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BOOT RASPBERRY PI 4 FROM M.2 USB DRIVE

If you want huge performance increases, consider getting rid of the Micro SD card, and moving your data and OS over to an M.2 Drive on the Raspberry Pi. How do you do this, you ask. First, make sure you have the same hardware as me, in order to follow along. Second, run through the following guide.

If you need to do this from scratch, follow this guide to setup your Raspberry Pi: https://tacticalware.com/install-raspbian-os-on-raspberry-pi-4/

Then, make sure your firmware / eeprom is up to date. If you need assistance with it, follow this guide:
https://tacticalware.com/update-new-raspberry-pi-4-firmware-eeprom/

Once you have both steps above completed, you can move onto setting up the M.2 drive

For this, I have inserted a WD 500GB M.2 Drive into a USB 3.0 dongle, and have it connected to my Pi. If you want to get the same parts as I have, skip to the bottom of this page.

Now, you will want to connect your M.2 dongle to your Raspberry Pi 4, and boot it up.

Once you are at the Desktop:
Open a Terminal
sudo bash
raspi-config
Select option 6 – Advanced Options
Choose option A6 – Boot Order
Select option B1 – USB Boot
Press Enter
You should now be on the “Usb device is the default boot device” screen
Select OK
Scroll to Finish and select it
You will see the message:
Would you like to reboot now?
Choose NO

Back on your Raspberry Pi 4 Desktop
In the top left corner, click on the Raspberry to access the drop down menu
Select Accessories
Scroll over to and choose SD Card Copier

A dialog box will open
If you have the same setup as me, using the same hardware below, you will want to select the same options, otherwise you will have to choose the relevant settings for you
Copy from Device – Select the option for the SC32G
Copy to Device – Select the option for the WDS500G3
Select Start
Choose YES – to erase all contents
Click OK once the contents are copies over successfully
Select Close
Shutdown your Raspberry Pi 4
Remove your Micro SSD
Power the Pi back on, it should now boot from the USB M.2 Drive
Open a terminal
Type
sudo bash
raspi-config
Select option 6 – Advanced Options
Choose option A1 – Expand filesystem
Press Enter
Root File system will be resized
Click Ok
Reboot

You are done!

Hardware that I used:
Raspberry Pi 4 (4gb)
https://amzn.to/3q551IO

SanDisk 32GB Ultra microSDHC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter
https://amzn.to/2Vfvo0y

CanaKit 3.5A Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supply (USB-C)
https://amzn.to/3fNTYPu

CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Micro HDMI Cable – 6 Feet
https://amzn.to/33u5hr9

Western Digital 500GB WD_Black SN750 NVMe
https://amzn.to/3nZ5pH4

Plugable USB C to M.2 NVMe Tool-free Enclosure
https://amzn.to/3lflV3L

Thanks for reading…….

UPDATE NEW RASPBERRY PI 4 FIRMWARE / EEPROM

This guide assumes you do not have a running Raspberry Pi 4 device, and this is your first time opening it up. If that is the case, make sure you follow the steps in this guide first
https://tacticalware.com/install-raspbian-os-on-raspberry-pi-4/

Once your Operating system is setup and functional you will want to update the firmware to the latest revision, therefore the objective of this guide is to show you how to update Raspian and how to update the eeprom / firmware

Open a terminal
sudo bash
apt update
apt upgrade
rpi-update
Would you like to proceed
Type y
Now reboot your Pi

Open a terminal
sudo bash
rpi-eeprom-update -d -a
reboot your Pi after it updates

Open a terminal
raspi-config
Scroll down and select Option 8 – Update
Update now runs, and after the update completes
Scroll down and select Option 6 – Advanced Options
Then scroll down to Option A7 – Bootloader Options
Select Option E1 Latest – Use the latest version of the boot rom software
Press Enter
Select OK
On the Reset boot rom to defaults screen
Select No
On the Boot rom not reset to defaults screen
Select OK
Scroll down and select Finish
Select Yes

Your Firmware / EEPROM are now Updated, and you will have the latest version with the latest features.

