1) Software
a) Im currently using the Bitcoin QT software and as I said in my opening post im happy to be a part of the back bone and run the software thats fine with me, but should i look at something else? I want easy to use and I seem to be stumbling my way through this software ok
If you want to "be a part of the back bone" then Bitcoin-Qt is the thing to run. It takes some getting used to. Ask questions if there is anything that you are still trying to figure out.
If you being "a part of the back bone" is not important to you, then look into Electrum and MultiBit.
b) I see alot of pages about backing up but what are users doing in regards to this? Should I do it weekly and keep a copy on a USB stick that stays in the desk draw? If someone did get that USB sick how hard would it be for them to take what i have?
Assuming you are asking about Bitcoin-Qt:
I'd suggest protecting your wallet with a password first, and then backing it up. That way if someone gets the USB drive they will also need to know your password to access your bitcoins. I'd also suggest storing the USB drive somewhere outside your house. (so you can still recover you bitcoins if your house is damaged in a fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, burglary, etc).
In general, I suggest keeping track of approximately how many transactions you SEND from your wallet and also keeping track of approximately how many times you click the "New Address" button. When the sum of those two numbers is 25 since the last time you created a backup, then it's time to create a new backup. For some people that means every day. For some people that means twice a year. It will really depend on how much you use bitcoins and what you use them for. I'd also suggest keeping at least the 3 most recent backups. That way if any of the backups are damaged or unrecoverable you'll have additional backups you can recover from.
c) The encryption option in Bitcoin QT seems self explanatory but does that effect me making payments when i eventually get coins? or is it like loggin into a webpage once the key/password is in it just works as normal?
The password has to be typed anytime you do anything that will access your private keys. In general this would be any time you click the "New Address" button, and any time you try to send a transaction.
d) Is port forwarding required for any wallet/mining software?
I'm not sure about mining, but if you're just running a wallet port forwarding isn't generally necessary. Your wallet will most likely only make outgoing connections however if you don't set up port forwarding.
a) As far as apps go i stumbled across this one "Guiminer"
https://github.com/Kiv/poclbm seems pretty simple to use, and the site i saw it on said it was slanted towards new users. I havent used it as yet should i avoid it? I want to do a bit of solo mining until i read more on how pools work and get my head around them (yes i have read that solo is not worth the time and effort but i feel i need to get into this slowly so i can take in what im reading and
i seriously dont mind going solo for a little bit)
As a hobby and just for "the fun of it", solo mining is fine. Unless you have some specialized equipment (
Application
Specific
Integrated
Chip - ASIC) it is nearly certain that you will not solve any blocks and/or receive any bitcoins with solo mining, but you're welcome to try if you like.
b) if the above miner is no good what should i use for solo use for the short term?
You'll have to wait for someone else to stop by to recommend mining software. I don't mine, so I can't give good advice.
c) Once i get more knowledge about what im doing is there a lexicon or list of terminology somewhere (yes i have tried the search feature but i dont think it likes me).
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=126798.0d) once i get a lot more knowledge about what im doing, im thinking a hardware investment might be the go. Ive seen usb sticks right up to set ups that cost thousands. Since I will be a smaller than small time operator I figured something like this
https://products.butterflylabs.com/homepage/5-gh-s-bitcoin-miner.html would be a good bang per buck investment. (currenly 1 btc is worth $142 AUD I would be happy if i broke even on hardware costs with in 12-18 months) Thoughts? Im very open to opinions.
Mining for profit can be lucrative, but it is a very risky business. You'll want to understand the math behind the mining business and make reasonable estimates about what you believe the difficulty and bitcoin exchange rate will be in the future to determine if you can make a profit instead of taking a loss. Things that you'll need to consider:
- Cost of electricity
- Equipment purchase costs
- Equipment maintenance and replacement costs
- Equipment hash rate
- Current difficulty
- Projected difficulty over time
- Current bitcoin exchange rate
- Projected bitcoin exchange rate over time
The more of those numbers that you get wrong, the more likely that you won't recover your costs.
e) Pools is there a n00b sauce friendly one out there? and for example if 50 people are in the pool and the pool mines a bitcoin(s) is it time spent mining = your cut or is it more involved. What should I look to avoid in a pool?
There are a variety of payout systems for pools. You can find some of the details here:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Comparison_of_mining_pools
