Ok, I may be way off with this, but it seems to me that since each block contains the hash of the previous block, this is a constant that must be in the found block regardless of who finds it. Considering how difficulty rises, some time in the distant future difficulty could be so high that for a given previous block hash there is no solution due to all possible solutions not being able to meet the difficulty.

Yes this is unlikly. But as the number of leading zeroes increases, the number of possible solutions decreases. It is possible to create the perfect storm if you will, where a solution can not be found for any possible inputs. if a block can't be found, the difficulty won't decrease because it is dependant on blocks being found.

Is it anticipated that this won't happen because difficulty will adjust down prior to this occurring? If so, one occurance of really bad luck and that one hash that can't be completed could occur. Is there anything built into the bitcoin algorithim to deal with this potential problem?

Bitcoin was just mentioned on the TV show Almost Human. They just mentioned it in the course of the show progression.

Ok, assuming that i'm solo mining by pointing cgminer at bitcoin-QT in server mode. what do i have to modify, or how do i add a text identifier in a found block like the pools do. Like a pool name.

BTW, don't bother with the "it is a waste" "don't do it" comments. They are falling on deaf ears. I don't care for you opinion. If you don't have an answer to the question, don't waste the electrons.

If one were setting up a private pool to use as a fall back when the big pools are attacked could they use pretty much any computer? Would an old dual core with 4 gig of ram, running 32 bit ubuntu be good enough? is the application memory intensive? cpu intensive? does it require a large hard drive? would you need ubuntu server or just the desktop version?

ESD, ElectroStatic Discharge is a very real concern when shipping circuit boards. There are two levels of ESD packaging and both must be used and taken into account. The first is what is known as "Pink Poly". you will find pink plastic bags, bubble wrap, even foam peanuts are available in Pink Poly. Pink Poly is a plastic that does not build a Static charge. It does NOT protect the contents from ESD damage, it just does not contribute to the problem and should be used. The other is the metallic like, shiney ESD bags. These conduct Electricity and provide a uniform ground for the contents. These are a must.

When handling circuit cards you should make sure you are grounded, or at the very least touch the metal case of your computer to bleed off any static charge you may have on you. Try to only handle the cards by the edges.

The damage from ESD is usually invisible. You can't see it, but those chips on you circuit card could be damaged to the point where the don't function correctly, or at all. Personally, I have seen microscopic pictures of ESD damaged Integrated Circuits(what we all call chips). It is not a pretty sight.

For as long as I've been buying ASICminer Block Erupters, I've wondered why they come packaged in those acetate plastic bags which are a great source of Static Electricity. I put those in the garbage immediately, I don't want them anywhere near my unboxed Erupters.

The thing with ESD damage is that it isn't always immediately apparent. it just may degrade the usuable life of your product, or may cause random problems over time depending on what is damaged.

Seriously Shippers, please package your products properly!

When it comes to Bitcoin mining, ROI ( Return On Investment ) is an unobtainable myth. Please note, That when i refer to ROI I'm referring to any amount over and above your initial investment. The simple truth is that if the mining hardware was cheaper so as to appear to give a reasonable ROI, the demand for the hardware would be so high that if fulfilled it would push the Dificulty up so fast that the anticipated ROI would just disappear.

As has been said many times, the manufacturers can see a return on their investment. People who get the fastest new hardware first might see some return provided that the supply of that equipment is quite limited. Even then it won't take long for their lead to disolve.

This is all because there is a concerted effort to control the number of bitcoins made at any given time. If your new equipment is fast enough, it can work outside those rules for a time until the difficulty compensates. We are all fighting to get our own share of a finite number of bitcoins and the only way to increase our share is to decrease everyone elses. Of course, they then try and increase their share with new equipment to our detriment. Eventually, the amount of resources that any given miner can throw at this will become depleted and their share of the pie will shrink and they will have to accept it.

I tend t think of the person i'm responding to as being their Avatar. I'm sure I've called several guys girls based on their avatars. Are they just trying to confuse me? or are they closet crossdressers?

My Name is Trong Trongersoll and I am a Bitcoin mining addict.

I started in May 2013 with a small, low power computer and a 5000 series ATI Video card. actually, i started with the GPU on the mother board which was doing 10 Mh/s. Since the MB had a PCIe slot, I upgraded to the ATI card. I got about 80 Mh/s out of it. I added a couple of ASICminer Block Erupters. That was the beginning of my downfall. After about a week or two I saw my Bitcoin income declining due to increased Hashrate. That was the begining of the Arms race for me. That little computer now has 24 erupters and the gpu mining.

But it doesn't stop there. Just be Erupters became available i picked up a 7970 GPU and a 7950 GPU. It was the worse possible timing. I planned on running these both on a computer built just for this purpose. Well, they wouldn't play nice together so the 7950 go put aside. Now I had a new computer not doing much. so this became my second Erupter host. It currently has about 29 erupters on it. And the number is growing. I can't seem to stop buying these things. Everytime there is a price drop or my Bitcoin production drops noticeably i buy more.

