Yes, I just mean that wxWidgets 2.9.1 won't work with the makefile that comes with bitcoin 0.3.15.

wxWidgets 2.9.1 won't work, because debugging has been changed around in 2.9.1.

You can get 2.9.0 here:
http://biolpc22.york.ac.uk/pub/2.9.0/

OpenCL HOWTO FOR FEDORA 12 LINUX

Here are some notes which may be useful to anyone who wishes to mine for bitcoins on Fedora 12 Linux. It took me about ten hours to get all of this working, because many of the standard Fedora packages are different to what bitcoin needs and generate all kinds of odd errors when you try to build the makefile.

If you aren't already running Fedora, save yourself a lot of time and hassles by installing Ubuntu instead.

===

Check your software versions, and upgrade as necessary. The gcc compiler needs to be 4.x (for PyOpenCL), and Python needs to be 2.4 or newer (again, for PyOpenCL).


You need to have either the full kernel source, or the kernel headers (because the ATI GPU driver is installed by compiling a kernel module.


===

Update your display driver.

I followed the instructions from here:
http://gofedora.com/how-to-install-ati-catalyst-fglrx-98-drivers-fedora-11/
except that I used the version 10.10 of the ATI Catalyst Display Driver for Linux x86 from here:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/linux/Pages/radeon_linux.aspx?type=2.4.1&product=2.4.1.3.42&lang=English

Apparently some of the installation steps are no longer needed with version 10.10, but I wasn't completely certain which ones, so I did them all anyway.

===

Get the ATI Stream SDK v2.1 (NOT any later version, according to brocktice), from here: http://developer.amd.com/gpu/ATIStreamSDK/pages/ATIStreamSDK-Archive.aspx

You need two downloads from that page: the Linux SDK (32-bit or 64-bit according to your version of Linux), plus icd-registration.tgz

Untar the SDK anywhere convenient. Add these lines to your .bash_profile file (in your login directory):


Move icd-registration.tgz into your root directory and (as root) untar it from there. It puts some config files into /etc.

Follow the documentation that is included in the SDK to compile the examples. Execute ati-stream-sdk-v2.1-lnx32/samples/opencl/bin/x86/CLInfo to check that things are working and that your GPU card is detected.

===

Install the Python OpenCL module (PyOpenCL). Broadly, follow the instructions here:
http://wiki.tiker.net/PyOpenCL/Installation/Linux

However, in step 2 I couldn't install the Numpy dependency this way. Instead I ran "System | Administration | Add/Remove Software", then searched for numpy and installed it.

In step 3, the OpenCL headers and libraries weren't found, so I had to use the longer configure.py example and provide explicit paths.

The "Boost C++" libraries are not required for this version of PyOpenCL, but we will need them later (see below).

===

Install the JSON-RPC module for Python. This was straightforward using the instructions here:
http://json-rpc.org/wiki/python-json-rpc

===

Go to m0mchil's Git repository:
https://github.com/m0mchil/poclbm

Click the "Download" button. Download and unpack these files anywhere convenient. Change poclbm.py to executable and check that it's working:


===

Next we need to get bitcoin's dependencies correct.

Install wxWidgets version 2.9.0 (not 2.8 or 2.9.1). You can get version 2.9.0 from here:
http://biolpc22.york.ac.uk/pub/2.9.0/
Follow the instructions in file build-unix.txt from the /src directory of the bitcoin distribution, except that you will need to be root ("su -") for the whole install, not just the "make install" step.

===

The version of OpenSSL that ships with Fedora excludes the elliptic curve cryptography due to patent concerns. Assuming you're in a country without absurd software patent laws, download the source for the latest 0.9.8 version (currently 0.9.8p) of OpenSSL from here:
http://www.openssl.org/source/

Build, test and install it according to the instructions in the download. However, the standard installation doesn't install the static libraries, so I made some symbolic links:


===

You need the static version of the Boost C++ development libraries installed. I installed this from package boost-static-1.39.0

===

You need the static version of the Berkeley DB development libraries installed. I installed this from package db4-devel-static-4.7.25

This installed a file libdb_cxx-4.7.a in /usr/lib, but the makefile wanted libdb_cxx.a, so I created a symbolic link:


===

Go to the GIT repository for m0mchil's bitcoin-getwork patch:
https://github.com/m0mchil/bitcoin-getwork

Notice which SVN revision number the patch is for, and use that number instead of 181 in the following command (which downloads the development version of bitcoin):


Change into the newly-created directory that holds the sources:


From m0mchil's repository, click "Download" and download the archive. Extract the file getwork-latest.patch into the bitcoin/trunk directory.

Modify the sources by applying the patch:


It should tell you that it has updated files main.cpp, main.h and rpc.cpp.

===

We need to tweak Bitcoin's makefile, which is the file bitcoin/trunk/build-unix.txt

In the WXLIBS section of the makefile, add the line
-l Xxf86vm
and also add a trailing backslash to the previous line (it's a line-continuation character). A comment in the makefile says you only need to do this if you have wxWidgets 2.9.1, but I had to do it for 2.9.0.

If your version of "Boost" is less than 1.40 (I'm using 1.39), edit bitcoin's makefile (src/build-unix.txt) and add -mt to the end of the name of each of the "Boost" libraries. There are four of these, in the four lines after the line that contains the string "-Bstatic".

===

Built the getwork-modified version of bitcoin:


This should build a binary called 'bitcoin' in this directory. Try it out! If you already have another instance of bitcoin running, close it. Type ./bitcoin to check that your newly-compiled instance works. If it works OK, close it and we'll move on to mining.

