i added a small 20 or 40 mm fan on my pi and its in my warm garage with my gridseeds

[AJRGale]

My toaster is pretty shiny. Also a double-wall wide four-slot with dual digital timers, click-lock pull-out crumb trays and a "bagle" button that only heats the inside elements (which is great for buns too). Be better if it were six-slice (I really like toast) but you know, whatever it's still pretty great.

Also looks like the Pi locked up on me after a while. All lights were on (no network activity, just solid LEDs), unresponsive on SSH and cgminer wasn't running. Power cycle brought it right back. I'm not too familiar with 'em, really, but is there any kind of watchdog timer to automatically reboot should that happen again? Other than that huccup, the 225MHz sticks have been running great. I should probably have been more thorough with core voltage testing (I basically raised it until I saw no errors in a two-minute sample) because errors are still higher than I'd like (HW 365, A 180K) but actually it's not terrible for what's being done.

the pi's don't have any watchdog, they are just cpu+gpu+ram with io, in my little workshop when my boss setup a pi to be a webserver, he made one with reset/power and RTC and LCD output, iirc it did reset itself when it didn't respond on the I2C when it tried to pull info for the LCD

then he switched it out for a simple desktop on the 2nd revision.

[aarons6]

My toaster is pretty shiny. Also a double-wall wide four-slot with dual digital timers, click-lock pull-out crumb trays and a "bagle" button that only heats the inside elements (which is great for buns too). Be better if it were six-slice (I really like toast) but you know, whatever it's still pretty great.

Also looks like the Pi locked up on me after a while. All lights were on (no network activity, just solid LEDs), unresponsive on SSH and cgminer wasn't running. Power cycle brought it right back. I'm not too familiar with 'em, really, but is there any kind of watchdog timer to automatically reboot should that happen again? Other than that huccup, the 225MHz sticks have been running great. I should probably have been more thorough with core voltage testing (I basically raised it until I saw no errors in a two-minute sample) because errors are still higher than I'd like (HW 365, A 180K) but actually it's not terrible for what's being done.

the pi's don't have any watchdog, they are just cpu+gpu+ram with io, in my little workshop when my boss setup a pi to be a webserver, he made one with reset/power and RTC and LCD output, iirc it did reset itself when it didn't respond on the I2C when it tried to pull info for the LCD

then he switched it out for a simple desktop on the 2nd revision.

i think the cpu on the pi does have a built in watchdog timer..
the problem is, if the whole pi locks up, it wont count down and reset lol..

@sidehack you could make a header on the usb stick where it sends a signal to something like this?
http://www.amazon.com/SwitchDoc-Labs-WatchDog-Arduino-Raspberry/dp/B00OL1N7R2

it could be completely optional, but if you make it easy to wire in it would be a good add-on.

if you woudlnt want to change up the usb, maybe this can be something for the typezero boards..

[sidehack]

No, I think I'll just assume the end user might plug them into something that doesn't suck. Adding on features more-or-less designed to support a single controller is adding an extra cost that's unnecessary for anyone not using that single controller. General-purpose hardware should be general, that's why we're making it USB-tethered with a cgminer driver instead of designing for a specific controller and proprietary implementation.

[aarons6]

No, I think I'll just assume the end user might plug them into something that doesn't suck. Adding on features more-or-less designed to support a single controller is adding an extra cost that's unnecessary for anyone not using that single controller. General-purpose hardware should be general, that's why we're making it USB-tethered with a cgminer driver instead of designing for a specific controller and proprietary implementation.

makes sense..

i guess for now you can try to enable the built in watch dog timer on ther pi itself. if the pi doesnt hard lock it should work if its just cgminer crashing.

https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Setting_up_the_raspberry_pi_watchdog

[Jake36]

Hi ALL, new to the forum.

Been reading up on the different miners and found this discussion. Looks like a good set-up to run 4-6 of them with a Pi 2, if everything falls into place with the chips, testing, manufacturing, ETC...

From the testing and review philipma1957 has done and posted, looks good enough to try 4 or 6 (depending on price) when they start selling.

I already have a R Pi 2 with cgminer 4.9.0 running, only thing I need to find is a GOOD powered USB hub.

Got this page BM to keep an eye on it.

[philipma1957]

Hi ALL, new to the forum.

Been reading up on the different miners and found this discussion. Looks like a good set-up to run 4-6 of them with a Pi 2, if everything falls into place with the chips, testing, manufacturing, ETC...

From the testing and review philipma1957 has done and posted, looks good enough to try 4 or 6 (depending on price) when they start selling.

I already have a R Pi 2 with cgminer 4.9.0 running, only thing I need to find is a GOOD powered USB hub.

Got this page BM to keep an eye on it.

some where some place I link a cheap hub with 10 ports.  the hub is 18 bucks at amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Adapter-Charging-Protector-Indicators/dp/B00ELPSEVW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1435541857&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+hub+10+port


it has a 3 amp 12 volt brick .  If you look at my test thread you see I did do some testing with it.

based on all the other sticks I have had .  Hundreds (maybe more like 1200)  the linked hub should do 4 to 6 of these sticks.

If I recall your pi is the 4 port model.  so you could grab two of these cheap hubs and get 4 sticks on each total 8.

No need to rush.  just book mark the threads.

