FutureBit Apollo II/BTC Software, Images, and Support Discussion

THIS IS THE SUPPORT DISCUSSION: Let’s keep this thread focused! For all other inquiries or general questions, head over to the announcement thread: https://thisforum.com/index.php?topic=5314398.0 __________________________________________________ We’re stepping back from providing support on the this forum forum for FutureBit devices. The latest support info and download links can be found on our dedicated support page here: https://www.futurebit.io/apollo-btc-support this forum has been our home for nearly a decade, but due to a growing customer base, we’re shifting towards more focused support via our website and email! Getting Started This post covers the Full Package/Node version. While it's aimed at newcomers, it’s still a good idea to read through everything since there’s key info on how our system operates. For software related to your USB Standard Version that you want to run on your own system, check out the post below: https://thisforum.com/index.php?topic=5340015.msg57091051#msg57091051 If you need the Apollo BTC Image for your SD card (to restore to the standard state, etc.), you can find it here: https://thisforum.com/index.php?topic=5340015.msg57091052#msg57091052 Below are some quick-start instructions that you should’ve also received in your Apollo package, with more detailed info and an FAQ section at the end. This thread is a valuable resource for any extra questions, and it’s always monitored. If you have other questions not answered below, feel free to drop them here. Carefully take out the Apollo BTC, Power Supply, and AC Power Cable from the box. Avoid touching any

Apollo BTC Standard Software/Instructions If your purchased an Apollo II/BTC Standard USB controlled version please find the software binaries for your system and instructions below: https://github.com/jstefanop/Apollo-Miner-Binaries/releases/ This is the ONLY place you should download these binaries from. If that changes this post will be updated. Detailed instructions are on the GitHub and inside the start scripts. As noted in the pre-order this is command-line based software and only intended for more advanced users. Support for the software is limited and initial binaries are for Windows and 64 Bit x86 and ARM based Linux systems. This software is only for users that do not have a Full Package/Node version. Please follow the instructions above in the first post on how to hook up your standard unit to your Apollo Full Package unit for a plug and play experience.

