Pages:
Author

Topic: New GekkoScience product, the Compac A1 (Read 1206 times)

newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 25, 2024, 01:29:50 PM
#46
Hello - Does anyone know where I can get the onboard plugin fans for the A1?

thanks!
member
Activity: 249
Merit: 83
So many numbers and so little time
October 17, 2024, 04:36:37 PM
#45

The only limitation is one of cost; the cost of adding a USB-C PD power supply to the design.

With standard USB, the power supply is pretty simple the host just provides 5V at up to 900mA(USB3.0 Type-A spec. Hubs tend to provide more power up to 2.5A) into a DC-DC converter to derive the core power supply for the ASIC.

However USB-C PD requires a more complex controller additional board space and the associated costs with it and a more expensive DC-DC converter solution that can operate at the higher input voltages from USB-C.

Data is on a separate set of wires, so you dont even need to draw power from the bus in self-powered devices and it is always available.

Otherwise I cant see anything that would prevent you from doing it.

When you are talking about the cost of stick miners like this in general, is all the additional cost of the parts going to matter?
I can see the added labor time of the design and testing but could it really be more then a few dollars more in parts?

Could be wrong, but when Canaan can get an Avalon Nano 3 out the door for under $100 then I can't see it driving up the price of a stick miner that much.

Just a thought.

-Dave

You're right, but you're viewing the product development from the perspective of a user.

If you look at it from the perspecive of a small manufacturer, $5 on the BOM cost is many thousands of $ off your ROI if you're targeting a fixed MSRP and limited market size.





legendary
Activity: 3500
Merit: 6320
Crypto Swap Exchange
October 17, 2024, 03:41:32 PM
#44

The only limitation is one of cost; the cost of adding a USB-C PD power supply to the design.

With standard USB, the power supply is pretty simple the host just provides 5V at up to 900mA(USB3.0 Type-A spec. Hubs tend to provide more power up to 2.5A) into a DC-DC converter to derive the core power supply for the ASIC.

However USB-C PD requires a more complex controller additional board space and the associated costs with it and a more expensive DC-DC converter solution that can operate at the higher input voltages from USB-C.

Data is on a separate set of wires, so you dont even need to draw power from the bus in self-powered devices and it is always available.

Otherwise I cant see anything that would prevent you from doing it.

When you are talking about the cost of stick miners like this in general, is all the additional cost of the parts going to matter?
I can see the added labor time of the design and testing but could it really be more then a few dollars more in parts?

Could be wrong, but when Canaan can get an Avalon Nano 3 out the door for under $100 then I can't see it driving up the price of a stick miner that much.

Just a thought.

-Dave
member
Activity: 249
Merit: 83
So many numbers and so little time
October 17, 2024, 12:02:55 PM
#43
USB-C by itself defaults to 5v 2a (10w). Any higher requires USB-C PD which is now at v3.1 and will output higher voltages (up to 48v) and current (5A) for up to 240w when attached to the appropriate devices with the correct cables.

Which is kind of my point. You can get enough power out of the ports to do this. Are there any limitations as to why it can't be done?
According to the 1st post "260GH from under 8 watts" Even allowing for 20% overhead that's only 9.6 watts. Bumping to the 10W max but still under.

PD can go even more, just don't know if you can move data or do other things at the same time.

Probably not the most useful thing, but any reason it can't be done?

-Dave

The only limitation is one of cost; the cost of adding a USB-C PD power supply to the design.

With standard USB, the power supply is pretty simple the host just provides 5V at up to 900mA(USB3.0 Type-A spec. Hubs tend to provide more power up to 2.5A) into a DC-DC converter to derive the core power supply for the ASIC.

However USB-C PD requires a more complex controller additional board space and the associated costs with it and a more expensive DC-DC converter solution that can operate at the higher input voltages from USB-C.

Data is on a separate set of wires, so you dont even need to draw power from the bus in self-powered devices and it is always available.

Otherwise I cant see anything that would prevent you from doing it.
legendary
Activity: 3500
Merit: 6320
Crypto Swap Exchange
October 17, 2024, 11:29:47 AM
#42
USB-C by itself defaults to 5v 2a (10w). Any higher requires USB-C PD which is now at v3.1 and will output higher voltages (up to 48v) and current (5A) for up to 240w when attached to the appropriate devices with the correct cables.

