/ linux-usb-cgminer
linux-usb-cgminer
1 How to setup a cgminer using xubuntu 11.04 live on a USB 2 3 The master version of this document is here: 4 https://github.com/kanoi/linux-usb-cgminer 5 6 The actual file is: 7 https://github.com/kanoi/linux-usb-cgminer/blob/master/linux-usb-cgminer 8 9 The copy in cgminer (check to make sure it isn't older) is: 10 https://github.com/ckolivas/cgminer/blob/master/linux-usb-cgminer 11 12 The original old verion on bitcointalk is: 13 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg426741#msg426741 14 15 ======== 16 17 I have said to select English for the install process for 2 reasons: 18 1) I don't know any other spoken language very well 19 and 20 2) I'm not sure what problems installing under a different language 21 might cause (it will probably cause no problems but I don't know) 22 23 Software 24 ======== 25 Short hardware comment: 26 Your mining computer doesn't need any HDD or CD/DVD/BD as long as it has at 27 least 2GB of RAM, can boot USB, has some network connection to the internet 28 and of course a reasonable mining ATI graphics card 29 ... Or you can boot a windows PC with the USB to only do mining ... and ignore 30 the system HDD ... wasting energy running the HDD (roughly 10 Watts per HDD) :) 31 32 If you wish to install to an HDD instead of a USB, 33 see the changes to the instructions at the end 34 35 To create the USB, you need of course a 4GB USB and temporarily need a PC 36 with a CD (or DVD/BD) writer, a USB port and of course an internet 37 connection to the PC 38 39 1) Download the xubuntu 11.04 desktop live CD iso for amd64 40 ( look here for mirrors: http://www.xubuntu.org/getubuntu ) 41 42 2) Burn it to CD then boot that temporarily on any PC with a CD/DVD/BD and 43 a USB port (this and the next 2 step won't effect that PC) 44 Select "English" then select "Try Xubuntu without installing" 45 and wait for the desktop to appear 46 (this happens by default if you wait for the timeouts) 47 48 3) Plug in your 4GB USB device and it should appear on the desktop - you can 49 leave it's contents as long as there is at least 2.8GB free 50 51 4) Now run "Startup Disk Creator" in "Applications->System" 52 (the system menu is the little rat in the top left corner) 53 54 (if you have no mouse you can get the menu with <ctr><esc> and navigate 55 the menu with the arrow keys and <return> key) 56 57 From here select the boot CD as the "Source" and the USB as the "Disk to use" 58 lastly move the slider to 2GB for reserved extra space 59 60 The 2GB should be enough for modifications 61 62 Click: "Make Install Disk" 63 After about 10-15 minutes you have a base xubuntu 11.04 boot USB 64 (you can shut down this computer now) 65 66 5) Boot your cgminer PC with this USB stick, select "English" 67 then select "Try Xubuntu without installing" and wait for the desktop to 68 appear (this happens by default if you wait for the timeouts) 69 70 6) Start a terminal 71 "Applications->Accessories->Terminal Emulator" 72 73 7) sudo apt-get install openssh-server screen 74 75 if you have a problem here then it's probably coz the internet isn't 76 available ... sort that out by reading elsewhere about routers etc 77 78 8) sudo apt-get install fglrx fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-dev 79 sudo sync 80 sudo shutdown -r now 81 82 N.B. always do a "sudo sync" and wait for it to finish every time before 83 shutting down the PC to ensure all data is written to the USB 84 85 9) sudo aticonfig --lsa 86 this lists your ATI cards so you can see them 87 sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --odgt 88 this checks it can access all the cards ... 89 90 10) sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --initial 91 this gets an error - no idea why but the xorg.conf is OK 92 sudo sync 93 sudo shutdown -r now 94 95 11) sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --odgt 96 this checks it can access all the cards ... 97 98 12) get AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz from 99 http://developer.amd.com/sdks/amdappsdk/downloads/pages/default.aspx 100 ( http://developer.amd.com/Downloads/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz ) 101 102 sudo su 103 cd /opt 104 (replace /home/ubuntu/ with wherever you put the file: ) 105 tar -xvzf /home/ubuntu/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz 106 107 cd AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/ 108 cp -pv lib/x86_64/* /usr/lib/ 109 rsync -avl include/CL/ /usr/include/CL/ 110 tar -xvzf icd-registration.tgz 111 rsync -avl etc/OpenCL/ /etc/OpenCL/ 112 ldconfig 113 sync 114 shutdown -r now 115 116 You now have an OpenCL enabled xubuntu 117 118 13) cgminer: 119 sudo apt-get install curl 120 121 get the binary linux cgminer 122 (see the bitcoin forum cgminer thread for where to get it) 123 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0 124 125 ./cgminer -n 126 this shows you the GPU's it found on your PC 127 See further below if you get an error regarding libtinfo.so.5 128 129 14) An OC option: 130 This is no longer needed since cgminer 2.* includes OC, however: 131 132 sudo apt-get install libwxbase2.8-0 libwxgtk2.8-0 133 134 http://sourceforge.net/projects/amdovdrvctrl/ 135 for an Over/underclocking application and get the file listed below then: 136 sudo dpkg -i amdoverdrivectrl_1.2.1_amd64.deb 137 138 15) set the screen saver to ONLY blank ... 139 140 Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and you see a set of icons like 141 on an Apple PC 142 Click on Settings, then in the Settings window "Screensaver" 143 Set "Mode:" to "Blank Screen Only" 144 145 16) apt-get install ntpd 146 An accurate clock is always a good idea :) 147 148 17) if you wish to ssh into the box you must set a password 149 to do this you simply have to be logged into it at the screen and type 150 151 sudo passwd ubuntu 152 153 it will prompt you (twice) to enter a password for the ubuntu account 154 155 156 Initial setup complete. 