Bitcoin Forum

I've got a machine almost built running dual 5870s (was $100-150 cheaper than 1x 5970 for slightly more output).

Does the OS have any effect on the hash rates?  If Linux is faster, would running a GUI linux distro instead of command line have much/any effect?  I'm looking at either Windows 7 x64 or Ubuntu.  I have some spare keys for Windows 7, so the cost of the OS isn't a factor.

UPDATE/EDIT:  If it matters, I may add on a third and/or fourth GPU to the system later.  Running a 1k watt PSU in the rig right now with ample space and airflow.

I haven't done ay Linux mining yet.
My windows machines seem to average about 340mh/s per 5870.
Seems like three of them per machine is a charm.

Windows all the way due to memory frequency and GPU votage control.

Do you plan to use water cooling ? How else can you fit 4 cards in one MB ? :)

I would recommend mining on Windows, of course. Unless you are going to install more than 2x5970 or 4x5870

why is windows recommended over linux?
if you do your over clocking in windows and then flash the gfx bios then all voltage settings and such works in linux as well

Because [Tycho] likes Windows  ;)

in a set and forget set-up system preferences should not play any role imo.

I dont like to use BSD in my day to day work but for setting up a file server it is pretty good as it draws next to no idle power.

I think the op is asking if linux would give better hash rates than windows. Also if a non gui linux distro would give better hash rate than a gui dristro.

Hate to resurrect this thread but I was just about to post one similar.  Is there anyone out there that has done a side by side comparison of the same hardware/overclock on Windows vs. Linux systems?

I'm debating rebuilding one of my boxes with Linux, but I honestly know next to nothing about it so I'm not sure it's worth the effort/aggravation...

I run one of my cards on Windows, and two more of the same kind on Linux. Same software (poclbm), same settings, same exact amount of overclocking.  Here is the result:

Shares:
24279 (Windows)
28622 (Linux)
28575 (Linux)

Notice any difference?

Which version of linux are you using?  LinuxCoin, Natty?  Did you follow any of the setup tutorials they have listed here?

Fake or inaccurate.

I will be happy to provide a side by side comparison for the following step up

3x6990 water cooled linux v windows. I am building identical rigs and will put windows 7 on one machine and ubuntu on the other. I know I know water cooling is lame/not profitable etc etc but I am really just in this bitcoin gig for fun and if I break even on costs in 1 year I will be more than happy, and its fun to play along even if I never break even. All the parts are in shipment.

aoclbf does all this plus more from the 1 GUI on Windows...

Its clear now 11.6 drivers support more than 4 GPU's that windows is now king for mining.....

I'd say the anwser is: choose OS which you prefer. It doesn't really matter.

True.  You have to consider your administration comfort as well.  If the rig is down, would you be more comfortable administer in Win or Linux?

It all depends on what you like.
If you're good with linux, go for linux. I personally use linux so i can ssh into my machines to manage them from my phone.
If you're not linux geek, use windows. Installing/managing a linux mining rig can be a real pain with limited linux experience.

Good luck ;)

Installing/managing a Windows mining rig can be a real pain with limited Windows experience, too -- and even a real pain for "experts"! Being able to find the Control Panel doesn't equate to being able to fix Windows when it inevitably breaks.

I prefer Linux -- not just for mining but for everyday usage -- because it's EASIER than Windows.

I agree with you - Linux is easier. Also just requires a 2gb Flash disk instead of a whole hard drive. That said apart from being a victim of a Bitcoin stealing trojan which is an obvious weakness to Windows, I don't see any disadvantage. Why would Windows invariably "break"? Especially when not doing much else than just sitting there and mining all day.

Im using my MinerPE on PXE boot for my single GPU setups and Linux for my multiple GPU setups.

I would suggest Windows would allow you to get better hash rates because you will have much more control over the card (card creators consider Windows before Linux in general and there are many tools out there to tweak your cards which only run on Windows).

I'm in the middle of configuring a 2x5850 (Sapphire Xtreme) mining rig and would love to clock the cores past 900 MHz but I've found no way of doing that on Linux (Windows users can either flash the bios or use Sapphire's TriXX).

