Who doesn’t want to become the next cryptocurrency millionaire? One thing I can tell you in advance: Gulden (or euros) will not rain down on you with the miner described in this article. But, if you want to contribute to the philosophy behind Gulden, take your first steps in altcoin mining and/or start with a LKETC miner and Raspberry Pi? Then you’re at the right place.
Please note: Do you want to become rich in seconds? Then stop reading, cause that would be a waste of time 🙂 The miner we are going to configure isn’t profitable.
What’s mining and why is it interesting?
I do not go into depth how mining exactly works; I assume you’ve already read a bit about digital digging and put your first steps into the miners world. If you want to read more about mining, you can check this article.
To give some global clarity: All Gulden transactions are stored in the Gulden-blockchain. These transactions are verified by miners. You will probably understand: There’s no such thing as a free lunch. In exchange for checking and calculating new blocks in the blockchain a miner receives a reward. For Gulden this is 100 NLG per block.
To give some global clarity: All Gulden transactions are stored in the Gulden blockchain. These transactions are verified by miners. You will probably understand: There’s no such thing as a free lunch. In exchange for checking and calculating new blocks in the blockchain a miner receives a reward. For Gulden this is currently 100 NLG per block.
The ingredients for our cheapass Gulden miner
Free Gulden sounds good to my ears, that’s why I came up with DIY miner for as cheap as possible. To do this you need A) a miner who is responsible for processing the calculations. B) a computer that drives the miner.
For if you do not like lists: the computer in this setting will be the Raspberry Pi 3. The miner will be a the particularly cheap LKETC, imported from China.
I’ll say it again: “If you pay peanuts, you get monkey.” This miner is not profitable.
Raspberry Pi 3 starters kit
Costs around 59 euro via SOS Solutions (other design, same quality)
LKETC asic usb miner
This scrypt miner costs around 23 euro via AliExpress (220 kH/s)
Software
- Lan Scan (freeware)
- CGminer (freeware)
Other hardware
I assume you do have a keyboard + mouse (with USB connection), ethernet cable, hdmi cable and television / display with hdmi connection. If not, you can purchase starter sets with the early mentioned accessories here. Alternatively, AliExpress will be your best friend.
- USB-mouse (1,50 euro)
- Ethernetcable (1,50 euro)
- HDMI-cable (1,50 euro)
- Keyboard (9 euro)
Firstly, this explanation is for Mac users, but should work for Windows users as well. Secondly, based on this explanation, someone without any knowledge of programming should be able to build a miner.
Getting started
Step 1: Raspberry Pi
If you are well known with Lego, assembling a Raspberry Pi (RPi) will be no problem. Follow the instructions provided in the box. When done, attach the mouse and keyboard to the RPi. Grab the hdmi cable and insert one end of the cable into the RPi, the other end in a screen. Finally, power the RPi.
At the starter kit, the RPi already has an operating system, so we can turn on the RPi immediately. If everything is as should be, you’ll see some rows of letters on the screen. Nothing’s going on, just wait until a huge broom comes to light. Click the Wi-Fi icon at the top right and select your own Wi-Fi network.
Your Raspberry Pi must be connected to (wireless) internet so that you can connect with the Raspberry from your computer through SSH.
You do not need the keyboard and the mouse anymore.
Step 2: Link your computer to the Raspberry Pi
Because the Raspberry Pi is now connected to (wireless) internet, you can access it from your Macbook or iMac. We will use the IP address of the Raspberry Pi. The IP address can be found with Lan Scan. Open the program and click ‘Scan Now’. The RPi appears on the screen as ‘raspberrypi’. In this example he has IP address 192.168.1.129.
Open Terminal; Here we make the connection between your Macbook and the Raspberry Pi. Enter the following command.
ssh pi@192.168.1.129
Terminal will ask for a password. That password is by default ‘raspberry’. Type it and press Enter. Tadaa! The connection with your Raspberry Pi has been established!
Step 3: Installing miner software
Now that you’re connected to the Raspberry Pi, you can enter remotely commands. In this case that certain software needs to be installed.
I’ve searched for hours to find mining software that a) works with Raspberry b) can drive the purchased miner. Lucky you: I found it! 🙂
For now we want to install a modified version of the software ‘CGminer’ on the Raspberry Pi. Follow the following steps line by line. Note: The installation may take a while, so be patient.