Hardware I used:
Raspberry Pi 4 (4gb)
https://amzn.to/3q551IO

SanDisk 32GB Ultra microSDHC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter
https://amzn.to/2Vfvo0y

CanaKit 3.5A Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supply (USB-C)
https://amzn.to/3fNTYPu

CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Micro HDMI Cable – 6 Feet
https://amzn.to/33u5hr9

Thanks for reading!

UDATE EXISTING RASPBERRY PI 4 FIRMWARE / EEPROM

This guide assumes you already have a running Raspberry Pi 4 device. If you do not already have it setup, you can follow this guide first (https://tacticalware.com/install-raspbian-os-on-raspberry-pi-4/)

This objective of this guide is to show you how to update Raspian and how to update the eeprom / firmware

Open a terminal
sudo bash
apt update
apt upgrade
rpi-update
Would you like to proceed
Type y
Now reboot your Pi

Open a terminal
sudo bash
rpi-eeprom-update -d -a
reboot your Pi after it updates

Open a terminal
raspi-config
Scroll down and select Option 8 – Update
Update now runs, and after the update completes
Scroll down and select Option 6 – Advanced Options
Then scroll down to Option A7 – Bootloader Options
Select Option E1 Latest – Use the latest version of the boot rom software
Press Enter
Select OK
On the Reset boot rom to defaults screen
Select No
On the Boot rom not reset to defaults screen
Select OK
Scroll down and select Finish
Select Yes

Your Firmware / EEPROM are updated, and you will have the latest version with the latest features.

Hardware I used:
Raspberry Pi 4 (4gb)
https://amzn.to/3q551IO

SanDisk 32GB Ultra microSDHC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter
https://amzn.to/2Vfvo0y

CanaKit 3.5A Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supply (USB-C)
https://amzn.to/3fNTYPu

CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Micro HDMI Cable – 6 Feet
https://amzn.to/33u5hr9


Thanks for Reading!

INSTALL RASPBIAN OS ON RASPBERRY PI 4

This guide shows you how to install an Operating System on a Raspberry Pi 4. The one I chose for this guide is Raspbian, so if you are installing that, you can follow along easily. If you are wondering which hardware I used, the exact items are linked at the bottom

On a Windows computer
Insert your SD Card into the Windows computer
Open a web browser
Navigate to
Download the Raspberry Pi Imager

Once it is downloaded, double the imager.exe file
Select Yes
Click Install
Checkmark Run Raspberry Pi Imager
Click Finish

Now that the Raspberry Pi Imager is running
Click Choose OS
Scroll down and select Raspberry Pi OS (32-Bit)
Click Choose SD
Select your SD Card
Click Write
All existing data …. will be erased. Are you sure you want to continue?
Click Yes
Data is written to the SD Card
The data is automatically verified after it is written
Once it finishes you will see the message that “you can now remove the SD card from the reader”
Remove the card
Click Continue

Now back on the Raspberry Pi
Plug in network cable
Connect the keyboard
Plug in a mouse
Connect the HDMI cable
Install the Micro SD card you just made (up above)
Plug in the power (Last step)

The Raspberry Pi installation begins
Root partition is resized
Desktop shows up
Click Next
Set your country, language, and timezone
Click next
Set password
Click next
Setup screen
Click next
Setup your wireless
When done, click next
On update software screen
Click next to download and install updates
Select OK on the “System is up to date” dialog box
Restart the Raspberry Pi

You are done. Your Raspberry Pi 4 is setup with the Raspbian OS.

Hardware I used:
Raspberry Pi 4 (4gb)
https://amzn.to/3q551IO

SanDisk 32GB Ultra microSDHC UHS-I Memory Card with Adapter
https://amzn.to/2Vfvo0y

CanaKit 3.5A Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supply (USB-C)
https://amzn.to/3fNTYPu

CanaKit Raspberry Pi 4 Micro HDMI Cable – 6 Feet
https://amzn.to/33u5hr9

SanDisk MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader (Only needed if you dont have a Micro SD Reader/Writer slot in your computer)
https://amzn.to/39toi0G


Thanks for Reading!

USBIT – USB BACKUP TOOL FOR MINING RIGS

Simple, easy, fast backup utility for your mining rigs. I use this on mine, where Ubuntu 20.04 is running off of a usb drive.