Of course, this all assumes you already have a valid Windows OS License.  If you do not have a Windows OS License then the cost of this will probably outweigh any benefit from greater power over your cards.

Ha Windows 7 is so easy to pirate - Windows 7 loader  :D

Also if you flash your card to an OC'ed ROM it will work in Linux too.

Silk road is one thing but software piracy?  Are we really that dastardly?  I am shocked!

Windows is easier to over clock but like everyone else said once you oc in windows its overclocked in linux ... the cool thing is you can unplug your HD and run off of a thumb drive ... I have four machines ... 3 running 2 x 6870 and one running 2 x 6950 after I unplugged the HDs in all of them and booted off a thumb drive my power bill dropped 15 dollars (not much but if your going for profit its worth it) they are stable and just as fast

Linux is a bit faster, but Windows makes it up with easy overclocking and overvolting.

You know that from your own experince or just hating open source?

I'm interested in this because I have two dedicated rigs (and the hard drives get quite hot which could mean power consumption), but I have to ask two things:

1.) How can you be sure that unplugging three hard drives alone dropped your bill fifteen dollars? That sounds like quite an overstatement considering they don't draw that much power

2.) Did you have windows set to power them down after 5 minutes?  I have that set on mine, and I can't actually tell if it's doing anything because with all the gpu fans at 100% and the box fan running full blast I can't hear it or feel it over the noise and vibrations

I'm working on Linux since over 10 years and I started using it even earlier, but I like things that works. Linux in this case is not superior to Windows talking about the hash speed and I'm not able to set voltage/frequency on it. Flashing bios makes no sense at all, especially due to RBE is not working well on 6950 cards and not working at all on 6990.

GPU limitation on windows is no longer an issue with 11.6 drivers

you can boot windows from a usb stick also ;) thus removing the need for HD..

Is there a thread you could share for Windows from USB stick please?
I've been able to put the Windows install media on a usb stick, but not a persistent install.

Have you tried this? http://sourceforge.net/projects/amdovdrvctrl/ (http://sourceforge.net/projects/amdovdrvctrl/)

Yes. It is not able to set voltage on HD 6900 cards and it is not allowing me to underclock ram as i can with afterburner, sadly.

Linux hands down is going to be more profitable if you know what you're doing.  We ran extensive tests on 58xx and 69xx systems running both Windows XP and Ubuntu 11 even with the "limited" overclocking controls we found Linux to be faster by far than Windows.  Keep in mind that we first searched for the sweet spot of profitability, sometimes overclocking reduces your profit margin.

Long term this is a game about maximizing profit, and while maxing out MH/s seems like the thing to do, you should be much more concerned with MH/J, we found that over clocking outside of the 'normal' settings, resulted in a lower MH/J in all cases.

That's why i'm using undervoltage on windows...

Yeah i know that. The only thing i wasn't aware is that the tool i gave link before isn't working on 69xx series.  Sadly there are more developers for windows.

Use Catalyst 11.6 and aticonfig. It allows for core/memory clocking beyond BIOS limits.

Then you obviously don't know what you are doing. Post some settings and screenshots and we'll soon find out if you're talking fanboy crap. With a 5830 the best hash rate you're going to get is around 330 MHz in Windows. "Faster by far" would be around 400 MHz. So, lets see then.

He is not talking mhz here. He is talking overall profit.
If OS A. gives 1000 MH using 500wats = 1000/500= 2
 OS B. Gives 1200 MH using 550wats = 1200/500= 1,83333333

in this examble OS B i clearly filling you butcoin wallet faster but in return it is emptying it even faster than OS A. making it less desirable if you want to maximize your profit.

AMDOverdriveCtrl works with 6950's and 6970's just fine.

Did you read my post?  I'm assuming when you write MHZ, you really mean MH/s.  First, we were trying to find the most profitable settings, surprisingly as you overclock, while you're MH/s increases, often your MH/j tends to decrease, meaning while you get more BTC, it costs you more per BTC to generate them.

