Bitcoin headless miner configuration

Butterfly labs power supply, at least they are lifetime warranty ...

2014-05-30T22:27:00.001-07:00

I own my butterfly labs units for maybe 6 to 8 month. The power supply began to break 2-3 month ago. Since then, I am always working at 50% of my total hashing power.

Each week I have at least one that breaks, until now...

I replaced the original power supply by 2 pc psu. Hopefully, butterflylabs used the same pinout for their devices as the PCIe connector in PC PSU.

I own 6 single and 1 little single.

I power 2 single + 1 little single with the powersupply XFX XTR 750W
I power 4 single with the powersupple EVGA 1300W G2

Both power supply are 80 plus gold and I affirm that the efficiency of the stock power supply from butterfly labs is not as efficient as these power supply.

What is nice with the EVGA power supply, is that it comes with an adapter to power up the power supply even if there is no motherboard connected. Else, it would be needed to short 2 pin to power up the power supply. But, some of their PCIe connector have a lock pin too large for the butterfly labs enclosure. It is needed to cutout that pin.

As said in the title, the devices from butterflylabs are lifetime warranty, so it is easy to get replacement, but in forum few people are complaining that the power supply are taking fire. It is not a good idea to keep using them.

One of the problem I have seen, is that the fan is cheap. So it is stopping working fast. So the cooling of the unit become a problem and other components in the device break ...

I urge you to buy quality external power supply, it will help to lower your electricity bill and it will keep your room cooler as their efficiency is highly better.

Linux butterflylabs + cgminer !

2013-09-03T14:28:00.002-07:00

Finally, I received my first order of a butterfly labs miner (little single)!!! Woohoo! This device is 30GH/s and depending on which pool you connect to, you will not do 30GH/s ! At 30GH/s the device needs 130W, at 10GH/s it needs 60W.

As you can see in my other post, my preferred mining pool is bitcoinpool. But their hashing rate is very low. As for now, they did not solve a block for few month. I also like deepbit.net. Their hashing rate is nice (1-2 block/day) but I only get 10GH/s. So I switched to btcguild.com. It is the biggest pool, there I can get 30GH/s!

Now here are the steps to configure cgminer (on kubuntu linux) to work with this device !

$sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev git-core subversion build-essential libusb-dev libudev vim libncurses5-dev pkg-config automake yasm openssh-server openssh-client

note: if you also want to use little usb blockerupter only add "--enable-ica" after enabling bflsc

$cd
$mkdir bitcoin
$cd bitcoin
$git git://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer.git cgminer
of git pull (in the cgminer folder) if you already use cgminer
$cd cgminer
$./autogen.sh
$CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native" LDFLAGS="-L/opt/AMDAPP/lib/x86_64" ./configure --enable-bflsc

if you are using small usb blockerupters, add --enable-icarus at the end

$make
$make install

cgminer will connect directly to the device, your user need to have access to the device, so your user need to be in the plugdev group.

$sudo usermod -G plugdev -a bitcoin
where bitcoin is your user

$cp 01-cgminer.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/

you have to reboot your computer (or restart udev and logout)

The command line should look like :
$cd ~/bitcoin/cgminer
$./cgminer -o server:port --userpass user:password

note: if you want to have a different worker for your different hardware, you can run multiple instance of cgminer. To do so you need to tell to cgminer to use which hardware. For me, I want to have one worker for my bfl and an other one for my block erupter. So when calling cgminer I have to add : --usb BAS:10,ICA:0 this tells cgminer to load all bfl labs (up to 10) and load 0 block erupter.

Enjoy your new hardware ! :-)

Asic bitcoin mining!

2013-08-27T05:26:00.002-07:00

Here we are, the asic mining is bringing up the difficulty, and GPU mining is no longer valuable.

My first butterfly labs little single is in route ! Finally ! but stuck at the border ...