Enter the following commands in your terminal:
sudo apt-get install screen
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
Last step can take a while, grab some coffee. Then:
git clone https://github.com/wareck/cgminer-lketc.git && cd cgminer-lketc.git
sudo apt-get install build-essential autoconf automake libtool pkg-config libcurl4-openssl-dev libudev-dev libjansson-dev libncurses5-dev libudev-dev libjansson-dev
./autogen.sh
./configure --enable-scrypt --enable-lketc && make
Yes, you just installed a version of CGminer on your Raspberry!
Step 4: Choosing a Gulden mining pool
Now that the custom version of CG Miner has been installed, you can theoretically start with mining. All we have to do is find a mining pool. In a mining pool, miners jointly search for the next block in the blockchain; Joint search = joint computing power = a greater chance of finding a block = being jointly rewarded.
On the Gulden website you will find several mining pools. Choose a pool where many miners are connected, as that will increase your chance of finding a block (and getting a reward).
When you’re new to mining, for starters I recommend Coinpool, because there you can also check if your miner works properly. At Coinpool there is a simple manual, which I will describe in my own words for convenience. Add to Terminal:
Example
sudo ./cgminer --scrypt --lketc-clock 220 -o stratum+tcp://coinpool.nl:20000 -u *Gulden-address for receiving reward* -p a *random password*
Which means
sudo ./cgminer --scrypt --lketc-clock 220 -o stratum+tcp://coinpool.nl:20000 -u GZANXTBDuLUka46NreA4bovGuUuNa5e2hT -p asdfasdf
Step 5: Let the mining begin
Congratulations! If it’s ok, your miner can start working! Return to Terminal and fill in the above rules (note: replace the Gulden address and password :-))
screen bash
Screen bash keeps your miner running when you close Terminal.
cd cgminer-lketc
sudo ./cgminer --scrypt --lketc-clock 220 -o stratum+tcp://coinpool.nl:20000 -u GZANXTBDuLUka46NreA4bovGuUuNa5e2hT -p asdfasdf
If you’ve followed the steps above, you will see the commands in Terminal showed below. That means: Your miner works!
As you can see in the animation above, my LKETC miner helps to calculate the blocks. Coinpool shows you very user-friendly how much your miner has helped. As you can see, my worker is number 7 of the 8 miners who perform in the mining pool.
Mine other altcoins
With this setup you can basically also mine other altcoins like Bata, Litecoin or Einsteinium. If you use Prohashing as a mining pool, you can even choose in which cryptocurrency you like to receive your mining reward.
Note
As mentioned earlier in this article, you won’t get rich from the LKETC miner (and RPi). Even ‘better’, you’re really lucky if you even get rewarded with Gulden for all the calculation your miner does. To make it even more clear:
- The startup costs are around 75 euros.
- If you leave the miner running 24 hours a day, it generates about 0.24 NLG (at current euro rate 1 eurocent) per day.
- It will take 12 years to earn your startup costs back (energy and internet costs are not yet taken into account.
FAQ
Since I have to searched for a few days to get all the answers.
Michiel, n00b, why don’t you connect the LKETC miner directly to your laptop?
Pff, you’re like my girlfriend. The idea is that the miner can keep going 24 hours a day. So if I go outside (with my laptop), the Raspberry Pi can keep things going.My LKETC usb miner gets very hot. Is this normal?
Yes, this is normal. I let him run for 24 hours and that went without a hitch. Although the LKETC has a cooling element (the type of comb on the chip), I recommend to buy a fan if you plan to keep the miner running 24/7.Michiel, tell me more!
Will do. Please read: Explanation: What you need to know when buying a miner (Gridseed G-blade + Raspberry Pi + LKETC + Prohashing)There is a switch on the end of the LKETC miner. Why?
With the switch you can choose the hashrate. Left is 144 kH/s, right is 220 kH/s. Please note: if you choose 220 kH/s, your miner definitely needs a fan to cool down.When I close the terminal, the CGminer-lketc program also stops.
That’s right if you forgot to install 'screen'. If you want to avoid this, you must read this post.How many Lambo’s can you buy from all the received Gulden?
At the time of writing I have to disappoint you. In order to recover the startup costs (75 euro), you need to mine for the 12 years.Michiel, what are you for unethical guy? Do we no longer show a source list?
Ho, ho, ho, but, of course! Of course. If you want to read more. Below are my sources.