BFL Mini-Rig came in. Where are the instructions? (solved)

[Paladin69]

Trying to set up their easyminer after downloading it.  No idea what to do here.  It seems to lack features.  Where to plug in my API key, etc...  I'd like to connect this to my Eclipse MC account.

EDIT:  I have only used guiminer before.  Testing this on a Windows XP laptop for now...

[Carlton Banks]

easyminer, lol. Easy by name...

[Paladin69]

easyminer, lol. Easy by name...

Yep this is pretty much a joke.  Can't believe no instructions are included after a person pays them that much money for something.  Just a sheet of paper on what you do would be nice.

I can run light, medium and heavy diagnostic tests.  Oh and I can make the internal lights blink.  Joy.  At least everything seems to be working okay.  But it is currently a gigantic door stop.

I'd take pictures if I wasn't so frustrated right now...

[Carlton Banks]

I feel for you, but...

relax

You will get it working, but I do understand, it's very difficult holding on to your patience when you're trying to get your magic money making box running, I've been through it.


The final hurdle when I finally got my mining setup going? I didn't think to try unplugging and re-attaching the USB cable. And I got that advice from going on the fpgamining IRC channel (and was suitably embarassed afterwards, but not before I was completely ecstatic). What a clod! And I'd already done all the hard work too!

[Cablez]

Why not run it with cgminer or bitminter? It seems other mini-rig owners use these to mine with.

[yochdog]

I will buy your mini-rig and relieve you of the hassle.  Let me know.  

[Paladin69]

I'm relaxed guys...haha...  When you pay 5 figures for something you expect halfway decent service is all.  BFL still wants to milk for consulting I guess.

Going to give Bitminter a try.  White Phantom just suggested that too.

[teek]

I will buy your mini-rig and relieve you of the hassle.  Let me know.  

me too!!

[Cablez]

Hey now, he just got it!!!     and I call dibs, lolol


Anyway, in cgminer you just need to call each com port that gets used as if it were a bunch of singles. I am not sure about bitminter as I have never used it. WhitePhantom would know.

[Paladin69]

Hey now, he just got it!!!     and I call dibs, lolol


Anyway, in cgminer you just need to call each com port that gets used as if it were a bunch of singles. I am not sure about bitminter as I have never used it. WhitePhantom would know.

is CGminer better in any way?  I haven't touched a dos prompt in ages.

[Cablez]

I prefer it but that is just me. It has great config and control options and is a very small and simple a program compared to flashy gui miners. Your preferences will dictate what you are comfortable with though so if you want to shy away from a semi-command prompt miner then go with bitminter.

[hausmarke]

use the bitminter client its very easy to use and the best pool around

here is the link to the client: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=31163.0

[WhitePhantom]

I've always used the BitMinter client and love it.  When I start up the beta miner, it auto-detects all my Mini-Rigs' FPGAs.  Some tend to fall off the list while the rest are still being detected, but I just re-add them using Devices >> "Probe specific port for FPGA" and then type in the COM port, such as COM12.  It's easy enough to tell which ones are missing, as they're sequentially numbered.  This puts the missing devices back in the list and mines away like a champ.

[Paladin69]

Got em all running.  bitminter says 11.6 BTC per day.  That would be $4100 per month.  I don't believe it but I've still got a boner.  lol

[yochdog]

Got em all running.  bitminter says 11.6 BTC per day.  That would be $4100 per month.  I don't believe it but I've still got a boner.  lol

you WILL sell me your mini-rig. 

*waves hand* 

[Paladin69]

WhitePhantom or anyone,

Got some questions, but first an update after two hours of crunching...

I think I got lucky and all are working.  Starts at COM3 for me and goes to COM21 without skipping a number.  That adds up to 19 but the CPU should be disabled from crunching.  Running this on a shitty 1st gen intel atom laptop...lol  When I reduced the CPU affinity from 2 to 1 on the java app, I dropped from 11.6 BTC average to 10.5 or so.  I don't think an atom core could crunch .9 per day so something else is going on there.  Apparently I should be running on better hardware if that is the case...  Didn't really think the computer had much to do with it.

Running diagnostics with easyminer does show that one of the cards in there does fail occasionally.  On the light test...I will fail between 3 & 6, umm units?, out of 100

Is there anything worth checking out in the Tune & Tweak buttons?  Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

There is an auto-tune package here...  http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/  Not really sure what it does.  I don't wanna disturb anything, it's all running fine so far.

