I googled extensively and I couldn't find a solution - that's why I'm asking to the more experienced users in the forum. I wouldn't lose my time (and other's fellow bitcoiners time) asking in a forum if the answer was easily found googling the problem.

I'm a newbie

Could you just let me know how to download/install the libidn library?

Thanks

I'm trying to mine LTC on OSX, following all the instructions on the text file of the CPUMINER (minerd). When I run ./MINERD.sh I keep getting this error:

dyld: Library not loaded: /opt/local/lib/libidn.11.dylib
  Referenced from: /usr/bin/minerd
  Reason: image not found
./MINERD.sh: line 1: 12464 Trace/BPT trap: 5   

Could somebody give me a hand in order to solve this? I'm using Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Thank you in advance.

I don't really care about electricity, as my machine is almost 24/7 anyway. With a 3 years old MacbookPro, how long do you think it would take for me to make 1 LTC?

What would you say that are the benefits of mataining a full node, apart from having more control on the security of a locally hosted wallet.dat?


I just realized that the blockchain.info has the option to add "watch only addresses" to your ewallet, enabling checking the paper-wallet savings account . I assume this is pretty secure, as no private keys are shared online.

Blockchain.info is a great product, very complete and easy to use. I think it should be on every beginners guide, and all new users should be directed there.

Last but not least, thank you very much for your useful replies.

LbUc5JTkWmXmRLdEGANyqqSgdJZrAKU9Rp



I see that in the litecoin-qt client there is a "mining" button. Can I use it to get coins? What I have to put on the "threads", "scantime", "server" and "port" settings?

I'm on a MacbookPro running OSX.

Would you recommend mining LTC on a 3 years old MacBook Pro? How would you do it?

That's because the blockchain is long and heavy. Your clients needs to verify each transaction on it. It takes long, and it will take longer with time.

It took me a full week to synchronize the blockchain.

If you need/want to start operating immediately with bitcoins I would suggest the blockchain.info ewallet. It will be set up in seconds, and security-wise you should be OK with a few coins for day-by-day expenses.

If you want to have a big balance on a secure savings wallet very fast, I would suggest creating a paper wallet offline with this web: https://www.bitaddress.org/

I've recently discovered bitcoins. It seems a clever and sound currency, and I decided to invest a little part of my savings on it, while also using it for day-by-day transactions in order to support the bitcoin economy. I'm a non-geek, with an slightly above average cryptography understanding, and these are the steps I've followed:

1) I downloaded Bitcoint-Qt. It took a full week to download all the blockchain, which is a pain in the ass (I'm afraid that this extremely slow process will scare a lot of new users)

2) For immediate testing purposes I created an ewallet at blockchain.info. This is quick, but I understand that is not secure as an external service has access to my private keys

I then decided to created a secure wallet for my savings. I've read all the documentation about creating a wallet.dat with an Ubuntu LiveCD or bootable USB, but this process seems slow and complicate for the average user. Therefore I decided to proceed this way:

3) I've downloaded bitaddress.org and I run it in a clean, offline computer

4) With my offline version of bitaddress.org I created a paper wallet, containing three addresses with their corresponding private keys. I printed this paper wallet.

5) I transferred my savings from my local Bitcoin-QT wallet, and online blockchain.info ewallet to one of the addresses listed on my paper wallet.

In this point, I consider that Bitcoin-QT is unnecessary at first, as my savings go to the paper wallet and for day-by-day expenses I will use just a few coins, therefore the ewallet is suitable and secure enough for this purpose (in case of theft the loss would be minimum).

I would like to know other fellow bitcoiners opinion on the following points:

a) do you think that my savings paper wallet is as secure as a "secure offline savings wallet" created as per the instructions on the Bitcoin Wikia (https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/How_to_set_up_a_secure_offline_savings_wallet)?

b) what would be the "cons" of my method, compared to a secure offline savings wallet?

c) are there any quicker methods for creating secure offline wallets (paper or non-paper) for newbies?

d) how would you check the balance on the paper savings account without exposing online the private keys? If I understand the mechanic correctly any client should be able to check in the blockchain the balance of any address, but I can't find a quick solution for this purpose. I can't use Armory (I'm on OSX) and I don't want to use the "hybrid wallet paper" solution of blockchain.info (https://blockchain.info/wallet/paper-tutorial))

I thank you in advance for your insights.