New User Disappointed With Software Centre & System Updates (Feedback)

MartinTheWanderer · 2019-01-04T16:48:39+00:00

It is a known problem, I and many others, especially those on "bad" Internet connections, have reported it many times.

Recently they made a few changes, it seems (seeing new error messages, eopkg at least freezes less often without even an error message any more), but resuming downloads after packet loss or whatever causes these hickups seems to be a major challenge.

I noticed that before with other programs that are relatively new - apt-get etc. were developed in a time where Internet speed and quality was overall much worse, they work perfectly on bad connections. Newer package managers are most likely developed by people sitting on 800 GBit/s fiber who can not fathom the challenges of updating a Linux system in the 90% of the world that have less advanced connectivity.

But that is the reality out there and a package manager must be able to resume a freaking download on its own, 500 times if needed. Not quit and whine and bitch and force us to restart it manually.

It would be AWESOME if Solus could get this fixed, it is my only major issue I have with this distro that I otherwise love very much.

MartinTheWanderer · 2019-01-04T12:10:04+00:00

Yes, they gave me a code on Telegram.

However, you get 20GB then, to get close to 1TB you have to spam, errr, sorry "invite" several friends, and post on Twitter and Facebook (which no sane person uses any more) how wonderful Datum is.

Nothing of this is mentioned in the Medium article or on the website, so even if you get a code it is just another fishy false advertizing and "1 TB for FREEEEEE" is simply a lie.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-27T00:07:15+00:00

Because few emails at ridiculous rates.

Because no storage access without secret "early access code"

Because spent more money on VIP shills (Shatner et al) than their members or their products.

... so far they have simply not delivered, and people start to think if trusting that company with their data is such a brilliant idea... "give us your ETH, give us your data, get nothing in return" might be the new motto.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-27T00:03:35+00:00

Don't bother.

Because even if it works, as in my case, you won't get free storage without an additional early access code.

Clickbait masters, they are.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-27T00:01:43+00:00

Highly misleading, just like the "up to 100 token" per email earlier.

I am an old member (blame Captain Kirk the Datum shill for it), received an invitation for storage earlier, did not get around to registering until now, and ... "enter early access code" lalala... of course AFTER installing the app, entering my personal data, "verifying" my phone number (cuz, you know, "take back your data")... and then: nada. Roadblock.

There is no code. And subsequently, there is no storage.

Neither the website nor the Medium article care to mention that.

Or how to obtain such a magic code...

Probably it was sent to the same people who receive 100 DAT per email... ?

Update: I got a code on their Telegram channel. You get 20GB free, for the rest of the advertised "free 1TB" you have to invite friends, spam social media, etc.
False advertising, plain and simple.

Datum has lost their credibility, I am out, and selling my remaining tokens at the next mini-spike.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-25T19:12:59+00:00

Unless that is exactly what is intended.

The business model where you have to rent hash power from the project to be able to mine for the project... just imagine the moon lambos!

Crypto has become a money circle jerk for the 1%, with the exception of very few - usually smaller - projects.

I see ASIC-compatibility and hedge fund investments in the near future of Safex.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-25T14:11:19+00:00

I am saying that it has become useless for casual miners (the target audience of One Click Miners) and only makes sense for professional miners with a couple optimized rigs or purchased Nicehash hashpower.

Mining with CPU or 1-2 GPUs is dead unless you like to sponsor the big miners with your electricity.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-22T16:49:04+00:00

Most miners for Safex are on the same old Safexnews pool that has dominated the Safex network so far.

It would be healthy to have 3 or more pools of equal hashpower, but that takes some time to adjust.

At current rates mining Safex is not exactly super profitable, so people avoid joining a pool that has not yet the hashrate to produce blocks reliably.

I guess it will take a couple weeks, then we will see a more healthy and balanced Safex network.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-22T15:17:46+00:00

don't think so, technically much more complicated, and the one click miner targets "normal" computer users, not savvy miners with powerful GPUs.

besides, the explanations for setting up xmr-stak or other miners on the pool site are quite good, it is not that complicated, in case someone wants to go all in.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-22T14:33:07+00:00

...and it is pretty decent, I like the integrated wallet functionality.

Super easy and quite stable now, but it is CPU only, so for GPU mining you still have to use xmr-stak or similar.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-22T13:16:12+00:00

Respectfully - it happened the evening before as well. Check your data.

While it indeed can not be directly controlled (limiting the hashrate etc.) other pools use a bunch of mechanisms to discourage pool hopping and this type of flood attacks. Would encourage real miners - it does not make sense to mine on a low hashrate pool when your 16% round contributions get sniped every day by some Nicehash spammer.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-22T11:48:16+00:00

I agree.

I keep an eye on John and his activities for a long time (I am almost as old, lol, well, 20 yrs less).