I am waiting for the preorder of a few single sc. Few guys are asking if the value of these box is as great as is was 1 year ago when we placed our order. It is true that the difficulty level has raised a lot and with butterfly labs that promise 600 GH/S cards their first asic hardware will be deprecated very fast.

I don't know how to think about that. I've paid my asic miner with money from bitcoins, so it is a good investment, but for people having to pay with "real" money is this a good investment ? I would like to hear your opinion on this.

Also, I would like to know how you manage your gains in bitcoin ? Are you keeping everything in your wallet, or you cash few % and reinvest another % ? Me, when the value of the bitcoin was around 300$ I sold everything I've had and sold all of my gpu (my electricity bill dropped from 300$/Month to 80$ :-). With that new hardware, I guess I will reinvest 50%, cash 25% (to pay electricity bill) and keep 25% for the future. Do you think it is a good plan ?

Anyway, when I will be able to put my hand on this package I will update this blog to explain how to configure your hardware to be up and running as fast as possible and, hopefully, get rich !

If you think this blog helped you out to configure your system, consider sending me a contribution to say thank you ! Even more, if you are from canada, INGdirect offer you 25$ (and I will also get 25$) if you open an account (with a minimum deposit of 100$). My main account is at INGdirect and I like this bank. When I transfer money to my account in another bank it is very fast, and for the credit card billing, the payment is done in less than 24h. Also, they offer interest in their chequing account ! and there is no fee ! You can use the automatic ATM from other bank most of the transaction are free ! Yesterday I have seen a TV ad explaining they now offer online chequing deposit ! Yes, you take a picture of the cheque and it will be depositted in your account ! If you do open an account, use my orange key : 14927138S1 !

update: ubuntu 11.04/12.04/12.10/13.04 x86_64 dedicated crypto currency (bitcoin, i0coins, solidcoins, namecoins, ixcoins) mining rig using ATI RADEON GPU and CGMINER

2013-05-11T06:50:00.001-07:00

I decided to create a cleaner look post. Also, this tutorial is for the latest *buntu releases and will target only cgminer as mining software.

If this tutorial helps you to start mining, please consider giving a small % of your gains to my wallet : 13sRUwHbmv5ewLjQkKabDTsyPQEDD4v6mx . You know, this blog has over 90 000 page views, and no one ever said thank you for my time. At least, press on one adsense publicity to help me maintaining this blog. Thank you

To mine you will need :

A computer with a very good power supply (850W to 1200W) 80+ gold is a plus..
You don't need a case, the graphics cards will become very hot, they need a very good air flow around them to cool down, be creative :-)..
If you think to use more than 2 cards in your computer, be sure to use external power on the riser cards, else your motherboard connector could melt (I know, it happend to me on a 3 GPU cards computer)
Linux *buntu CD version 13.04 ( I like kubuntu more than the other )
AMD Catalyst driver ( from AMD ) : version 13.04
AMD APP, open cl driver ( from AMD ) : version 2.8
If you want CGMINER to control the GPU/MEM/FAN speed and other hardware parameter, you will need ADL_SDK : version 5.0

Here is some advice on the choice of your computer :

Don't put more memory than needed, 1GB is more than needed
Try to use a USB KEY or 2.5" hard disk drive to use less energy
Use the smallest CPU possible, try to get old 60W CPU or less, mining does not require a lot of CPU power to run well
Remove the CD/DVD player, this computer is not a desktop, it is only used to mine
The computer will produce heat, a lot of heat will be produced and will be probably noisy, very noisy.