Apollo BTC SD Card Image/OS Download and Install Apollo II/BTC Support pages are now moved to our website temporarily until we get a full knowledgeable/support site up: https://www.futurebit.io/apollo-btc-support Apollo OS v2.0.6 - 11/26/24 https://github.com/jstefanop/apolloapi-v2/releases/tag/v2.0.6 New Changes in v2.0.6: - Redesigned Solo Miner Page making it easy to keep track of multiple miners/wallets mining on the solo pool! Stats are organized by individual wallet addresses, and each wallet address can have multiple workers  (ie address.worker1 address.worker2 etc). - Node connection count has been upped to 64 connections by default for more robust peering especially during solo mining - Pesky 32bit and graphQL errors have finally been squashed...small number of users that were affected by this should not see this again - UI improvements, especially for small format screens and mobile UI - Improved reliability of node startup during boot, which should reduce "Connection Refused" Node errors for some users - Multiple UI bug fixes, and backend improvements Apollo OS v2.0.5 - 6/4/24 https://github.com/jstefanop/apolloapi-v2/releases/tag/v2.0.5 cd1bca4f6582a1b49edb47a4dd57138b57d05963c804ea506a52d0590ee0c14a  apollo-2-mcu2_040624.img.xz 440032b33247c9d6efe4887bce18407bfadb5f203f0aa36c51993b3a93af9ef9  apollo-2-mcu1_040624.img.xz New Changes in v2.0.5 from beta releases: -Connect to your own node with a single toggle! One of our most requested features is the ability to easily connect an external wallet like sparrow wallet to your Apollo Node, now this can be done in one step under Node Settings! -You can now easily change your Node connection count under node settings for better solo mode connectivity (only recommend for hard wired connections with good upload speeds) -Miner UI improvements, including display of hashboard v1/v2 type and external vs internal hashboards on Muti system setups -Multiple UI bug fixes, and backend improvements Historical releases prior to Apollo OS 2 below: Folder for all Apollo BTC Image Releases: https://mega.nz/folder/ZlxnwYZb#ZN77cDAcXa6dN_2QKSdT_Q Using a special character ($%&@ etc) in your dashboard password during initial setup could cause the futurebit system password to not be updated correctly, only user an alphanumeric password for your dashboard until this is fixed There are now two versions of the Apollo MCU, and firmware images are not compatible with each other. Please read flash instructions below before proceeding to flash your unit! https://mega.nz/file/dghWnKJC#J2kkpfH5RVKynf0OvuE5mKojXdUqAFCczHMyv6mDrM4 Release 7/25/22 eaac461245fd4bc2a410f2dc5ebc861add6aa5618405c5998f780247999570b3  apollo-btc-mcu1_250722.img.xz 4d46819c9af6e6050b5d7c395da33aa4c10616bd46261a4fc4a3482e31ed36be  apollo-btc-mcu2_250722.img.xz -Updated Apollo UI to latest 0.3.4 -Updated system to latest 5.15.xx kernel and package/security updates -FutureBit user login password is now updated to dashboard password after user completes dashboard setup for added security -Bitcoin core folder on nvme SSD drive now symlinks to standard location (~/.bitcoin) -Fixed critical issue preventing system from updating -System level fixes/tweaks for stability Release 12/17/21 36d263c1328ae95fba79451730838fdf6885156213c0da7df64f416b218b0799  apollo-btc_171221.img.xz -Updated Apollo UI to latest 0.3.2 -Added Getting Started Guide -System level fixes/tweaks for stability Release 7/31/21 d6f820869268383883db4741dcfcade8f57ad1a1c20c359fd7a3015c78ffe3dd  apollo-btc_310721.img.xz -Updated Apollo UI to latest 0.3.1 -Image no longer wipes SSD if it detects it has already been formatted -Added additional swap memory to prepare for Lightning network/block explorer apps -System level fixes/tweaks for stability Initial Release 5/14/21 c5dfeb7812e43df64fac2fd4dbc929ec7c78f6df513bed0d8aba81a6573bec7e  apollo-btc-14-05-21.img.xz

DO NOT perform a distribution update to 24.04, only regular and security update are supported. You will need to reflash your SD card if you perform this update as its not supported. Known Issues Using a special character ($%&@ etc) in your dashboard password during initial setup could cause the futurebit system password to not be updated correctly, only user an alphanumeric password for your dashboard until this is fixedAfter updating your web UI or first boot on a new system/flash you might see an error on the node dashboard after setup. Simply restart the node (stop/start in the menu) or a reboot will fix this issue FAQ Q: I updated the system and now my Apollo won't boot or shows command line text on the screen A: Please flash your SD card to the latest image. Older version of our image has an issue where you could not update the underlying OS through the OS updater and would cause the system to brick. This has been fixed in the latest image releases (please note only regular and security updates are supported do NOT do a distro upgrade to 22.04 otherwise this will brick your system as well). Q: My Apollo freezes or is unresponsive when its syncing the node A: When you first start up your Apollo the node syncs from scratch, and needs to download and process the whole ~500GB blockchain. This is very CPU and system intensive, and during this initial sync that can take up to 48 hours your system can be sluggish and/or can even overheat/freeze if your running it in a warm environment. Its recommended to stop the miner during this initial sync (or not run it past ECO mode), and turn the miner back on after the node has fully synced. Q: My node dashboard keeps telling me to port forward 8333 A: Your node will keep saying this until it has fully synced. Since no inbound connections will happen while your node is syncing, you will have to wait for your node to fully sync before it can start participating in the networking and helping out other nodes. If this message still occurs after your node has synced, then you need to manually port forward 8333 to your Apollo's IP address. Please contact your router support on how to do this. Q: The miner dashboard shows offline, or keeps going offline when when I restart it A: Either your device does not have a proper internet connection, or your pool url and credentials are incorrect. Do NOT include the stratum+tcp:// part in the url, and make sure your username and password are correct, they are case sensitive in some pools. If you did not setup a password with your pool worker, do not leave the password field blank, put in something random (ie 1, x, etc). Q: I have a full package unit and one or more standard units. Some Standard units show 0 hashrate or dont start hashing right away A: USB Driver is a bit finicky for the USB controller on the hashboard. It can take several minutes for the controller to establish a good connection to the Standard unit and start hashing, so please wait 10-15 minutes and it should start up on its own. If you keep pressing restart the software won't have time to properly start up the hashboards. Q: I dont see any video on my HDMI monitor A: Your monitor needs to be powered on and HDMI plugged into your Apollo BEFORE powering on your Apollo. The Apollo will not recognize your monitor if its powered on before the monitor or HDMI cable is plugged in. If this does not work double check your input on the monitor is in the correct HDMI port. Please be aware that not all monitors will work with the Apollo (odd sized monitors, really high resolution tvs etc).

