[DISCLAIMER] This not a guide! (yet) See it as a short story of me evolving and getting things right. This will consist of at least 6 parts, getting published daily. This first part you read here is already 7 days old. So if you want to get closer into CHIA, do your own homework or wait for the other parts to come.
Some time ago, when I was desperately looking for a replacement part that I am convinced is somewhere in the depths of my treasures, I noticed my large collection of Raspberry Pis. Unfortunately, these are now only gathering dust and have not been used for a long time. Why actually? I don't know, I guess I'm just lazy. That left me no peace. The little beasts always gave me a lot of joy and I was ready for a new project.
Since the magic of crypto currencies has now cast a spell on me, I started looking for useful uses in the crypto cosmos. I haven't found that much. Create a Bitcoin Node? Why should I do that? I have no idea, idea discarded. The day passed and in the evening I was gripped by ambition again. There must be something useful with which I can give the raspberries a new life. That's how I ended up with Chia.
Chia? Those are the weird seeds that had a huge hype some time ago with people who are crazy about weight loss. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about a new blockchain called Chia. A project by BitTorrent creator Bram Cohen. Chia differs quite significantly from most other crypto currencies in one particularity. The "Proof of Space" protocol is used. I had never heard of that before.
Bitcoin is based on the "Proof of Work" concept. The work of the blockchain is taken over by means of GPU or CPU power. This requires very strong hardware and thus also results in a high power consumption, ergo high energy costs.
Then there is the “Proof of Stake” concept. Ethereum is currently working on changing its system from "Proof of Work" to "Proof of Stake". What exactly that is, how it works, I have no idea. I just don't care.
But now back to Chia. First I devoured their website, then on to Reddit and finally I found a kind of "fan project" for it, http://Chiadecentral.com. For now, I will not go into the chia blockchain in any more detail. This is about farming Chia Coins in order to get incredibly rich, very quickly, preferably before Easter.
As is so often the case, I came to the party a little late, the Chia Mainnet was already online for 7 days at this point. But now quickly. What do you need to farm?
Powerful CPU? Check
Decent amount of RAM? Check
SSD? Check
HDD? Check
Well, finally got lucky! Neither do I need a solar system to pay the electricity costs, nor a sinfully expensive graphics card. What is the catch? There is no! (Yes / Yes…)
So, downloaded the software and off for it. I had read about plotting. That is probably necessary to be able to farm. Then we just plot. Plot on the fast SSD and farm on the HDD, easy. A plot file of approx. 110GB needs approx. 360GB during production?
Problem # 1. I didn't have that much space.
All right, then stuff will be deleted which I don't need one way or another. Done, done, started plotting. With big eyes I sat in front of the PC and waited for the "plot" to finally be finished. After 20 minutes and exactly 0% progress, I didn't feel like it anymore. I'll just let that thing do it and hit myself back on the couch. Of course it didn't leave me alone.
Time to dive a little deeper into the subject. I have to reckon with my setup in 8 hours, according to Reddit. All right, then we'll just wait. After what felt like an eternity, the process was actually over and I started farming straight away. Estimated time to win a block: 1 year. Crap.
My plan to be incredibly rich in the near future will have to be put a little behind.
PS: Of course I didn't find the spare part.