157 158 ======== 159 160 If you want to SSH into the machine and run cgminer: 161 From a terminal on the miner display each time after you boot: 162 xhost + 163 164 'xhost +' isn't needed if you ssh into the machine with the same 165 username that the GUI boots into (which is 'ubuntu' in this case) 166 167 Then after you ssh into the machine: 168 export DISPLAY=:0 169 before running cgminer 170 171 Also note, that you should force the screen to blank when mining if 172 the ATI card is displaying the screen (using the screen saver 173 application menu) 174 In my case it takes away 50Mh/s when the screen isn't blanked 175 It will auto blank - but make sure the blank is of course just blank 176 as mentioned above at 15) 177 178 179 This is of course just the basics ... but it should get you a computer 180 up and running and able to run cgminer 181 182 ======== 183 184 You should keep an eye on USB disk space 185 The system logger writes log files in the /var/log/ directory 186 The two main ones that grow large are 'kern.log' and 'syslog' 187 If you want to keep them, save them away to some other computer 188 When space is low, just delete them e.g. 189 190 sudo rm -i /var/log/syslog 191 sudo rm -i /var/log/kern.log 192 193 The 'df' command will show you the current space e.g.: 194 195 sudo df 196 197 Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on 198 aufs 2099420 892024 1100748 45% / 199 none 1015720 628 1015092 1% /dev 200 /dev/sda1 3909348 2837248 1072100 73% /cdrom 201 /dev/loop0 670848 670848 0 100% /rofs 202 none 1023772 136 1023636 1% /dev/shm 203 tmpfs 1023772 16 1023756 1% /tmp 204 none 1023772 124 1023648 1% /var/run 205 none 1023772 0 1023772 0% /var/lock 206 207 208 This shows the 2GB space allocated when you setup the USB as '/' (aufs) 209 In this example, it's currently 45% full with almost 1.1GB of free space 210 211 ======== 212 213 The latest version (2.0.8) of cgminer is built with 11.10 (not 11.04) 214 If you get the following error when running the prebuilt version in 11.04: 215 216 ./cgminer: error while loading shared libraries: libtinfo.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory 217 218 The fix is to simply link the old curses library to the new name e.g.: 219 220 cd /lib64/ 221 sudo ln -s libncurses.so.5 libtinfo.so.5 222 223 ======== 224 225 If you wish to install to an HDD instead of a USB: 226 -------------------------------------------------- 227 228 As per before: 229 230 1) Download the xubuntu 11.04 desktop live CD iso for amd64 231 ( look here for mirrors: http://www.xubuntu.org/getubuntu ) 232 233 Then: 234 235 2) Burn it to CD then boot that on your new mining PC 236 Select "English" then select "Install Xubuntu" 237 (you have 30 seconds to do this) 238 239 3) When the Install window comes up - again select "English" and click "Forward" 240 241 4) The next page will show you if you meet certain install requirements 242 (make sure you do meet them all) 243 Don't select the download option 244 The 3rd party option isn't needed for mining so ignore that also 245 246 Click "Forward" 247 248 5) With "Allocate drive space" it's probably easiest to say to use the 249 "Erase" option. 250 251 This is just for mining right? :) 252 253 However, if you have anything on the HDD that you want to keep - the 254 "Erase" install process will delete it - so back it up (quit the install) 255 Also make sure there are no OTHER HDD attached that it may erase also 256 i.e. only have attached the one HDD that you want to install onto unless 257 you know exactly what you are doing 258 259 If you see the "Install Xubuntu 11.04 alongside 'something'" then that 260 just means that the HDD wasn't blank. 261 If you want to try this option - do that yourself and then skip to step 262 7) below when you get to that. 263 264 There are plenty of other options available if you select "Something else" 265 but I'm not going to go into all the details here other than to say that 266 my preferred partioning is: /boot = 1GB = ext2, swap = twice memory size, 267 / = 100GB = ext3 and the rest: /extra = ext3 268 269 Click "Forward" 270 271 6) If you selected "Erase" then it allows you to choose the drive to install to 272 Then click "Install Now" 273 274 7) "Where are you?" sort that out then click "Forward" 275 276 8) "Keyboard layout" sort that out (use the default) then click "Forward" 277 278 9) "Who are you?" The important one here is "Pick a username:" coz that's 279 the name you will need to ssh into, to access it remotely (and of course 280 the "Choose a Password" you set) 281 282 If you set the "username" to anything but "ubuntu" then: wherever in this 283 document I have mentioned the username "ubuntu" you must of course use the 284 username you chose here instead of "ubuntu" 285 286 Important: set it to "log in automatically" if you ever want to be able 287 to start cgminer without being in front of the computer since 'X' must 288 be running to use cgminer properly 289 That does of course mean that the computer isn't secure from anyone who 290 has access to it - but then again no computer that can automatically 291 reboot is secure from anyone who has access to the actual computer itself 292 293 Then click "Forward" 294 295 10) Of course when it completes click on "Restart Now" 296 ... and remove the Xubuntu CD when it asks you 297 298 11) Wait for it to finish rebooting ... and it will auto login 299 (unless you didn't do step 9) "Important:") 300 301 12) After it logs in, an upgrade popup for 11.10 (or later) will appear 302 Select "Don't Upgrade" 303 304 13) Now go to step 6) of the USB script above for what to do next and that 305 covers everything else needed