Great. Thank you.

Mike

One of my machines will only run v11.2 another will run the most recent version.
If I use a USB drive to store blockchain data from whichever machine I am running (never both at the same time) into the one blockchain folder, will there be a problem?

Thanks
Mike

Excellent! Thank you. I went and made a huge batch of beans while I was awaiting follow-up posts.
So then, the safest way for a person with my reasonable, but not great, skills is to shut the show down and then copy the entire folder.

If I'm wrong, please let me know.

Thanks again,

Mike

Ps. The beans are the best batch I have ever made!

OK, great. Thanks for your advice. I'll use the inbuilt feature. I guess it will save the entire blockchain and not just my empty wallet.

Cheers,

Mike

Usually when I make a backup of my blockchain data I close Bitcoin Core before doing it. This is a little bothersome as the blockchain is quite large and it takes a while to do it. I would rather continue downloading the last 10 weeks I have left to go.
So, is it OK to back up while Bitcoin Core is running?

Thanks in advance.

Mike

Great. Thanks.

I've seen localbitcoins on the web. I'll look more closely.
As you might have guessed, I'm a bit new to all this.

Thanks again,

Mike

Where do I buy in Japanese Yen?

Thanks

Thanks, Ranochigo.

The more recent blocks all seem to be around the same 130,000 size. Guess it just takes more processing 'cos they are more 'filled'.

Mike

Not where I am now, or where I expect to be. Unlimited accounts are the way to go - even if one has to do a bit of waiting from time to time, like now! lolololol

Down to 2 years and 32 weeks YAY! lolololol Still, I'm a bit (no pun intended) confused. The early blocks were really fast to get, but they seem to get progressively slower. Am I imagining things?

Mike

lololol Yeah! I found that out. Was running Bitcoin Core V12 on an XP 3 machine and it crashed and then kept crashing. V11.2 works, but I had to start from scratch again. Even V11.2 isn't well liked by this machine, and it's crashed twice, but it recovers the blockchain data with no trouble and keeps going.
Only 2 years and 46 weeks to go,  lolololol
Heck, I may as well back up what I have already. Thanks for the heads up!

Mike

I still don't understand why the Chinese people would feel so hell bent urged to ship their wealth offshore. Doesn't it buy more in China?

What I don't understand is why there would be this, perceived, capital outflow. What would cause that?

I came upon this;

Myth: There is no incentive to run nodes, the network relies on altruism

It is very much in the individual bitcoin's users rational self interest to run a full node and use it as their wallet.
Trustless

Running a full node as your wallet is the only way to know for sure that none of bitcoin's rules have been broken. Rules like no coins were spent not belonging to the owner, that no coins were spent twice, that no inflation happens outside of the schedule and that all the rules needed to make the system work are followed (e.g. Difficulty.) All other kinds of wallet involve trusting a third party server.
    From https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Clearing_Up_Misconceptions_About_Full_Nodes

Trusting a third party server would seem the biggest concern.  So, I'm going full node.
Thanks for getting me more interested in the difference.

Mike

Thanks Lauda,

I'll remember that one well.

Now I'll go look for some tutorials. Probably save us all a heap of energy and loads of keyboard ink.

Cheers,

Mike

What should I expect to have to do to ensure a smooth purchase of my first Bitcoins?

In the Bitcoin Core software I found a receive tab. Under that I found 'request payment' In there I found;

Payment information
URI: bitcoin:1PZZZXQdjLZZZZZFNxkxGjft8V2zJZZZZZ
Address: 1PZZZXQdjLZZZZZFNxkxGjft8V2zJZZZZZ

I guess maybe I'll have to enter that information, eh what?

And, of course, some credit card info so my funds go to them.

What else should I know so I don't muck it up?

Thanks,

Mike

 Well, from what I have read here, having the whole blockchain would seem to be good for the entire Bitcoin system, and I don't think it can do any harm.

 While it is loading (probably quite a few days), I'll play around with all the other bits of the system and try to get the hang of it all. lololol I'm no spring chicken! lololol

Again, I owe a lot of thanks to all the folks that are giving me great information here. Thanks to everyone :-)

I figure that now I've got a bit of an idea of the basics, I will stick a toe in the water and fool around with some small transactions and storage methods. I still have a hell of a lot to learn, especially about the software involved and pass phrases etc., failsafe tricks for the machines I use (very very important, I reckon), and other stuff.

So, for almost the last 24 hours I have been sitting back downloading the blockchain using Bitcoin Core V12. Set it to start with the machine I'm using for the job, but when I was forced to re-boot I got errors and it wouldn't resume. Falling back to V 11.2 seems to be working so far. Right now it's loading the block index for what I have of the  blockchain so far.

To sum up, my strategy from here is to carefully re-read what everyone has advised (including checking the links to other sources of info), and then buy a small amount of BC, and get it sent to Electrum and practice moving it around a bit until I feel comfortable with what I'm doing. By then, I hope to have the whole blockchain and I should have a much better idea of what I am doing.

Cheers folks,

Mike

Excellent.

I think I have about as much information as I need for now.

Thanks to everyone who helped out here.

All the best,

Mike :-)

Thanks :-)

  You mentioned bitfinex      I'll check it out.
  Mat bitstamp also be worth looking at?

Thanks to all who have replied.

 Another one;

  Would it be fair to say that 'cold storage' is the way to go? I read earlier today that most users go with 'cold storage'
  If so, can most clients work with this?

 And another (might seem kinda dumb, but I'm new to all this)

  When I want to change back my bitcoins to regular money, what do I do? These exchange things seem pretty unregulated.

Thanks again,

Mike