Little note, in this tutorial, when you see " $ " it means you have to write something in the terminal prompt. If you have comment or suggestions, please be free to leave a comment, it is always a pleasure to update this tutorial.
Here we start! You will need to add the following packages

open a terminal and type :
$ sudo apt-get install vim subversion git-core libcurl4-openssl-dev libncurses5-dev pkg-config automake yasm openssh-server openssh-client build-essential

Install AMD Catalyst

Here, be carefull, there is 2 way to do it, from my experience, up to version 12.04 (no update applied) you can install the driver, but for earlier version, you have to create and then install the package
open a terminal and type:
$ cd ~/Downloads
$ mkdir amd-driver-13.04
$ cd amd-driver-13.04
$ unzip ../amd-driver-installer-13.04-x86_64.zip
$ chmod +x amd-driver-installer-13.04-x86_64.run
$ sudo ./amd-driver-installer-13.04-x86_64.run

Select install driver (< 12.04) or create a package (>=12.04)
say yes to the licence and choose automatic

If you used the package, you will have to install the driver, with the file explorer double click on the created package and install. Hopefully it will work (it worked nicely for me)
If you have more than one card :

$ echo 'export display=:0' >> ~/.bashrc

Initialize the driver

$ sudo aticonfig --initial --adapter=all

reboot the computer

$ aticonfig --odgc --adapter=all

you should see the clocking of your GPU

Install AMD_APP (OpenCL Driver)

$ cd ~/Downloads
$ mkdir AMD_APP_2.8
$ cd AMD_APP_2.8
$ tar -zxvf ../AMD-APP-SDK-v2.8-lnx64.tgz
$ sudo ./Install-AMD-APP.sh
reboot

cgminer installation !

$ mkdir ~/bitcoin/
$ cd ~/bitcoin
$ git git://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer.git cgminer
$ cd cgminer
$ cd ~/Downloads
$ mkdir ADL_SDK_5
$ cd ADL_SDK_5
$ unzip ../ADL_SDK_5.0.zip
$ cp include/* ~/bitcoin/cgminer/ADL_SDK
$ cd ~/bitcoin/cgminer
$ ./autogen.sh
$ CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native -I /opt/AMDAPP/include/" LDFLAGS="-L/opt/AMDAPP/lib/x86_64" ./configure
$ make
The following command should tell you the number of gpu core present on your computer

$ ./cgminer -n

Now you need to find a good mining pool. I like deepbit and bitcoinpool, but there is a lot of other pool, you will have to select one that fit your needs.

Good luck mining :-)

pub...

2012-01-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

PUB!

2012-01-19T21:03:00.000-08:00

Today I've got a new workstation, I wanted to use a radeon 5770 (on which I will connect 3 screens) and add an 5850 to mine ...

Something very strange happen here ... impossible to see 2 gpu on this computer. I struggled a lot then saw something very bad ... When I install the catalyst driver, I can see 2 GPU, but when I setup my screens with catalyst control center, the second gpu disapear ...

This is confirmed by fglrxinfo at first, I see 2 gpu, after I see 1 gpu but 3 screens, as if it was impossible to get both working....

I'm on the case, if somebody has some suggestions, I would like to hear them! Edit : Thinking about the dummy plugs needed for windows, I added a 4th screen (yes I could plug 1 of my 3 screen) on the the second card. Then I configured catalyst control center (CCC) to enable this display. YES! I can see the 2nd GPU !!! Enabled Xinerama (remember, this is a workstation) ... lose the GPU... So I understood that the driver is crappy and won't let me doing what I want so ... I will plug this card on another rig. I purchased a 2 pcie-16x slots mainboard for that usage ... too bad, my home office will be less hot this summer !

Finally, cgminer install tutorial

2011-09-26T19:24:00.000-07:00

I think that cgminer is the most advanced miner to date. It doesn't push the hardware as far as I would like (it doesn't use 100% of the GPU) but it can manage multiple pool and use the longpoll from the fastest pool, so you will have a better mining uptime with this miner than with the other! I never experienced any "queue empty, miner is idle" with this miner. Today the bitcoin value is 5$ so you need to get every hash as possible! The little drawback is that I was not yet successfull to make cgminer to use 99% of each gpu.

But, cgminer can set the fan, the clock and even overclock your GPU. This is very nice!

