[XPM] Working on a GPU miner for Primecoin

[hathmill]

Common now, we all know that software devs mostly just play around in excel cheats and spend a lot of time filling in the timereport (actually the later is true when you have to deal with sap  )

[datguyian]

How much has everyone paid in all together?

If its as high as I'm thinking we could have paid a professional programmers salary for a few months at least.

About $6000.  56.6 BTC @ $105/BTC

https://blockchain.info/address/1FKfgFQeZCpjGDn7ocgj26nk4K2TNiVJyD

I was right

HAHA HHAHAHAHA HAH AHAAHAH AHA HAHAHAH AH AHA.

"a few months"

Mid-level C/C++ developers, particularly in a niche space like OpenCL/CUDA development, don't work for less than $4000/month. That does not include additional costs an employer would incur - equipment, unemployment insurance, consumables, administrative costs, office space, furniture for that developer, heat/lighting/water/electricity, and so on. Even amortised over many developers, those costs can easily add $1500 to the raw cost of a developer's salary.

Thus, you can understand why freelancers who are worth their salt don't work for under $50/hour (they have to cover those overheads on their own). In the initial intense phases of a new project like this, a developer can EASILY spend 10 hours a day on it - many days they can clock 16 hour work days. Even at 10 hours a day, the $6000 would only pay for 12 work days - that's a little over 2 weeks not including weekends (ie. quite a bit under 2 weeks if we factor in long work days and the occasional piece of weekend work). $6000 is a pittance, a bit of piss in a bucket for the level of work that the (sole!) developer will have to put in now and the amount of effort he'll have to put in on an on-going basis to support this. Do you think people will donate any substantial amount once they're using it and raking in tens of thousands of Dollars? Not a chance. People are greedy as fuck.

So no, we would not be able to pay "a professional programmers salary for a few months". We would possibly get a mid-level engineer for two solid weeks, or a senior dev for a bit less time.

Also, if there's any doubt as to my credentials on this subject: not only have I been a developer (professionally) for just over 14 years, but for the last 6 years I've moved beyond a team leader role and have been the senior manager of a major (local) dev house until I quit my job last year October to do my own thing. I know a thing or two about the financial implications of building or extending software.

Thank you... I was about to jump on that comment as well. If you're a programmer making $6,000 or less every few months, you're doing it wrong. Should make a minimum of $6,000 for ONE month... and that's entry/JR. level in my experience. Programming is not by any means easy work... they deserve what they make.

[refer_2_me]

How much has everyone paid in all together?

If its as high as I'm thinking we could have paid a professional programmers salary for a few months at least.

About $6000.  56.6 BTC @ $105/BTC

https://blockchain.info/address/1FKfgFQeZCpjGDn7ocgj26nk4K2TNiVJyD

I was right

HAHA HHAHAHAHA HAH AHAAHAH AHA HAHAHAH AH AHA.

"a few months"

Mid-level C/C++ developers, particularly in a niche space like OpenCL/CUDA development, don't work for less than $4000/month. That does not include additional costs an employer would incur - equipment, unemployment insurance, consumables, administrative costs, office space, furniture for that developer, heat/lighting/water/electricity, and so on. Even amortised over many developers, those costs can easily add $1500 to the raw cost of a developer's salary.

Thus, you can understand why freelancers who are worth their salt don't work for under $50/hour (they have to cover those overheads on their own). In the initial intense phases of a new project like this, a developer can EASILY spend 10 hours a day on it - many days they can clock 16 hour work days. Even at 10 hours a day, the $6000 would only pay for 12 work days - that's a little over 2 weeks not including weekends (ie. quite a bit under 2 weeks if we factor in long work days and the occasional piece of weekend work). $6000 is a pittance, a bit of piss in a bucket for the level of work that the (sole!) developer will have to put in now and the amount of effort he'll have to put in on an on-going basis to support this. Do you think people will donate any substantial amount once they're using it and raking in tens of thousands of Dollars? Not a chance. People are greedy as fuck.

So no, we would not be able to pay "a professional programmers salary for a few months". We would possibly get a mid-level engineer for two solid weeks, or a senior dev for a bit less time.

Also, if there's any doubt as to my credentials on this subject: not only have I been a developer (professionally) for just over 14 years, but for the last 6 years I've moved beyond a team leader role and have been the senior manager of a major (local) dev house until I quit my job last year October to do my own thing. I know a thing or two about the financial implications of building or extending software.

Thank you... I was about to jump on that comment as well. If you're a programmer making $6,000 or less every few months, you're doing it wrong. Should make a minimum of $6,000 for ONE month... and that's entry/JR. level in my experience. Programming is not by any means easy work... they deserve what they make.