Does this thing throttle itself down to 25.2 Gh/s?  I ask because it feels that way.  A few of the bitforce's are running at 1,450Mh but most are in the 1200 range.  Yet I still add up to the 25.2 as promised.

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

[WhitePhantom]

WhitePhantom or anyone,

Got some questions, but first an update after two hours of crunching...

I think I got lucky and all are working.  Starts at COM3 for me and goes to COM21 without skipping a number.  That adds up to 19 but the CPU should be disabled from crunching.  Running this on a shitty 1st gen intel atom laptop...lol  When I reduced the CPU affinity from 2 to 1 on the java app, I dropped from 11.6 BTC average to 10.5 or so.  I don't think an atom core could crunch .9 per day so something else is going on there.  Apparently I should be running on better hardware if that is the case...  Didn't really think the computer had much to do with it.

Running diagnostics with easyminer does show that one of the cards in there does fail occasionally.  On the light test...I will fail between 3 & 6, umm units?, out of 100

Is there anything worth checking out in the Tune & Tweak buttons?  Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

There is an auto-tune package here...  http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/  Not really sure what it does.  I don't wanna disturb anything, it's all running fine so far.

Does this thing throttle itself down to 25.2 Gh/s?  I ask because it feels that way.  A few of the bitforce's are running at 1,450Mh but most are in the 1200 range.  Yet I still add up to the 25.2 as promised.

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

I'd suggest turning on affinity for all your CPU cores.  To keep them from mining, just hit the red X to remove the CPU from the list of mining hardware.

I've never changed a setting in the Tune & Tweak area for an FPGA.

Based on my experience, the auto-tune package is a waste of time.  It's better to try tweaking them yourself.
See my comments here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76916.msg1099628#msg1099628

The cards in the mini-rig do not throttle.  Every FPGA is unique and those used in the mini-rig are able to run at either 1500 or 1320 MH/s, similar to the +/- 10% specification on the Singles.  It looks like you got an excessive number of units that run at 1320, but to make up for it, BFL put an extra FPGA in your box; each of my mini-rigs only have 18.

Your balance on BitMinter updates when we find a block.  If you go to My Account >> Donations & Perks and set it to 1% or higher, you can opt to get paid immediately, even if our block is orphaned.  Otherwise you have to wait 120 confirmations to get paid.

You get paid based on your proofs of work over the last 10 shifts.
http://bitminter.com/shifts

If you look at your Account Details under the "Expected per block" column, that is how much you will receive if we find a block in the current shift.

If you go to Statistics >> Blocks (coins minted) or if you click the Live Stats button and go to the "Round" tab, you'll see that the last block we found was 4 hours 21 minutes ago at 7:45pm UTC.  The CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function) of 74% means that, on average, we would find a block more quickly than this one 74% of the time.

If you mine 24/7, it all averages out.

[Paladin69]

WhitePhantom or anyone,

Got some questions, but first an update after two hours of crunching...

I think I got lucky and all are working.  Starts at COM3 for me and goes to COM21 without skipping a number.  That adds up to 19 but the CPU should be disabled from crunching.  Running this on a shitty 1st gen intel atom laptop...lol  When I reduced the CPU affinity from 2 to 1 on the java app, I dropped from 11.6 BTC average to 10.5 or so.  I don't think an atom core could crunch .9 per day so something else is going on there.  Apparently I should be running on better hardware if that is the case...  Didn't really think the computer had much to do with it.

Running diagnostics with easyminer does show that one of the cards in there does fail occasionally.  On the light test...I will fail between 3 & 6, umm units?, out of 100

Is there anything worth checking out in the Tune & Tweak buttons?  Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

There is an auto-tune package here...  http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/  Not really sure what it does.  I don't wanna disturb anything, it's all running fine so far.

Does this thing throttle itself down to 25.2 Gh/s?  I ask because it feels that way.  A few of the bitforce's are running at 1,450Mh but most are in the 1200 range.  Yet I still add up to the 25.2 as promised.

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

I'd suggest turning on affinity for all your CPU cores.  To keep them from mining, just hit the red X to remove the CPU from the list of mining hardware.

