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m8harry (OP)
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October 08, 2013, 11:38:47 AM
 #1

Since my introduction is out of the way I feel its time to get all my questions onto the board so the guru's and people who have been around a bit can guide me towards the garden path Smiley

OK so here goes. (yes i have tried the search feature, it did trim my list of questions down some)

1) Software

a) Im currently using the Bitcoin QT software and as I said in my opening post im happy to be a part of the back bone and run the software thats fine with me, but should i look at something else? I want easy to use and I seem to be stumbling my way through this software ok

b) I see alot of pages about backing up but what are users doing in regards to this? Should I do it weekly and keep a copy on a USB stick that stays in the desk draw? If someone did get that USB sick how hard would it be for them to take what i have?

c) The encryption option in Bitcoin QT seems self explanatory but does that effect me making payments when i eventually get coins? or is it like loggin into a webpage once the key/password is in it just works as normal?

d) Is port forwarding required for any wallet/mining software?

2) Mining

a) As far as apps go i stumbled across this one "Guiminer" https://github.com/Kiv/poclbm seems pretty simple to use, and the site i saw it on said it was slanted towards new users. I havent used it as yet should i avoid it? I want to do a bit of solo mining until i read more on how pools work and get my head around them (yes i have read that solo is not worth the time and effort but i feel i need to get into this slowly so i can take in what im reading and i seriously dont mind going solo for a little bit)

b) if the above miner is no good what should i use for solo use for the short term?

c) Once i get more knowledge about what im doing is there a lexicon or list of terminology somewhere (yes i have tried the search feature but i dont think it likes me).

d) once i get a lot more knowledge about what im doing, im thinking a hardware investment might be the go. Ive seen usb sticks right up to set ups that cost thousands. Since I will be a smaller than small time operator I figured something like this https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage/5-gh-s-bitcoin-miner.html would be a good bang per buck investment. (currenly 1 btc is worth $142 AUD I would be happy if i broke even on hardware costs with in 12-18 months) Thoughts? Im very open to opinions.

e) Pools is there a n00b sauce friendly one out there? and for example if 50 people are in the pool and the pool mines a bitcoin(s) is it time spent mining = your cut or is it more involved. What should I look to avoid in a pool?


So thanks in advance for the help and this list was much longer but search for the win. :-)

ECL7
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October 08, 2013, 11:41:46 AM
 #2

Don't waste your time mining. It is not worth it anymore.
m8harry (OP)
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October 08, 2013, 11:53:02 AM
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Don't waste your time mining. It is not worth it anymore.

due to time taken vs return on time and power spent to get reward?
saif92
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October 08, 2013, 11:56:28 AM
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Don't waste your time mining. It is not worth it anymore.

then what is best way to be in this community please guide some newbies I am also interested in mining but many saying its waste of time and money then what do

ECL7
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October 08, 2013, 12:05:13 PM
 #5

saif92 and m8harry

if you due this your electricity bill will mostly cover your mining reward or barely make even.

That best thing to do IMO is to buy bitcoins and wait for it to grow. You can also get free bitcoins from sites and try to gamble(not smart unless you know what your doing).
favdesu
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October 08, 2013, 12:06:58 PM
 #6

Don't waste your time mining. It is not worth it anymore.

then what is best way to be in this community please guide some newbies I am also interested in mining but many saying its waste of time and money then what do

buy bitcoins. buy items with them to support the economy.

fattypig
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October 08, 2013, 01:57:56 PM
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First of all, don't buy anything from BFL. Mining with GPU no longer profitable unless you have free electricity. But anyway you are better off buying bitcoin Smiley

b!z
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October 08, 2013, 02:19:56 PM
 #8

a. Bitcoin-QT is good, but it takes some time to download the blockchain. If you're OK with that, then use it. It's great.

b. Keep backups every time you create a new address. If the wallet.dat is encrypted with a strong password, theives can't steal your BTC unless they can guess the password.

c. Encryption is just like "logging in" to your wallet. It won't affect receiving or sending payments.
m8harry (OP)
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October 09, 2013, 04:36:56 AM
 #9

So electricity aside you can yield coin from mining given enough time and luck?
imperial
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October 09, 2013, 04:53:57 AM
 #10

So electricity aside you can yield coin from mining given enough time and luck?

