Honestly, thats not a good idea.
Its a GREAT idea!
I have already contacted bit-pay to suggest they prospect a few sites including the above, and they asked if I knew any contacts there and if I wanted to do it for them since they didnt want to "spam" potential customers (which is stupid IMO, they ought to spam them!). Anyway, so Im doing it "for free", but some sort of incentive would be a fantastic idea. Go tell 'm.

(edit: be sure to ask a % of the % for the idea )

Running ubuntu 11.04 and had no issues really. You have to install the restricted AMD drivers (though "additional hardware") and then the OpenCL (stream sdk) drivers from AMDs website. The latter requires some command line and the installation  actually produced some errors for me, but  it works fine. Small word of warning, after installing opencl (stream SDK) the installer will reboot your system no questions asked.

If you need any help, Ill gladly help out, but I need a bit more information on the problems youre having.

Spending existing bitcoins this way isnt really going to help move bitcoin forward.
We need is more new people start using it. The best way for that IMO, is contacting the websites where you buy stuff anyway (or donate to), and tell them you would like to pay/donate in bitcoins and direct them to bit-pay.com or similar to explain to them why its interesting for them to accept bitcoins.

I have done this so far for two alternative news sites that live from donations:

The Real News network (where I donate anyway). They have reacted and are looking in to it.
Democracy Now. Havent heard back yet, but they take the weirdest forms of donations, so I think they could be interested.

Both of those sites also reach reach fairly large audiences, so that is good if at least either of them would start accepting it.

Studio 777 (makers of Rise of Flight, an excellent WW1 flightsim). Only just contacted them. Niche market, but anything helps.

If every bitcoin user starts lobbying their online "suppliers" or recipients of donations this way, I think that could do a lot.

Or Satoshi is an American (or at least wants his wealth in USD) 

On a more serious note; I think bitcoin is slightly less unknown in the US than elsewhere. AFAIK, its not like its had massive media coverage in the US, but at least some. Where I live in the EU, I have yet to see any mainstream media attention whatsoever. I have yet to meet anyone thats heard of it. The result of that could be that most miners now are US, or most of the speculators that fueled the $30 bubble. But its only a matter of time before the Chinese take over

You realize those libraries might be published under different licenses, some of which would prevent him from redistributing them? I dont know if its the case here, but you usually cant just go and put "everything thats needed" in a tarball for your convenience.

BTW, I just compiled bitcoin-qt. Copy pasted 3 commands (yes, I use linux) and its working and looking great. Thank you John Smith.

Not sure if the cooler actually had any effect, looks like the card throttled to save its life. The GPU was at a very constant 100C which seems like a hardware throttle point. The throttling of the GPU probably also prevented the VRMs from overheating even more, unless they are also protected somehow. I think they where at 125 or 130C but also completely constant (see graph). Not sure if thats some VRM overheat protection or simply the upper scale of the temperature sensor, but I also believe its the maximum temperature they are designed for, so I dont think its coincidence.

Still, even with throttling keeping the GPU from frying, sending that kind of voltage through the chip would cause electromigration and kill it pretty fast,  no matter if you could keep it "cool".

Are you monitoring volts and temps? Might be a very long shot, but for a short while I thought it was bitminter, as it had frozen up,  and needed restarting, but the problem as it  turned out, was overheating due to voltage spikes (1.65v!); voltage spikes caused by, you wouldnt believe it... monitoring voltages and temps.

If you run one or two monitoring apps simultaneously, like GPU-Z and everest or afterburner, this can happen.  Restarting bitminter "cured" the problem, because of the GPU load drop, the GPU clocked down and the voltages corrected themselves. But the problem had nothing to do with bitminter, everything with the hardware monitoring apps.

Read more here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=44495.msg532849#msg532849

Dont know it this problem exists with radeon 6xxx cards, but its very real with 5xx0 cards.

Trust is the only reason I can see why Joe Six pack ('s smarter brother) would want to compile. But if you are a developer wanting to change the code, Im sure you can figure out how to compile it?

Can I just say, WAAW
Lovely client, thank you very much.

Its easy to compile on linux. Its easy to install the binary on windows (and possible to compile if you know what you are doing, though I havent tried). Really, thats all thats needed IMO. If you are wary of using closed source software, you shouldnt be running windows.

http://tinyurl.com/bjktm7

Not sure how suitable it is for large downloads though. Last time I tried it it was painfully slow even for surfing.

