I am "totally NEW" to this cryptocurrency revolution. And it is just that -
a revolution! I am happy to share with you an experience I had yesterday, the first successful mining I have had after weeks of frustration trying to "get going".
I bought a "block eruptor", sometimes being called a "USB Miner", for my desktop, and the guy who sold it to me helped me to start it up. He sent several suggestions over a day or two as I struggled along. As a result I had lots of notes. When I finally got the thing going yesterday (20131015) it was a pure "joy". And as I write this I am listening to the audio noises of the proofs of work being accepted by my pool.
I have organized and extracted from my notes and his thoughtful advice a short memo below that should enable you to get mining yourself if you have not yet achieved that, and want to.
Good luck, and God bless. I think this is going to change our world, and heavens only knows it needs some of that! - Risu
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SUBJECT: HOW TO GET UP AND RUNNING WITH YOUR NEW BLOCK ERUPTOR
DATE: 10/26/13 RISU
TO MAKE YOUR LIFE A LITTLE BIT SMOOTHER HERE ARE SOME SIMPLE TO FOLLOW You are going to need a WALLET , your ASIC Drivers for your new Block Eruptor, a POOL Account, and MINING SOFTWARE to enable you to start mining for Bitcoin.
BITCOIN WALLET- As you, mine for Bitcoin the “wallet” will be the place you store your earnings: You are going to need a BITCOIN WALLET first so let’s first get your BITCOIN WALLET set up and going.
- If you already have that good. If not go to: bitcoin.org and download the original Bitcoin wallet from that web site. The exact site to download your wallet is: http://bitcoin.org/en/choose-your-wallet At the bottom left choose “Bitcoin-QT”, download, and install it.
- Once your WALLET is installed and running it will take some time (maybe even more than a day) for it to download and come up to date on the Bitcoin database of transactions. From now on whenever your PC is running let your WALLET run and be updating always, and it will be “synchronizing” in the background. I suggest you assign it to start automatically whenever you turn on your computer.
- Make sure once you install it, you select “encrypt wallet” from the menu. Use a strong password and do not lose this password, you cannot recover your wallet without it. Do research on Google or another search engine to find out the best practices about your wallet such as backing it up and securing it. In time, your Bitcoin wallet will be as valuable to you as a small wallet with gold in it. It is the new “cash”, and just as with cash, it you drop it out of your pocket it is gone forever!
ASIC DRIVERS FOR YOUR NEW BLOCK ERUPTOR- The miner program is the way you will earn new BITCOIN. It is a program that has been developed in “open course” which permits you to do research and find the exact coding for the program if you are a programmer and want to know more about what it does exactly. The latest version contains all the latest programming by the programmers who cooperate with each other to develop the program and keep it humming at top effectiveness!
- Download and install the drivers for the ASICminer Block Eruptors here:
http://www.silabs.com/products/mcu/Pages/USBtoUARTBridgeVCPDrivers.aspx
- You also need at this point to hook up your new Block Eruptor you bought from us to your computer. You will notice that your new device has a USB (Universal Serial Bus) plug at its termination. HOWEVER, and this is IMPORTANT, these devices run so fast they can get hot with the current flowing through them. So, rather than hooking it into the female USB slot on your computer, it is best to purchase and use a “USB HUB” and connect that to your computer, then connect the Block to the HUB.
- (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIKFqdoe22Q ) Short film showing a Block Eruptor or “USB MINER” as it is sometimes called.
- IT IS ADVISED NOT TO PLUG THE DEVICE DIRECTLY INTO A COMPUTER USB PORT AS THEY CAN HEAT UP AND YOU NEVER WANT TO TAKE A CHANCE OF DAMAGING YOUR COMPUTER PORT. IF YOU USE A USB HUB THE MOST THAT CAN EVER HAPPEN IS DAMAGING THE USB WHICH IS CHEAP TO REPLACE.
- IN ADDITION, IF YOU ARE USING MULTIPLE BLOCK ERUPTORS MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ADEQUATE AIRFLOW AND SPACING BETWEEN THE PLUG IN ERUPTORS AND THAT PREFERABLY YOU ARE USING A FAN TO COOL THEM. SOME HUBS ARE MANUFACTURED IN A WAY THAT LETS YOU STACK ERUPTORS VERY CLOSE TO ONE ANOTHER AND WITHOUT ADEQUATE COOLING YOU MAY DAMAGE THE USB MINERS.
- Now you must reboot the computer. This will enable all the software and the new hardware to get to “know each other” by being linked and indexed inside your computer registry.
MINING SOFTWARE- Now you can go get the software program that you will be using to actually download and work on transactions. There are many types of programs in use, but I recommend that you begin with one that has a wonderful GUI or “Graphical User Interface”. That is much easier to deal with for most new users than the typical black DOS screen that looks intimidating to all but the techies! What we are doing in this this step is downloading and installing a program that downloads “work”, or transactions that need to be encapsulated with a HASH value that meets a certain specification to qualify its block as a “Coin”.
I am going to advise that you begin using a good MINER program from “BITMINTER”.
- Go to: https://bitminter.com/ There you will see at the top the MENU bar. Select Tools | Bitminterclient | Latest (autoupdate)
- Download and install the latest Version onto your PC.
- Again, reboot your computer to be sure all the programs and the new hardware is aware of each other in your system. Sometime you will find that what you are expecting does not happen. If you are using strong Firewalls or anti-virus programs it might be the case you will need to reboot more than once to make sure all the programs and hardware alignments take place.
- When working with new tech you will find that “walk around the block” can prevent “mental lockup”. Going to the kitchen and fixing a cup of coffee or tea is sometimes preferable than punching buttons and cold sweating. Do not worry, the GNU software you are using is “solid as a rock”, and everything will begin to work fine after a while. Just keep on keeping on, re-reading your instructions, and persisting until you “punch a line through” (*as the older programmers used to say), and soon you will be exhilarated to find that you are running a mining operation!
- So I suggest you start mining with Bitminter Software first that has a good GUI for you to use., and then perhaps “bfgminer” later as you gain experiences.
POOL ACCOUNT
Well now, you are almost ready to rumble!
- Bitcoin is being mined now with rising “difficulty” (see: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/ So that you can experience the success, I advise that you begin by being enrolled in a “Bit Mining Pool”. The one that is often recommend is SLUSH’s. As you gain experience, you may want to try other pools, including Bitminter. Up to you, the road ahead is yours to navigate.
- If you have not yet MINED and you want to, I hope that by sharing this with you it will make it easier for you to get that first MINING success.
