Bitcoin slow to download the block chain?

[nickwit]

Ok

 - I've tried it with my vodafone dongle... (so I'm not using my normal wifi router at all)
 - I've tried /home/nick/bitcoin-0.3.17/bin/64/bitcoin  -rescan -noirc -upnp -addnode=64.31.38.250-addnode=74.82.216.10 -addnode=178.63.62.15 -addnode=173.224.125.222 -addnode=91.85.220.84 -addnode=91.85.220.84 -addnode=173.224.125.222 -addnode=86.5.50.90 -addnode=178.255.199.86  (and innumerable variants therof)
- I don't think I have a firewall running at all. Unless Ubuntu is craftily running something that I don't know about
- I'm not going to upgrade my whole operating system just to get bitcoin to work
- I'm not going to use windows.

Although I guess I could boot into windows, install bitcoin, copy the wallet.dat across, download the blocks and then copy it back.


This is kindof a pain in the arse though - it has managed to download 133905 blocks. It's just jamming up now for reasons I know not.

[MoonShadow]

I really don't know what to tell you.

[nickwit]

Well Fuck. A. Duck.

It runs under wine.

[nickwit]

Try -upnp

Just for giggles.

Yea, tried that. No difference.

[TraderTimm]

I'd do two things:

Change the subject to - "Bitcoin without an updated blockchain is slower than my bank"

Forward port 8333 to your machine running the client.

Also, I agree that it isn't very obvious that you needed to have the blockchain updated at all with the current client design. Just one of the pitfalls of being in beta.

[nickwit]

I'd do two things:
Change the subject to - "Bitcoin without an updated blockchain is slower than my bank"

Yes, could do that. Doesn't describe the situation to anyone who doesn't know what an updated-blockchain is though.

Look out the window ---->

See that? That's the rest of the world. That's who doesn't know what an updated blockchain is. Those are the people you want to be using bitcoin.

Forward port 8333 to your machine running the client.

No idea how to do that. I'm one of those people you may or may not be able to see out the window.

[cypherdoc]

you know what?  i think you're a  troll trying to make it look harder than it is. 

i don't know anything about computers compared to the guys around here and you obviously do and shouldn't be having near the troubles you're having.

guys, i'm sensing a new strategy among these detractors of btc.

[CNMOH]

No idea how to do that. I'm one of those people you may or may not be able to see out the window.

You're running Ubuntu and don't know how to forward a port?

[cypherdoc]

The thing is in beta.

If you want to play at today's price you get to be a beta tester.

When it is easy for 90% of the population you will have to pay a hell of a lot more.

everything about this thread smells; the title he refuses to change, his confusion, the simplicity of his problem, the reference to HSBC, his nick, his attitude; i think he's trolling.

[nickwit]

Jesus Christ. I just said I got it to run under wine.

Know what I am? I'm a legit, white-economy merchant. http://www.goldenmeancalipers.com

I'm one of the people that you badly need to legitimise this currency - and I've done my best to evangelise it - take a look at my bitcoin page

http://www.goldenmeancalipers.com/bitcoins/ ( I've changed the last line to prove that it's my site. )


Ok?


Now, the reason I'm not going to change the title is that it will become meaningless to anyone else who has the same problem as me, but doesn't know what an updated-blockchain is.

Yes, I do run Ubuntu, and no, I don't know how to port-forward. I simply have never had cause to do it.

HSBC is my UK bank account, that's why I referred to it.

And my attitude is one that you get from someone who's been banging their head against a brick wall for the last 3 hours.


--


re: "When it is easy for 90% of the population you will have to pay a hell of a lot more."

err... sorry? How is that? I thought this was open-source?

[TraderTimm]

Okay, so you're running a linux distro with a virtual machine. Fine.

I'd be happy to point you to the relevant instructions using a google search - if you give me the name and/or model of your router.

You don't have to change your subject, it would just help clarify the situation - since the bitcoin vs. bank argument really doesn't hold any water when it is completely up-to-date.

[geek-trader]

The thing is in beta.

If you want to play at today's price you get to be a beta tester.

When it is easy for 90% of the population you will have to pay a hell of a lot more.

Pay?

[Bitcoin Swami]

Cool website man.

