[Noob-Proof] How To Install Cpuminer and Mine Darkcoin under Linux/Ubuntu

[GreenRaccoon]

Here's a *THOROUGH* guide to set up cpuminer and mine darkcoin. Basically, I've done most of the thinking for you already; you mostly just have to copy and paste. This should work for Ubuntu, Xubuntu, Linux Mint, etc.

1- Check if your processor supports the new AES-NI instruction sets. You can do this one of two ways (Method A is easier if you know the model of your processor):

• Method A
  -If your processor is listed on this page, it supports the AES-NI instruction set:
  http://ark.intel.com/search/advanced/?AESTech=true
• Method B
  -Run this command in Terminal:
  

  grep aes /proc/cpuinfo

  --If nothing shows up, your processor DOESN'T support the AES-NI instruction set.
  --If you DO see line(s) containing the word "aes", your processor DOES support the AES-NI instruction set.

2- If your processor supports the AES-NI instruction set, jump to post two of this thread. If it doesn't, just keep following this post.

For processors that DON'T support AES-NI

(I uploaded a script at the bottom of this post that will run steps 3-10 for you. To run it, run this command:
"cd ~/Downloads && chmod +x install-cpu*.sh && sh install-cpu*.sh")
(The regular one is for Ubuntu, but I've also uploaded one for Arch Linux.)

3- Update your computer and install dependencies. Open up Terminal with ctrl+alt+t. Then copy (ctrl+c) and paste (ctrl+SHIFT+v) this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install -y git curl unzip gedit automake autoconf dh-autoreconf build-essential pkg-config openssh-server screen libtool libcurl4-openssl-dev libtool libncurses5-dev libudev-dev

4- Download version 1.2c of cpuminer (this version is best for processors that DON'T support the AES-NI instruction set)

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/ig0tik3d/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.2c.git

5- Install cpuminer (compile, make, and install)

cd ~/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.2c
chmod +x autogen.sh
./autogen.sh
./configure CFLAGS="-O3"
make
sudo make install

6- Create a script with this step. This script will run cpuminer with your mining preferences. It's pretty handy.

cd ~
gedit darkcpu

7- An empty file should pop up. Copy and paste this in there:

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.2c
./minerd -a X11 -o # -u # -p #

8- Don't close the file yet. First replace the "#" signs with what you need. If you have no idea what to put for "#", keep reading. If you know what to put, then skip to step 8.

• "-a" stands for "algorithm." You'll always want X11. Don't change this.
• "-o" stands for your pool's address and port. "stratum+tcp://address.com:####" Find that on your pool's website (usually under "Help" and then "Getting started"). If you don't have a pool yet, here's a list: https://www.darkcoin.io/mining.html This is what mine is:
  

  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090

• "-u" stands for your personal username that you use to login on your pool's website. BUT "-u" also includes a worker name that you have to create on your pool's website. The format looks like this: “-u username.worker”. On your pool's website, you can have ONE username but MANY different workers. Think of it this way. The "username" represents "you" and the "workers" are the "slaves" that work for you. Your username identifies you, and each worker represents each computer/processor that's mining for you. If you haven't created a worker on your pool's website, do that now.
  
  So if the username on my pool is "GreenRaccoon23," and I created a worker on there named "chucknorris," it would look like this:
  

   ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090 -u GreenRaccoon23.chucknorris

• "-p" stands for your password: your WORKER'S password, NOT your username's password. You set this up on your pool's website.
  
  So if the password for my worker "chucknorris" is "knowsvictoriassecret," this is what it would look like:
  

  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090 -u GreenRaccoon23.chucknorris -p knowsvictoriassecret

• Here's the basic format for the whole line:
  

  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://your.pool.address:port -u username.worker -p password

  Here's an example format for the whole file:
  

  #!/bin/bash
  cd ~/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.2c
  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090 -u GreenRaccoon23.chucknorris -p knowsvictoriassecret

9- Save the file and close it.
10- Make the script executable with this command:

chmod +x darkcpu

Run cpuminer
11- Running cpuminer is easy once you've made the "darkcpu" script explained above. Just change directory to your home folder and run the script:

cd ~
./darkcpu

12- Now you're making currency by doing nothing. When you want to stop it, press "ctrl+c". To run it again, repeat step 11. To change cpuminer's settings, go through steps 6-9 again.