Which is kind of my point. You can get enough power out of the ports to do this. Are there any limitations as to why it can't be done?
According to the 1st post "260GH from under 8 watts" Even allowing for 20% overhead that's only 9.6 watts. Bumping to the 10W max but still under.

PD can go even more, just don't know if you can move data or do other things at the same time.

Probably not the most useful thing, but any reason it can't be done?

-Dave
legendary
Activity: 3752
Merit: 2667
Evil beware: We have waffles!
October 16, 2024, 07:07:33 PM
#41
USB-C by itself defaults to 5v 2a (10w). Any higher requires USB-C PD which is now at v3.1 and will output higher voltages (up to 48v) and current (5A) for up to 240w when attached to the appropriate devices with the correct cables.
legendary
Activity: 3500
Merit: 6320
Crypto Swap Exchange
October 16, 2024, 02:51:23 PM
#40
So I was thinking (always dangerous) could something like this be powered with USB C
I know my PC puts out enough power to charge my laptop, is there a reason it would not be able to run a stick at decent speeds?

-Dave
jr. member
Activity: 35
Merit: 17
October 16, 2024, 01:43:29 PM
#39
Hello - Anyone know how to get this stick to work on the GekkoScience Hub??


Thanks!

hey, have you sorted this?
newbie
Activity: 28
Merit: 0
October 08, 2024, 10:57:33 AM
#38
Hello - Anyone know how to get this stick to work on the GekkoScience Hub??


Thanks!
legendary
Activity: 3374
Merit: 1859
Curmudgeonly hardware guy
August 28, 2024, 12:56:44 PM
#37
Should be possible but the speed's gonna suck, likely under 100GH.
legendary
Activity: 3752
Merit: 2667
Evil beware: We have waffles!
August 26, 2024, 05:49:25 PM
#36
Running w/o a hub I doubt. A PC USB port will not be able to deliver enough current, most have a limit or 1A or less.
jr. member
Activity: 107
Merit: 7
August 26, 2024, 04:41:42 PM
#35
Possible to under clock enough to run without a usb hub or fan?
newbie
Activity: 9
Merit: 5
Quick question, currently running the older version of kano's cgminer, launching with a batch file with these settings --gekko-compacf-freq 575 --gekko-mine2 --gekko-start-freq 300 --gekko-tune-up 60 --suggest-diff 442 --gekko-compacf-detect  --


I'm running the Compaq F's right now, just curious if I pick up some of these new A1's and run the new cgminer, can I just add to this same batch file any necessary settings? If so, what would be the mandatory settings?
member
Activity: 249
Merit: 83
So many numbers and so little time
-SNIP-

Ubuntu runs on the RPi5, RPi4, RPi3, RPi2zeroW etc
Latest version works fine for RPi5, with a more recent GCC than the buggy old RPi OS by the Raspberry people

As I've said already it is the Raspberry OS GCC that is broken, it says (TMPBUFSIZ/2)-1 is greater than TMPBUFSIZ (8192)
you can't fix that - obviously, you need to fix that GCC, which Raspberry will probably never bother to do, so don't use it, use a more recent Ubuntu


Thanks Kano,

With PI i've always used the stock images from Raspberry, I think its bullseye that I'm running on most of my boards, for the most part it just works.

Though with one of my set-ups I've seen some weird issues with USB and LIBUSB dissappears up its own behind. I think it might just be that one PI board though, all the rest run fine.

Its only on the PI5 there's ever been an issue with building CGMiner, for exactly the reasons you mention.

I worked around that by copying the binary from a build off an earlier PI, that works fine on the PI5. I've had that running one of my rigs for about 2 months now.

I've not tried running Ubuntu on PI. Now you've mentioned it I'll give it a go at some point.

Cheers

G.
legendary
Activity: 4592
Merit: 1851
Linux since 1997 RedHat 4

Fair enough, was told to run umbrel - but have concerns around security and research done on net. Cittadel is another example, as not many people have done this, was up for a challange, if cannot be done then i mine to a pool, not a issue.

CGMiner has been the core of bitcoin mining used by thousands of people, these other mining software solutions you mention dont even come up on my radar to be honest and as you say are likely to be full of security issues.

