Mining PPC with a Block Erupter USB?

I just received my Block Erupter USB. The main reason I wanted one was to mine PPC or other future compatible coins.
However, I read that it could be a job to get it working on other coins.

Is anyone Mining PPC with this device and if so, how would I go about setting it up?

Thank for any help you can provide. :smiley:

Hi Rejinx,

Are you using cgminer as a mining application? If so, have you tried launching cgminer without any parameters specified? It should ask you if youā€™d like to plug in a USB device.

I am using CGminer. IT auto detects the device and ask me the pool server address: then Username and password.

Someone said you couldnā€™t just mine Altcoins, you had to change something. but I never tried.

Do you use a ASIC device? I guess I could just try it.

As irritant explained, I would assume it is plug and play for you since PPC is sha256. I donā€™t believe there is any additional setup. Point it at ppcoin.d7.lt pool and give it a shot :smiley:

These are the other two PPC pools Sunny has mentioned.
coinotron: http://coinotron.com
The Sevenā€™s: http://theseven.bounceme.net/~theseven/pool/

I appauded all of you for your helpful answers. 8)

Have you got ur USB ASIC working as you want it now?? I also have one and am currently mining BTC but can post some settings that I needed to run with cgminerā€¦ like

cgminer.exe --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100 -S COM7

Though u will need to see what device COM # ur USB is on ur computerā€¦ mine was 7 but yours may be different.

Hope this helps and shout if you need further info/assistanceā€¦

also just be careful with ur minerā€¦ take note what USB hub u using as there are reports i seen from people where the hub has fried all their USB miners and the miner can no longer use themā€¦ post about it here [GB] USB ASIC miner - closed and completed

info i used to get mining on the device was here [GB] USB ASIC miner - closed and completed

FuzzyBear

[quote=ā€œFuzzyBear, post:7, topic:145ā€]Though u will need to see what device COM # ur USB is on ur computerā€¦ mine was 7 but yours may be different.

Hope this helps and shout if you need further info/assistanceā€¦

also just be careful with ur minerā€¦ take note what USB hub u using as there are reports i seen from people where the hub has fried all their USB miners and the miner can no longer use themā€¦ post about it here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=195037.msg2507872#msg2507872

info i used to get mining on the device was here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=195037.msg2299251#msg2299251

FuzzyBear[/quote]

Mr. Bear, I am plugged straight in to the back of my PC. (Is that Safe?) I just started mining PPC. It seems to be working OK. IT shows 330Mh/s like it should. The pool just picked up that it is mining but hasnā€™t from a block yet (only been a few minutes)

I never figured out how to put in all that code. IT just ask for the server then name and password. I guess it is running on default.

let me know if I need to change anything.

PS. Jesus Christ Mr. Bear you are everywhere.

[quote=ā€œRejinx, post:8, topic:145ā€][quote=ā€œFuzzyBear, post:7, topic:145ā€]Though u will need to see what device COM # ur USB is on ur computerā€¦ mine was 7 but yours may be different.

Hope this helps and shout if you need further info/assistanceā€¦

also just be careful with ur minerā€¦ take note what USB hub u using as there are reports i seen from people where the hub has fried all their USB miners and the miner can no longer use themā€¦ post about it here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=195037.msg2507872#msg2507872

info i used to get mining on the device was here https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=195037.msg2299251#msg2299251

FuzzyBear[/quote]

Mr. Bear, I am plugged straight in to the back of my PC. (Is that Safe?) I just started mining PPC. It seems to be working OK. IT shows 330Mh/s like it should. The pool just picked up that it is mining but hasnā€™t from a block yet (only been a few minutes)

I never figured out how to put in all that code. IT just ask for the server then name and password. I guess it is running on default.

let me know if I need to change anything.

PS. Jesus Christ Mr. Bear you are everywhere.[/quote]

Yeah mine is directly into the back of my PC ā€¦ I believe the issue was due to the wrong power adaptors being supplied with the powered USB hubsā€¦ some 1000mA cheap leads from china and the hub drawing too much and then spiking and frying the USB devices in thereā€¦ so if u just direct into your pc u should be fine as not heard any bad reports of that.

In order to run cgminer you can do it one of two waysā€¦
the first which u are doing (and I used to) by double clicking the cgminer.exe executable and either inputting the URL and username etc or setting a cgminer.conf and holding all the info in there.
The second way which allows you to run commands against the executable as i suggested in the post above, in order to do this u need to do the following:

Click the ā€œstartā€ icon > Type ā€œCMDā€ into the search text area > you have just opened a command promptā€¦

Now open a windows explorer and navigate to you folder with the version of cgminer you want to run and copy the file locationā€¦ something like C:CryptoCurrencies/Mining/CGminer3.0.1

now go back to the command prompt and type

cd C:CryptoCurrencies/Mining/CGminer3.0.1

and hit enterā€¦ this should take you to the directory with cgminer.exe in it on the command promptā€¦

Now you can run the command as i suggested in previous post

cgminer.exe --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100 -S COM7

Also if you are fed up of typing in the URL each time you know the cgminer.conf file?? have a look at the ā€œexample.confā€ fileā€¦ copy it and rename it to cgminer.conf and put in the URLā€™s and passwords etc ā€¦ this allows you to setup backup pools as well should the main pool u mining on goes downā€¦ trust me they do!! and it also allows you to tweak settings for your GPU etc if u mining on that as wellā€¦

I need to have a look round and see if there any other better parameters to run the USB devices on and I had some errors when doing this with cgminer 3.0.2 but that was a little while ago now so iā€™ll see what I can find and iā€™ll share it here.

