Starting off, am stuck, no clue what to do

[WolfgangDS]

So, hi.

I want to get into the bitcoin scene, business, whatever.  Thing is, my computer's pretty craptastic.  It's a Dell Inspiron 6400.  I don't have any fancy GUI cards in it either; according to the DirectX Diagnostics window, I have a Mobile Intel(R) 945 Express Chipset Family.  Which apparently doesn't have anything remotely "openCL" about it.

I've seen it posted around here that laptop-users should stick to CPU mining.  Problem is, I have no idea how to do that either.  In fact, I've got no clue how to set up a single mining program since all the help documentation is seemingly written for people who don't really need it except as a reference guide.

So, can anyone give me a hand with this?  I'm not very tech-minded; in fact, when it comes to stuff like this, I'm about on the level of a woman asking if "that Additech stuff" will "make your car go better".

Is there any way to configure Kiv's GUI miner to work in the CPU?  It's the only miner I've found with a graphical interface and that I don't have to launch three different times in Command Prompt.

[RoyalBitcoin]

If you are just now getting started with Bitcoin, mining is probably not the place to be.  Mining hardware is very advanced now, so mining with a CPU, even with a very, very fast CPU is not going to do much good.

[WolfgangDS]

So, what would you recommend for a newbie?

[DannyHamilton]

Mining with a laptop is a good way to damage a laptop.  You'll get less than one US dollar per year worth of bitcoin, you'll spend dozens of extra dollars a month on electricity and the heat generated from continuously running the laptop will possibly mean needing to replace the laptop before the year is over.  I wouldn't recommend it.

[nobbynobbynoob]

CPU mining is so 2009.

I can "earn" about BTC0,00007 per day, give or take, CPU mining on my laptop. Is it really worth the bother, or is it just burning out one's machine for the sake of nothing? You'd do better collecting bounties - "booby" prize included - from Dailybitcoins.

Soon, the only potentially profitable way to mine bitcoins will be with dedicated computers - ASICs - but they're not in the wild as yet.

People say buying BTC with fiat can be tricky, but it's not that hard, if you really want them.

Mining with a laptop is a good way to damage a laptop.  You'll get less than one US dollar per year worth of bitcoin, you'll spend dozens of extra dollars a month on electricity and the heat generated from continuously running the laptop will possibly mean needing to replace the laptop before the year is over.  I wouldn't recommend it.

This.

[DannyHamilton]

So, what would you recommend for a newbie?

Start a business.  Sell stuff, or offer a service in exchange for bitcoin as payment.  Same as you would with any other currency.

Or simply exchange some of your own local currency for bitcoin, same as you would if you were going to travel to a foreign country and use their currency.

Mining profitably requires a significant investment in equipment right now.  If you want to mine at a loss as a hobby, you could purchase yourself a few GPU cards and make a go at it, but unless your electricity is really cheap, you'll probably spend more in electricity than you'll make in bitcoin.

[WolfgangDS]

Thing is, I'm poor as dirt and good at nothing.  I've got nothing worth selling either.

Honestly, I was hoping to get into this and convert coins into cash, but I guess that's not happening.

[nobbynobbynoob]

Thing is, I'm poor as dirt and good at nothing.  I've got nothing worth selling either.

Honestly, I was hoping to get into this and convert coins into cash, but I guess that's not happening.

Learn the basics at http://weusecoins.org/

Either download and install the Bitcoin-Qt client, available from http://bitcoin.org/ or, perhaps more simply from a beginner's perspective, sign up for a wallet (free) at http://blockchain.info/wallet.

Your bitcoin wallet will have a receiving address or list of receiving addresses, which are in the form of 34 gobbledygook-looking characters beginning with 1 or 3. Copy your receiving Bitcoin address and then visit http://dailybitcoins.org/ which gives away bitcoins for free. Paste your address into the appropriate field, fill in the CAPTCHA and click Send, and you'll receive 5000 satoshi (or BTC0,00005) into your wallet for free. Alternatively, on the same site, click on Upcoming Prizes, then go back to the main Dailybitcoins page just before one of the times indicated when larger prizes will be dished out. Keep refreshing (press F5) and, if you get lucky, you'll be offered a prize larger than 5000 satoshi. Dailybitcoins displays the prize amounts to five decimal places, and shows trailing zeros if you hit a larger amount, to stop you getting confused between, say, BTC0,0005 and BTC0,00005. Hope this helps just a little.

Good luck!

[DannyHamilton]

Thing is, I'm poor as dirt and good at nothing.  I've got nothing worth selling either.

Honestly, I was hoping to get into this and convert coins into cash, but I guess that's not happening.