Excellent, thanks! Downloading and running binary was very easy on normal Linux system. That being said however, I have quite good Raspberry Pi 2, quad core ARM, which is still running strong, and that's where I want to run Apollo. I don't have Raspberry Pi 4. I could not find source code for your apollo-miner binary. Will there be code released for apollo-miner binary, so I can compile it myself and run on Raspberry Pi 2? Hardware says: But I also have plenty of Pi zeros, would love to run miner on that too.

Yea thats on the list, should have binaries for 32bit arm next week.

Thanks. No source code will be available? If not, then please make sure Raspberry Pi zero and 2 is available. Some peeple use Raspbian, some Debian or Manjaro on Pis and so on. I don't know how is that all compatible with each other. Debian uses different architecture on Pi zero than Raspbian as far as I understand.

Linux flavors dont matter, as long as the binaries are built for the architecture then it will work on all of them.

I have the opposite situation from crypto_curious... I currently run a RPi as the controller for a couple of GekkoScience Terminus R606 miners. Can I run these miners off of Apollo BTC instead, and decommission the RPi? Looking forward to getting my Apollo BTC soon!!!

If you have the full package version then yes, its a full desktop linux computer so you can install anything you want on it.

Thanks. Will source code be available?

Source for the UI is up on my github, backend firmware is all proprietary and built from the ground up for these ASICs (ie does not use open source cgminer/bfgminer).

Kudos for that, at least Kano can't argue about that aspect

I just recd mine and plugged it in.  It worked fine for a few minutes.  When I changed the setting to allow me to edit the performance mode, I was prompted to Save & Restart.  The machine won't restart even with a hard boot.  Suggestions?

Why is the backend code not published under an open source license? I mean its BTC, small nice community project... Do not trust, verify!

I appear to have done the same. I am busy with some other things I will get to this sooner or later. This may be an internet issue at my home.

It takes more than the 30 second timer to restart, so just wait for the dashboard to come back up...dont keep hitting restart.

Okay I definitely corrupted the setup.  the sd card is a maybe and the 500 gb nvme is a maybe . My internet dropped out and everything froze. After 3 or 4 minutes of being frozen even though internet was back. Nothing worked.  So I pulled the power. And I now have a miner that do not connect and a node that does not connect and says I have 0 space on the 500 gb ssd stick reality is I have 411 space on the stick. suggestions to get this back up. My guess is a new image for the sd card so I can start from the beginning. I do have multiple empty 16gb and 32 gb samsung cards. Good news it was an internet issue.  and it is now fixed. yeh!

An internet outage would not have corrupted your setup that easy. Stats on the node won't show up correctly unless your internet is online and the node starts syncing. Just give it a few minutes and check back on it, stats will probably sync up.

How did you guys synch so fast?  I'm at 59.37% Block Sync Progress, 74.91GB Blockchain Size, and 10/32 connections.  I am using Wifi - but it should get 300MB on my wifi network easily.  Mine got here after noontime so I didn't set it up until 1 or 2pm EST. Fit and Finish are top notch - really like the color of the case.  GUI seems pretty slick - I'm also using CK's solo pool.