RPi Zero BTC Node?

[Abiky]

I want to know if the Raspberry Pi Zero is really capable of becoming a full BTC Node before I start getting one for myself. Has anyone tried this? I would like to know your experiences about this. Considering it has lower specs than other RPis such as the RPi 2, it makes me wonder whenever the Zero one could have the requirements of running a full BTC node and remain powered on 24/7. 

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[windpath]

I don't know about the Zero, but the RPi 2B is capable, but very slow....

Check out http://pine64.com/ as an alternative

[seedtrue]

I looked up the specs of it on the raspberry pi website:

"A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
A micro-SD card slot
A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
Micro-USB sockets for data and power
An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header
Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
An unpopulated composite video header
Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm"

It "should" be able to run one as long as your SD card has enough storage space. If you compile from source you will need use a swap file because 512MB of ram is not enough to compile core.

[Abiky]

I don't know about the Zero, but the RPi 2B is capable, but very slow....

Check out http://pine64.com/ as an alternative

Thanks for sharing this new kind of single board computer. I have found this one even better than most Raspberry Pis considering it has better CPU architecture and bigger RAM (2GB) This might definitely be a better option for the BTC node. However, I was looking for something more portable and smaller such as the RPi Zero. I guess I will have to test it there once I get one. 

I looked up the specs of it on the raspberry pi website:

"A Broadcom BCM2835 application processor
1GHz ARM11 core (40% faster than Raspberry Pi 1)
512MB of LPDDR2 SDRAM
A micro-SD card slot
A mini-HDMI socket for 1080p60 video output
Micro-USB sockets for data and power
An unpopulated 40-pin GPIO header
Identical pinout to Model A+/B+/2B
An unpopulated composite video header
Our smallest ever form factor, at 65mm x 30mm x 5mm"

It "should" be able to run one as long as your SD card has enough storage space. If you compile from source you will need use a swap file because 512MB of ram is not enough to compile core.

I have found out Zero's RAM rather limiting, but now that you mention that swap file method, I'm going to give it a try. A 32GB sd card should be enough I guess. I will probably divide it into 2 partitions. One for the Raspbian OS and blockchain data files and the other partition will be used as swap. 

[unamis76]

I don't think the Pi Zero will be capable, but if it is, it will be a very limited node due to the amount of RAM (and the need for something to interact as an Ethernet card through USB). If you're buying a Pi Zero to make a node, I'd say you would be wasting your money. You might as well buy a Pi B 2.

[Abiky]

I don't think the Pi Zero will be capable, but if it is, it will be a very limited node due to the amount of RAM (and the need for something to interact as an Ethernet card through USB). If you're buying a Pi Zero to make a node, I'd say you would be wasting your money. You might as well buy a Pi B 2.

Thanks for sharing your advice. I already own a RPi B 2, but it is being used for other purposes. Just wanted something much smaller to carry around easier and set it as a node, but I guess it could not be possible due to the specs. I will have a go at the Pine A64 since it is much more powerful. It might not be smaller but at least it can keep up with its task. 

[unamis76]

I don't think the Pi Zero will be capable, but if it is, it will be a very limited node due to the amount of RAM (and the need for something to interact as an Ethernet card through USB). If you're buying a Pi Zero to make a node, I'd say you would be wasting your money. You might as well buy a Pi B 2.

Thanks for sharing your advice. I already own a RPi B 2, but it is being used for other purposes. Just wanted something much smaller to carry around easier and set it as a node, but I guess it could not be possible due to the specs. I will have a go at the Pine A64 since it is much more powerful. It might not be smaller but at least it can keep up with its task. 

Pine64 is sold out. 64+ and 64+ 2GB look really interesting and at a good price point and would definitely run a node... What I'm wondering is about the community support... I guess I'll eventually order one of these things to fiddle with nevertheless Waiting for reviews first, tho...

[Abiky]

Pine64 is sold out. 64+ and 64+ 2GB look really interesting and at a good price point and would definitely run a node... What I'm wondering is about the community support... I guess I'll eventually order one of these things to fiddle with nevertheless Waiting for reviews first, tho...

But I am guessing that the Pine64 is in pre-order and not officially released yet, right? If that is the case, then maybe there would be more of them in stock later. I would certainly love to own one, especially the one with 2GB of RAM. It will make the ideal one for a full BTC node. 

[windpath]

I don't think the Pi Zero will be capable, but if it is, it will be a very limited node due to the amount of RAM (and the need for something to interact as an Ethernet card through USB). If you're buying a Pi Zero to make a node, I'd say you would be wasting your money. You might as well buy a Pi B 2.

Thanks for sharing your advice. I already own a RPi B 2, but it is being used for other purposes. Just wanted something much smaller to carry around easier and set it as a node, but I guess it could not be possible due to the specs. I will have a go at the Pine A64 since it is much more powerful. It might not be smaller but at least it can keep up with its task.  

Pine64 is sold out. 64+ and 64+ 2GB look really interesting and at a good price point and would definitely run a node... What I'm wondering is about the community support... I guess I'll eventually order one of these things to fiddle with nevertheless Waiting for reviews first, tho...

Mine is shipping early March, plan to try to get P2Pool running on it, we will see

I'll be posting about it in the P2Pool thread when it arrives...

