Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is decentralized digital money designed to be used over the internet. Bitcoin, which launched in 2008, was the first cryptocurrency, and it remains by far the biggest, most influential, and best-known. In the years since, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum have grown as digital alternatives to money issued by governments. There are now over 20,000 different cryptocurrencies in circulation.
The Blockchain
Cryptocurrency hinges on The Blockchain. It would not exist without it.
Short Explanation
“The blockchain” is a decentralized, immutable digital ledger that records transactions across a network, ensuring transparency and security in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Long Explanation
The cryptocurrency blockchain is a revolutionary technology that underpins digital currencies like Bitcoin. It functions as a decentralized, distributed ledger, recording and verifying transactions across a network of computers. Unlike traditional financial systems, there's no central authority; instead, a consensus mechanism ensures trust among participants.
Each block in the chain contains a batch of transactions, and once confirmed, it becomes immutable. This immutability ensures security and prevents tampering, making the blockchain highly transparent and resistant to fraud. Participants, called nodes, maintain copies of the entire blockchain, adding new blocks through complex cryptographic processes, like mining.
This innovation has far-reaching implications, extending beyond finance to supply chain management, voting systems, and more, due to its potential for secure, transparent record-keeping in various fields.
Blockchain difficulty
This is one of the most important parts of mining to understand. You can read a detailed description of it by our Mining Manager here. ‘Difficulty’ is how the puzzle adjusts in order to maintain a level playing field and network stability. It takes a lot of computing power to create ‘hashes’ in order to try to solve the puzzle.
But if millions of people are all trying to solve the puzzle with lots of computing power, then the puzzle will get solved more quickly and more frequently, right?
Wrong. The network difficulty adjusts itself to maintain more or less the same block time (eg. ~10 minutes for Bitcoin), meaning more or less the same probability of validating a block. The more miners are mining (trying to solve the puzzle with their computer power) the harder the difficulty gets. When this happens, miners need even more computing power to solve the puzzle, so those who don’t have enough (older machines for example) either upgrade their hardware, buy more hardware, or stop mining (since the extra cost of hardware + electricity makes mining for them unprofitable or less profitable during the time difficulty is high).
So what happens then? Doesn’t that mean it’s not profitable for anyone?
Well then many miners stop mining since they are not profitable, but when miners start to drop off the network, the difficulty adjusts downwards (easier) and mining becomes more profitable again (less hashpower needed to solve the puzzle during when difficulty is easy, since less computer power is needed, resulting in lower operating cost), and the cycle repeats.
Transactions
Graphic image showing how bitcoin transactions work
Buying
The easiest way to acquire cryptocurrency is to purchase on an online exchange like Coinbase, which is the world's most trusted and most secure platform to buy, sell and manage crypto.
Recurring Buys
Recurring buys are repeated, automatic purchases of cryptocurrency. By using dollar-cost-averaging (DCA) — investing a fixed amount of cash at regular time intervals, used commonly by investors — investing can be less risky. It is a good way of avoiding price fluctuation. Recurring buys use DCA to automatically carry out trades.
Recurring Buys And Why You Should Start Doing It With Your Crypto
Coinbase
You have the option to set up recurring buys for the assets of your choice. Acceptable payment methods include your cash balance (USD, GBP, EUR, etc.), ACH (US only), EBT (UK only), or 3D secure cards.
The following frequencies are offered:
- Daily: Every day starting the day you set up the recurring buy
- Weekly: Every week on the day that you set up the recurring buy
- 1st and 15th of the month: Twice a month (plus the day that you set up the recurring buy)
- Monthly: Every month on the 30th (plus the day that you set up the recurring buy)
Coinbase - How to set up recurring buys
Top Assets
- Bitcoin
- Ethereum
- Tether
- XRP
- Cardano
- Dogecoin
- Solana
- TRON
- Litecoin
- Polygon
https://www.coinbase.com/browse
Exchange Rate
BTC / GBP - how many bitcoins to get to £1
Exchanges
Binance
Convert
You can convert between cryptocurrency for free in Binance.
Convert from US Dollar Coin (USDC) to US Dollar Tether (USDT) with zero fees.
- Binance > Convert > Amount > Convert > Confirm
Then, you can use your USDT to run a Crypto Trading Bot.
Coinbase
Transfer
How do I move crypto between my Coinbase Wallet and Coinbase.com account? | Coinbase Help
Transfer from Coinbase to Binance for FREE
Use the MATIC Polygon network to move US Dollar Coin (USDC) from Coinbase to Binance with zero fees.
