A great choice for altcoin
GPU mining

Mining with Windows is a common and perfectly good choice, but some people prefer something more specific, which is why Mining OS’s are seeing more use nowadays. EthOS is one of those, and it’s a fantastic choice for GPU minable coins if you put in some time into learning how to use it.

However, much like any other investment, you’d like to make an informed decision, which is why we’re providing this review, so let’s get started.

What does it feature?

  • You can boot it right up and get directly to mining as it automatically assigns IPs/hostnames. No driver installations are required either.
  • Supports up to 16 Nvidia GPUs from the GTX 900 and 1000 2GB+ series.
  • Supports up to 8 AMD GPUs from the R7/R9 2GB+ series.
  • Supports multiple altcoins, with the big ones being Ethereum, Zcash, XMR and a good selection of other altcoins that are also minable with GPUs.
  • The ability to set up and configure ethOS rigs through a browser-based interface. All you need to do is connect to your rig’s IP addresses through your web browser.
  • Supports both hardforks and softforks. Blockchain storage is unnecessary as the syncing is done by pools and wallets.
  • Works on over a thousand different combinations of rigs.
  • You can control most aspects of your mining rigs remotely. This includes but is not limited to remote reboot, setting core and mem clocks, controlling fans, and pool info.
  • It’s an extremely lightweight OS that any CPU made in the last 5 generations can run on only 2 GB of RAM.
  • Automatic overheating protection for your GPUs in case they get past a certain threshold.
  • It’s automatically configured to mine through stratum.
  • Automatic reports provided through a web panel that give you statistics of each rig, charts and event reports.
  • No mouse required to handle the OS.
  • Easy to update with a simple command.
  • Fast to boot and low disk and CPU usage, with no out-of-space issues.
  • Atiflash tool that allows you to quickly flash your GPU’s bios.

That’s a pretty long list of features. As you can see, ethOS provides you with everything you need to manage a large scale mining operation.

What does the community think about ethOS?

If you look around the most popular online communities (i.e. bitcointalk forums, Ethereum and GPU mining subreddits to name a few) you’ll find that the general reception towards ethOS is quite positive, especially among Ethereum miners. You’ll find the occasional complaint regarding the lack of a GUI and having to do everything through command lines, but those are few and far in-between since most miners using ethOS are experienced enough to find it quite comfortable to work with.

Pricing

EthOS comes in three forms:

  • A digital purchase, which only includes the OS ($39/£28).
  • A preloaded OS on a 16gb SSD ($49/£35.18).
  • A preloaded OS on a 16gb USB 3.0 ($39/£28).

You can purchase ethOS here.

As a small side note: If you’re outside of the US and want to purchase the preloaded versions of the OS, you can’t use international debit/credit cards, but can make payments through Amazon or Apple pay, or even pay in crypto. It’s all up to you.

Digital purchases can be done with international debit/credit cards without issue.

Pros & Cons

Pros

  1. A vast set of features that allow you to manage and optimize large scale mining operations with ease.
  2. A very lightweight client.
  3. Very easy to learn how to use despite lacking a GUI.
  4. The ability to automatically trade your altcoins to bitcoin.
  5. Reasonably priced.
  6. Installation is done with a single click.
  7. You can buy it preloaded from an SSD or purchase the OS individually as a digital download.
  8. Most things are automatically configured once the OS boots.

Cons

  1. The lack of a GUI can be a bit of a turn off to new users who are not used to working through command lines.
  2. You have to buy the OS for each rig you own, which can get quite expensive.

As you can see, the pros severely outweigh the cons in the case of ethOS. Although buying the OS for each rig isn’t exactly nice, the pricing is fair. The lack of a GUI might seem a bit weird or confusing for newbies to mining, but it’s actually quite easy to learn if you put some time and effort into it. Additionally, the ethOS distro website has a knowledge base available that provides you with everything you need to know to get started.

To sum things up

EthOS has been going strong ever since its release and is constantly being updated and improved. If you’re a newbie and willing to put a bit of time aside to learn how to use it, ethOS might be exactly what you’re looking for: A very robust platform to manage your mining operation. If you’re an experienced user and haven’t checked it out yet, what are you waiting for? Check it out!

About ethOS

Initially released in February 15 of 2016, ethOS is an OS based from a fork of Ubuntu that is dedicated to GPU minable coins and dedicated to large scale mining operations. Its main selling point is that it’s an extremely lightweight OS that is also easy and quick to set up and get running.

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