Topic: Alchemist updated support added for RPI with a broke controler (Read 2407 times)

Once i was able to run it off a PI ,I went with Ubuntu 16 for the reason you stated above .  I use any PI not just a RPI ..... so the pins won't really matter much sense they seem to be about the same on all PI types not just RPI, if you use USB DONGLEs not the on board GPO's on the PI's .

Thanks for that water cooling guide i haven't got around to doing, been to busy with real life, like health issue etc ...

https://i.imgur.com/cZvkNFt.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/F9pKswL.jpg



https://i.imgur.com/Wbp7S7L.jpg


Hope this clears things up for  you .


I'm not much with marking cables either, i know i Should be, it does help . if you figure out a better way , would you mind sharing it here for others . believe it or not some still use the Mat/Alchemist miners. Your proof  ...

 I could never get a RTS dongle to work , I even asked for help from the guy who wrote the Firmware, i was real supersized he even bothered to help me at all  ..  he wouldn't help me figure out why the RTS pin didn't work, I guess he figured it's outdated old stuff why brother, i should be glad he did what he did ....... that said

There is a pin one marked on the Hash board either under the white 6 pin data plug or above.... I would have to pull one of my boards and look were but it is by the white 6 pin plug you plug the data cable into not the PCIe power plug.  

... the two middle pins are not needed on the the hash board.

I'll post a picture of one my plugs I made up that works....

to give you some idea ..

Pin 1 :RX to tx
pin 2 : TX to RX
pin 5: GND to GnD
pin 6 : DTR to DTR


 
pin 1 on the hash board is RX that goes to the TX pin on the dongle
PIn 2 on the hash board is TX and that goes to the RX pin on the dongle

Skip the two middle pins on the hash board and go to pin 5

pin 5 on the hash board is Gnd to Gnd pin on the dongle  

PIN 6 is DTR pin on the hash board to dtr pin on the dongle ....

I did try a few different ways to try an make it work with a RTS an never got it to hash, it gave me all kinds of error's using a RTS dongle when i debugged, sense I'm not to skilled at creating code, i gave up after a week of tiring with a RTS dongle and went with what i know worked .

there is two different kinds of dongles one with a DTR pin only an no RTS pin, an one with RTS pin only with no DTR Pin ....

I think it's a driver issue with the BFGMINER rewrite i donated to have finished that was never finished ... and because it's old tech, no one cared when i got my hands on a Alchemist that still works for me or three boards do now.

which is fine because my next buy will either be a L3 + or A4 +, i mine to save now, i don't need to cash in my coins ....

Thanks for your guide but cable things are easier with pictures/colors or tables. Because I have no "RTS", DTR?
And I think your next answer is helpful for me and few other users.

Pictures with good cables:
https://i.imgur.com/2CfFIUo.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/N9M7FNy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/ssvmEsO.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/kk5zG2Y.jpg

Because rpi has no problem with usb (lsusb):
Bus 001 Device 015: ID 10c4:ea60 Cygnal Integrated Products, Inc. CP210x UART Bridge / myAVR mySmartUSB light

And I think all software are ready, only the cables not like https://i.imgur.com/jZPCvcM.jpg

Use these for the hash board end http://www.ebay.com/itm/322106053473?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT they come with a wire attached ... middle pin will all ways be open go to the start of this guide it explains it all ..  if you can't figure out how to hook the wires from the hash board to dongle i can help , try first ....

Important advice:

Ignore that ubuntu 12.04 LTS support will end in few weeks, do not dist-upgrade to 14.04.

You get many problems with libs, which can be fixed... But you cant fixed, that 14.04 dont support "udev" and if you
uninstall udev and try install again... Thaaan your controllboard will no more boot up  

My story, because this i use Rasp as controller... The stock-controller powered now only the fans  


If i got time, i will try to rescure with SD card. Somebody know this? -> For bootup with SD, must the jumper set to anything? Because
plug in&boot from SD with some ARM-dists dont work.

not good, thanks for the warning that idea is not gonna happen then.

November 9th I paid to Ortek for 3 Alcheminer controllers. I still have not received anything.
November 20 he stopped communicating.

Hey Ortek '

any word on those boards yet ? .

 all credit should goes to Jstefanop  


with out him it couldn't have been done , all such credit belongs to Jstefanop, all i did was ask and push it some ...


That's why i used one 7 port usb3 hub for all five of my boards if i don't or tried to use all five boards with one USB2 hub,the most boards, i could power with one USB2 hub was 4 .so i had issues, so i had to buy a nice USB 3 hub with at least 7 ports self powered .. for all five .

I consider

you and Jatefanop  the real heroes of script, i know nothing or what im doing,I'm just a Advanced user with some know how with using hardware  and editing  code to some extent ,,, or just enough knowledge to fix my own stuff and give some tips . but don't get me wrong wish i could own up to the plug not being UN grateful either... thanks ...


Cya top . ...

I had 3 boards with SMD resistors, which are no more full soldered, 2 i have fixed, one is lost... Look an any resistor and make the board clean,
too much silicon oil...



Work well too with Rasp3B (Raspbian, Jessie) and with two 4xUSB2.0 (1,5A powered) hub.
 
I have 7 Boards, so i powered the Rasp3 from Hub... No power problems. I think the USB-Hub dont must have been overpowered,
If i get power on hashboard, so light up the LED from USB-UART Dongle without the USB-Hub. I think we can calc with 5V 200mA for
each Dongle to be on the safe side.