(If you want to install sgminer for GPU mining also, I have another guide: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2243387)

[GreenRaccoon]

For processors that DO support AES-NI

(I uploaded a script at the bottom of this post that will run steps 3-10 for you. To run it, run this command:
"cd ~/Downloads && chmod +x install-cpu*.sh && sh install-cpu*.sh")
(The regular one is for Ubuntu, but I've also uploaded one for Arch Linux.)

3- Update your computer and install dependencies. Open up Terminal with ctrl+alt+t. Then copy (ctrl+c) and paste (ctrl+SHIFT+v) this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade -y
sudo apt-get install -y git curl unzip gedit automake autoconf dh-autoreconf build-essential pkg-config openssh-server screen libtool libcurl4-openssl-dev libtool libncurses5-dev libudev-dev

4- Download version 1.3 of cpuminer (this version is best for processors that DO support the AES-NI instruction set)

cd ~
git clone https://github.com/elmad/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.3-avx-aes.git

5- Install cpuminer (compile, make, and install)

cd ~/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.3-avx-aes
chmod +x autogen.sh
./autogen.sh
./configure CFLAGS="-O3 -march=native"
make
sudo make install

6- Create a script with this step. This script will run cpuminer with your mining preferences. It's pretty handy.

cd ~
gedit darkcpu

7- An empty file should pop up. Copy and paste this in there:

#!/bin/bash
cd ~/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.3-avx-aes
./minerd -a X11 -o # -u # -p #

8- Don't close the file yet. First replace the "#" signs with what you need. If you have no idea what to put for "#", keep reading. If you know what to put, then skip to step 8.

• "-a" stands for "algorithm." You'll always want X11. Don't change this.
• "-o" stands for your pool's address and port. "stratum+tcp://address.com:####" Find that on your pool's website (usually under "Help" and then "Getting started"). If you don't have a pool yet, here's a list: https://www.darkcoin.io/mining.html This is what mine is:
  

  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090

• "-u" stands for your personal username that you use to login on your pool's website. BUT "-u" also includes a worker name that you have to create on your pool's website. The format looks like this: “-u username.worker”. On your pool's website, you can have ONE username but MANY different workers. Think of it this way. The "username" represents "you" and the "workers" are the "slaves" that work for you. Your username identifies you, and each worker represents each computer/processor that's mining for you. If you haven't created a worker on your pool's website, do that now.
  
  So if the username on my pool is "GreenRaccoon23," and I created a worker on there named "chucknorris," it would look like this:
  

   ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090 -u GreenRaccoon23.chucknorris

• "-p" stands for your password: your WORKER'S password, NOT your username's password. You set this up on your pool's website.
  
  So if the password for my worker "chucknorris" is "knowsvictoriassecret," this is what it would look like:
  

  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090 -u GreenRaccoon23.chucknorris -p knowsvictoriassecret

• Here's the basic format for the whole line:
  

  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://your.pool.address:port -u username.worker -p password

  Here's an example of the whole file:
  

  #!/bin/bash
  cd ~/darkcoin-cpuminer-1.3-avx-aes
  ./minerd -a X11 -o stratum+tcp://mine1.coinmine.pl:16090 -u GreenRaccoon23.chucknorris -p knowsvictoriassecret

9- Save the file and close it.
10- Make the script executable by running this:

chmod +x darkcpu

Run cpuminer
11- Running cpuminer is easy once you've made the "darkcpu" script explained above. Just change directory to your home folder and run the script:

cd ~
./darkcpu

12- Now you're making currency by doing nothing. When you want to stop it, press "ctrl+c". To run it again, repeat step 11. To change cpuminer's settings, go through steps 6-9 again.

