first Post What is the connections and blocks at bottom wallet?

[freeto]

Hi Everybody. Wow, is this interesting!  My first stupid question of many is the ever increasing blocks number at the bottom of my wallet and the 8 connections  What is all that? and why is the number always increasing and does it mean I'm connected to some network each time I pull up my wallet? (that has no bitcoin in it)  Also I can't get any bitcoin from the faucet since it's down. bummer

[davem]

mine install always says 0 connections.

I see no option to generate coins, only sent and received tabs.

I'm wondering if a coin from Ebay will pop into the client automatically or do I need to have it check on the network. 

Do you know?

[freeto]

Hey, I know as much as you do.  The blocks are the bitcoin miners I think.  The connections I'm now down to two and don't know what they are.  I still have no coin but am working on it.

[InstaGx]

mine install always says 0 connections.

I see no option to generate coins, only sent and received tabs.

I'm wondering if a coin from Ebay will pop into the client automatically or do I need to have it check on the network. 

Do you know?

No connection to the network means you won't get any information about transaction from the network.

I suggest both of you to read the wiki first: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Getting_started

It actually answers all these questions.

[k]

Hi Everybody. Wow, is this interesting!  My first stupid question of many is the ever increasing blocks number at the bottom of my wallet and the 8 connections  What is all that? and why is the number always increasing and does it mean I'm connected to some network each time I pull up my wallet? (that has no bitcoin in it)  Also I can't get any bitcoin from the faucet since it's down. bummer

I'll try to explain as best I can.

A new block is intended to be "mined" every 10 mins. on average - the block contains the record of transactions, so that's how transactions get processed. The blocks number at the bottom of the client is the latest block that has been downloaded to your client.
You can explore blocks here http://blockexplorer.com/ - maybe will help to understand whats going on.

the 8 connections is the number of connections your client has to the network.

The number is increasing because new blocks are being created by miners and your client is downloading them to you system.
Yes you are connecting to the network even though you have no coins.

too bad about the faucet.

[futurama140]

So I'm at 117,000 blocks... I have not recieved my coinage from the faucet, which says it gave me my coinage. it says it was on block 135,000... does that mean when my wallet hits the 135,000 block at the bottom i will recieve my partial coin?

[racerguy]

So I'm at 117,000 blocks... I have not recieved my coinage from the faucet, which says it gave me my coinage. it says it was on block 135,000... does that mean when my wallet hits the 135,000 block at the bottom i will recieve my partial coin?

  Yeah yu need to wait till you're updated to the current block for recent transactions to show up.

[Soak]

Since the latest release of the client, the Generate coins option has been removed because it's now not interresting to mine with the CPU power and do solo mining. You can take a few years before find a block.

I will don't go in depth but if you want to generate coins, the best way is to join a pool and to mine. The easier way for you is to join BitMinter with a nice userfriendly custom miner. The miner take the GPU power for calculate hashes and find blocks more faster. Join a pool is combine some power from different computers around the network for find blocks and get reward for the collective effort.

Also, welcome!