Topic: BitPenny.com: Sustainable Mining (NEW: Open-Source Client) (Read 17171 times)

Well the last block was ~800 hours ago. 800/24= ~33 days, so yes.

So is my pool connection correct in that the last block was 4-28-12?

I've merged BitPennyd with the latest 0.5.x branch to bring it up to speed. This is not affected by the bad blocks issue, and has many other bugfixes made to bitcoind since BitPennyd was originally released (it was based on a 0.5.1 RC):
    https://github.com/luke-jr/bitcoin/tree/bitpenny

They appear as mined (coinbase transaction).

How do payouts appear in the wallet do they show as mined or from an address?
Thank you for your help

Got fixed up on IRC. I wish I knew why it didn't work initally. It is working now and I am happy with it.
Thanks ForceMajeure for helping me!

Askit2,

Could you please pm me on irc or join #bitpenny channel (http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=bitpenny).

Thanks,
ForceMajeure

Debug.log has this in it from most recent run:

Bitcoin version 0.5.1-beta
Default data directory C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\BitPenny
Bound to port 8332
Loading addresses...
dbenv.open strLogDir=C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\BitPenny/database strErrorFile=C:\Users\\AppData\Roaming\BitPenny/db.log
Loaded 0 addresses
 addresses               807ms
Loading block index...
LoadBlockIndex(): hashBestChain=0000000000000184a46e  height=164058


************************
EXCEPTION: NSt8ios_base7failureE       
CAutoFile::read : end of file       
C:\Users\\Desktop\bitpennyd.exe in AppInit()

Nothing in DB.log this time. Last time it referenced addr.dat. All User names match. Db files not being in their folder is odd but I believe it finds them. I know older windows would allow either slash to make a folder it looks as though win 7 does not.

I ment no offense by it. I just ment when I download the entire thing as one big zip I have two folders that would seem like they should have executables. They did not. I had hoped the x86_64 would work natvely as a 64 bit application but I suppose I was mistaken. I apparently did not check the win32 file I am sorry for wasting your time with that. Of course the other two are for linux. Thank you for helping me I am sorry I missed the working executable while looking for 64 bit support.

That having been said. I get this error running it on the command prompt

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7601]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\BitPenny\bin\win32>bitpennyd.exe


************************
EXCEPTION: 11DbException
Db::open: Invalid argument
C:\BitPenny\bin\win32\bitpennyd.exe in AppInit()

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'DbException'
  what():  Db::open: Invalid argument

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

C:\BitPenny\bin\win32>

DB files are not being placed in DB folder because of a wrong slash. all \ exccept last one that is programatically put in is /.Finally windows asked about the firewall. At least it got farther then before. Well any idea what I can do to fix it. I have tried deleting the DB forcing it to recreate it. Also tried running by double clicking but as it doesn't keep running that is not helpful. Should I run some command before trying to execute this executable?

looked up the switches none say required but adding a couple got me this error

EXCEPTION: N5boost16exception_detail10clone_implINS0_19error_info_injectorINS_6system12sys tem_errorEEEEE      
bind: An attempt was made to access a socket in a way forbidden by its access permissions      
C:\Users\\Desktop\bitpennyd.exe in ThreadRPCServer()

Any Idea what is wrong? It makes a wallet.dat then dies immediately after. Well dies immediately after starting threadRPC server.

If I copy the BLKindex.dat file into bitpenny from my wallet I can get this error still not running.

************************
EXCEPTION: NSt8ios_base7failureE      
CAutoFile::read : end of file

Well hope to get this setup at some point but so far it isn't.
Above error also happens with run as admin. Assumed it didn't require that as it would have acess beyond "Sandboxed" area.

Bitpennyd is a client that is based on bitcoind (the bitcoin daemon), the GUI part applies to bitcoin but not to bitpenny.  The executable is provided by us (the same people who provide the source) at https://github.com/ForceMajeure/BitPenny-Client/tree/master/bin/win32
I hope that helps a bit.

