Topic: [Tutorial] Getting started with Cryptocurrencies [Wallet, Pool, CGminer setup] (Read 5885 times)

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Updated

Let's get started with Crypto!

In this article we'll cover all you need to know to get started with Cryptocurrency!
-Coin Wallet setup and use
-Mining with CGminer
-Pool mining setup
-Receiving your mined coins


We're going to use the new altcoin, Coino to demonstrate.
First off, we need to download the Coino wallet. This is where you receive and send Coino (CON).
This can be found at the official Coino website Coino.org.
Windows Wallet Mac Wallet Linux Wallet


Once you have downloaded and extracted the appropriate client, run Coino-qt.exe.


If you have no active connections to the network (shown in the bottom right) you will need to do the following:

Navigate to C:/users/*Youruser*/appdata/roaming/coino - You may need to allow viewing of hidden folders to do so.




Create a new text document and input:
Now save as coino.conf, under all file types.
This will save as a .CONF file. If not, you will need to repeat and make sure you change the drop-down "Text document" to "All file types" when saving.


Restart Coino-QT and now your wallet client will connect and download the blockchain.




You're now ready to start receiving and sending funds!


Feel free to create a new wallet. You can encrypt your wallets with a password under the "settings" tab. This is recommended.
To receive funds, you simply need your receiving address, found under the "Receive coins" tab. We'll explain this once we've started mining and have some coins.
To send Coino, you need the address that will be receiving the funds. Navigate to the "send funds" tab, input the desired amount of Coino, and the address. Click "send". It's that easy! The Coino will be credited and in the other persons wallet in under 1 minute!




Now we'll get started mining!

We can mine using our processors (CPU mining) which is quite inefficient, or our video cards/GPUs (GPU mining) which is most profitable. In this article we'll focus on GPU mining.
You can CPU mine directly in the Coino wallet client by navigating to the console, entering "setgenerate true" and hitting enter.
As I mentioned, this is highly inefficient and should only be done if you have no other option. There are also mining programs, such as poolers CPU miner, which are slightly more efficient. If you are forced to CPU mine, you should look into these.

We can mine in a group, called a pool, where we combine our effort and split the profits. This is called pool mining, and is the best option for most people. Mining alone without a pool is called "solo mining" and is often very hard to turn a profit as the coin becomes harder to create.

We will need to download a mining program.


The most widely used, and arguably the best, is CGminer. We will use CGminer for the purpose of this article. Version 3.7.2 or earlier is required for mining Scrypt coins. >>>Download<<<

If you're looking to get started mining right away, and don't care about efficiency, try GUIminer (click). It will get you started quickly, but is much less efficient (You will only make ~80% as many coins). If you go with GUIMiner, read through this guide first.


Extract CGminer. We'll be back to it in a moment.



Remember how I mentioned mining in a group, or pool? Now we have to find you one.


Right now it's possible to still find blocks solo, and thus generate coins. However you will not make nearly as much as if you were mining in a pool, where you "pool" your resources and split the profits.

There are many pools to choose from. Remember, more users in a pool =/= more money. PLEASE SPREAD OUT AND DON'T USE ALL THE SAME POOL!
Find one that suits your individual needs. Here are some endorsed by Coinoforum:


I chose to go with con.poolers.org. It's run by a great admin, is very stable and has a great bunch of miners.

On the left, you will see an option to Log in, view Pool statistics, etc. There is an option to "sign up" which you will need to click.



Enter a username, email, password, and accept the terms and conditions. Very important: remember your PIN! You will need it to make any account changes, and also to withdraw any mined coins! When everything looks good, hit register and then log in. My username is "OceanWhispers".


Navigate to the "edit account" tab on the left. Under "Payment address" enter the receive address that you created in your Coino-QT wallet client. This is for sending yourself the coins.


We're almost ready to start mining! One last thing to do on the pool. Now that you're logged in, find the tab on the left that says "My Workers", and click.

You will need to create at least one worker to start mining. A 'worker' is the go-to point between your mining rig and the pool. I recommend using one worker per mining rig.
If the pool uses variable difficulty (VARDIFF) it is important to use one worker per rig in order to attain the correct difficulty.
I went with worker name "con" and password "concon".


Go to the tab "getting started" on the left, under "HELP"
Make note of the URL and port, in this case: stratum+tcp://stratum.poolers.org:3343




Let's get mining!

Now we have everything we need to mine.

Start up CGminer. You will be prompted to enter a pool address:


Enter the address and port you just got from your pool. "stratum+tcp://stratum.poolers.org:3343"

Next you will be asked for your username. It needs to be entered in this format: Username.workername. So for me: Oceanwhispers.Con, Hit Enter.

And now you are asked for your password: concon, hit enter.




Voila! You're mining!
You can fine tune your graphics cards for better performance, but you're basically done!
Hit S, to get to settings. Now hit W to save settings. Hit Enter to save. Now when you restart, your pool will be already entered.



Walk away and make money!



How to withdraw your minted Coino


So now you've made some coins and you're ready to move them off of your pool's account. There are a couple ways we can do this.

The first is manually. Log in to your pool. https://con.poolers.org/index.php?page=dashboard
You can see your hashrate, how many coins you've minted, estimates of how many coins you will make, as well as some other great info on the Pools dashboard.


When you have some coins you want to move to your wallet, navigate to the "edit account" page, where you previously entered your Coino address for receiving funds. You will notice a table on the right entitled "cash out".


This box contains the current number of confirmed coins, your payment address, and an empty box. You will need to enter your PIN, and hit Cash out. Tada! You will have coins in your wallet in under one minute!




The other method is setting up automatic payouts. Travel back to the Edit Account page.
Under the "payout address" field, where you entered your receive address earlier, you will see "AUTOMATIC PAYOUT THRESHOLD". If you would like to be payed automatically every time you've minted a certain amount of coins, enter that number here. I have mine pay out every 50 CON.




This method makes a completely hands-free mining experience! Set and forget!




That's about it!

If there is interest I will write a tutorial on how to secure your coins in cold storage, and other safe methods such as in a wallet in a Virtual Machine.

There are other options than CGminer. SGminer, Litecoin BAMT, and GUIminer are other options. There are a few more, although CGminer is the staple.

As I mentioned earlier, you can now fine tune your GPUs, or start fiddling with other miners.
 You will need to edit the cgminer.conf file. This file was created when you saved your settings earlier.
Each GPU is different and requires different settings for optimization. Default settings will work fine though.

Feel free to contact me if you want help configuring your GPUs.

.conf settings can be found for all popular GPUs on Bitcointalk.org and similar places.

If you found this helpful, feel free to donate:
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