Topic: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread - page 48. (Read 47108 times)
October 07, 2022, 07:44:15 AM
Thank you for the replies. I’ll look into both pools. Happy mining!
October 07, 2022, 07:04:20 AM
~
Is it picked up by your PC or laptop? That would have been my first troubleshooting step. 
Figure out whether it's a problem with the hashboard / standard unit or the controller / full unit.
Hello, now that’s it’s getting cooler outside I’m going to turn the apollos (BTC and LTC) back on. This time I’m thinking of solo mining. Is direct solo mining still planned for BTC? Anyone doing it - is CK pool the best?
Thank you!
I would recommend the https://kano.is/ solo pool by kano. Not sure where solo mining sits on jstefanop's roadmap!Thank you!
October 07, 2022, 06:23:02 AM
Hello, now that’s it’s getting cooler outside I’m going to turn the apollos (BTC and LTC) back on. This time I’m thinking of solo mining. Is direct solo mining still planned for BTC? Anyone doing it - is CK pool the best?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Kano Pool is where I would recommend for Solo or PPLNS, https://kano.is
very low fees, and fantastic mining info and help from Kano and the miners on the pool.
Make sure to join the Discord channel and get all the help and info.
Good Luck with the mining.
October 07, 2022, 01:31:31 AM
Yep CK is the pool I use too
October 06, 2022, 07:22:01 PM
Hello, now that’s it’s getting cooler outside I’m going to turn the apollos (BTC and LTC) back on. This time I’m thinking of solo mining. Is direct solo mining still planned for BTC? Anyone doing it - is CK pool the best?
Thank you!
Thank you!
Yes, CKpool still the best.
No major features in sight for Apollo software, so you can settle with ck for the winter. That's where I am mining to as well.
October 06, 2022, 04:54:27 PM
~
Is it picked up by your PC or laptop? That would have been my first troubleshooting step. Figure out whether it's a problem with the hashboard / standard unit or the controller / full unit.
Hello, now that’s it’s getting cooler outside I’m going to turn the apollos (BTC and LTC) back on. This time I’m thinking of solo mining. Is direct solo mining still planned for BTC? Anyone doing it - is CK pool the best?
Thank you!
I would recommend the https://kano.is/ solo pool by kano. Not sure where solo mining sits on jstefanop's roadmap! Thank you!
October 06, 2022, 01:47:50 PM
Hello, now that’s it’s getting cooler outside I’m going to turn the apollos (BTC and LTC) back on. This time I’m thinking of solo mining. Is direct solo mining still planned for BTC? Anyone doing it - is CK pool the best?
Thank you!
Thank you!
October 04, 2022, 02:34:04 AM
I have a brand new batch 1 standard unit that isn't picked up by my full package unit at all. The red front led is blinking and turning solid red after a short while. The standard unit hash board isn't visible in the UI
What I tried already past weekend:
The output of armbianmonitor -u for my full package unit can be found at http://ix.io/4cfd
What else can I do to troubleshoot the function of the device on the hardware / software side?
What I tried already past weekend:
- Flashed a new OS image to a new SD card
- tested the sdcard with https://fight-flash-fraud.readthedocs.io/en/latest/usage.html
- Swap USB cables and ports multiple times
- Restart full unit and standard unit in different orders with wait times from minutes to hours in between
- Swap & replace power supply. I tried both devices on one (750W) power supply and both on a separate, dedicated power supply
The output of armbianmonitor -u for my full package unit can be found at http://ix.io/4cfd
What else can I do to troubleshoot the function of the device on the hardware / software side?
October 02, 2022, 06:48:25 PM
Installing electrum and lightning on a different machine is as good as running all on the same? I realize its a little redundant but i have a couple mac minis with dual core processors that should be able to run this instead of taxing the full node.
I wouldn't put Electrum / Lightning on a different machine than the machine holding the Bitcoin Core install with the blockchain. The second machine's uptime would otherwise always depend on the primary machine (with Bitcoin Core) being online. Separating 'Mining' and 'Full Node' may make sense, though.I guess what im asking is does more ram+processor help bitcoind, lightning or electrum more?
The Apollo SBC has enough power for everything, but if you have extra hardware lying around, putting the whole 'full node' stuff on there, may allow you to have slightly better uptime / reliability in terms of always having access to it, while the miner may have a downtime. By nature, an ASIC can have problems with power supply or cooling (e.g. in summer) from time to time.I have considered just throwing away the sbc part of the full node i just came seem to find a reason for needing it that is obvious to me. it has opened a lot of doors for me tinkering with gpio and pci-e a lot more than i have in the past simply because i never had a reason to do so prior.
