I was expecting the S9 to arrive in Jan 2018 but it arrived much sooner (yay!  ).  
Problem is I'm not prepared yet to power it at 220v as is suggested for the APW3++ power supply.  For the moment I only have 110v.

If I were to attempt to power it using 110v would it result in damage to the miner/power supply?  Or would it simply run at a less efficient rate?

I did something stupid.  I plugged in 2 of my U2's into (what ended up being) a 5v hub and applied a 12v power supply.
It fried my miners (smoke and all).

Is there any hope in repairing them?  It's mostly for nostalgic purposes.

It's pretty common for Altcoins to make hard forks and while I do not always agree with hard forking (I think it should be avoided at all costs when possible), there are times and valid reasons when a hard fork is a necessity.

For example if the altcoin needs to implement a new difficulty adjustment algorithm (while not always a good reason, lets say the current one has a serious flaw).

The process is always:

• Announce the impending hard fork.
• Hard code it at a specific block number.
• Rebuild wallets.
• Force everyone to update to the new wallet.

This relies on centralization.  

From what I understand Bitcoin includes a built-in voting system for hard forking.  The block version is increase and after a certain percentage of the last mined blocks meet a threshold (I think it's 80%), the chain will hard fork.

Why is this not used instead?
Is it a technical reason?
Or is it simply because altcoin developers don't understand or know how to make use of the voting system?

Ever since I upgraded to 0.11.x I have started having this problem on my node:
 

Code:

  [errors] => WARNING: check your network connection, 0 blocks received in the last 4 hours (24 expected)

The node is indeed behind in block count:

Code:

    [version] => 110200
    [protocolversion] => 70002
    [walletversion] => 60000
    [blocks] => 397697
    [timeoffset] => -1
    [connections] => 19
    [proxy] => 
    [difficulty] => 144116447847.35
    [testnet] => 
    [keypoololdest] => 1347181371
    [keypoolsize] => 102

I restart the node, it catches up but then falls behind again about a day or two later.  There is nothing wrong with my Internet connection, I have several other nodes of different altcoin running on the same connection and they do not have this problem.

[gitian-linux.yml]

I've successfully built Linux, Mac, and Windows packages using the Gitian Builder process.  Problem is, even though I was able to follow the directions, understand most of it, and end up with a functional Bitcoin building VM.  I still don't fully understand how it 'really' works.

For my own reasons (exploration, etc..) I want to disable tests.  So I modify gitian-linux.yml for example:

Code:

  ./autogen.sh
  ./configure --prefix=${BASEPREFIX}/`echo "${HOSTS}" | awk '{print $1;}'` --disable-tests
  make dist

Problem is it still pulls in the Makefile.test.include and Makefile.qttest.include files and builds the sources under the tests folders.
How can I disable that?

Another question where is the target 'dist' being defined?

Note that I am still at a beginner level with Makefiles and Automake.

I've read through http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1nc13r/the_first_50btc_block_reward_cant_be_spend_why/cchdhrm and https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1080200.0.  I think I understand the technicalities behind it.  

Some altcoins based on older Bitcoin source code manually insert the genesis block transaction upon startup, as seen here:

https://github.com/suncoin/suncoin/blob/master/src/init.cpp#L811

This specific altcoin duplicates what is already in https://github.com/suncoin/suncoin/blob/master/src/main.cpp#L2096 in order to be successful.  However, there is another example, here https://github.com/planktonbuddy/krillcoin/blob/689eb1d3b0663b5f39a402a127d4fa16b4f6dbfe/src/main.cpp#L2527

It looks like it's doing the same thing but without the duplication in code, am I correct?

According to the comments made in https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1080200.msg11534787#msg11534787, newer version of the Bitcoin source code have checks in place that prevent the Genesis block outputs from being spent.  Does this mean that I would need to comment out those pieces of code if I were updating an altcoin to the latest Bitcoin source?

Additionally, what happens if I don't include the code that inserts the genesis transaction into the transaction DB?  Will it cause a fork?

Finally, what is the best (or recommended) way to insert the genesis transaction into the transaction database?  Do I do it in init.cpp?  Or can I do it in chainparams.cpp?

[Zetacoin]

A list of the top quality alternative blockhains also known as Altcoins as of Mid-2015.  

