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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo II/BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 06/05/2025, 18:58:37 UTC
What is FutureBits' stance on the OP_RETURN debate? Would you give us an option to switch to Knots instead of Core for the node? And being able to filter out spam?
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 20/06/2024, 05:28:40 UTC
Question: When solo mining, it says  "Mine directly to your Bitcoin node" does that mean we need an address that comes from the node? Or any address will work?
Also, has any Apollo found a block yet?

Any legacy or non script segwit address will work, the newer longer segwit/taproot addresses wont work for solo mining.

Not yet, but someone found a 42 trillion share so far (highest that I know) which is 1/2 network diff...we are also going wide release and will push an email + UI upgrade soon so if a large majority of all apollo users go solo there should be a block pretty fast.

Of course we have no idea what our users are doing, where they are mining or what % is solo vs pool etc so can be difficult to gauge.

Thanks for the info.

Also, is it possible/doable to upgrade the fan of the Apollo II ? I find it pretty loud, not sure what kind of fan it is. I live in hot weather so the fan spins faster.
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 19/06/2024, 03:53:42 UTC
Question: When solo mining, it says  "Mine directly to your Bitcoin node" does that mean we need an address that comes from the node? Or any address will work?
Also, has any Apollo found a block yet?
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 11/06/2024, 06:05:09 UTC
Anyone had a successful flash to 2.0.5? I'm a bit weary to upgrade until others report some success, don't have time currently to stuff around reflashing SD cards

It seems it's worked for me because the node is running and the solo mining works.. but i can't reach the dashboard via the browser. Didn't test to plug the apollo directly by hdmi.

Same here, update seem to have worked and the miner is hashing but cannot access the dashboard. IP is the same (scanned with Angry IP scanner)
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 09/05/2024, 18:29:24 UTC
Is anybody able to connect Sparrow to the node with the new UI? Did you change anything in the bitcoin.conf file? Not able to connect... (User is "futurebit", right?)
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Re: Nicehash Pool
by
Jota_US
on 16/04/2024, 03:46:37 UTC
MCU1 full node with Apollo 2 Standard attached to USB.
Using  v2.0.4-beta

Noticed that hash rate to NiceHash is only a fraction of actual mining.
When looking at the stats only shows one of the 2 miners (Apollo2) reporting data at no more than fraction (1.2 TH) of actual rate (5.8TH).
Apollo BTC is showing 1.9 TH and 0TH on NiceHash account.


Is this on nice hash only? Would wait at least an hour for hashrate to settle.

Might be NiceHash only. One of the 2 (Apollo 2 S) is sending data at severely reduced rate even after a few hours. MCU1 unit does not send data at all as shown in the "Hashboards and Pools" page.
NiceHash may require separate Id's for each mining unit?


I believe what you are seeing is the Apollo BTC is hashing and the Apollo 2 is not.
That's why you see "reduced' hashrate but actually it's the Apollo BTC's hashrate that you are seeing. They are mislabeled in the software.


I have the same problem with miningrigrentals, I can only get the Apollo BTC to hash there, the Apollo 2 doesn't send data. It works fine on Braiins though, but I would like to have it work on MRR.
I believe you would need separate id's for each unit but it doesn't look like you can do that right now.

OK, I see and agree, they must be cross labeled or not reading assigned values. Also agree that some pools need separate Id's depending on how data is sent/received. I have a few GPU rigs on NiceHash and all cards on each rig have their own ID's

Hopefully Monday's update will address some of these issues as we are still in a Beta version.


I got both (MCU1 and Apollo II S) sending data at the same time to NiceHash by using "stratum+tcp://sha256asicboost.auto.nicehash.com:9200" instead of stratum+tcp://sha256.auto.nicehash.com:9200. However they do appear to be inversely labeled as displayed on the "Hashboards and Pools" page.


Ok thanks I'll try with asicboost and see if there is a difference on MMR.

By the way, anybody able to connect Sparrow to the node? Not sure why it's not connecting now (it was before the new OS). Do I have to put something in particular in bitcoin.conf?
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 15/04/2024, 18:58:13 UTC
anyone know what to do with the satscards? I'm in UK and haven't come across these before. 

Use it as a hardware wallet for your mining or solo mining address.

We included it for new users that dont have wallets so they can get started in one step by just importing the wallet address for either solo mining or mining straight to wallet address using ocean pool.

