bfgminer/linux-usb-bfgminer

How to setup a BFGMiner using Xubuntu 11.04 live on a USB

The master version of this document is here:
 https://github.com/luke-jr/bfgminer/blob/master/linux-usb-bfgminer

The original old version on bitcointalk is:
 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.msg426741#msg426741

========

I have said to select English for the install process for 2 reasons:
1) I don't know any other spoken language very well
and
2) I'm not sure what problems installing under a different language
might cause (it will probably cause no problems but I don't know)

Software
========
Short hardware comment:
Your mining computer doesn't need any HDD or CD/DVD/BD as long as it has at
least 2GB of RAM, can boot USB, has some network connection to the internet
and of course a reasonable mining ATI graphics card
... Or you can boot a windows PC with the USB to only do mining ... and ignore
the system HDD ... wasting energy running the HDD (roughly 10 Watts per HDD) :)

If you wish to install to an HDD instead of a USB,
 see the changes to the instructions at the end

To create the USB, you need of course a 4GB USB and temporarily need a PC
with a CD (or DVD/BD) writer, a USB port and of course an internet
connection to the PC

1) Download the xubuntu 11.04 desktop live CD iso for amd64
   ( look here for mirrors: http://www.xubuntu.org/getubuntu )

2) Burn it to CD then boot that temporarily on any PC with a CD/DVD/BD and
   a USB port (this and the next 2 step won't effect that PC)
   Select "English" then select "Try Xubuntu without installing"
   and wait for the desktop to appear
   (this happens by default if you wait for the timeouts)

3) Plug in your 4GB USB device and it should appear on the desktop - you can
   leave it's contents as long as there is at least 2.8GB free

4) Now run "Startup Disk Creator" in "Applications->System"
   (the system menu is the little rat in the top left corner)

(if you have no mouse you can get the menu with <ctr><esc> and navigate
the menu with the arrow keys and <return> key)

From here select the boot CD as the "Source" and the USB as the "Disk to use"
lastly move the slider to 2GB for reserved extra space

The 2GB should be enough for modifications

Click: "Make Install Disk"
After about 10-15 minutes you have a base xubuntu 11.04 boot USB
(you can shut down this computer now)

5) Boot your BFGMiner PC with this USB stick, select "English"
   then select "Try Xubuntu without installing" and wait for the desktop to
   appear (this happens by default if you wait for the timeouts)

6) Start a terminal
   "Applications->Accessories->Terminal Emulator"

7) sudo apt-get install openssh-server screen

   if you have a problem here then it's probably coz the internet isn't
   available ... sort that out by reading elsewhere about routers etc

8) sudo apt-get install fglrx fglrx-amdcccle fglrx-dev
   sudo sync
   sudo shutdown -r now

N.B. always do a "sudo sync" and wait for it to finish every time before
shutting down the PC to ensure all data is written to the USB

9) sudo aticonfig --lsa
   this lists your ATI cards so you can see them
 sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --odgt
   this checks it can access all the cards ...

10) sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --initial
   this gets an error - no idea why but the xorg.conf is OK
 sudo sync
 sudo shutdown -r now

11) sudo aticonfig --adapter=all --odgt
   this checks it can access all the cards ...

12) get AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz from
 http://developer.amd.com/sdks/amdappsdk/downloads/pages/default.aspx
  ( http://developer.amd.com/Downloads/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz )

 sudo su
 cd /opt
  (replace /home/ubuntu/ with wherever you put the file: )
 tar -xvzf /home/ubuntu/AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64.tgz

 cd AMD-APP-SDK-v2.4-lnx64/
 cp -pv lib/x86_64/* /usr/lib/
 rsync -avl include/CL/ /usr/include/CL/
 tar -xvzf icd-registration.tgz
 rsync -avl etc/OpenCL/ /etc/OpenCL/
 ldconfig
 sync
 shutdown -r now

 You now have an OpenCL enabled xubuntu

13) BFGMiner:
 sudo apt-get install curl

 get the binary Linux BFGMiner
 (see the bitcoin forum bfgminer thread for where to get it)
 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=28402.0

 ./bfgminer -n
   this shows you the GPU's it found on your PC
   See further below if you get an error regarding libtinfo.so.5

14) An OC option:
 This is no longer needed since BFGMiner 2.* includes OC, however:

 sudo apt-get install libwxbase2.8-0 libwxgtk2.8-0

 http://sourceforge.net/projects/amdovdrvctrl/
  for an Over/underclocking application and get the file listed below then:
 sudo dpkg -i amdoverdrivectrl_1.2.1_amd64.deb

15) set the screen saver to ONLY blank ...

 Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and you see a set of icons like
 on an Apple PC
 Click on Settings, then in the Settings window "Screensaver"
 Set "Mode:" to "Blank Screen Only"

16) apt-get install ntpd
 An accurate clock is always a good idea :)

17) if you wish to ssh into the box you must set a password
    to do this you simply have to be logged into it at the screen and type

  sudo passwd ubuntu

    it will prompt you (twice) to enter a password for the ubuntu account


Initial setup complete.

