THIS IS THE SUPPORT THREAD: Keep this thread on topic! All other comments/general questions go to the anouncment thread:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/announcing-the-futurebit-apollo-btc-a-full-nodemining-platform-for-the-home-5314398__________________________________________________
Getting StartedThis post is for the Full Package/Node version, while it is geared for new users its still recommended you read the whole post as there is important information that pertains to how our system works.
If you are looking for software for your USB Standard Version to run on your own system see post below:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.57091051If you are looking for the Apollo BTC Image for your SD card (to re-flash to stock state etc) you can find that below:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.57091052Below are the quick getting started instructions that you should have also received inside your Apollo, with more details and an FAQ section at the end. This thread is a great resource for additional questions, and is always monitored so if you have additional questions that are not covered below please feel free to post.
- Carefully remove the Apollo BTC, Power Supply, and AC Power Cable from the box. Be sure not to touch any PCB components on the exposed bottom of the unit
- Turn the ASIC miner over so the blue micro-controller is exposed. Make sure the white Micro SD card, as well as the M.2 SSD are both firmly in their sockets and did not become loose during shipment
- Plug in your HDMI Monitor cable to the side HDMI port on your Apollo, and a USB Keyboard/Mouse to the USB ports in the back of the Apollo. If you are not using wifi, plug in your network ethernet cable to the ethernet port on the back of the unit (note you can setup your Apollo over ethernet without a monitor/keyboard/mouse if you wish, see instructions below).
- Plug the supplied AC power cable into the APU-200W Power supply, and the other end into your AC socket (please note the power cable is for NA markets, the power supply works in all markets (120 and 240v), but you will need an adapter or your own AC cable). Plug in the two 6 Pin PCIE output cables into both power ports of the Apollo. Make sure the 6 Pin connectors are firmly plugged into the Apollo, the cable will overheat if it does not have good contact.
WARNING: Always make sure both PCIE plugs are plugged into the Apollo, even if you are using your own PSU
NEVER Plug in two separate power supplies into the same Apollo THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD - If you ordered Standard Units, repeat the steps above, and plug in the supplied Micro USB cable to the back Micro USB Port of the Standard Apollo and the other end into the USB port of the Full Package Apollo (you can use any standard USB hub if you run out of USB ports).
- Switch on your power supply on all the Apollo units, and wait for the Full Package Apollo to boot. Please be patient on first Boot, the Apollo BTC will automatically set up your SSD, configure the Bitcoin Node, and a bunch more system level setup that can take several minutes to complete. Once it reaches the login screen, type in "futurebit123" as the password.
- Once logged in, you will automatically be directed to the web dashboard. First connect your Apollo to your wifi network if you are not using an ethernet cable (internet/wifi icon on upper right corner of screen), then follow the setup instructions on the dashboard to setup your pool and dashboard password
- Thats it! You should be presented with your Apollo’s dashboard and any connected standard Apollos should be automatically mining on your pool. You can also check out your node on the node dashboard on the right side panel. It should have already started syncing!
If you want to interact with your Apollo directly through its web dashboard without a monitor/keyboard/mouse setup you can do so, and it works similar to most web based miners
- Follow the steps above and make sure your Apollo BTC is connected to ethernet before powering it on
- Wait several minutes until the Apollo has fulled booted and started mining (slow front Red LED flashing)
- Connect your PC, tablet, or mobile phone to the same local network your Apollo is plugged into
- If your are on a Mac or iOS/Andriod device navigating to futurebit-btc.local might work
- If this does not work you need to locate the Apollo BTC's local IP address. Easiest way is to either log into your router app/settings and find it in the device list, or download an ip scanner tool that lists all the device IPs connected to your network/
- Once you find your Apollos IP address, copy and paste it into your web browser, and you will be directed to the Apollo's webdashboard/setup page
Choosing/Configuring a PoolPicking a Bitcoin pool to mine on with your Apollo BTC is a more important process today than it has been in the past (or if you have mined on other lower difficulty coins). This is because of two main reasons:
1) Due to the low relative hash-rate of the Apollo, and the high difficulty of Bitcoin it can take a very long time to receive a minimum payout on some pools, especially if you want to avoid paying a "payout fee." Do your research on each pool and what their minimum payout is and their fees. Once you commit to a pool you will be tied there for up to several months until you get your payout, its its extremely important your committed to that pool before you start mining. While some pools can pay out smaller amounts to their own side chains/internal wallets you have to DYOR on whether this is right for you
2) Bitcoin Pools are very centralized and a lot of hash power directed at these pools are from large mines/cooperations with a large portion in China. While the individual hash-rate of your Apollo might not seem like much, the collective hash power of all FutureBit Apollos could have a significant impact....you are voting on what kind of network you want Bitcoin to turn into when you point your hash power somewhere, and that usually boils down to what the particular pool supports. While we dont want to play sides on where our users choose to point their hash power, we think slush pool is a good first choice. They have a great user interface, relatively low hash-rate, are based in Europe (and outside of China which is important), and are developing Startum V2 protocol which we intend to support and further help decentralizing pooled mining.
