Bitcoin Forum

So, if I buy one of these things, and use it at work, heres my question.

I am unable to use any bitcoin clients that need to download the blockchain (firewall), so, if I plus this into my computer, will it work?  Or do I have to be able to open specific ports on my computers firewall (which I cannot do)

Use it at work? Because of no cost power? Thats not a good idea. People got fired because they loaded their smartphone at work and took the power without asking or paying for it. Risky if thats your plan.

Its a small USB block eruptor, and my bosses do not care.  They play on their phones all day, we basically work in cubicals and do nothing :)

ROFL ... are u serious ?!  Where do u live ?

Germany.... oO and yes its nuts but true... Here the smallest things can lead to being fired.

Well we have established that this will not get me fired.  So, can anyone answer my question?

To answer your particular question.... it depends... you would most likely not be able to use any stratrum pools, but the pools using longpoll (esp if it runs on port 80) should be fine... ymmw ... but if your computers firewall only allows certain authorized programs to use internet... then you probably cant get a mining application to talk to the pool...

I used to leave my work laptop mining at work last year. No one suspected a thing. We leave our computers on non-stop anyway. Try it out, if it doesn't work then you know. I worked in a data-center.

Our firewall blocks like gambling sites, and peer to peer stuff.  Facebooks, etc is all ok.  For example, I cannot use multibit, but I can use other downloaded programs. 

I suppose I will just leave it on at home.  I cant imagine these things increasing an electric bill that much

Mining operates using http or tcp on ports in the 8000-9000 range. They are outgoing TCP connections so they can traverse firewalls without issue. Some pools even have port 80 mining so the traffic appears to be the same as normal web traffic.

So I am an idiot.  Basically, I can use a pool that has port 80 and I will be fine.
If so, I may buy 2 for my computer, since we are always online and I have 2 USB ports on my computer in my cubicle

I think you can even use bitminter's java client now, so no need to install any software on your work computer...
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=31163

Most corporate firewalls allow TCP outbound, and port 80 mining is indistinguishable from web/http traffic. Your company can still block bitcoin pools via dns/ip. But it's highly unlikely. You can always test by running cgminer (CPU mine mode) on your workstation.


I highly doubt bitminter has USB support. Also, you don't need to "install" any miner. cgminer, poclbm, and phoenix require no installation.

Apparently, Bitminter does have usb support and people seem to have it working with their block erupter USBs albeit with mixed results.
That's why I mentioned it.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=31163.msg2340395#msg2340395

I do agree that cgminer is a better option (and I use that almost exclusively myself), but imho bitminter client is quicker and easier to use and requires no configuration. Its just a matter of preference.

I've been using mine with BTCGuild without any issues.

Would you guys help me set it up with cgminer if I buy it?

There's actually lots of info already posted which will likely help you out.  This thread for starters:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=220905.0

If his co has half decent security dept., they will call him the moment he starts his miner.  Very few miners set Firefox/IE user agent strings.
"cgminer" or "bitminter" in web proxy reports will raise red flags.

No need to run a bitcoin client in order to mining.
Plug the Eruptor USB, install driver(if Windows), configure and run cgminer with a pool.

You forgot to tell him to call his company network administrator and ask him to look the other way when cgminer traffic goes through the HTTP proxy.

Mining pool hosts in the proxy reports will raise big red flags.

What, you mean that like 2kb of data every 10 seconds?