<p>Yes it is technically feasible to solo mine with a rpi3. The 'fastest' miner you could run would be <a href="https://gist.github.com/PartTimeLegend/5170990" rel="nofollow noreferrer">minerd</a>. However, there is a slim-to-none chance you will ever mine a block on the bitcoin mainnet, but there is still a chance! I would save the trouble of building minerd and use bitcoind's build in block generator</p>

<p><code>bitcoin-cli setgenerate true 1</code></p>

<p>You don't need to worry about crashing other bitcoin nodes, they will validate if your newly mined block is valid. </p>

<p>If you are looking to have some fun with mining on the rpi take a look at bitcoind's <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-examples#regtest-mode" rel="nofollow noreferrer">regtest mode</a>. Regtest mode lowers the mining difficulty to the absolute minimum level of difficulty. This means you can mine 1000's of your own blocks per hour on a rpi3.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T15:54:01.633Z
Note that [Bitcoin Core 0.13.0 removed the internal mining capability](https://bitcoin.org/en/release/v0.13.0#removal-of-internal-miner). As to the probability of winning at solo-mining, playing the lottery is much more profitable, see [one](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/24185/5406), [two](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/14346/5406), [three](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/16687/5406) related questions.
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T15:42:43.480Z
2017-02-12T15:42:43.480Z
lastcanal
<p>Not related to Bitcoin, but you can mine Magi coin, a coin whose algo is M7, and is for CPU-only mining.</p>

<p><a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=735170.0" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=735170.0</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-04-25T10:57:21.357Z
2017-04-25T10:57:21.357Z
alexg
<p>Commercially speaking I <em>know</em> it worse than pointless! But please, be gentle and don't remind me. Neither bother about being insulting or patronizing because I ask such a 'stupid' question. Thank you for your comprehension.</p>

<p>The reason I'm wanting the - already four times over obsoleted - cpu mining is because I don't want to earn money with it. It's all about being curious about how Bitcoin works. Not an altcoin or something else. It's about learning about BC.</p>

<p>CPU mining is the only option left. Asic usb miners are sold out everywhere. Raspberry Pi don't support GPU mining, do they ? And I really don't want to buy a dedicate device - because I want to know how it technically works. Do CLI stuff to make it work.</p>

<p>If this wasn't serious to me, I <em>really</em> wouldn't bother asking around how to do it. </p>

<p>So, now that's out of the way...</p>

<ul>
<li><p>Is it today still <em>technically</em> feasibly to do solo cpu mining ? (on Rpi3)</p></li>
<li><p>If not, how come ?</p></li>
<li><p>If it is feasible, is there an online guide, tutorial, ... I could use ?</p></li>
<li>Optional: Why are people so reluctant about this ? It's not that I'm going to crash the BC system, am I ? :-)</li>
</ul>

<p>It's perfectly fine to me to download the bulk data with a faster computer and upload it to the rpi.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T10:02:59.493Z
re: reluctance, it's just that the question has been asked so often (e.g. http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/12294/5406). ;) You may want to read up on [regtest](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/45882/5406). If you set your `bitcoind` to regtest mode, you create your own simulated network and can mine instantly.
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T10:18:49.147Z
Okay - from where I can switch to 'real', well, mining ?
Jan Goyvaerts
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T10:51:07.157Z
I don't think it's possible right now, because CPU mining power is so low that you wouldn't even be able to mine shares in a mining pool. You would be treated the same there as solo-mining: your cpu would be running full load and would just find duds.
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T11:18:05.173Z
Solo mining is what I seek - and yes - I don't expect anything else than duds. :-)
Jan Goyvaerts
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T15:09:18.177Z
related: [How can I start mining Bitcoin?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/1433/5406)
Murch
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-02-12T15:58:01.243Z
What do you actually expect to learn from this?  I can understand wanting to see what happens when a proof-of-work is found, but you won't ever get that far.
Nate Eldredge
<miner-configuration><raspberry-pi>
Is it still possible to do cpu mining for experimenting?
Jan Goyvaerts
# Is it still possible to do cpu mining for experimenting?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-02-12)

Commercially speaking I *know* it worse than pointless! But please, be gentle and don't remind me. Neither bother about being insulting or patronizing because I ask such a 'stupid' question. Thank you for your comprehension.

The reason I'm wanting the - already four times over obsoleted - cpu mining is because I don't want to earn money with it. It's all about being curious about how Bitcoin works. Not an altcoin or something else. It's about learning about BC.

CPU mining is the only option left. Asic usb miners are sold out everywhere. Raspberry Pi don't support GPU mining, do they ? And I really don't want to buy a dedicate device - because I want to know how it technically works. Do CLI stuff to make it work.

If this wasn't serious to me, I *really* wouldn't bother asking around how to do it.

So, now that's out of the way...

* Is it today still *technically* feasibly to do solo cpu mining ? (on Rpi3)
* If not, how come ?
* If it is feasible, is there an online guide, tutorial, ... I could use ?
* Optional: Why are people so reluctant about this ? It's not that I'm going to crash the BC system, am I ? :-)

It's perfectly fine to me to download the bulk data with a faster computer and upload it to the rpi.

**Tags:** miner-configuration, raspberry-pi

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: re: reluctance, it's just that the question has been asked so often (e.g. http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/12294/5406). ;) You may want to read up on [regtest](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/a/45882/5406). If you set your `bitcoind` to regtest mode, you create your own simulated network and can mine instantly.  
> **username_0**: Okay - from where I can switch to 'real', well, mining ?  
> **username_1**: I don't think it's possible right now, because CPU mining power is so low that you wouldn't even be able to mine shares in a mining pool. You would be treated the same there as solo-mining: your cpu would be running full load and would just find duds.  
> **username_0**: Solo mining is what I seek - and yes - I don't expect anything else than duds. :-)  
> **username_1**: related: [How can I start mining Bitcoin?](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/1433/5406)  
> **username_2**: What do you actually expect to learn from this?  I can understand wanting to see what happens when a proof-of-work is found, but you won't ever get that far.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-02-12. Score: 1

Yes it is technically feasible to solo mine with a rpi3. The 'fastest' miner you could run would be [minerd](https://gist.github.com/PartTimeLegend/5170990). However, there is a slim-to-none chance you will ever mine a block on the bitcoin mainnet, but there is still a chance! I would save the trouble of building minerd and use bitcoind's build in block generator

`bitcoin-cli setgenerate true 1`

You don't need to worry about crashing other bitcoin nodes, they will validate if your newly mined block is valid.

If you are looking to have some fun with mining on the rpi take a look at bitcoind's [regtest mode](https://bitcoin.org/en/developer-examples#regtest-mode). Regtest mode lowers the mining difficulty to the absolute minimum level of difficulty. This means you can mine 1000's of your own blocks per hour on a rpi3.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Note that [Bitcoin Core 0.13.0 removed the internal mining capability](https://bitcoin.org/en/release/v0.13.0#removal-of-internal-miner). As to the probability of winning at solo-mining, playing the lottery is much more profitable, see [one](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/24185/5406), [two](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/14346/5406), [three](http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/q/16687/5406) related questions.  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2017-04-25. Score: 0

Not related to Bitcoin, but you can mine Magi coin, a coin whose algo is M7, and is for CPU-only mining.

<https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=735170.0>


---

