Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread - page 44.

jtregunna

newbie

Activity: 11

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Quote from: jstefanop on April 12, 2019, 02:55:03 PM

Quote from: jtregunna on April 11, 2019, 09:13:32 PM

I'm seeing something really weird with my second Apollo (one of the final ones in Batch 1)

In eco mode, the Apollo sees roughly 2.2% to 3.0% hardware errors; but in balanced mode, 0.8% to 1.1%. Is this likely just silicon lottery, meaning this particular apollo needs more voltage? If so, what are the settings for each of the pre-baked modes?

Yea ECO mode is slightly more aggressive with voltage than the other modes, stock ECO values are 600MHz and 750mV...you should be fine if you bump it up to 775.

Few hours it's been running in custom with eco settings +25mV (to 775) and hw errors have dropped to < 1%. Thanks!

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: whiteogre on April 12, 2019, 04:49:39 PM

Quote from: jstefanop on April 12, 2019, 02:55:03 PM

Quote from: jtregunna on April 11, 2019, 09:13:32 PM

I'm seeing something really weird with my second Apollo (one of the final ones in Batch 1)

In eco mode, the Apollo sees roughly 2.2% to 3.0% hardware errors; but in balanced mode, 0.8% to 1.1%. Is this likely just silicon lottery, meaning this particular apollo needs more voltage? If so, what are the settings for each of the pre-baked modes?

Yea ECO mode is slightly more aggressive with voltage than the other modes, stock ECO values are 600MHz and 750mV...you should be fine if you bump it up to 775.

Were the stock ECO values changed at some point?

Looking from the MCU side file /var/local/apollo/hwmon/reg_voltage with the current firmware (in ECO mode), I can see it output 28, which according to

Code:

const voltageStep = parseInt((settings.voltage - 644) / 4.15)

(from /opt/apolloapi/src/configurator.js) results in 760 mV.

Yes hwmon controls default values which were undervolted slightly more in the latest firmware (AFAIR without looking at the source i think the step voltage was 26 which translates to around 750mv).

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: jstefanop on April 12, 2019, 02:55:03 PM

Quote from: jtregunna on April 11, 2019, 09:13:32 PM

I'm seeing something really weird with my second Apollo (one of the final ones in Batch 1)

In eco mode, the Apollo sees roughly 2.2% to 3.0% hardware errors; but in balanced mode, 0.8% to 1.1%. Is this likely just silicon lottery, meaning this particular apollo needs more voltage? If so, what are the settings for each of the pre-baked modes?

Yea ECO mode is slightly more aggressive with voltage than the other modes, stock ECO values are 600MHz and 750mV...you should be fine if you bump it up to 775.

Were the stock ECO values changed at some point?

Looking from the MCU side file /var/local/apollo/hwmon/reg_voltage with the current firmware (in ECO mode), I can see it output 28, which according to

Code:

const voltageStep = parseInt((settings.voltage - 644) / 4.15)

(from /opt/apolloapi/src/configurator.js) results in 760 mV.

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: jtregunna on April 11, 2019, 09:13:32 PM

I'm seeing something really weird with my second Apollo (one of the final ones in Batch 1)

In eco mode, the Apollo sees roughly 2.2% to 3.0% hardware errors; but in balanced mode, 0.8% to 1.1%. Is this likely just silicon lottery, meaning this particular apollo needs more voltage? If so, what are the settings for each of the pre-baked modes?

Yea ECO mode is slightly more aggressive with voltage than the other modes, stock ECO values are 600MHz and 750mV...you should be fine if you bump it up to 775.

jtregunna

newbie

Activity: 11

Merit: 0

I'm seeing something really weird with my second Apollo (one of the final ones in Batch 1)

In eco mode, the Apollo sees roughly 2.2% to 3.0% hardware errors; but in balanced mode, 0.8% to 1.1%. Is this likely just silicon lottery, meaning this particular apollo needs more voltage? If so, what are the settings for each of the pre-baked modes?

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: r00tdude on April 10, 2019, 09:51:30 PM

Just gonna leave this here... Grin

No, they'll not pay for themselves for a year or two (though I suspect that during the bull run I feel in my bones, the coins they mined will be worth double what I paid for these gems), but it's always nice to see that they can catch blocks against the biggest mining farms anywhere.

Kudos to you jstef!

Nice...always good to see that the hardware CAN find real blocks haha Grin

Actually found a block as well with one of my prototypes...maybe the blockchain gods are giving underdog hardware like the Apollo some extra luck...if someone has found a a solo block that would be super cool definitely do share.

r00tdude

full member

Activity: 206

Merit: 100

Just gonna leave this here... Grin

No, they'll not pay for themselves for a year or two (though I suspect that during the bull run I feel in my bones, the coins they mined will be worth double what I paid for these gems), but it's always nice to see that they can catch blocks against the biggest mining farms anywhere.

