With the hardware built the next step is getting the Raspberry Pi up and running and installing LIRC. Alexba.in has a comprehensive post for both of these things: RaspberryPi Quickstart and Setting Up LIRC on the RaspberryPi.

I discovered and modified a few things along the way, so here’s what I did:

• Download the latest Raspbian Image and follow their Installation Guide.
• Network the Pi over wired Ethernet using RJ45 connector.
• Connect to the Pi over SSH with PuTTy.

Since I’d like to connect over WiFi I’ve added a Belkin USB F7D2101. For future development, I also added a ORICO BTA-402 USB Bluetooth 4.0 Micro Adapter Dongle for controlling a Play Station 3 using GIMX.

I mined a total of 0.24359921 Bitcoin (BTC) with the Raspberry Pi and Butterfly Labs 5 GH/s miner from December 17, 2013 - July 29, 2015.

Here’s a breakdown of costs:

• Hardware = $390
• Electricity = $571
• Total = $961

Total cost of power over that period of approximately 14,136 hours was calculated assuming $0.19 / kWh by taking the average over a one year period. The power consumption was approximated by recording usage with a P3 Kill A Watt over a ten day period and interpolating linearly.