It's got a heat sink but that doesn't seem to help. Thing is it used to work fine but I'm assuming something inside it broke somehow... Oh well I'm away to order my Pi 2 soon when they become available again. Then I can just keep the old Model B for some other random job.

It's not £9 if you want to use it as an actual computer. The HDMI module costs more than the CHIP. So the total cost to get the thing going as the video shows is closer to £25. But for headless computing for cheap it's brilliant.

A bit out of date but the entire rig is run from Rasberry pis. I always wondered about the whole Bitcoin thing but I think its been going down the toilet.

As far as I know there is a finite number of Bitcoins. Bitcoins are managed entirely by an algorithm. They are mined or created by crunching a special bitcoin mining algorithm, recreating the labour used to mine gold for example.

They are getting harder to create as the number of unmined Bitcoins decreases - so increasing the amount of CPU time you need to create them.

Or something like that. 

I really must do a bit of reading on the subject.

Cheers lads. It sounds to me like claiming dibs on a five pound note before it's printed. I'm guessing massively illegal?

All they know is some asian guy designed the algorithm but nobody knows who he is. I think it was Bruce Lee.

IanHamlett wrote:

No, the system relies on mass computing to verify transactions and generate new coins.

So, if it's possible to turn bitcoin into a "real" currency, are bitcoin miners basically just printing cash?

The IRS has said BitCoin is property and not currency. So it's been undermined "pun?" because of that ruling.

Well not really. British money is a promissory note. If you take a fiver to the bank of england they legally have to give you the same value in real currency. Bitcoin doesn't have any function like that.

Scotswahey wrote:

If you take a fiver to the bank of england they legally have to give you the same value in real currency.

Pounds sterling has more in place backing it up than, say, Doge coin, but think about it this way - a legal agreement is still just a thing people have agreed to do. If everything goes tits up you can take all the fivers you want to the Bank of England, they won't be able to give you peanuts for it.

I've wondered though, if you did take a stack of notes to the Bank of England and say "I want to exchange these promissory notes for Real Currency", what would they give you? As has already been mentioned, there's no gold standard any more.

Scotswahey wrote:

Coins are meant to be real currency.

But again, they have "value" in a monetary sense because we all agree that they have value. If we all woke up tomorrow and decided that UK coins weren't worth anything, you could have all the bank notes in the world, it wouldn't do you any good.

This is the kind of shit that keeps me awake at night.

A workmate said he might be able to pass me a free Pi2 from a batch he's getting. After a couple of days being slightly excited about the possibility, I bought one.

It's only a chance he can get some. AFAIK he's tagging a few onto someone else's order to take it over a threshold here you get a few thrown in.

Another pi-a-like on the way, this time a result of a BBC and Microsoft partnership.

The BBC micro:bit, which apparently ever Year 7 pupil in the UK will have access to.

I presume everyone by now has seen the Raspberry Pi Zero, which costs US$5 (~£4), or is free with issue 40 of Magpi magazine (£5.99)? I'm trying to find someone that stocks the magazine because the Zero and mag has sold out online.

You'll need cables, o'course, but the RPi folks'll sell you those for £4, or gratis with a Magpi subscription.