I've never changed a setting in the Tune & Tweak area for an FPGA.

Based on my experience, the auto-tune package is a waste of time.  It's better to try tweaking them yourself.
See my comments here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76916.msg1099628#msg1099628

The cards in the mini-rig do not throttle.  Every FPGA is unique and those used in the mini-rig are able to run at either 1500 or 1320 MH/s, similar to the +/- 10% specification on the Singles.  It looks like you got an excessive number of units that run at 1320, but to make up for it, BFL put an extra FPGA in your box; each of my mini-rigs only have 18.

Your balance on BitMinter updates when we find a block.  If you go to My Account >> Donations & Perks and set it to 1% or higher, you can opt to get paid immediately, even if our block is orphaned.  Otherwise you have to wait 120 confirmations to get paid.

You get paid based on your proofs of work over the last 10 shifts.
http://bitminter.com/shifts

If you look at your Account Details under the "Expected per block" column, that is how much you will receive if we find a block in the current shift.

If you go to Statistics >> Blocks (coins minted) or if you click the Live Stats button and go to the "Round" tab, you'll see that the last block we found was 4 hours 21 minutes ago at 7:45pm UTC.  The CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function) of 74% means that, on average, we would find a block more quickly than this one 74% of the time.

If you mine 24/7, it all averages out.

Are you doing 1%?  I'm too much of a miser...lol  Does a block getting "orphaned" happen a lot?  Orphaned means that multiple pools were crunching on the same block or something?

How long do 120 confirmations take?  24 hours I assume?

Thanks again man, you've been a great help.

You running a fan on your miners?  Many of these are getting to 120-130 degrees F on my end even though that is still considered "in the green" for bitminter.

[WhitePhantom]

WhitePhantom or anyone,

Got some questions, but first an update after two hours of crunching...

I think I got lucky and all are working.  Starts at COM3 for me and goes to COM21 without skipping a number.  That adds up to 19 but the CPU should be disabled from crunching.  Running this on a shitty 1st gen intel atom laptop...lol  When I reduced the CPU affinity from 2 to 1 on the java app, I dropped from 11.6 BTC average to 10.5 or so.  I don't think an atom core could crunch .9 per day so something else is going on there.  Apparently I should be running on better hardware if that is the case...  Didn't really think the computer had much to do with it.

Running diagnostics with easyminer does show that one of the cards in there does fail occasionally.  On the light test...I will fail between 3 & 6, umm units?, out of 100

Is there anything worth checking out in the Tune & Tweak buttons?  Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

There is an auto-tune package here...  http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/  Not really sure what it does.  I don't wanna disturb anything, it's all running fine so far.

Does this thing throttle itself down to 25.2 Gh/s?  I ask because it feels that way.  A few of the bitforce's are running at 1,450Mh but most are in the 1200 range.  Yet I still add up to the 25.2 as promised.

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

I'd suggest turning on affinity for all your CPU cores.  To keep them from mining, just hit the red X to remove the CPU from the list of mining hardware.

I've never changed a setting in the Tune & Tweak area for an FPGA.

Based on my experience, the auto-tune package is a waste of time.  It's better to try tweaking them yourself.
See my comments here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76916.msg1099628#msg1099628

The cards in the mini-rig do not throttle.  Every FPGA is unique and those used in the mini-rig are able to run at either 1500 or 1320 MH/s, similar to the +/- 10% specification on the Singles.  It looks like you got an excessive number of units that run at 1320, but to make up for it, BFL put an extra FPGA in your box; each of my mini-rigs only have 18.

Your balance on BitMinter updates when we find a block.  If you go to My Account >> Donations & Perks and set it to 1% or higher, you can opt to get paid immediately, even if our block is orphaned.  Otherwise you have to wait 120 confirmations to get paid.

You get paid based on your proofs of work over the last 10 shifts.
http://bitminter.com/shifts

If you look at your Account Details under the "Expected per block" column, that is how much you will receive if we find a block in the current shift.

If you go to Statistics >> Blocks (coins minted) or if you click the Live Stats button and go to the "Round" tab, you'll see that the last block we found was 4 hours 21 minutes ago at 7:45pm UTC.  The CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function) of 74% means that, on average, we would find a block more quickly than this one 74% of the time.

If you mine 24/7, it all averages out.