- Binance > Wallet Overview > Deposit > Crypto Deposit > Select Coin > USDC > Select Network > MATIC Polygon > Deposit Address > Copy
- Coinbase > My Assets > USD Coin > Click the 3 dots > Send > Amount > Paste Address (from Binance) > Continue > Change Network > MATIC Polygon > Send
API
Prices
curl -s https://api.coinbase.com/v2/prices/ETH-USD/spot | jq -r .data.amount
ByBit
AI
BotCrypto - Crypto Trading Bots
Trading
Pionex
How do I transfer assets from Coinbase to Pionex?
Links
A Complete Guide to Cryptocurrency Trading for Beginners
Investocks - Investocks allows you to actively invest in most popular cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin and more, profit from market rallies and declines, or hedge your existing cryptocurrency holdings.
Staking
Staking is a process by which individuals lock their cryptocurrency (their "stake") to support the security and operation of a blockchain network. When someone stakes their coins, they are essentially helping to secure the chain and validate transactions on the blockchain.
Staking is only possible on blockchains such as Ethereum and Cardano based on a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. PoS differs from the proof-of-work (PoW) used in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, where miners use computing power to validate transactions. Staking coins makes users' holdings less liquid because the coins are tied up in the staking process.
Individuals can usually still access their staked coins but may only be able to use them for other purposes once they are no longer staked. You can unstake your crypto at any time, and your crypto is always yours.
Example rates ...
- Solana = 4.35%
- Ethereum = 3.29%
- Cardano = 2.00%
Coinbase Help - Earn Rewards with Staking
Binance Help - What is Staking?
Stablecoins
Stablecoins are tokens pegged to an external asset, such as gold or the U.S. dollar, which ensures price stability. These coins are usually backed by the external asset, commonly USD, minimizing risk. Nonetheless, some stablecoins are collateralized by other cryptocurrencies, which elevates the risk factor. Stablecoins are generally less volatile. For instance, USDC remains fixed at $1 and is supported by numerous financial institutions. In a highly unstable market, stablecoins offer stability by being collateralized.
- US Dollar Coin (USDC) = 4.60%
Wallets
This is really, really clever.
The beauty of a crypto wallet is down to the fact that it does not store any actual money on it. When you create a crypto wallet, the software (like those listed below) generates a key from a 12 or 24 word 'seed phrase' and embeds this key in the blockchain - so it knows what the wallet is for and what it contains. There is NO name or email address or password involved. This is constantly being verified IN the blockchain and updated to match what you have in your wallet. Which means, you can install ANY crypto wallet software, import your unique 12 word key and your balance will be shown.
Seed Phrase Words
These words are chosen from a total of 2048 recovery words defined in the BIP39 standard.
This MUST be written down, or etched in Steel. No seriously, really etched in actual steel - because this is fireproof. Then, this must be kept in a VERY safe place - given to a relative.
This is your cryptocurrency - those 12 words are the key to your money.
It's as simple and as paranoid as that.
Software (Hot)
This is an app running on your phone, tablet or computer which creates a software based wallet
Hardware (Cold)
https://cryptosteel.com/product/cryptosteel-capsule-solo/
https://bitbox.swiss/steelwallet/
A crypto hardware wallet is a secure physical device for storing and managing cryptocurrency private keys offline.
https://www.howtogeek.com/804636/best-crypto-hardware-wallet/
Lightning
The Lightning Network is designed to make bitcoin transactions as fast and cheap as possible. It is part of a newer class of crypto technologies known as "layer 2" blockchains, which you can think of as being a little like HOV lanes on highways. By offloading some transaction "traffic" to the Lightning Network's "layer 2" blockchain, the core Bitcoin blockchain ("layer 1") can move faster.
https://bluewallet.io/lightning/
Miscellaneous
Desktop wallet
Sparrow Wallet (https://www.sparrowwallet.com) - superb! Nun-chuk (https://nunchuk.io)
Mobile wallet (on-chain)
Nun-chuk (https://nunchuk.io)
Mobile wallet (lightning)
Wallet of Satoshi (https://www.walletofsatoshi.com) Phoenix (https://phoenix.acinq.co) Muun (https://muun.com) Zeus - good for connecting to your own node (https://zeusln.app)
Atomic swaps (for on-chain to lightning conversion)
Boltz (https://boltz.exchange/swap)
Hardware wallets
Coldcard (https://coldcard.com) - expensive but the best imho Trezor (https://trezor.io) Ledger (https://www.ledger.com)
Tax
UK Tax Law - Easily sync wallets and prepare HRMC forms
Hodling
Bitcoin hodling is a strategy that involves continuous storage of bitcoins as a way to mitigate volatility and make considerable returns. While this method takes a lot of time to show tangible results and requires patience, it is one of the safest and most solid ways to take advantage of Bitcoin.