With all the new altcoins being announced each day the better quality ones often go unnoticed.  These currencies are great for trading in the short term and for long term investments.  Sadly many of these get neglected due to their stability and lack of 'hype'.  


Zetacoin

BTC Thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=267545
Dedicated Forum: http://zetacoinforum.org/
Main Website: http://zetacoin.com (currently offline, use http://getzetacoin.com instead)
Block Explorer: https://coinplorer.com/ZET

Genesis Block: 8/3/2013 4:56:26 PM (UTC)
Symbol: ZET
PoW Type: SHA256d
Total Initial Supply: 160 Million
Inflation: 1 ZET every 30 seconds

Why you should know about it:
 
Zetacoin was one of (if not) the first SHA256 coins to use fast blocks with state of the art difficulty re-adjustment.  This along with the economics of the currency make it ideal for every day purchases and payments while having a transaction capacity that is 20 x that of Bitcoin's.



KittehCoin

BTC Thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=448003
Dedicated Forum: https://forums.kittehcoin.info/
Main Website: https://kittehcoin.info/
Block Explorer: https://explorer.kittehcoin.info

Genesis Block: 12/23/2013 10:21:24 AM (UTC)
Symbol: MEOW
PoW Type: Scrypt
Total Initial Supply: 25 Billion
Inflation: 2,000 MEOW every 60 seconds

Why you should know about it:
 
This is a low value and low inflation currency making it ideal for large scale money supply distribution across the globe.  Thus encouraging the use of integers (instead of floating point values) for even the smallest of transactions.  It's focus on the cat meme ensures popularity that will never fade while appealing to Asians via the 'Maneki-neko' (good luck cat) symbol.



UniversalCurrency

BTC Thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1037825
Dedicated Forum: https://forum.cryptomining.farm/
Main Website: http://u-currency.com/
Block Explorer: https://explorer.unitcurrency.com/

Genesis Block: 04/26/2015 5:05 PM (UTC)
Symbol: UNIT
PoW Type: SHA256d PoS hybrid
Total Initial Supply: 10.01 Million
Inflation: 5 UNIT every 60 seconds

Why you should know about it:
 
Universal Currency is a fairly new alternative currency taking the best elements of Bitcoin, Peercoin, and Zetacoin.  The UNIT currency is the core part of a larger project for a Solar powered crypto currency mining farm.  It's extremely low initial money supply makes it an ideal long term investment with sure fire returns.

I understand the design behind BIP: 34.  However I don't understand it's implementation in main.cpp.  

Can someone explain (in a somewhat 'dumbed down' fashion) what is happening here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/blob/master/src/main.cpp#L2673.  Specifically this check:

Code:

        CScript expect = CScript() << nHeight;
        if (block.vtx[0].vin[0].scriptSig.size() < expect.size() ||
            !std::equal(expect.begin(), expect.end(), block.vtx[0].vin[0].scriptSig.begin())) {
            return state.DoS(100, error("%s: block height mismatch in coinbase", __func__), REJECT_INVALID, "bad-cb-height");
        }

Why is this coinbase being rejected by the above code?
This specific example is version 2 (PoS) and has TX messaging

Code:

02000000 
c60c4b55
01
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
ffffffff
1b
0101 <= serialized block height
04430d4b5508f8000001000000000a2f54696465506f6f6c2f
00000000
01
809fd50000000000
23
21022bec99ba133dc4bb055e1eb954370a4ca73f173348a6409c4ae8f92ef7ffd0f7ac
00000000
105365637572655061796d656e742e4343

Here is the code that generates the serialized height in Python

Code:

def encode_coinbase_nheight(n, min_size = 1):
	# For encoding nHeight into coinbase
	s = bytearray(b'\1')

	while n > 127:
		s[0] += 1
		s.append(n % 256)
		n //= 256

	# Add to byte array
	s.append(n)

	# This can never be less that 1 bytes long
	if min_size < 1:
		min_size = 1

	# Satisfy Minimum Length
	while len(s) < min_size + 1:
		s.append(0)
		s[0] += 1

	return bytes(s)

I made the error of letting my earnings balance accumulate to a pretty significant amount on CoinURL.
Today, out of nowhere I see my account has been banned, perhaps because the balance has grown large enough that they would go as far as to prevent me from withdrawing it

I have not violated any terms of service or committed any type of fraud.

That statement is said with fact and in the utmost confidence.

This post serves as a warning to anyone who uses the (CoinURL) service.  I will continue to post updates here.

