Prerequisites⌗

A working installation of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is required. An Advanced user can install the server version while a neophyte can install the desktop version. The installation process for Ubuntu Server Edition is slightly different from the Desktop Edition; Ubuntu Server doesn’t have a GUI by default. The guide assumes you have root privileges to the system. This guide also assumes you already have the necessary hardware to mine Ethereum using the ETHASH algorithm.

disclaimer⌗

This guide was tested using 5 AMD RX580 gpu’s with 8GB GDDR5 memory (samsung).

bash update ubuntu


#!/bin/sh
Sudo apt install & sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install nano

Enable kernel boot option that allows control of GPU power states⌗

To enable undervolting and overclocking of AMD GPU’s, A “ppfeaturemask” Kernel Parameter Is Required. This is often accomplished via a system’s boot loader (E.g. GRUB). If manually loading the driver, pass ppfeaturemask= as a modprobe parameter.

Replace GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT and GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX lines with the parameters below:

sh edit Grub config


sudo nano /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xfffd7fff"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"

You can also use amdgpu.ppfeaturemask=0xffffffff but a higher value causes artifacts on some models under the RX 400/500 series.

sh update Grub config


sudo update-grub && sudo update-grub2 && sudo update-initramfs -u -k all

Install AMDGPU Driver + OpenCL⌗

The commands below simplify the installation of the AMDGPU graphics and compute stack by encapsulating the distribution specific package installation logic by using command line options that allow specifying the Variant of the AMDGPU stack to be installed. For GPU mining, we will be using the Pro variant only.

Download the driver

wget https://drivers.amd.com/drivers/linux/amdgpu-pro-20.40-1147286-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz --referer https://www.amd.com/en/support/kb/release-notes/rn-amdgpu-unified-linux-20-40

sh Extract the tallbar


 tar -Jxvf amdgpu-pro-20.40-1147286-ubuntu-20.04.tar.xz

sh Change Directory to driver folder


cd amdgpu-pro-20.40-1147286-ubuntu-20.04

sh install Pro drivers


./amdgpu-pro-install -y --opencl=pal,legacy,rocm --headless

The parameters --opencl=pal,legacy,rocm specify the OpenCl implementation to install. OpenCL is an optional component of the Pro variant and is installed only if it is specifically requested.

Option	Description
`Pal`	Provides support for Vega 10 and newer hardware.
`Legacy`	Provides support for hardware older than Vega 10.
`rocm`	Optional component.

The parameter --headless specifies to install only the OpenCL portion of the Pro variant (omitting the OpenGL portion). This is desirable because the GPU’s will be operating in headless compute mode.

optional

sudo apt install amdgpu-dkms libdrm-amdgpu-amdgpu1 libdrm2-amdgpu opencl-amdgpu-pro opencl-amdgpu-pro-dev

Add yourself to the Video and Render group⌗

To access the GPU’s, you must be a user in the video and render groups.
Note: render group is required only for Ubuntu v20.04.

sh add user to vid and render group


sudo usermod -a -G video $LOGNAME
sudo usermod -a -G render $LOGNAME

By default, you must add any future users to the video and render groups. To add future users to the video and render groups, run the following optional command:

sh add future user to vid and render group


echo 'ADD_EXTRA_GROUPS=1' | sudo tee -a /etc/adduser.conf
echo 'EXTRA_GROUPS=video' | sudo tee -a /etc/adduser.conf
echo 'EXTRA_GROUPS=render' | sudo tee -a /etc/adduser.conf

Add amdgpu-pro PATH to new line⌗

sh edit ~profile


Export PATH="/opt/amdgpu-pro/bin:$PATH"

Hard reboot⌗

It would be safer to do a Alt+SysRq+(R,E,I,S,U,B or O) than force a hard reboot.

R Switch the keyboard from raw mode to XLATE mode
E SIGTERM everything except init
I SIGKILL everything except init
S Syncs the mounted filesystem
U Remounts the mounted filesystem in read-only mode
B Reboot the system, or O Turn off the system

The SysRq key is a key combination understood by the Linux kernel, which allows the user to perform various low-level commands regardless of the system’s state. It is often used to recover from freezes, or to reboot a computer without corrupting the filesystem. Its effect is similar to the computer’s hardware reset button (or power switch) but with many more options and much more control.


    for i in s u b; do echo $i | sudo tee /proc/sysrq-trigger; sleep 5; done  # reboot
    for i in s u o; do echo $i | sudo tee /proc/sysrq-trigger; sleep 5; done  # halt

Data loss is possible from running applications but it shouldn’t knacker your filesystem. If you a have particularly huge disk write cache it might be best to increase the sleep value.

Install and run your favorite miner⌗

At this point, you can run your preferred Ethash GPU mining worker.

Install ROCm System Management Interface⌗

The rocm-smi tool exposes functionality for clock, power and temperature management of your system. We will be running the tool directly in this guide instead.

wget https://github.com/RadeonOpenCompute/ROC-smi/archive/rocm-3.9.0.tar.gz

Option	Description
–setsclk LEVEL [LEVEL …]	Set GPU Clock Frequency Level(s) (requires manual Perf level)
–setmclk LEVEL [LEVEL …]	Set GPU Memory Clock Frequency Level(s) (requires manual Perf level)
–setpcie LEVEL [LEVEL …]	Set PCIE Clock Frequency Level(s) (requires manual Perf level)
–setslevel SCLKLEVEL SCLK SVOLT	Change GPU Clock frequency (MHz) and Voltage (mV) for a specific Level
–setmlevel MCLKLEVEL MCLK MVOLT	Change GPU Memory clock frequency (MHz) and Voltage for (mV) a specific Level
–setfan LEVEL	Set GPU Fan Speed (Level or %)
–setperflevel LEVEL	Set Performance Level
–setoverdrive %	Set GPU OverDrive level (requires manual
–setmemoverdrive %	Set GPU Memory Overclock OverDrive level (requires manual
–setpoweroverdrive WATTS	Set the maximum GPU power using Power OverDrive in Watts

How to mine Ethereum on Ubuntu 20.04. LTS