Alt-coins are exactly that, alternatives crytocurrencies. So yes, litecoins would be an example. You can see all of the others here. As for mining, in a few short months (maybe more), when ASIC's are more common it will be even more difficult than it is right now to mine with a GPU. If you can get an ASIC early you could do quite well but of course, when a bunch of people have them it'll be just as hard to mine with an ASIC as it is to with a GPU currently. While mining could be profitable for you, it would take quite some time to pay of the equipment you bought as the difficulty rate will just keep rising making your returns less and less. Not to mention electricity, if you're electricity costs a lot that just means that your going to have an even more difficult time paying off that equipment.
Thanks for the insights and info. The question that comes to mind is whether the decreasing rate of returns is going to make BTC and other crypto-currencies fall in value. The reason I wonder about this is that if the returns on mining efforts decline, more people might decide to abandon the whole thing, leaving the fixed number of BTC in people's hands. But, then again (I'm thinking out loud here), as people fall away from the mining then the returns might improve. Perhaps this really is a market in action.
Maybe the best way to get started in BTC is to develop a faster mining rig, take advance cash-on-the-barrelhead orders, and enjoy the money coming in while you ship the products out. Too bad I'm not a computer engineer.
