Introduction:
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[[Category:Networking]]
[[Category:Networking]]
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−
[[Wikipedia:Bitcoin|Bitcoin]] is a
peer-to-peer currency
.
Peer-
to
-peer means that no central authority issues new
money
or tracks
transactions
. These tasks are managed collectively by
the network.
+
[[Wikipedia:Bitcoin|Bitcoin]] is a
decentralized P2P electronic cash system without a central server or trusted parties
.
Users hold the cryptographic keys
to
their own
money
and make
transactions
directly with each other, with the help of
the network
to check for double-spending. Bitcoins, usually denoted by BTC (i.e. '144 BTC'), can also be traded for real money, such as US dollars
.
−
==
Installation
==
+
==
Introduction
==
−
You can install [https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?q=bitcoin
-
qt bitcoin
-
qt] or [https://www
.
archlinux
.
org/packages/?q=bitcoin-daemon bitcoin-daemon] from [https://wiki.archlinux.org/index
.
php/Community Community]
.
+
The Bitcoin network runs on peer
-
to
-
peer networking, digital signatures and cryptographic proof to make and verify transactions
.
Nodes broadcast transactions to the network, which records them in a public record of all transactions, called the block chain
.
A '''block''' is a record of some or all of the most recent Bitcoin transactions that have not yet been recorded in any prior blocks
.
In order to preserve the integrity of the block chain, each block in the chain confirms the integrity of the previous one, all the way back to the first one, using hashing
.
−
To make Bitcoins please see
[[#Mining|Mining]]
+
New bitcoins are generated by the network through the process of
[[#Mining|
mining]].
Mining
involves inserting a new block into the current block chain, this is difficult because it requires generating a valid hash (in this case a large integer).
+
+
A variation in difficulty is achieved by requiring that this integer is below a certain threshold - the data in the block is perturbed by a [[Wikipedia:Cryptographic nonce|nonce value]], until the data in the block hashes to produce an integer below the threshold - which takes a lot of processing power. The threshold is set by the number of people currently mining for bitcoins so as to achieve a general speed of about 1 block every 10 minutes.
+
+
== Installation ==
+
The official Bitcoin application can be installed with the {{Pkg|bitcoin-qt}} and {{Pkg|bitcoin-daemon}} packages, available in the [[official repositories
]]
.
== How to get Bitcoins? ==
== How to get Bitcoins? ==
−
To start with
you can
visit the
[https://
freebitcoins
.
appspot
.
com
/
Bitcoin Faucet
]
to get some free coins
.
+
There are a variety of ways to acquire bitcoins:
−
More ways are listed at
[http://www.
weusecoins
.com/
getting-started
.
php We Use Coins
]
+
* Accept bitcoins as payment for goods or services.
+
* There are several services where
you can
trade them for
[https://
en
.
bitcoin
.
it
/
wiki/Buying_bitcoins traditional currency
].
+
* Find someone to trade cash for bitcoins in-person through a local directory. To find traders near you, you can use
[http://www.
tradebitcoin
.com/
bitcoin
.
local
]
or a [http://www.bitcoinmap.com/ bitcoin map].
+
* Participate in a [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Pooled_mining mining pool].
+
* If you have very good hardware, you can solo mine and attempt to create a new block (currently yields 50 bitcoins).
−
== Mining ==
+
For those who are just getting started
,
you can visit
the [https://
freebitcoins
.
appspot
.com/
Bitcoin Faucet
] to
get some free coins
.
For
more
details and other ways of making Bitcoins see
[http://www.weusecoins.com/
getting
-
started
.php
We Use Coins
].
−
{{Note|Mining is only really commercially viable with decent hardware
,
for a comparison of hardware and their performance see
the [https://
en
.
bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison bitcoin.it wiki]. To see if your setup is viable use a [http://bitcoinx
.com/
profit/ Profit Calculator
]
}}
+
−
Mining is the process of creating Bitcoins, mining requires the use of a 'Miner', which is program used
to
create Bitcoins
.
+
−
To learn
more
about mining please read this
[http://www.weusecoins.com/
mining
-
guide
.php
article
].
