Bitcoin Forum

I have be doing something wrong. I setup my Ubuntu 10.10 server VM on my i7 box running ESX 4.1, firewall properly configured, block count accurate and double checked, software updated whenever I get to find a new version, and here are my stats:

    "version" : 32002,
    "balance" : 0.03000000,
    "blocks" : 112804,
    "connections" : 42,
    "proxy" : "",
    "generate" : true,
    "genproclimit" : -1,
    "difficulty" : 55590.23763914,
    "hashespersec" : 2124078,
    "testnet" : false,
    "keypoololdest" : 1293816129,
    "paytxfee" : 0.00000000,
    "errors" : ""

The VM has a single core allocated, as it's mostly for testing. I got 0.05 BTC from the fountain before it went dry but I really see no movement. Of course I understand a lot of people out there is mining, but I think after 4 months I should see at least a BTC penny...

Any thoughts?

you'll never see a BTC penny when mining on your own,
you'll either see 50BTC, or none.
if it takes you longer then the next ~100k blocks to create 1 block,
you'll either see 25BTC, or none.

you'll actually only ever see BTC pennies (or anything at your hashrate), if you join a mining-pool.

From the generation calculator here (http://www.alloscomp.com/bitcoin/calculator.php), you may as well not bother with just an i7. At 2 MHash:

Average   1301 days, 1 hour, 23 minutes

He's only running on one thread on the i7!

Generally CPU mining is worthless; if you REALLY want to do it, join a pool.

You, sir, just wasted a whole lot of electricity for nothing...

The CPU mining option should be removed from the default client...

I left my cpu miner (E8500) going in january by accident, after not generating anything since October. I got 2 blocks in 6 days!

You couldn't even calculate the luck involved in doing that, so I quit while i was 'ahead'.

My advice, cut your loss.

Thanks everybody. This really helps me understand better the reality and current state of the process. As I said, I really did this mostly as a test. My electricity is free any way as I have a fairly large solar installation in my house (more than I need).

I'll start next exploring what I can do using a dedicated computer an a few Tesla cards just for the fun of it. Thanks again!

If you have free electricity, you could sell it to people who want to put a mining computer at your place.. Easier than to sell your surplus electricity on the energy market, if that's even possible..

I disagree. Why not make it easy to play the lottery?

Because the lottery is $1 each week to play. An entire PC would be considerably more XD

I already own a computer, and it stays on to seeding torrents. With Bitcoin, you play the lottery every ten minutes, and someone will win every ten minutes. In that way, it's more like a raffle than a lottery. I can't imagine that it costs very much to play for anyone who already has a PC that stays on most of the time.

Well the fact an i7 CPU can draw 200Watts suggests otherwsie  ;D. But yes if it's just a small CPU drawing 50Watts I suppose it's a good way to make a little money...probably less than the additional electricity costs though.

Are you aware that all torrents are been tracked btw?

Don't believe me, see the "proof of concept" video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZFXKz2NCPc (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZFXKz2NCPc)

Just imagine a 80286 or even an XT machine mining bitcoins and finding a block. :)

I f'd up and had a virtual machine running on a mid-range P3 that was generating and it found a block, I was beyond impressed. 0.4Kh/s.

Meh. It's partly a matter of civil disobedience for me. I see no reason why I must use my senses and my labor according to some "intellectual property" holder's terms instead of my own. If you don't want me to experience your creation, keep it a God damn secret.

Haha yer, same opinion man. These TB hard drives don't fill themselves  8)

I wonder when lawyers will start making movies and other content so they can sue the people who download them.....

Entrapment ftw.

I think I would just pirate that shit for the lulz of pissing them off. If I was ever to go "Down" for it, I'd do it in style "UK man found to have £2m of law firm cinematic materials on computer - sentenced for 500 life times inprisonment)

Can the calculater be included in the default client? In that way people that start mining know what to expect.