Offering 25 BTC for Linux mining guide

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I am offering 25 BTC for writing a comprehensive, easy to use guide to mining on Linux, and putting the guide on the wiki. It should allow someone who knows very little about Linux to configure a Linux system (preferably Ubuntu) to serving as a successful dedicated mining rig. It should be compatible with 2 X 5970 setups.

If such a guide already exists, I am offering only 5 BTC for finding it and putting it on the wiki (I searched and didn't find anything, on the wiki or elsewhere). If existing guides fall substantially short of the standards I require here I will offer the full 25 BTC for modifying one to satisfy the requirements.

The guide should cover:
 - Installing a Bitcoin client, and configuring it to receive RPC connections from the local machine and other Linux/Windows computers on the LAN.
 - Installing ATI drivers.
 - Installing the most suitable version of ATI stream SDK (including a recommendation for which version that is, and explanation why).
 - Installing a miner.
 - Disabling Crossfire on the 5970 (if indeed that's a step that should be taken).
 - Over/under-clocking the cards.
 - Running the miner on all GPUs, complete with which flags should be used.
 - Setting the Bitcoin client and the miner to automatically run on startup.
 - Troubleshooting the most common pitfalls (if there's no reason it shouldn't work out of the box, no need to make up problems to satisfy this).
 - Any other crucial steps that I don't know are necessary.
 - A link to a guide about using VNC or else to connect remotely from a Windows computer. (This looks pretty good, other suggestions are welcome.)

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[nster]

For 5XXX cards 2.1 is the best SDK and I think 10.10 or 10.11 or something was best Cat version...

but if you don't know much about linux, why not just use windows? TBH I find windows to be better because not only is it easier to set up, you have much more versatility and less headaches.

Anyone who knows a bit about linux can do this provided they have enough time and do their research. I could do it for you, but I am sure many more are more skilled than I am and would be done with it before I would be. If you PM me with a deadline and 1st dibs if I do the job correctly I wouldn't mind doing it at all though

[Meni Rosenfeld]

but if you don't know much about linux, why not just use windows? TBH I find windows to be better because not only is it easier to set up, you have much more versatility and less headaches.

From reading the forums I get the impression it's the other way around. With Windows there are a lot more headaches, difficult to configure and clock, problems starting up cards without a monitor attached, restarting for updates, limits on the number of connections, etc. Linux seems much more sustainable. Also Windows costs money (yes, I'm one of those).

I know I could figure it all out myself with some research, but I know I'll mess everything up and spend hours on trial-and-error. And it's not just for me, I'm sure there are many other people for whom this guide will be very useful.

Anyone who knows a bit about linux can do this provided they have enough time and do their research. I could do it for you, but I am sure many more are more skilled than I am and would be done with it before I would be. If you PM me with a deadline and 1st dibs if I do the job correctly I wouldn't mind doing it at all though

Let's wait and see who else is up to this . I think it's better to have someone with a lot of experience with this to make the kind of coherent guide I'm looking for.

[Raulo]

I wrote a guide that covers majority of the stuff you need to mine on Ubuntu Linux:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3359.msg47174#msg47174

There are also some troubleshooting hints further in discussion.

Here are bitcoin Ubuntu packages:

https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=2207.0

Here is info about autostart:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3740.0

[nster]

but if you don't know much about linux, why not just use windows? TBH I find windows to be better because not only is it easier to set up, you have much more versatility and less headaches.

From reading the forums I get the impression it's the other way around. With Windows there are a lot more headaches, difficult to configure and clock, problems starting up cards without a monitor attached, restarting for updates, limits on the number of connections, etc. Linux seems much more sustainable. Also Windows costs money (yes, I'm one of those).

I know I could figure it all out myself with some research, but I know I'll mess everything up and spend hours on trial-and-error. And it's not just for me, I'm sure there are many other people for whom this guide will be very useful.

Anyone who knows a bit about linux can do this provided they have enough time and do their research. I could do it for you, but I am sure many more are more skilled than I am and would be done with it before I would be. If you PM me with a deadline and 1st dibs if I do the job correctly I wouldn't mind doing it at all though

Let's wait and see who else is up to this . I think it's better to have someone with a lot of experience with this to make the kind of coherent guide I'm looking for.