I believe they plan to ship 5k of them a month starting in March.

[unamis76]

Pine64 is sold out. 64+ and 64+ 2GB look really interesting and at a good price point and would definitely run a node... What I'm wondering is about the community support... I guess I'll eventually order one of these things to fiddle with nevertheless Waiting for reviews first, tho...

But I am guessing that the Pine64 is in pre-order and not officially released yet, right? If that is the case, then maybe there would be more of them in stock later. I would certainly love to own one, especially the one with 2GB of RAM. It will make the ideal one for a full BTC node. 

Pine64 is released but sold out. 64+ and 64+ 2GB are unreleased and on pre order as you can see on their website.

(Talked about how bad stocks of Pine64 are... But Zero's are also virtually nonexistent at this point)

Mine is shipping early March, plan to try to get P2Pool running on it, we will see

I'll be posting about it in the P2Pool thread when it arrives...

I believe they plan to ship 5k of them a month starting in March.

Pretty curious about that! Keep us posted

[Abiky]

Pine64 is released but sold out. 64+ and 64+ 2GB are unreleased and on pre order as you can see on their website.

(Talked about how bad stocks of Pine64 are... But Zero's are also virtually nonexistent at this point)

Thanks for the update. Hopefully, I would be able to pre order a couple of Pine 64+ (2GB) to setup a couple of nodes and support the Bitcoin network. I think I might give Bitcoin Classic a go. Bigger block size (2MB) would be better, so I would definitely go this route. 

[Svelto]

why run a node in a Raspberry board 
for hobby or a practice motivation?
just to understand....

[Quantus]

Your not helping network running a full node on a raspberry pi.

[unamis76]

why run a node in a Raspberry board 
for hobby or a practice motivation?
just to understand....

Cheap and fun way to run a node. You can say it's both a hobby and a motivation to keep the network with as many nodes as possible.

Your not helping network running a full node on a raspberry pi.

Why?

[Soros Shorts]

Your not helping network running a full node on a raspberry pi.

Why?

If you have a full node that is slow in relaying blocks and transactions, you are using up valuable connections to other nodes that could have been used by somebody else. Those nodes that are connected to your slow node will probably receive blocks/transactions from other nodes first.

[unamis76]

Your not helping network running a full node on a raspberry pi.

Why?

If you have a full node that is slow in relaying blocks and transactions, you are using up valuable connections to other nodes that could have been used by somebody else. Those nodes that are connected to your slow node will probably receive blocks/transactions from other nodes first.

If we're going to shutdown all underperforming or "slow" machines acting as a node we'll probably end up with half the nodes we already have, if not less. And if we only run high end machines as nodes we're definitely going to have a bad time. There will always be slower machines and faster machines. Unless there's an army of Pentium 3's being deployed and/or Bitcoin clients start connecting to only one node we'll be fine with slower machines.

Raspberry Pi 2 handles a node quite well for it's size, price and electric consumption. And after all, I can have a powerful machine and a poor connection too...

[chek2fire]

i dont think that you can run a node to a zero pi. I say that because i have try to run a node to pi 1 and i always have crashes. I am sure that the same will happen and to pi zero.

[bob123]

Your not helping network running a full node on a raspberry pi.

Thats the point.

[jackg]

I want to know if the Raspberry Pi Zero is really capable of becoming a full BTC Node before I start getting one for myself. Has anyone tried this? I would like to know your experiences about this. Considering it has lower specs than other RPis such as the RPi 2, it makes me wonder whenever the Zero one could have the requirements of running a full BTC node and remain powered on 24/7. 

I don't think even only ONE RPI on its own can handle this.
If you set up 8 or more RPi2s in a cluster then tey should work well as a node with a nNAS/external hard drive connected to one of the PIs or switches in order for it to function better.
I have not used the RPi Zero but, I know from experience that these can be overclocked which would increase teir speed as a node (bu at a cost).
You would also need a fan for powering he pi for long periods of time.

[unamis76]

If you always wanted to run a Bitcoin node but did not want to spend $40 plus shipping on a Raspberry Pi, fear not because an even cheaper alternative is here. Running a Bitcoin node just got cheaper with the $5 Raspberry Pi Zero. That's Really nice.

You're forgetting that it's those 5$ + shipping + PSU + 128GB SD or an external disk + micro-usb to usb + something to get your network on, either through cable or wifi and then you'd be really short on RAM to at least sync. With the current availability of the Pi Zero and it's highly speculative prices, even if it had more powerful hardware the price difference would make you just choose a Pi 2 or a Pi 3 that's coming out soon.

I want to know if the Raspberry Pi Zero is really capable of becoming a full BTC Node before I start getting one for myself. Has anyone tried this? I would like to know your experiences about this. Considering it has lower specs than other RPis such as the RPi 2, it makes me wonder whenever the Zero one could have the requirements of running a full BTC node and remain powered on 24/7.  

I don't think even only ONE RPI on its own can handle this.
If you set up 8 or more RPi2s in a cluster then tey should work well as a node with a nNAS/external hard drive connected to one of the PIs or switches in order for it to function better.
I have not used the RPi Zero but, I know from experience that these can be overclocked which would increase teir speed as a node (bu at a cost).
You would also need a fan for powering he pi for long periods of time.

The biggest issue is RAM. No fan needed.