Plug the Linux USB Drive into your Windows 10 computer

On a Windows 10 computer, download the latest version of the software from:
https://www.alexpage.de/usb-image-tool/download/

Extract the software on your windows computer
Double Click USB Image Tool, to launch the program
In the White box on the left, select the USB Drive that your Linux VM is on
Select Backup in the bottom menu
Pick the folder where you want the backup to save to
Give it a name like tacticalware
Press Enter
Your backup will begin

Once your backup completes you are ready to go.

To restore the image, you can use the same tool (USBIT), select your Image, Select the USB Drive, and click restore.

Simple, easy, fast….Thanks for reading




CHROME REMOTE DESKTOP ON HEADLESS UBUNTU 20.04

Since the latest teamviewer update, I have had to switch away from it altogether for a better alternative. Enter Chrome Remote Desktop… This package allows me to connect to my Windows computers, and linux computers in a similar manner, and also allows for me to connect to my headless mining rigs. The guide below details how I set up chrome remote desktop on headless ubuntu 20.04 rig.

sudo bash

apt update

apt-get install –assume-yes wget

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb

dpkg –install chrome-remote-desktop_current_amd64.deb
apt install –assume-yes –fix-broken

sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive \
apt install –assume-yes xfce4 desktop-base

sudo bash -c ‘echo “exec /etc/X11/Xsession /usr/bin/xfce4-session” > /etc/chrome-remote-desktop-session’

sudo apt install –assume-yes xscreensaver

sudo systemctl disable lightdm.service

sudo usermod -a -G chrome-remote-desktop $USER

exit

On a different computer
Open the Chrome browser
Go to
https://remotedesktop.google.com/headless
Sign In
Click Begin
Select Next
Click Authorize

Copy the code that looks like this:
DISPLAY= /opt/google/chrome-remote-desktop/start-host \
–code=”4/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx” \
–redirect-url=”https://remotedesktop.google.com/_/oauthredirect” \
–name=

Enter in a six digit pin
Confirm the pin
Enter in your sudo password

Your installation should be complete

Open Chrome Remote Desktop on a computer, and connect to your headless system.

Thanks for reading

UBUNTU 20.04, ETC MINING, AFTER EPOCH 390 [NOVEMBER 2020]

This is a quick guide on how to use T-Rex on your Ubuntu 20.04 mining rig to allow your NVidia 1080 Ti cards to run after the epoch. Ethereum Classic has a hardform at Epoch 390 which should fall on or around November 28th 2020. To keep mining afterwards you will have to update your miner to one that supports the new fork. For this, I have chosen to switch over to T-Rex.

On the rig
Open a Terminal
sudo bash
Enter your password
mkdir /tacticalware
cd /tacticalware

If you have Cuda 10 installed, download the following, otherwise find the one for your Cuda version
wget https://github.com/trexminer/T-Rex/releases/download/0.18.11/t-rex-0.18.11-linux-cuda10.0.tar.gz
Once it is downloaded
tar -zxvf t-rex-0.18.11-linux-cuda10.0.tar.gz
cp ETC-2miners.sh tacticalware.sh
nano tacticalware.sh

Now modify the contents of the file. I suggest replacing the mining site, and wallet address. My file looks like this:
./t-rex -a ethash –coin etc -o stratum+tcp://us1-etc.ethermine.org:4444 -u 0xb2bc70cD85e20c96c8967CAECcE20a238ee9950D -w tacticalware –fork-at etchash=epoch:390

Note that there is a double dash before –coin and –fork. Sometimes your browser will show them as a double dash, sometimes it shows as a single long dash. they are double dashes

Save the file
Exit
Now you can launch it by running
./tacticalware.sh

It will begin to mine. To monitor it you can do it through a web browser. Simply look for the address when the miner begins

The address will look something like this, and be displayed right when you begin mining
ubuntu t-rex


When you browse to that site you will see something that looks like this:

t-rex

That’t It. You are mining successfully. Thanks for reading

The hardware that I used in this guide:
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (QTY 6):
https://amzn.to/2JqvXC8