Kudos to you jstef!

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: devincrypt on April 10, 2019, 04:21:44 PM

That's actually something that can already be done from the MCU command line if a fancy user interface for the feature isn't needed. The command line offers access to the bfgminer settings for frequency adjustment + voltage and fan control. Since it's a Linux distribution, cron can be used for scheduling events based on day or time preference.

How does one access the command line of an Apollo?

As you can probably guess from the lack of such details from the first page instruction posts, this isn't officially supported and falls to the category of "do only if you know what you are doing": ssh with username 'futurebit' to the Apollo IP, default port 22 using password 'futurebit'.

devincrypt

jr. member

Activity: 62

Merit: 1

That's actually something that can already be done from the MCU command line if a fancy user interface for the feature isn't needed. The command line offers access to the bfgminer settings for frequency adjustment + voltage and fan control. Since it's a Linux distribution, cron can be used for scheduling events based on day or time preference.

How does one access the command line of an Apollo?

Thanks in advance!

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: phpstrat on April 09, 2019, 09:14:38 PM

Silly question here, but is the firmware on page one of this thread the most current? If it is, can you add a feature to batch 2 for static IP configuration? I'd like to address my devices so that they don't get lost in the dhcp/routing tables with other non miner hosts.

Yes, the first post has the latest firmware linked. I'd also expect the same firmware to be compatible with both batch 1 and batch 2 units.

You can already configure a static IP for the unit using the MCU command line. However, a much better solution is to configure you dhcp server to provide a specific IP for the MAC address of the unit instead of a random one from the configured IP pool. That MAC address is unique for each unit and doesn't change even if the firmware is updated or the sd card content erased and rewritten.

whiteogre

jr. member

Activity: 61

Merit: 4

Quote from: VictorGT on April 09, 2019, 05:08:25 PM

Quote from: VictorGT on February 01, 2019, 02:16:00 PM

Quote from: drakedave on February 01, 2019, 04:46:29 AM

Great thank you so much jstefanop for all the work !
Here is a feature request for next update :

For example, I'd like to have the possibility to set the miner on balanced mode from 07:00PM to 07:00 AM and on another mode for another amount of time set in hours.

What do you think ?

This would be very nice... By night (cheaper electricity) FULL MODE, by day ECO mode... Please jstefanop, think about it...

People (like me) with high electricity prices need this. And this will be a new feature no other ASIC has (pro miners don't need this, but hobby/home miners need it). Sure you are trying to build a "different miner" Wink

.

That's actually something that can already be done from the MCU command line if a fancy user interface for the feature isn't needed. The command line offers access to the bfgminer settings for frequency adjustment + voltage and fan control. Since it's a Linux distribution, cron can be used for scheduling events based on day or time preference.

Quote from: VictorGT on April 09, 2019, 05:08:25 PM

Another small request for Apollo batch 2... What about a on/off switch, just like Baikal mini miner has?. Again, not needed for proffesionals, but I will like to have this option. Maybe not too expensive to add.

I suspect adding a on/off switch would require some changes to the PCB design as there aren't any unused areas already present for adding a switch to the 12V rail. Assuming there are still at least two unused i/o pins on the MCU then, if a PCB redesign is made, it would also be nice to get voltage + current sensing added. That would allow having power usage and efficiency visible directly from the UI.

sanangeloninja

newbie

Activity: 30

Merit: 0

Hey thank you for your fixing my Apollo for me FutureBit its running nice and smooth now with no issues at all Cheesy

cant wait to buy a 3rd one

phpstrat

newbie

Activity: 4

Merit: 2

Silly question here, but is the firmware on page one of this thread the most current? If it is, can you add a feature to batch 2 for static IP configuration? I'd like to address my devices so that they don't get lost in the dhcp/routing tables with other non miner hosts.

VictorGT

hero member

Activity: 748

Merit: 523

Quote from: VictorGT on February 01, 2019, 02:16:00 PM

Quote from: drakedave on February 01, 2019, 04:46:29 AM

Great thank you so much jstefanop for all the work !
Here is a feature request for next update :

For example, I'd like to have the possibility to set the miner on balanced mode from 07:00PM to 07:00 AM and on another mode for another amount of time set in hours.

What do you think ?

This would be very nice... By night (cheaper electricity) FULL MODE, by day ECO mode... Please jstefanop, think about it...

People (like me) with high electricity prices need this. And this will be a new feature no other ASIC has (pro miners don't need this, but hobby/home miners need it). Sure you are trying to build a "different miner" Wink

.

Another small request for Apollo batch 2... What about a on/off switch, just like Baikal mini miner has?. Again, not needed for proffesionals, but I will like to have this option. Maybe not too expensive to add.