Jstefanop and toptek are the Heros of Scrypt

found some one here on the forums that lives ten miles a way form me that will look at my dead board and see if he can fix It, i can drop it off at his place of business and save on shipping may have 6 boards running soon I'm rebuilding my mining farm this year and gonna go kind of hard core home mining etc but with GPU's and script miners and may even try Hard drive mining and once side hack starts making his upgrade board for S1 to 5 heat sink i ll have a fun farm again . lol ...this year is starting to look but i know that all go down hill fast. nice hobby that's gonna cost but wtf  why not.

Btw great to hear you tried with a custom controller to me they work a lot better if the support is there ....

thanks top .

Working fine with Rasp2B+ and Debian (Raspbian).

With the cheapest 7 USB Hub and the cheapest USB-UART Dongles 



https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B01IQOC7AC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


www.ebay.de/itm/272371091280

cool i got a board that needs to be looked at to, it gets warm can't be flashed or the PI doesn't see it, if i try to flash it, no go doesn't see it ;. id ask him but i think i may have broke all tries between me and him, Pissed him off the other day in a post he made i said something i shouldn't have, I'm not sorry i said it either . owell my lose .

let me know on the board i may buy it if the price is right they are still good miner even after the A4 came out so i won't give up my five working boards and a while back,  i missed out on one board on Ebay it sold on a bid for 25 bucks or some really low price. . i didn't bid or watch the bid because i thought for sure it would go shy high .


I end up using this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013OK10YM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 any thing i tried wouldn't work  with four or more boards this fired up 6 boards easy i also dropped one board for sure mess it up beyond  repair and donated one to a school in ZA . the miner came with one bad board  or may not be bad  but was bricked and a bad non working controller that was the selling point no one would buy it,  why i got it so cheap at the time ,  the owner told me he flashed some of the boards so i flashed them all . it had 7 working boards but due to above I'm left with 5 that work and possible  one more that may work if i can find some one to look at it .

oyea one other thing don't take off  any boards from the heat sink unless you really really need to there must be 7 inch or more of T paste on them, i see why but wow that's a lot of paste. and one big mess if you take off a board .

anyone that posts on the forums is a member, active or not, is another question .

Where is he? Can you please give contact or homepage for his repair shop? Or is this an forummember?
Thanks you :-)

I have a few boards that need to be looked at, im sending them to J4bberwock and hope he can fix some....if he can repair some of them i can sell you 1 board.

I ordered 2 cp2102 usb-uart modules and made cables for them.....installed latest bfgminer and the 2 boards get recognized but they dont hash at all....the usb hub im using has a 1200ma max so it might be the problem but im not sure untill i try later on.

how much for one board with no heat sink or with i have a flashed bad board i think may be fix able i can't fine any to look at it or i can use the heat sink and replace it, I have  no burnt out boards but i all so make sure i have tons of air blowing on what i have  from  time to time I unplug one or two boards and run three they are still worth it, the company went under that made them and  i don't mean Mat . they were scams the company that did it all from what i saw went bankrupt  ... was honest .


never mind misunderstand  you have controllers all i need is hash broads one without a heat sink and maybe one more with a heat sink that works , i can flash them to use to use BFG with any PI type . not just the Watered  down rasp pi inside the miner. no offense intended but not using those 12v power cables is good , i would plug in the hash boards direct to the PSU No heated cables you still  need fans blowing on the cable to be safe and they stay warm if not cool to the touch not hot like there about to melt  and all most burnt out a board using them . again no offense i won't use them .

Yes those miners can get VERY hot, its a must to keep them cool as it can kill some of your hashing boards.

I have about 10-12 controller boards (complete with the black cables that connect to the boards) i can sell for a reasonable price. All working, i can even show it. I also have some yellow black 12v power cables which are connected from the hashing boards to the case
Also lcd displays.
I even have defective boards if anyone needs a heatsink or i dont know what.

tip: I discovered something new to nite that didn't start till now if the power cables start getting warm or hot to the touch plug the cables directly into the boards don't use the patch cables in between, mine were starting to heat up due to the weather changes i think because all winter long there was never a hot or warm cable and i used the in the between cable or patch cable now I'm plugged into the boards from the PSU and the cables seem to stay cool or normal. + i have one of these https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000065DK8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 blowing on it so i could remove all the load fans and put in quieter ones .

 i had to use these

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CP2102-USB-2-0-to-TTL-UART-Module-6Pin-Serial-Converter-STC-Replace-FT232-Module/381374541932?_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D37798%26meid%3Dd3725e6e62ee4952b95cb7f2024ae891%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D141976891775

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009T2ZR6W/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

those are the exact ones i use i ordered one or 2 off  amazon to get started then 10 or so off ebay cheaper for the same thing just longer to get .

I couldn't get it working with the dongles that have RTS the ones with DTR work great for me and still are, i tried a few with RTS.

and these plugs fit the hash broad end

http://www.ebay.com/itm/322106053473?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT



you have to make sure the hub can run all 8 eight boards or how ever many boards you plan to run off one hub, i found out if the hub can't supply the right power for how ever many boards the miner shuts off with a strange high number of hard ware errors and some thing about a floating point limit was reached , so i bought a GOOD usb 3 hub, that fixed it.

the only pins you end up using are rx tx dtr and gnd the rest don't seem to  matter . and you can use any PI type it's not limited to rasp berry pi's .