Starting to set up. Be kind please

[Glenjo]

ok so as you you probably can see I am quite new here
I was just wondering whats the best way to get started, i tried setting up everything jsut to see how it all worked, and go the standard low 20mH/s from my laptop (i know its not good to mine on a laptop because of all the extra pressure put on the system). And was wondering whats the best way to get started in terms of hardware. Also whilst doing research i stumbled upon Butterfly tech with some new hardware. are these worth investing in? Should i build a proper PC for mining or build one that is cable of sustaining one of those units
thanks very much in advance for the info guys

[Isokivi]

Your question ends up to be larger than can coclusively be explaned. You should read up on mining difficulty and asics for starters, when you look at asic promised performanse be sure to note the diggerense between Mh/s, Gh/s and Th/s . Find a calculator and see what would happen to the profits of a very nice gpu rig if the difficulty were to rise 10-100x as is fairly likeley if an once asics are out there. No one asfar as I know has a working asic at the moment, there has been claims of one without proof but it broke in a week. People (Including myself) have bought asics with tens of millions of dollars. It's an extremeley difficult time to get in to mining. I for one am selling gpu's, running fpga's and waiting for asics. If someone offered the remaining ROI (return of investment) for my FPGAs I would sell them off immediateley, the only way I will break even from those is if ASICs are delayed for 6 more months.

Google is your friend, these forums contain all the information you need, but the search function is horrible and the info you need and want is often bured behind 10 pages of oppinnions, trolling, hearsay and +1/bump spam.

I'd suggest you search for:
bitcoin mining difficulty explaned
mining hardware comparison
mining profitability calculator
bitcoin asic
 

[nyusternie]

i think a safe bet is to wait until the asics arrive from BFL or someone else before investing in any new hardware. that way you can make accurate calculations using the available mining calculators. but if you've got hardware already available, then it would be good to get familiar now with the various software (bitcoind, miners) and register at some pools.

[Gabi]

Bitcoin is not a get rich quick scheme, it's not about mining. If you think that bitcoin is only mining then you are wrong.

[Graet]

welcome to Bitcoin

[Gatorhex]

4gb Memory Stick (with Linuxcoin on it) + Motherboard + CPU + 1Gb RAM + 500-1000w PSU + Ati 78xx or 79xx graphics card

or buy FPGA and connect it to your latop (more power efficient)

or sell some stuff and say you accept bitcoin

or wait for ASIC (maybe one day it will be available?)  

[Glenjo]

Thanks very much for your replies (whether it be a welcome or some information) it is much appreciated.
i have 2-3 spare copies of windows 7, is linux or ubuntu and better than windows 7? I have been utilising the links provided by Isokivi and some research on how to start up a rig. I have been messing around with guiminer and cannot for the life of me get it to locate my graphics card to scope out how it all is set up. Are ATI graphics cards far superior?

From what i have gathered from my research and the comments from Isokivi, nyusternie and Gabi to hold off on the asics until delivered and proven since i dont know the full ins and outs of everything.

I know by doing research that ill be operating at a loss, in terms of electricity costs (that of which i do not pay for rarely), but i was thinking of just building a rough 250Mh/s machine just to refresh my knowledge of building computers and to test to see if i can build a rig. Then possibly look into a FGPA as mentioned before or just build another rig for the benefits of economies of scale. I completely understand that this is a community and also for some a main source of income, I also understand that I will be faced with some hurdles along the way and hopefully i can get to the stage of acquirering more knowledge then be able to impart it on others who are interested in bitcoins and their mining.

any other suggestions and criticisms are more than welcome.
thanks once again

[Haihai]

i have 2-3 spare copies of windows 7, is linux or ubuntu and better than windows 7?

It doesnt really matter. Linux distrubutions provide built in SSH-capabilities to access miners remotely thou and they are free. I prefer linux.

I have been messing around with guiminer and cannot for the life of me get it to locate my graphics card to scope out how it all is set up. Are ATI graphics cards far superior?

ATI (or AMD) cards are indeed superior compared to nvidia cards. ASIC devices will be far superior than both of these.

From what i have gathered from my research and the comments from Isokivi, nyusternie and Gabi to hold off on the asics until delivered and proven since i dont know the full ins and outs of everything.

I agree. Wait until asics start shipping.

I know by doing research that ill be operating at a loss, in terms of electricity costs (that of which i do not pay for rarely), but i was thinking of just building a rough 250Mh/s machine just to refresh my knowledge of building computers and to test to see if i can build a rig. Then possibly look into a FGPA as mentioned before or just build another rig for the benefits of economies of scale. I completely understand that this is a community and also for some a main source of income, I also understand that I will be faced with some hurdles along the way and hopefully i can get to the stage of acquirering more knowledge then be able to impart it on others who are interested in bitcoins and their mining.

any other suggestions and criticisms are more than welcome.
thanks once again

Wellcome to bitcoin.