So let's begin!

1. To manage your gpu fanspeed and clocking, you will need the ADL SDK (AMD Display Library)
- http://developer.amd.com/sdks/adlsdk/pages/default.aspx

2. Install missing softwares
$ sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev libncurses5-dev pkg-config automake yasm libtool

3. get the latest cgminer sourcecode :
$ git clone git://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer.git cgminer

4. enable ADL (control of the inner functions of the gpu like clocking, voltage, fan speed...)
$ mkdir ADL_SDK
$ cd ADL_SDK
$ mv ../ADL_SDK_3.0.zip .
$ unzip ADL_SDK_3.0.zip
$ cp include/* ../cgminer/ADL_SDK

5. Compilation
$ cd cgminer

$ ./autogen.sh
$ CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native -I /opt/AMDAPP/include/" LDFLAGS="-L/opt/AMDAPP/lib/x86_64" ./configure

if you get the following error :
/usr/bin/ld: cgminer-adl.o: undefined reference to symbol 'dlclose@@GLIBC_2.2.5'
/usr/bin/ld: note: 'dlclose@@GLIBC_2.2.5' is defined in DSO /usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.6.1/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so so try adding it to the linker command line
/usr/lib/gcc/x86_64-linux-gnu/4.6.1/../../../x86_64-linux-gnu/libdl.so: could not read symbols: Invalid operation

remove the ADL directory, you must disable ADL.

! be sure the GPU and ADL are enabled !

$ make

6. Testing (to see the number of gpu the software sees)
$ export DISPLAY=:0 #(use this command only if you have more than one card)
$ ./cgminer -n

If the number does not represent the number of gpu you own, there is a problem, you should have miss a step. Or the git repository could be broken. Try an older tag here : https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/tags

7. be up to date!
$ stop the miner
$ cd ~/cgminer
$ git pull
and then recompile (follow the step 5)

There is a lot of commands for this software. The best way to learn is to read the documentation from the git repository, it is one of the best documentation I've read!

the server hang very often. SSH server ok, but no screen

2011-09-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

On one of my rig, I experienced failure and a lot of hang.

Everytime, running top on the computer showed me that xorg was taking 100% cpu.

After seeking on the web, I've found a workaround :-) and it fixed the case :

edit the file /etc/X11/xorg.conf

$ sudo /etc/X11/xorg.conf

in the section device of all of your adapters add the line :

Option "UseEvents" "on"
this solved my problem :-)

update : this helped my system to be more reliable, but hanged each two to three days.
update: as the 1st of december 2011, my three rigs have 15, 15, 35 days of uptime (one is ups backed). The problem was the cpu clocking... I would advice to start low and increase until you get unreliability, then decrease to get reliability!

tried a new miner (cgminer) one word to describe, WOW!

2011-09-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

Today, I tried another miner, I liked the phoenix-miner, but this miner is way better! This miner test different algorithms to see which is better for your hardware, the miner supports multiple card (in the same instance!) is able to wake up an hanged thread, uses multi pool ( round robin, %, fail over ) ... the only thing I can say is WOW! The software is written in C and asm and does not need python-pyopencl ! Good new!

The miner is built from the same guy that did the linux scheduler. cgminer is my new main miner!

Today, following an ubuntu update, one of my mining rig died (xorg hanged 10 times) I will do some manipulation tomorrow to correct this. I don't know if I will have to reinstall ubuntu (probably not but I don't know!) Keep that in mind if you plan to start mining... You will encounter bugs, and each bugs mean downtime and less bitcoin in your wallet!

Tomorrow I will write a small tutorial to install cgminer from the git directory.

