It seems that the central servers for Sainsbury's, Tesco and McDonalds ( amongst others) are down at the moment. Not so long ago, Visa failed across the whole of the UK. Now I carry some cash to cover me when this happens. However, it occured to me that, assuming that the Internet is still live, then shops could use Bitcoin to accept payments, and link to the mempool via a local server, or perhaps they could use lightning. The main accounts could be updated when the system is live again.

I suspect this scenario is unlikely, but is it technically feasible?

I've been inside the Matebook, and here is a pic of the motherboard.



It's a bit of a disappointment, as it looks as if the drive is the only thing I can upgrade that is relevant. It must have been the Reizen board that had the two drive sockets. I'm not prepared to delve any further into the internals, as the machine is running well, and I doubt if there are any easy upgrades under there. So the modified plan is to remove the current drive and put it in a USB box so that I can get at any files that I may want. I can then replace it with a 4 Tb drive, and maybe I'll partition that for the blockchain and wallet files. I'll start a new thread on the hardware tech board when the drive arrives. It would probably be useful to make a YouTube video as well. Maybe that would give someone confidence to try their own upgrade.

Please don't quote posts by Franky in my threads. He's been trolling me for years, and I have him on permanent ignore. Just looking at his quoted posts illustrates the low value of his jealous and vitriolic comments. I have yet to see one of his posts that is based on rational and considered thought.

So onto happier topics. I appreciate that the notebook I want to use is of low(ish) spec by current standards, but I hoped that this thread could be helpful to newer Bitcoin enthusiasts, and they may have limited resources and finances. Of course I have Bitcoin in a variety of wallets, and I have run a node for a few years. I wanted to start completely from scratch by creating a new node by downloding the blockchain onto older machinery. I'm also doing it as a digital nomad without a fixed address.

It looks as if I was inaccurate in posting the specs of this Huawei Matebook. I've just been into the BIOS, and it reports the following.
cpu - i5 12450H
dimm - LPDDR$ 8192 Mb
sdd - 512GB

The hard drive is upgradeable, and I will need to check this when I get inside the machine. It's   running Windows 11 much to my  disgust, and this needs to be replaced by a Linux variant. I'm looking at some light versions including Manjaro and Zorin. Bodhi looks a bit unusual, and I wonder how it will cope with running a Bitcoin node.

Wow.

I missed that 45% drop in Bitcoins price a couple of days ago. Who could have predicted that, and what was the cause. It shows that I should have had a couple of market maker trades on an exchange. I wouldn't have set it to more than 10% though. Maybe it is worth leaving a long term buy option at 75% of the current market price. I need to look for exchanges that will let me do that without excessive commission charges.

Does it really matter? Whoever is running, the Eton/Oxford elite always win to control Washington, Westminster and the EU.

My attitude to awarding merits is personal, and a bit complex. I've still got people on ignore from 5 years ago, so they won't get any merits - maybe I should review this list if I get time. Another factor results from not reading a thread. If a title is printed in all caps, then I assume it is of low value, and I don't open it. Maybe I'm wrong in making this assumption, but it's something I have noticed over the years. I don't like swearing or aggressive behaviour, so that leads me to quit or ignore. I also ignore posters who quote large images or long posts. Seeing the same image re-quoted multiple times just clogs up the thread.

One thing I am concerned about is awarding merits in threads I have started. For obvious reasons, I tend to read those more than other threads, so I am exposed to more replies, and I tend to give merit to posts that I feel contribute to the topic of the forum. I am aware that this can create an unfair bias, but I do get rather a lot of merits to award, and I don't seem to have time to read most of the threads here.

What do you guys think? Is it unfair to award merits in threads I have started?

HaHa, The USA and NATO have already lost the proxy war against Russia. Their use of amateurs and sanctions have strengthed Russia, and allowed it to design weapons to counter the best creations of the privatised military complex. The current military seems to be full of wobbly wokes, who are unlikely to fight in case they break a fingernail. Pretty soon we will see the real results of losing the war in Ukrain. Some say it will be the occupation of Alaska. It used to be Russian, and many of the residents speak Russian, and are of Russian descent. His justification will be a claim for compensation for the assets seized by the US, and it may be difficult to argue against that. Especially if Alaskan residents want to rejoin an expanding economy, rather than being associated with a declining country that is intent on destroying itsel.

Hi there Mr Sceptical,

It's not a parking fine that I am disputing, and that would be a local government issue as you suggest. I'm disputing an implied contract for parking in a supermarket car park, and the invoice ( which is not a fine ) was raised by the largest parking management business in the UK. I think they are deceitful, and intimidating, and I don't react well to being threatened when I believe I am in the right. I understand that any payments through the courts of to the government would need to be with legal tender. Gold Sovereigns and Brittanias are legal tender, and I would be happy to accept those. ( fat chance of that though ).

