QuazarCoin (QCN) Mining Guide

qcn-mining-guide

# QuazarCoin (QCN) Mining Guide

## Installation

**QuazarCoin**, works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X platforms.
You can download it from [official website](http://quazarcoin.org/downloads.php).

### QuazarCoin Daemon

**CryptoNote** coins are different than **Bitcoin** forks. Usually there are daemon and wallet shipped together. In order to use your wallet for receiving and sending payments you must have synchronized blockchain and keep daemon run.
Let's launch it and sync blockchain.

Start `quazarcoind`. Daemon will start blockchain synchronization. If you won't to waste your time, would be much faster to download almost up to date `blockchain.bin` file. You can find it in the [downloads](http://quazarcoin.org/downloads.php) section. Download and move it to `%AppData%/quazarcoin` directory. On Linux and Mac OS move it to `~/.quazarcoin`. Remember, that blockchain files are different for every platform, but contains same data.

**Mac users** can install from source using [HomeBrew formulas](http://github.com/sammy007/homebrew-cryptonight). Check out README file there. Currently only for Mavericks.

* Install [Homebrew](http://brew.sh) for OS X.

* Add alternative repository: `brew tap sammy007/cryptonight`

* Build: `brew install --HEAD quazarcoin`

### Wallet

Package contains 2 executable binaries `quazarcoind` and `simplewallet`. In order to generate new wallet you have to run:

`simplewallet --generate-new-wallet wallet.bin`.

You will be prompted for a password. Please choose strong password to protect your wallet from everyone.

This command will generate new wallet for you. Notice 3 files in current directory: `wallet.bin.keys`, `wallet.bin` and `wallet.bin.address.txt`. You have to backup `wallet.bin.keys` to the safe durable place, because this file contains your **private keys**. Your address for receiving payments is stored in `wallet.bin.address.txt`. Less necessary file is `wallet.bin`, consider this file as a cache of transactions, but don't delete it without a purpose.

## Mining
I won't talk about solo mining in this guide, because all efficient mining software work only with pools.

### CPU Mining

CPU mining is much efficient than GPU right now, but depends on what CPU you have got. In order to start mining you have to download one of the efficient CPU miners: [Wolf's CPU miner](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=632724).
If you are on Linux, download it from [Github](https://github.com/wolf9466/cpuminer-multi) and build from source. Check README for smooth installation.

Now you need a pool. Choose one from [pools list](http://quazarcoin.org/ex-pools.php).

#### On Windows:

`minerd -a cryptonight -o stratum+tcp://mining_address:port -u wallet_address -p x -t number_of_threads`.

You can create `start.bat` for yourself to simply execute it next time you decide to start mining.

There is also closed source CPU miner available for Windows users. Check it out [here](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=647251.0) on Bitcointalk.

#### On Linux

It's much more efficient to CPU-mine on Linux, because you can take advantage of some awesome optimizations.

`sudo sysctl -w vm.nr_hugepages=X` where X = number_of_threads * 3. You can run in bafter every reboot or edit `/etc/sysctl.conf` to make it persistent. Start mining:

`sudo ./minerd -a cryptonight -o stratum+tcp://mining_address:port -u wallet_address -p x -t number_of_threads`. You can avoid `sudo`, but some people sure that you can get higher hashrate.

#### Mac OS X

Just like on Linux, except hugepages.

`brew install cpuminer-multi`. Please note, that it's not optimized miner and you have to download binaries of **Wolf's cpuminer-multi**.

### GPU mining

Miners available for both NVidia and AMD GPU owners.

#### NVidia CUDA

Opensource CUDA miner available for owners on GeForce GPUs. Check out [official thread](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=632724) on Bitcointalk.

#### AMD Radeon

For AMD card owners just closed source with 5% mining fee [available here](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=638915.0) on Bitcointalk.