Sunday, 3 February 2013

Where's the ODROID update?

Sorry I haven't been keeping you up to date on how my ODROID-U2s have been going. I've been busy with school work, coming up to the end of my summer unit.

I've only loaded POGS on it so far to see what sort of RAC I get: http://allprojectstats.com/show.php?projekt=0&id=29095466. Around 1000. Fairly low. I've been meaning to recompile that binary and also test some other projects. Should probably load some NCI projects on there (OProject and WUProp).

I've yet to load up my second U2 with Android to give NativeBOINC a shot, but I will shortly. I will! I need to got get some correct fitting DC jacks. I'm not repeating what I did with the current one that's on and I don't wish to share it due to the dodgy levels.

In the meantime, I thought I'd post some links Ray_GTI-R has been sharing as they're quite useful. In case you don't know, he's fairly active in the community when it comes to ARM crunchers. Ray, hope you don't mind me giving you a plug.

Ray's links


His NativeBOINC U2s in the lead:
http://nativeboinc.org/site/host_stats#order=dcredits

5V distribution board for his gear:
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/Ray_GTI-R/Dscn4757.jpg
Fully fused distribution board for 5V 10A PSU. Each output has a 2.5A slow-blow fuse (all Maplin items) to each ODROID.

5V power supply:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/110923861995  I've actually just purchased one of these!

DC jacks for U2:
Maplin L43AY

Power supply warning:
http://odroid.foros-phpbb.com/t2479-power-supply-warning

Cheers Ray for sharing your experiences with us!

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14 comments:

  1. Ray_GTI-R7 February 2013 at 11:21

    I am humbled, Daniel, by your kind words and re-listing of the stuff I used.
    All of is 1st-time prototype and requires a degree of skill with the soldering iron but I've only had a couple of issues, the worst was a faulty 2.5A fuse which I've never seen before and required mucho re-soldering before it was ultimately identified.
    Everything else either just worked 1st time or showed up as an issue pretty soon.
    The 5V 10A PSU is very reliable as long as 10A is N E V E R exceeded - it won't smoke but it will drop the volts that are otherwise 100% stable. I added a small fan as the PSU does get warm when running 4 x ODROIDS 100%
    Next is another voltage distro box* to my 2nd PSU, go 100% WiFi and a DVI switchbox to sit alongside my hopeless but effective 1 Keyboard/Mouse into many ODROIDS.

    * I did a check of the parts required ... it runs to 52 ... aaaargh! I'll do the parts list and a photo of the complete item when I can.

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  2. Ray_GTI-R8 February 2013 at 10:25

    Hi Daniel.

    I've just been following a thread on the ODROID forums that provided a kewl solution if anyone wants to add a Real Time Clock or RTC (there are many reasons for needing a RTC and the one described in the thread is very left-field) ... linked as http://ahsoftware.de/usb-rtc/ on http://odroid.foros-phpbb.com/t2573-loss-of-time#18332
    Migh help someone on your blog?

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  3. Ray_GTI-R9 February 2013 at 11:05

    Update to the PSU I bought ... it blew up.
    Or more correctly, I'm pretty sure I blew it up all by myself.
    I had it powering 4 ODROIDS complete with a couple of accessories per board including SD cards, WiFi and 4 tiny fans.

    This despite the fact that I has a little cooling fan on top and a lump of heatsink underneath.

    Yet ... none of the output fuses blew??? 1 x 10A "quick-blow" & 4 x 2A "slow-blow fuses via the power distribution box I mentioned elsewhere (http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/Ray_GTI-R/Dscn4757.jpg).

    Maybe these fuses are mis-rated? I know one that I replaced-out earlier was faulty i.e., intermittently OK and BTW took hours to track down.

    I'm using a 2nd PSU from the same supplier right now (!).

    Puzzled but still crunching, Ray

    FWIW - take care not to overload? Maybe I am expecting too much at that price?
    FWIW2 - I took a photo ... http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h216/Ray_GTI-R/Dscn4769a_zpsb5732e67.jpg
    Spectacular or what? I've never seen the top of any chip blow completely off!
    FWIW3 - that PSU supplier also does 20A & 30A PSUs ... I'd be interested to see if the only difference is in the mains transformer & power transistors yet still the same basic circuit?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown9 February 2013 at 21:18

      Nice one... ;)

      I actually ended up getting the 20A version.

      Delete
    2. Ray_GTI-R10 February 2013 at 12:06

      The PSU fail I mentioned has accellerated the build of power distribution board #2 for the (spare) 5V 10A PSU - I'll run 2 U2s etc off each. I also have on order half a dozen powered USB 2.0* hubs. When they arrive I'll be happier.

      I thought about an AT/X power supply but they are pretty heavy/bulky with massive/long output cables ... OK, they can be trimmed to size. If one has a spare AT/X PSU with 10A(+) 5V lying around it is definitely an option.

      Meantime - some leads just arrived for the 5-way DVI switcher. Everything worked 1st time. Which is nice.

      I have basic cable layout/device diagrams for the whole farm but it makes more sense to show a working physical layout with amperages delineated.