Well, without the SBC, the Apollo won't mine on its own. You will always need to keep another computer running to feed the ASIC hashboard inside the Apollo the blocks to mine. If you already got the full unit, why would you want to do this?If you enjoy tinkering with GPIO (for other projects), maybe get a Raspberry Pi Zero or such; cheaper and better documented than the Orange Pi 4.
October 02, 2022, 12:53:35 PM
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the skills to understand and follow these instructions (linux, electrum, et al). My only concern is specific to the Apollo. When I got it I immediately updated it to the latest OS patch level - which of course bricked it and I had to re-image and start again. Any chance of issues like that cropping up while using these instructions? Re-imaging and starting from scratch is tedious! 
Nope, this only happens if you update the Linux operating system itself to a newer major revision. The instructions I provided only update and install packages; not touching the system.Installing electrum and lightning on a different machine is as good as running all on the same? I realize its a little redundant but i have a couple mac minis with dual core processors that should be able to run this instead of taxing the full node.
I guess what im asking is does more ram+processor help bitcoind, lightning or electrum more? I have considered just throwing away the sbc part of the full node i just came seem to find a reason for needing it that is obvious to me. it has opened a lot of doors for me tinkering with gpio and pci-e a lot more than i have in the past simply because i never had a reason to do so prior.
I think the futurebit product is def something many many non technical people can utilize especially if its secure i do not have any background beyond common sense on security of linux and networking so that was one reason i ordered it. sorry jstefanop its not you its really me im dumb your product is great more so the software i think as i cant unlock all the secrets if there is any of the board itself.
standing on the shoulders of giants is great but becoming a mini giant is also rewarding at this point id settle for micro giant. of all the time and money i spent on trying to educate myself in this bitcoin world i think overall its worth it but the frustration really sucks.
October 02, 2022, 10:37:22 AM
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the skills to understand and follow these instructions (linux, electrum, et al). My only concern is specific to the Apollo. When I got it I immediately updated it to the latest OS patch level - which of course bricked it and I had to re-image and start again. Any chance of issues like that cropping up while using these instructions? Re-imaging and starting from scratch is tedious!
Nope, this only happens if you update the Linux operating system itself to a newer major revision. The instructions I provided only update and install packages; not touching the system. October 01, 2022, 06:52:57 PM
Hello. I'm interested in using my full node Apollo as the back end for my Trezor Suite instead of using their servers. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Are there any guides available? Thanks!
Trezor Suite allows you to choose a custom Electrum server.[...]
You can install such an Electrum server on the Futurebit Apollo BTC, no problem.
Here are my instructions. They are for a full custom Linux install, but work on stock Futurebit OS, as well. Just follow the electrs instructions.
[...]
Thanks for the detailed reply. I have the skills to understand and follow these instructions (linux, electrum, et al). My only concern is specific to the Apollo. When I got it I immediately updated it to the latest OS patch level - which of course bricked it and I had to re-image and start again. Any chance of issues like that cropping up while using these instructions? Re-imaging and starting from scratch is tedious!
September 30, 2022, 12:10:22 PM
Hello. I'm interested in using my full node Apollo as the back end for my Trezor Suite instead of using their servers. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Are there any guides available? Thanks!
Trezor Suite allows you to choose a custom Electrum server.electrs
Since one of the main benefits of running a full node is privacy during transaction & address lookup, an Electrum server is needed. Otherwise you'd have to query using Bitcoin Core all the time and can't just use your mobile and desktop applications for that.
Since one of the main benefits of running a full node is privacy during transaction & address lookup, an Electrum server is needed. Otherwise you'd have to query using Bitcoin Core all the time and can't just use your mobile and desktop applications for that.
[1] Install dependencies; make sure you're logged into admin and not bitcoin.
Code:
sudo apt install clang cargo rustc tor
September 30, 2022, 07:12:22 AM
Hello. I'm interested in using my full node Apollo as the back end for my Trezor Suite instead of using their servers. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Are there any guides available? Thanks!
I've seen one for Ledger but not for Trezor. I'd also be keen on this. I know Trezor Suite is adding in Bitcoin Core support for nodes some day but you can't just do it out the box for now with the Apollo as far as I know
September 30, 2022, 06:35:43 AM
Hello. I'm interested in using my full node Apollo as the back end for my Trezor Suite instead of using their servers. Does anyone have any experience doing this? Are there any guides available? Thanks!
September 30, 2022, 06:12:54 AM
Node has stopped running. Appears to be due to storage filling up since it's only a 500gb drive. If I'm not mistaken, the solution is to simply obtain a larger capacity sd card and insert into the bottom of the node unit, yes?