Yes, aside from electricity cost, you can generate Bitcoin.

The next concern would be the cost of the equipment that is capable of calculating the coin in a reasonable amount of time. For example, let's say that it would take you $5,000 in hardware to produce BTC4/month, this would take almost a year to break even. You could say that in that time BTC/USD value will rise, but with that rise you will see an increase in mining activity and a coresponding increase in mining difficulty. There is math out there that you can do. I found this site to be a useful start: http://tpbitcalc.appspot.com/faq. I have just gotten started myself, so this is only the most basic of explanations. My guess is there is a wealth of good information on the forums here.

Good luck.
cowandtea
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October 09, 2013, 05:09:34 AM
 #11

Since my introduction is out of the way I feel its time to get all my questions onto the board so the guru's and people who have been around a bit can guide me towards the garden path Smiley

OK so here goes. (yes i have tried the search feature, it did trim my list of questions down some)

1) Software

a) Im currently using the Bitcoin QT software and as I said in my opening post im happy to be a part of the back bone and run the software thats fine with me, but should i look at something else? I want easy to use and I seem to be stumbling my way through this software ok

b) I see alot of pages about backing up but what are users doing in regards to this? Should I do it weekly and keep a copy on a USB stick that stays in the desk draw? If someone did get that USB sick how hard would it be for them to take what i have?

c) The encryption option in Bitcoin QT seems self explanatory but does that effect me making payments when i eventually get coins? or is it like loggin into a webpage once the key/password is in it just works as normal?

d) Is port forwarding required for any wallet/mining software?

2) Mining

a) As far as apps go i stumbled across this one "Guiminer" https://github.com/Kiv/poclbm seems pretty simple to use, and the site i saw it on said it was slanted towards new users. I havent used it as yet should i avoid it? I want to do a bit of solo mining until i read more on how pools work and get my head around them (yes i have read that solo is not worth the time and effort but i feel i need to get into this slowly so i can take in what im reading and i seriously dont mind going solo for a little bit)

b) if the above miner is no good what should i use for solo use for the short term?

c) Once i get more knowledge about what im doing is there a lexicon or list of terminology somewhere (yes i have tried the search feature but i dont think it likes me).

d) once i get a lot more knowledge about what im doing, im thinking a hardware investment might be the go. Ive seen usb sticks right up to set ups that cost thousands. Since I will be a smaller than small time operator I figured something like this https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage/5-gh-s-bitcoin-miner.html would be a good bang per buck investment. (currenly 1 btc is worth $142 AUD I would be happy if i broke even on hardware costs with in 12-18 months) Thoughts? Im very open to opinions.

e) Pools is there a n00b sauce friendly one out there? and for example if 50 people are in the pool and the pool mines a bitcoin(s) is it time spent mining = your cut or is it more involved. What should I look to avoid in a pool?


So thanks in advance for the help and this list was much longer but search for the win. :-)



1) Bitcoin-QT is so far the best in term of security. I heard a lot online wallet got hacked and scammed.

2) I would advice you not to put any money into mining as it is not worth it. Apart from that, just don't buy anything from Butterflylab. They will take years to ship you anything.

Smiley

DannyHamilton
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October 09, 2013, 05:28:57 AM
 #12

1) Software

a) Im currently using the Bitcoin QT software and as I said in my opening post im happy to be a part of the back bone and run the software thats fine with me, but should i look at something else? I want easy to use and I seem to be stumbling my way through this software ok

If you want to "be a part of the back bone" then Bitcoin-Qt is the thing to run. It takes some getting used to. Ask questions if there is anything that you are still trying to figure out.

If you being "a part of the back bone" is not important to you, then look into Electrum and MultiBit.

b) I see alot of pages about backing up but what are users doing in regards to this? Should I do it weekly and keep a copy on a USB stick that stays in the desk draw? If someone did get that USB sick how hard would it be for them to take what i have?

Assuming you are asking about Bitcoin-Qt:

I'd suggest protecting your wallet with a password first, and then backing it up.  That way if someone gets the USB drive they will also need to know your password to access your bitcoins.  I'd also suggest storing the USB drive somewhere outside your house. (so you can still recover you bitcoins if your house is damaged in a fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, burglary, etc).