Are you doing 1%?  I'm too much of a miser...lol  Does a block getting "orphaned" happen a lot?  Orphaned means that multiple pools were crunching on the same block or something?

How long do 120 confirmations take?  24 hours I assume?

Thanks again man, you've been a great help.

You running a fan on your miners?  Many of these are getting to 120-130 degrees F on my end even though that is still considered "in the green" for bitminter.

I do 1%.  I may be mistaken, but I believe an orphaned block occurs when two miners find a block at the same height at roughly the same time.  The network confirms one of the blocks and orphans the other.  I've heard that an orphaned block is created roughly 2.5% of the time, but I don't recall who said that.

I have a portable A/C blowing directly on both of my mini-rigs.  The small room they're in is like 85F, but the mini-rigs stay cool since the A/C is ducted straight to them.  Sonny tells me that you're only running too hot if you get an unacceptable number of errors.  He also suggested that 59C (138F) is getting on the very warm side for some of the MR's FPGAs, but that others can run much hotter than that reliably; just depends on the particular unit.

[Carlton Banks]

Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

I've got no BFL based advice for you, but with regard to the Java aspect... the Java run-time is well known for being commonly exploited by malicious attackers, and new attack vectors are frequently discovered in the wild. Run-time based application frameworks in general have a reputation for being insecure. I'm not saying that it's an inevitability, but when it came to choosing my mining software I wasn't up for taking the risk (certainly not long term)

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

Sounds like Bitminter expose you to the stuff that other pools keep hidden behind the scenes (orphaned blocks, DOA shares, bloc maturity etc). A good thing IMO, the more transparent they are about the workings of the operation, the easier it is to tell how good a deal you're getting. Not to mention that a more intimate understanding of how mining works is good for the miner

[Turbor]

If you have questions about the software or the pool you can join #bitminter and ask DrHaribo. What was your username ? Looks like you stopped mining ?

[Paladin69]

WhitePhantom or anyone,

Got some questions, but first an update after two hours of crunching...

I think I got lucky and all are working.  Starts at COM3 for me and goes to COM21 without skipping a number.  That adds up to 19 but the CPU should be disabled from crunching.  Running this on a shitty 1st gen intel atom laptop...lol  When I reduced the CPU affinity from 2 to 1 on the java app, I dropped from 11.6 BTC average to 10.5 or so.  I don't think an atom core could crunch .9 per day so something else is going on there.  Apparently I should be running on better hardware if that is the case...  Didn't really think the computer had much to do with it.

Running diagnostics with easyminer does show that one of the cards in there does fail occasionally.  On the light test...I will fail between 3 & 6, umm units?, out of 100

Is there anything worth checking out in the Tune & Tweak buttons?  Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

There is an auto-tune package here...  http://www.butterflylabs.com/drivers/  Not really sure what it does.  I don't wanna disturb anything, it's all running fine so far.

Does this thing throttle itself down to 25.2 Gh/s?  I ask because it feels that way.  A few of the bitforce's are running at 1,450Mh but most are in the 1200 range.  Yet I still add up to the 25.2 as promised.

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

I'd suggest turning on affinity for all your CPU cores.  To keep them from mining, just hit the red X to remove the CPU from the list of mining hardware.

I've never changed a setting in the Tune & Tweak area for an FPGA.

Based on my experience, the auto-tune package is a waste of time.  It's better to try tweaking them yourself.
See my comments here:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=76916.msg1099628#msg1099628

The cards in the mini-rig do not throttle.  Every FPGA is unique and those used in the mini-rig are able to run at either 1500 or 1320 MH/s, similar to the +/- 10% specification on the Singles.  It looks like you got an excessive number of units that run at 1320, but to make up for it, BFL put an extra FPGA in your box; each of my mini-rigs only have 18.

Your balance on BitMinter updates when we find a block.  If you go to My Account >> Donations & Perks and set it to 1% or higher, you can opt to get paid immediately, even if our block is orphaned.  Otherwise you have to wait 120 confirmations to get paid.

You get paid based on your proofs of work over the last 10 shifts.
http://bitminter.com/shifts

If you look at your Account Details under the "Expected per block" column, that is how much you will receive if we find a block in the current shift.

