Hey guys, I'm pretty bored right now till I get released from the newbie section so I thought I'd write a little guide, to help people get started in Mining.

I figured it would be easier for people to start CPU Mining to begin with, then they can move onto GPU mining, once they feel comfortable.

Note: CPU mining is pretty pointless, the reason I'm writing this guide is to help people get started with the basics, I tried mining on a single core CPU laptop, it was absolutely pointless, and I run the risk of overheating my laptop and I basically got no where, if you want to be a dedicated miner, I recommend buying/using a rig fitted with a GPU.

With that out of the way, let's begin..

So I presume you're using the latest Ubuntu edition which is, 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) If you're using Windows, there are guides you can follow on here

We are going to be using a command line miner called "CPUMiner" - Don't worry if you don't feel comfortable using the terminal, and want to use GUI's. - It's really easy
Besides, you're using Linux, almost everything is done in the Terminal for quicker tasks

Open up the terminal, and we want to install some dependencies for CPUMiner,
Type..
Press "Y" to continue installing, Once done, go to this page..

http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=1925.0

And extract the folder to your Desktop.
Now back in the terminal, type:
Example of recent version..

Now we need to install it from source.
Back in the terminal, type:

Hopefully no errors will occur, which means we successfully installed from source.
Now whenever you want to use CPUMiner, we can call it anywhere from the /bin/ dir. - Don't worry if you don't understand, It's not needed

Now back in the terminal, type:

We're just going to be using the minimal switch arguments, which is --URL - For the Mining Pool we want to join to start mining.
And: --userpass Username:Password for the worker which is assigned to the pool. Again don't worry if you don't understand, it will all become clear

This is the Mining pool I use:- https://mining.bitcoin.cz/
As you can see on their homepage, the URL is right in front of your eyes after you scroll down a bit We will use this in CPUMiner, it is as follows:

Now register yourself an account on Bitcoin.cz, once done, assign a new worker - This will be used for the Username:Password in CPUMiner.
A worker is as follows: So mine could be:
This is the full username followed by : Then the password.
So to wrap this up and get the CPUminer running for you. Type in the Terminal:

Replace Conch.MiningPool:Password - To your own Username and Password.

It should start calculating your hashes and you're off
There will be a few messages pop up, like the status of your Mining progress, from "Yay!!!" - for Good (Working well) & "Boooo" - For bad, (basically meaning you're mining for nothing because it isn't working This could be because of a wrong password or other problem though.)

And that wraps it all up, I hope you learn something from this tutorial
I also can't stress this enough, if you want to earn cash in your back pocket, please consider upgrading for a GPU/power rig

If you found this tutorial useful please feel free to drop me a little BTC, every penny, ahem.. BTC counts :
. - I'll do my best to bring more tutorials.

Regards,
~Conch.