===

If you don't already have a file bitcoin.conf in your ~/.bitcoin directory, create one and put a username and password in it:


Go back to the bitcoin/trunk directory and start bitcoin in rpc server mode:


Go to the directory where you built poclbm.py and run it:


It will ask you which device to use. Choose the one that's not your CPU.

Watch the khash/s figures with sweet delight, and enjoy the few moments before the roar of your cpu fan starts up.

Many thanks to m0mchil and the many others who have offered code or helpful tips.

Speculators always need to sell eventually, which guarantees the "little guy" a chance to buy in.

Or perhaps just wait until someone comes up with a solution good enough that everyone starts using it.

Not all currencies use a special symbol, some just use letters. For example, the South African Rand (ZAR) is just R.

Two rand and 45 cents is just R2.45.

Two bitcoins and 45 centibits could be B2.45.

Anyway, what's the plan for subdividing bitcoins? Do we go in thousands like the metric system (millibits, microbits, nanobits)?

Or do we have names for subdivisions? A hundredth of a bitcoin could be a Satoshi, a thousandth of that could be a Molyneau, and a thousandth of that could be an Austrian.

The Bitcoin Faucet is a site that gives away BTC 0.05 absolutely free to any new user, so that they can get started with Bitcoin.

It was the source of my first BTC, long before I managed to generate any. Thanks to Gavin Andresen who runs it.

That sort-of misses the point.

People who have a large amount saved don't have "a stable economic process". When there is price inflation, their purchasing power decreases. When there is price deflation, their purchasing power increases.

People who owe a lot of money don't have "a stable economic process". When there is wage inflation, their effective debt decreases. When there is wage deflation, their effective debt increases.

...when this Slashdot article was published.

This is a great service, and I'm sure it would be popular with newcomers if it was more clearly explained.

For example, if I go to the page titled "Amazon UK %1 Back", I see an ad for Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificates, and a heading that says "Just in - Amazon UK Gift Cards".

But nowhere does it say "Click on this ad to get to Amazon, then do your regular Amazon shopping, then contact me to get 1% of your purchase price sent to you as Bitcoins. Just contact me 14 days after your purchase by ...".

If that's how it works, it's awesome and you should tell people how it works. Also, it should say 1% not %1 which is sure to be confusing some people.

Sometimes. It's pot luck, depending which Wikipedians happen to take an interest in the article.

It may be worth adding at least a small stub article to the Simple English Wikipedia and some of the non-English Wikipedias. Some of them will be very keen to have new articles on notable topics, even if those topics haven't yet been featured in the NYT or in an academic dissertation. Also, a SVG version of the bitcoin graphic could be donated to Wikimedia Commons. Satoshi has said that his images are Public Domain.

Also, there may be other Wikipedia articles where a mention of Bitcoin is appropriate, even though it can't be hyperlinked at this time. Something like "crypto currencies" I suppose, or even maybe EFF.

Meanwhile the LWN article will soon be fully published. I presume LWN counts as a multi-author publication with editorial oversight?

I will donate generously as soon as I know that he will actually use Bitcoin. I think he will be very interested in Bitcoin once he understands in detail how it works.

Satoshi has never shown any sign of diverging from his principles for the sake of expediency, or to satisfy peer pressure, etc.

Anyway, I wonder how many "core principles" there actually are? Perhaps "Only 21 million bitcoins" and "Greatest proof of work wins" are all, with the rest being relatively minor details?

Bruce, that's the way to do it for sure. Well done for working that out.

There would be a fair bit of integration needed between Flattr and MtGox (because Flattr won't want "Gox Euros", they might prefer a monthly bank transfer or something) but there's a real synergy between Bitcoin and Flattr and it would be fabulous to see this happen.

For sure. If there was a legal problem with Bitcoin, EFF could choose simply to drop Bitcoin as a donation mechanism. Nothing forces them to defend it.

Again that's simply not true. The standard bitcoin software can and often does pay the fee (for large transactions) if the node that hashes the transaction charges the fee (as the standard client will do if it is generating).

I'm happy with phrases like "Bitcoin transactions are near enough to free", but not phrases like "There is never a transaction fee".

People should stop saying this, because it simply isn't true. Instead, who not say something like "negligible transaction costs", or "most transactions have zero cost".

That's why the core principles of Bitcoin should be documented now, to avoid this kind of semantic war in the future. Sure, the networks can split, but there should be no doubt that the one issuing unlimited coins is not Bitcoin.

Obviously there's no legal force behind this; no trademark protection. But an "enshrined" document carries huge moral weight and influence, as has been found with the Debian Free Software Guidelines, the OSI Open Source definition, and the FSF Free Software definition.

Could you please re-word the last sentence? If people read it quickly, they might assume that the address given is for the EFF. Perhaps say something like "... donate to the author of this blog at this address ...".

Also, the hyperlink to the EFF shouldn't say "here", because people may assume that "here" means "at this page". It would be better if you used the words "at their donations page" because that makes it quite clear what's happening where. Thanks!

And to everyone else: the EFF hasn't made any kind of commitment to "protect" bitcoins, but if lots of people are donating to them it might make it worth their while. Go for it!

Currently the Flattr user bears the cost of the PayPal transaction. But all of your other points I agree with.

As usual, noagendamarket is quick off the mark. Here's his forum post at Flattr where he suggests allowing Flattr accounts to be funded with bitcoin. Please everyone register and reply:
http://forum.flattr.net/showthread.php?tid=550