Simplest solution is to enable bitcoind pruning (which is limiting number of blocks to certain value, basically discarding old blocks, so hard drive don't overspill). But Futurebit has not got around to support their users properly - this is nowhere to be found in the settings. They knew the day is coming but did nothing, now all early batch users with 512GB drives running with crashed bitcoin nodes, not providing any benefit to Bitcoin blockchain p2p network, which was heavily advertised during sales.
You are left out, you either have to configure pruning yourself in bitcoind config files inside Apollo, or purchase 1TB NVMe drive, brand new for around 70 USD (in the UK where I live) last time I checked.
So I:
1. Swap the internal drive, which is more annoyance than I'd prefer to deal with..
2. Attempt to modify the software, which is more annoyance than I'd prefer to deal with..
or
3. Ignore the situation and lose out on the money and purpose for buying a node unit to begin with?
Yes, exactly, that's all options you have. As Sledge0001 mentioned, buying new 1TB NVMe drive may be easiest option, but it costs money. Second great alternative option would be Futurebit adding pruning, so you can lose out 20GB of old blocks and still serve 490GB of newer blocks. This interferes with planned in the future Lightning Node support, but LN support is nowhere at the moment.
But unfortunately, because Futurebit did nothing to prevent this, we now arrived at option no. 3, where ALL nodes from 512GB users just crashed and no one is serving any blocks to Bitcoin network, and no one (apart from few here in this thread) even knows why, because there was no announcement or warning to users, no newsletter, mailing, nothing. Every node just dead.
Edit: Before someone mentions this issue, to my knowledge pruned node are seeding blocks, and they are considered as "full nodes": https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/72617/how-can-a-pruned-node-be-classed-a-full-node-without-the-full-blockchain says:
Quote
Since, they don't keep older block data, only thing that they can't do is to return older block data to other nodes. They still keep latest block data for reogranization, which they can share with other nodes
Amused. Just got an email from FutureBit perfectly explaining how to upgrade the drive.
At your own cost, of course. No pruning in sight.
And I received no e-mail whatsoever, so I assume it was you who contacted them, and another thousand of users get nothing.
Everyone that ordered a Batch 1 or 2 should have received the email. I will not advocate or push an update for pruned nodes, a pruned node is the same as a dead node in my eyes.
As has been discussed extensively since the beginning, we purposely chose a 500GB drive knowing people would have to swap the drive out in 1-2 years because we knew prices would be a fraction of what we would have had to charge for Batch 1-2 devices with a 1TB drive and that was the right choice then and is the right choice now. We would have had to charge an extra 150 at the time for the 1TB drive, 1TB drives are now 75 and will end up costing you less than 50 if you sell your 500GB drive. I think this is the better decision all around, and swapping out the drive and setting it up takes 5 minutes.
You made the right choice. I appreciated the cost saving for less than an hour of my time buying then swapping the drive and setting it up again
September 29, 2022, 08:41:53 PM
You would be shocked how often a bad cable is the culprit - but even the most sophisticated technical people overlook this basic obvious tech 101 - here is an edit from someone with a problem just a few days ago "***2nd EDIT: I decided to employ a VERY hi-tech solution (read: sarcasm)...I just plugged another USB cable in [...] Grin Cheesy Guess what? Worked" ... yet people self-admit sarcasm when they do it after wasting countless hours of their own time and other people's time - simply because they didn't troubleshoot the basics first ...
So what is troubleshooting tip #1? Check your cables - even if you think they are ok, swap them out with a cable you know is good ... if you are getting a "solid red light" - guess what, we expect you to do the basics and when you ask a question - provide useful information ... or most of us will be too polite to tell you that your question lacked any useful information and was "NO HELP AT ALL" ... so who was no help at all?
What is troubleshooting tip #2? Provide detail about what you have tried, done, are observing at each step - someone else will catch the "been there done that" captain obvious thing that is usually occurring - but you will have asked a useful question with useful information rather than being the "no help at all" person ending up in the wrong forum ... and when you provide useful information, there are a lot of people who enjoy helping troubleshoot - and you will get useful helpful replies - rather than offers to purchase you rig ...
So what is troubleshooting tip #1? Check your cables - even if you think they are ok, swap them out with a cable you know is good ... if you are getting a "solid red light" - guess what, we expect you to do the basics and when you ask a question - provide useful information ... or most of us will be too polite to tell you that your question lacked any useful information and was "NO HELP AT ALL" ... so who was no help at all?
What is troubleshooting tip #2? Provide detail about what you have tried, done, are observing at each step - someone else will catch the "been there done that" captain obvious thing that is usually occurring - but you will have asked a useful question with useful information rather than being the "no help at all" person ending up in the wrong forum ... and when you provide useful information, there are a lot of people who enjoy helping troubleshoot - and you will get useful helpful replies - rather than offers to purchase you rig ...
