How do I use the Bitcoin GUI app to mine bitcoins?

I'm new to Bitcoin. I installed and ran the GUI app, checked "Generate Coins" in the Settings menu, and the status bar reads "Generating". How do I know if it's actually working?

I'm aware that mining is a CPU-intensive process that could take a long time; this is why I'm skeptical that the app is working. top reveals that bitcoin is only using about 25% CPU. I haven't limited CPU use in the Preferences.

I've read the mining guide on weusecoins.com. It says I must setup JSON-RPC, but it's ambiguous about how to do that. Do I need to set a username/password in the config file that it points to on the wiki? If so, how do I create a username?

I'm running on Mac OS X and Bitcoin 0.3.21-beta, the latest at the time of this post.

bitcoin

Jonathan Tran

Posted 2011-05-22T07:30:41.603

Reputation: 241

25% CPU on a quadcore CPU machine, i.e. 1 full core? – Daniel Beck – 2011-05-22T08:20:44.560

I'm running on a Core 2 Duo. Besides, wouldn't top show 100% for each core? That's how you can see over 100% CPU usage sometimes. – Jonathan Tran – 2011-05-22T08:33:23.143

Each process individually yes, but you didn't mention if you looked at that, or the summary at the top, where 100% is 4x100%, AFAIK. – Daniel Beck – 2011-05-22T08:50:32.427

You should try an OpenCL miner. They use your GPU instead of CPU. This is because GPUs are much faster at this type of computation. Using DiabloMiner, I was able to generate coins about 5× faster on my current gen. Mac Mini.

– Graham – 2011-05-22T22:19:14.233

You're right, CPUs are chugging away now. But does that mean the extra config is not needed and anything mined will go into my wallet? – Jonathan Tran – 2011-05-22T21:03:30.033

What do you mean by "extra config?" – Graham – 2011-05-22T22:16:11.943

3after 16months - how much have you mined? – Preet Sangha – 2012-10-01T06:13:03.640

How do I use the Bitcoin GUI app to mine bitcoins?

Answers