[Edit: Problem solved. This now works properly for any crypto currency]

I've put together some PHP code that is able to sign and verify signed message.  It is available on GitHub https://github.com/tuaris/CryptoCurrencyPHP.

The code is pretty simple to follow and it works fine for Bitcoin.

I just can't understand why it fails to generate a valid signature for Altcoins and also fails to verify a signed message from an Altcoin client.  I've made sure to set the correct address version when hashing/encoding the public key.

Besides that, is there anything different that is done when signing and verifying messages for other "address versions"?

Edit: Problem solved.  This now works properly for any crypto currency

Something fishy here...

Tetcoin developer released a minor update to the wallet no hard forking or consensus change.  He blocks older clients from connecting to his new one.

Code:

 // network protocol versioning
//
-static const int PROTOCOL_VERSION = 70003;
+static const int PROTOCOL_VERSION = 12870003;
// intial proto version, to be increased after version/verack negotiation
-static const int INIT_PROTO_VERSION = 209;
+static const int INIT_PROTO_VERSION = 128209;
// disconnect from peers older than this proto version
-static const int MIN_PEER_PROTO_VERSION = 70003;
+static const int MIN_PEER_PROTO_VERSION = 12870003;
// nTime field added to CAddress, starting with this version;
// if possible, avoid requesting addresses nodes older than this
@@ -42,9 +42,9 @@ static const int NOBLKS_VERSION_START = 32000;
static const int NOBLKS_VERSION_END = 32400;
// BIP 0031, pong message, is enabled for all versions AFTER this one
-static const int BIP0031_VERSION = 60000;
+static const int BIP0031_VERSION = 12860000;
// "mempool" command, enhanced "getdata" behavior starts with this version:
-static const int MEMPOOL_GD_VERSION = 60002;
+static const int MEMPOOL_GD_VERSION = 12860002;
#endif

He fails to mention this on the forum thread. Months go by, several users continue using the 'older' client and now there are two block chains.

Code:

2015-01-02 11:26:20 received block 178a051007c33c93cf98ddbe837fe30c1b6b3499f5687f39246be3aa8f46b197
2015-01-02 11:26:20 ERROR: CheckProofOfWork() : hash doesn't match nBits
2015-01-02 11:26:20 ERROR: CheckBlock() : proof of work failed
2015-01-02 11:26:20 ERROR: ProcessBlock() : CheckBlock FAILED
2015-01-02 11:26:20 Misbehaving: 93.118.178.241:59288 (0 -> 50)
2015-01-02 11:26:43 stored orphan tx b620433a2c2db2b7a3ef2caa15b66b071a582a71b432b495de411a5be205f86d (mapsz 10001)
2015-01-02 11:26:43 mapOrphan overflow, removed 1 tx
2015-01-02 11:26:47 stored orphan tx 5089fd1831481bf760827773e563ffc3e934013a534047ecfc9c9e7255953693 (mapsz 10001)
2015-01-02 11:26:47 mapOrphan overflow, removed 1 tx
2015-01-02 11:26:48 received block 26d9dbf22c30cfd05c2f538d2e8709dea2467650d0792c16ba1eaaeee73cc73a
2015-01-02 11:26:48 ERROR: CheckProofOfWork() : hash doesn't match nBits
2015-01-02 11:26:48 ERROR: CheckBlock() : proof of work failed
2015-01-02 11:26:48 ERROR: ProcessBlock() : CheckBlock FAILED
2015-01-02 11:26:48 Misbehaving: 93.118.178.241:59288 (50 -> 100) DISCONNECTING
2015-01-02 11:26:48 disconnecting node 93.118.178.241:59288
2015-01-02 11:26:48 socket select error 9
2015-01-02 11:26:53 stored orphan tx d075597f90dc372d1044929deeb6f9e693f1851f4e5f7f5278f0a6e38748fb22 (mapsz 10001)
2015-01-02 11:26:53 mapOrphan overflow, removed 1 tx

I have some Bitmain coupons for S4's, S3's, and C1's that I may not use.  They expire on 11/30/2014.
I'd like to trade them for some Zetacoins.  Please post serious offers on this thread.  