Motherboard (QTY 1): 
https://amzn.to/2JqGJZ7

CPU (QTY 1): 
https://amzn.to/3qevp2X

Memory (QTY 1): 
https://amzn.to/2JqHn8Z

Hard Drive (QTY 1):  
https://amzn.to/3lic3X5

Risers (QTY 6):  
https://amzn.to/33rIgVE

Power Supplies (QTY 2):
https://amzn.to/3fTRpLR

Add2PSU (QTY 1):
https://amzn.to/39s4URY

Power Switch (QTY 1):  
https://amzn.to/3ljmNVk

WINDOWS 10 MINING ETC AFTER EPOCH 390 [NOVEMBER 2020]

This is a quick guide on how to use T-Rex on your Windows 10 computer to allow your NVidia 1080 Ti cards to run after the epoch. Ethereum Classic has a hardform at Epoch 390 which should fall on or around November 28th 2020. To keep mining afterwards you will have to update your miner to one that supports the new fork. For this, I have chosen to switch over to T-Rex.

On my Windows computer:
Open a web browser
Navigate to
https://github.com/trexminer/T-Rex/releases

Download
https://github.com/trexminer/T-Rex/releases/download/0.18.11/t-rex-0.18.11-win-cuda10.0.zip

Unzip t-rex-0.18.11….

Your Antivirus will probably send you a warning, so you will have to create an exception for it.

Now right click on the .bat file you want to run. For me, I will be mining ETC, so I will right click on ETC-2miners.bat

Once the file is open, I will save it as Tacticalware.bat

Next you will want to change the mining pool to whichever one you use. I use ethermine

You will want to modify the wallet address that shows in the file, and replace it with your wallet address

At the end of the changes, my file looks like this:
t-rex.exe -a ethash –coin etc -o stratum+tcp://us1-etc.ethermine.org:4444 -u 0xb2bc70cD85e20c96c8967CAECcE20a238ee9950D -w tacticalware –fork-at etchash=epoch:390

pause

Save the file, and then run it. You can monitor the progress by navigating watching your hashes on the ethermine site, or navigate to the local t-rex site that is created on your computer.

The address will look something like this, and be displayed when you begin mining
t-rex


When you browse to that site you will see something that looks like this:

t-rex

You can now monitor your mining rig through a browser

Thanks for reading

The hardware that I used in this guide:
Gigabyte AORUS GeForce GTX 1080 Ti (QTY 4):
https://amzn.to/2JqvXC8

Motherboard (QTY 1): 
https://amzn.to/2JqGJZ7

CPU (QTY 1): 
https://amzn.to/3qevp2X

Memory (QTY 1): 
https://amzn.to/2JqHn8Z

Hard Drive (QTY 1):  
https://amzn.to/3nZ5pH4

Risers (QTY 4):  
https://amzn.to/33rIgVE

Power Supplies (QTY 2):
https://amzn.to/3fTRpLR

Add2PSU (QTY 1):
https://amzn.to/39s4URY

Power Switch (QTY 1):  
https://amzn.to/3ljmNVk



POWER BI – DISABLE DATE/TIME HIERARCHY

  • Power BI

Sick of your system being bogged down by the overhead of the autocalculations for the Date/Time fields. Here is how you disable that feature:

Inside Power BI
Go to File
Click Options and Settings
Select Options
Find GLOBAL and look at the options below it
Select Data Load
Uncheck Auto date/time for new files
Find CURRENT FILE and look at the options below it
Select Data Load
Uncheck Auto date/time

WINDOWS 10 – DISABLE WINDOWS DEFENDER THROUGH GPOs

I cannot stand Windows Defender. Constantly destroys my crypto wallets. Here is the latest way to shut it down and disable it

In the Type here to search field
Type
gpedit.msc
Click Enter
Group Policy Editor will open

Navigate to
Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Open Turn off Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Set to Enabled
Click Ok

Select the Real-time Protection folder
Open Turn off real-time protection
Set to Enabled
Click Ok
Select Turn on behavior monitoring
Set to Disabled
Click Ok
Open Monitor file and program activity on your computer
Set to Disabled
Click Ok
Open Turn on process scanning whenever real-time protection is ….
Set to Disabled
Click Ok

Restart your computer…..And reinstall your wallet that was just destroyed by Microsoft’s disgusting practices.