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New to mining

Questions and words

Short answers to what people ask before they mine for the first time, and the words you’ll meet in Forge Solo. Most of the details live in Forge Solo’s README on GitHub, and each answer links to where its details are.

Questions

What is Bitcoin Cash II (BCH2)?

Bitcoin Cash II (BCH2) is a cryptocurrency mined the same way as Bitcoin, with SHA-256 proof of work, so the machines made to mine Bitcoin mine BCH2 too. It follows Bitcoin Cash’s rules.

Details: bch2.org

What miner do I need?

A SHA-256 miner, the kind made for Bitcoin: a small one like a Bitaxe, which sits on a desk, or a bigger ASIC miner. Forge Solo sets each miner’s difficulty to suit it, so small miners like the Bitaxe work too. You can connect several.

In each miner’s settings, enter stratum+tcp://<your machine’s address>:3333 as its stratum address; the dashboard shows the address. The worker name is only a label, and the password can be anything.

Details: Connect a miner

Do I need an account?

No. There is nothing to sign up for: Forge Solo runs on your own computer, and you enter your BCH2 payout address in its Settings. That is the address your rewards are paid to, in Solo and in TIDES. TIDES needs no sign-up either: you choose it in Settings and save.

To get a BCH2 address, use a BCH2 wallet: bch2.org lists the web wallet at wallet.bch2.org and the Core Wallet desktop app. Forge Solo only needs the address, so the wallet and its keys can stay on another device, such as your phone; the dashboard still shows the coins at the address. Check the address before you save it: a valid but wrong address can’t be recovered.

Saving Settings asks for Forge Solo’s own password. It isn’t an account: it comes with Forge Solo, and the README says where each platform shows it.

Details: Connect a miner

What does it cost?

Forge Solo is free and open source, under the MIT license. Neither mode has a pool fee: a block you find in Solo pays you its full reward, and TIDES takes 0.00%. What you pay for is your own: the miner, and the electricity it and the computer use.

Details: MIT license

Solo or TIDES: which should I choose?

In both, your own BCH2 node builds every block your miners work on, and there is no pool fee. They differ in which blocks pay you.

  • Solo pays you for a block your miners find, and pays you all of it. Until then it pays nothing. On Umbrel and Windows it also mines 1175 (ESF), once you set a 1175 payout address.
  • TIDES sends your work into the TIDES window of Forge Pool (pool.bch2.org), where Forge Pool registers the work of everyone mining into it through Forge Solo in TIDES mode or Forge Gateway. Every TIDES block, a block found on work Forge Pool registered, pays everyone with work in the window by their share of the work. You are paid from every TIDES block found while your work is in the window, not only from blocks you find, so a small miner is paid far more often than in Solo, in smaller amounts. An amount under 546 satoshis waits for a later TIDES block. 1175 is not mined in TIDES mode.

In TIDES mode, while Forge Pool can’t be reached, Forge Solo mines solo, and a block found then pays you in full.

You can switch at any time in Settings, under How blocks pay. The change takes effect within half a minute, with no restart.

To see how long a block might take at your hashrate, choose Solo in Forge Pool’s mining calculator: it estimates the expected wait. Its BCH2 amounts are for mining on Forge Pool itself, which charges a fee; Forge Solo charges none.

Details: Forge Pool’s TIDES guide, the live TIDES window, Connect a miner

Does the computer have to stay on?

Yes, for as long as you want to mine. Forge Solo mines only while it runs, and your miners do the work, so they stay on too.

  • Umbrel: Forge Solo runs as long as the Umbrel is on.
  • Windows: tick Start Forge Solo when I sign in in the installer, and it starts each time you sign in to Windows. Without it, mining stops after a restart until you start Forge Solo again.
  • Linux: run it as a service, and it starts at every boot.

In TIDES mode, your work stays in the window until newer work pushes it out, so it can still be paid after you stop.

Details: Install on Windows, Run it as a service

Why isn’t it mining yet?

Two things come first.

  1. Its BCH2 node downloads the blockchain and catches up with the network. The dashboard shows how far it has got, and you can mine once it reaches 100%.
  2. Forge Solo needs your BCH2 payout address in Settings. Until it has one, it gives your miners no work.

On Windows, also set your network to Private: while it is Public, miners on your network can’t connect.

Details: Install on Windows, Connect a miner

Is it safe?

Here is what you can check for yourself.

  • Forge Solo is open source, under the MIT license: its code is public on GitHub.
  • Get the Windows and Linux downloads only from Forge Solo’s releases on GitHub. Each release comes with SHA-256 checksums of its downloads (SHA256SUMS-windows, SHA256SUMS-linux), so you can check that the file you got is the one released. On Windows, in PowerShell, Get-FileHash ~\Downloads\ForgeSolo-Setup-<version>.exe must show the installer’s SHA-256 given on the release page (if you saved it to another folder, put that folder in place of ~\Downloads). On Umbrel, Forge Solo comes from the BCH2 Community Apps store, which is on GitHub too.
  • On Windows, Forge Solo is not yet signed by a certificate Windows trusts, so SmartScreen says “Windows protected your PC”: choose More info, then Run anyway. If Smart App Control blocks it, the Windows directions say what to do.
  • Forge Solo holds no coins: blocks pay your address directly, with no pool wallet in between.
  • A change in Settings, such as your payout address, needs Forge Solo’s own password, which other apps on an Umbrel, and other accounts on a computer, don’t have.

Details: Install on Windows, Smart App Control and SmartScreen, Security on Umbrel, the latest release

What is 1175 (ESF), and where does it work?