[error]

Did you see that icon in your system tray that says a new version of Ubuntu is available? Stop ignoring it and update. Then you should be able to run the current release of Bitcoin.

[twobits]

Try -upnp

Just for giggles.

That requires that he use at least the .21 client.

[twobits]

This is kindof a pain in the arse though - it has managed to download 133905 blocks. It's just jamming up now for reasons I know not.

What is your routers make and model number?

[geek-trader]

What I was referring to was the exchange rate between Bitcoin and whatever your native currency is. As adoption becomes broader this will inevitably drive up the exchange rate. It may seem fiddly until you learn how to use the different parts of the 'ecosystem' such as the client, as you have observed. And this naturally limits the rate of adoption at this time. The rate of Bitcoin creation will not go any faster as adoption picks up... That has nothing to to with client or node software being open source. Sorry, I thought it was clear.

This doesn't make any sense.  If a shirt costs $15, then it costs 1 BTC right now.  If BTC goes to $30, then the shirt costs 0.5 BTC, or else I'm paying in $, not BTC.

The "cost" to use bitcoin is the time and effort it takes to understand how to use bitcoin.  This cost needs to come down, not go up.

[twobits]

Know what I am? I'm a legit, white-economy merchant. http://www.goldenmeancalipers.com

I'm one of the people that you badly need to legitimise this currency - and I've done my best to evangelise it - take a look at my bitcoin page

http://www.goldenmeancalipers.com/bitcoins/ ( I've changed the last line to prove that it's my site. )


Ok?


And my attitude is one that you get from someone who's been banging their head against a brick wall for the last 3 hours.


re: "When it is easy for 90% of the population you will have to pay a hell of a lot more."

err... sorry? How is that? I thought this was open-source?

What is a white-economy merchant?  

For what it is worth, you are an early adaptor yet.  It is a 0.3.x software, which means it is not considered ready for the masses.  One of the features to help with this is in the 0.3.21 and later versions, so it does not help you are running a version without the feature to try and help with this issue (which is a router networking issue and not a bitcoin issue per say, it just manifests itself with bitcoin for you).  A year from now these issues should be gone.  There is also a lot of routers still out  there that do not do a good job with NAT.   Maybe it can be fixed with a firmware update, or hard setting the port forwarding for now or maybe not, depends on your exact router being used.

They meant the price of bitcoins will likely go up, as more people are able to learn about them and use them.
A year from now hopefully you will also be very glad to have learned about it as an early user.

[w1R903]

Nick, I understand your frustration.  We supporters of Bitcoin should make it known that it's a good idea to download the blockchain before you start your client the first time.  There are actually multiple places you can download it at, most notably at the Bitcoin sourceforge site: http://sourceforge.net/projects/bitcoin/files/Bitcoin/blockchain/

However, I wouldn't try to download and use the blockchain from a site at this point, since you've already used your client to do a transaction.  Let me repeat: don't use a downloaded blockchain if you've already processed a transaction on your client, unless you know what you're doing.  You'd have to run a rescan and possibly other things.

But don't worry, your transaction will go through.  And once the full blockchain is on your client, transactions are processed much faster.

BTW, cool website.  And thanks for your support of Bitcoin.

PS -- It would be nice if you would change the title to better reflect the situation, but obviously that's your call.

[twobits]

What I was referring to was the exchange rate between Bitcoin and whatever your native currency is. As adoption becomes broader this will inevitably drive up the exchange rate. It may seem fiddly until you learn how to use the different parts of the 'ecosystem' such as the client, as you have observed. And this naturally limits the rate of adoption at this time. The rate of Bitcoin creation will not go any faster as adoption picks up... That has nothing to to with client or node software being open source. Sorry, I thought it was clear.

This doesn't make any sense.  If a shirt costs $15, then it costs 1 BTC right now.  If BTC goes to $30, then the shirt costs 0.5 BTC, or else I'm paying in $, not BTC.

The "cost" to use bitcoin is the time and effort it takes to understand how to use bitcoin.  This cost needs to come down, not go up.

Actually if you are floating the bit coin rate based on the dollar rate, you are effectivly paying in $ not BTC, you have that reversed.    In any case, it now costs you more shirts to get a btc, so in effect getting a btc costs you more either way if you are floating it based on the $ exchange rate.