GLaDOS miner 1.3.9

Your spare PC can mine $GLaDOS tonight. Boot the miner, give it your wallet,
and walk away. The pool turns everything it earns into $GLaDOS and sends it
straight to your wallet. Nothing to claim, nothing to install.

Download: glados-1.3.9-miner.iso (33 MB), plus SHA256SUMS to
check it:

sha256sum -c --ignore-missing SHA256SUMS

Run it in a virtual machine with QEMU, or boot a real PC from a USB stick.
Both land on the same screen: mining.

In a virtual machine (QEMU)

1. Install QEMU and OVMF, the UEFI firmware the miner boots on:
   sudo apt install qemu-system-x86 ovmf (Debian/Ubuntu),
   sudo pacman -S qemu-full edk2-ovmf (Arch),
   sudo dnf install qemu-kvm edk2-ovmf (Fedora).

2. Copy the firmware's settings file next to the ISO. The VM keeps your
   wallet in it between boots:

   cp /usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_VARS_4M.fd vars.fd           # Debian/Ubuntu
   cp /usr/share/edk2/x64/OVMF_VARS.4m.fd vars.fd       # Arch
   cp /usr/share/edk2/ovmf/OVMF_VARS.fd vars.fd         # Fedora
   

3. Boot it, using the firmware file from the same folder
   (OVMF_CODE_4M.fd, OVMF_CODE.4m.fd or OVMF_CODE.fd):

   qemu-system-x86_64 -machine q35 -accel kvm -m 2G \
       -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly=on,file=/usr/share/OVMF/OVMF_CODE_4M.fd \
       -drive if=pflash,format=raw,file=vars.fd \
       -cdrom glados-1.3.9-miner.iso
   

4. Type your 0x wallet address and press Enter. You're mining. Next time,
   the same command goes straight to mining.

-machine q35 gives the VM the PCI Express bus the miner finds its network
card on. -accel kvm runs it at full speed; on a machine without KVM, drop it
and it runs slower.

Why QEMU? The miner boots on UEFI and finds its network card over PCI
Express. A new VirtualBox machine boots legacy BIOS on a chipset with no PCI
Express, so it can't see the network. QEMU with the flags above is what this
release is built and tested on.

On a real PC (USB stick)

1. Flash the ISO to a USB stick with balenaEtcher, Rufus (DD mode) or
   dd. The stick shows up on your computer as a drive named GLADOS.
2. Put your wallet on the stick: on the GLADOS drive, open the GLADOS
   folder, then MINER.TXT. Replace ask on the worker line with your 0x
   address and save. The PC won't even need a keyboard.
3. Boot from the stick with your PC's boot menu key: usually F11, F12 or
   Esc.

What the PC needs:

• x86-64 with UEFI, with Secure Boot off. Roughly 2011 and newer.
• Ethernet (Intel e1000-family or Realtek RTL8168/8111, which covers most
  desktops and laptops), or a phone sharing its connection over USB.

Your wallet

• Hold at least 1,000,000 $GLaDOS to mine on the pool, and keep holding
  it to get paid. The screen tells you if you're short.
• It's remembered. An address typed at boot is saved on that PC, so every
  later boot goes straight to mining.
• Switch wallets by typing a new 0x address on the mining screen and
  pressing Enter.
• Forget the saved address by typing mine forget. The next boot asks
  again.

All the miner ever needs is your address. It never asks for a key or a
signature.

How you get paid

• Everyone gets the same. Each payout is split equally between every
  eligible wallet.
• Who is eligible: wallets holding at least 1,000,000 $GLaDOS that did at
  least a quarter of the typical miner's work in that round. Miss a round and
  your work carries over to the next.
• How often: as soon as the pot is big enough that fees stay under 10% of
  it. More miners means more frequent payouts.
• Straight to your wallet on Robinhood Chain. There is nothing to claim.
• Every payout is public, with its transaction:
  https://pool.aperture.institute/payouts.json, or on
  https://glados.aperture.institute/pool/.

Also in this release

glados-pool and glados-miner: static Linux builds of the pool and a
host-side miner, if you'd like to mine without booting an ISO.