If you go to Statistics >> Blocks (coins minted) or if you click the Live Stats button and go to the "Round" tab, you'll see that the last block we found was 4 hours 21 minutes ago at 7:45pm UTC.  The CDF (Cumulative Distribution Function) of 74% means that, on average, we would find a block more quickly than this one 74% of the time.

If you mine 24/7, it all averages out.

Are you doing 1%?  I'm too much of a miser...lol  Does a block getting "orphaned" happen a lot?  Orphaned means that multiple pools were crunching on the same block or something?

How long do 120 confirmations take?  24 hours I assume?

Thanks again man, you've been a great help.

You running a fan on your miners?  Many of these are getting to 120-130 degrees F on my end even though that is still considered "in the green" for bitminter.

I do 1%.  I may be mistaken, but I believe an orphaned block occurs when two miners find a block at the same height at roughly the same time.  The network confirms one of the blocks and orphans the other.  I've heard that an orphaned block is created roughly 2.5% of the time, but I don't recall who said that.

I have a portable A/C blowing directly on both of my mini-rigs.  The small room they're in is like 85F, but the mini-rigs stay cool since the A/C is ducted straight to them.  Sonny tells me that you're only running too hot if you get an unacceptable number of errors.  He also suggested that 59C (138F) is getting on the very warm side for some of the MR's FPGAs, but that others can run much hotter than that reliably; just depends on the particular unit.

I'm lucky actually.  I am reading 100-115 degrees F on most and remembered wrong.

So if 1% avoids an average of 2.5% you say, then in the long run you are saving yourself 1.5% by donating?  Or is my math fucked up?  heh.

I am getting about 10% errors total on one of the COM's.  One of the 1400MH/s+ ones.  But that is probably why they through in a 19th FPA.  Probably through in an extra low end 1200MH/s one.  Running at about 25.4GH/s for my max now instead of 25.2...but it can fallback as low as 23GH/s on rare occasions and 24.5 a little more often than I'd like to see.

What is the CDF in the Live Stats of the BTC block?  I don't quite understand the description.  It says 77.57% atm for our mint (pool?) and rising kinda fast.  And that a high number is bad luck.  Does that mean 77.47% of us are stuck with bad luck and going to receive nothing for a stale block?  Hopefully we hammer through this quickly then...  Why not just set the block aside and start a new one?  Is this a rat race between all the pools out there munching for blocks and that is why we figure we should inspect it all anyway?  I don't see the need to hang onto a block with such a high "bad luck" percentage.

Otherwise I am totally not understanding something...

Damn thing hasn't updated the unconfirmed/future columns for a long ass time now on this second evening.

If you have questions about the software or the pool you can join #bitminter and ask DrHaribo. What was your username ? Looks like you stopped mining ?

Yep, I was asking questions over there.  Between WhitePhantom, others here, and those guys on IRC I learned a lot in the last 24 hours.  So thanks everyone.

Yeah the power went out in Dallas due to huge ass thunderstorms in the middle of the night around the time you submitted your post.  I slept through the power outage like a rock according to the wife, otherwise I would've restarted right away.  Funny you could notice my drop.  I must be recognized there among the community for being in the top 10 now.  Kinda scary thought actually.  Not sure if I like the attention being the libertarian cave troll that I am...

[Paladin69]

Anything else a person should be aware of with this java app?

I've got no BFL based advice for you, but with regard to the Java aspect... the Java run-time is well known for being commonly exploited by malicious attackers, and new attack vectors are frequently discovered in the wild. Run-time based application frameworks in general have a reputation for being insecure. I'm not saying that it's an inevitability, but when it came to choosing my mining software I wasn't up for taking the risk (certainly not long term)

Does the bitminter pool update the balance once per day or once per hour?  I still show "0" after two hours...  But I am #6 on the fastest users now so it is apparently working...

Sounds like Bitminter expose you to the stuff that other pools keep hidden behind the scenes (orphaned blocks, DOA shares, bloc maturity etc). A good thing IMO, the more transparent they are about the workings of the operation, the easier it is to tell how good a deal you're getting. Not to mention that a more intimate understanding of how mining works is good for the miner

I was just reading in a different bitcointalk thread about how exposed java is.  What would YOU recommend?  I'd love to try CGMiner if someone could help me with the commands.  I've briefly looked at what people type and it looks like dos had a love child with linux or something.  I'd love to learn though.  Kinda busy with my regular job but I used to be a master with dos, haven't touched it in almost 20 years now though.  I really should install linux and learn more about it.  I hear it is so much more secure.