NOTE *** If u hashing at 330MH then it all sounds good and there is a saying donā€™t change something if it not broken!! so keep a copy of your exact setup before playing round with these different techniques to run cgminer.

Oh and me being everywhere!! hehe well i am a bit of a crypto junkie!! u see me on the PPC pool, uā€™ll find me on here, and devcointalk.org as i run both these forums, been into cryptoā€™s for over a year now and also am an admin on devtome and have almost got my own Massively Merged mining pool setup :smiley: but still needs workā€¦ just a shame I have a normal 9-5 job as well that takes up so much of my days, and I have a boat i live on that is badly in need of repair work being finished off and the cryptoā€™s distract me from that!! but it all good fun and I pleased to help out whereever i can and show my support to the communities :slight_smile:

FuzzyBear

[quote=ā€œRejinx, post:1, topic:145ā€]I just received my Block Erupter USB. The main reason I wanted one was to mine PPC or other future compatible coins.
However, I read that it could be a job to get it working on other coins.

Is anyone Mining PPC with this device and if so, how would I go about setting it up?

Thank for any help you can provide. :D[/quote]

Has this been working for you? Iā€™m glad you started this thread, I have some similar questions but perhaps Iā€™m a bit more of a novice than you.

Iā€™m currently GPU mining BTC with Bitminter as itā€™s extremely ā€œnewbā€ friendly. This means I currently do not have any experience even with the GUIminer.

Have you had some success with the Block Erupter on the GUIminer? Alternatively do you know of any ā€œnewbā€ friendly pools for PPC that have their own software similar to yPool or Bitminter?

Thanks for reading

[quote=ā€œviscera, post:10, topic:145ā€][quote=ā€œRejinx, post:1, topic:145ā€]I just received my Block Erupter USB. The main reason I wanted one was to mine PPC or other future compatible coins.
However, I read that it could be a job to get it working on other coins.

Is anyone Mining PPC with this device and if so, how would I go about setting it up?

Thank for any help you can provide. :D[/quote]
Has this been working for you? Iā€™m glad you started this thread, I have some similar questions but perhaps Iā€™m a bit more of a novice than you.

Iā€™m currently GPU mining BTC with Bitminter as itā€™s extremely ā€œnewbā€ friendly. This means I currently do not have any experience even with the GUIminer.

Have you had some success with the Block Erupter on the GUIminer? Alternatively do you know of any ā€œnewbā€ friendly pools for PPC that have their own software similar to yPool or Bitminter?

Thanks for reading[/quote]

once you get familiar with what you have to do with cgminer it really is not that hard and if you are using ypool miner then you are familiar with enough to use cgminer. Start your own thread and we will help walk you through it. Start by downloading cgminer from here : http://ck.kolivas.org/apps/cgminer/3.1/cgminer-3.1.0-windows.zip
This is the windows version I am running at the moment and have and it is a version that works with the USB block eruptor. There are later versions but I am yet to try them and there was issues with version 3.2
You can also use it to GPU mine as well at the same time so if you are still waiting on your USB try with the GPU and see how u do.

Once downloaded, unzip the files to a location and then open up command prompt
type

cd c:/Your/directory/path/cgminer3.1.0

and hit return and that should take you to the cgminer folder
now look in the folder that has been unzipped and find the file example.conf
You want to copy this file, rename it cgminer.conf and edit the cgminer.conf file. It may be worth downloading notepad++ to edit the file as notepad has issues sometimesā€¦
then make that config file look like this:

{
"pools" : [
	{
		"url" : "http://ppc.fixx.ru:8437",
		"user" : "YOUR_USERNAME.WORKER",
		"pass" : "WORKER_PASSWORD"
	},
	{
		"url" : "http://fuzzypool.mine.bz:9332",
		"user" : "YOUR_BTC_ADDRESS",
		"pass" : "ANYTHING"
	}
]
,
"intensity" : "d",
"vectors" : "1",
"worksize" : "256",
"kernel" : "poclbm",
"lookup-gap" : "0",
"thread-concurrency" : "0",
"shaders" : "0",
"gpu-engine" : "0-0",
"gpu-fan" : "0-100",
"gpu-memclock" : "0",
"gpu-memdiff" : "0",
"gpu-powertune" : "0",
"gpu-vddc" : "0.000",
"temp-cutoff" : "95",
"temp-overheat" : "85",
"temp-target" : "75",
"api-port" : "4028",
"expiry" : "0",
"fix-protocol" : true,
"gpu-dyninterval" : "50",
"gpu-platform" : "0",
"gpu-threads" : "1",
"hotplug" : "5",
"log" : "5",
"no-pool-disable" : true,
"queue" : "0",
"scan-time" : "10",
"temp-hysteresis" : "3",
"shares" : "0",
"kernel-path" : "/usr/local/bin",
"icarus-options" : "115200:1:1",
"icarus-timing" : "3.0=100"
}