Nope. Bitcoin is a currency, not a get rich quick scheme.  There is no magic money out of thin air for anyone who wants it here.  In the beginning the early adopters managed to mine a lot of bitcoin quickly and cheaply, but it wasn't worth much then (Someone paid 10,000 bitcoin for a pizza).  Those who took the risk of mining something that didn't have much value and held on to it got lucky and have quite a bit of value now, but if they were wrong it could just as easily have gone the other way and they'd have nothing.  Anyhow, bitcoin is quite a bit more mature now, so mining profitably will require a substantial investment into equipment or access to extremely cheap electricity.

Now if you are an immoral sleezy scam artist, you can still "get rich quick" by finding suckers and scamming them into giving you their bitcoin, but you could do the same with your own local currency too.  There is no need to use bitcoin for that.

[payb.tc]

Thing is, I'm ... good at nothing.

i disagree... you just haven't found out what it is yet.

[nobbynobbynoob]

There is no magic money out of thin air for anyone who wants it here.

Yes there is, I just posted an example. Of course, it's very trivial sums, but it is essentially money for nothing more than the trouble of visiting a website and making a few mouse clicks.

In the beginning the early adopters managed to mine a lot of bitcoin quickly and cheaply,

Very early adopters, that is. N00bs now who invest even mildly in BTC (n00bs like me, for example) are still early adopters, IMO. Theoretically, BTC1 could end up being worth >>$1000 in a few years even if Bitcoin doesn't grow anywhere near critical mass. I'm not saying that's going to happen, of course - I cannot predict the future - but, like quite a few here, think that it'll either be worth a fair price in a few years, or nothing.

As I recall, laszlo got two pizzas for his BTC10k.

[payb.tc]

it'll either be worth a fair price in a few years, or nothing.

or both

[DannyHamilton]

As I recall, laszlo got two pizzas for his BTC10k.

Yep, forgot it was 2 pizzas.

There is no magic money out of thin air for anyone who wants it here.

Yes there is, I just posted an example. Of course, it's very trivial sums, but it is essentially money for nothing more than the trouble of visiting a website and making a few mouse clicks.

Nah, that is trivial pay for trivial work.  It isn't magic out of thin air.

In the beginning the early adopters managed to mine a lot of bitcoin quickly and cheaply,

Very early adopters, that is. N00bs now who invest even mildly in BTC (n00bs like me, for example) are still early adopters, IMO. Theoretically, BTC1 could end up being worth >>$1000 in a few years even if Bitcoin doesn't grow anywhere near critical mass. I'm not saying that's going to happen, of course - I cannot predict the future - but, like quite a few here, think that it'll either be worth a fair price in a few years, or nothing.

Certainly, but the point is that for many people it is cheaper to exchange their local currency for bitcoin than it is to mine it.

[Kluge]

Thing is, I'm poor as dirt and good at nothing.  I've got nothing worth selling either.

Honestly, I was hoping to get into this and convert coins into cash, but I guess that's not happening.

What's currently nice about Bitcoin is the conspicuous absence of competitors in most markets.

Bitcoin connects you to the global economy, is instant, and extremely easy to transact with. Thus - not only is the Bitcoin economy lacking in supply for most markets, but also a currency seemingly tailor-made for impulse buyers. Once familiarized with basics of the client and protocol, you can sell just about anything. There is indeed a fellow around who sells games right off of Steam for a markup of ~10% (though I assume it's higher when he stockpiles games on sale). He sometimes literally does not even keep a stock of product he's selling, thus operating at nearly zero cost liability assuming he follows tax/regulatory laws in his area. - And even with how relatively simple the business is relative to most, it's a very useful, appreciated, and desired service, with hundreds (possibly thousands) of customers since he started selling ~3-4 months ago. He obviously has some decent business and marketing sense, but he wouldn't have needed to go to college to do it, or spend any exorbitant amount of time studying the market.

Should you sell something hand-made, you're looking at a dramatically higher markup. Home-made lasers, duct tape raincoats, Lego art -- if you have any passion, there's probably a way to sell it to anyone in the world, very quickly, with Bitcoin. Furthermore, you have a community here which contains buyers, sellers, and producers, offering a learning experience you can't get in many other places. When you're involved with Bitcoin business, you get to hear from people involved with you on every level who can give completely objective opinions because they're behind a pseudonym on the Internet.

I think, in its current state, Bitcoin is, above all else, a very powerful rebellion against the employee/submission mentality which has (ironically) dominated the USA (likely among many other industrialized nations).

[Raoul Duke]

What is a GUI card?

[DannyHamilton]

What is a GUI card?

Come on Psy, be nice. He says he is not tech minded, and is just starting off.  He needs to learn a bit, but there's no need to pick on him. 

[Foxpup]

What is a GUI card?

He's a Windows user, silly. In case you don't know, Windows absolutely requires a GPU to enable most GUI features (rendering in software is not even an option, even if your CPU could handle it), which has forced people to buy expensive graphics cards for the sole purpose of running the Windows GUI, even if they don't intend to ever do anything else with it. Hence the term "GUI card".

[Jessica]

If you can't afford to mine, just don't.