Bitcoin QT on Rasperry Pi?

[Razick]

Hello,

I am wondering if Bitcoin QT runs on the Rasperry Pi. I searched but could only find information about mining. If so, please answer the following questions:

1. How easy is it to set up?
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2. Were there any issues?
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3. How reliable is it? Uptime?
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4. What is your impression on out-of-the-box security? What actions are important to ensure it's secure.

Thanks! I look forward to reading your replies.

[grue]

issues with pi:

• low memory
• slow disk access, plus you will wear out your SD card. further compounded by lack of memory to use as cache
• slow cpu, which is problematic when syncing blockchain

[Razick]

That sucks. So basically, don't use it, huh? 

[rupy]

So basically use bitcoinj?

[maqifrnswa]

That sucks. So basically, don't use it, huh?  

i've used it, you may want to decrease -checklevel and -checkblocks. It took a couple days to download and verify the blockchain. I actually boostrapped the blockchain from: http://eu2.bitcoincharts.com/blockchain/ and it still took a few days.

I just did it to see if it can be done, i don't keep it running. I was running pretty much continuously for a few weeks. I think i tried running p2pool on it at the same time, that was less stable.

edit: regarding security, it's pretty much rebuilt debian wheezy. If your just running bitcoind and ssh, it's going to be pretty secure.

[rupy]

So I can't find any tutorial on how to build the latest bitcoind on the raspberry pi...

I will create one when I'm done... just need a few pointers to how you could build/configure the bitcoind to run better on the raspberry:

How do I compile the bitcoind with ultraprune?

Edit: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=191729.msg2004228#msg2004228

[gmaxwell]

A semi-ontopic aside:   If you were thinking about getting a rpi to run bitcoin you will be infinitely happier with a odroid u2: http://www.hardkernel.com/renewal_2011/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G135341370451  it's much faster than an rpi, _far_ more than just the clockspeed and core count implies.  Failing that, a beaglebone: http://beagleboard.org/Products/BeagleBone%20Black is still close in price and should be more than twice the speed of an rpi while drawing a lot less power.  The rpi is a really handicapped arm, and Bitcoind/bitcoin-qt is designed to be a _full_ participant in the bitcoin network, it's not really meant for small systems. You don't really want to skimp on the cpu power if you don't have to.

[rupy]

2 things that talk in the favour of the RPi:

- Free colocation!
- Huge community.

The problem with running bitcoin are also 2, and these are valid on any machine:

- Memory.
- Diskspace.

These 2 have to be fixed anyhow if BTC is going to go anywhere. I mean the average joe is not going to have 10GB+ of free diskspace or 0,5-1GB of free memory.

So if devs could just point me in the right direction as to where memory consumption/leak and blockchain pruning are taking place in the source I'll try my best.

My biggest concern is _why_ bitcoind needs that much memory?

Edit: gonna look at picocoin!

[cp1]

So I can't find any tutorial on how to build the latest bitcoind on the raspberry pi...

I will create one when I'm done... just need a few pointers to how you could build/configure the bitcoind to run better on the raspberry:

How do I compile the bitcoind with ultraprune?

Edit: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=191729.msg2004228#msg2004228

I'm not sure what ultraprune is.  I just built it from source.  I used an external HD to store the blockchain.  It was pretty slow and hogged the CPU.  Eventually I just gave up and installed electrum.

[Jaxkr]

I also bet Electrum would perform well on a Pi.