[AJRGale]

No, I think I'll just assume the end user might plug them into something that doesn't suck. Adding on features more-or-less designed to support a single controller is adding an extra cost that's unnecessary for anyone not using that single controller. General-purpose hardware should be general, that's why we're making it USB-tethered with a cgminer driver instead of designing for a specific controller and proprietary implementation.

makes sense..

i guess for now you can try to enable the built in watch dog timer on ther pi itself. if the pi doesnt hard lock it should work if its just cgminer crashing.

https://www.domoticz.com/wiki/Setting_up_the_raspberry_pi_watchdog

Well, if i knew this earlier, setup would be somewhat cheaper.. i may have to setup my 2 pi's again.

[Jake36]

Hi ALL, new to the forum.

Been reading up on the different miners and found this discussion. Looks like a good set-up to run 4-6 of them with a Pi 2, if everything falls into place with the chips, testing, manufacturing, ETC...

From the testing and review philipma1957 has done and posted, looks good enough to try 4 or 6 (depending on price) when they start selling.

I already have a R Pi 2 with cgminer 4.9.0 running, only thing I need to find is a GOOD powered USB hub.

Got this page BM to keep an eye on it.

some where some place I link a cheap hub with 10 ports.  the hub is 18 bucks at amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Adapter-Charging-Protector-Indicators/dp/B00ELPSEVW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1435541857&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+hub+10+port


it has a 3 amp 12 volt brick .  If you look at my test thread you see I did do some testing with it.

based on all the other sticks I have had .  Hundreds (maybe more like 1200)  the linked hub should do 4 to 6 of these sticks.

If I recall your pi is the 4 port model.  so you could grab two of these cheap hubs and get 4 sticks on each total 8.

No need to rush.  just book mark the threads.

Thanks, already booked marked.

Yes, the Pi 2 has 4 ports and as long as those hubs don't back feed any current to the Pi they should work, Pi's are picky about that.

HMM, 2 hub's for 8, something to think about.

[Rabinovitch]

Come on, guys, I am almost ready to buy 42 of that sticks (probably even 49 - not sure whether we have 6 or 7 7-port USB hubs) on approbation. 

[Searing]

Come on, guys, I am almost ready to buy 42 of that sticks (probably even 49 - not sure whether we have 6 or 7 7-port USB hubs) on approbation. 

Sheesh....I don't want to be behind you in line..I just want ONE at least (need the bitcoin miner am an addict...to the pretty LCD's)

(bumps ahead in the line of the guy in previous post ....less he buy them ALL!)

[Rabinovitch]

Ain't those sticks looks good? 

[valkir]

They looks awesome! 

[wh00per]

I hate hubs with power buttons. It seems you'd need to be near them and press those buttons at any power cycle.

Sorry, but I'd won't buy those, no matter what power brick comes with them. The D-Link were/are way better.

[sidehack]

If it's a push-on push-off switch, just leave it on.

Also, buying 40 sticks will cost you $1000 in sticks. Sure it'll look sexy as all get-out but you could buy a couple terahash worth of gear for that. I'm only planning on making 600 (unless there's a lot of demand and still-available chips, then we'll see) and German guy is fetching 800 chips so he might build that many.

Also, Bitmain got back to me and advised me to wait on paying until they could re-verify the chip availability since it's been two weeks. Grumble grumble. Hopefully there are no problems.

[TheRealSteve]

German guy is fetching 800 chips so he might build that many.

Unless Amita is still on and he'd plan on building a few of those as well?

Also, Bitmain got back to me and advised me to wait on paying until they could re-verify the chip availability since it's been two weeks. Grumble grumble. Hopefully there are no problems.

This project's pretty decent positive PR for them.  Here's to hoping they don't make the same mistake (imho) in thinking as BitFury.

[philipma1957]

German guy is fetching 800 chips so he might build that many.

Unless Amita is still on and he'd plan on building a few of those as well?

Also, Bitmain got back to me and advised me to wait on paying until they could re-verify the chip availability since it's been two weeks. Grumble grumble. Hopefully there are no problems.

This project's pretty decent positive PR for them.  Here's to hoping they don't make the same mistake (imho) in thinking as BitFury.

Yeah it is not like sidehack is building 100,000 sticks.

Right now bitmaintech's chip is the best chip in the world and sidehack's usb stick is the most efficient miner in the world.

If I were to resell on ebay  my headline  would be. 

Antminer's best chip from the S-5 now comes in a USB Stick.

Copy:  Antminer's built BTC miners in China have long been the gold standard.  On a special sale of s-5 chips my supplier has reworked those same chips into USB sticks.  These sticks use  .333 watts a gh.  Please See the  link for the official  review thread of these sticks:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1086011.0;all


Be one of the few people in the world to own a piece of Chinese-Amercian mining design. 
Only 600 of these in the world.  Out of two heartlands  One in China where the chips were forged One in Missouri where the stick was designed and built.
   I don't have a lot of them and I will include a software card with them so you can mine with your (fill in the blank)


The advert above would be true and makes China and America look cool.
Well at least bitmaintech and Sidehack will look cool.



And I would not post this in this thread and then list it differently.
 I really want to get a few hundred new people into this via ebay.
The ad would be approved by sidehack and Novac.
It would be designed to show the good side of BTC.

Different people across the world  getting along and doing something decent.

[sidehack]

To save me trouble I'll probably end up just selling on the forums here. I reckon if someone else wants to list on eBay that's fine with me, but you'll have to remember there's no bulk discounts.

If the first 600 sell out super fast, I'll definitely look into a second batch. It's going to depend pretty heavily on chip sourcing though.