You sir, are a most persistent optimist (in my opinion). It feels "Waiting for Godot" to me. 

While I expect I'll take some flack for this, I would NOT choose the C1. It's a liquid cooled device and has lots more moving parts associated with it. I think it will require more attention and potential maintenance. If you are interested in that kind of thing, then that's great. If you want it to "just run", then the C1 is not for you (IMHO).

I'll also restate my comment. If your actual goal is to actually trade BTC or some other investment strategy that requires BTC, then mining is a slow and expensive way to acquire Bitcoin. Much better to actually buy BTC directly and skip the mining step. Just about anything that's been suggested will "dribble in" a small fraction (think BTC.01) in a weeks time.

If you actually want to mine then you got lots of good info here. If you are mining to acquire BTC for some other reason, then re-think the mining approach. Of course you can do both! 

This might work, if you can find the right kind of "3-connector USB Aux cable". My experience with the USB Aux cables was that they would 2 "A" ends for plugging into two sockets on the computer, and the 3rd was a mini-USB connector to plug into a portable hard drive. In this application, instead of the mini-USB, you would need a "Female A" socket, as if it was a USB extension cable. I haven't seen such a cable, but I haven't ever looked.

I would think for most folks that a powered USB Hub would be much simpler and less complicated with fewer cables involved.

As for the Hub that Phil mentioned above, I too found that despite it's 10 USB sockets, I could never get more than 6 to work consistently and reliably. It looked great in terms of socket spacing and such, and I was willing to supply more 12V than the original power brick, but It always choked when I tried to add a 7th stick. I ultimately just used it as a "widely spaced" 5 port hub where it worked just great. I was running U1, U2, and Red Fury stick miners at the time.

I have not tried that. Any reason to choose that instead of a powered Hub, with a solid power supply?

When you say "profitable", do you mean it pays for it's running costs, or you want it to pay back your expenditure on the mining hardware as well? The 2nd is very difficult if not impossible these days, particularly on a small scale.

For a quiet miner, probably best one these days is an Avalon 4.1 miner:

http://ehash.com/product/avalon4-module-1t/

This is unlikely to ever generate the 2 BTC it costs to acquire it, after running costs. You'll also need to know if your office environment can handle the equivalent of 500W "heater" running all the time. I also assume you have an "always on" Internet connection?

You need to ask yourself why you want to "mine" Bitcoins? It's probably not the most cost effective, nor timely, way to acquire Bitcoin.

One significant item to remember. The Raspberry Pi (any model) would be lucky to support a single stick miner of any vintage. The Pi USB ports aren't meant to supply enough current for a stick miner much less multiple ones. Besides the power supply issues, there isn't sufficient spacing between Raspberry Pi USB ports, even if the stick miners drew 200Ma (i.e. 1Watt).

Anyone planning to use a Raspberry Pi will need a USB Hub, myself included. While the 4 ports on the newer Raspberry Pi's are great, they aren't there to supply 600Ma/port.

While I find the discussion of running a "full node" fascinating, can I ask what the motivation is? My simplistic view is that it's kinda like running Seti@Home in terms of "value", however you define value.

I don't want to hijack this thread from it's intended purpose, but thought I would ask. Feel free to delete this post if you wish.

@sidehack: Best wishes on your funeral trip. While funerals can be rather sobering, you will tend to re-connect with folks, and that can mitigate the sense of loss a bit.

We'll see you when you get back. I am sure your "babies" (i.e. the prototypes in the wild) are in good hands!

While it seems to me that difficulty will take a while to double, it will continue to rise it seems. There doesn't seem to be any obvious reason for it to plateau unless/until ASIC development ceases for more efficient hardware. I guess if the price of Bitcoin falls enough, there won't be any money to fund the development of new ASICs. Of course you read about companies like 21 Inc that want to push out tons of micro-miners with a fairly efficient profile. If that actually happens, difficulty will rise again.

One thing you may have already considered. If the infrastructure in Venezuela isn't stellar, you'll want to send in only robust and reliable equipment. That includes not only the miners themselves (i.e. the ASIC gear), but the PSU's as well as any required networking switches, routers and such. It could really blow a hole in any projections you make if you lose hunks of your mining operation due to a piece of gear that isn't as obvious as the miner itself. You won't need top of the line new PSU's or network stuff, but the lowest initial price may well cost more in the end. It's the non-glamourous stuff that could really put a crimp in you plans.

