Bitcoin Mining on an APPLE II Computer! Highly Impractical Other Devices? Poll!

[Searing]

Here is a link to someone who got an Apple II Computer from 'ancient' times to mine Bitcoin! (or a futile attempt at shoveling all the sand in the world from 1 side to the other in difficulty)

https://retroconnector.com/mining-bitcoin-on-an-apple-ii-a-highly-impractical-guide/

I found this pretty amusing!

What other links can folk find of 'impractical' devices to mine Bitcoin?

Post them here.

Also, take the poll!

Brad

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[Searing]

reserved

[fillippone]

Mining bitcoin with Apollo 11 guidance system:

Bitcoin mining on an Apollo Guidance Computer: 10.3 seconds per hash

We've been restoring an Apollo Guidance Computer1. Now that we have the world's only working AGC, I decided to write some code for it. Trying to mine Bitcoin on this 1960s computer seemed both pointless and anachronistic, so I had to give it a shot. Implementing the Bitcoin hash algorithm in assembly code on this 15-bit computer was challenging, but I got it to work. Unfortunately, the computer is so slow that it would take about a million times the age of the universe to successfully mine a Bitcoin block.

Other link: https://blog.hackster.io/mining-bitcoin-on-the-apollo-guidance-computer-62691628514

[Searing]

Mining bitcoin with Apollo 11 guidance system...

Dang, beat me to it! Have to look for something else.

On a 'restored' NASA Apollo Guidance Computer! (Same model used on the Apollo Moon Landings, including Apollo 11!)

https://www.extremetech.com/computing/294784-apollo-guidance-computer-restored-used-to-mine-bitcoin

(people are odd)

Brad

[NotFuzzyWarm]

Could always try it on a Digi-Comp I or a Digi-Comp II 

[Searing]

Here is the 'real' way to mine Bitcoin!

using

PUNCHCARDS! (heh!)

http://www.righto.com/2015/05/bitcoin-mining-on-55-year-old-ibm-1401.html

I wonder how many trees you would have to kill to find a block!

Heck, for that matter how many actual punchcard machines you'd wear out!

Brad

[fillippone]

Speaking about dubious mining devices:

Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day

I decided to see how practical it would be to mine Bitcoin with pencil and paper. It turns out that the SHA-256 algorithm used for mining is pretty simple and can in fact be done by hand. Not surprisingly, the process is extremely slow compared to hardware mining and is entirely impractical. But performing the algorithm manually is a good way to understand exactly how it works.

EDIT: That's low. If we force every people now living on Earth stopping what they're doing, grant them immortality,  and put them mining bitcoins, it would take more of the age of the universe to mine a single block given the current difficulty.

[NeuroticFish]

I don't know how much it counts, but when I "met" Bitcoin I started mining with my GPU right away.
After about a month of mining (about January 2014?) I learned that I am under the minimum amount for withdrawal at Slush pool and even if I'd mine one more year I'd be still under the minimum. I stopped there (silly n00b).

[option8]

Yep. That's my Apple II. You can even watch it mining live, and see if it comes up with anything interesting:

https://www.twitch.tv/8BTC

[Searing]

Someone on comp.sys.apple2 posted the following below:

"Mining Bitcoin on a 1MHz 8-bit processor will cost you more than the world’s combined economies, and take roughly 256 trillion years."

Kinda a 'long shot' to get a Bitcoin Block huh?

By the by, the above link is 'hilarious'

Brad

[fillippone]

By the by, the above link is 'hilarious'

First merit for Option8!

[option8]

Let's not forget the NES.
http://retrominer.com

[fillippone]

Let's not forget the NES.
http://retrominer.com

Wow this is an hidden gem!
I love this thread.
Pure geeky fuckery without any real application.
Out of Merits mate, otherwise I would send.

[Searing]

Let's not forget the NES.
http://retrominer.com

Can you imagine the mathematical chaos in the Mathematics Field alone if ANY of these retro computer projects ever hit a block! The mind boggles at the possibility! Indeed, the odds are so long, you could use such to prove the existence of god!

My problem now that I'm no longer mining anything in the basement I really do have all the equipment needed to set an Apple ][ up in the correct manner, using his GitHub instructions to pop one of these up!

tempting, very tempting as a completely insane thing to do!

lol

Brad

[Artemis3]

It is probably faster than human computation, but not by much. Add that these 8 bit computers often had 48k of ram at most, and serial links of maybe 9600 bps (tho i bet someone made some Ethernet card for it).

I can think of several more suitable uses for it. I know someone in youtube uses one as terminal emulator.

Sure its cpu is about the same thing on the nes, if you can compute blocks with it, you could theoretically do that there as well. These things are many orders of magnitude slower than current cpus, and cpu mining is considered absolutely useless, so you can imagine the point of computing a block with these.

But for fun, getting the hash rate, as in, how long it takes to compute 1 hash, would be something funny to note. Wait to discover a block? not worth it.

I think a human used to take about 3 days to get 1 hash done, but that was before with much lower difficulty.

[Searing]

Here is something from way back in 2013!

Mining Bitcoin on a Nintendo!

https://hackaday.com/2013/03/25/mining-bitcoins-on-a-nintendo/

So the question becomes, is this unit still working through all the updates since then, including the 'unexpected hard fork' back in the day?

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-mine-bitcoin-with-your-mac/

The above is also 2013. Blows my mind how many Bitcoin you could mine with 'regular'  ASIC equipment in 2013!

Anyway, just an aside.

Brad

[Dabs]

Not new, but I think Samsung had some S5s or S6s phones were mining too. This was maybe a couple of years ago, when the new S7s and S8s came out, so you could recycle old Samsung phones as miners.

[Searing]

The only thing I may do is I have a lot of work wiring and other stuff in my basement. I may just toss up a couple of KNC Titan Scrypt Miners and mine some LTC like back in the day...maybe even put up the old KNC Jupiter BTC miner from 2013....let see...I think that would generate about 3300 watts or some such, along with the regular basement ceiling mounted 'space heater' I seem to know have to put up..now that I'm not mining since 2013. I mean they are very crummy space heaters..but at least I'd get SOMETHING back out of the beasties..even if just pennies!

I really liked all those years since 2013 putting electricity in one end and getting massive amounts of BTC/Crypto worth out the other end. People are like, if you are bored now, make a new business. Yeah, right, like I can find another business where I do the above and make what I did home and data hall mining at 10c kWh again. Damn hard for lightning to strike twice!

[taserz]

ti-84 please

[o_solo_miner]

ti-99 4A there was a programing cartridge with it (if I remeber corectly).