Stay tuned :-)

ubuntu 11.04/12.04/12.10/13.04 x86_64 dedicated crypto currency (bitcoin, i0coins, solidcoins, namecoins, ixcoins) mining rig using ATI RADEON GPU

2011-08-29T15:50:00.000-07:00

update see post : for an update on this procedure, it will be easier for you and it will talk about the newest *buntu releases (13.04)

Yesterday Irene (28 august 2011) came in my region and after a power outage, I have lost an hard disk drive. Fortunately, the drive is under warranty, but I had to reinstall my mining rig.

Today, I will place each steps to have a mining rig that will start and mine automatically. Hope you will find this helpfull! If it was, please consider sending me a small contributions to my bitcoin address : 13sRUwHbmv5ewLjQkKabDTsyPQEDD4v6mx !

It took me 2 days to finally being able to mine. I had to reinstall linux at least 15 times (passing from ubuntu to centos and finally to ubuntu). But now everything is going fine!

Before starting, I have some comments :
1. remove the more hardware you can from the computer. Anything not used is power loss! Each watt count!
I mean:
- memory (you don't need 2-4gb!)
- cd drive, floppy drive, card reader
- sound card, io cards ...
- some people use a usb key instead a hard disk. It is a great idea! I will give it a try some day (linux coins and linux bamt are designed for that).
2. You will need good ventilation, so clean the wiring, add fans and don't forget the air must come in the case, so don't put 3 fans pushing the air outside of the case and leave free air space around the computer (I usually put the computer face against the wall so the hot air will get to the middle of the room). Some people don't use a case to store their mining rig. One case I like, is the antec three hundred I have 3 5850 and the heat is acceptable inside. Be carefull when you buy your motherboard, there is chances the last slot won't be available since the power supply is the end of the card (a simple height is OK, but dual height is not).
3. Have a very good power supply! Pay to get a 80 plus gold rating and get enough wattage (I use the OCZZ850M for my rigs).

You will install the following tools :
- webmin
- apcupsd
- sshd
- pyopencl
- phoenix miner
- poclbm
- x11vnc

So, lets begin and download the ubuntu 11.04 CD. It is a live CD and an installation CD! I'm a centos fan, but had some issue to mine using it, so now I use ubuntu and it works great, and it is easy to configure. update, I have tried kubuntu. Is is very very very nice. Easier to use than ubuntu with the unity gui. I recommand to switch to kubuntu !

Here is the download link : http://www.ubuntu.com/start-download?distro=desktop&bits=64&release=latest
You only have to burn the iso on a CD.

Then, you start your computer with the CD (boot from the CD) and you select to install.

The install process is very straight forward, so, you only have to press next...

When you will create your user, use a generic user of your choice and select login automatically.

Finish the install and reboot.

Lets begin!

1. Create a password for the root user, I know it is bad, but needed to use Webmin.

Open a terminal and type :
$ sudo passwd root

You will write your user password, then the root password for the root. Please use a very long password ( a phrase).

2. Install VIM
$ sudo apt-get install vim

3. One ubuntu update seems to break the grub2 (bootloader) timeout, so the computer wait forever for the "enter" key to boot.

$ sudo vi /etc/default/grub

change GRUB_TIMEOUT=10 for GRUB_TIMEOUT="10"

$ sudo update-grub

This solved my problem on 2 computers. But on another, the bootloader does not get displayed and I don't know what is the problem yet.

4. Install missing packages

$ sudo apt-get install subversion git-core

4.1 Install ATI Catalyst

first, start synaptic package manager and remove every ati packages (unless the package is important for ubuntu like ubuntu-desktop) then remove every nvidia packages and finally fglrx.