So, while AMDOverdriveCtrl doesn't allow you to overclock as much as certain Windows tools, the sweet spot was *always* within the range of a linux system without having to jump through hoops.Now your point probably is that makes them even...  but it doesn't...

In theory you're having to buy a Windows license to run that dedicated mining rig...  that costs money...  you're most likely putting Windows on a hard drive, which costs a lot more than network booting, or thumb drives, that costs extra money...  Windows requires dummy plugs for each card, that costs money, and makes management that much harder...  and remote management takes a little more setup time, costing you time, and as we all know time is money...  More money spent means less profit :)

So yeah, if you know what you're doing in Linux, it's more profitable than Windows for dedicated mining rigs.

Or just use the Windows 7 trial and do the "slmgr -rearm" thing for 180days, then wipe and start over...usually there is newer drivers/software by that point anyways.

could someone explain to me what is MH/J ?  "J"?

megahash per joule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joule)

Yes I did read your post and yes I did mean Mh/s. If you're just talking about profitability then why did you specifically say that Linux was far faster than Windows? Did your testing show Linux to have a greater hash rate or not?

At peak MH/j Linux has a higher MH/s rate than Windows from the testing we did.  This probably has a lot to do with the fact Linux in general has a lot less 'overhead' than Windows.

I'll give you an example, card A is an ATI 5770 we found on this specific card the optimal MH/j was core 947mhz, memory 321mhz...  Under Windows this card averaged 197.9 MH/s over a 15 minute period, with those exact same settings we are getting 212.3 MH/s under Linux.  15 MH/s isn't a lot, but you factor in we were able to then remove the HD and the CPU load (and thus power usage) is lower, the Linux system has a much better profit margin than the Windows.

Now, our measurements aren't exact...  we took a network power switch/battery backup, and pulled snmp power usage every 15 seconds for a 15 minute period.  Then we wrote a script that would move the core and memory settings up and down until it found a sweet spot in MH/j for a specific card.  We ran this test on 8 different cards from 2 different vendors in the 5770 line, the results are similar for all the cards in that test.  We ran the same test on a smaller batch of 5850's and 6950's again with similar results.

If all you know is Windows, and you're setting up a single mining rig, then it probably doesn't make sense to worry about those numbers as much...  if you're trying to setup a bunch of rigs and plan to operate long term in a 20-30% profit margin...  every little bit of cost savings helps.

Not to mention, that writing a script to remotely move the core and memory mhz settings remotely in windows would not have been an easy undertaking.  IMHO (and it's just an opinion) Linux wins hands down as the better dedicated mining rig OS.

Perfect reply!!!

Mooving to Linux)

What Linux are you using?

You can use ubuntu as it's the most easy distro to operate with. But search around this forum, there is SMART Coin distro also made and optimized for bitcoin mining.

Check my MinerPE approach, for single gpus setups is by far the best option, much better than linux. But for multiple gpu rigs the best option is Linux on a pendrive.

Care to elaborate?  What is MinerPE?  Do you have any stats which will convince us that MinerPE is superior to other approaches?

fair enoght.

pros:
*Easy to setup: 10 minutes from first boot to mining, incluiding overcloking.

*Easy to update software in the farm: (5 minutes to update a up to 252 pcs farm, another 15-30m to reboot afterwards, depending on network speed and pcs)
 -Adding Phoenix hashrate mod??? just update the kernel.cl file in server and reboot the farm
 -Updating drivers and SDK??? update the files in the server and reboot the farm.

*MSI Afterburner support on every pc in the farm, oc settings are saved and stored.

*VNC Server support on every client on the farm.

*PXE boot, no pendrives or HDDs, just LAN boot.

*Easy to mod, 90% of the work is on batch files, making it trivial to mod or add funtions.

*No problem with corrupted files on client pcs on the farm, so you will never worried again about some client not booting because a file is corrupted.

cons:
*Only 1 VGA is supported.
*Its not Linux (?)