Teraminer, just grab your cell phone and shoot some video of the FPGA in action. If you have one running it shouldnt take 10 minutes of your time. That should be good enough proof to assert you are not just trolling. In theory, it could still be a more elaborate hoax, but I kinda fail to see the point in anyone doing that.

Then Id quickly install windows on a spare disk and use some windows monitoring tool for a day, just to see how your VRM temps relate to the GPU temps under load. If they are okay, then go back to ubuntu and forget about it.

For me, yes. since I dont log all my traffic.  Some do. All it takes is one single bitcoin user logging his firewall, there might even be a website where I can find it. An ISP also does, and the police can ask those logs (and if the police wants to crack down some illegal gambling/drugs whatever site, you bet they will).


The camera's are already there. Moreover, they record everything and then the streams are broadcast on the internet. Its just that I personally have not been watching or recording them while you did your purchase. That doesnt make it anonymous.

Sounds good!


Id like see my share of the current block, and how many shares have been completed in the current block. Also please expand the top 10. Im never going to make top 10, but Id like to see my stats in the ahm.. top 100 (once I fix my rig) 

More googling. Doh! It seems measuring the voltage is what causes it to spike randomly, according to this thread:

http://www.overclock.net/amd-ati/648462-hd-5870-random-voltage-bump-1-a.html

I've seen this before - it has happened on my 5870.

It's apparently an issue that happens when (a) you have a 5xxx series GPU under stress [it happened to me when running FurMark as well], AND (b) when you're running more than one (or in some cases ONLY one] GPU voltage monitoring tool at the same time [i.e., GPU+Z + Afterburner, or Everest]. The voltage spikes to the max unlocked core - mine was 1.5v.

There was a thread on this over at the Everest forums. Check it out.

I only run Afterburner now, and if I need to open GPU-Z, I close afterburner first if the GPU will be under stress. Bizarre? Yes. Verifiable? Also yes.

PS: You'll notice that in Afterburner voltage MONITORING is off by default. It's because voltage monitoring is what is causing the issue. Run just afterburner with voltage monitoring off, and you won't have the problem.

I think I was running afterburner when it happened the first time and I did run everest for sure. I guess that also explains why it never gave any trouble in ubuntu where it ran stable for weeks at 100% load and at higher clocks to boot. Maybe the card isnt dead yet lol

and three cheers for my accelero twin turbo that keeps the card from catching fire even at 1.65v!

I tested again, this time with GPU-Z open. Indeed, after a few minutes, the voltage suddenly spikes from 1.085 to 1.65v!



No surprise, VRM and core temperature skyrocket when that happens. Seems like a dead VRM to me

You should read the wikipedia page more carefully and you will see some serious differences. Like what happens in a foreclosure, risk and reward are shared by bank and "person".  Its also not like here, where the first 5 years or so you only pay back interest and no principal. And if after 5 years you stop paying the bank, you dont own anything, but you owe the bank the full amount + interest. With islamic banking, in the same scenario you could actually make a profit if the house sells for more, and if it sells for less, the bank will have to absorb a large part of that. It really is different.

BTW, this isnt about God. Its about morality. And maybe not even that, it seems to me this sort of banking is just plain smart. I bet you would see a whole lot less foreclosures to keep within your example.


A bank could act as intermediary between depositors and creditors and collect a fee on that. The only thing different is that a bank wouldnt be able to lend out more than it has in deposits. Loans would therefore be more expensive yes, otherwise depositors wouldnt deposit, but since its a deflationary currency thats probably okay. You cant have cheap loans anyway, or you would make a profit just by taking a credit. That this vastly reduces the need and scope of banks is fine by me. The financial sector is currently something like 15% of the US GDP? How insane is that.

You should also monitor VRM temps. Ive never had issues with GPU temps, but I always struggle to keep VRM temps sane. For ubuntu you could try this tool:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=10228.0

It gives all 3 VRM temps on my card (5850), but Im not sure it will work with 6xx0 cards.

Simple, VRM failure (causing voltage spike)
Fans are working fine, and even without any GPU fan my temps otherwise remained in spec for almost foreever in my rig (lots of case flow and big GPU cooler). Ints not a fan problem. If your VRM spike was as bad and as sudden as mine, consider the card dead or dying