1175 (ESF) is a second chain that Forge Solo mines together with BCH2, with the same work. This is called merge-mining, and it costs no extra hashrate.

It works in Solo mode on Umbrel and Windows, once you set a 1175 payout address in Settings. It is off in TIDES mode, and Forge Solo for Linux doesn’t have it. 1175 never gets in the way of BCH2: if its node is down or still syncing, BCH2 mining carries on. Its rewards are paid on-chain to your 1175 address.

Details: What’s inside

Can I use rented hashpower?

Yes. Rented hashpower is credited to your payout address, like your own miners.

  • NiceHash and MiningRigRentals put a whole order on one connection, so they use port 3335.
  • Braiins connects each miner on its own, so it uses 3333, like your own miners.

A marketplace connects from the internet, so it reaches you only once you forward that port in your router to the machine Forge Solo runs on. Give the marketplace your public IP address, or a hostname that points to it: a home address such as 192.168.x.x won’t work. On Windows, your network must also be set to Private.

Your own miners always use 3333, even a single small one.

Details: Rented hashpower, Open these ports in your router

Where can I get help?

Ask on GitHub: open an issue on Forge Solo’s Issues page. The README has the directions for every platform. Forge Solo’s dashboard has a TIDES page that explains TIDES mode, and Forge Pool’s TIDES guide covers the TIDES window in full.

Or ask in the BCH2 Discord. Its invite opens the verification channel: pass that once, and the rest of the server opens up.

Words you’ll meet

1175 (ESF)
A second chain that Forge Solo merge-mines with BCH2, in Solo mode on Umbrel and Windows. Its rewards go to the 1175 payout address you set in Settings.
ASIC
A mining machine built for one kind of work only: for BCH2, SHA-256. The ASIC miners made for Bitcoin mine BCH2 too.
Bitaxe
A small SHA-256 ASIC miner that sits on a desk. Forge Solo sets each miner’s difficulty to suit it, so small miners like the Bitaxe work with it.
Block
A new batch of transactions added to the BCH2 blockchain. The miner that finds it earns its reward: the new coins it makes plus the fees of its transactions.
Coinbase
The part of each block that pays out its reward, straight to the addresses written in it, with no payout afterwards. Coins paid this way can be spent after 100 blocks. (Not the exchange of the same name.)
DATUM block
What Forge Pool’s pages call a TIDES block: a block found on work Forge Pool registered, through Forge Solo in TIDES mode or Forge Gateway. Only these pay the TIDES window; a block found on solo work pays the payout address of the install or gateway that found it, in full.
Difficulty
How hard a target is to hit. The network difficulty says how hard a block is to find and can change at every block; the share difficulty Forge Solo gives each miner is far lower, so shares come often.
Forge Pool
The BCH2 mining pool at pool.bch2.org, which runs the TIDES window. In TIDES mode, Forge Solo sends it your shares, while your own node still builds your blocks.
Hashrate
How many guesses (hashes) a miner makes each second, counted in MH/s, GH/s, TH/s or PH/s. On average, the more hashrate, the more blocks you find.
Merge-mining
Mining two chains with the same work (AuxPoW). In Solo mode on Umbrel and Windows, Forge Solo puts a 1175 commitment into the work it gives your miners, so they mine 1175 (ESF) with BCH2 at no extra hashrate cost.
Mining
A race to find the next block: your miner makes guess after guess, very fast, and a winning guess makes the new block and earns its reward. BCH2 is mined with SHA-256, like Bitcoin.
Node, full node
A program that keeps a full copy of the BCH2 blockchain and shares it with other nodes. Forge Solo includes one, which builds every block your miners work on.
Payout address
Your BCH2 address, set in Forge Solo’s Settings. Every block you find in Solo pays it, and in TIDES mode your share of every TIDES block is paid to it.
Port
A numbered door a program listens on. Your miners reach Forge Solo on port 3333 and rentals on 3335, other nodes reach its nodes on 8339 (and 25360 for 1175), and forwarding a port in your router lets the internet reach it.
Satoshi
The smallest amount of BCH2, a tiny fraction of one coin. In TIDES mode, an amount under 546 satoshis is carried to a later TIDES block.
Share
A result that meets a much easier target than a block, which your miners send often to show the work they are doing. In TIDES mode, your shares are the work that counts in the window.
Solo
Mining on your own. A block you find pays your payout address in full, and you are paid nothing until then.
Stratum
The way miners talk to a mining server: they get work from it and send their shares back. Forge Solo’s stratum address is stratum+tcp://<your machine’s address>:3333.
TIDES, the TIDES window
TIDES is how Forge Pool shares blocks among everyone mining into it through Forge Solo in TIDES mode or Forge Gateway: every TIDES block pays everyone in the TIDES window by their part of the work. The window holds the most recent work and slides as new work comes in; finding a block doesn’t reset it.
Umbrel
umbrelOS, a system for running apps from app stores on a computer at home. Forge Solo installs on it from the BCH2 Community Apps store.
Wallet
An app that holds your coins and gives you addresses to receive them. bch2.org lists two for BCH2: the web wallet at wallet.bch2.org and the Core Wallet desktop app. Forge Solo’s dashboard has a Wallet card too: it shows the coins at your payout address, but Forge Solo holds no keys, so it can’t spend them.
Worker name
The username you enter in your miner. In Forge Solo it is only a label for the dashboard, such as rig1 or bitaxe: it doesn’t decide who is paid. Give each device its own: Forge Solo remembers each one’s difficulty by its label.

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