Getting started

[Xunie]

I've written this great (well, to my knowledge) wiki article for getting started here: http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=getting_started.

So please read through it before you ask any questions.

Also: Any questions can we asked in here.
(Note: We have an IRC channel on irc.freenode.net , It's #bitcoin-dev)

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[HostFat]

Can you add this link on contact page?
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=bitcoin-dev&uio=d4
It's the ajax official IRC client of Freenode, it will make easier to new users to come on IRC chan

[Xunie]

Can you add this link on contact page?
http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=bitcoin-dev&uio=d4
It's the ajax official IRC client of Freenode, it will make easier to new users to come on IRC chan

Done.

I've also written a getting started article on the wiki here: http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=getting_started
And even one for the headless client here: http://www.bitcoin.org/wiki/doku.php?id=headless_client

[Mionione]

First time i launched bitcoin i couldn't receive anything and hard drive ran intensively for hours.

I thinked it was buggy but it's not, bitcoin have to get all the known blocks (around 65500 for the moment).

So if you have the same "problem" don't worry all is ok, you just have to wait.

[Xunie]

First time i launched bitcoin i couldn't receive anything and hard drive ran intensively for hours.

I thinked it was buggy but it's not, bitcoin have to get all the known blocks (around 65500 for the moment).

So if you have the same "problem" don't worry all is ok, you just have to wait.

Bitcoin "syncs" the file, so the file get's rewritten to the harddrive every time it gets a block, that's quite intensive.
Having a SSD hard drive right would really speed things up.

[laszlo]

Yea SSDs rock, I finally bought one a few months ago and it's a huge difference.  It doesn't really matter if you buy the super high end one or a regular mainstream one, they all are better than a rotating disc.

There is an unfounded fear about them wearing out from writing but this is true for magnetic platter drives too and it will still outlast your computer even if you format it every day.

[Anonymous]

I will be getting a new laptop in a few weeks I might throw an ssd in there when I do.

[S3052]

Hi,
i am new to BTC and still did not generate coins. I have 2 questions and it would be fantastic if you could help me:

1) If I would have Bit coins, how could I transfer or use them on a different computer?
2) What if I shut down or hibernate my computer during the BTB generating. Will all be lost or does the system restart where I stopped ?

thanks!

[ribuck]

If I would have Bit coins, how could I transfer or use them on a different computer?

Just install the Bitcoin client on the other computer and get a Receiving Address from it. On the original computer, click "Send coins" and paste that receiving address.

2) What if I shut down or hibernate my computer during the BTB generating. Will all be lost or does the system restart where I stopped ?

Nothing is lost. You are only "out of action" for the time you are not generating. As soon as you start generating again, you have as much chance of generating a block as you would have had if you didn't shut down.

If you want to play with Bitcoins and haven't generated any yet, just pick up (for free) 0.05 bitcoins from the Bitcoin Faucet:
http://freebitcoins.appspot.com/

[FreeMoney]

Hi,
i am new to BTC and still did not generate coins. I have 2 questions and it would be fantastic if you could help me:

1) If I would have Bit coins, how could I transfer or use them on a different computer?
2) What if I shut down or hibernate my computer during the BTB generating. Will all be lost or does the system restart where I stopped ?

thanks!

No work is lost because each trial is done in a tiny fraction of a second. Think of it like playing the lottery 1.2 million times per second. Because there are so many people working now and the system recalibrates the difficulty to keep an average time of 10 minutes per block it takes an individual a long time before they can expect to make a block now. This is good for the security of the system though and hopefully it will get much harder over time. This is disappointing for people who are trying to get free bitcoins, but it is exactly what people who want a good solid money are looking for.

It is easy to transfer bitcoins. Install the client on the other computer and get the address that appears at the top. Send coins to it with the client that has coins. That's all.

If you post an address I'll send you a bit to play with.

[S3052]

thanks so much! so I need to write down an address from one computer , then go the other computer and type this address in, right? because otherwise there is no other identification?

[LZ]

You can send a bitcoin address to other computer through the Internet.
Also you can just enter an IP address instead of the bitcoin address.

[S3052]

Thanks a lot. How do I receive BTC if you sent me one? will this appear automatically or do I need to do sth? How long does it take?

[LZ]

You will receive it automatically as fast as you will get all blocks. Wiki may be helpfull for you.

[FreeMoney]

Sorry, I went to bed right after posting, sent a few to you now.

[S3052]

THANKS so much. All works fine now!
have a great Sunday!

[MrFlibble]

First time i launched bitcoin i couldn't receive anything and hard drive ran intensively for hours. [...]
So if you have the same "problem" don't worry all is ok, you just have to wait.

Bitcoin "syncs" the file, so the file get's rewritten to the harddrive every time it gets a block, that's quite intensive.
Having a SSD hard drive right would really speed things up.

I first ran bitcoin (FTR, 0.3.13) on an old laptop, which has the HD swapped for some Compact Flash (i.e. cheapskate 2.5" SSD).  It was absolutely terrible fetching the blockchain, sometimes fetching a couple of blocks a second and sometimes hanging (for an hour? I forget) on one block number.  I thought maybe I was getting duff data.

After 24 hours and still only 65k of 90k blocks fetched, I came up to see what was going on and saw the HD light on permanently; ran strace (output available on request, at least for a while) and realised it was the syncs that killed it.  I stopped it, moved ~/.bitcoin to /dev/shm with a symlink back and it flew through the rest pretty quick.  (Beware, /dev/shm is temporary as in machine crash --> wallet gone.)

Is this a good place? to suggest that,  If the data came off the network and you can get it again just for the asking, maybe you don't have to sync immediately; but could wait five seconds to see if there is more coming.  Of course if the user inputs a new transaction, sync right away.

(sorry to dredge an old one, but this is where the comment seems to fit.)