How does mining work?

[FinShaggy]

My friend got a machine to start mining litecoins...

I'm just wondering what mining even is... What do you "do"?

[killingtime]

litecoin.org
https://www.litecoinpool.org/help

https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining

[Slix313]

You basically use your computers GPU or CPU ( the former more than the latter ) to proccess code either for yourself ( slow not very profitable ) or with a pool ( payments more consistent ) to solve blocks which award cryptocurreny, ie bitcoins, litecoins, etc.

[jsmarclook]

You don't actually do stuff yourself. Your computer will do the computation work - it adds transaction records to past bitcoin blocks (blockchain).

[FinShaggy]

Thanks guys, I didn't understand it before... basically I need a good computer Maybe one day

[Slix313]

not necessarily a good computer. A set of good video cards, or an asic/fpga board. Do your research and youll see what you need to work towards.

[FinShaggy]

not necessarily a good computer. A set of good video cards, or an asic/fpga board. Do your research and youll see what you need to work towards.

Thanks Any other info will help, I WILL be looking back at this thread when I have a little money.

[u237114006]

Very informative.

[JakethePilot]

I appreciate smaller posts like this, informative and to the point.

If you don't have a big rig devoted to mining only, I would recommend joining a pool. It is consistent but small amounts of money.
Can't really complain since the computer is doing all the work. 

[FinShaggy]

I appreciate smaller posts like this, informative and to the point.

If you don't have a big rig devoted to mining only, I would recommend joining a pool. It is consistent but small amounts of money.
Can't really complain since the computer is doing all the work. 

I've heard about pools... How do you start looking for those? It's like groups of miners right? And if there are 5 miners you get 20%, 10 miners you get 10% etc.

[Saka]

Essentially, you keep a record of all past transactions.

They go into a giant "bin" of records, and this giant bin of records is a stream of data that gets "hashed" and added to the chain. Hashing is a process where you take a number and essentially transform it into another number that fits certain parameters (or a formula that fits certain parameters) via a mathematical formula.

The catch is, the hashed bin of records has to fit a certain format, so they add a number before it and repeatedly attempt to get the hashed form to look a certain way (lots of leading 0's in the result). There's no way to predict the final outcome except by repeatedly trying random numbers until one gets hashed that meets the format. This results in a bitcoin reward for a person who figured out what number did it.

And that's "mining".

[FinShaggy]

Essentially, you keep a record of all past transactions.

They go into a giant "bin" of records, and this giant bin of records is a stream of data that gets "hashed" and added to the chain. Hashing is a process where you take a number and essentially transform it into another number that fits certain parameters (or a formula that fits certain parameters) via a mathematical formula.

The catch is, the hashed bin of records has to fit a certain format, so they add a number before it and repeatedly attempt to get the hashed form to look a certain way (lots of leading 0's in the result). There's no way to predict the final outcome except by repeatedly trying random numbers until one gets hashed that meets the format. This results in a bitcoin reward for a person who figured out what number did it.

And that's "mining".

Thanks That was a good explanation.

[JakethePilot]

I appreciate smaller posts like this, informative and to the point.

If you don't have a big rig devoted to mining only, I would recommend joining a pool. It is consistent but small amounts of money.
Can't really complain since the computer is doing all the work. 

I've heard about pools... How do you start looking for those? It's like groups of miners right? And if there are 5 miners you get 20%, 10 miners you get 10% etc.

The way that I found the pool that I am a part of was simply googling it. I have a Macbook Pro and so therefore I was slightly limited to what pools I could join. I found one that would work for my situation and went from there. No problems so far and have seen small profits!
And yes a bunch of miners crunch the numbers together, and the profits are divided up according to the rules of the pool you're involved in and how many people are a part of the pool.

[FinShaggy]

I appreciate smaller posts like this, informative and to the point.

If you don't have a big rig devoted to mining only, I would recommend joining a pool. It is consistent but small amounts of money.
Can't really complain since the computer is doing all the work. 

I've heard about pools... How do you start looking for those? It's like groups of miners right? And if there are 5 miners you get 20%, 10 miners you get 10% etc.

The way that I found the pool that I am a part of was simply googling it. I have a Macbook Pro and so therefore I was slightly limited to what pools I could join. I found one that would work for my situation and went from there. No problems so far and have seen small profits!
And yes a bunch of miners crunch the numbers together, and the profits are divided up according to the rules of the pool you're involved in and how many people are a part of the pool.

I can't wait to start mining.

[Serjster]

Get a program called GUIMiner and it's pretty simple to get mining...

[FinShaggy]

Get a program called GUIMiner and it's pretty simple to get mining...

My computer is honestly WAY too shitty for stuff like that.

[z1ppy]

Get a program called GUIMiner and it's pretty simple to get mining...

My computer is honestly WAY too shitty for stuff like that.

You may be surprised. What kind of GPU are you working with?