So being exposed to bad shit is a good thing in a pool?  I don't understand that last part at all.




Thanks everyone...have a good evening.  Having fun so far.

[Carlton Banks]

I was just reading in a different bitcointalk thread about how exposed java is.  What would YOU recommend?  I'd love to try CGMiner if someone could help me with the commands.

I use MPBM on Linux, but that's only because I figured the x6500 would be bound to work best with an application designed by someone who knows the device intimately. As far as CGminer goes, although I've not tried it, my guess would be that "cgminer /?" or "cgminer /help" is probably what you want (sorry, I've never tried it either!).

I hesitate to offer unmitigated advice on this though; regardless of the programming language/run-time architecture, the application is only as secure as the way in which the security is written. Java gets used in the finance world fairly commonly for it's good points; virtually zero cost to using multiple hardware platforms (interpreted code doesn't need re-compiling for different systems) and it's memory managed (memory leaks could be very costworthy in these highly transient environments, doing away with them would speed up development time no end). The insecurity of the run-time is less of an issue in the finance world, as these systems wouldn't be exposed to the internet. They are almost always on a private network, securing such high value targets against internet hackers when there isn't a need for them to have an IP connection would be a vastly unnecessary expense.

I wish my programming was good enough to be able to study the source of these mining apps (not to mention the Satoshi client itself), checking for security pitfalls. Sadly not the case!

Carlton's general Good Advice:

1. Use a dedicated machine to mine
2. (super obviously) only intall the bare minimum mining software (on a brand new OS install)
3. Don't open other networking apps if you can avoid it (open browsers are begging for skilled and motivated attackers to try and find a way in, the longer it's open, the more you're "asking for it")
4. The usual security software (AV, firewall, anti-keylogging...)
5. Use Linux, but only if you're confident in knowing how to set it up (for instance, achieving a firewall in Linux is not as simple as downloading and installing an app)

I really should install linux and learn more about it.  I hear it is so much more secure.

I know how you feel, I'm just glad that MPBM forced my hand as I wouldn't have summoned up the tenacity to do it if not for that. You'll find that eveything you need to know is NOT written down in the same place, and if you can imagine the most annoying way that a situation like that can manifest itself, well, you're still not ready because it's worse than you can imagine. But ultimately very rewarding.

So being exposed to bad shit is a good thing in a pool?  I don't understand that last part at all.

All pools are exposed to these phenomena; the PPS ones intentionally average out the variance so that to the user, it seems like the payouts tick like clockwork. But behind the scenes, they're getting orphaned blocks, DOA shares and block maturity waits, just like all the solo and p2p miners. I believe Deepbit explicitly pays out to miners who solve orphaned blocks (I guess there must be some advantage to getting these orphaned blocks discovered, despte them being invalid and unspendable).

There is only one way to mine at the fundamental level, there are just various different "front-ends" to it (now that solo mining is only sensible if you have a halfway significant proportion of the total network hashrate)

[420]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66KHMmbnQ_Y

[Paladin69]

I was just reading in a different bitcointalk thread about how exposed java is.  What would YOU recommend?  I'd love to try CGMiner if someone could help me with the commands.

I use MPBM on Linux, but that's only because I figured the x6500 would be bound to work best with an application designed by someone who knows the device intimately. As far as CGminer goes, although I've not tried it, my guess would be that "cgminer /?" or "cgminer /help" is probably what you want (sorry, I've never tried it either!).

I hesitate to offer unmitigated advice on this though; regardless of the programming language/run-time architecture, the application is only as secure as the way in which the security is written. Java gets used in the finance world fairly commonly for it's good points; virtually zero cost to using multiple hardware platforms (interpreted code doesn't need re-compiling for different systems) and it's memory managed (memory leaks could be very costworthy in these highly transient environments, doing away with them would speed up development time no end). The insecurity of the run-time is less of an issue in the finance world, as these systems wouldn't be exposed to the internet. They are almost always on a private network, securing such high value targets against internet hackers when there isn't a need for them to have an IP connection would be a vastly unnecessary expense.