[Each active connection takes up some memory. Only significant if incoming connections are enabled]

I found this page https://gist.github.com/laanwj/efe29c7661ce9b6620a7 and it says

-maxconnections=<n> - the maximum number of connections, this defaults to 125. Each active connection takes up some memory. Only significant if incoming connections are enabled, otherwise the number of connections will never be more than 8.

The part that I am most interest in is, Each active connection takes up some memory. Only significant if incoming connections are enabled.  How much memory would each connection need/use?

It doesn't seem that limiting it to values lower than 10 reduce the memory usage much further according to my results.  Take for example, a Bitcoin and an altcoin (TekCoin) daemon:

The configuration is limited to 3:

Code:

 
maxconnections=3

Bitcoin is currently connected to 3 peers:

Code:

 
[connections] => 3

The memory usage

Code:

 1702 nobody         13  22    2   720M   304M uwait  653:12   0.00% /usr/local/bin/bitcoind -conf=/usr/local/etc/bitcoin.conf -d

For my altcoin, I have limited it to 10

Code:

 
maxconnections=10

It currently has 8 peers connected

Code:

 
[connections] => 8

The memory usage

Code:

 29953 nobody         11  52   20   414M   345M wait    1   4:10   4.93% /usr/local/bin/tekcoind -conf=/usr/local/etc/tekcoin.conf

I currently have all my coin daemons limited to 3 connections thinking it will save RAM, but it looks like I may not be.  Also, is it true that if I have it limited to a value less than 8, then the daemon will not accept incoming connections?

I have a wallet that has grown to 25 MB and has 16,915 addresses due to the amount of transactions being made each day.

Why does this happen?  I understand the technical behavior behind it.  Bitcoin will send 'change' back to a new address in the keypool.  But why does it do that?  Besides 'anonymity' what is the benefit of breaking up my Bitcoins into smaller and smaller outputs?  Is their a technical reason for this? Can it be 'turned off'?

How do I clean this up without having to spend money on fees?  It is going to be a very complex transaction if I want to send all these tiny outputs to a single input, and that will probably end up costing a very large transaction fee.  Also from what I understand, it might not get mined due to the large amount of small inputs.

[BTC to]

These are FreeBSD Port skeletons for several alternative crypto currencies (Altcoins) that are not officially part of the FreeBSD ports tree.  They are basically shell archives that you would download and extract to your ports/net-p2p folder. Then run "make install clean".  This should help some FreeBSD users out there.

All include options to build with or without the Qt wallet and some have the option for a static binary.  I've placed all the shell archives in a public GitHub repository:
https://github.com/tuaris/FreeBSD-Coin-Ports

Complete instructions on how to use these files can be found at:
http://www.unibia.com/unibianet/freebsd/freebsd-ports-many-alternative-crypto-currencies

The general procedure is (for example Terracoin):

Code:

fetch -o /tmp/terracoin.shar https://raw.githubusercontent.com/tuaris/FreeBSD-Coin-Ports/master/shars/terracoin.shar_.txt
cd /usr/ports/net-p2p/
sh /tmp/terracoin.shar
cd terracoin
make config
make install clean

If you find a problem with one, just open up an issue on GitHub.

It's possible some of these coins may eventually be submitted into the ports tree after they gain enough demand and popularity (ie. Zetacoin). If you found this work helpful and would like to show your thanks you may send

BTC to: 1B6eyXVRPxdEitW5vWrUnzzXUy6o38P9wN
ZET to: ZK6kdE5H5q7H6QRNRAuqLF6RrVD4cFbiNX

[Bitcoin Solo Mining Pool]

Bitcoin Solo Mining Pool

96% Block Reward (4% fee)

http://mining.securepayment.cc/pools/bitcoin/

Connect to this mining pool using your wallet address as the username to "solo mine" for the block reward + transaction fees, minus a small percentage (currently 4%) to cover costs.  There is no registration required to use the pool.  Should you happen to find a block, payments are made automatically to your Bitcoin address.

This is a great way to utilize older hardware for playing the "lottery".  Just set and forget.  Then perhaps one day you'll find a nice little surprise in your wallet.  

The system is still under constant development and improvements are always being added.  Currently you can view global and personal stats.
Shares are used only for collecting stats and the difficulty is set to VARDIFF.   Shares have no effect on your earnings.  