Mining
Cryptocurrency mining is the process of validating transactions and adding them to a blockchain by solving complex mathematical puzzles, typically done using powerful computers to earn rewards.
Mining is the process that Bitcoin and several other cryptocurrencies use to generate new coins and verify new transactions. It involves vast, decentralized networks of computers around the world that verify and secure blockchains - the virtual ledgers that document cryptocurrency transactions.
The more powerful your computer, the more "hash rate" it has and can contribute a higher percentage of solving the puzzle and gain a higher reward.
Crypto mining is a calculation-intensive, puzzle-solving-like computation process that requires high processing power along with high electricity consumption. The miner who first solves the puzzle gets to place the next block on the blockchain and claim the rewards. Rewards include the miner becoming the owner of the newly released bitcoin, or getting fees linked to the transactions performed in the block.
Farm > Rig > Worker
The miner, or worker, can be either CPU, GPU or ASIC based.
- CPU = Central Processing Unit
- GPU = Graphics Processing Unit
- ASIC = Application Specific Integrated Circuit
Today, there are thousands of dedicated farms around the world running millions of rigs.
How Many Bitcoins Are There?
- 19,489,350 = Total BTC in Existence
- 1,510,650 = Bitcoins Left to Be Mined
- 92.806% = Percentage of Bitcoins Issued
- 900 = New Bitcoins per Day
Hash Rate
How Is The Hash Rate Measured & its Unit?
Hash rate is a unit measured in hashes per second or [h/s] and here are some usual denominations used to refer it.
Hash rate denominations
1 kH/s is 1,000 (one thousand) hashes per second - "kilohash". 1 MH/s is 1,000,000 (one million) hashes per second - "megahash". 1 GH/s is 1,000,000,000 (one billion) hashes per second - "gigahash". 1 TH/s is 1,000,000,000,000 (one trillion) hashes per second - "terahash". 1 PH/s is 1,000,000,000,000,000 (one quadrillion) hashes per second - "petahash". 1 EH/s is 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 (one quintillion) hashes per second - "extahash".
List of Mining Pools
Braiins Pool - superb!
Coins To Mine
GPU Mining Rig
- Frame
- Motherboard
- CPU
- RAM
- Power Supply
- Cables
- PCIe Riser Boards
- Graphics Cards
Frame
Motherboard
CPU
RAM
Power Supply
ZSX Breakout Board 'Game Changer'
Cables
PCIe Riser Boards
Graphics Cards
Hard Drive Mining
What Is Hard Drive Mining?
Hard drive mining is a way of generating cryptocurrency using the storage space of hard disk drives. HDD miners do not require graphics processing units (GPUs) or ASIC miners, like in traditional mining farms, to produce new blocks in the distributed ledger. Instead, this method uses a set of hard disk drives and unused storage space, also known as proof of capacity.
Practically any device with loads of storage space can be used in HDD mining, as it needs less computational power than the Proof of Work, thus using less energy in the long term. New data blocks are generated when miners use their hard disks in the distributed ledger and, accordingly, get rewarded.
https://coindoo.com/hard-drive-mining/
Chia
Chia is a cryptocurrency and blockchain with smart transaction capabilities. It was designed from the ground up to make cryptocurrency easier to use (and harder to lose) than cash.
The 'Proof of Space and Time' is the only Nakamoto consensus algorithm since Proof of Work, while also having a much lower energy consumption. Part of Chia's vision involves improving the carbon footprint of the blockchain industry.
The coin has not been released and is not available to buy or trade yet (as of writing this) but when it is, miners will be rewarded... so NOW is the time to jump in and get started :)
Chia plotting and farming can seem daunting at first, but it's a relatively straightforward process:
- Obtain hardware
- Install Chia
- Run and configure Chia
- Create a plot
- Start farming
Hardware
- Raspberry Pi 4 4GB or NanoPC T4
- nVME or SSD Drive for the OS and plotting
- xTB Hard Disk Drive for the storage
... or a prebuilt solution ...