Download : http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.42&lang=English

~~Note: I already tried the ati catalyst version 11.7 (100%cpu while GPU mining only) and 11.8 (better than 11.7 but high cpu usage (30%-50%)). So I suggest using 11.6.~~
update: 1st december 2011, I tried the version 11.11, not sure yet for mining, but for everyday usage, this version is VERY NICE! Every single bug I've found for this usage have been solved! Finally, I have to say: Great job AMD! I will post a new entry for the new version for mining.
Update (2nd august 2012) : The catalyst version 12.3 is incredible ! every single bug were again solved :-)

$ sudo chmod +x amd-driver-installer-12.3-x86.x86_64.run
$ sudo ./amd-driver-installer-12.3-x86.x86_64.run
- select install driver (1)
- agree to the licence (y)
- automatic (y)

if you have multiple adapter, you have to export DISPLAY=:0
$ echo 'export DISPLAY=:0' >> ~/.bashrc

$ sudo aticonfig --initial --adapter=all
This command configure the file /etc/x11/xorg.conf

At this point, you should restart your computer (probably a logout is sufficient) I reboot to be sure the previous step was successfull.

to test, you can : $ aticonfig --list-adapter
moreover you could wish to try: $ fglrxinfo

4.2 ATI Stream install (OpenCL Driver)

You can find the latest driver here :

~~I recommend downloading the version 2.4 since I did not tested the 2.5.~~
Update (2nd august 2012), the new version 2.7 rocks! Low cpu usage and nothing wrong found :-) the best version since version 2.3!

http://developer.amd.com/sdks/AMDAPPSDK/downloads/Pages/default.aspx#one
$ mkdir amdapp_2-7

$ cd amdapp_2-7
$ tar -zxvf ../AMD-APP-SDK-v2.7-lnx64.tgz

$ sudo ./Install-AMD-APP.sh

These steps are no more needed since version 2.5

~~You have to export an environment variable in your .bashrc~~
~~$ echo 'export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/AMDAPP/lib/x86_64/:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH' >> ~/.bashrc~~
~~(everything on the same line)~~
~~Then add the library to the ld.so.conf~~
~~$ sudo vi /etc/ld.so.conf~~
~~add the following line:~~
~~/opt/AMDAPP/lib/x86_64~~
~~$ sudo ldconfig~~

reboot :-)

The steps from the point 4 are no more needed if you plan to use cgminer to mine. I strongly suggest to use cgminer, it is the best miner I saw. It support multiple miner, can do round robin, switch to another pool when the main one fails ...

4.3 python pyopencl

$ wget http://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pyopencl/pyopencl-0.92.tar.gz
$ sudo apt-get install libboost-all-dev python-twisted*
$ tar -zxvf pyopencl-0.92.tar.gz
$ cd pyopencl-0.92.tar.gz
$ sudo python ./configure.py --cl-inc-dir=/opt/AMDAPP/include/ --cl-lib-dir=/opt/AMDAPP/lib/x86_64/
$ sudo make
$ sudo make install

4.4 m0mchild's poclbm (facultative step)
$ cd BTC_BASE
$ git clone git://github.com/m0mchil/poclbm.git
$ cd poclbm
$ python poclbm.py
you will see the device available to mine (CPU and GPU)

4.5 my preferred miner, phoenix-miner
$ cd BTC_BASE
$ git clone git://github.com/jedi95/Phoenix-Miner.git

5. Starting to mine!
You will have to chose if you do solo mining or will join a pool. There is plenty of pool available and you can choose to mine several crypto currency. The only thing you have to do is to point to the pool with phoenix.

here is a small list of pool :

http://deepbit.net
http://www.bitcoinpool.com (the stats are fantastic and they are very friendly)
http://namebit.org
http://bitparking.org
contact me to add other

Follow the pool documentation for the correct command line. In the version 1.6.X of phoenix, you can specify the option -b to add a failover pool so if the main pool is hanged, you will switch to another one which is very nice!

6. ATI overdrive
Most (if not all) Radeon have user configurable clock speeds. Be carefull by doing this, the heat will increase a lot, the power consumption too!

