Bitcoin ASIC Erupter Cgminer

[RaTTuS]

I know there are other threads about BITcoin and Asic Erupter's but here's mine...

you will need a powered USB hub an Erupter [or several] a good power supply for the USB hub a raspberry pi and a network lead, raspbian works fine

1) make sure your RPi boots an you are happy with it
2) update everything
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade -y
install some build utilities
sudo apt-get install build-essential libusb-1.0-0-dev libusb-1.0-0 libcurl4-openssl-dev libncurses5-dev libudev-dev

get the latest cgminer [3.3.4 as of now] and build it

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wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/3.3/cgminer-3.3.4.tar.bz2
tar xvf cgminer-3.3.4.tar.bz2
cd cgminer-3.3.4/
./configure --enable-icarus
make
sudo make install

choose your mining pool, I'll not recommend any but one of the larger ones
plug the miner in
run cgminer with your pool info i.e.
sudo cgminer -o pool:3333 -u name -p pass
wait a small bit while it sorts itself out then
[o]ptions
[w]rite config
just choose the default file [//.cgminer/cgminer.conf]
[q]uit
check that the conf file looks ok
run it again to test
sudo cgminer
[q]uit


edit /etc/inittab
find the getty's and change one of them eg 6 or add another [but not 7]
e.g. for 3 find
3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
and change that to be
3:23:respawn:/usr/local/bin/cgminer

this means when you reboot it will start mining on alt-f3 terminal

you can test this by
sudo kill -HUP 1
to restart init
alt-f3
login file you have a prompt then logout and the miner will start

the next thing you should probably do is add a watchdog to see if the system hangs or network goes away and restart the RPI - but that is another task.

job done.

[RaTTuS]

OK a slight update on this
to enable better usb support and to use more than 1 Erupter

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wget http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/3.3/cgminer-3.3.4.tar.bz2
tar xvf cgminer-3.3.4.tar.bz2
cd cgminer-3.3.4/
mkdir libusb
cd libusb
wget http://sourceforge.net/projects/libusb/files/libusb-1.0/libusb-1.0.16-rc10/libusb-1.0.16-rc10.tar.bz2
tar -xf libusb-1.0.16-rc10.tar.bz2
cd libusb-1.0.16-rc10
./configure
make
cd ../..

LIBUSB_CFLAGS="-I./libusb/libusb-1.0.16-rc10/libusb" LIBUSB_LIBS="./libusb/libusb-1.0.16-rc10/libusb/.libs/libusb-1.0.a -ludev" ./configure --enable-icarus
make
sudo make install

I've also changed my suggestions for which terminal to add this to for startup :-
leave the /etc/inittab getty's as they are
i.e.

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1:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty --noclear 38400 tty1
2:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty2
3:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty3
4:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty4
5:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty5
6:23:respawn:/sbin/getty 38400 tty6

and add a completely new one just for your miners

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9:23:respawn/usr/local/bin/cgminer <dev/tty9 >/dev/tty9 2>&1

so when you
sudo kill -HUP 1 [restart init]
or reboot
then you will find that on alt-f9 your miners are running
which does not get in the way of anything ....

[tekspirit]

Thanks so much for sharing this - it works wonderfully.

One question I have is, how do we see the cgminer page? I mean, can I alt+F9 over to the screen? I have a favi keyboard +trackpad, and when I hold ALT and press F9, nothing happens (nothing for any ALT+F key).

I can login to my pool to see if it's working, but I do like seeing the cgminer stats running.

[RaTTuS]

another way to start it would be to run it in screen so you can attach from anywhere

are you running x ? if so you will have to ctrl-alt-f1 first
then alt-f1 to alt-9 will give you separate consoles

can you post a link to this keyboard

[tekspirit]

I *can* run x, but tend to stick with the command line.

The keyboard is http://www.amazon.com/FE01-BL-Wireless- ... 003UE52ME/

Cheers,

Jack

[mypifi]

there is also a ready made image called minepeon which is what i use, but a word of warning, its no get rich quick scheme, mine only earns 10p a day.

[tekspirit]

Reasonable income given the current situation.

I have 7 Erupters all at 333MHz and when they are full on 24 hours a day, it's about $1/day.

As the sales page said, these are not for investment, but it is fun to play and earn.

With the RPi, I can only get 5 of them running smoothly, so I'm back on a Mac with Anker hubs.