Software
- official Chia OS for Windows, macOS, Linux and Raspberry Pi (or similar ARM based SoC)
Instructions
Warning
Hard drives have moving parts and wear out, so I am thinking I need a regular replication process to copy a complete hard drive to a newer one just in case :)
Solo Lottery Mining
This is the least amount of effort for the slimest chance of a high reward (about 180 Billion to one).
LOLMiner
AMD & Nvidia & Intel Miner for Etchash, Autolykos2, Beam, Grin, Ae, ALPH, Flux, Equihash, Kaspa, Nexa, Ironfish and more.
Best Dual Miner for KASPA and ALPH with full Unlock LHR in all ALGOs.
https://github.com/Lolliedieb/lolMiner-releases
XMRig
XMRig is a high performance, open source, cross platform RandomX, KawPow, CryptoNight and GhostRider unified CPU/GPU miner and RandomX benchmark. Official binaries are available for Windows, Linux, macOS and FreeBSD.
Installation and Usage
System Tweaks
First, if you have 4GB or more RAM for your rig, then enable Huge Pages support in Linux, which will improve your mining performance ...
sudo bash -c "echo vm.nr_hugepages=1280 >> /etc/sysctl.conf" sudo sysctl -w vm.nr_hugepages=1280
Reduce CPU Usage
In your config, look for something like:
"rx/0": [-1, -1, -1],
The number of -1's will be the number of threads the miner will use (in the above case, it's configured to use 3 threads). Just start removing -1's until you get the overall CPU usage you're looking for.
Compile Software
Generate Configuration
Generate your config file using the XMRig Wizard, which will look something like this ...
{
"autosave": true,
"cpu": true,
"opencl": false,
"cuda": false,
"pools": [
{
"coin": "monero",
"algo": "rx/0",
"url": "stratum+tcp://randomxmonero.auto.nicehash.com:9200",
"user": "NHbLd5exQeCGGyWnopVoLHLbzexKN5z8iq7p.raspberrypizero2",
"pass": "x",
"tls": false,
"keepalive": true,
"nicehash": true
}
]
}
Start XMRig
Then, save it to a file and use that on the command line ...
./xmrig -c /Users/paullittlefield/xmrig_config.json
If successful you will see the following ...
* ABOUT XMRig/6.20.0 clang/13.0.0
* LIBS libuv/1.46.0 OpenSSL/3.1.2 hwloc/2.9.2
* HUGE PAGES supported
* 1GB PAGES unavailable
* CPU Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4308U CPU @ 2.80GHz (1) 64-bit AES
L2:0.5 MB L3:3.0 MB 2C/4T NUMA:1
* MEMORY 6.2/8.0 GB (77%)
DIMM0: 4 GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz 0x484D54343531533641465238412D50422020
DIMM0: 4 GB DDR3 @ 1600 MHz 0x484D54343531533641465238412D50422020
* MOTHERBOARD Apple Inc. - Mac-189A3D4F975D5FFC
* DONATE 1%
* ASSEMBLY auto:intel
* POOL #1 stratum+tcp://randomxmonero.auto.nicehash.com:9200 coin Monero
* COMMANDS hashrate, pause, resume, results, connection
* OPENCL disabled
* CUDA disabled
[2023-08-10 21:47:09.349] net use pool randomxmonero.auto.nicehash.com:9200 34.149.22.228
[2023-08-10 21:47:09.350] net new job from randomxmonero.auto.nicehash.com:9200 diff 238106 algo rx/0 height 52433
[2023-08-10 21:47:09.350] cpu use argon2 implementation AVX2
[2023-08-10 21:47:09.350] randomx init dataset algo rx/0 (4 threads) seed c5596b1df4d0b3f5...