Once you have chosen a pool, go to its help section (for example on slush pool its at
https://help.slushpool.com/). You need to figure out the mining URL and port for your region, your username if its an account based pool or a wallet address your mined bitcoin will be deposited to if its wallet based, and password (usually can be anything, but some pools use this for options).
You can enter this information the first time you visit the Apollo dashboard, or by selecting the pool settings on the left navigation menu.
- In the URL field you have to enter both the pool URL as well as the port (ie stratum.slushpool.com:3333). If you do not enter the port the dashboard will not let you save the pool information. You do not need to enter stratum+tcp:// before the pool URL.
- In the username field follow the instructions your pool gave you for your username (its usually the account or worker name you setup with the pool, or a BTC address). These are sometimes case sensitive, and the Apollo will not connect to the pool if it is not correct
- In the password field just enter any value if the pool does not require it, or whatever password you setup with the pool/worker (sometimes this is NOT the same as your account pool password). This field is also sometimes used for more advanced pool settings
3) For users wanting to play the lottery with their Apollo (ie solo mine), we are working on direct solo-mining support to your full node on the device itself. For the time being you can use a good solo pool like
https://solo.ckpool.orgMining Settings/TuningThe Apollo BTC comes pre-tuned with three main modes, and these modes should be more than enough for most users. The Apollo-Miner firmware already has built in per chip tuning so unless you are an expert user that really wants to push the hardware on the extreme efficiency or performance side you probably dont need to touch the custom settings.
Under the Settings side panel you will find the three different modes you can toggle. Your Apollo is shipped and starts mining in ECO mode
ECO: This is the most efficient, quiet, and low power mode. Your Apollo will mine at about 2TH/s in this mode and consume about 120 Watts. The fan should be barely audible in this mode.
BALANCED: This mode provides a good balance between power, efficiency and noise. Your Apollo will mine at about 2.5TH/s in this mode and consume about 160 Watts. The fan will be slightly louder in this mode, but should still be quiet in a normal setting.
TURBO: This mode provides the highest hash rate capable with the FutureBit APU-200 PSU. Your Apollo will mine at about 3TH/s in this mode and consume about 200 Watts. The fan will be loud in this mode.
Custom SettingsFull Node InfoThe Apollo Full Node runs the latest release binaries from bitcoincore.org, and is automatically configured and setup at the system level. It will start syncing a clean chain state from block 0 on your nvme SSD on first boot, and is capable of downloading a full unpruned node on its 500 GB drive with a 1-2 year buffer. This is the core that will enable us to release additional apps and services in the coming months and years (solo mining, block explorer, Lightning network all planned in the short term), and allow you the user to verify your own transactions and chain state without needing to trust anyone else.
These updates will be issues directly through the dashboard, and you will see a yellow "Update" button once we start releasing additional functionality.
Few things to keep in mind:
- While our SBC is extremely powerful for its size, the initial chain state download will stress all 6 of its cores to the max for several days while your node syncs. Its not recommend to run your hashboard past the ECO setting while the node syncs, as this can overheat the CPU and cause it to shutdown.
- Do NOT hard shutdown your system while the node is running (ie press the off button on your power supply). You should always shutdown your system via the shutdown menu in the Apollo Dashboard, or via the Desktop. This will ensure your node saves the chain state properly and does not corrupt the node, or your SD card
- The node should automatically configure your router to open port 8333 via UPnP, and you should see more than 8 connections in your dashboard. If it stays on 8, this means you need to manually open the port to your Apollos IP address in your router port forwarding rules. This will help count your node as a public node, help other nodes sync, and further decentralize the Bitcoin network.
