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..

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sudo apt-get install libcurl4-openssl-dev

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:

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cd Desktop/cpuminer-[VersionHere]

Example of recent version..

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cd Desktop/cpuminer-1.0.2

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

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./configure

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make

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sudo make install

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:

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minerd --help

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 Cheesy

We will use this in CPUMiner, it is as follows:

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http://api.bitcoin.cz:8332

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:

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Username:[Worker.ID]

So mine could be:

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Conch:MiningPool

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:

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minerd --url http://api.bitcoin.cz:8332 --userpass Conch.MiningPool:Password

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 Tongue

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 Cheesy

If you found this tutorial useful please feel free to drop me a little BTC, every penny, ahem.. BTC counts

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. - I'll do my best to bring more tutorials.

Regards,
~Conch.

Conch

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