I know your are too busy developing batch 2 and software updates, and my requests are not very important. Just to let you know Wink

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: WoodHawk on April 08, 2019, 01:17:03 PM

I've had my Apollo for about 3 months now and love it. I started with Eco mode, then moved to Balanced mode and finally to Turbo mode. Temps were all good in the three modes except in Turbo, the miner temp raises to over 70c. I was cautious when I first started with Turbo and watched temps closely. After I felt confident things were good, I've left it mining numerous sites using Turbo. I'm currently mining at ProHashing and noticed that my hash rate is considerably less than 140MH/s. In fact I was sometimes averaging 115MH's on Turbo over a 2 hour span. Yesterday I dropped back to Balanced mode. I've watched the hash rate on ProHashing and the hash rate is better than when I use Turbo. In fact, most of the time they calculate it between 130 and 135 MH/s with a few jumps up to 140MH. I'm not sure why Balanced works better than Turbo on that site but I'm happy with the results and I'm very happy with the Apollo.

Thanks jstefanop for your fine work in building the futurebit miners. I'm looking forward to the next batch of Apollos.

Do you have a high error rate under Turbo? You should be averaging around 135 on turbo and 125 on balanced. If your error% is really high you might need to turn up the voltage manually under turbo.

WoodHawk

newbie

Activity: 8

Merit: 1

I've had my Apollo for about 3 months now and love it. I started with Eco mode, then moved to Balanced mode and finally to Turbo mode. Temps were all good in the three modes except in Turbo, the miner temp raises to over 70c. I was cautious when I first started with Turbo and watched temps closely. After I felt confident things were good, I've left it mining numerous sites using Turbo. I'm currently mining at ProHashing and noticed that my hash rate is considerably less than 140MH/s. In fact I was sometimes averaging 115MH's on Turbo over a 2 hour span. Yesterday I dropped back to Balanced mode. I've watched the hash rate on ProHashing and the hash rate is better than when I use Turbo. In fact, most of the time they calculate it between 130 and 135 MH/s with a few jumps up to 140MH. I'm not sure why Balanced works better than Turbo on that site but I'm happy with the results and I'm very happy with the Apollo.

Thanks jstefanop for your fine work in building the futurebit miners. I'm looking forward to the next batch of Apollos.

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: NCarter84 on March 31, 2019, 04:13:49 PM

Quote from: jstefanop on March 31, 2019, 01:21:54 PM

Quote from: jtregunna on March 29, 2019, 01:13:07 PM

Quote from: sanangeloninja on March 28, 2019, 06:21:42 PM

So how many of Apollos are left to buy?

Pretty sure batch 1 is sold out now, which you can see confirmed on futurebit.io's shop's product list.

Yea it’s sold out, bitshopper.de in Europe might have a few units left.

I’ll be starting batch 2 next month.

Batch 2 will have those nice little power supplys with them? :-D

Yes, it will be an optional add-on.

jstefanop

legendary

Activity: 2174

Merit: 1401

Quote from: devincrypt on March 31, 2019, 03:49:11 PM

Perhaps a novice question, but in the past couple of weeks my Apollos haven't been producing the same 24 hours rewards at litecoinpool - it's dropped. Please tell me it's not because of anything with the Apollos. The only change I've noticed is the difficulty has gone up from 8,917,884 to 10,360,375. Am I right to conclude "difficulty" = more work required of the Apollos and therefore less payout in a given 24 hour period?

Hey - like I said, I'm a novice but confirmation would be nice.

Yes more miners have joined the network, therefore difficulty has gone up, and your rewards go down the same percentage if your hash-rate stays the same. Nothing wrong with your Apollos, this is how most block chains are designed to run.

sanangeloninja

newbie

Activity: 30

Merit: 0

Your still getting the same amount but due to the difficulty level going up and the PPS rate changes with the difficulty level but overall $ wise its the same.

jtregunna

newbie

Activity: 11

Merit: 0

Quote from: devincrypt on March 31, 2019, 03:49:11 PM

Perhaps a novice question, but in the past couple of weeks my Apollos haven't been producing the same 24 hours rewards at litecoinpool - it's dropped. Please tell me it's not because of anything with the Apollos. The only change I've noticed is the difficulty has gone up from 8,917,884 to 10,360,375. Am I right to conclude "difficulty" = more work required of the Apollos and therefore less payout in a given 24 hour period?

Hey - like I said, I'm a novice but confirmation would be nice.

Yeah difficulty has gone up, but check the litecoinpool account settings to ensure you're still getting shares, and the reward is still increasing; it should be shares * pps rate. It probably is going up slower, because the pps rate has changed, yet your hash rate is the same (or similar).

Topic: Official FutureBit Apollo LTC Image and Support thread - page 44. (Read 49878 times)