I recently sent a few payments and the transaction fees were huge:

Code:

Array
(
    [amount] => -9.7
    [fee] => -0.8
    [confirmations] => 61
    [blockhash] => 9e21d3f1c10d88896e815dd5f884bc441f3bffc8aac310b411a17bc0d40ebe07
    [blockindex] => 4
    [txid] => 5de9507afeefda771b3a4449400c26d12efccf687d0a3829ddb6aff17d65a5b6
    [time] => 1399813341
    [details] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [account] => 
                    [address] => SWcx3zoXCAj24RcaUVP8NaqjJGV5JfzsJN
                    [category] => send
                    [amount] => -9.7
                    [fee] => -0.8
                )

        )

)

What can be done to avoid this (besides grouping payments)?

[Stratum Solo Mining Service]

Stratum Solo Mining Service

Connect to one of the mining pools using your wallet address as the username to "solo mine" for the block reward + transaction fees, minus a small percentage to cover costs.  There is no registration required to use any of the pools.  Payments are made automatically several times a day to your wallet address.

http://mining.securepayment.cc

Fees range from 1% to 50% depending on the coins popularity, age, and block reward. All proceeds go towards the development of crypto currency services including the funding of the crypto faucets.

Everyone in the pool has an equal chance of finding a block. The odds of finding a block improve as more people mine in the pool. A person with higher hash rate will still find a higher amount of blocks than a person with a low hash rate. However, the person with lower hash will have better luck while mining along side others instead of mining completely alone.

The system is still under constant development and improvements are always being added.  Currently you can view global and personal stats.

Shares are used only for collecting stats and the difficulty is set to VARDIFF.   Shares have no effect on your earnings.  

Make sure you follow us on Twitter for current events and issues.
https://twitter.com/SecurePaymentCC

[Features]

MutiFaucet is an easy to setup crypto currency faucet script that supports many different currencies. It was loosely derived from the Simple Faucet script by Dogenes.  The project is hosted on GitHub and you can download it from https://github.com/tuaris/multifaucet/archive/master.zip.

Fully detailed installation instructions and usage can be found at: http://www.unibia.net/crypto-faucet
GitHub Project: https://github.com/tuaris/multifaucet

Features

• Web installer that makes it easy to setup, just extract and go.
• Automatic locale and translation into any language.
• Support for either Hot or Cold crypto wallets.
• Themes.
• Simple Captcha, re-CAPTCHA, or Solve Media.
• SpammerSlapper Anti-Proxy Abuse.
• Remote Management via JSON-RPC.
• Muti-site capable (premium add-on).

Note: The "SpammerSlapper" feature is not yet 100% effective and could generate false positives which may annoy your users. Additionally, the service is still very much in it's alpha stages and could slow down your faucet while it's scans the visitor's IP address.  You should really only enable this feature after you determine there is abuse. To use the service you will need to get a free API key: http://api.spammerslapper.com.

A live example with the multi-site feature running off a single code base and cold wallet can be seen at: http://faucet.securepayment.cc.

Installation

1) Create a MySQL database and user that will be used for the faucet.
2) Download the archive and extract into any folder or root folder on your web server.  
3) Allow write permissions to the "config" folder
4) Open the website in your browser to start the web based installer.   
5) Delete or rename install.php after the installation is complete.
6) Remove write permissions from configuration files and folder.

If you want to re-configure any settings in the future simply (restore install.php if needed) and re-run the installation script or manually edit the config files.  If you are using the cold wallet it's recommended that you place the data file outside your web directory.

Change Log
Version 0.8.1: Added SpammerSlapper support, various bug fixes/code cleanup and improvements.
Version 0.8.2: Improved stats performance, fixed number formatting bug on total payouts.
Version 0.8.3: Fixed issue with floating point values.

Extra
The FaucetRPC project may be useful for those using the cold storage feature.  
This is a very simple reference implementation of a remote payout script.
https://github.com/tuaris/FaucetRPC

Feel free to report bugs, send new translations, and send some tips:

BTC: 1B6eyXVRPxdEitW5vWrUnzzXUy6o38P9wN
ZET: ZK6kdE5H5q7H6QRNRAuqLF6RrVD4cFbiNX
SUN: SgNyqiKYrQJVquYNKLrSXv5AEi6Xt5KX4k

I know that there is cgminer and bfgminer.

I am wondering how the developers of these two programs got the information needed to create drivers for USB devices such as Block Erupters and Antminers.

Is there a SDK or document somewhere with information on how to work with these devices?
I tried googling with no luck.