I have posted this on the web site, but I need to get them to acknowledge that they have read it.

I'm a HODLer at heart, so I don't really take profits, except when I was scalping. When Bitcoin dropped below my purchase price, I moved it into a long term wallet, added funds to my account, and loked for a new buying opportunity. This is a bit of an eccentric method of scalping, and only works if you are sure the asset is going to increase in value long term. Also, it only works if you have some "play" money to use.

I really want Bitcoin to drop to £500, but that isn't going to happen. So my 5% or 10% idea is really a method of planning purchases. It doen't really have any scientific basis, but is a way to encourage me to move surplus savings/income into long term investments.

I didn't win with my Euro Millions ticket. I only got one star, and there are no prizes for that. I think I'm going to review this after 3 months, and may cancel this option.

The main issue is the contesting of a fraudulent parking charge. The payments for letters are trivial - abot £29 each at today's price. The big advantage for me is the avoidance of having to provide my bank details to the company that is promoting unenforceable ( in my opinion ) charges, and threatening motorists who don't understand the law. There is also the issue of an increase in the value of the domain name during the dispute, and I haven't decided how to handle that. They may try to seize it through an UDRP action, but I believe that have have posted legal disclaioomers to avoid this.  I need to be circumspect in discussing this, as no doubt this thread may be used in any legal action.

Well I hope my claim does go to court. It will highlight the fact that Bitcoin can be used in settlement of a charge when you don't trust the defendant with your bank details. The more that judges and lawyers are made aware of this, then the better it will be for Bitcoin and the "ordinary" people.

I think the most likely outcome is that they will drop their charge, and hope that the problem goes away. However the major flaw in their claim is one that has been used many times by them, and I believe that their continuing use amounts to a fraud. I'd like to alert other UK motorists to their actions. I've also had some expenses in contesting their claim. I paid $3.59 fot the info domain, and renewal will cost $21.79 if I keep it for more than a year. Typed letters have to be printed in the local library, as I got rid of my printer as I only used it about once every two years. I will be making a claim for costs and inconvenience. If they refuse to pay it, then I can take it to the samll claims court. If I win this, then I understand that I will be paid in the legal tender option of Sterling. However, byt the time that happens, no doubt Bitcoin will have increased in value.

I am contesting a penalty surcharge for an alleged parking infringement. There are several grounds for appeal, but I am having difficulty in contacting the company. The only phone number they provide goes to an automated payment service. Their website is unusable as I am registered as no fixed abode ( this is very convenient in these times of change). They don't provide an email address. I managed to find a number that purports to be theit head office, and they stae their office hours are 0900-1730, but whenever I call they state the office is closed. I've registered a domain name with the ,info extension. Their website uses .com and .co.uk. I've set up an email of defence@(my domain.info), and I am prepared to correspond via this and free of charge. I suspect that I am going to have to start to correspond using traditional recorded delivery mail. This leads me to the purpose of this thread. I want to invoice them for each letter that I send, but I don't want to provide bank details. I propose to charge BTC0.0005 for each letter, and I will state that by requesting a written reply, they are accepting these terms. I am not providing a Sterling option, so I believe thay are forced to request an email reply or accept my terms. Of course they could ignore me, and try for court action - that will be fun.

Have any members here tried something like this? Whilst Bitcoin is not legal tender in the UK, it is not banned as a medium of exchange or method of payment.

There are a few constraints.
- There are no Bitcoin ATMs in the UK. I understand that in 2022, the FCA banned them all.
- The RAM in the Matebook is hard soldered onto the motherboard, so it can't be upgraded. I'll have a look inside to see what upgrades are viable. I read somewhere that the i5 could be replaced by an i7, but that seems unlikely to me, and may not be worth the efford. I'll be really pleased if I can fit 2 drives, but it looks as if I can fit a  Crucial | Model: CT4000P3PSSD8 which is 4Tb. That should be enought to run a node for a while. I want to keep the drive internal to reduce the power requirement, and for speed.
- The Euro Lottery tickets are probably going to be stupid loss makers, and I don't recommend those.
- The premium bonds were purchased as emergency savings. I chose over £3,000, as that seemed to be a sweet  spot for winnings, but statistically it shouldn't make a difference. I guess this is my relationship with Lady Luck from my card playing days that is showuing through.
- The monthly saving is as much to encourage me to dispose of all the redundant assets that I have in storage, and will probably never need.

I have a clearing account ( checking account ), and an instant access savings account, and a credit card. All these are used for daily living, and to smooth out my expenditure. I have no debts. I would encourage anyone to have these resources before they commence any of my new savings plans.

Cheeky thing.