6.1 enable overdrive
$ aticonfig --od-enable --adapter=0

6.2 get current clock
$ aticonfig --odgc --adapter=0

6.3 set new clock
$ aticonfig --odsc=875,900 --adapter=0

6.4 commit changes (if not, the default value will be effective on the next reboot)
$ aticonfig --odcc --adapter=0

6.5 get core temperature
$ aticonfig --odgt --adapter=0

6.6 set fanspeed
$ aticonfig --pplib-cmd "set fanspeed 0 56"

6.6.1 if you have more than one adapter
$ export DISPLAY=:0.1; aticonfig --pplib-cmd "set fanspeed 0 56"
$ export DISPLAY=:0

note : Adapter mean the adapter chosen. You can use "all"

7. Environment setting for headless mining
7.1 OpenSSH install
$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server openssh-client

7.2 webmin install
add the following lines in the file sources.list
$ sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list
# webmin
deb http://download.webmin.com/download/repository sarge contrib
deb http://webmin.mirror.somersettechsolutions.co.uk/repository sarge contrib

add the key from webmin
$ wget http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc
$ sudo apt-key add jcameron-key.asc
$ rm jcameron-key.asc

$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install webmin

webmin will run on the port 10000, so you only have to point to your ip address with your preferred web browser (probably firefox)

you will use the root username with the password you chose.

7.3 apcupsd
If you plan to add a ups to your rig (which is a very good idea since you paid a lot for those GPU!). First, before buying the ups, look at the power needed to power up your rig. One of mine needs 600W, buy a good ups which will be able to give you 2-3 minutes of battery life.

$ sudo apt-get install apcupsd apcupsd-cgi

You have to configure the file apcupsd.conf
$sudo vi /etc/apcupsd/apcupsd.conf
Follow the guide on the apcupsd website.
$sudo vi /etc/default/apcupsd
change ISCONFIGURED to true

$ sudo service apcupsd start

there is an apcupsd module for webmin

open webmin, go to webmin->webmin configuration->webmin modules1
paste the following link : http://diego.caravana.to/wp-content/apcupsd0.812.wbm.gz in the "from ftp or http URL"

The module is in the section other. You have to change some directory, go to the module configuration

change the path for each CGI to : /usr/lib/cgi-bin/apcupsd/*.cgi

7.4 VNC server (to see the screen for your rig)
$ sudo apt-get install x11vnc vnc-java
$ x11vnc -storepasswd

You can point any java enabled web browser to your ip:5800 to access the computer!

7.5 Remove your screen saver
If you want to have more power to mine :-)

7.6 shutdown on power button
since the computer is headless, it may be necessary to close the computer easily.

7.7 Mining on start
At the startup, you will have to setup the fanspeed and start your miner on each GPU.

I use the following scripts :
#!/bin/sh

cpufreq-selector -g ondemand -c 0
cpufreq-selector -g ondemand -c 1
cpufreq-selector -g ondemand -c 2
cpufreq-selector -g ondemand -c 3

/bitcoin/setfanspeed.sh
gnome-terminal --command "/bitcoin/phoenix-miner/pool.sh" &

#start java vnc
gnome-terminal --command "x11vnc -forever -usepw -httpdir /usr/share/vnc-java/ -httpport 5800" &

Go to the gnome menu preferences->startup application and add your script (remove not needed applications!)

8. shutdown
shutdown your computer
8.1 Enter the bios and configure your computer to power on after power failure

8.2 unplug the power cord and plug it in the computer and validate the computer starts
8.3 look to see if your computer mine and PROFIT!

You are done! Happy mining !

If you want to exchange your bitcoins against other currency (US, EUR...) , I suggest you to use tradehill ( http://www.tradehill.com/ ). I tried other exchange site and the only exchange I got real money was tradehill. Please use my reference number TH-R112979 (you will get 10% lifetime discount on your trade !)

Later, I will procede to update the ATI Catalyst and OpenCL driver, so keep reading to see how we do it!

I'm looking for your comments!

