Best way for non-techie to get involved

[MrQuiggly]

If one is not necessarily technically-oriented, is that something that would place them at a severe disadvantage when it comes to getting involved mining bitcoin? In other words, are there great hurdles to be overcome, should have an associate that possesses great technical knowledge, or is it a quick study to understand the equipment that is required and the procedure that is involved?

I understand that many people get involved with "pools" for this reason but is it possible to go another way? Is there some software/hardware combo that can work like a turnkey, or is it significantly more involved?

Sounds like a lot of questions, but could probably be covered with one answer.

Thanks

[FreeMoney]

You should not get involved in mining. You'd have an upfront 'learning' cost at the least and then no particular advantage over the people who already had knowledge, equipment, cheap electricity, advantages of scale, etc.

What are you good at? What do you do?

[mintcoin]

Find something that you can offer or sell.

You shouldn't be trying to mine.

[Phraust]

You could always buy something like a Butterfly Labs Japaleno, plug it in, and mine casually using something like BitMinter.com...

But over time, you'll start noticing that downtime is kind of a bummer, that maybe you have to reboot it too often, it's hard to leave it alone to just sit there and mine, or it's running so well you'd like to try upgrading your setup...

Then you'll want to get a low-power host, running a light version of linux, and maybe setup something like cgminer, and have it automatically start mining when you boot and notify you when it goes down, so that you can squeeze every last bitcent out of your rig.

It's a slippery slope my friend.  Soon, you'll end up being one of us.

[Pope Awesome]

Give Bitcoins to friends and family as Christmas gifts.

[MrQuiggly]

Find something that you can offer or sell.

You shouldn't be trying to mine.

You mean find something to offer or sell in exchange for bitcoins and go from there?

[MrQuiggly]

You could always buy something like a Butterfly Labs Japaleno, plug it in, and mine casually using something like BitMinter.com...

But over time, you'll start noticing that downtime is kind of a bummer, that maybe you have to reboot it too often, it's hard to leave it alone to just sit there and mine, or it's running so well you'd like to try upgrading your setup...

Then you'll want to get a low-power host, running a light version of linux, and maybe setup something like cgminer, and have it automatically start mining when you boot and notify you when it goes down, so that you can squeeze every last bitcent out of your rig.

It's a slippery slope my friend.  Soon, you'll end up being one of us.

Thank you. That was a most helpful answer.

Sounds like there's some adventure, but in spurts. "Downtime is kind of a bummer" - like an actor who goes out and does his scene for 15 minutes or so, then it's back into the trailer for about three hours at a time LOL

[MrQuiggly]

You should not get involved in mining. You'd have an upfront 'learning' cost at the least and then no particular advantage over the people who already had knowledge, equipment, cheap electricity, advantages of scale, etc.

What are you good at? What do you do?

Well, what I'm good at is generally nothing that would be associated with this activity in particular, at least as far as background is concerned.

I've been involved in media and sports in the past, which is why I'm kind of intrigued as I've just noticed your sig which includes something about bitcoin poker. That's your site I suppose. Is that something that is really growing? Looks very interesting.

[MrQuiggly]

You could always buy something like a Butterfly Labs Japaleno, plug it in, and mine casually using something like BitMinter.com...

But over time, you'll start noticing that downtime is kind of a bummer, that maybe you have to reboot it too often, it's hard to leave it alone to just sit there and mine, or it's running so well you'd like to try upgrading your setup...

Then you'll want to get a low-power host, running a light version of linux, and maybe setup something like cgminer, and have it automatically start mining when you boot and notify you when it goes down, so that you can squeeze every last bitcent out of your rig.

It's a slippery slope my friend.  Soon, you'll end up being one of us.

Yeah, I guess that's what I was asking - can this be a "casual" activity. Didn't sound like that from a couple of responses, but I will try the suggestion about Butterfly Labs, which I had heard something about before, and that site, which I'm about to look through now.

I didn't intend to necessarily make it an individual pursuit, but BitMinter looks like a big pool, which would probably be more appropriate if anything. The concept I find to be exciting, as it certainly has a libertarian slant to it.

[MrQuiggly]

Give Bitcoins to friends and family as Christmas gifts.

That actually sounds like a pretty cool idea. When I have talked with friends, very few of them have ever heard of bitcoin, and no one seems to have any idea about how it works. So at the very least, it's a great conversation-starter.

Someone told me that these can come in some tangible form - in small quantities, or am I mistaken?

[nobbynobbynoob]

Someone told me that these can come in some tangible form - in small quantities, or am I mistaken?

There's CASASCIUS bitcoins (digital bitcoins with the keys printed on physical coins thus bringing the abstract 'coin' into real space), and you can even print up specially designed 'bitbills' or banknote-style artistic paper wallets yourself as a DIY job - there was a competition in these forums and the winning design is rather good (IMO).