Anyway, check the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xN52sWA1BBM

Cool, I particularly like the network booting.  This gives Windows an 'easy and quick to configure' bonus over Linux which I won't deny.  If you are setting up even a moderate sized farm and/or are just looking for maximum profit (and your time is valuable) then this could be a good choice.

However, it may well be that one can achieve better MH/s or MH/J in Linux and I think there are a few people on these forums who value the extra MH/s more than the 2-3 hours time configuring the miner.  Indeed I doubt I'm alone in actually enjoying the configuration and tweaking.

I've put together my own PXE setup for my Linux mining rig as a proof of concept. If there's demand, I'll develop it further and release it.

LinuxCoin rules!!!! ups... sorry. My bad.

Adding LinuxCoin to PXE boot is trivial(i already using Grub4dos for MinerPE), after that i guess i can mine trought SSH.

If it was nice and easy to setup and use, I would definatly be interested. I would like to build a few diskless mining rigs and a central server. Make it easy to push different images or configurations on the fly, central control and monitoring of all the mining clients. But hopefully easy enough that someone with just basic linux (ubuntu) knowledge like me can get it going. Would be nice if it could handle installing the driver/sdk/python, and maybe even the miner software itself. I had much difficulty getting my rig mining with linux..

This is indeed exactly what I was thinking about. I'll put something together in the next few days; stay tuned for an announcement (in a new thread!).

I'm very interested in jumping on board if you want me :D LinuxCoin is already capable of booting from a USB stick and cloning itself via PXE. This is all pretty much setup and there for you to use I have some quick and dirty scripts to set things up.

I'm very interested in creating something that can administrate this all and give the user more control without having to dive into a teminal and start hammering away at the keyboard :D

On debian exists a terminal dialog creator used on deb package configuration...anyone can help creating that?

For a dedicated mining rig, Linux is a no-brainer.  Linux is free (in speech but more applicably here also as in beer), whereas Windows is going to run you $100-200.  There are lots of arguments over which is faster, but I can pretty much guarantee you that even if Windows is somehow faster, it's not $100-200 faster.

This has got me thinking. LinuxCoin 0.2.1b is capable of distributing its filesystem via http to the PXE clients. What about if we code a nice db driven front end using php ? Would be simple and easy to setup.

but to put it simple, i cant just chainload LinuxCoin using Grub4dos for PXE boot and mine trought SSH?

As for installing drivers and upgrading mining software it cant be done by just using a shell scritp???

all of this considering using a "Server PC" for file cache.

drgr33n, if you can make LinuxCoin as easy to setup and update its clients as my MinerPE, we gona have a perfect mining software for cluster mining, but at it its now MinerPE it its just way too easy to administrate, setup and update... and that is a MUST for single vga setups because its likely ppl will have 10+, 20+, 30+ of them, not to mention voltaje tweak support, something that Linux does not have.

Right now im using Linux only for my multiple gpu setups.

Totally wrong yes you can control your mining nodes from the terminal and you can also forward X11 to your server and use the GUI's too. LinuxCoin comes with a auto PXE setup and will become a PXE / DHCP / HTTP server and distribute itself to as many nodes as you like. Tomorrow I'm going to be updating the scripts so that you can also monitor your nodes from a pretty little web interface on the server that monitors the GPU load, temp, fanspeed and will also read out your hashrate ;)

AMDOverdriveCtrl comes with everything need to voltage tweek your cards. and you can now overclock ATI cards above / below their limits.

Updating the software as easy as typing

apt-get update&apt-get upgrade :D

Linux isnt as scary as you may think lol

I've got 14 cards on linux and 4 cards on windows.  I'll run it down for you from what I noticed.

--------- Positive--------------

1) Linux has superior power management.
a1)  Running 6970, 6970, 6950 in windows draws 1100 watts in windows.  
a1)  Running 6970, 6970, 6970, 6870, in linux draws 1100 watts.

2) Linux has drastically less CPU usage.  I need at least a 3x core at 3 GHz to run 4x 5850s in windows.   On linux i disable all cores but 1.   I now run a 2.7 single core with 4x 5850s.