What has age go to do with using Linux? I've got Ubuntu on the netbook, and I find it easier toi use than Windows. Sometimes it takes me half a day to find out how to modify Windows, and then it changes it back next time it does a forced update. It usually time its update to concide with a time that I'm not plugged into mains electricity, and I'm in a hurry. I don't want the crappy Windows updates that just restrict me and slow down the computer. I'm toying with the idea of using Kali, but I haven't done any recent investigations into Linux distros.

@Hatchy
Thanks for the kind words. I sold my shares quite a few years ago, and switched into property. That cost me a lot of money, as it was linked to a failed relationship.

Thanks for the reply.
I'm not too bothered about privacy per se. I'm more concerned about taking control of my life, whilst staying within the bounds of the law. I don't pay property taxes, or any of the usual household bills, but with 3 vehicles, I do pay fuel annd highway taxes. I also pay income taxes if required, but I'm fortunately able to take advantage of various allowances. That was one of the reasons I indulged in scalping Bitcoin. It allowed me to take advantage of gains tax allowances as I accumulated Bitcoin. I don't think Bitcoin is voilatile enough for me to revert to that though. I thionk buy and HODL may be a better approach now, but I'll see how the market shapes up later this year.

I might try to flip a car for Bitcoin in the summer. I've learnt a  lot about Volvo redblock engines, and I reckon I can make a grand or twio by flipping one. The problem is that I don't think classic Volvo buyers are into Bitcoin. There is also the probablity that cash payments will be restricted, and I've always used cash to buy and sell cars.

OK, so the title is a bit of click  bait. I don't regard myself a elederly, as I'm a healthy 81-year old, and I'm not really homeless. I've just distanced myself from residential property. Local taxes and utiiity prices have become too onerous, and no longer offer reasonable value. I've become a digital nomad while I sort out all the dross from my past. This thread is about a savings evaluation project as we move into the banking crisis, that will be arriving soon.

I'm starting with 4 elements -

A high interest savings account with a regular bank, and I'll be paying in £50 per month to get an interest rate of 6.25%
I've got £3,600 in premium bonds, and I'll leave those alone to see how they fare over the next year. They haven't done too well, as I only received £100 over the last year.
The Euro millions lottery, and I'll be spending £5 per week to see what return I can get. I'm expecting the yield to be negative on this.
Bitcoin is the interesting one though.

I have a Huawei Matebook with an i5 processor, and 512Mb of RAM.  The HDD is too small, and I'll upgrade it to 2Tb. I haven't had the case open yet, but I believe it may have a second slot for an extra drive. If this is so, then I'll use the second drive to run a full archiving node, and I'll start that from scratch to see how long it takes. With no permanent residence, I'm going to have to use public WiFi, and tethering on my mobile. I've got an unlimited data plan, but if I start to hammer it by synchronising the blockchain, they may start tro throttle it. I'm running Windows 11 because I haven't got round to removing it, but I'll put a Linux variant on the new drive. I just need to decide which one. The Huawei is great, as it has up to 13 hours battery life, and it is charged through a USB-C port. That means I can charge it in the van, or in a Cafe.

The Bitcoin purchasing policy is a bit of a quandary. I'm somewhat of a loose cannon, so I don't want to link it to income of existing savings. I did some scalping through Coinbase a while ago, but Coinbase has changed, and so have the government regulations and taxes. My plan at the moment is to find a suitable exchange, and to jump in when the price drops by 5% or 10%, I haven't decided which. The price is on a slowly rising incline at the moment as we move towards the halving. I am aware of the possibility of a drop some time after this due to profit taking. Waiting foor a 10% drop will give me the chance to upgrade the Matebook, and synchronise a full node.

I'd be interested in some comments and suggestions from you guys. If you are new to Bitcoin, then you are welcome to asjk questions. Similarly, if you are considering moving off grid, then pitch in with your observations. I'm particularly interested in the use of LoRa in conjunction with Bitcoin. If this is feasible, then it could allow us to continue using Bitcoin without a global Internet.

I thougght I would update this thread with details of my current winnings. I've had £3,600 invested since the beginning of 2023, and so far all I have won is £100 ( 2 x £50 prizes ). Since March of 2023, Bitcoin has risen by 237%. If my maths is correct, then £3,600 invested in Bitcoin would have shown a profit of £8,532 at today's price. I'm thinking of stating a thread where I compare "investments" in Bitcoin, bank savings, premium bonds, and the weekly purchase of a Euro millions lottey ticket. I might also chuck in an entry to the free lottery.

There can't be another coin like Bitcoin. Now that people are aware of decentralised cryptos, any new coin will be vulnerable to a 51% attack.

Maybe Satoshi's heirs have control of that address, and it is a savings account for use after the great reset of world finances. It's a great way to attract donations. The most interesting post will come when some of those coins are spent. I'm starting to believe that that will happen in a fed years.

Alternatively, maybe somebody found Satoshi's hard drive dumped in a recycling centre.