Gridcoin Community Classroom #001

(Information on how to join the next gathering on Mumble is located at the end of this post)

The first Gridcoin Community Classroom has successfully taken place and produced an outline for lessons in the weeks to come. This article briefly gives the definition, reason, format, plan and details regarding these informational gatherings.

What is the Gridcoin Community Classroom?

Live Voice over I.P. support on Mumble

As Gridcoin grows it is becoming more apparent that there is a need for information to be grouped together for new users to follow and find on their own. The Gridcoin Community Classrooms will be discussions held every fortnight (two weeks) detailing different aspects of Gridcoin. These discussions will be facilitated by veteran members of the community as well as members from the development team. They are open to all users. Newcomers are especially welcome as their questions are the most pertinent and are the very reason these gatherings will be taking place. You can read more in @peppernrino’s post here.

A Need for Information

Currently, setting up BOINC and the Gridcoin Wallet, selecting BOINC projects, the pros and cons of pool staking, understanding reward, stake, payout, and security is a process for which information is available but somewhat splintered. The Gridcoin community is helpful and having members across the globe means it is always online. The problem it faces, however, is that it can start to become spread thin as more new users join the system. The Gridcoin Community Classrooms will be recorded and made available in different formats across a variety of platforms. This will provide a wealth of information gathered together and hopefully assist new users in the future.

Classroom #001 - A Summary of Discussion.

After all the attendees arrived in the Mumble server, there was a discussion regarding the history, purpose, and necessity for the Gridcoin Network. Following this, a list of important informational topics was compiled and discussed. Keep in mind that these are dynamic guidelines for future Classrooms, and can be adjusted as required and are thus subject to change. We’re learning how to help you learn at the same time!

Attendance and Thanks

The first gathering on Mumble was attended, in no particular order, by: The Earl of Annan Dale, fkinglag, @geebell, @tomasbrod, @zipity , @jringo, @ifoggz, @pathforger, @m3rcos1ty, langfod, Sixophrenia, and coltwlf. Special thanks to @peppernrino for hosting the Classroom. Further thanks is extended to the BeyondBitcoin Mumble server and @officialfuzzy for hosting the Gridcoin channel.

Why Gridcoin

A decentralised ledger (record of information) is needed to provide a secure manner to share information. Satoshi Nakamoto introduced Bitcoin in 2008 providing a trustless system built with what he called a “blockchain.” Trust is not needed as every transaction is secured through the hashing of the information along with the previous block’s hash and this chain of blocks (a copy of the ledger) is stored by anyone. The Gridcoin Network uses this blockchain system to reward people for the computational power they direct toward scientific and data analytic research hosted with Berkeley’s Open Infrastructure for Network Computing, more commonly referred to as BOINC. Currently, Gridcoin’s unique value stems from this incentive for research instead of for resolving essentially meaningless hashes. Additionally, each GRC presents its owner with the ability to vote on future developments of the Gridcoin Network.

Topics for Gridcoin Classrooms:

(each week will also have a Frequently Asked Questions component)

1. How-to.
   Download BOINC
   Download the wallet
   Basic installation
   Download the blockchain
   General setup.
   List of Addnodes
   Know where things are in the wallet
2. General safety and security
   Locking your wallet
   Cold Storage backup
   Which type of USB drive to use
   RaspPi
   Moving and copying files
   Encrypting a USB stick
   KeepassXC
3. General overview
   PoW vs PoS vs PoR
   White Paper Resource/Links
4. General operations
   BOINC
   magnitude
   beacon
   pool vs. solo
   Recent Average Credit
   Useful RPC Commands
5. General troubleshooting
6. Advanced: optimizing BOINC
   app_config.xml
   cc_config.xml
7. Advanced: Testnet, and how to help
8. Advanced: Full nodes
   Setting up a full node
   Day to day running of a full node
   Autonode Script
   List of Addnodes
   Node Security

The Next Gridcoin Community Classroom

Date and Time

November 18, 2017 @ 6pm UTC
Check everytimezone for timezone info!

Server Info

Label: BeyondBitcoin - Gridcoin
Address: mumble.grcnode.co.uk or mumble.beyondboinc.net (IP = 149.210.187.155)
Port: 64738
Username: Enter your username, try to pick one people will recognize you by - i.e. your steemit or Slack username
Password: w0rldCh@NG3rsUN!t3

Need help now?

Online Forums:

Gridcoin forum on CryptoCurrencyTalk
Gridcoin Discord
Or post a thread on our Steemit or reddit boards, or ask for an e-mail invite to the Gridcoin Slack Channel.

This Saturday, November 11, 2017 @ 7pm UTC (note the different time - once again you can check timezones) there will be a Gridcoin Hangout on the same Mumble channel discussing the topics posted in the comments of this article here. Everyone is welcome to join!

Finally, thank you to @jringo for proofreading this article!

Here’s to the growth of Gridcoin!

Signed
@GeeBell