If anything, I can blame the network itself and not the computer. I will report back after I try this on another WiFi to at least pinpoint the problem to either computer or network.

It is definitely not a hardware problem, since these are my specs:

Memory: 5.7 GiB
Processor: Intel® Core™ i3-2330M CPU @ 2.20GHz × 4
Available disk space: 375.5 GiB
Bandwidth is more than enough. I can do 10 youtube videos at the same time. I assume that should be enough for block downloads.

I am running Ubuntu 12.04 on my laptop.

As I said, I never had a problem syncing up to the network, before this week, after I had not logged onto the network for 2 weeks. All the sudden my block download is 1 block every 10 min or less. I am actually falling behind the network as time goes by. I am either extremely unlucky and keep hitting bad peers, corrupted peers or something is wrong somewhere else. I would like to understand where the problem is, as I think this would benefit people insisting on running Qt as I do.

Yeah that is a sad solution. Thats like telling users of Bitcoin to not participate in Bitcoin any longer as nodes. This is not an option for me, I want to run Qt and figure out why this behaviour is occurring.

After multiple restarts, I have come to realize my Bitcoin-Qt wont be able to catch up with the rest of the network. The download of each block is slower than block creation, and there seems to be no way of optimizing this by simply logging into Bitcoin-Qt and hoping to reach peers that actually propagates the blocks fast enough. It seems as if there are too many "rotten peers" out there.

My specs on this computer have always been the same, the problem is actually something that has struck me recently. In the past I had no problem downloading blocks in only a matter of minutes and thus re-synch back with the network. Now I wont ever reach it as it currently stands. I am using the latest Bitcoin-Qt and obviously I have checked the tutorials and articles about computer specs.

If anyone has any idea at this point, I am all for it.

I am in my 12th hour of downloading the blockchain on a Ubuntu 12.04

So far, at this very moment, 156430 blocks downloaded, out of the total 281.000+

On my windows, this used to take 2-3 hours, and then it would start to slow down dramatically when reaching the 200.000+ blocks.

Now I can only fear what those 200.000+ blocks will take, if the first blocks have been this extra ordinarily slow. I am talking 12 hours, continuous downloads here, with 8 peer connections.

Am I the one doing something wrong? Do I need to open ports to make sure I get the blocks easier? Its just becoming a bit too extreme, and I foresee it will take 1+ week to get this over with.

Now I dont want to hear that there are alternative clients, I know that. If anyone has a solution to this matter, it would be great to know. What I would like to know the most is however why the difference between Windows and Ubuntu is this high. Its the same internet, same amount of connections to peers and same version of Bitcoin (v0.8.6.0-g03a7d67-beta).

The blockchain should have nothing to do with the wallet file. One is the database, the other is the keys to access Bitcoins. Why on earth is it not possible to put the wallet file in its own location?

Any news on this? I noticed Gavin closed the thread here: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/68

But it still does not allow us to store the wallet.dat separately from the data directory. This is a MUCH needed feature as it would allow us to use the wallet.dat file inside a TrueCrypt folder. Gavin? Anything?

I would like to know if it is possible to allow the Bitcoin client to always fetch a wallet.dat file from a different location than the default one. The reason for this is that I can safely and securely keep a wallet.dat in an encrypted drive and only load it up when I need to. I dont always have my client on, but when I do, it would be better for security purposes to fetch my wallet.dat from a different location.

Anyone knows if this is possible?

The shareholders are just the national bank. No need to put conspiracy into this, if you took your time to read Wiki. It is just a powerful organization that has interest in keeping the national banks going. The shareholders, board members and directors are central banks.

Exactly! Thank you very much good sir 

The world of banks is not just FED and JP Morgan. It is all central banks, and the mother of them all is the central bank of central banks, aka. The Bank for International Settlements. Shortly said, the players that control this bank are all other central banks. If central banks echoes the same "worry" for Bitcoin, it is because they all have the same mother, The Bank for International Settlements.

Trillions upon trillions are handled through this behemoth of a bank. This is where the real power lies, worldwide, beyond politics and beyond local interest. Bitcoin is a threat to pretty much any elite establishment on the planet, and not until this "bank" bows, will Bitcoin take over.

Edit: Some info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_for_International_Settlements and here of course: http://www.bis.org/

I remember not long ago some dude posted a link to a forum, that contained a high number of Bitcoin protocol applications, such as the ColorCoin, BetCoin and a high number of other decentralized-mining-blockchain based projects. I think it had like 15 to 20 different idea each listed on its own thread. It was some other forum, but I dont remember how I found it, and in what relation I found it. Anyone knows?

How is this different from what they already have? If its centralized it is THE SAME as before. If it is decentralized it is BITCOIN.

Seriously, what is your problem OP?

We have a PERFECT working system here, with a crypto currency everyone trusts, buys, sells and is integrated in million of places? Why do people keep bringing up big tech companies, governments and all these "brands" as if only their stamp of approval would make Bitcoin work better?

Bitcoin is backed by MATH, there is nothing more sane and sound than that.

Looking at MPex, it could be the best of intentions ever, but nobody is going to take it serious looking like that. Dude skin that site up will you please?

If we can actually get this working, it would bring back the dividend payouts and allow people to have "bearer shares" once again. Are there more examples out there on how to make this work, and use Bitcoin as validation for assets?

I am not really following this, as there is alot of stuff being thrown around here. What markets are the for trading shares/stock on, Bitcoin denominated? I know of Havelock Investments, but what else is there out there that actually has some weight behind it?

Basically, if we can identify a user by a coin, this would allow for interesting things, such as bearer certificates, aka. bearer shares, and would allow for transfer of dividend or proof of ownership to a certain something. The block-chain + nodes + miners is the creme dela creme in the whole game. Utilizing those 3 parameters to lay something on top would give us a perfect system of any form of proof of ownership, dated, timed and completely visible.

Very very very nice indeed. Posting this on our blog as well. Good work, wanted exactly this

What are you on about? Even IF Bitcoin was to turn into a so-called fad, the existence of block-chain/mining security based applications are a great feature for any project.


Could you expand more on your thoughts for this? From my point of view this service already done a lot of neat things. What is the downfall?