I wish my programming was good enough to be able to study the source of these mining apps (not to mention the Satoshi client itself), checking for security pitfalls. Sadly not the case!

Carlton's general Good Advice:

1. Use a dedicated machine to mine
2. (super obviously) only intall the bare minimum mining software (on a brand new OS install)
3. Don't open other networking apps if you can avoid it (open browsers are begging for skilled and motivated attackers to try and find a way in, the longer it's open, the more you're "asking for it")
4. The usual security software (AV, firewall, anti-keylogging...)
5. Use Linux, but only if you're confident in knowing how to set it up (for instance, achieving a firewall in Linux is not as simple as downloading and installing an app)

I really should install linux and learn more about it.  I hear it is so much more secure.

I know how you feel, I'm just glad that MPBM forced my hand as I wouldn't have summoned up the tenacity to do it if not for that. You'll find that eveything you need to know is NOT written down in the same place, and if you can imagine the most annoying way that a situation like that can manifest itself, well, you're still not ready because it's worse than you can imagine. But ultimately very rewarding.

So being exposed to bad shit is a good thing in a pool?  I don't understand that last part at all.

All pools are exposed to these phenomena; the PPS ones intentionally average out the variance so that to the user, it seems like the payouts tick like clockwork. But behind the scenes, they're getting orphaned blocks, DOA shares and block maturity waits, just like all the solo and p2p miners. I believe Deepbit explicitly pays out to miners who solve orphaned blocks (I guess there must be some advantage to getting these orphaned blocks discovered, despte them being invalid and unspendable).

There is only one way to mine at the fundamental level, there are just various different "front-ends" to it (now that solo mining is only sensible if you have a halfway significant proportion of the total network hashrate)

Really can't thank you enough for the info.  I actually experimented with Deepbit at first when testing nVidia cards before discovering they suck ass...lol  Interesting to hear payouts on orphaned blocks.  In fact their calculator is the only one I've ever used and it may explain why I think I'm getting inconsistencies with bitminter.  I seem to be getting less btc on bitminter per day than the calculator at Deepbit is saying I should be receiving.  Gotta add it up to make sure.  Friday also might have been a bad day?  Still not sure I'm understanding that luck and stale block thing...

Mining away on an intel atom laptop right now that isn't being surfed on.  Usual suspects, AV, firewall.  Since I don't wanna stop mining I'll keep that going for now and research Ubuntu as fast as I can since that sounds the most user friendly.  I assume this one is okay?  Or should a person go with other types like fedora core or red hat or something?

Miner is connected to a tiny intel atom laptop that isn't being surfed on.  I'll probably let that run until I can get the linux thing sorted out.

[Turbor]

You don't get more Bitcoins with Deepbit ! They have less variance so you get almost the same amount of BTC every day. But due to higher fees you earn less in the long run. Amateurs get fooled by thinking steady income equals higher payout.

We had no stale block since you joined the pool. So you lost nothing so far.

[P4man]

You don't get more Bitcoins with Deepbit ! They have less variance so you get almost the same amount of BTC every day. But due to higher fees you earn less in the long run. Amateurs get fooled by thinking steady income equals higher payout.

We had no stale block since you joined the pool. So you lost nothing so far.

This. Dont judge a pool's payout after 2 hours, that make no sense.
On deepbit PPS you get 0.00002053 BTC per share at current difficulty. On bitminter you will average .00002282 if you disable donation. Yes thats a 10% difference or $400 per month extra.

Bitminter uses PPLNS, which is subject to variance. You will have lucky and unlucky days, but bitminters current hashrate is so high now, that when averaged over a month its extremely unlikely you will earn less than on deepbit.

[420]

PPS Rate Comparison: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=96649.0

I mine on Bitminter PPLNS 1% donation to get BTC without the 120 confirmations (20 hours wait time)

[Paladin69]

You don't get more Bitcoins with Deepbit ! They have less variance so you get almost the same amount of BTC every day. But due to higher fees you earn less in the long run. Amateurs get fooled by thinking steady income equals higher payout.

We had no stale block since you joined the pool. So you lost nothing so far.

This. Dont judge a pool's payout after 2 hours, that make no sense.
On deepbit PPS you get 0.00002053 BTC per share at current difficulty. On bitminter you will average .00002282 if you disable donation. Yes thats a 10% difference or $400 per month extra.