+
−
There are several Bitcoin
Miners
in the AUR:
+
=== Mining ===
−
* {{App|
cgminer
|
multi-threaded multi-pool CPU and GPU miner
for
bitcoin
|
https
://
github
.
com
/
ckolivas/cgminer
|{{AUR|
cgminer
}}}}
+
{{Note|Mining is only really commercially viable with decent hardware, for a comparison of hardware and their performance see the [https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison bitcoin.it wiki]. To see if your setup is viable use a [http://bitcoinx.com/profit/ Profit Calculator].}}
−
* {{App|
phoenix-miner
|
efficient, fast, modular, python
-
based, OpenCL
GPU
Bitcoin Miner
|https://github.com/
jedi95
/
Phoenix-Miner
|{{AUR|
phoenix-miner-svn
}}}}
+
−
* {{App|
bitcoin
-
daemon-cuda|The Bitcoin daemon with CUDA support so modern NVidia GPUs can be used effectively
|http://
www
.bitcoin
.org
/|{{AUR|
bitcoin
-
daemon-cuda
}}}}
+
The basic concept of Bitcoin mining is that there's a little chunk of each block that contains meaningless random data. Bitcoin miners take all the data in the current top block, shuffle up that random chunk and calculate the hash of the whole thing, repeating this until they obtain a valid block. While hashes are easy to reproduce, they're impossible to predict and they seem to function completely randomly, so the miner has no way of predicting what chunk of random data will produce what hash.
−
* {{App|
cpuminer
|
multi
-
threaded CPU Miner for bitcoin
|
http
://
yyz
.
us
/
bitcoin
/|{{AUR|
cpuminer
-
git
}}}}
+
+
Mining requires the use of a ''miner'', which is program used compute the required hashes and thus to create Bitcoins. To learn more about mining please read this [http://www.weusecoins.com/mining-guide.php article].
+
+
There are several Bitcoin
miners
in the
[[
AUR
]]
:
+
* {{App|
Bitcoin CUDA
|
A version of the official Bitcoin daemon with CUDA support (
for
Nvidia GPUs).
|
http
://
www
.
bitcoin.org
/|{{AUR|
bitcoin-daemon-cuda
}}}}
+
* {{App|
CGMiner
|
A multi
-
threaded multi-pool CPU and
GPU
miner.
|https://github.com/
ckolivas
/
cgminer
|{{AUR|
cgminer
}}}}
+
* {{App|
cpuminer|A multi
-
threaded CPU Miner.
|http://
yyz
.
us/
bitcoin/|{{AUR|
cpuminer
-
git
}}}}
+
* {{App|
Phoenix Miner
|
An efficient, fast, modular, python
-
based, OpenCL GPU miner.
|
https
://
github
.
com
/
jedi95
/
Phoenix-Miner
|{{AUR|
phoenix
-
miner-svn
}}}}
== Sample config file ==
== Sample config file ==
−
Edit this
file
according
to
your needs and place it in
~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
then chmod 600 on it.
+
An example of a configuration
file
for {{Pkg|bitcoin-qt}} can be seen below. Make sure
to
set the mode of the file to {{ic|600}} using:
−
pre
>
+
# chmod 600
~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf
+
+
{{hc|~/.bitcoin/bitcoin.conf|
nowiki
>
# bitcoin.conf configuration file. Lines beginning with # are comments.
# bitcoin.conf configuration file. Lines beginning with # are comments.
Line 115:
Line 130:
# Minimize to the system tray
# Minimize to the system tray
#minimizetotray=1
#minimizetotray=1
−
+
nowiki
>
}}
−
pre
>
+
== External Links ==
== External Links ==
−
* http://www.bitcoin.org/
|
Official Website
+
*
[
http://www.bitcoin.org/ Official
Bitcoin
Website
]
−
* https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page
|
Wiki
+
*
[
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Main_Page
Bitcoin.it
Wiki
]
−
* http://forum.bitcoin.org/
|
Forum
+
*
[
http://forum.bitcoin.org/
Bitcoin
Forum
]
* IRC Channels on Freenode :
* IRC Channels on Freenode :
−
** #bitcoin (General Bitcoin-related)
+
**
'''
#bitcoin
'''
(General Bitcoin-related)
−
**
#bitcoin-dev (Development and technical)
+
**
'''
#bitcoin-dev
'''
(Development and technical)
−
**
#bitcoin-otc (Over The Counter exchange)
+
**
'''
#bitcoin-otc
'''
(Over The Counter exchange)
−
**
#bitcoin-market (Live quotes from markets)
+
**
'''
#bitcoin-market
'''
(Live quotes from markets)
−
**
#bitcoin-mining (GPU mining related)
+
**
'''
#bitcoin-mining
'''
(GPU mining related)