(If you want to install sgminer for GPU mining also, I have another guide: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2243387)

[ann5]

whats the best a88x mobo that supports linux and would you recommend using linux mint mate over ubuntu to mine cpu coins thanks

[GreenRaccoon]

whats the best a88x mobo that supports linux and would you recommend using linux mint mate over ubuntu to mine cpu coins thanks

I know for GPU's, the motherboard doesn't really affect mining speed. I'm not sure about CPU's though. If you're thinking of buying a new rig for mining, I'd highly suggest getting a GPU. To put it in perspective, my AMD A10-7850K APU (basically a CPU) gets about 500 kh/s, but my AMD Radeon 280x GPU gets over 2.5 Mh/s--5 times faster.

For darkcoin (and other x11 algorithm coins), the AMD 280x Radeon is hands-down the best value. It's almost as fast as the 290x but WAY cheaper.

Linux Mint Mate over Ubuntu? It won't matter much. I had problems with installing AMD GPU miners on Linux Mint XFCE for some weird reason, but for CPU mining, it won't matter much.

[mariano.j]

I am trying to compile darkcoin-cpuminer-1.2c on Ubuntu 14.04 following your instructions for a processor *not* supporting the AES-NI instruction set. I was getting a series of errors during make (step 5), starting with:

error "SSE2 instruction set not enabled"

(See askubuntu for someone with the same problem on a Xubuntu 10.04 32 bit.)

I enabled SSE2 as follows:

$ ./configure CFLAGS="-O3 -msse2"

configure then finishes without error, but make produces (among others):

x6/grso-asm.c:6:3: error: unknown register name ‘%r15’ in ‘asm’

(See bitcointalk for someone with the same problem.)

See pastebin for full log. Do you have any idea how I could solve this, GreenRaccoon?

[GreenRaccoon]

I am trying to compile darkcoin-cpuminer-1.2c on Ubuntu 14.04 following your instructions for a processor *not* supporting the AES-NI instruction set. I was getting a series of errors during make (step 5), starting with:

error "SSE2 instruction set not enabled"

(See askubuntu for someone with the same problem on a Xubuntu 10.04 32 bit.)

I enabled SSE2 as follows:

$ ./configure CFLAGS="-O3 -msse2"

configure then finishes without error, but make produces (among others):

x6/grso-asm.c:6:3: error: unknown register name ‘%r15’ in ‘asm’

(See bitcointalk for someone with the same problem.)

See pastebin for full log. Do you have any idea how I could solve this, GreenRaccoon?

Hm, I'd try running this:

sudo aptitude reinstall -r gcc gcc-multilib gcc-opt lib32gcc1 lib64gcc1 lib32gcc1-dbg lib64gcc1-dbg

What's your CPU, by the way? Could you paste the output of this please?

cat /proc/cpuinfo

[probes88]

I installed the software -- but got stuck when filling out the gedit file. I don't know how to join the pool. I went to http://mine1.coinmine.pl/#getting_started but there is no where I see to create a username and worker name. How do I join a pool? Thanks.

[gadha1998]

I installed the software -- but got stuck when filling out the gedit file. I don't know how to join the pool. I went to http://mine1.coinmine.pl/#getting_started but there is no where I see to create a username and worker name. How do I join a pool? Thanks.

Are you still there? (at the issue?)

[abnerfreitas]

I have this output.

[2015-04-05 14:57:53] Starting Stratum on stratum+tcp://stratum.triplemining.com:3334
[2015-04-05 14:57:53] 2 miner threads started, using 'sha256d' algorithm.
[2015-04-05 14:57:53] Binding thread 0 to cpu 0
[2015-04-05 14:57:53] Binding thread 1 to cpu 1
[2015-04-05 14:57:53] ...retry after 1 seconds
[2015-04-05 14:57:54] ...retry after 1 seconds
[2015-04-05 14:57:56] ...retry after 1 seconds
[2015-04-05 14:57:57] ...retry after 1 seconds
[2015-04-05 14:57:58] ...retry after 1 seconds
[2015-04-05 14:57:59] ...retry after 1 seconds

Why the program don't start mining already?