I didn't get a satscard...
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Re: Nicehash Pool
by
Jota_US
on 14/04/2024, 00:04:43 UTC
MCU1 full node with Apollo 2 Standard attached to USB.
Using  v2.0.4-beta

Noticed that hash rate to NiceHash is only a fraction of actual mining.
When looking at the stats only shows one of the 2 miners (Apollo2) reporting data at no more than fraction (1.2 TH) of actual rate (5.8TH).
Apollo BTC is showing 1.9 TH and 0TH on NiceHash account.


Is this on nice hash only? Would wait at least an hour for hashrate to settle.

Might be NiceHash only. One of the 2 (Apollo 2 S) is sending data at severely reduced rate even after a few hours. MCU1 unit does not send data at all as shown in the "Hashboards and Pools" page.
NiceHash may require separate Id's for each mining unit?


I believe what you are seeing is the Apollo BTC is hashing and the Apollo 2 is not.
That's why you see "reduced' hashrate but actually it's the Apollo BTC's hashrate that you are seeing. They are mislabeled in the software.

I have the same problem with miningrigrentals, I can only get the Apollo BTC to hash there, the Apollo 2 doesn't send data. It works fine on Braiins though, but I would like to have it work on MRR.
I believe you would need separate id's for each unit but it doesn't look like you can do that right now.
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 12/04/2024, 20:31:44 UTC
So the Apollo BTC (MCU1) recognized the Hashboard  (hashboard #0 Standard unit).

It started to hash and I started seeing activity on Braiins, although lower than 6+ TH/s
After 5-10 min, I got this error in the dashboard saying the Hashboard #0 is not Active

What is weird is it shows the standard unit is hashing but the Apollo BTC is not, what I see on the pool it looks like the Apollo BTC is actually mining at 2TH/s and the Standard unit is not.

https://gyazo.com/dfe922d3b8b19ac8d7cdd60d85f8ae30

https://gyazo.com/fb9a2fa0ee93a929906bc6cdf5d63167

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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 06/04/2024, 00:21:01 UTC
Yes, you have to wait for the MCU1 version of the OS to come out, unfortunately. Right now you can't use the Apollo 2 (I'm in the same boat).
Ngl a little disappointed that we as holdest customers get to use the Apollo 2 last, but it is what it is.. I'd rather they have it figured it out instead of rushing the OS out and risk bricking the machine or something.

Hello all.  I have one of the full node Apollo 1 machines and just got my Apollo II Standard to plug into the original Apollo and increase my hashrate.  I have followed the instructions that came with the machine and it does not appear to be increasing the hashrate of my original device in the mining pool.  Is there something else that needs to be done so that the two units will work together?  I know a new OS is coming out soon for the old machines but as of now, it doesn't seem like the original Apollo BTC Full Node is using the new Apollo II standard for any work.  Any help would be appreciated.
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 16/05/2023, 23:38:53 UTC
Hello,
I've been running the BTC miner with full node for a while now, but since this week end the node randomly goes offline and does not reconnect.
Anyone having this issue? I need the node to stay online.
The miner is still mining but the node just goes offline

I have been having the exact same issue, which means it's not us but something wrong on futurebit's end. I wrote them and they never wrote back  Huh
Good luck trying to get support, its almost non existent, if not EXTINCT... 

Not sure where you are coming up with this, we respond to every email and im looking at our support que right now and there are only 10 outstanding tickets that will probably be answered in the next few hours (and we only have queues after weekends).

So if your definition of non existent support means not answering your immediate question within 10 minutes, then yes we have non existent support and will continue to have non existent support. Im not hiring random support agents from India and driving up costs of our units by 20% to satisfy this urge.

All our support emails are answered by my team that work on the units themselves (including myself) and can actually answer your question, but this means you might not have a response for a few days.


Now in terms of the nodes issues we are not seeing anything on our test systems, nor any widespread outages (my first thought was the ordinals/BRC-20 fiasco causing issues, but even with 1G mempool we have plenty of memory overhead).

Second issue could be if you have a recent system (bought after Nov/Dec last year), we switch to a new controller heatsink and some units were assembled without the heatsink adhesive properly installed. If your node/system is shutting down, or your your MCU temp (the one on the top menu bar) is higher than 85c then this could be the issue. You'll need to remove the side panel the MCU is on and remove the MCU and reseat the heatsink (press down on it hard for at least 10 seconds to make sure the thermal pad is stuck on there well).

