Tutorial: Ethereum Mining Rig Part 4 (ethOS installation)

How to build a Ethereum mining rig diy tutorial part 4: ethOS installation and configuration!

If you are looking out to use ethOS for etherium mining, here are some quick guidelines that will help you to install and configure it, right away.

Wondering what ethOS is all about? Well, this is simply a 64-bit linux distro that is specifically meant to mine Ethereum while letting you control all your rigs from one particular location. ethOS also lets you drill down to some specific GPUs as and when it is required. Read more here: http://ethosdistro.com/

Features

• This distro boots and mines without having you to install any new drivers, configure xWindows or even compile some specific software.
• Provides remote configuration where you can set some core locks, instruct the rig for remote reboots, get pool info, control fans, check mem clocks and toggle around other settings flawlessly.
• Being extremely lightweight it works with the weakest range of CPU that has been ever made in the last 5 generations. The distro can also work on only 1 GB of ram.
• The automatic GPU protection ensures that the GPUs will immediately turn off as they reach a temperature threshold.
• Equipped with the automatically configuration of local stratum proxy. These stratum pools can also be changed during the configuration.
• Comes with a web panel that provides detailed event reports and rig statistics.
• Supports the GPUs of AMD, including any GPU of 2GB+ HD and 700 series or any R9 belonging to the 200/300 series. This includes the 390, Fury, Nano and 390X R9s.
• Ensures consistent DAG file management where the SSD never runs out of space.
• Can be easily updated to the latest version of ethOS with one command.
• The IP assignment is ensured via DHCP while the hostname is defined from the mac address.
• Automatically opens to a terminal window with full focus on the boot. No mouse is required for the job.

NOTE: Or if you want to use Windows 10, which is currently the best OS for mining, check this tutorial: Best Windows Setup, Configuration, Tweaks For Mining , How to Run 6 or More RX 570 / RX 580 GPUs on Windows 10 , Claymore’s Dual Ethereum Miner v9.0 – Better Mining Performance

How to get ethOS?

ethOS is pre-loaded on a SSD of 16 GB. It is also available for digital download and can be bought at gpuShack.com.

Step 1: Writing ethOS ISO to your SDD, HDD or USB stick

1. You need to get started by downloading and installing the HDD Raw Copy Tool.
2. After this, extract the ETHOS 1.0.4 ISO from the archive.
3. Open the raw copy tool in your HDD.
4. Click the continue option after selecting ethos 1.0.4.
5. Select the drive where you want to install ethos and click continue on it.
6. Click the start button and wait for a couple of minutes for successful confirmation.
7. Finally connect your HDD, USB STICK or SDD to continue.

Step 2: Power up the rig

Once the rig is powered you will see a lot of texts appearing (image 1,2,3,4), no need to do any action, just and wait until the Green logo shows stats like the GPU and CPU..

After it is booted, you will find that the Ethereum logo and the terminal doesn’t have any rig stats for a couple of seconds. If this lasts for more than 2-3 minutes even after rebooting, reboot it once again. In most of the cases, it would not last for more than 2-3 minutes. However, if that happens in case of you, there is no need to panic as you can solve the issue simply by rebooting.

If things seem to go the right way after that, check the top right corner and wait for the system to complete the booting.

As soon as everything is completed, the rig will automatically mine and the speed of the GPU fans will automatically increase, producing a little noise.

Since i have connected only one GPU the hashing power put of the box is 13.2MH/s. After this, we need to carry out the set up. But while continuing with the set up, the following things must be considered:

• The ethOS should be updated to the latest version
  This can be done by typing the command sudo ethos-update && sleep 5 && sudo reboot in the black window. Now hit the enter button and do not interrupt the process of update.
• Set ethOS to the single rig mode
  Run this command to make the remote file completely blank echo -n "" > /home/ethos/remote.conf
• Changing ethOS password
  a) In terminal type passwd and you will see “Changing password for ethos.”
  b) Type default/current password which is “live”
  c) Then type your preferred password twice and that’s it, we secured the rig.

Wallet and GPU configuration

• Run the command nano local.conf and the default settings will be listed like in the image below.
• maxgputemp 85 leave it default for now. This number means that this is the maximum temperature your GPU should reach when the system automatically stops the miner.
• stratumproxy enabled this is a default command and should not modify it.
• Using arrows go down to proxywallet and change the address with yours.
• On proxypool you will see it in 2 lines, proxypool1 and proxypool2, it is because the second link is as a backup and if proxypool1 has connection problems or is down for any other reason then ethOS will connect to proxywallet2. If you are located in EU change proxywallet1 to this one: eu1.ethermine.org:4444
• Save new modifications by pressing CTRL+O then ENTER. CTRL+X to exit local.conf file.

Basic Commands

• In order to get a complete list of commands type helpme in your window.
  
• Check your mining progress by using the command show miner. To stop checking this progress, press CNTRL+C.
  
• Every ethOS installation rig comes with its own ID. This can either be found at the top of the rig or along the side of the terminal. You can also check this online from your phone by logging in to xxxxxx.ethosdistro.com. The information is automatically sent and stays for one minute. But if you’re looking out to check the fresh stats, type terminal update and everything will be automatically re-added.
  
• The miner can be started and stopped by the minestart and minestop.

Overclocking

Now that you’re somewhat familiar with the terminal and the commands, give more power to your rig by configuring the overclock feature.

a) All with one

1. Start by accessing the local.conf
2. Only if you want you can increase maxgputemp to 90 (i personally didn’t do it)
3. Now add the commands globalcore 1150 and globalmem 1500.
4. For the time being, leave the globalfan to 85.
5. Save local.conf settings and exit.
6. Type the command: putconf && ethos-overclock and hit the enter button. Wait for a couple of seconds for the overclock to be applied.

Keep your eyes to GPU temperature, If it doesn’t reach more than 85 then you wouldn’t have to toggle anymore. Tweak the globalfan and set the temperature as low as you can.

b) Individual

1. The first thing you need to do is check your local configuration ID. This can be found in the terminal, mine is 936ff0
2. Now go to local.conf and let’s say that you have 3 GPUs only.
   a) core settings: cor 936ff0 1175 1175 1175
   b) mem settings: mem 936ff0 1600 1600 1600
   d) fan settings: fan 936ffo 85 90 70
3. Save local.conf and exit
4. Now type putconf && ethos-overclock and hit enter. Done.

Using SSH to login to ethOS from Windows

1. Download Putty from http://the.earth.li/~sgtatham/putty/latest/x86/putty.exe (Putty is an executable that can be run without installing)
2. Find the IP of your rig (You can find your rig’s IP on your ethosdistro.com web panel, on your rig’s desktop, or on your router’s DHCP client table)
3. Open Putty and input Rig Information and Type the rig’s IP into Host Name. Port should be 22. Click Open
4. When the terminal window shows up, login with username ethos and your password or default “live”.

Now you are done with ethOS software installation and setup. You are all set! Follow these tweaks for quick and easy ethos installation for your Ethereum mining.

My rig is currently running with 5 GPUs, waiting for my USB riser to be shipped so i can install the 6th GPU!!

Here is my local.conf for now but once i install the 6th card ill set them up individually

Well.. it’s been a lot of fun building my first rig, i hope you enjoyed as much as i did. Let’s hope the mining process last a bit more longer so we can take advantage of it and to make some nice ethers.

Ill keep this blog updated with all the modifications that my rig will suffer not matter if those are ethOS settings, ethOS update, frame modification/reconstruction etc..

Thank you for reading. As always, your comments, suggestions and questions are welcome. Subscribe and stay tuned for further updates!

Part 3: Building the rig