running in a virtual machine windows 7 64. (took forever to get that set up cause my windows disc is old...) currently syncing the blockchain problem free.

which is excellent, cause when i upgraded to 0.7 on my actual system i launched bitcoin-qt then quickly exited it, just making sure it'd launch. after thast it wouldn't lunch without an error. having done the same thing on .7.1, it behaves properly without issues.

actually i've been meaning to look into the numbers of what kind of power this could generate, mostly just for the laugh factor, but any "free" electricty + getting me to excercise is very welcome. i've put it off on the assumption it's pointless/expensive. (batteries, generator, etc)

after some time? well of course. eventually it'll be like .5 btc. the question is how much time. i doubt you'll see a non promotion price change on it before march 2013 or so, maybe. certainly not this year.

akka: what's of orcs and men like? good? looked interesting.

Hurray! Stuff to do. Will run this later tonight. Need to finish work and set up a VM environment on my home system so I can screw around in safety.

gotcha.  i'll see what i can think up.

Thanks for chiming in Jeff. Now I look like slightly less of a loony acting alone.

My understanding of some aspects here is limited, so I want to make sure I understand what I'm talking about before I try and act.

To that end: The reason the full node automated testing of RPC and P2P functionality is difficult is because it would require (at a minimum) two pc's running full bitcoin clients, correct?

If I'm right, I'm going to let that stew in my brain and see what bubbles up. Short of physically using multiple computers, the only immediate thought is renting an VPS or such to do it. Doable, but still a headache. I wonder if there's a way to run multiple virtual machines on the same system at once, and if that would be useful.

Yay! Research time!

wow i stared at that cat for way too long.

So, as some of you may have seen in the Meta section, I posted there regarding a bitcoin software testing subforum. After several days and zero replies, I think I can safely assume that's an idea that's dead on arrival. however! the bitcoin software, specifically referring to the satoshi client here, needs a QA effort. Having spent the last decade in the video game industry doing QA, i felt this was my place to jump in and help.

Unfortunately what little discussion was occurring via the development mailing list last week has altogether ceased, with no progress made. So, I am posting here hoping to stir some interest from volunteers who would be willing to take on some bitcoin quality assurance testing. Initially, all Gavin wants (yes I've spoken with him about this) is a a few basic acceptance tests along the lines of "does this software build run and connect to the network on all our supported platforms?" and related basics.

There is a small stash of donated BTC from the last time Gavin tried to get some testing going that is meant to pay those doing the testing. How that will be distributed is another topic needing discussion - but first I need people to discuss it with who are involved in the testing.

So, is anyone interested in being a part of this effort to test the software of the reference client? I'm also completely open to discussing the testing of other bitcoin clients or software. I'm sure they're all in need. I personally haven't had any contact with their developers or in fact used an alt client at all, hence my focus on the satoshi client.

any feedback at all is welcome.

well, it was noted a few pages ago in this thread (i think) shortly after the bitfloor thing that while the price will crash or what have you after such negative events, the time to recovery is getting faster. seemingly a good thing if true.

red bouncy ball?

if only i had the btc to buy one... it'd arrive for my birthday! doh!

haven't heard about the coming ASIC's from several vendors, have you? from what i understand, fpga's would have a tough time competing.

let us not forget that for americans, it's a holiday so the banks are closed. tuesday might be rather dramatic as a result.

So, I'm trying to bootstrap a software testing and quality assurance effort for (at least) the Satoshi reference client. Not alone, of course. I've been talking with the devs on the sourceforge mailing lists about what's needed now and in the future.

To that end, any such effort needs a place for discussion. What the latest release added/changed, what needs to be tested, what has been tested, and so on and so forth. Also fundraising to pay the volunteer testers. From my perspective, the ideal place for this sort to thing is here, since we here are pretty much the most passionate bitcoiners out there.

Of course, I could post testing related threads in the current developer forum section here, but that area seems to not really be talking about the client and software development, but more general stuff, so it doesn't really fit, to me. Maybe I'm wrong.

Thoughts, suggestions, arguments, insults?

i only have one thing to say: holy shit.

i'm gonna be really sad when asic's start shipping and more or less make the need for such creative rig building unneeded. i love this stuff.

maybe i'll water cool... *shifty eyes* my HOUSE!

wait... i live in my brothers basement... crap! foiled again!

i have a similiar cable for my backup hard drive.

hang on - they take bitcoins?

thanks.

for the technically/cryptographically clued in, probably not much. but the process of creating one in a truly secure offline manner is a whole different kettle of fish.