Ok so somewhere in the 3 lines of text that scroll way off notepad and frequently have missing spaces there is a way to somehow compile it.
why is it the README_Windows.txt is even there if that other text doc is the one for windows.....
second i see several things that could be code but like I said seems to be missing spaces. Either that or I have 0 idea what it is supposed to say as notepad seems to only see 3 Carrige returns. Apparently it will show with proper lines in IE. Really wish I had thought of that last night. Just an aside why if the ready to build versions are available do they have so many additional things in them I guess I do need some bitcoin software. I can get it sepearately but I do appreciate it being available but why mix up the files. The multiple read me's seem more confusing then required as it would seem by moving the bitcoin service compile files into a folder the bitpenny files into a folder and the compiler into a folder you could have instructions in the relevent files that would be far easier to understand then this. Although if the .txt files opened correctly with notepad it may be far more understandable. I guess I really was hoping to avoid the IRC channel to get an executable. I have to rely on someone there to have not monkeyed with the source. I suppose the same could be said for the default source provided but if the same person where providing source and executables maybe it would be simpler or at least give me less cause for concern. Still I appreciate the help just wish I could open with  other text editors and view correctly. But I understand this would likely break viewing on Linux or unix. Sadly it seems far easier to build on linux.Well I am rambling off to try to piece together the instructions and hope I get something this time.

Now I see how I got off I read to this line then moved to the other file as indicated hoping for a GUI.
See readme-qt.rst for instructions on building Bitcoin QT, thegraphical user interface. I am going to assume this is not a GUI for the service.

Where is the mingW332 that it assures me is on C:? I assume I have to get it from somewhere but what version it does not say. Also the dependencies all but one indicate a mingw version but I can find none I assume is tar.gz but again I am guessing.

Askit2,

Bitpenny is a daemon and does not support QT.  Please see build-msw.txt for dependencies (substituting "bitpennyd" for "bitcoind" where necessary), and use src/makefile.bitpenny.mingw to build.  You can also join our IRC channel for live help, or download a Windows binary directly.

Good luck, and welcome to BitPenny!

After obtaining bitpenny V0.4.0.1 and decpmpressing it to another location. I installed Notepadd++ to read the installation file. I downloaded the linked dependencies. I downloaded and installed QT SDK 2.4.0 based on QT 4.7.4. I copied the dependencies into the folder as stated in the directions after decompressing them. I am running windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. My results for a build ctrl+b are as follows and fails:
Several Unescaped backslashes are Deprecated.(should still compile even using older code)
Several included file issues. ( likely that missing files are wallet related problems)
Several critical errors on boost.( this may be why it will not compile. but when I copied the files into the nclude folder as specified it should avoid this one. except it explicitly states that the files missing are wallet related files.)
Several critical errors on openSSL File not found.
dbcxxFile or folder not found.
ISO C++ forbids declaration of boost without type.
Tons in serialize.H.
ctx was not declared in scope.
sha256 was not declared in scope.
ripemd160 was not declared in scope.
sort is not a memeber of std.
Forbids declaration of bn_ctx with no type.
expected ';' before boot
and there are more. Is there a way to copy all the errors and submit them or what direction was not followed correctly to make these errors. If I was guessing I would say the include files are not being included and the code base is for a previous iteration of QT SDK but as I have no notation of what revision to use I have toassume that the old code would not break the compile. This really reminds me of instructions on how to compile VB 5 code after VB.NET came out.
Thanks for your help!

UPDATE AVAILABLE

BitPenny Client version 0.4.0.1 (2011-12-12)

• updated codebase to bitcoin 0.5.1
• gitian build enabled
• built-in block monitor (see sample config)

Please update your bitpenny.conf files to point to the new poolhost address:

The old address will be disabled on November 13th.

Using GUIMiner with BitPenny:

BitPenny now uses a custom local client.  To connect to BitPenny using GUIMiner, please do not use the BitPenny pool default options.  Instead, select "Other" for the server, set the host to "localhost" (or the location of your BitPenny client) and set the port to the one that you specified in bitpenny.conf

Windows and Linux binaries are now available at https://github.com/ForceMajeure/BitPenny-Client/tree/master/bin

BitPenny Client is Now Open Source

Thanks for the encouragement!  We are working on getting the code ready for open source and look forward to having you on board once it's ready!

BitPenny idea is awesome! But isn't open source?!   

Well, I'll never try it... Until it becomes full open source... Sorry...

Anyway, good luck to you guys!!

For the good of Bitcoins!

Cheers!
Thiago

Correct, 1 bitpenny = .01 BTC, and the BitPenny Bonus is equivalent to 1 bitcoin.

How about defining "bitpenny"? Logically speaking, I would assume it is 0.01 BTC, in which case you're offering 1 BTC?

BitPenny Bonus
For the next 5 blocks solved by BitPenny, the miner who solves the block will receive 100 extra bitpennies.