Bitminter uses PPLNS, which is subject to variance. You will have lucky and unlucky days, but bitminters current hashrate is so high now, that when averaged over a month its extremely unlikely you will earn less than on deepbit.

Don't you mean 1% and $40?

[crazyates]

You don't get more Bitcoins with Deepbit ! They have less variance so you get almost the same amount of BTC every day. But due to higher fees you earn less in the long run. Amateurs get fooled by thinking steady income equals higher payout.

We had no stale block since you joined the pool. So you lost nothing so far.

This. Dont judge a pool's payout after 2 hours, that make no sense.
On deepbit PPS you get 0.00002053 BTC per share at current difficulty. On bitminter you will average .00002282 if you disable donation. Yes thats a 10% difference or $400 per month extra.

Bitminter uses PPLNS, which is subject to variance. You will have lucky and unlucky days, but bitminters current hashrate is so high now, that when averaged over a month its extremely unlikely you will earn less than on deepbit.

Don't you mean 1% and $40?

Umm no... Going from (2.053 x 10^-5) to (2.282 x 10^-5) is actually an 11% increase. So if you're going by PPS, that's a significant increase.

[ShadowOfHarbringer]

Trying to set up their easyminer after downloading it.  No idea what to do here.  It seems to lack features.  Where to plug in my API key, etc...  I'd like to connect this to my Eclipse MC account.

EDIT:  I have only used guiminer before.  Testing this on a Windows XP laptop for now...

Can you make a photo with your nickname and the rig next to it, so it can be confirmed that people actually receive these rigs ?

I mean a lot of people with low posts counts are saying that they receive the rigs... But i haven't seen somebody with a LONG history on this forum who said he received one.

[Unacceptable]

Trying to set up their easyminer after downloading it.  No idea what to do here.  It seems to lack features.  Where to plug in my API key, etc...  I'd like to connect this to my Eclipse MC account.

EDIT:  I have only used guiminer before.  Testing this on a Windows XP laptop for now...

Can you make a photo with your nickname and the rig next to it, so it can be confirmed that people actually receive these rigs ?

I mean a lot of people with low posts counts are saying that they receive the rigs... But i haven't seen somebody with a LONG history on this forum who said he received one.

What's not to believe?? I have a BFL Single that I got 4 months ago,you want pics for proof? Sorry,ain't wasteing my time 

If you don't think BFL is legit,then go troll the other FPGA threads & see if they exist 

[JWU42]

Trying to set up their easyminer after downloading it.  No idea what to do here.  It seems to lack features.  Where to plug in my API key, etc...  I'd like to connect this to my Eclipse MC account.

EDIT:  I have only used guiminer before.  Testing this on a Windows XP laptop for now...

Can you make a photo with your nickname and the rig next to it, so it can be confirmed that people actually receive these rigs ?

I mean a lot of people with low posts counts are saying that they receive the rigs... But i haven't seen somebody with a LONG history on this forum who said he received one.

I have mine 

[dust]

Trying to set up their easyminer after downloading it.  No idea what to do here.  It seems to lack features.  Where to plug in my API key, etc...  I'd like to connect this to my Eclipse MC account.

EDIT:  I have only used guiminer before.  Testing this on a Windows XP laptop for now...

Can you make a photo with your nickname and the rig next to it, so it can be confirmed that people actually receive these rigs ?

I mean a lot of people with low posts counts are saying that they receive the rigs... But i haven't seen somebody with a LONG history on this forum who said he received one.

I also have also received my rig.  It is hosted by Inaba, so I don't have any pics. I've been on the forums for almost 2 years.

[420]

Trying to set up their easyminer after downloading it.  No idea what to do here.  It seems to lack features.  Where to plug in my API key, etc...  I'd like to connect this to my Eclipse MC account.

EDIT:  I have only used guiminer before.  Testing this on a Windows XP laptop for now...

Can you make a photo with your nickname and the rig next to it, so it can be confirmed that people actually receive these rigs ?

I mean a lot of people with low posts counts are saying that they receive the rigs... But i haven't seen somebody with a LONG history on this forum who said he received one.

I also have also received my rig.  It is hosted by Inaba, so I don't have any pics. I've been on the forums for almost 2 years.

but, to be fair, you're also a pirate