Hello All,
Version 4.61 is available for download @
www.gridcoin.us as the "beta" version.
1. Delete your program files (x86)\gridcoin directory (except for the guiminer folder). (Still working on the auto-upgrade).
2. Reinstall the MSI.
3. If you have a version older than 3.0, delete your blocks & chainstate folder in users\~\gridcoin and resynchronize.
If you do install the new version first, you can test to see if you have the old chain by :
going to the rpc console after syncing, and type "getblock 20000" <enter>.
If you have the newest database, the boinchash will contain over 200 characters plus "SOLO_MINING". If you see garbage, upgrade
your chain.
4. To be part of the cpu mining test group (not currently live, only for testing), go into "Projects"
and choose a boinc project. Add that project to your boinc projects list inside boinc. Go to the project web site.
Create a new user using your default GRC receiving wallet address as a username. Rename your gridcoin receiving wallet address
as "Default". Modify your gridcoin.conf file and add the following key "cpumining=true". You can GPU mine and cpumine at the
same time. You can also GPU pool mine and CPU mine at the same time. Once this key is enabled and the wallet is restarted,
once per day the system will send out a project beacon, and this currently costs about .08 GRC per day to participate (due
to transaction costs on the network --- soon we will be able to show the project name in the Transaction History, such as
"Malaria" in place of the .08grc debit).
Once this beacon is sent, you are cpu mining as long as boinc is working on that project. To check your cpu mining credits, go back to "Projects" and press Query.
If you receive a negative number, an error occurred so please type the error into the forum and we will work it out.
Otherwise, if you receive a positive number, the off-chain PoW is working. Note: You will have to wait until accumulate actual boinc credits for that project before any number appears. (You can check the official web site for that project to see if you have any, or check inside boinc).
To see your status in the cpu mining pool, go to the rpc console and type "listcpuminers".
It takes approximately 15 minutes for cpuminers to appear after the beacon is sent, because other GPU miners must verify the
PoW.
In the next few weeks you will be able to run a report to see the amount owed to you per day (approximately 150 grc per day per cpu miner
is allocated in pool2 - until we have our first 576 users). Note: Your PoW credits will affect the amount of shares you receive, so it will be very
fair for everyone, since high powered users will have higher credit counts per day. Also, boinc users running with a GPU setup for boinc but not for mining will earn more boinc credits and therefore more shares in pool2.
5. In the Mining Console, the internal CPU miner will hash the boinc utilization + credits + threads into a block, and
will place that block in the next GPU block automatically, that is the reason you will see the progress bar moving back and
forth as miners find new blocks.
Good luck everyone,
Rob Halford
Addendum : The version is now 1.0.3.5. To save you a lot of pain, download the MSI to your machine before running it and right click on it, and Unblock the contents before executing.
Also, if you have guiminer in your gridcoin directory, ensure the Folder is not Read Only after the upgrade (or you will receive guiminer.exe.log errors).
Someone asked if the upgrade was mandatory:
No not mandatory yet; the issue is I think a lot of people are running the old chain and Id like to see 51% upgrade to the new version before we force it on them. The other thing is since this version has so many beta features I dont want to release a beta version as prod without testing it. Once I know this version is generally accepted and is stable (with guiminer in it) we can do a mandatory upgrade otherwise it could be a disaster. But I agree, we need to do this quickly.
As far as cpumining affecting the gpuminers: For one, this coin will always need the gpu miners (or whatever latest technology exists in the future) to ensure it can live without third party web sites in order for people to have faith to invest in the chain, ie who would put their money in the chain if it didnt have good security? So, primarily the scrypt blockchain stays and is required for the coin to even exist. However since this is BOINC based and we want higher boinc efficiency I think adding in 576 boinc users into our mix is a very good thing for everyone, and gives the coin a strong user base. Having 5-20 cpu miners mining in pool 2 isnt even going to affect the gpu miners one bit, not even like a flea on the back of this coin, since the coin only pays out one block per day per cpu miner; while the gpu miners are mining one block every 2.5 minutes. So, in effect it does not dilute the coin (since these new users have to do work to have any block payment per day), and adds to our user base and efficiency. If we ever grow to 576 users, those cpu users become half of the network (thats the cap, and that when the coin is 50% cpu, 50% gpu; it may never happen) but if it did, we would have a strong user base and over 75% boinc efficiency.
Anyway to answer your question as far as today is concerned, there are no changes to the coin, or the solo mining, or the integrated pool mining for gpus. The only difference is when cpu miners start coming online, when your machine finds a new gpu block, it will check the work of those 5 users "once per day" through the berkeley api system (using one of the seed nodes) and write that info to the chain. That will allow the info to be block hashed, and then pool2 will be paid percentages of their daily amount until it meets the share level. Right now, the payout feature isnt enabled, were just trying to see if it works by testing.
Thanks,
Rob Halford