[2023-08-10 21:47:09.942] randomx allocated 2336 MB (2080+256) huge pages 0% 0/1168 +JIT (592 ms)
[2023-08-10 21:47:20.091] randomx dataset ready (10148 ms)
[2023-08-10 21:47:20.091] cpu use profile rx (2 threads) scratchpad 2048 KB
[2023-08-10 21:47:21.257] cpu READY threads 2/2 (2) huge pages 0% 0/2 memory 4096 KB (1167 ms)
[2023-08-10 21:47:39.118] net new job from randomxmonero.auto.nicehash.com:9200 diff 238106 algo rx/0 height 52433
NVIDIA CUDA
The CUDA plugin build is optional and only required if you like to use NVIDIA GPUs. Follow instructions on https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads to install CUDA then do the following ...
git clone https://github.com/xmrig/xmrig-cuda.git mkdir xmrig-cuda/build && cd xmrig-cuda/build cmake .. -DCUDA_LIB=/usr/local/cuda/lib64/stubs/libcuda.so -DCUDA_TOOLKIT_ROOT_DIR=/usr/local/cuda make -j$(nproc)
Then, continue with the main XMRig installation.
https://xmrig.com/docs/miner/build/ubuntu
NiceHash
NiceHash is the world's leading hashpower marketplace, where you connect your computers as miners and earn Bitcoin for every share.
Links
CPU and GPU Mining with NiceHash QuickMiner
NiceHash Rig Manager User Guide
Connect HiveOS rig to NiceHash
Mining Hardware
| Type | Name | Speed | NiceHash Profitability |
|---|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU M 380 @ 2.53GHz | 0.20 kH/s | 0.00000035 |
| CPU | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4250U CPU @ 1.30GHz | 0.25 kH/s | 0.00000111 |
| CPU | Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-6200U CPU @ 2.30GHz | 0.75 kH/s | 0.00000125 |
| CPU | AMD FX(tm)-4350 Quad-Core Processor @ 4.20GHz | 0.95 kH/s | 0.00000104 |
| GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 960 | 7.15 kH/s | ???? |
| ASIC | LKETC Dragon | 130.00 kH/s | on public-pool.airdns.org low difficulty |
| ASIC | GekkoScience 2PAC | 9.80 GH/s | on Braiins Pool |
| ASIC | GekkoScience COMPAC-F | 120.80 GH/s | on Braiins Pool |
| Example | Example | Example | Example |
Disable X on NiceHash OS
- Set your SSH password and/or SSH Key in the
configuration.jsonfile on the root of the USB drive. - Use the USB drive in your computer and boot as normal.
- Watch the NHM4 Information screen for registration and check your web Dashboard for the rig to appear correctly.
- Log in to your rig over SSH and type 'sudo -i' to become root.
- First, disable X with the command
systemctl disable lightdm.service - Second, make the boot console only with the command
nano /etc/default/gruband change the lines so that it they readGRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="text nomodeset quiet consoleblank=60"andGRUB_TERMINAL=console - Type the command
update-grubto save your changes. - Then, type
rebootand watch the magic happen :)
Help
How to make a Coinbase withdrawal from NiceHash
Hiveon
Hiveon is the ultimate mining platform which allows users to setup, mine and control processes more effectively and hassle-free across thousands of rigs all from a single place. Everything you and your team need to keep your farm at peak efficiency.
- Farm = a group of rigs which mine.
- Rig = a mining device equipped with a motherboard, CPU, RAM, SSD/HDD, and GPU.
- Worker = a piece of hardware which will mine.
Setup
I really needed these simple, step by step instructions because it is not clear and some of the links are dead (sigh).
STAGE 1
- create an account at Hiveon
- confirm the link in the email
- log in
- your first farm will be automatically created
- click add rig
- follow the wizard to download the Hiveon OS and burn it to your USB drive
- in the wizard, download the rig.conf file
- when the USB drive has finished being created, take it out, then back in and mount HIVE partition
- copy that rig.conf file to the HIVE partition and then unmount the drive partition
- pull out the drive and put it in your mining rig computer
- start the computer and watch your Hiveon Dashboard for the rig to appear in your farm
STAGE 2
How to create a wallet and a flight sheet, and to start mine in Hiveon OS
My God, this was hard work...
https://hiveon.com/forum/t/nicehash-read-error-end-of-file/81387/8
Help
Change the repo used in the HiveOS ubuntu distribution
Dashboard > Farm > Rig > Settings > Repo Select: http://download2.hiveos.farm/repo/binary
When you try to upgrade and it fails with the following error:-
selfupgrade && sreboot (failed, exitcode=100)
Open a web shell and type the following ...
sudo -i rm /var/lib/apt/lists/* -vf
Edit the file /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hiverepo.list and delete all of it then add this line ...
deb [trusted=yes] http://download2.hiveos.farm/repo/binary /
Then, continue with these commands ...
apt-get clean apt-get update apt-get check selfupgrade sreboot
Update the Kernel
hive shell start
hive-replace -y -s reboot
Links
Connect HiveOS rig to NiceHash
The most profitable Ethereum Classic mining pool for GPU rigs
How to Install Hive OS to a M.2 SATA or mSATA drive
Bobcat Miner 300
The Bobcat Miner 300 is a wireless hotspot miner that allows users to mine Helium (HNT) cryptocurrency by providing wireless coverage and processing wireless transactions.
