Bitcoin - day 1

[txoomy]

I've been hearing about Bitcoin for about a year, with scepticism, and decided a couple of days ago to move ahead with becoming an investor.

Here's what I've done so far:

- Downloaded Bitcoin-Qt (Mac)
- Let it synchronize (took about 20 hours)
- Encrypted my wallet (from within Bitcoin-Qt)
- Backup up my wallet.dat file (shut down Bitcoin-Qt and copied wallet.dat from ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/)
- Put my wallet.dat file on two external hard drives

Did I miss anything here, considered a first step?

I have a few questions:

- At this point I only plan on buying bitcoins. Do I have to keep backing up my wallet.dat file after every transaction? If not, when?
- I want to join a mining pool. I have in iMac with a dedicated video card. Is there an easy to install and use mining app for Mac?
- There is nobody nearby me to trade local (small town in Canada) so I'd prefer to use an exchange or PayPal. How can I find someone who will trust me, that I won't reverse the charge as I hear is a common complaint - or is there an easy to use exchange for Canadians?

Thanks in advance for any help..

[1714038298]

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[1714038298]

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[1714038298]

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[txoomy]

Thanks for the response and tips.

I'll backup my ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/ directory too, so I don't have to re-download the blockchain.

I don't plan on solo mining, but would like to join a pool. I believe what I need is some Mac mining software and sign into a pool, correct? My iMac has an ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB card. Not great, but I need to start somewhere. Can anyone recommend good mining software?

[Surpbitcoin]

Cavirtex.com

canadianbitcoins.com

 

[txoomy]

Thanks, have you personally used either of these?

[Aahzman]

Ive used canadianbitcoins multiple times. Very professional, fairly fast (i did a cash deposit last time, got coins in under 2hrs), and responsive/good communication. They have a brick and mortar real address, publicly posted contact numbers. I feel very secure and.confident dealing with them.

[txoomy]

Ive used canadianbitcoins multiple times. Very professional, fairly fast (i did a cash deposit last time, got coins in under 2hrs), and responsive/good communication. They have a brick and mortar real address, publicly posted contact numbers. I feel very secure and.confident dealing with them.

Can you please explain in simplistic terms how the process works, dealing with RBC and canadianbitcoins.com?

[Otoh]

Build a dedicated mining rig if you wish to mine & mine Litecoins on it, see my sig, with ASICs about to take over the Bitcoin network there's no point aiming for that. Also check out the blockchain.info wallet much more user friendly than the client one.

[RodeoX]

Also be wary of "investing" in bitcoin. It can do anything other money can do, including investing. However speculating in an unregulated market can lead to ugly losses. Don't invest anything you cant loose %100 of.
You might want to see the real power of bitcoin as a currency first. Once you have some coin, the world is your garage sale.

[Aahzman]

Ive used canadianbitcoins multiple times. Very professional, fairly fast (i did a cash deposit last time, got coins in under 2hrs), and responsive/good communication. They have a brick and mortar real address, publicly posted contact numbers. I feel very secure and.confident dealing with them.

Can you please explain in simplistic terms how the process works, dealing with RBC and canadianbitcoins.com?

Create your buy order at canadianbitcoins.com, you will be sent an email with a very specific amount to deposit (ie if you want $500 worth of coins, your deposit amount might be $500.43, the added cents are used to ID your specific order, you will recieve $500.43 worth of bitcoins) and an RBC account number to deposit to. If you deposit before noon, chances are good you get your coins same day within a couple hours. After noon, the transaction may get pushed by the bank to next morning. Cash is faster than a cheque deposit or money order or bank draft, so use cash if possible. This is all explained on their website.

[soy]

Build a dedicated mining rig if you wish to mine & mine Litecoins on it, see my sig, with ASICs about to take over the Bitcoin network there's no point aiming for that. Also check out the blockchain.info wallet much more user friendly than the client one.

Can one simply run something like rpcminer-cpu directed to a Litecoin pool or is there some fundamental difference between Bitcoin miners and Litecoin miners?

[Lucky13]

Sup.

[txoomy]

Thanks for the response and tips.

I'll backup my ~/Library/Application Support/Bitcoin/ directory too, so I don't have to re-download the blockchain.

I don't plan on solo mining, but would like to join a pool. I believe what I need is some Mac mining software and sign into a pool, correct? My iMac has an ATI Radeon HD 4670 256 MB card. Not great, but I need to start somewhere. Can anyone recommend good mining software?

You can mine for educational purposes with your off-the-shelf system. As it was stated before, you won't be able to produce a big amount of coins, actually only cents per month probably, but at least you'll have a better understanding of the mining process and how pools work.
I don't mine on mac so I cannot tell you about mining soft for it, but I'm sure there are many, just search the forums and/or google. Fundamentally they are all the same.

I've Googled and don't see much for Macs

[txoomy]

Ive used canadianbitcoins multiple times. Very professional, fairly fast (i did a cash deposit last time, got coins in under 2hrs), and responsive/good communication. They have a brick and mortar real address, publicly posted contact numbers. I feel very secure and.confident dealing with them.

I've found https://www.bitcoinscanada.ca too

[gadexx]

Ive used canadianbitcoins multiple times. Very professional, fairly fast (i did a cash deposit last time, got coins in under 2hrs), and responsive/good communication. They have a brick and mortar real address, publicly posted contact numbers. I feel very secure and.confident dealing with them.

I've found https://www.bitcoinscanada.ca too

how about us people ? looks interesting

[Otoh]

Build a dedicated mining rig if you wish to mine & mine Litecoins on it, see my sig, with ASICs about to take over the Bitcoin network there's no point aiming for that. Also check out the blockchain.info wallet much more user friendly than the client one.

Can one simply run something like rpcminer-cpu directed to a Litecoin pool or is there some fundamental difference between Bitcoin miners and Litecoin miners?

I have no idea about mining, check the info in the links in my sig or ask on btc-e exchange chat box or litecoin forums if you still need more info, there's lots about mining in threads on the forum in my sig.

[Gabi]

Litecoin use a different algorithm for mining, not the one Bitcoin use.

Oh and cpu mining is wasted time and energy

[ftping]

I would still CPU mine if you're not paying for the energy usage, but only LTC, not BTC.

[S M I L Y]

Iv been mining with video cards for almost 2 years now, Even during time of negative profit.  I have never regretted it. 
 If you are in it for the long haul it will pay off.

Ill be mining with video cards till my ASICs come in.

Plus its really cool to be part of the bitcoin network.

[MIST514]

Ive used canadianbitcoins multiple times. Very professional, fairly fast (i did a cash deposit last time, got coins in under 2hrs), and responsive/good communication. They have a brick and mortar real address, publicly posted contact numbers. I feel very secure and.confident dealing with them.

Strange, I cash deposit pay 8% commission (rip off) but I get the BTC in wallet in under 30mins.