I accept contributions at my address : 13sRUwHbmv5ewLjQkKabDTsyPQEDD4v6mx !
----------
I'm looking for supervision software for headless server, if you can suggest some...
I used part of the following threads :
http://bitcointalk.org/?topic=3356.msg47489#msg47489
http://lifehacker.com/317125/set-up-vnc-on-ubuntu-in-four-steps

Mediatomb installation

2011-01-06T19:08:00.000-08:00

Mediatomb is a very good dnla media server wich works very well with the PS3.

Be sure to have the EPEL and rpmforge repo installed ( view other post )

then, yum install mediatomb

Edit /etc/mediatomb.conf and place the network interface mediatomb will listen. ( you will know by doing ifconfig ) Usually, it will be eth0

using ntsysv select the service mediatomb to start on startup.

then, " service mediatomb start " you should see [ok] . Else something is wrong. Google the error message to understand what is going on.

If you want to load mkv file ( HD ) PS3 won't recognize this format, so mediatomb have to convert this video format.

Add the following lines in the /etc/mediatomb/config.xml

<map from="ts" to="video/mp2t"/>

<map from="m2ts" to="video/mpeg"/>

Add the following package and tools to convert the files.

yum install mkvtoolnix

download http://twocats.free.fr/pub/h264tobox/ tsMuxeR and h264tobox untar in /usr/local/ (tsMuxeR will not untar in is proper directory)

then softlink tsMuxeR, tsMuxerGUI and h264tobox in /usr/bin/

ln -s /usr/local/tsMuxeR/tsMuxeR /usr/bin/tsMuxeR
ln -s /usr/local/tsMuxeR/tsMuxerGUI /usr/bin/tsMuxeRGUI
ln -s /usr/local/h264tobox-$(ver)/h264tobox /usr/bin/h264tobox

the script h264tobox needs the faad library ( yum install faad2 )
convert the mkv file. To do this, start the h264tobox script in the directory the movie is placed,

the software will tell you
aften, dcadec, oggdec, ogmdemux, ttaenc are missing ( they are optional ), I don't know why they are used, but for now, everything seems to work.

ps3mediaserver installation

2011-01-02T19:19:00.000-08:00

must add 2 repositories :
rpm -Uvh http://download.fedora.redhat.com/pub/epel/5/x86_64/epel-release-5-4.noarch.rpm ( replace x86_64 for i386 if your system is 32bits ) you can point your web browser to the directory if this is not working.

rpm -ivh http://apt.sw.be/redhat/el5/en/x86_64/dab/RPMS/rpmforge-release-0.5.2-2.el5.rf.x86_64.rpm

have to install java
yum install java

have to install mplayer ffmpeg and mencoder

homepage: ps3mediaserver
go to /usr/local/
wget http://ps3mediaserver.googlecode.com/files/pms-generic-linux-unix-1.20.412.tgz

tar -zxvf pms-generic-linux-unix-1.20.412.tgz

it is necessary to configure the system. TBD

Only go in /usr/local/pms-linux-1.20.412 and run PMS.sh to start the server.

don't forget to delete the file /usr/local/pms-generic-linux-unix-1.20.412.tgz

webmin installation

2011-01-02T19:11:00.000-08:00

source : http://www.webmin.com/rpm.html

1. create a new file in /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo and insert the following :

vi /etc/yum.repos.d/webmin.repo

[Webmin]

name=Webmin Distribution Neutral

#baseurl=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum

mirrorlist=http://download.webmin.com/download/yum/mirrorlist

enabled=1

2. import the key from webmin
rpm --import http://www.webmin.com/jcameron-key.asc

3. yum install webmin

webmin is now working and ready to help you to configure your system.
This tool is web based and serves on the port 10000 . Often only in HTTPS, but you have to try both (http, https).

Perhaps, only from localhost.

fresh install centos 5.5

2011-01-02T19:07:00.000-08:00

advice : use a logical volume ( LVM ) for the /home directory.
soon after, you should start backuping your system.