In general, I suggest keeping track of approximately how many transactions you SEND from your wallet and also keeping track of approximately how many times you click the "New Address" button.  When the sum of those two numbers is 25 since the last time you created a backup, then it's time to create a new backup.  For some people that means every day.  For some people that means twice a year.  It will really depend on how much you use bitcoins and what you use them for.  I'd also suggest keeping at least the 3 most recent backups. That way if any of the backups are damaged or unrecoverable you'll have additional backups you can recover from.

c) The encryption option in Bitcoin QT seems self explanatory but does that effect me making payments when i eventually get coins? or is it like loggin into a webpage once the key/password is in it just works as normal?

The password has to be typed anytime you do anything that will access your private keys.  In general this would be any time you click the "New Address" button, and any time you try to send a transaction.

d) Is port forwarding required for any wallet/mining software?

I'm not sure about mining, but if you're just running a wallet port forwarding isn't generally necessary.  Your wallet will most likely only make outgoing connections however if you don't set up port forwarding.

a) As far as apps go i stumbled across this one "Guiminer" https://github.com/Kiv/poclbm seems pretty simple to use, and the site i saw it on said it was slanted towards new users. I havent used it as yet should i avoid it? I want to do a bit of solo mining until i read more on how pools work and get my head around them (yes i have read that solo is not worth the time and effort but i feel i need to get into this slowly so i can take in what im reading and i seriously dont mind going solo for a little bit)

As a hobby and just for "the fun of it", solo mining is fine.  Unless you have some specialized equipment (Application Specific Integrated Chip - ASIC) it is nearly certain that you will not solve any blocks and/or receive any bitcoins with solo mining, but you're welcome to try if you like.

b) if the above miner is no good what should i use for solo use for the short term?

You'll have to wait for someone else to stop by to recommend mining software. I don't mine, so I can't give good advice.

c) Once i get more knowledge about what im doing is there a lexicon or list of terminology somewhere (yes i have tried the search feature but i dont think it likes me).

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=126798.0

d) once i get a lot more knowledge about what im doing, im thinking a hardware investment might be the go. Ive seen usb sticks right up to set ups that cost thousands. Since I will be a smaller than small time operator I figured something like this https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage/5-gh-s-bitcoin-miner.html would be a good bang per buck investment. (currenly 1 btc is worth $142 AUD I would be happy if i broke even on hardware costs with in 12-18 months) Thoughts? Im very open to opinions.

Mining for profit can be lucrative, but it is a very risky business. You'll want to understand the math behind the mining business and make reasonable estimates about what you believe the difficulty and bitcoin exchange rate will be in the future to determine if you can make a profit instead of taking a loss.  Things that you'll need to consider:

  • Cost of electricity
  • Equipment purchase costs
  • Equipment maintenance and replacement costs
  • Equipment hash rate
  • Current difficulty
  • Projected difficulty over time
  • Current bitcoin exchange rate
  • Projected bitcoin exchange rate over time

The more of those numbers that you get wrong, the more likely that you won't recover your costs.

e) Pools is there a n00b sauce friendly one out there? and for example if 50 people are in the pool and the pool mines a bitcoin(s) is it time spent mining = your cut or is it more involved. What should I look to avoid in a pool?

There are a variety of payout systems for pools. You can find some of the details here:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Comparison_of_mining_pools
DannyHamilton
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October 09, 2013, 05:31:46 AM
 #13

b. Keep backups every time you create a new address.

That seems excessive and unnecessary.  In addition, it risks losing bitcoins permanently if you send out more than 100 transactions without ever creating a new address.  In all, it seems like dangerous and bad advice.

c. Encryption is just like "logging in" to your wallet. It won't affect receiving or sending payments.

Are you sure about this?  I thought that a password protected wallet required you to type your password every time you send a transaction?
umbrel
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October 09, 2013, 06:19:09 AM
 #14

You may spend 10-20% of you money to buy bitcoins from every salary or whatever income you have. And then participate in the economy by paying using Bitcoins. It is an investment and using bitcoins for payments at the same time.
Then increase this percent when you feel it's comfortable, that you can really do stuff with your coins.

Some day you'll get all your salary in bitcoins Smiley
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