CGMiner from Kano is tried and tested, apart from which it is the only current release source that has driver the for the CompacA1

As for your other comment on Raspberry PI5, CGMiner can be run on a PI5, I've done it myself, but you have to compile the software on an earlier model PI board as the current core software release for PI5 GCC is buggy so won't compile CGMiner correctly.

There's a thread on that issue from Kano here: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.63287718


If you have a PI3B or PI4, follow the instructions on Kano's github for building under Linux https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer/

Once compiled, then you're free to copy the compiled cgminer binary onto your PI5 and it should run fine.
Ubuntu runs on the RPi5, RPi4, RPi3, RPi2zeroW etc
Latest version works fine for RPi5, with a more recent GCC than the buggy old RPi OS by the Raspberry people

As I've said already it is the Raspberry OS GCC that is broken, it says (TMPBUFSIZ/2)-1 is greater than TMPBUFSIZ (8192)
you can't fix that - obviously, you need to fix that GCC, which Raspberry will probably never bother to do, so don't use it, use a more recent Ubuntu
member
Activity: 82
Merit: 52
Hi all,

Im new to this miner, I was wondering if @sidehack you can help me understand about it,
There really is not proper guides on the net.

My plan is to plug this into a Rasberry 5, running a bitcoin node such as Start9orCitadel.

This way it be my own solo miner.

But Im not sure the software is compatible, if not running on node then maybe just run it of Rasberry Pi 5,

Hope this makes sense?

look into public pool if you'd like to mine to your own node/pool. pretty sure you can compile that locally if you have access to the terminal.

https://github.com/benjamin-wilson/public-pool

as for running the usb stick miner on the raspberry pi 5, while i don't have a Pi 5, i have mynode running on a pi 4/compac F. if you install tmux, you should be able to run the miner "in a separate window" that runs in the background.

The plan is to install Start9 - when the new version comes out, install the pool you mentioned, but not heard of tmux, do you have a guide?
Its a POC I'm doing, a previous poster mentioned the miner software will not work on pi5 is this something @kano you can get to work?

yep, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFEIp4E2f1M
newbie
Activity: 143
Merit: 0
Generally guys I have a BitAxe and was curious to by the new Supra version of the Compac A1 which go for about the same price.
Only reason I wanted to check out the A1 as thought it maybe something intresting and not so hyped like the Bitaxe versions to come.
To me it seems more complex :-(
newbie
Activity: 143
Merit: 0
Hi all,

Im new to this miner, I was wondering if @sidehack you can help me understand about it,
There really is not proper guides on the net.

My plan is to plug this into a Rasberry 5, running a bitcoin node such as Start9orCitadel.

This way it be my own solo miner.

But Im not sure the software is compatible, if not running on node then maybe just run it of Rasberry Pi 5,

Hope this makes sense?

look into public pool if you'd like to mine to your own node/pool. pretty sure you can compile that locally if you have access to the terminal.

https://github.com/benjamin-wilson/public-pool

as for running the usb stick miner on the raspberry pi 5, while i don't have a Pi 5, i have mynode running on a pi 4/compac F. if you install tmux, you should be able to run the miner "in a separate window" that runs in the background.

The plan is to install Start9 - when the new version comes out, install the pool you mentioned, but not heard of tmux, do you have a guide?
Its a POC I'm doing, a previous poster mentioned the miner software will not work on pi5 is this something @kano you can get to work?
jr. member
Activity: 107
Merit: 7
Ran zadig 2.9 and successfully installed winusb on asic bus the only new device listed. Now cgminer doesn’t recognize a1 only f

TEL bus added winusb and I got the a1 mining
member
Activity: 82
Merit: 52
Hi all,

Im new to this miner, I was wondering if @sidehack you can help me understand about it,
There really is not proper guides on the net.

My plan is to plug this into a Rasberry 5, running a bitcoin node such as Start9orCitadel.

This way it be my own solo miner.

But Im not sure the software is compatible, if not running on node then maybe just run it of Rasberry Pi 5,

Hope this makes sense?

look into public pool if you'd like to mine to your own node/pool. pretty sure you can compile that locally if you have access to the terminal.

https://github.com/benjamin-wilson/public-pool

as for running the usb stick miner on the raspberry pi 5, while i don't have a Pi 5, i have mynode running on a pi 4/compac F. if you install tmux, you should be able to run the miner "in a separate window" that runs in the background.
Pages:
Jump to: