Bitcoin Forum

Economy => Services => Topic started by: ForceField on February 10, 2012, 10:42:49 PM



Title: [CANCELLED] TOR Relay Project - Tor Relay Access Node for the Bitcoin Community
Post by: ForceField on February 10, 2012, 10:42:49 PM
Update 4/1/2012: [Project Cancelled Due To Insufficient Donations]

I would like to setup a Tor Relay Access Node to ease the burden on current nodes and to help with the slow Tor speed.
To accomplish this, I'm thinking about purchasing this PC (http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-PC2-SSD-Atom-Z530/dp/B004KUUNX0/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328902780&sr=8-3) and connect it directly to my modem.

This unit costs $354 shipped from Amazon, I have some GCs so it will be about $319 / 5.91 (current rate)
= 54 Bitcoins

PC Setup Specifications:
- 1.6Ghz atom CPU, 1GB SDRAM
- Auto-Boot, automatically turns on when power is connected
- SSD, so no HDD failures (comes with a 8GB SSD, but I have an Intel 40GB SSD that I will install instead)
- 24/7 operation
- OS: ? - I will let the community decide which operating system is best for this purpose. But it must be secure, stable, and provide good performance.
Manufacturer's Homepage (http://www.fit-pc.com) - They also offer a 1.1GHz model (http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-PC2-Value-Atom-Z510/dp/B0047CUL8S/ref=sr_1_3s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328908991&sr=1-3) and a 2.0GHz model with 2GB RAM (http://www.amazon.com/CompuLab-fit-PC2-2GHz-Atom-Z550/dp/B004KUWTFA/ref=sr_1_1s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1328908797&sr=1-1), but I figured for the cost-to-performance, the 1.6GHz model is ideal for its use as a node.

My Part In The Project:
- I will be paying for all bandwith costs.
- I will be paying for all energy costs.
- This unit will be running 24/7 for the forseeable future.
- I will post updates on any changes in the status of the Relay/PC. There may be things out of my direct control such as what happened during last year's hurricane, most of NJ lost power for ~2-3 days.

If there aren't enough donated coins by 5/1/2012 4/1/2012, this project will be cancelled and all donated coins will be refunded to donators. But, if the donated amount reaches 82 BTC ($482), then I'll purchase the 2.0GHz model instead and if it reaches 114 BTC ($673), then I'll buy and install two 1.6GHz models in separate locations.

Tor Relay Project Donation Address: [REMOVED No Longer Active]
I have started the fund with 1 Coin.

Feel free to ask questions and discuss ideas about this project and thanks to everyone for their input in advance.


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: ForceField on February 10, 2012, 10:43:34 PM
Second Post Reserved for Donators:
[Cancelled - Refunded]


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: ForceField on February 10, 2012, 10:45:08 PM
Third Post Reserved for Status:
[FAILED]


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: Stephen Gornick on February 12, 2012, 05:51:55 AM
If there aren't enough donated coins by 5/1/2012, this project will be cancelled and all donated coins will be refunded to donators.

Are you saying you'll return the funds to the address which sent them?   That's a problem if it came from an eWallet like a person sending from a Mt. Gox account.


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: MrGaSp on February 12, 2012, 08:13:53 AM
6...watts... oO


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: runeks on February 12, 2012, 10:41:16 AM
Are you sure this device has enough processing power for encryption and decryption at the data rate you're going to provide? Not sure if it could be an issue, but I though it might be relevant.


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: MrGaSp on February 12, 2012, 07:01:36 PM
Are you sure this device has enough processing power for encryption and decryption at the data rate you're going to provide? Not sure if it could be an issue, but I though it might be relevant.

I thought of that too, I've had ~2.5GHz systems get roughly 40% usage(quad core) from I2P, but they ARE different, but still have to decrypt everything.


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: ForceField on February 14, 2012, 12:24:42 AM
If there aren't enough donated coins by 5/1/2012, this project will be cancelled and all donated coins will be refunded to donators.

Are you saying you'll return the funds to the address which sent them?   That's a problem if it came from an eWallet like a person sending from a Mt. Gox account.

That's a good question. Refunds won't be sent to the address where it originated from unless explicitly specified by the donator.

Donators, please specify your refund address.

Are you sure this device has enough processing power for encryption and decryption at the data rate you're going to provide? Not sure if it could be an issue, but I though it might be relevant.

I've tested Tor and found that it ran just fine on an Asus eee PC (which has comparable specifications to this PC: 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU & 1GB RAM).


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: dlasher on February 15, 2012, 09:44:09 PM

Better make sure BEFORE you spend this money, that your ISP understands and supports you running a TOR node.. you will get DCMA takedowns sent on your ISP within 2-4 hours...



Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: ForceField on March 08, 2012, 11:15:37 PM
If there aren't enough donated coins by 5/1/2012, this project will be cancelled and all donated coins will be refunded to donators.

There have been no additional donations and it doesn't appear like there are going to be any.

For this reason, and to avoid wasting time in bumping this thread, I have shortened the deadline to declare this project as [Failed] to a sooner date:

Changed from 5/1/2012 to 4/1/2012.


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: stochastic on March 23, 2012, 12:13:22 AM
If there aren't enough donated coins by 5/1/2012, this project will be cancelled and all donated coins will be refunded to donators.

There have been no additional donations and it doesn't appear like there are going to be any.

For this reason, and to avoid wasting time in bumping this thread, I have shortened the deadline to declare this project as [Failed] to a sooner date:

Changed from 5/1/2012 to 4/1/2012.

Just a question because I am curious.  Is it possible to run a Tor relay node on Amazon's EC2 like they have made for the bridges (https://cloud.torproject.org/)?


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: Omni on March 25, 2012, 01:14:39 PM
If there aren't enough donated coins by 5/1/2012, this project will be cancelled and all donated coins will be refunded to donators.

There have been no additional donations and it doesn't appear like there are going to be any.

For this reason, and to avoid wasting time in bumping this thread, I have shortened the deadline to declare this project as [Failed] to a sooner date:

Changed from 5/1/2012 to 4/1/2012.

Just a question because I am curious.  Is it possible to run a Tor relay node on Amazon's EC2 like they have made for the bridges (https://cloud.torproject.org/)?
AFAIK, most recent-gen computers can run bridges.


Title: Re: TOR Relay Project - Will Provide Tor Relay Access Node, Require Community Input
Post by: zer0 on March 25, 2012, 10:33:59 PM
If it's just an internal relay or bridge node you won't have any problems, but if you run an exit node you will.
Can buy any old used shitty rack server, stick it on your floor and run openbsd/debian on it as a bridge