That was definitely me
, palm to face for not using my continuity tester first thing -- tunnel vision is real, though, when one suspects it being a software issue. Miners (2x Standard and 1x Full) mining away solidly on Turbo Mode for over 36 straight hours now, no more faults after I fixed the wiring harness with its 1 faulty wire.Ave power draw: 599w on Turbo
Ave w per Th/s: 66
15min hashrate: 9.05 Th/s
I've done worse - new work supplied super-thin laptop (with a sketchy IT dept) - I think I spent 2-4 hours (off/on) troubleshooting webcam drivers only to find there was a little manual switch closing a plastic cover over the webcam lens .... so we have all been there ... more often it is simply a cable not plugged in snugly that has pulled loose or picked up a piece of static-styrofoam-ball blocking a connection - or a crimped cable that may not even be visibly bad ...
But the sad reality is - I can't tell you how many times I have walked across campus, waited outside someone's office for half-an-hour, only to unplug a cable and securely plug it back in ... or swap out a cable from my bag and poof everything works ... that and software troubleshooting tip #1 asking someone to try a different web browser (works almost everytime) ...
Woo Hoo - I think I saw Batch 4 Apollo BTC shipping from inventory ...
DrG
September 29, 2022, 11:36:59 AM
Node has stopped running. Appears to be due to storage filling up since it's only a 500gb drive. If I'm not mistaken, the solution is to simply obtain a larger capacity sd card and insert into the bottom of the node unit, yes?
Simplest solution is to enable bitcoind pruning (which is limiting number of blocks to certain value, basically discarding old blocks, so hard drive don't overspill). But Futurebit has not got around to support their users properly - this is nowhere to be found in the settings. They knew the day is coming but did nothing, now all early batch users with 512GB drives running with crashed bitcoin nodes, not providing any benefit to Bitcoin blockchain p2p network, which was heavily advertised during sales.
You are left out, you either have to configure pruning yourself in bitcoind config files inside Apollo, or purchase 1TB NVMe drive, brand new for around 70 USD (in the UK where I live) last time I checked.
So I:
1. Swap the internal drive, which is more annoyance than I'd prefer to deal with..
2. Attempt to modify the software, which is more annoyance than I'd prefer to deal with..
or
3. Ignore the situation and lose out on the money and purpose for buying a node unit to begin with?
Yes, exactly, that's all options you have. As Sledge0001 mentioned, buying new 1TB NVMe drive may be easiest option, but it costs money. Second great alternative option would be Futurebit adding pruning, so you can lose out 20GB of old blocks and still serve 490GB of newer blocks. This interferes with planned in the future Lightning Node support, but LN support is nowhere at the moment.
But unfortunately, because Futurebit did nothing to prevent this, we now arrived at option no. 3, where ALL nodes from 512GB users just crashed and no one is serving any blocks to Bitcoin network, and no one (apart from few here in this thread) even knows why, because there was no announcement or warning to users, no newsletter, mailing, nothing. Every node just dead.
Edit: Before someone mentions this issue, to my knowledge pruned node are seeding blocks, and they are considered as "full nodes": https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/72617/how-can-a-pruned-node-be-classed-a-full-node-without-the-full-blockchain says:
Quote
Since, they don't keep older block data, only thing that they can't do is to return older block data to other nodes. They still keep latest block data for reogranization, which they can share with other nodes
Amused. Just got an email from FutureBit perfectly explaining how to upgrade the drive.
At your own cost, of course. No pruning in sight.
And I received no e-mail whatsoever, so I assume it was you who contacted them, and another thousand of users get nothing.
Everyone that ordered a Batch 1 or 2 should have received the email. I will not advocate or push an update for pruned nodes, a pruned node is the same as a dead node in my eyes.
As has been discussed extensively since the beginning, we purposely chose a 500GB drive knowing people would have to swap the drive out in 1-2 years because we knew prices would be a fraction of what we would have had to charge for Batch 1-2 devices with a 1TB drive and that was the right choice then and is the right choice now. We would have had to charge an extra 150 at the time for the 1TB drive, 1TB drives are now 75 and will end up costing you less than 50 if you sell your 500GB drive. I think this is the better decision all around, and swapping out the drive and setting it up takes 5 minutes.
September 29, 2022, 08:38:44 AM
I was in batch #1 and #2, received nothing as of yet. But anyway, in my humble opinion, emergency update which enable pruning should have been done months ago. Now, only several people are aware from e-mails that SSD must be upgraded, and with time I hope more users will do the upgrade at their own expense.
Not ideal scenario, but better than nothing.
Not ideal scenario, but better than nothing.
September 29, 2022, 07:12:33 AM
I also got the same email. I've already upgraded the SSD, it's not hard at all and relatively inexpensive provided you watch for some good deals that pop up from time to time
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