then go back to the command prompt and type the line

cgminer.exe 

and let me know what it doesā€¦ chances are you may start mining and then how smug do you feel :smiley:

if the command prompt goes to a page looking like this you are mining :slight_smile:

FuzzyBear

So I just received 6x of these block eruptors and have installed the necessary driver. I downloaded CGMiner, but am not entirely sure how to setup the config file.

I currently mine primecoins on my CPU, and I want to mine PPC with the eruptors, but I dont want the GPU getting tangled up in the mix for now. I am considering feathercoin which I would mine on the GPUs so I definitely want to keep them free for now.

How should I setup my .config file?

I was also curious if I needed to maintain a separate wallet in addition to CGMiner?

[quote=ā€œDeWizLoc, post:12, topic:145ā€]So I just received 6x of these block eruptors and have installed the necessary driver. I downloaded CGMiner, but am not entirely sure how to setup the config file.

I currently mine primecoins on my CPU, and I want to mine PPC with the eruptors, but I dont want the GPU getting tangled up in the mix for now. I am considering feathercoin which I would mine on the GPUs so I definitely want to keep them free for now.

How should I setup my .config file?

I was also curious if I needed to maintain a separate wallet in addition to CGMiner?[/quote]

Welcome to the Forum DeWizLock :slight_smile:

Ok you can run multiple instances of cgminer on one PC, you can also run the cgminer-nogpu.exe to only run your USB miners.

I would probably recommend you create two folders on your computerā€¦ one called SHA256 and the other script. Now paste a complete copy of all the files you downloaded for cgminer in each. This way you can set and save two different cgminer.conf files.

Note for mining with multiple USB devices you will need to run cgminer with the optionsā€¦

cgminer-nogpu.exe --icarus-options 115200:1:1 --icarus-timing 3.0=100 -S //./COM7 -S //./COM12 -S //./COM14

This will run ONLY your USB minersā€¦ remove the -nogpu part and you will mine with your graphics card as well.

Regarding a walletā€¦ I donā€™t know how you store your coins, but yes I like to keep a PPC wallet on my PC, I pool mine though and I would advise you do as well, but I donā€™t like to keep too many coins on a website or public server.

FuzzyBear

Thanks for the help. Ive got my block eruptors up and running in the sevens 520 pool right now.

Im a bit surprised by how many HW errors these guys generate. I should have just about 2GH/sec on this setup and its barely managing 1.8GH on average. Still GH/w is far better than I could do with GPUs so I cant really complain.

im still having issues getting this to work :frowning:

Be sure to be running cgminer version 3.1.0 or 3.1.1 as later versions I have not been able to get working with the USB miners. I understand Blades do not work on any cgminer software.

FuzzyBear

I am currently trying to mine PPC using Coinotronā€™s pool, CGMiner, and 8 ASIC USBā€™s. After a few hours of searching online and trying different things from guides all over the place I am still sitting here looking at solid green LEDā€™s and Iā€™m fighting the urge to throw them against the wall. :slight_smile:

Is there any Step by Step tutorial, or an up to date YouTube video tutorial or something that will guide me in the right direction?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Currently when I try to run cgminer-nogpu.exe it tells me that no device is detected, I have installed the drivers and my computer shows the devices in their com ports. Talk about frustration.

Finally got it to mine, but I am getting a ton of HW errors. invalid nonce - HW Error

Anyone have anyway to solve this?

[quote=ā€œForceFed, post:18, topic:145ā€]Finally got it to mine, but I am getting a ton of HW errors. invalid nonce - HW Error

Anyone have anyway to solve this?[/quote]
think i on about 1% HW errorsā€¦
Have you a fan blowing on the miners?
what your internet connection like?

[quote=ā€œDeWizLoc, post:14, topic:145ā€]Thanks for the help. Ive got my block eruptors up and running in the sevens 520 pool right now.

Im a bit surprised by how many HW errors these guys generate. I should have just about 2GH/sec on this setup and its barely managing 1.8GH on average. Still GH/w is far better than I could do with GPUs so I cant really complain.[/quote]

thats because cgminer is a pain to use for them once I seen that I was getting many hw errors I moved over to bfg miner and the drivers for them to use with it and then I have started to use a new multiminer app.

If I get chance this week I will submit a full guide on how to use the usb miners as I have 30 of them all running perfect.