- All blockchain data is stored on the NVME drive which is located at /media/nvme on the linux system. It is also accessible on the desktop via the file browser.
- If you want to download the Bitcoin Core wallet (which is not installed by default for obvious reasons) you need to first shutdown the node via the dashboard menu FIRST, then startup Bitcoin Core UI. The Bitcoin core wallet can not run/share the blockchain data at the same time as the node is running. If you are setting up the wallet for the first time, make sure you select /media/nvme/Bitcoin as the default folder otherwise it will start to download the blockchain on your SD card which will cause you lots of headaches (will fix this with symlinks in an update)
FUTUREBIT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOST WALLETS OR DATA/BITCOIN ON YOUR APOLLO - As always, its recommended to store your Bitcoin on a hardware wallet/seed capable wallet where you have your seed backed up. Since the Apollo is a essentially a full desktop computer you can download any third party wallet software you wish, and use almost all USB/Bluetooth hardware wallets
- Never store wallet data/sensitive information on the SD card your system resides on. Treat the NVME drive as your permanent storage solution (ie third party wallets/apps make sure your wallet info is store in the /media/nvme directory and NOT a default location in the system. If your SD card becomes corrupted/unsusable (which is very common with SD cards), you will need to reflash your SD card which means any information stored on it will be lost. The NVME drive on the other hand is a much more robust storage solution, and any information you have saved on it will be accessible even if you have to wipe your SD card
- Tell all your Bitcoin friends your miner runs a full node, and you now have a device that embodies one of the purest versions of satoshi's original vision.
(ie something that has not occurred since the original bitcoin core release when EVERYONE mined, ran a full node, and wallet on the same CPU!)
FutureBit OS/SystemThe FutureBit Apollo BTC with its modern 6 core ARM processor and 4 GB of RAM allows it to run a full desktop environment. It runs a flavor of the latest Ubuntu 20.04 operating system with 5.10 linux kernel. You can run almost any Linux based application and use it as a full desktop/web browser system.
- Most Monitors, Keyboards/Mouse, and bluetooth accessories will work with the system, but support is limited beyond the basics. Dont expect high resolution / odd sized monitors to work, or drivers for all USB devices to be available.
- We chose the Ubuntu Desktop environment since it is a familiar and easy to use desktop even if you have never used linux. All your wifi/settings/login/shutdown items are on the upper right hand corner, and all internal apps are available on the dock at the right (OS comes pre-installed with several useful applications
- It is beyond the scope of FutureBit to provide support for desktop/ OS level questions. The linux/ubunutu community is huge, so please direct questions to places dedicated for such support and keep this thread on topic for things to do with Bitcoin Apps, Mining support, and Full Node support
- Just like we outlined for Bitcoin wallets above, if you do install third party apps that store information or work on the system make sure you use the NVME SSD drive to do so. Anything you store on the SD card (which is where the OS, your Desktop, and Home folders reside) will be lost in the event the SD card becomes corrupted or you need to reflash it
LED Status LightsFront Red LED:
-Fast Blinking LED: System Boot/Hardware initialization
-Solid LED: Hardware passed all checks/inits, ready to start mining
-Slow Blinking LED: Miner successfully connected to hashboard/started mining
Hashboard Yellow LEDs
-On the bottom of the hashboard there are four status LEDs that are not directly visible due to the controller blocking them, but once they activate they are obvious and easy to see (lots of flashing). These indicate normal mining/share activity, and will only power on if you are successfully connected to your pool, and there are no issues with your hashboard (this is akin to the "red flashes" if you have an Apollo LTC)
If these LEDs dont come on it means
1) Your not properly connected to the internet
2) Your pool information is input incorrectly
3) There is a hardware fault on the hashboard (unlikely)
Green SBC LED:
-If you turn your Apollo over there is a green status LED that turns on when your board has successfully booted, and turns off when it has fully shutdown
-Do not unplug your Apollo's power cable, or shutoff the power supply until this LED has turned off after you have shutdown your system
If these posts do not cover your question, or you have additional questions that has not already been answered feel free to post and someone from the community for FutureBit will respond. You can also reach support directly at
www.futurebit.io.