3)  Remote management is vastly easier in linux.  Multiple SSH etc.

4)  Hash per second is virtually the same.

5)  Incredibly stable.  I think I've had a 4 machines up for 2-3 weeks now.

6)  Can run ATI Stream 2.1 & 2.4 at the same time.  Allowing 6xxx and 5xxx on same system.

-----  THE DOWNSIDE ------------

Voltage tweaking and overclocking are terrible.

1) 6950, 6970, 6990 cannot be overclocked in linux using AMDCtrl.   Any overclocking cause the mhash to lower.

2)  Non-reference 5xxxx are very difficult to overvolt.  Easy to overclock under stock voltage.  Lowering memory is difficult.

3)  Basically if you cannot flash your bios then you will NOT be able to overvolt your card in linux.  (You can still overclock at stock voltage.)

4) Fairly difficult to get wifi cards working if you don't get the right one.

Just to add Linux is more stable and more secure then winbox.

There seems to be alot more positives for linux than negitives... let me just clear that up a little...

Windows
-------- Positives -------------
Can run upto 8 GPU's(maybe more) using 11.6 drivers or greater
Windows CPU usage can be directed to one core using affinity thus freeing up all other CPU cores
Remote management is super easy using vnc or many other similar services for headless miner boxes.
Normally the latest drivers will arrive on Windows first(not all the time but most of the time)
Over clocking is a breeze with windows without any bios flashing
Just about all hardware will work for windows.
alot of easy to use GUI application for mining
Power management can be used but can some times be tricky to setup
Just all round easier and faster to setup

----- Negatives --------
Power management probably not as easy as Linux
inherit normal Windows faults
Need dummy plugs for overclocking(not needed for mining multiple GPU's tho')
You wont be counted as Uber when using Windows instead of linux

Security and stability is only limited to the users knowledge and his configuration, this also applys for any linux box too. Windows can be super stable and secure if set up correctly

Just to be clear, these positives are all well and good but few are actually "advantages" over Linux:

- Linux can handle process/core affinity too but there is little need for this here.  CPU mining is very inefficient and GPU mining requires practically no work from the CPU.

- Linux has easy remote management with ssh (many thanks to the BSD guys).

- I'll give you that Windows has a big advantage over Linux when it comes to drivers.  The ability to overclock comes under this heading too.  That said I'm able to overclock and overvolt my non-reference 5850's in Linux without any BIOS flashing so things aren't so bad, but certainly Windows has the advantage.

- You can't list power management as a positive and a negative.

- Being easier and faster to setup is a matter of opinion.  Indeed, I find Windows much harder to use and more confusing.

Also, I doubt there is any "uberness" associated with using Linux these days.  Both Mac OS X and Ubuntu Linux are seen as viable alternatives to MS Windows.  I think mining bitcoins says more about computer nerdiness than using Linux.

Why not?

http://www.phoronix.com/data/img/results/windows_ubuntu_pow/19.png
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=windows_ubuntu_pow&num=9

Look at that graph, that's power consumption when gaming (ie. Graphics use [like when we mine]). If you read the whole article, even idle/minimal use desktop linux uses less power.

Dont forget that's ubuntu. If you use debian or ubuntu server (with no desktop and minimal packages) you will use even less power and possible higher mhash as you dont have to draw anything on the screen.

You don't even have to flash the bios in Linux. I'm running 5830's with underclocked mem and overclocked GPU and voltage just by using AMDOverdriveCtrl utility and even created the profile from the command prompt and applied it there in one easy step. There is NO advantage to running it on windows but there are MANY advantages to running under Linux. Sooo much more control (oh and it's faster too).

Windows,

I can get the clock to 1030 mhz on Windows, but on Linux it just freezes...

Doesn't freeze for me. Works just fine and dandy.

Yes, look at that graph. It clearly states at the top "Phenom II Power Consumption".

Thought id share my experience with both.

Overclocking in linux was far worse then in windows. Could only get 940mhz out of this 6850 on linux but windows its clocks to 975mhz just fine.