Thanks for the feedback.  The stale percentage can be lowered even further by lowering the getwork rate to 1 second (or less if supported by the miner).  The theoretical stale rate at 1 block per 10 minutes and 1 second per getwork is 1/600, or .16666%; we've been able to achieve a stale rate of .16725% over a period of 30 hours.



The source will absolutely be opened whenever BitPenny gains enough hashing power to pose a concern.  We are also considering opening it earlier, but will need time to carefully review and refine the code to reduce the possibility of attacks on the server.


Thank you for being an early adopter!  We are actively seeking more miners and hope to see a more comfortable hash rate in the near future.

I have been pointing some miners to bitpenny for the last day or so and I can say it has been working well.  My effective hashrate (based on found shares) has been a bit more spikey with difficulty 8 work units, but that is to be expected.  My 24 hour averages are right where they should be and my % stales are as low as on any pool I've used (~0.3%).

The closed source binary isn't ideal, but doesn't bother me all that much.   I do hope that the daemon will be opened up at some point, but I wouldn't review it line by line even if it was, so it makes little difference to me, personally.  I have it installed on an isolated mining rig that has no wallet or other data to steal (not that I have any reason to believe it would try).

I hope others will find bitpenny appealing and the combined hash rate will increase to a sustainable level (15 GH/s is not enough, IMHO, given the current difficulty).  I also wish the fee was 1% instead of 3%, but I understand that until the pool grows large, it may not be possible to cover costs with only 1% fees.

I like the concept of pools like bitpenny and p2pool which allow people to pool their efforts without putting the network at risk by centralizing too much power over the blockchain.

After chatting with OneFixt about it, his system is actually more like a CPPSRB (Capped Pay Per Share with Recent Backpay), which is a super-simple and elegant exception to the CPPS*B model. The difference from RSMPPS is that RSMPPS will pay every share during the round some fraction proportionally if it hits no-more-funds (and make up the difference recent-later), whereas CPPSRB (BitPenny) will just discard (for payment later) the oldest shares for the current round in order to pay the more recent ones in full.

BitPenny draws its fee from the poolcredit buffer while distributing the block rewards among outstanding shares (this is stated on the website).  BitPenny was designed before the RSMPPS definition was posted online, so it was not designed to fit under that definition.  The resemblance is coincidental.

I appreciate the goals. I just wonder if it really is a good idea to keep the source closed. Even to gain traction. Keeping it closed could easily cost you a lot of the traction you could get otherwise. For myself, as it is, I have no interest to move my miners to your pool. The fee combined with the closed source binary blop mean that your pool has nothing to offer me that I don't already get from Eligius (or Arsbitcoin).

- Joel

Care to explain the difference? I don't see one.

Sandboxed software cannot steal your wallet.

Thanks for pointing that out, the shares are based upon 97% of the expected value.  I changed the wording on the website to reflect this.

BitPenny was inspired by the bitcoind client, merging the accessibility, convenience, and network-supporting effects of local mining with the advantages of using a pool.  I understand your concerns about the binary; as stated on the BitPenny website, the bitpennyd source will be released after BitPenny has had a chance to grow and gain traction.

Sukrim, welcome and thanks for your comments!


In this case, it would take more good luck for the backlog of outstanding shares to be fully paid.  Transaction fees would also help to pay for these older shares over time.


The Delayed PPS model was developed independently, but does bear close resemblance to RSMPPS.  Since the way that the pool credit buffer is distributed may differ somewhat from what is implied by RSMPPS, I've chosen to use a different name and to explain the details.  The general idea, however, is the same.


While earned shares do not expire, getworks become stale normally and prevent this issue from arising.


Each client submits winning blocks directly to the bitcoin network.  Blocks are verified against a local copy of the block chain using the standard ProcessBlock function, and any attempt by the server to double-spend or fork the chain would result in a block rejected by the client.

You can monitor the transactions locally as they come in by setting setprintblocks to true and observing the debug.log file:


The code will be opened up when BitPenny's hashing power gets big enough to be of concern, and miners will have the ability to implement finer controls at that point.


The fees go towards paying for servers and bandwidth, development, and support.  Even though getworks are local, BitPenny uses a significant amount of bandwidth to push data to its nodes.  We also offer a perfect solution for CPU farms and similar users who may not be welcome in other pools due to high getwork/submission ratios.  BitPenny is an unusual pool in many ways, and the best way to see what sets it apart is to give it a try.