Setup
Current firmware version: 1.0.3.17 My firmware version: 1.0.2.1Z_11217
Plug in your Ethernet cable first, then turn it on. Find out the IP address by using a network scanner then connect to it with your web browser. This will load the 'Diagnoser Diagnostic Dashboard' Then, click Reset to reset it, which will force it to firmware update over the Internet (and not it's antenna). When prompted, type "I Agree" and then YES, and then type in the username and password:-
username: bobcat password: miner
Wait. Wait some more. During The LED light will turn white, yellow, red, yellow and then green. This can take days. Wait for the light to go GREEN.
Continue with the Quick Start Guide.
Help
https://zendesk.bobber.com/hc/en-us/articles/4412905659675-How-to-Get-OTA-Updates-
https://cryptoguzzler.com/bobcat-miners-everything-to-know/
https://www.reddit.com/r/HeliumNetwork/comments/12v5mbg/bobcat_miner_stuck_at_error_wait/
https://www.reddit.com/r/HeliumNetwork/comments/15b8h7d/setting_up_bobcat300_uk/
https://device.report/bobcat/MINER3001
Fix OLD Firmware Bug With NEW Nebra Firmware
NEBRA Firmware and Instructions
DISCORD INSTRUCTIONS
This method is tested and verified now on Linux and Mac ... (Image only currently works on g290 and g295)...
We also support g280 (which is the 1gb bobcat, this uses a different image though and can run using SD card. See https://support.nebra.com/support/solutions/articles/24000085839-getting-started-with-bobcat-1g
sudo apt update sudo apt install snapd sudo reboot sudo snap install core sudo snap install rkdeveloptool --edge
Follow these instructions to install the Rockchip flashing tools depending on the OS you run on your PC: https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock3/install/rockchip-flash-tools.
If you try to compile on Linux and you receive this error ...
configure: error: C++ preprocessor fails sanity check
Then you look in side the error.log file and find this ...
cpp: fatal error: cannot execute 'cc1plus': execvp: No such file or directory
Then you install these extra programs ...
sudo apt-get install gcc g++
Then you can continue to compile ...
aclocal autoreconf -f -i CXXCPP=/usr/bin/cpp ./configure make
Copy the software to your main system location, ready for running ...
sudo cp -av rkdeveloptool /usr/local/bin/ sudo ldconfig
Test to make sure it works ...
rkdeveloptool -v
Download and extract/unzip the Helium Nebra OS image for the Bobcat RK3566. https://github.com/NebraLtd/helium-bobcat-rk3566/releases
Open the case of the Bobcat unit so you can access the two small buttons on the board labeled "reset" and "recovery" or similar. You will need a T9 Torx Screwdriver - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193865952874 or just the end bit https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/334425081302
Use a micro USB cable to connect the Bobcat to your PC (below instructions for Mac and Linux). The Bobcat has two micro USB connectors; use the one that's accessible from the back panel (labeled "USB_OTG" on the PCB).
Power the Bobcat via its regular power adapter while connected to the PC via micro USB.
Press and hold the "recovery" button; quickly press and release the "reset" button; release the "recovery" button after about 1 second. This will put your device into the so-called "loader" mode.
Then run ...
sudo rkdeveloptool ld
... which should print a device in "loader" mode.
DevNo=1 Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x350a,LocationID=102 Loader
Then run ...
sudo rkdeveloptool ef
... which should take about one minute to erase the flash.
Erasing flash complete.
Then you need to reset the board by pressing the reset button, and afterwards run ...
sudo rkdeveloptool ld
... which should print a device in "maskrom" mode.
DevNo=1 Vid=0x2207,Pid=0x350a,LocationID=102 Maskrom
Then download and install the new ROM with ...
wget https://dl.radxa.com/rock3/images/loader/rock-3a/rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.10.111.bin sudo rkdeveloptool db rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.10.111.bin
... which downloads and installs the bootloader used for various rkdeveloptool commands.
‘rk356x_spl_loader_ddr1056_v1.10.111.bin’ saved [453056/453056] Downloading bootloader succeeded.