Then there are the blades. I bought one about a week ago for way too much by todays prices. It is still in it's wrapping. I got the stratum proxy up yesterday, but haven't succeeded in making it have a fixed IP. That isn't real important. i can just change the IP the blade looks at if it changes. Part of the reason the blade isn't running is that i've mulling over how to physically support it. also the room it will be in is a bit cluttered at the moment. I decided i'd cut up a cardboard box and put fans in that as a support for the blade. Just haven't felt up to doing it, I'm slightly handicapped so i really need to feel up to it to do somethngs. And then, today there was the price drop on blades... so of course i had to buy a second even though i don't have the first running yet. With two, and the likely hood is that more will be acquired, cardboard boxes wouldn't suffice. Today i ordered a big box of Legos. I figure that i can build some sort of multiblade rack with them. I'm not real handy, so PVC pipe racks are out.

I also have the Bitfury starter kit on order and a couple of miners from BFL on order that i don't want to talk about. The thing is, i can't seem to stop myself. The Arms race is killing me. I don't even wanna think about how much i've spent on this Hobby.

I am truely addicted to this thing called Bitcoin Mining...

Don't they realize that every refund that they deny not only alienates their customer base, but denies them the opportunity to sell that item to someone else joining the end of the queue? possibly for more money than the original purchase? Do they really believe that their equipment will become obsolete before they can sell it all out?

How much of a load does this put on the CPU? Is it light enough to co-host on a rig running cgminer with USB Erupters? What is important to this program? Is it RAM intensive? Disk intensive? I/O intensive? Can it run well on a 12 year old laptop running win XP.

I'm just trying wrap my head around this. Is Python interpreted or compiled? never used Python.

I don't usually come to this part of the forums. I made a BTC-E account a while ago as i needed a place where i could turn Name coins into Bitcoins. Now when i log in i get a popup about a scrypt degrading performance. whether i say stop it or let it run i keep getting the popup. i'm running win XP on a netbook and using MS' browser.

any thoughts on this?

I add a new USB erupter to my miner and barely notice any difference in my performance in the Pool.

I read somewhere that the ASICminer blade and Avalon rigs us ethernet and you just connect to them via a specific IP to give them the pool information. My question is, "if the IP is hardwired into them, how do you deal with more than one on the same LAN?" II'm sure that i'm missing something simple.

I can't help but wonder if the people at Ankar aren't sitting scratching their heads wondering why the sales of 10 port powered USB hubs has risen recently,  

Ok, a pool wants one hundred confirmations before it considers the block accepted and does it's pool type stuff. I get that. what i don't get is the length of time those one hundred take to confirm. with thousands of nodes, if not millions, how are they not done in parallel? is verification time consuming and they aren't passed until the verified? Do they only forward the block to one node next for verification?

Is there currently anything with:

1. A faster Hash Rate.

2. Comparable power consumption.

3. A better price.

than an Erupter that can be bought today with US$ and received in a week?

I'm just asking because i see lots of posts about future products and chip buys, but i'm tired of trying to sift through them all to see what is real. and, i'm tired of the crazy prices people are willing to pay on eBay.

7950 gpu.
MB has a X4 connection on a x16 connector.
also have 3 empty PCI connectors.

Do I put an X16 extender in the X4 (X16type) connector? the reason i need the extender is that this connector is the last on the MB and there is no room for dual slot card.

or do i try a PCI to PCIe adapter?

Is it safe to assume that the card will negotiate down to X4 with little effect on the hashing performance?

Ok, Difficulty went up. before it did, many people were concerned about their declining incomes. Now that i think about it, it isn't really an issue because it goes up equally for everyone. What is a concern is the amount of new equipment coming on line. The USB ASICs aren't any faster than GPU's and are currently priced higher. The only real benefit of the ASICs at present is the low cost of power for them relative to GPUs.

We all are fighting over our slice of the same pie. We add new equipment in hopes of increasing our share, at the expense of all the other miners. The only way you will see a drastic drop in income will be if new equipment comes online at fast rate. If other miners expand their mining operation faster than you, as ASICminer did, then you lose. ASICminer is about 12% of the pie at the moment. so everyone else saw a 12% decline in income. add the 8% unknown and we are down 20%. The thing is, we take the loss as it occurs so it isn't all that noticable unless you look at long term changes.

Now, when ASIC based machines that cost significantly less for the same Hashing power as GPUs, that is when using GPUs will not be cost effective. ie. If Butterfly ever gets around to delivering all the hardware people paid for, that will be a game changer.

So, in a nutshell, all things being equal, difficulty changes aren't really an issue in and of themselves.

As there is nothing new under the Sun, I suspect that this has been addressed before.

It has occurred to me that if the wallet clients do not make a concentrated effort to incorporate Dust into transactions when it will not affect the Transaction fee, then eventually all Bitcoins will turn to Dust. Analogy: If you only spend paper money and put the change in your pocket, eventually you will end up with a pocket full of change.

Some banks have no charge coin counting machines and all will accept rolled coins. We need some no cost way to consolidate Dust, or Dust will be all we have.

I don't care if it loses money. I'm bored and just want to play on a 1.5ghz netbook to see how bad it really is. Is there any CPU mining software around that will run on Win XP?