Cgminer is a combined FPGA and ASIC bitcoin miner written in C, cross platform for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X, with stratum support, remote interface capabilities, support for multiple simultaneous mining devices, and advanced caching and detection algorithms that maximize cryptocoin mining efficiency. Hello @FabulousPanda i tried to configure the BFG miner on GPU to mine litecoin (i know, its nonprofitable, but i need to teach it for other devices) on litecoinpool.org. I have the newest High Sierra on the MacBook Pro Late 2014 with NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2 GB.

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Here are several issues I ran into during the one-month bitcoin mining experiment. The hardware and software config are detailed in that post.

P: High number of “HW Error” messages with DiabloMiner.
S: Switched to cgminer. It does not appear to have this problem using the exact same hardware.

P: Fans on the Sapphire 7950 get noisy at various speeds.
S: Configured a maximum fan speed of 60% and allowed cgminer to adjust the GPU engine as required to meet the temperature target.

P: Large number of video artifacts while mining.
S: This appears to be heat related. Kept GPU temps below 80 C using increased ventilation and allowed cgminer to automatically adjust GPU engine speed to reduce temps as in the command line above.

P: In Windows 8, cgminer would mysteriously hang after several hours of normal operation.
S: Switched to Linux. Have not experienced a single hang since switching to Linux using the exact same hardware configuration. Note: I have since tried running a similar hardware configuration using cgminer 3.1.1 on Windows and it appears stable.

P: Wanted cgminer script to start automatically when the GUI desktop starts, but Ubuntu Startup Applications does not like having a shell script as a parameter.
S: Started gnome-terminal and created a desktop profile with the shell script as a “Run a custom command” option.

Then added the gnome-terminal command to Startup Applications, e.g.

P: cgminer would fail to connect to mining pools upon restart.
S: Added a 5 second delay with sleep command in the shell script to give the network a chance to initialize. e.g.

P: Ubuntu Task Bar Disappears after installing drivers wtih –force
S: Use Ctrl-Alt-F2 to get a new terminal window. Delete configuration file and reboot.

P: In Ubuntu, after applying the normal software updates or adding/changing a graphics adapter, the GUI desktop no longer starts.
S: Used “e” option at boot menu to edit boot parameters. Added “text” to the end of the boot options line. This allowed me to log in and reinstall the ATI Catalyst drivers from the command line. In one case had to use the –force parameter to get the drivers installed. See the command line below.

P: Added or reconfigured a new GPU, and then cannot get to the GUI in Ubuntu.
S: Reinstall ATI drivers, run aticonfig –adapter=all –initial, reboot.

Overview - Table of Contents

You will learn (1) how bitcoin mining works, (2) how to start mining bitcoins,

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(3) what the best bitcoin mining software is, (4) what the best bitcoin mining hardware is, (5) where to find the best bitcoin mining pools and (6) how to optimize your bitcoin earnings.

Bitcoin mining is difficult to do profitably but if you try then this Bitcoin miner is probably a good shot.

How Bitcoin Mining Works

Before you start mining Bitcoin, it's useful to understand what Bitcoin mining really means. Bitcoin mining is legal and is accomplished by running SHA256 double round hash verification processes in order to validate Bitcoin transactions and provide the requisite security for the public ledger of the Bitcoin network. The speed at which you mine Bitcoins is measured in hashes per second.

The Bitcoin network compensates Bitcoin miners for their effort by releasing bitcoin to those who contribute the needed computational power. This comes in the form of both newly issued bitcoins and from the transaction fees included in the transactions validated when mining bitcoins. The more computing power you contribute then the greater your share of the reward.

Sometimes you may want to mine a more volatile altcoin like MWC which is superior for scalability, privacy, anonymity and fungibility by utilizing MimbleWimble in the base layer.

With mainnet launching in November 2019 it has risen from $0.22 to over $8.00 in its first two months.

Step 1 - Get The Best Bitcoin Mining Hardware

Purchasing Bitcoins - In some cases, you may need to purchase mining hardware with bitcoins. Today, you can purchase most hardware on Amazon. You also may want to check the bitcoin charts.

How To Start Bitcoin Mining

To begin mining bitcoins, you'll need to acquire bitcoin mining hardware. In the early days of bitcoin, it was possible to mine with your computer CPU or high speed video processor card. Today that's no longer possible. Custom Bitcoin ASIC chips offer performance up to 100x the capability of older systems have come to dominate the Bitcoin mining industry.

Bitcoin mining with anything less will consume more in electricity than you are likely to earn. It's essential to mine bitcoins with the best bitcoin mining hardware built specifically for that purpose. Several companies such as Avalon offer excellent systems built specifically for bitcoin mining. Mac install jdk 8.

Best Bitcoin Cloud Mining Services

Another option is to purchase in Bitcoin cloud mining contracts. This greatly simplifies the process but increases risk because you do not control the actual physical hardware.

Being listed in this section is NOT an endorsement of these services. There have been a tremendous amount of Bitcoin cloud mining scams.

Hashflare Review: Hashflare offers SHA-256 mining contracts and more profitable SHA-256 coins can be mined while automatic payouts are still in BTC. Customers must purchase at least 10 GH/s.

Genesis Mining Review: Genesis Mining is the largest Bitcoin and scrypt cloud mining provider. Genesis Mining offers three Bitcoin cloud mining plans that are reasonably priced. Zcash mining contracts are also available.

Hashing 24 Review: Hashing24 has been involved with Bitcoin mining since 2012. They have facilities in Iceland and Georgia. They use modern ASIC chips from BitFury deliver the maximum performance and efficiency possible.

Minex Review: Minex is an innovative aggregator of blockchain projects presented in an economic simulation game format. Users purchase Cloudpacks which can then be used to build an index from pre-picked sets of cloud mining farms, lotteries, casinos, real-world markets and much more.

Minergate Review: Offers both pool and merged mining and cloud mining services for Bitcoin.

Hashnest Review: Hashnest is operated by Bitmain, the producer of the Antminer line of Bitcoin miners. HashNest currently has over 600 Antminer S7s for rent. You can view the most up-to-date pricing and availability on Hashnest's website. At the time of writing one Antminer S7's hash rate can be rented for $1,200.

Bitcoin Cloud Mining Review: Currently all Bitcoin Cloud Mining contracts are sold out.

NiceHash Review: NiceHash is unique in that it uses an orderbook to match mining contract buyers and sellers. Check its website for up-to-date prices.

Eobot Review: Start cloud mining Bitcoin with as little as $10. Eobot c