========

If you want to SSH into the machine and run BFGMiner:
 From a terminal on the miner display each time after you boot:
  xhost +

 'xhost +' isn't needed if you ssh into the machine with the same
 username that the GUI boots into (which is 'ubuntu' in this case)

Then after you ssh into the machine:
 export DISPLAY=:0
before running BFGMiner

Also note, that you should force the screen to blank when mining if
the ATI card is displaying the screen (using the screen saver
application menu)
In my case it takes away 50Mh/s when the screen isn't blanked
It will auto blank - but make sure the blank is of course just blank
as mentioned above at 15)


This is of course just the basics ... but it should get you a computer
up and running and able to run BFGMiner

========

You should keep an eye on USB disk space
The system logger writes log files in the /var/log/ directory
The two main ones that grow large are 'kern.log' and 'syslog'
If you want to keep them, save them away to some other computer
When space is low, just delete them e.g.

   sudo rm -i /var/log/syslog
   sudo rm -i /var/log/kern.log

The 'df' command will show you the current space e.g.:

   sudo df

Filesystem           1K-blocks      Used Available Use% Mounted on
aufs                   2099420    892024   1100748  45% /
none                   1015720       628   1015092   1% /dev
/dev/sda1              3909348   2837248   1072100  73% /cdrom
/dev/loop0              670848    670848         0 100% /rofs
none                   1023772       136   1023636   1% /dev/shm
tmpfs                  1023772        16   1023756   1% /tmp
none                   1023772       124   1023648   1% /var/run
none                   1023772         0   1023772   0% /var/lock


This shows the 2GB space allocated when you setup the USB as '/' (aufs)
In this example, it's currently 45% full with almost 1.1GB of free space

========

The latest version (2.0.8) of BFGMiner is built with 11.10 (not 11.04)
If you get the following error when running the prebuilt version in 11.04:

   ./bfgminer: error while loading shared libraries: libtinfo.so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

The fix is to simply link the old curses library to the new name e.g.:

   cd /lib64/
   sudo ln -s libncurses.so.5 libtinfo.so.5

========

If you wish to install to an HDD instead of a USB:
--------------------------------------------------

As per before:

1) Download the xubuntu 11.04 desktop live CD iso for amd64
   ( look here for mirrors: http://www.xubuntu.org/getubuntu )

Then:

2) Burn it to CD then boot that on your new mining PC
   Select "English" then select "Install Xubuntu"
   (you have 30 seconds to do this)

3) When the Install window comes up - again select "English" and click "Forward"

4) The next page will show you if you meet certain install requirements
   (make sure you do meet them all)
   Don't select the download option
   The 3rd party option isn't needed for mining so ignore that also

   Click "Forward"

5) With "Allocate drive space" it's probably easiest to say to use the
   "Erase" option.

   This is just for mining right? :)

   However, if you have anything on the HDD that you want to keep - the
   "Erase" install process will delete it - so back it up (quit the install)
   Also make sure there are no OTHER HDD attached that it may erase also
   i.e. only have attached the one HDD that you want to install onto unless
   you know exactly what you are doing

   If you see the "Install Xubuntu 11.04 alongside 'something'" then that
   just means that the HDD wasn't blank.
   If you want to try this option - do that yourself and then skip to step
   7) below when you get to that.

   There are plenty of other options available if you select "Something else"
   but I'm not going to go into all the details here other than to say that
   my preferred partioning is: /boot = 1GB = ext2, swap = twice memory size,
   / = 100GB = ext3 and the rest: /extra = ext3

   Click "Forward"

6) If you selected "Erase" then it allows you to choose the drive to install to
   Then click "Install Now"

7) "Where are you?" sort that out then click "Forward"

8) "Keyboard layout" sort that out (use the default) then click "Forward"

9) "Who are you?" The important one here is "Pick a username:" coz that's
   the name you will need to ssh into, to access it remotely (and of course
   the "Choose a Password" you set)

   If you set the "username" to anything but "ubuntu" then: wherever in this
   document I have mentioned the username "ubuntu" you must of course use the
   username you chose here instead of "ubuntu"

   Important: set it to "log in automatically" if you ever want to be able
   to start BFGMiner without being in front of the computer since 'X' must
   be running to use BFGMiner properly
   That does of course mean that the computer isn't secure from anyone who
   has access to it - but then again no computer that can automatically
   reboot is secure from anyone who has access to the actual computer itself

   Then click "Forward"

10) Of course when it completes click on "Restart Now"
    ... and remove the Xubuntu CD when it asks you

11) Wait for it to finish rebooting ... and it will auto login
    (unless you didn't do step 9) "Important:")

12) After it logs in, an upgrade popup for 11.10 (or later) will appear
    Select "Don't Upgrade"

13) Now go to step 6) of the USB script above for what to do next and that
    covers everything else needed