Second step if your still having an issue is to reflash your SD card to make sure there is no corruption that could be causing system instability, if your still having node issues email us with two below logs:

take a screenshot of system monitor while the node is still active (preferably after it has started up and synced), you can open a terminal and type htop for this
send log file of bitcoind, its in the Bitcoin folder inside the node drive (debug.log)

So it appears the node goes offline only when I connect to it after a few minutes (via Sparrow Wallet). Can it be because it is overheating, connecting to the node actually makes it run hotter?!? I bought the unit couple years ago and I just cleaned it so it shouldn't overheat? The fan is on Auto as well.
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 26/04/2023, 15:05:47 UTC
Hello,
I've been running the BTC miner with full node for a while now, but since this week end the node randomly goes offline and does not reconnect.
Anyone having this issue? I need the node to stay online.
The miner is still mining but the node just goes offline
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 24/10/2022, 18:37:07 UTC
Thank you for your answer, I did the updates. Problem now is the miner does not mine anymore. The node is running but the miner starts but does not hash and then shuts down
I am now looking to install electrs, however in your guide you say sometimes to log into bitcoin user. Is it necessary to do this step with the Apollo or can I just do everything with futurebit user
Does the issue persist? Have you tried rebooting after those updates?
You can replace my bitcoin user with futurebit, yes. Technically, in my setup, that user is less privileged so it's a little bit more secure, but it's still fine.

Thanks, I do have to install OpenSUSE on my Apollo though right? Looks like some commands are not working and I think it's because I need this to be installed.
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 21/10/2022, 14:46:36 UTC
Does this also work with Ledger?
I did a little research and it looks like I need Satstacks for Ledger Live to connect to the node?
I don't use Ledger Live, but it seems that such a bridge is required, yes. You could also just use a better Bitcoin wallet software like Electrum or Sparrow and connect your Ledger to that software.

The main question I have is: Can I connect to the node from my desktop or do I always have to go directly on the miner's OS with screen, keyboard, mouse, ledger etc... to interact with the blockchain? Since the miner is not in the same room as my desktop that would be ideal.
First of all, you have a web GUI; so the miner dashboard that you get when connecting a screen to the Apollo, is also displayed by visiting the miner's IP from any browser in the same network.
To 'interact with the blockchain' in terms of querying blocks and stuff like that, indeed installing electrs is what's going to allow you to do that.

I do have another question concerning the Apollo, when I connected via SSH I saw the line [302 security updates available....]. Should I do the updates? I read that you should be careful on which updates you do because it can brick the miner.
If you run the latest Futurebit OS, you can do the updates via:
Code:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Just don't do distro-upgrades like sudo apt dist-upgrade. Don't do that! Cheesy

I run the latest Futurebit OS and when I run those commands to upgrade the miner stops working. I can only get it working again by reflashing the card.

OK so it makes sense why my miner is not working anymore... Will have to reflash the card then.
So we are bound to leave those security updates to not update?
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 21/10/2022, 06:46:34 UTC
Does this also work with Ledger?
I did a little research and it looks like I need Satstacks for Ledger Live to connect to the node?
I don't use Ledger Live, but it seems that such a bridge is required, yes. You could also just use a better Bitcoin wallet software like Electrum or Sparrow and connect your Ledger to that software.

The main question I have is: Can I connect to the node from my desktop or do I always have to go directly on the miner's OS with screen, keyboard, mouse, ledger etc... to interact with the blockchain? Since the miner is not in the same room as my desktop that would be ideal.
First of all, you have a web GUI; so the miner dashboard that you get when connecting a screen to the Apollo, is also displayed by visiting the miner's IP from any browser in the same network.
To 'interact with the blockchain' in terms of querying blocks and stuff like that, indeed installing electrs is what's going to allow you to do that.

I do have another question concerning the Apollo, when I connected via SSH I saw the line [302 security updates available....]. Should I do the updates? I read that you should be careful on which updates you do because it can brick the miner.
If you run the latest Futurebit OS, you can do the updates via:
Code:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Just don't do distro-upgrades like sudo apt dist-upgrade. Don't do that! Cheesy

Thank you for your answer, I did the updates. Problem now is the miner does not mine anymore. The node is running but the miner starts but does not hash and then shuts down.

I am now looking to install electrs, however in your guide you say sometimes to log into bitcoin user. Is it necessary to do this step with the Apollo or can I just do everything with futurebit user
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Topic
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 21/10/2022, 05:45:14 UTC
Does this also work with Ledger?
I did a little research and it looks like I need Satstacks for Ledger Live to connect to the node?
I don't use Ledger Live, but it seems that such a bridge is required, yes. You could also just use a better Bitcoin wallet software like Electrum or Sparrow and connect your Ledger to that software.

