If my mining adventure were a movie or video game...

[NiHaoMike]

Many around here know that I have used my solar powered mining setup to help a well known friend. (Trying to leave out names so as not to cause confusion between actual events and fiction - we'll just call the characters the Coiner and the Princess.) So wouldn't it be nice if there was a movie or video game to allow anyone to (kind of) experience the excitement themselves?

A whole lot of actual events would not fit very well into an exciting movie or video game, so we'll have to embellish them. Here are some I can think of:
* In reality, the mining hardware was purchased and had paid for itself over a year before it was called on to do hero duties. In fiction, the Coiner just learned how to mine when the news broke that the Princess was calling for help. The scene cuts to the TV with the Princess explaining that her source of income vanished and her remaining stash of food would only last a month.
* In reality, the mining setup used is quite small (4 cheap smartphones, 2 old tablets, and a small ASIC board) and would not look nice in fiction. So we'll massively upsize it and add a bunch of sci-fi effects. Picture the Coiner rushing to the nearest electronics store, throwing all the smartphones on the shelf into his cart, and then making the clerk ask why he's buying so many phones, at which point he answers, "I'm a software engineer." (The last part I actually did in reality because I apparently looked too young to have a child old enough to use a phone, and I was buying 3 phones at that time. There were 5 in stock but an elderly couple behind me also wanted some and I wanted to be nice.) We'll also add a bunch of racks and rack servers.
* In reality, there was only one solar panel and a fairly small battery. Pretty boring, right? We'll up that to a few dozen (complete with a semi truck stopping by the house to deliver them and the servers) and have a scene with the Coiner setting them up in his backyard - like the scene in The Martian with all the solar panels on the ground. The battery system is likewise also a lot bigger and impressive looking - think multiple Tesla car batteries being rebuilt into a rack. Kind of like this cartoon picture: https://hackaday.com/2014/11/11/draft-an-intverview-with-tesla-battery-hacker-wk057/ And the power control hardware would look like a bunch of huge industrial VFDs. The Coiner wires everything together and flips a big switch, at which point lights appear on the racks and text starts scrolling on all the screens like the scene in The Martian with Pathfinder.
* While mining, all the screens have hex characters scrolling by very fast, because that looks a lot more interesting than the slowly updating display of actual mining software. Also, when a block is found, the screens flash brightly "BLOCK FOUND" and a huge Nixie tube counter increments by a random amount.
* The Coiner activates the "hashrate diversion switch" to send the mined coins to the Princess. In reality, it is actually a web shortcut with some safeguards against accidental activation. (Because if it does get accidentally activated, it would be impossible to undo without causing a substantial increase in entropy.) That would have to be replaced with a big knife switch inside a box on the wall with a glass window, a hammer nearby to smash the window if it needs to be used, and once activated, the contacts arc like a Tesla coil. A speaker would blare "HASHRATE REDIRECTED" while the TV shows a quick animation of coins going to the Princess. The satellite dish on the roof then releases a burst of energy which gets redirected by a satellite to another satellite dish overseas on the Corporate Towers the Princess lives in.
* The Princess sends the Coiner a big thank you note on social media, just like in real life. But in fiction, we'll dramatically increase the number and rate of "likes". There will also be news popping up "Computer Engineer builds solar powered supercomputer at home from cell phones and car batteries to rescue the Princess".
* The Coiner and the Princess marry each other, start what becomes the world's biggest (and most ethical) computer company, and live happily ever after. Because that's how a good movie or game ends, right? In reality, geography is a formidable "friendzoner" to begin with, with the Princess unable to enter the Coiner's country and the Coiner unwilling to move out of country. Who can tell how well the Coiner and the Princess can get along with each other in real life based on just TV? And there's a higher probability she'll pick an engineer she has spent much more time with or decide she wants to stay single and independent.

I think it could actually make a good start to an educational game about electronics and/or programming. It certainly felt like I was on a mission when I was soldering the electronics I used to build my mining setup!

[BravoV]

I think it could actually make a good start to an educational game about electronics and/or programming. It certainly felt like I was on a mission when I was soldering the electronics I used to build my mining setup!

Oh no, are we going to see another massive flood of new campaign spam posts on Miss Wu through out the internet forums like you've done on behalf of Miss Yep ?

You have the right to do that, no argument, its just becoming so annoying that out of the blue in the middle of intense & serious technical discussions, you love to pop out the Yep thingies again and again, just like you've done so many times here and at the whole internet for almost a decade. 

Just in case you lost count, the latest Yep admiration spamming post you made in this forum alone out of so many -> Yep spam. 

Get a real girl Mike, instead of dreaming and obsessing the net ones.

[Echo88]

I was always curious why NiHaoMike mentioned Naomi Wu so often and build a Bitcoin-Rig to finance her. Now i get it.

NiHaoMike is a desperate Mario, saving "3D-printed-bikini"-Peach via Bitcoins and expecting something in return.

I can only concur BravoV. This is getting ridiculous.

Also: If Chris Evans would built a Whipped Cream-3D-Printer while covering his private parts with whipped cream during the build process, then i also wouldnt take him serious.

[amyk]

This may come close to the strangest thing I've seen posted here.

I think it could actually make a good start to an educational game about electronics and/or programming. It certainly felt like I was on a mission when I was soldering the electronics I used to build my mining setup!

Oh no, are we going to see another massive flood of new campaign spam posts on Miss Wu through out the internet forums like you've done on behalf of Miss Yep ?