So obviously windows will be faster in this case. But just for the sake of it I compared the two at stock speeds.

Windows 7 averaged 201.xx mhash/s [fresh install and boot]
Linux averaged 203.xx mhash/s [fresh install and boot]

Managed to get the windows running faster at 204.xx mhash by using task manager to close explorer and every process not needed and having the visual performance set to lowest settings so aero wasn't using any gpu.

Linux already had x-server closed and was running from shell and im no linux expert so didn't know any other ways to optimise it.

can i get this script somewhere?
or do you have already HD6790 measured?

Read the article. That's a Phenom II system, which i chose as most miners here use AMD systems (and AMD have higher idle/load wattages than Intel).

I did read the article. It makes no mention of a Phenom II system. It does however, directly contadict you:


Also, the Phenom II's have a TDP between 65W and 140W depending on the model, so it's obviously not measuring the power consumption of any half-decent video card or it would be a lot higher.

It's at the wall:


And it's not a half decent card:


Max 48w TDP for the card.

What's the wall? I couldn't find that text anywhere on the page you linked to, so I'm assuming this "wall" thing is not on that page.

Linux mining here.  Been running Linux boxes since pre kernel 1.0.  But don't let that bias fool you.

There's no substitute for Linux machines running as any sort of a network appliance.  Plus, if you play your cards right, you can lean a LOT about things you never thought you'd be interested in computationally speaking.

With a little work, you can build up a Linux based mining rig (or set of rigs), that's rock solid, bulletproof, and easily monitored / reconfigured.  You also get the pride and satisfaction of getting it done, which you'll get I guess no matter which way you go.

But ... keep in mind that the online Linux community is still an excellent resource.  EG., Head on over to the Ubuntu forums and you'll find help on pretty much any subject.

Lastly, you can run Linux kernels on really old, crappy hardware.

I'm getting between 380-400 Mh/s on my 5870s running Ubuntu and the 2.1 OpenCL libraries.  All my machines have fans that are custom programmed and GPUs that scale down in speed if they run hotter than 73C.  Plus, with two keyclicks, I can check the following, from anywhere:

 miner 1 = 379  |=========|=========|=========|=========|===
 miner 2 = 155  |=
 miner 3 = 205  |======
 miner 4 = 302  |=========|=========|==
 miner 5 = 205  |======
 miner 6 = 259  |=========|====
 miner 7 = 258  |=========|===
 miner 8 = 203  |=====
 miner 9 = 205  |======
miner 10 = 262  |=========|====
miner 11 = 258  |=========|===
miner 12 = 202  |=====
miner 13 = 261  |=========|====
miner 14 = 314  |=========|=========|=====
miner 15 = 292  |=========|=========|
miner 16 = 291  |=========|=========|
miner 17 = 314  |=========|=========|=====
miner 18 = 282  |=========|========
miner 19 = 284  |=========|========
miner 20 = 278  |=========|=======
miner 21 = 280  |=========|=======
miner 22 = 279  |=========|=======
miner 23 = 383  |=========|=========|=========|=========|====
Total MH/s =  6151

Eh?  Mine goes (almost) to eleven ... or 1000 anyhow for Core MHz (under Linux).  The below is a 6850 currently crunching at 280 Mh/s.  Output is from aticonfig:


Default Adapter - AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series
                            Core (MHz)    Memory (MHz)
           Current Clocks :    968           1212
             Current Peak :    968           1212
  Configurable Peak Range : [775-1000]     [1050-1250]
                 GPU load :    99%

Default Adapter - AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series
                  Sensor 0: Temperature - 71.00 C
Fan speed query:
Query Index: 0, Speed in percent
Result: Fan Speed: 74%

watts up pro (http://www.google.com.au/search?client=opera&rls=en&q=Watts%20Up%20Pro%20power%20meter&oe=utf-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi)

Oh, I get you now. The wall as in where the sockets plug into.  :-[

now that ASIC mining is on the near horizon with dedicated mining software like cgminer and bfgminer, i assume the clear answer is now Linux?