Then run ...
sudo rkdeveloptool td
... which should succeed communicating with the device.
Test Device OK.
Then run ...
sudo rkdeveloptool wl 0 /path/to/extracted_nebra_image.img
... replacing with the actual image path. This will write the OS image onto the eMMC at address 0.
Write LBA from file (100%)
Then you just need to reset (press reset button) the board and enjoy Nebra firmware.
You will need to use Ethernet initially. And you can set up the WiFi again using the Nebra app over Bluetooth.
You can verify its working by checking the following ...
- device will appear in your network with hostname of nebra-xxxxxx where the Xs are the last 6 digits of the MAC address (this will be a different MAC address to what is printed on the device label)
- after the unit has fully booted you will see a green light flashing
- after the unit has fully booted you should see a Bluetooth device advertised for 5 minutes after it boots up (either via the Nebra hotspot app or another Bluetooth scanner app)
- after the unit has fully booted up you should be able to access the Nebra diagnostics page on the local IP address of the miner or the hostname mentioned above using http://nebra-xxxxxx/ or http://nebra-xxxxxx.local/ where the Xs are the last 6 digits of the MAC address (this will be a different MAC address to what is printed on the device label)
- after the unit has fully booted you should be able to see an SSH client on port 22222 (you won't be able to log in but you should be able to see/ping it)
Good luck.
REALLY GOOD INFORMATION AND TROUBLESHOOTING PAGE
Docker
Hardware Miners
altcoin usb miners. Work great for beginners and novice alike. Windows drivers installed on hardware so it's basically plug and play. Cgminer and bfgminer work great with linux. A USB hub and a few of these miners and you will have your own little mining farm. Raspberry pi makes good controller board.
Top 10 USB ASIC Miner - USB Flash Drives
USB ASIC SCRYPT 144KHS DRAGON LITECOIN MINERS
Raspberry Pi
This will not mine, but is only used as a controller for the ASIC USB.
This is an example /etc/rc.local file which starts the miner, keeps a ping on the server alive and sends a Pushover notification when it has booted ...
#!/bin/sh -e # # rc.local # # This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel. # Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other # value on error. # # In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution # bits. # # By default this script does nothing. # Print the IP address _IP=$(hostname -I) || true if [ "$_IP" ]; then printf "My IP address is %s\n" "$_IP" fi sleep 10s /etc/init.d/procps force-reload # disable HDMI /usr/bin/tvservice -o screen -S MINER -d -m /root/cgminer-kanoi/cgminer --gekko-2pac-detect --url stratum+tcp://eu.stratum.braiins.com:3333 --user mybraiinsusername.raspberrypi-asic-2pac --pass my password sleep 10s screen -S PING -d -m /usr/bin/ping -i 10 eu.stratum.braiins.com /usr/bin/curl -s --form-string "token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" --form-string "user=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" --form-string "title=`hostname -f`" --form-string "message=has booted with IP address `hostname -I`" https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json &>/dev/null exit 0
GekkoScience
https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer
https://pool.braiins.com/ - worked first time!
Instructions
Build the software ...
sudo -i apt update apt install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-openssl-dev libudev-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev git screen -y mkdir cgminer-kanoi git clone https://github.com/kanoi/cgminer.git cgminer-kanoi cd cgminer-kanoi ./autogen.sh CFLAGS="-O2 -Wall -march=native -fcommon" ./configure --enable-gekko make ./cgminer --version
Check the hardware ...
PLUG IN THE ASIC
dmesg | tail -n20 [ 4957.097527] usb 2-1.4: new full-speed USB device number 6 using xhci_hcd [ 4957.198835] usb 2-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0403, idProduct=6015, bcdDevice=10.00 [ 4957.198843] usb 2-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 [ 4957.198846] usb 2-1.4: Product: FT232EX [ 4957.198848] usb 2-1.4: Manufacturer: FTDI [ 4957.218436] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic [ 4957.218450] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic [ 4957.228500] usbcore: registered new interface driver ftdi_sio [ 4957.228516] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for FTDI USB Serial Device [ 4957.228594] ftdi_sio 2-1.4:1.0: FTDI USB Serial Device converter detected [ 4957.228634] usb 2-1.4: Detected FT-X [ 4957.230178] usb 2-1.4: FTDI USB Serial Device converter now attached to ttyUSB0 root@356fbd891b0e:~/cgminer-kanoi# lsusb Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:8000 Intel Corp. Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0781:5567 SanDisk Corp. Cruzer Blade Bus 002 Device 005: ID 0000:0606 Bus 002 Device 006: ID 0403:6015 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd Bridge(I2C/SPI/UART/FIFO) Bus 002 Device 003: ID 0000:0606 USB Hub 2.0 USB Hub 2.0 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Start the software ...