You have the right to do that, no argument, its just becoming so annoying that out of the blue in the middle of intense & serious technical discussions, you love to pop out the Yep thingies again and again, just like you've done so many times here and at the whole internet for almost a decade. 

Just in case you lost count, the latest Yep admiration spamming post you made in this forum alone out of so many -> Yep spam. 

Get a real girl Mike, instead of dreaming and obsessing the net ones.

Yep. That about sums it up.

[BillB]

This sure seems like a round-about way to get what you want.  Pardon my provincial ignorance, but why not do what many of the younger Japanese are doing and just use your electronics skills to build a sex robot?  If you're gonna spend time building something that consumes so much electricity, why not something with which you have a realistic shot of having a relationship? 

[NiHaoMike]

I was always curious why NiHaoMike mentioned Naomi Wu so often and build a Bitcoin-Rig to finance her. Now i get it.

Altcoins, not Bitcoin. And only a few specific altcoins at that - those that readily convert to Paypal. If Naomi could accept Bitcoin, there wouldn't really be a problem in the first place.

If you're gonna spend time building something that consumes so much electricity, why not something with which you have a realistic shot of having a relationship? 

All of my miners that are helping Naomi use, combined, about as much power as a CFL light bulb, plus it's completely powered by solar. (The earnhoney CPU miner doesn't count because I use it for heating, which I don't need this time of year and therefore is not currently running.) Maybe you're off grid if you call that a lot... Allie Moore and I were in a game of trying to "outdo" each other in environmentalism for years, ending with Allie more or less admitting defeat when I earned a "badge of honor" from Naomi. (Now I am thinking maybe I'll let Allie "rent" my mining cluster for free just so that it would count as Allie helping Naomi so she'll get a badge of honor as well.)

And where did I say Naomi was the only girl I supported with cryptocurrency, that I only support girls with crypto, or even that I have given more to Naomi than any other maker? The first girl I supported with mining profits was a friend of mine who was once a Bitcoiner. I bought her Bitcoin miner after she graduated and no longer had a use for it, because my cousin somehow managed to rent a place that has electricity included in rent (don't ask me how he did that in LA - he has great bargaining skills) and wanted to get into crypto mining. The way Bitcoin dramatically shot up in value (in the past) was of great help buying high cost items to use in my lab - a HVP70 isolated scope probe and a Prusa MK3 printer.

If we want to get at the root of all this, blame the (male) intern who told me how to get started with crypto mining using cheap smartphones back in 2015.

[BillB]

Ok....  That's an admirable feat, mining so much cryptocurrency using solar power, but I bet you could also make a solar powered sex robot.  Heck, that might even be commercially viable!

Regardless, I'm not sure if this is the proper support group for your issues. 

[Echo88]

Mentioned Coin-Mining [Check]
Mentioned at least two girls from the Internet [Check]
+Bonus-points for mentioning two girls from the internet in the signature

Hopefully the sex robot will accept alt-coins, otherwise the hormon driven situation stays the same for the heroic coinminer.

[NiHaoMike]

Mentioned Coin-Mining [Check]
Mentioned at least two girls from the Internet [Check]
+Bonus-points for mentioning two girls from the internet in the signature

I know Allie Moore in real life. She once asked me to fix her PC in college. She's hard to please, though, since I asked her out on a date the day after and didn't really get much other than find out that despite how skinny she is, she eats a lot. She didn't even want me to pay for it all (very unexpected for a college student - they tend to really like good food that's free to them) and instead each of us pay fair share. (I think she knows she eats a lot and feels bad if someone else has to pay for it.)

What's interesting is that she doesn't mind cold weather much at all, which supports the theory that all the excess energy is getting converted to heat. (Too bad affordable thermal cameras did not exist back then...) She's from Illinois, so it's understandable that she's used to cold weather and what Texans call "cold" is not very cold to her.

Ok....  That's an admirable feat, mining so much cryptocurrency using solar power

There's a surprising number of tweaks used to get the setup running as fast and efficient as it is. And on small or "experimental" coins, the coiners keep them a secret so they don't lose their competitive edge.

[BravoV]

This may come close to the strangest thing I've seen posted here.

Yeah, really sickly strange indeed, just look at above google's search results and the 1st post, as he loves to share his romantic fantasy with net girls publicly, in places that are very likely male dominated that carry heavy discussion on applied science & technical, its really disgusting.

[NiHaoMike]

he loves to share his romantic fantasy with net girls publicly, in places that are very likely male dominated that carry heavy discussion on applied science & technical, its really disgusting.

Actually, I want to show the world my interest in technology and what I like to do with it. I also managed to find a way to have others benefit from energy efficient crypto mining without causing a dramatic increase in mining difficulty which would defeat the purpose. If I share all the tricks I use in mining, nobody would be able to benefit from them. If I keep them to myself, I would be viewed as selfish. So I use the tricks to help someone who really does need help. Even the tricks I used with long dead coins like Perk are often applicable to other coins and therefore stay a secret.

Maybe I should stick to more technical stuff around here like gating PFC to boost part load efficiency...

EDIT: Actually, there is something I can share about crypto mining that does benefit everyone if I do: mine Curecoin and Foldingcoin to find cures for cancer.

[PlainName]

Hey Mike, the solar miner sounds pretty cool. Any chance of a photo upload of the setup (I'm sure that wouldn't divulge any secrets but would be an interesting snap)?

[NiHaoMike]

Not much to see in a bunch of cheap smartphones and old tablets set on a rack shelf with a bunch of other (unrelated) electronics. The interesting part is the software which contains trade secrets.