Did you even read the page? They clearly state that the use Difficulty 8 shares, not Difficulty 1 like most pools. On average you'll find a solution every 8 shares then

This is what confused me as well. Maybe the shares take longer to submit or something?

This is fubar in so many different ways, it's not even worth trying. Also, obligatory "binary magic software may steal my wallet".

What? 97% of expected block reward is 48.5 BTC. I doubt you get that per share, unless the share difficulty matches network difficulty (in which case you might as well be solo mining). The algorithm on the next few lines explains a more standard PPS with 3% fee scheme, but that'd be 2567 Satoshis, not 20542... If BitPenny is really paying 0.00020542 BTC per share, it really does seem tempting, but it'll go broke very fast.

I presume that BitPenny works in a way inspired by the p2pool. In that case, it truly wouldn't be a problem if the pool had over 50% hashrate. However, only providing a binary version of bitpennyd reduces the credibility of this claim to ... well 0%.

What do you do when the pool has still ~500 BTC in outstanding shares but the block reward cuts in half?!

The system you're using is RSMPPS, as far as I see it (interestingly with custom share difficulty, probably to keep pool load lower).

What I find strange is the "shares never expire" part - this would mean it's intelligent to fetch a few shares if difficulty goes down and solve them later in the future if difficulty goes up. This also means you'll have to track every share in the pool forever...?!

Also:
"BitPenny can safely support over 50% of the network without the pool operator being able to execute double-spend attacks"
is not true, as no miner can choose which transactions get included in the block he's mining without having access to the source code. I really like the fact though that you're displaying all current transactions in the current block on a page (yes, it could be faked, but it's a great start!).

What's the 3% pool fee used for? Users host their own modified bitcoind-VM. I guess there's still an central element that collects the transactions + shares, but as there are other *PPS (not pure PPS) pools out there with lower fees, you'll need some very compelling reasons to use your system (and clog up some HDD space with a VM + complete blockchain I guess).

All the best with your pool anyways, it surely seems like an interesting concept.

OneFixt has been around since the first days of pool mining (search the forums if you want to see for yourself).  He is a pioneer in pooled mining, and I will vouch for BitPenny.  Bitpenny, until it was taken down by unscrupulous assholes, was the best pool service of it's day.

Welcome back Bitpenny!

3/24/2013
BitPenny is switching to the Stratum protocol.
Please stop using BitPenny Client as it is not compatible with version 2 blocks and will no longer be supported or required.
Connection details will be published after upgrades are completed.

BitPenny Client is Now Open Source
Windows and Linux Binaries Available

BitPenny Client version 0.5.2 (2012-07-03)

• updated codebase to bitcoin 0.6.3
• fixed a bug in 0.5.1 which delayed reconnecting to the pool

---

---

First, a bit of bitcoin history.

A long, long time ago, when Slush's was the only pool in town and CPU miners battled GPUs for a piece of the proportional pie, BitPenny was born. BitPenny was different: it introduced the 0-volatility Pay-Per-Share model, instant payouts, and the most simple interface to date with only a bitcoin address required to start mining (no usernames, passwords, or registration required).  Being a pioneer in PPS - the only model where the pool risks losing its own bitcoins - BitPenny was soon forced to close due to excessive losses.  Yet, BitPenny had left its mark, and all of its innovative improvements have since been adopted, and adapted, by many pools in the bitcoin community.  

Sustainable Mining

Since the very beginning, pools have aggregated the power of thousands of individual miners, introducing centralized points of failure as well as the potential to perform chain-splitting and double-spending attacks against the bitcoin network.  BitPenny believes that it is time to pay attention to the health and security of the entire bitcoin network.  BitPenny is back.

• Cluster-friendly, allowing you to hook up an unlimited number of CPUs or GPUs.
• 0-latency work and full statistics from a sand-boxed client based on the official bitcoind.
• Strengthens the bitcoin network instead of being a central point of failure.
• Eliminates all wasted mining time with instantaneous fail-over to solo mode.
• Maintains the hashing power of the bitcoin network even in case of pool outage.
• Eliminates the 50% pool power problem - BitPenny cannot double-spend or create a fork.
• Low-variance Delayed PPS model immune to pool-hopping.
• Non-decaying shares let you disconnect without losing your work.
• Variance reduction using a pool credit buffer and transaction fees.
• As always, no registration required

Go to BitPenny.com to learn more and join the future of sustainable mining.

Join #bitpenny for help and to chat with fellow miners.