COMPACF
screen -S MINER -d -m /root/cgminer-kanoi/cgminer --gekko-compacf-detect -o stratum+tcp://eu.stratum.braiins.com:3333 -u myusername.nuc-asic-compacf -p mysuperpassword123
... and with tweaks ...
screen -S MINER -d -m /root/cgminer-kanoi/cgminer --gekko-compacf-detect --gekko-compacf-freq 460 --gekko-mine2 --gekko-start-freq 250 --suggest-diff 442 -o stratum+tcp://eu.stratum.braiins.com:3333 -u myusername.nuc-asic-compacf -p mysuperpassword123
2PAC
screen -S MINER -d -m /root/cgminer-kanoi/cgminer --gekko-2pac-detect -o stratum+tcp://eu.stratum.braiins.com:3333 -u myusername.raspberrypi-asic-2pac -p mysuperpassword123
... and with tweaks (needs checking) ...
screen -S MINER -d -m /root/cgminer-kanoi/cgminer --gekko-2pac-detect --gekko-2pac-freq 460 --gekko-mine2 --gekko-start-freq 250 --suggest-diff 442 -o stratum+tcp://eu.stratum.braiins.com:3333 -u myusername.nuc-asic-compacf -p mysuperpassword123
If you see any of these errors, try taking the miner stick out of the USB socket and plug it back in again.
No device found! GSD 0: Error, disabling now.
NerdMiner
A super small Bitcoin lottery miner that only uses 1 watt of power.
The Nerd Miner V2 is the ultimate micro Bitcoin mining solution for those seeking a compact, efficient, and captivating Bitcoin mining experience. The Nerd Miner V2 tries to solo mine a Bitcoin block. This means you have a chance to win a full Bitcoin block reward of 6.25 Bitcoin + transaction fees while supporting the Bitcoin network with hash power!
https://bitwater.ch/nerd-miner-v2/
https://docs.bitwater.ch/nerd-miner-v2/product-guide/setup
LKETC
Introduction
This is a cheap USB crypto miner that is no good for NiceHash or any other major mining pool.
Image of USB Bitcoin Miner with black box and gold writing
Installation
https://github.com/wareck/cgminer-lketc
Usage
Just use it on Con Kolivas' solo mining pool instead or another nice low difficulty share pool like NerdMiners or https://web.public-pool.io with the sha256 algorithm.
stratum+tcp://public-pool.io:21496 username: <your BTC address>.<worker name> password: x
So, the Linux command line would be ...
screen -S CGMINER-LKETC /root/cgminer-lketc/cgminer --sha256 --lketc-clock 280 --lketc-chips 6 --url stratum+tcp://public-pool.io:21496 --user 3HE4HcwsYjdTrGEs6foT6mUd66KDGNjqCU.paully-lketc-dragon --pass x
Cooling
https://www.etsy.com/listing/1522609963/similar?ref=internal_similar_listing_bot
Web3
What is Web 3.0 and How Will It Change the Internet?
How to Invest in Web3? Best Ways to Make Money on Web3
Help
Auto Start
Edit your /etc/rc.local file (in NiceHash OS or Raspberry OS) and add the following lines ...
# send message on boot /usr/bin/curl -s --form-string "token=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" --form-string "user=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" --form-string "title=`hostname -f`" --form-string "message=has booted with IP address `hostname -I`" https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json &>/dev/null # start ping screen -S PING -d -m /usr/bin/ping -i 10 web.public-pool.io # start cgminer screen -S CGMINER-LKETC -d -m /root/cgminer-lketc/cgminer --sha256 --lketc-clock 280 --lketc-chips 6 --url stratum+tcp://public-pool.io:21496 --user yourbitcoinaddress.yourminername --pass x # last line exit 0
Miscellaneous
Addresses
BTC - 3HE4HcwsYjdTrGEs6foT6mUd66KDGNjqCU ETH - 0x7Ffc8ecd53540d64e404807c49584429F5424111 USDC - 0x297a90e91DA088f53db6938637831e8C8EC80902 BCH - qrm97la2tv627ulcuw8a3rsvy9384zaf2c3qjz7jsh