Just my two cents. I hope you already speak Spanish?   

Looks like no winner this time..... 

Jun 14 2015    49,692,386,355    4.42%    355,711,957 GH/s

While I'm sure Phil will call it in the morning, I don't think anybody took the correct spot, though skuser was closest. Unless of course I missed somebody on the list.

Just for those folks that are up late.

I'd me more than happy to offer up my lone SP20 for a mere $600 (No Bitcoins Accepted). You have to handle the shipping since I don't know where you are. I am Minnesota USA.

Just send me a PM....... 

My apologies if I derailed this at all. The E-mail I got didn't indicate which thread the post was from, so it's quite possible I jumped to the wrong conclusion about the thread based on the content.

Was there something I missed in the E-mail, or is that just the way it is? I assume the "reason" was just boilerplate?

My apologies again for mixing up the threads.

There's a lot of "empty space" (i.e. unclaimed spots) for it to land as well. I wouldn't be a bit surprised it's a complete miss this time, just like last time.

I've tried calling my buddies at KNC to see if they wouldn't turn off 10PH or so, so I could win. Strangely enough they haven't returned my call!    (That's a huge flippant smiley)

One other question I would add:

Do you already speak Chinese, and are you familiar withe culture and customs?

While I personally think it unwise to "chase BTC around the world", that's your choice to make. If it actually pans out as a currency it will be silly to have done so (IMHO).

After the next 20 years, there can't be any real money in a Bitcoin mining facility. After all, do the guys running the data centers that do the rest of the financial system make money on their slender fees in moving money and accounting?

While I am NOT a Bitcoin expert by any means, I think the whole point was was have the "Bitcoin currency supply" expand at a predictable and defined rate. The difficulty mechanism works hard at, and is pretty effective at, having 144 blocks per day added to the supply.

It's probably a poor choice to call it mining, rather than minting. It's supposed to be a currency after all, and not extraction of money from somewhere. No other kind of modern currency has private individuals producing they own coins (or paper).

Long term folks will not obtain Bitcoins via mining, just like folks today don't mint their own coins, or print their own bills.

The E-mail in part contained:

"A reply of yours, quoted below, was deleted by the starter of a self-moderated topic. There are no rules of self-moderation, so this deletion cannot be appealed. Do not continue posting in this topic if the topic-starter has requested that you leave."

I assume you aren't asking me to leave? 

Multiple folks at Spondoolies Tech use this account?

Personally I think "overkill" is moderately appropriate when choosing a PSU for the long term. My understanding is that most current high quality supplies have a fairly wide efficiency band. There is absolutely no reason to load a PSU to 90% in order to make it efficient rather than say 60%. It will only draw what's required. Most high quality ATX supplies will run quieter when not fully loaded. There are tangible benefits:

- A higher quality supply will usually have better, possibly 16AWG cables to connect to the miner. Lower cost PSU may have lower quality (i.e. 18-20 AWG wire) cables.

- Generally they are more durable, and withstand unexpected demands better (temperature, etc).

- Should have better resale value later.

I expect that used Server supplies are very available, and can work well, though they tend to be noisy.

I will ask a question that's been bugging me for a while:

Where are you located in the world?

I have no desire to pry into your personal life, nor am am I going to relocate to mine Bitcoins more efficiently. You electric rates are however are WAY lower than I've heard of anywhere.

I can add my "Thumbs Up" for the BestScope device. While I don't know if the device is really accurate to .01 Amp as the display would suggest, it's certainly good enough to tell you roughly what's happening. I would think it would work fine for comparison type adjustments, rather than absolutely accurate readings.

I used it to try and figure out why my Nook HD+ tablet was finicky about what it's charging cable was plugged into. For me it demonstrated clearly that if the two data lines were NOT connected, the Nook would charge at whatever rate the charger could supply. I could clearly see distinct current differences to make this clear.

While this may be true, I can plainly state that I had a post from a month ago or more, deleted yesterday. I considered it completely on topic as it related to codenames (Rockerbox, Hammer, etc) and product names. I got a polite, cogent response and all was well.

Why it just got deleted is unknown to me. I've had about 4 "random" posts deleted, with no obvious explanation.

Is there an admin that feels compelled to shrink threads for some specific reason?