The main question I have is: Can I connect to the node from my desktop or do I always have to go directly on the miner's OS with screen, keyboard, mouse, ledger etc... to interact with the blockchain? Since the miner is not in the same room as my desktop that would be ideal.
First of all, you have a web GUI; so the miner dashboard that you get when connecting a screen to the Apollo, is also displayed by visiting the miner's IP from any browser in the same network.
To 'interact with the blockchain' in terms of querying blocks and stuff like that, indeed installing electrs is what's going to allow you to do that.

I do have another question concerning the Apollo, when I connected via SSH I saw the line [302 security updates available....]. Should I do the updates? I read that you should be careful on which updates you do because it can brick the miner.
If you run the latest Futurebit OS, you can do the updates via:
Code:
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Just don't do distro-upgrades like sudo apt dist-upgrade. Don't do that! Cheesy

Thank you for your answer, I did the updates Smiley
I am now looking to install electrs, however in your guide you say sometimes to log into bitcoin user. Is it necessary to do this step with the Apollo or can I just do everything with futurebit user
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 19/10/2022, 23:08:29 UTC
Hello.  I'm interested in using my full node Apollo as the back end for my Trezor Suite instead of using their servers.  Does anyone have any experience doing this?  Are there any guides available?  Thanks!
Trezor Suite allows you to choose a custom Electrum server.

How to connect to your own node
If you are not currently running a node, there are many ways to get started. Free and open source software is widely available and supported by all kinds of operating systems and hardware. Electrum Server can be installed and run as a standalone program or bundled alongside other tools. You can also connect to existing Electrum Server nodes if you do not want to run your own.

Once you have a node up and running, connecting to it is as simple as entering the address of your node under the Bitcoin settings, which is found under the Crypto tab in Settings.
[...]

You can install such an Electrum server on the Futurebit Apollo BTC, no problem.
Here are my instructions. They are for a full custom Linux install, but work on stock Futurebit OS, as well. Just follow the electrs instructions.

electrs
Since one of the main benefits of running a full node is privacy during transaction & address lookup, an Electrum server is needed. Otherwise you'd have to query using Bitcoin Core all the time and can't just use your mobile and desktop applications for that.

[1] Install dependencies; make sure you're logged into admin and not bitcoin.
Code:
sudo apt install clang cargo rustc tor
[...]

Does this also work with Ledger?
I did a little research and it looks like I need Satstacks for Ledger Live to connect to the node?

The main question I have is: Can I connect to the node from my desktop or do I always have to go directly on the miner's OS with screen, keyboard, mouse, ledger etc... to interact with the blockchain? Since the miner is not in the same room as my desktop that would be ideal.
I'm guessing I could point Ledger Live on my desktop to the miner/node's IP? Would that work?
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 13/08/2022, 19:51:31 UTC
I have a batch1 and updated to v0.3.4 without issue. I didn't see the post about flashing the drive.
Since I was able to update to the latest version do I still need to flash?
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 21/06/2021, 03:29:22 UTC
short versions of the log in chrome

 note: 208 dropouts

https://i.imgur.com/b4WuGLw.png


https://i.imgur.com/w9PUfon.png



sample of the log
and I highlighted the 30 second plus one that stopped the miner

https://i.imgur.com/TjXUNOs.png

Thanks I will try that. Internet is pretty good but if there are small drop outs I may not notice. The LTC miner does not stop though and the BTC node either.

I guess I talked too soon.
The miner stopped mining about 4 times in the last 5 hours and the internet was 100%. Had to manually reboot each time. Hopefully update fixes it soon.

Internet connection monitor shows 0 drops in connection since I last posted. The miner also never stopped during that time so it may have been some internet dropouts in the past that caused it indeed.
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Re: Official FutureBit Apollo BTC Software/Image and Support thread
by
Jota_US
on 18/06/2021, 16:17:16 UTC
short versions of the log in chrome

 note: 208 dropouts

https://i.imgur.com/b4WuGLw.png


https://i.imgur.com/w9PUfon.png



sample of the log
and I highlighted the 30 second plus one that stopped the miner

https://i.imgur.com/TjXUNOs.png

Thanks I will try that. Internet is pretty good but if there are small drop outs I may not notice. The LTC miner does not stop though and the BTC node either.

Internet connection monitor shows 0 drops in connection since I last posted. The miner also never stopped during that time so it may have been some internet dropouts in the past that caused it indeed.