I dont really care about profits with this s9 it got it for barely 100 bucks. i have good asics that i expect profit from. this s9 is a sorta toy to mess around with because i am interested in how bitcoin works on a technical level, from what i understand it that miners connect to nodes so that the nodes can tell miners what to mine without nodes the miners would be bricks.
But from what i am hearing is that bitcoin core nodes don't natively support just strait up miners connecting to them and mining right away. In this regard i am confused because how else would this be done?
Ignore the nay-sayers. This is a fun and valuable exercise that every bitcoin mining enthusiast should try at some point. Bitcoin core does have a stratum server that miners require. You need some additional software -- just build and run ckpool on your node. It was recently updated for this exact purpose.
https://bitbucket.org/ckolivas/ckpool-solo/src/solobtc/good luck!