Topic: In case anyone was wondering about using BitForce Singles in OSX (Read 3378 times)

How interesting.  I'm noticing that after a long run (24+ hours), some of my BFLs seem to drop off a bit.  I had thought that they were throttling, but even after cooling them off and power cycling them they still showed the same low Utiliy rates and apparent throttling.  Only after I completely reboot everything does it come back 100%...

I had an issue with the Satechi 12 port usb hub, where it wouldn't recognize the unit I was plugging into port 6.  I moved everything down one, thought nothing more of it.  But maybe the low quality USB cables, they way I've tied them, the hub, or a combination of the three could be causing the faults.  I was noticing particularly bad hashrates when I ran the USB cables close to the power cables, so switched them up, now usb's go to the top of the shelf, and power cables go to the bottom.  But I still bundle the 10 usb's together at the hub so they look neat and tidy...

I'll have to look into this more.  I tend to see how well they do for a bit, then like BR0KK it's a "do not touch" state to mine as long as I can.

I have found someone wiling to co-locate my rig however, in a nice, cool environment, for less than I'm currently paying for electricity.  Once I get things setup there and running (much, much) cooler, I'll be able to get a better idea of where the throttling occurs.

Im having or had issues with my trust 7 Port hub (powered) .... These are random and affect all boards (or fpgas) the same way. For a month now i didn't have any hashrate drops or libusb errors ....

Same goes for low quality usb cables.

My setup is stable for now but in kind of a "do not touch" state

Hey, just compiled 2.4.2 for OSX, here:
http://bitcoin.phraust.com/CGMINER_2.4.2.zip

Using:
./configure CFLAGS="-O2" --enable-bitforce --enable-icarus --enable-ztex

Just in case anyone needs it.

Seems like you are a compile god for Mac = just what I needed !

It would be very nice if you could help me fix this issue here with 10.5.8 and litecoind 0.5.0.4 !

https://github.com/downloads/coblee/litecoin/litecoin-mac-client-daemon-0.5.0.4.zip does not work on 10.5.8 but only on 10.6 and I cannot upgrade unfortunately. It uses Intel X86 though.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.853835 for the issue.

Contact me via PM if you want more details and THANKS !

As u know I'm trying to do that with my Ztex devices, but I'm not able to run them atm.

I think that the Driver u need for BFLs doesn't work with Ztex devices.

Well, someone requested that I compile cgminer for them on OSX with FPGA support, so here it is:

http://bitcoin.phraust.com/cgminer.zip

I compiled it on a MacMini (2GHZ Intel Core i7/2012) with OSX 10.7.3 using the lastest git from:
http://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer

With the following switches:
./configure CFLAGS="-O2" --enable-bitforce --enable-icarus --enable-ztex

There is a readme with instructions on how I've managed to cobble things together to make it work.  Any input would be great.

After you install them, the BitForce SIngles should start appearing under /dev/cu.usbserial*.

Try opening a terminal and doing:

ls /dev/cu.usbserial*

Those are your Bitforce Singles.  This is what I see when I do it:

leviathan:~ phraust$ ls /dev/cu.usbserial*
/dev/cu.usbserial-001013FD /dev/cu.usbserial-005013FD /dev/cu.usbserial-007613FD
/dev/cu.usbserial-002013FD /dev/cu.usbserial-006013FD /dev/cu.usbserial-007713FD
/dev/cu.usbserial-003013FD /dev/cu.usbserial-007113FD
/dev/cu.usbserial-004013FD /dev/cu.usbserial-007513FD

You can use that address in cgminer, eg -S /dev/cu.usbserial-001000FD, and now you have them as mountable USB devices in parallels as well.

ok what do i actually do with these drivers

not sure what they even used for.

Nevermind, got off my ass and fixed it.  running cgminer + 3BFLs native now.

Oh. Well then I don't think you will find any other ideas/help there lol

That was mine...  under FPGA rig photos:

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.886202

I saw a picture somewhere of a couple BFLs hooked up to a Mac Mini.  I think it was in the FPGA picture thread, but I can't find it right now.

I borked up something so I can't compile cgminer anymore.  mind sharing the binary?

I've been running it through an ubuntu vm (parallels) and passing the devices through.  it's been working pretty well, I've just been too lazy to debug anything.

Now that's just mean.

BitcoinBaltar, try starting cgminer with the following option added:   --disable-gpu

I think that because you need a computer in order to run a BFL, and after the emergency technology convention on October 5th, 2011, Macintosh coasters are no longer classified as computers.

I've had a hell of a time getting these things to work.

Granted, I don't know a whole lot to begin with, but after beating my head over installing the appropriate tools to try to compile cgminer(worked) and ufasoft(didn't work), and trying bitminter.com's java based client, i had just about given up.  OSX wasn't identifying them to a /dev/tty. position, even though they showed up in system reporter, so everything was failing.  I had also installed ubuntu in a vm (parallels), built cgminer and ufasoft, and still no dice.

I was about to try running windows in a vm, when I managed to stumble upon a link to a usb serial driver that matched what I seeing from the output (Future Technology Devices):

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

I used the x64 (2.2.17) drivers for 10.7 and holy shitballs, they got recognized.  Currently mining using bitminer.com with 3 bitforce singles.

I hope that someone can benefit from my four days of head scratching.