I was assuming that since you don't know much bout linux, you must have Windows already?

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I wrote a guide that covers majority of the stuff you need to mine on Ubuntu Linux:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3359.msg47174#msg47174

There are also some troubleshooting hints further in discussion.

Here are bitcoin Ubuntu packages:

https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=2207.0

Here is info about autostart:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3740.0

Thanks! The embarrassing part is that I think I saw this earlier, but have since forgotten and didn't find it in searches.

5 BTC sent, though I think still this should all be consolidated into a nice wiki page.

I couldn't figure out if this contains info on configuring the Bitcoin daemon to accept RPC connections. I barely managed to get that to work on my Windows machine...

I hope this will work, I actually have some time until I go through with this. I'll ask if I encounter any problems.

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I was assuming that since you don't know much bout linux, you must have Windows already?

For my general-purpose computer, yes, of course. I also bought a 5870 to mine on it. But I'm talking here about building a dedicated mining rig.

[nster]

I was assuming that since you don't know much bout linux, you must have Windows already?

For my general-purpose computer, yes, of course. I also bought a 5870 to mine on it. But I'm talking here about building a dedicated mining rig.

ohhhh, IMO not a great idea... mining will eventually not become very profitable.

If you haven't bought the parts yet, don't, or just buy 1 5970 used and tri-fire with your 5870 and mine with that, and you got lots of GPU power if you game or wtv

[Meni Rosenfeld]

I was assuming that since you don't know much bout linux, you must have Windows already?

For my general-purpose computer, yes, of course. I also bought a 5870 to mine on it. But I'm talking here about building a dedicated mining rig.

ohhhh, IMO not a great idea... mining will eventually not become very profitable.

If you haven't bought the parts yet, don't, or just buy 1 5970 used and tri-fire with your 5870 and mine with that, and you got lots of GPU power if you game or wtv

I appreciate your advice, but I made my own assessment of pros/cons and I still think it's worthwhile. Anyway, calibrating my projections is one reason I'm waiting with this.

[Mahkul]

Holy-Fire: https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=3359.0 I already paid 50 BTC for such a tutorial; the only thing that's missing is installation of bitcoin client and maybe the vnc part (both of which you can easily find on the web).

[Meni Rosenfeld]

Holy-Fire: https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=3359.0 I already paid 50 BTC for such a tutorial; the only thing that's missing is installation of bitcoin client and maybe the vnc part (both of which you can easily find on the web).

Thanks . Raulo, who wrote that guide, has already linked to it.

[Mahkul]

Holy-Fire: https://www.bitcoin.org/smf/index.php?topic=3359.0 I already paid 50 BTC for such a tutorial; the only thing that's missing is installation of bitcoin client and maybe the vnc part (both of which you can easily find on the web).

Thanks . Raulo, who wrote that guide, has already linked to it.

Oh, sorry, didn't notice his post.

[Jered Kenna (TradeHill)]

Thanks Raulo,

I'm not mining and I might not end up using your guide but it's good and I wanted to say thanks for writing it up.

[error]

Ubuntu's VNC guide is quite comprehensive and covers most possible scenarios outside the normal one of accessing the remote desktop over a LAN.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Humble did quite a good job of it here also:

http://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=3356.msg47489#msg47489

It is a little difficult to do a one size fits all because auxiliary hardware varies, OS history may not be what you think, etc.

So are we going to get a wiki for linux miners or is the bounty still up for grabs?

[Meni Rosenfeld]

It is a little difficult to do a one size fits all because auxiliary hardware varies, OS history may not be what you think, etc.

A fresh install is assumed, and the guide can specify the compatible distribution and version.
Can you give an example of hardware variation which can cause problems?

So are we going to get a wiki for linux miners or is the bounty still up for grabs?

Raulo has collected the bounty, but I don't feel the original goal was reached. To be honest, I don't know how much more work is required to create the ideal I'm envisioning. Perhaps I'll have a better idea once I try following the existing guides. I do hope people will be motivated to create a coherent page in the Bitcoin wiki, bounty or no bounty.