While I agree with you about developers salaries, it's not the point of the discussion. In your jobs, there is a level of accountability which isn't present here.

[bitwarrior]

Now lets go back to the main topic...

Any updates on the results of the testing?

What is the possible ETA for the beta testing distribution?


Thank you very much.

 

[mtrlt]

I'm now working on getting the Fermat primality test done on the GPU. Everything but the bignum modulo operation is already done, but there's a problem: The OpenCL compiler crashes when I try to compile with optimizations turned on. Without optimizations the code compiles, but that's obviously not a good solution. I will try updating my graphics drivers.

I haven't forgotten about testing on a slow CPU + overkill GPU rig, but I still have some problems using multiple GPUs.

[fluffypony]

While I agree with you about developers salaries, it's not the point of the discussion. In your jobs, there is a level of accountability which isn't present here.

There's no "accountability" in open source software - and let's not kid ourselves, this is FOSS. That the developer is taking donations for a prerelease does not change the fact that it will be released under GPL or similar licensing, so there's no "company" to shout at. Everyone needs to disconnect from their pseudoreality where they equate sending a donation to a FOSS developer to paying a company for a piece of software. As KickStarter and Indiegogo have demonstrated, even the legal framework around donating to an incomplete piece of software/hardware is murky, and backers may find themselves fresh out of luck with no legal recourse to reclaim their funds.

[18RATTT]

watching this thread ;p

[trkmed]

watching this thread ;p

+1 

[funnow]

If it would be possible "hack" GPU that is recognize like multiple CPU it would be a solution, but It's impossible. So better use Intel Xeon PHI, but is not x64 architecture as I know.

[hasle2]

I'm now working on getting the Fermat primality test done on the GPU. Everything but the bignum modulo operation is already done, but there's a problem: The OpenCL compiler crashes when I try to compile with optimizations turned on. Without optimizations the code compiles, but that's obviously not a good solution. I will try updating my graphics drivers.

I haven't forgotten about testing on a slow CPU + overkill GPU rig, but I still have some problems using multiple GPUs.

You could try commenting out the bodies of functions, checking if compiling with optimization works and repeating until you find the code it's falling over on. Could also try older or beta versions of the compiler.

[datguyian]

While I agree with you about developers salaries, it's not the point of the discussion. In your jobs, there is a level of accountability which isn't present here.

There's no "accountability" in open source software - and let's not kid ourselves, this is FOSS. That the developer is taking donations for a prerelease does not change the fact that it will be released under GPL or similar licensing, so there's no "company" to shout at. Everyone needs to disconnect from their pseudoreality where they equate sending a donation to a FOSS developer to paying a company for a piece of software. As KickStarter and Indiegogo have demonstrated, even the legal framework around donating to an incomplete piece of software/hardware is murky, and backers may find themselves fresh out of luck with no legal recourse to reclaim their funds.

I agree with that to an extent. But I also think that one should weigh in quite a few factors before taking such a risk, IE reputation of founder, profitability (in this instance), eagerness to obtain the product, etc. If all of those factors (most importantly reputation) come to a positive conclusion, then I think you should be willing to pay what it's worth. If it's not worth it to you, then let the project be, but I don't really see a reason to bash others for supporting.

[fluffypony]

I agree with that to an extent. But I also think that one should weigh in quite a few factors before taking such a risk, IE reputation of founder, profitability (in this instance), eagerness to obtain the product, etc. If all of those factors (most importantly reputation) come to a positive conclusion, then I think you should be willing to pay what it's worth. If it's not worth it to you, then let the project be, but I don't really see a reason to bash others for supporting.

I paid my donation, so I'm definitely not bashing anyone;) I was replying to refer_2_me's comment that there should be a level of accountability, when in this case there actually isn't. mtrlt can take our money and run, and that's his prerogative. Maybe some will pursue him legally, he'll definitely be scorned, but there's virtually no accountability. We have sent our donation, and we trust that he will deliver, whether that trust is misplaced or not.

[mtrlt]

You could try commenting out the bodies of functions, checking if compiling with optimization works and repeating until you find the code it's falling over on.

Yep, that's what I ended up doing and I did find and fix the problem.

[bitwarrior]

This is great news...

Hope we can do the beta testing soon


Thanks

[r3animation]

Nice.

Just putting it out here for public record.

1BTC sent on 25 July. (7458d3f1730e99764bc3f39b5ee5650f0b587a1603d88155564331520ffe3302)

[klee]

Watching this Awesomeness 

[FreedomCoin]

thank you for devoting time to making a GPU miner

[Lauda]

Any news on release?

[mtrlt]

I'm working on a major optimization of the GPU sieve. Should be ready today, and the sieve should run 5-10x faster.

[bitwarrior]

Hoping for the best!!!