I would think so, because you don't need to tweak or OC your ASICs like you do with GPUs.  

I am currently using Windows because I cannot OC with linux.
When I see working ASICs I will buy some and use linux.

When you tried using linux did you use cgminer to control your OC or ati utilities? Once I had a handle on getting the drivers installed properly and using cgminer to control the GPU OC's I have had a way more stable setup then any attempts at mining with windows.

just choose what you are more comfortable with,  difference is insignificant

what dependencies does cgminer require in Ubuntu?

We are using windows to test each card and edit their BIOS if needed before we put them in the final rigs in datacenters. Our 5850s are running at 965/300, the 5970s at 865/300. When running phoenix on windows with the same sdk and settings we use on BAMT we get ~370MH per gpu core. BAMT gives exactly 400MH per core. That's almost 10 percents, so not that insignificant I think.

I'm not sure exactly what the minimum dependencies would be..

I have used this writeup/guide many times now using Xubuntu, Ubuntu and also Pinguy (Ubuntu based)
It has worked well every time for me and proved the most reliable method. I use the exact drivers specified in this, substitute the most recent cgminer.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Gw7YPYgMgNNU42skibULbJJUx_suP_CpjSEdSi8_z9U/edit?pli=1

+1

U should change the version on CGMINER installer chapter to min V 2.7.6 the one written link is dead, but it,s the easiest guide out there.

Linux is a PAIN IN THE ARSE

If you're not 100% versed in LINUX, just install windows.  IT'S EASIER

Windows is a PAIN IN THE ARSE

If you're not 100% versed in WINDOWS, just install linux. IT'S EASIER

Blaming familiarity with one for lack of ease on the other works both ways. This is my version.

Computers are a PAIN IN THE ARSE

if you're not 100% versed in COMPUTERS, just use pen and paper. IT'S EASIER.


<grin>

... or you could read the cgminer README ... or the linux install guide I wrote ... that comes with cgminer .......................
:D

QFT.

...for mining, anyways.  I run 42 rigs and when I was running Windows for 7970s, it was a royal pain in the arse.  Linux makes my life MUCH easier.

where is this linux install guide?  i skimmed the OP of the cgminer thread but didn't see it referenced...

linux-usb-cgminer
As per my chopped off sig - it includes HDD install details at the end
(which of course it also says in there)
P.S. the link in the google doc is to my bitcointalk account :)

NO DON'T TALK ABOUT WINDOWS LIKE THAT.  I LOVE HIM.  YOU DON'T KNOW ME

You need to use the OS that you are most comfortable with.  Anyone can follow some directions and set up a windows/linux miner, but if you don't at least have a basic understanding of the underlying OS that can be an issue.  What do you do when you have some sort of problem with your miner?  If it takes you 30 minutes to figure out how to display what the machine IP address is or show what services are using, you might want to pick something you are more familiar with.

You could learn how to use Windows instead though.  Then it'd not be a pain in the ass.  I've never had a virus ever.  I've never had it crash ever.  That's because I know what I'm doing.  Linux is not user friendly but if you want to take user unfriendliness to the next level, just go on a Linux forum and ask a question.

Same here.  I don't get viruses, don't even have firewall or anti-virus installed!

That is the best way to know you don't have the virus, of course. :)

Agreed, running without any AV or firewall is crazy.  They're free and simple to install, so there's no excuse not to have one.

If you want to use it part of the time as a gaming machine, while you mine on one card and sometimes mine on both, use Windows.

If it's a dedicated mining machine use Linux as it saves you having to buy windows and a hard drive.

Linux doesn't have to be hard, you can use something like LinuxCoin running from a USB stick with everything pre-installed.

Linux is user-friendly!  It's just picky about who its friends are. :-)

(Most of my computers run Linux (more specifically, Gentoo), including my mining rig...about the only machine I work with daily that uses Windows is in my office at work.)

Windows make's the setup more easy for miner's

I dunno, getting linux mint set up in a VM and running BTC and Devcoin clients up and running was a snap.