How To Mine Bitcoin Gold (BTG) Cryptocurrency On Linux Using Minergate
Linux hasn’t always been easy to mine cryptocurrency on. That is, till Minergate came along. What is Minergate? Minergate is a service that makes it easy to mine Bitcoin Gold cryptocurrency on Linux. It has a super user-friendly tool that works on all operating systems. The great thing about it is that with a few clicks, anyone can get going with it.
Hardware
This article only explains how you can install an application to mine Bitcoin Gold. It assumes that you already have the hardware required to mine cryptocurrency. If you’re not sure whether or not your hardware can handle the energy requirements, and you choose to run this application anyway, you risk damaging your hardware beyond repair. Make sure your system can handle the requirements of mining cryptocurrency before you start.
Install Minergate
Using this tool requires very little expertise and anyone can use it with ease. To get started, you’ll first need to make a Minergate account. This is a simple process and shouldn’t take too long. Once you’ve registered, it’s time to install the Minergate GUI miner tool.
The official Minergate mining tool officially supports Ubuntu and Fedora. That said, other Linux distributions have figured out how to get it to work as well. Follow the instructions below to learn how to install the software on your Linux operating system.
Ubuntu
Go to the download page for the Minergate GUI miner and click the download button next to the Ubuntu logo. When the download completes, open up the file manager and go to “Downloads”. Double-click on the Deb package file to open it up in the Ubuntu software center. Click “install” to finish the process.
Alternatively, open up a terminal window and use the CD command to move to the ~/Downloads folder.
cd ~/Download
Install Minergate via the dpkg packaging tool.
sudo dpkg -i minergate-8.1.deb
Lastly, correct any dependencies that may be missing with apt install -f.
sudo apt install -f
Debian
As Ubuntu and Debian have the same core technologies, installing the Debian package file for the Minergate GUI miner works fine. To get it, go to the official download page and click the button next to “Ubuntu”. After the download is done, open the file manager and double-click on it to open the Debian file with the Gdebi package installation tool. Click “install” to finish the process. Otherwise, install via terminal with:
cd ~/Downloads sudo dpkg -i minergate-8.1.deb sudo apt install -f
Arch Linux
Arch isn’t officially supported, but that doesn’t matter as there is an AUR package available for installation.
Note: the Minergate version available for Arch is currently version 7.1, and not 8 like the ones officially supported.
To start off, open up the terminal and use the Pacman package tool to install the latest version of the Git package.
sudo pacman -S git
With the latest version of Git working, use it to grab the Minergate package from the AUR.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/minergate.git
Using the makepkg tool, build and install Minergate. Keep in mind that though makepkg installs most dependencies, some may fail to install. If this happens to you, you’ll need to install them manually here.
makepkg -si
Fedora
Head over to the download page for Minergate GUI miner and click the download button next to the Fedora Linux logo. When done, open up the file manager and go to the “Downloads” folder. Double-click on the RPM file to open it up in Gnome Software. Click “Install” to finish the installation process.
Alternatively, install Minergate on Fedora with the terminal and DNF. Start off by using the CD command and move the terminal to the ~/Downloads folder.
cd ~/Downloads
Install the program using the DNF package tool.
sudo dnf install minergate-8.1.rpm
OpenSUSE
Suse and Fedora use the same package system, so Suse users should have no issue installing the Fedora RPM to use Minergate. To get started, head to the download page and click the button next to “Fedora”. Next, open up the file manager, click “Downloads” and double-click on the Minergate RPM file. Finish up by clicking “install” inside Gnome Software.
Want to install via terminal? Use CD to move to ~/Downloads, then install with Zypper.
cd ~/Downloads sudo zypper install minergate-8.1.rpm
Using Minergate
To start using Minergate, open up the application menu, search for “Minergate” and click on it. Once launched, log into your Minergate account and select “Start mining.”
By default, Minergate will start mining an alternative coin. Since we want to mine Bitcoin Gold, click the pickaxe icon to select the right currency. Minergate tends to hide some currencies, so you may need to select the “show all” button.
The Minergate mining tool supports a lot of different currencies. Look through, find “BTG” and click the “start mining” button. This should automatically start the mining process.
Mining speed and effectiveness all depends on how powerful your PC is. Also, keep in mind that earning BTG takes a long time, so don’t expect to cash out right away. Leave it running in the background and forget about it. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll wake up to a couple free coins!
Mining Other Coins
Minergate’s GUI mining tool is very easy to use and lets users mine multiple currencies at a time. If you’re not satisfied with just Bitcoin Gold, consider enabling one of the other popular currencies in the tool. To start mining alternative currencies alongside Bitcoin Gold, go back to the mining menu, and click “start mining”. Instantly, mining should start.
Please understand that if you choose to mine multiple currencies at once, it could take away from the power of mining BTG. If your only goal is to earn BTG, pick one at a time and stick with it.
I mine BTG with MinerGate via Ubuntu and I didn’t know that it’s available for Debian and Arch Linux, too. Thanks for useful info. I recommend MinerGate. They exist for 4 years and did for cryptocommunity a lot.