In the world of mining, there are few tools that are aimed to novice users. It seems as if things are complicated on purpose to discourage new users: the software has to be launched in terminals, set up by hand, and technical knowledge is required. In addition, the daily monitoring of the mining process is often synonymous to a headache.
0°/ Introduction
In the XDAG ecosystem, a tool is shaking up the codes, and it seduces by its simplicity of use, its pleasant graphic interface, and its advanced features. A real “Swiss Army knife” that allows you to mine, but not only. Even the “hard-core miners” will find their account there.
This tool is XDAG-UI and we will first present you a brief introduction to start mining effortlessly, then we will go into a little more detail with an overview of its possibilities. And they are numerous… You are not ready!
Some information before we start. Note that :
- XDAG-UI is free: its developer invites you to give him a donation of 1 XDAG… it’s not much considering the work involved, I know you will be generous with him!
- it is available under Windows, which allows it to reach the largest number of beginners.
- it is translated into 4 languages: English / French / Russian and Chinese.
- it is fully compatible with XDAGJ network new version (0.6.x and higher).
End of the appetizer, let’s start.
1°/ Installation of XDAG-UI
The software can be downloaded from Github xdagui/xdagui.
You won’t need anything else, it will take care of downloading everything you need to use it to start off on the right foot in the XDAG universe.
Also, my first advice is to put the program in an empty folder, after extracting it from the .ZIP you got from Github.
In this example, the folder is on my desktop, but I have no doubt that you will be able to find a more ‘academic’ location.
My second tip is to create an exclusion rule in your antivirus software. In our example, it’s Windows Defender that we’re going to calm down so that it doesn’t get too excited.
Note : these screenshots are in French, they will guide you some clues about what to do even if you don’t understand the texts.
So we add the folder where the program ‘XDAGUI.exe’ is locate to the exclusion list.
You will adapt the handling with your own AV, if you use one.
2°/ First launch
Now let’s run the program. Your PC may show you the following screen. Click on “Run anyway”.
Without you noticing, XDAG-UI will download all the necessary tools: miners, proxy, language files, and many other things.
The main screen appears, and first request from your firewall: it wants to let xmrig2xdag through. This is the proxy for XDAG that you might need to use. So click on “Allow access”.
By default, the program is set to start mining at startup. Now we will have to set it up, so we click on the big “Stop” button at the bottom right.
3°/ Settings and options
Now that the program is launched, let’s start setting it up quickly, so that it can mine without delay.
Click on the “Settings” tab. You will fill at first 2 fields framed in green to define the name of the worker and the address of your wallet.
In the 3rd field, you will select your pool. If you are a beginner and don’t know what to choose, I recommend you to choose one of the two ‘equal’ pools of xdag.org .
You can then choose the language. By default, the choice is automatic, but you may want to force the language to English or other, as you wish.
I then encourage you to disable the following 2 options:
- “Automatically start mining when XDAGUI starts” (you can reactivate it later).
- “Enable local proxy”. Indeed, if your PC is your only miner, using a local proxy is not essential, and will lighten the CPU load.
However, if you are already an XDAG user and have a local computer that hosts an XMRig-2-XDAG (aka x2x) proxy, you may find it useful to specify its address in the green box below:
In my personal case, I have a proxy server that runs on a server accessible from the Internet. I have therefore specified it in the field in question.
And finally, here is my personal installation of XDAG-UI set up with the following choices:
If you look carefully, you will see on the right side of the window a dozen additional options to discover without delay.
4°/ Advanced features
Here are some equally useful options that may become indispensable to some of you:
- “Automatically change the address of ore pool” to be handled with care, reserved for connoisseurs,
- “Automatically starting XDAGUI when Windows starts” which when coupled with “Automatically start mining when XDAGUI starts” totally automates the mining process on your PC. Very efficient.
- There are also 2 automatic restart options: one for the miner and one for the PC if the h/s rates of your miner become lower than what you have indicated.
- etc…
Search, test, there is bound to be an option that will be useful to you.
Now let’s go back to the main tab, and set the number of threads we’ll use to mine, using the top right dash.
If you drag the slider all the way to the left, the choice will be automatic. Otherwise, set the number that suits you. If you are looking for the optimal settings for your processor, go to the XMRig benchmarks, and search for your CPU in the list.
5°/ Starting the mining
Now that everything is set, let’s launch the mining by clicking on the “Launch” button at the bottom right.
Here, but which mining software uses XDAGUI? 😊 Let’s go to the “Logs” tab to find out.
And “oh surprise”, it is x4x (XMRig-4-XDAG) in version 6.19.1 under the hood. Excellent choice! 🔥
But you might want to use other miners. Don’t worry, XDAG-UI knows how to communicate with the one of your choice. To do this, go to the “Kernel” tab.
Obviously, we can’t advise you enough to stay with x4x.
Let’s go back to the “Home” tab, and see what information we have to track our mining.
6°/ Monitoring of mining
After a few hours of mining, this is what your screen will look like:
In detail :
- Green frame: a histogram showing your average mining power hour by hour (hover over the bars with your mouse).
- Yellow frame: your current mining power, and the histogram detailing your minute by minute performance history over the last hour (hover your mouse over the bars).
- Blue frame: to the right of your wallet balance, this button will send you to the XDAG network explorer (xdag.io) to see your wallet balance and all your transactions.
- Pink frame: to the right of the general power of the network, this button will send you to the XDAG network explorer in order to consult the list of the last fallen blocks, the pool that harvested them, etc…
- Orange frame: on the right of the estimate of your income over 24 hours, you will access the income calculator of xdag.io which, depending on the hashrate, will give you the number of XDAG to expect.
So far, XDAG-UI has shown us that it adds a graphical layer to the miner. You can now set up your miner, launch it, and monitor its work.
But this is far from being its only talent…
7°/ Advanced features
The “Statistics” tab concentrates in one place the advanced but essential information that will interest you.
By clicking on the first icon, you will have access to :
- The version of the XDAG network,
- The list of all nodes (servers) in the XDAG network and the time they have been online since their last reboot.
At the moment, only XDAG-UI can give you these informations that you will not find anywhere else.
The second icon will give you access to the list of the last mined blocks on the XDAG network, and the pool that discovered it. This is the synthesis of the information you will find on the XDAG network explorer homepage.
The third icon will give you access to your wallet list of transactions. This is also a summary of the information you will find on the XDAG network explorer, restricted to your network address.
8°/ Go even further…
Thanks to XDAG-UI, we have all the useful functions to manage an efficient mining in the same program, but we also have access to all the information specific to the network and to our wallet.
But XDAG-UI has one more big surprise in store: it’s XDAGUI_Server, a monitoring center for all your PCs that host an XDAG-UI miner.
You will find it in the XDAGUI_Server folder:
The possibilities offered are of the same order as those offered by XMRigCC. So if you have a CPU farm, it is likely that XDAGUI_Server will quickly become your best friend!
Quick example:
I invite you to go and search by yourself to discover the capabilities of XDAGUI_Server, or wait for the next article which will be specially dedicated to it.
I hope this reading will have been as instructive as pleasant for you. If you enjoy this article, don’t forget to give me a tip by sending me some XDAG : 53r2nH7y81CePxqe73mpoZdEjs66j178K
See you soon.