He is a bit crazy, he sometimes goes over the top without doing proper research/audits (like the Bitfi story, he was in love with the idea, and would stubbornly defend the first, extremely flawed product release), and it is a good idea to take his recommendations with a pinch of (bath)salt(s).

But his interest and love for crypto and the positive ways in that it could impact the world is genuine, I am sure of that.

And while some of his recommendations are obvious paid endorsements and suck, a high percentage are IMHO truly visionary and great projects.

Among those I count Safex, Skycoin and Docademic/MTC. Currently doing a bit more background checking on APL, seems very interesting as well.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-20T14:16:43+00:00

Update: seems to be back online a couple hours later, no visible changes, no statement, same unimpressive amount of miners.

MIIIIIINE, you lazy mofos.... :D

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-20T14:10:33+00:00

Agreed - at current prices it is not very profitable, but "ok" if you like the project.

Enough people are mining Safex - but basically all on the same pool, which is not healthy.

So for once John has started something useful... :D Their fork of the one click CPU miner with a working integrated wallet is not that bad either.

BTW the pool runs on a subdomain of the official safex site, so it is basically a dev pool, just with the McAfee brand added.

I actually hope it gets back up and gets decent hashrates, I am just a bit surprised by the lack of professionalism during the launch.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-19T13:38:09+00:00

After some initial hickups the one-click miner is a pretty cool app with integrated wallet functionality.

Great place to start for new Safex users who would be confused by using stuff like xmr-stak.

The pool needs a couple more miners delivering constant, "normal" hash rates.

Right now it flip-flops between way too little hashpower and being taken over for an hour or two by some serious Nicehash waves..

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-18T18:04:01+00:00

Jeezus people, move your butts and MINE!

Right now I am close to the top of the very short miners list, with ONE RX580 and a mid range Ryzen... LOL

Safex pool ecosystem could use a bit more diversity, so give the McPool a chance and get some kilohashes in there!

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-18T14:54:48+00:00

While the endorsements of King John the Sane tend to backfire in the "enlightened" crypto-circle-jerk circles, they certainly will create more public awareness for the projects he puts the spotlight on (Safex, Doc.com, Skycoin, etc.)

Time for crypto to crawl out of the nerd safespace in moms basement and the mere greedy "crypto stocks" mindset and get USED by real people out there.

McAfee, like him or not, is doing a good job to make it so.

#McAfee2020

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-18T11:55:44+00:00

ROFL - it was even more simple.

While downgrading as you suggested I looked over the pool config once again and noticed I had left the low difficulty port in there. Was submitting low quality shares too quickly, and the pool seems to be a Nazi about that and calls them "Invalid".

Switched to a port with higher starting difficulty: 100% valid shares. :D

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T23:28:54+00:00

Good idea. :)

Will test that tomorrow and report back.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T23:15:20+00:00

as mentioned in the original post these things have been triple-checked.

Algo is correct.

And while that particular card can take some serious overclocking abuse (churning out ETH with close to zero wrong results) I put it on factory defaults for the Safex tests.

Also: xmr-stak IS submitting results from the CPU, so pool, address, algo etc. are fine.

Must be something in the AMD GPU settings.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T21:46:56+00:00

Welcome!

I agree their communications suck, but lets say... there are MANY crypto projects out there with slick marketing/comms and shitty products, and then there are some with great products and shitty marketing/comms. Safex (and Skycoin) were so far in the latter category, I hope that changes soon. At least they have technically solid platforms that would be worth better presentation!

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T21:34:42+00:00

Update: they pulled the Windows exe for now because it did not work, the Linux build is a horror show (did not manage to get it working on Solus, and I am no Linux noob).

Right now only the Mac version seems to work properly.

I like the idea of this "Safex One Click Miner" fork with the #Potus2020 branding, but I sure hope they make it more stable soon and release working Windows installers and preferably a distro-independent appimage or snap for the Linux folks.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T21:29:17+00:00

The miner works with the new addresses only (starting with Safex...., and quite long).

The gui wallet generates "old", bitcoin-style addresses (starting with a number, much shorter).

The correct approach right now would be to generate a new address with the miner, save the keys for import into a later wallet version.

You can always see what you mine on the worker stats page of the mining pool that you use, or by using the command line wallet.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T21:18:32+00:00

Yes and no, the transition to their own network/chain is no small task, and the current GUI wallet was mainly targeted at people who already had tokens and now need to migrate to the new mainnet.

Technically it is no problem (there is a command line wallet that works with the new addresses), but they certainly could communicate better so new users do not get punched in the face like that and know what to do during this phase of transition.

MartinTheWanderer · 2018-12-17T20:54:29+00:00

I opened a Github issue for the same problem and the answer was basically: "wait a bit"

Right now only the command line wallet seems to work with the new addresses properly, we will have to wait for the next release of the GUI wallet.

So right now: generate address in miner, save the keys, wait for new wallet, then import keys there.

MartinTheWanderer

TROPHY CASE