      * every >unpowered< USB hub I have ever bought runs at USB 1.1. The new powered hubs are each supplied with a 2A/5V brick ... hmmm. I've read some horror stories about such items, one utube vid from a fellow brit was scathing - and just hilarious.

      Delete
    3. Ray_GTI-R12 February 2013 at 12:03

      Interesting thread for ODROID fails-then-works:- http://odroid.foros-phpbb.com/t2056p25-dead-after-1-day-of-use#18858

      I just added a post there warning people to completely shut down all power including powered USB hub(s) ... I had swapped one U2 to the new, tested OK PSU power distribution board - it wouldn't boot, just a red LED. Only after I disconnected the powered USB hub and then powered everything up again did it work OK.

      Delete
  4. Ray_GTI-R9 February 2013 at 12:25

    Hi Daniel

    In the back of my tiny mind I remember you quoted some math* speeds that were under what I would expect from an ODROID.

    http://allprojectstats.com/show.php?projekt=0&id=29734414
    shows your U2 running at 1400MHz

    My ODROIDS show various speeds from 1600MHz (X) and upwards (U2)
    http://allprojectstats.com/top.php?type=3&projekt=0&userid=2077240

    Are you running the U2 via BOINC at < 100% CPU?
    or
    Are you underclocking U2 somehow?

    Cheers, Ray

    * math speeds per BOINC quoted measures of:-
    Measured floating point speed
    Measured integer speed

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Unknown9 February 2013 at 21:24

      That's my Samsung S3 you linked there running Native BOINC. ;)

      This is my ODROID: http://allprojectstats.com/show.php?projekt=0&id=29095466. Those FLOP measurements aren't accurate.

      My ODROID doesn't display processor information as it's running Debian Linux and BOINC client can't read ARM equivalent processor speed via available system calls.

      I'm definitely not underclocking. It's actually turned off at the moment as I've been studying for an upcoming exam and haven't got around to fixing the power situation in my rack.

      Delete
  5. Mark G James9 February 2013 at 21:30

    Hi Daniel, thanks for the Sure power supply links. A question about the wiring of these. From the photo they have 5 power terminals, presumably 3 are input (240 volt) and 2 are output (5 volt)? So if one was to try and run a bunch of 5 volt devices you'd have to do a bit of wiring to get it going. If you follow Ray GT-R's approach would have them fused on the +5 volt side.

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    Replies
    1. Unknown9 February 2013 at 21:44

      Yep that's right.

      At the moment I'm actually using a 650W ATX power supply to power my 5V stuff. It has a 30A +5V rail. The only reason why I'm switching is to have something dedicated to doing 5V. I may stick with the ATX power supply if I run into too many issues with the dedicated 5V PSU.

      We'll see how I go when the 5V 20A power supply arrives.

      Delete
    2. Unknown9 February 2013 at 21:50

      To be honest, if one had a decent ATX power supply hanging around, I would probably recommend this if one didn't want to go to the trouble of wiring one of those 5V power supplies. You can buy MOLEX connectors cheap and ATX PSUs have all sorts of protection already built in.

      Delete
  6. Ray_GTI-R19 February 2013 at 12:40

    Now #1 BOINC ARM cruncher using Android thanks to these crazy little devices! Stats via Nativeboinc, see:-
    http://nativeboinc.org/site/user_stats (all devices, all BOINC releases).

    Also all 5 ODROIDS repeatedly hold the top 5 ARM devices on credits-per-day. See:-
    http://nativeboinc.org/site/host_stats#order=dcredits

    My top ARM device by total credits, the ODROID-X, would actually be #1 overall now if not for the fact that MW@H won't merge the 45K gained on that device into the total for that device despite many attempts to do so. Something to do with same OS dates overlapping - very annoying but such is life.

    Next big target:- 1 million credits overall.
    That should take 6 days - fingers crossed that the PSU's last that long.

    Pretty amazing to think that much work has been processed when my ODROIDS have been crunching for such a short time.

    FWIW I tried the admittedly pre-release official BOINC Android offering ... more work required. It's at least 2-3 times bigger than Nativeboinc and - well - just doesn't work (for my puny Disgo 7000). Pity. I would have liked to see what BOINC would have named the ARM inside.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Ray_GTI-R23 February 2013 at 12:44

    3ghz quad-core ARM anyone?

    The Hardkernel Forum has been off-line for a couple of days.
    Being an analyst I waited then waited a bit more then went lateral-thinking. I wonder if there's a big announcement coming?

    Ooooer!

    See ...
    http://www.gsmarena.com/3ghz_novathor_l8580_cpu_to_debut_on_mwc_2013_floors-news-5577.php
    and
    http://www.stericsson.com/press_releases/L8580_demo.jsp
    (I always cross-check wherever possible.)

    Have fun! Ray

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ray_GTI-R24 February 2013 at 13:40

    Thanks to matszpk - the author of NativeBOINC - I just got the first ever (?) one million BOINC credits for ARM devices running Android.

    My 5 ODROIDs contributed 960,000 of these BOINC credits ... since only 24 December 2012

    Thank you all at Hardkernel.

    Next - top device for BOINC credits under Android - about 3 days I reckon.

    Ray_GTI-R

    ReplyDelete

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