RPi Zero BTC Node?

[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.

The biggest issue is RAM. No fan needed.

As it runs of flash technology, as long as you try to keep the drve as free as ossible, it shouldn't slow it down by too much.
I would suggest Kingston Class 10 drives.
I fyou get a 128gb on eof them they are usually ony around £36/drive and good quality.
Once the drive reaches the end of its usual cycle, you could try reusing it as well as it mainly has to hold volatile memory if you move the root system to a hard drive.

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[unamis76]

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.

As it runs of flash technology, as long as you try to keep the drve as free as ossible, it shouldn't slow it down by too much.
I would suggest Kingston Class 10 drives.
I fyou get a 128gb on eof them they are usually ony around £36/drive and good quality.
Once the drive reaches the end of its usual cycle, you could try reusing it as well as it mainly has to hold volatile memory if you move the root system to a hard drive.

I agree, Kingston drives are what I've always used on my Pi's, they're rock solid. I hear the Samsung ones are also amazing on the Pi's (some say they're considerably faster), but I haven't had the chance to test them. But Samsung's SD's are usually more expensive, so it's questionable to spend the extra coins to put a Samsung on a Pi that's going to hammer it 24/7. Maybe for a setup that isn't always on it's a better choice.

Moving root to a hard drive is also a good option. But this is going a bit off the topic I guess Maybe time for a Pi thread on the offtopic section?

[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.

The biggest issue is RAM. No fan needed.

As it runs of flash technology, as long as you try to keep the drve as free as ossible, it shouldn't slow it down by too much.
I would suggest Kingston Class 10 drives.
I fyou get a 128gb on eof them they are usually ony around £36/drive and good quality.
Once the drive reaches the end of its usual cycle, you could try reusing it as well as it mainly has to hold volatile memory if you move the root system to a hard drive.

I agree, Kingston drives are what I've always used on my Pi's, they're rock solid. I hear the Samsung ones are also amazing on the Pi's (some say they're considerably faster), but I haven't had the chance to test them. But Samsung's SD's are usually more expensive, so it's questionable to spend the extra coins to put a Samsung on a Pi that's going to hammer it 24/7. Maybe for a setup that isn't always on it's a better choice.

Moving root to a hard drive is also a good option. But this is going a bit off the topic I guess Maybe time for a Pi thread on the offtopic section?

Can the OP move a thread offtopic? The topic is made by the OP so can be changed by the op.

Kingston is usually the best and comes with a 5 year warrently.

Back on topic, the PIs are definiely able to become Nodes and handle Bitcoin cores.

[Abiky]

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

I just want to run a node on a Raspberry Pi since it is the cheapest to go with experimenting and practicing about BTC nodes. This would be more like a hobby than a real thing since the RPi is not very powerful for this task. 

[jackg]

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

I just want to run a node on a Raspberry Pi since it is the cheapest to go with experimenting and practicing about BTC nodes. This would be more like a hobby than a real thing since the RPi is not very powerful for this task. 

If you tried to use a flash drive to store the data on the raspberry pi to allow the bitcoin node to function faster. So long as you did a backup every week you could try to enable write-only on the drive to stop it from being likely corrupted. Or just leave it and format it when i does become corrupted.

[Abiky]

If you tried to use a flash drive to store the data on the raspberry pi to allow the bitcoin node to function faster. So long as you did a backup every week you could try to enable write-only on the drive to stop it from being likely corrupted. Or just leave it and format it when i does become corrupted.

Thanks for the advice. A flash drive might come in handy for the RPi BTC node. I am thinking of setting up a swap partition from within the drive for better performance of the node. 

P.S. Just saw that there will be a much more powerful SBC to be released soon. Its name will be the Raspberry Pi 3. It will have a 64-bit CPU. 

[unamis76]

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

I just want to run a node on a Raspberry Pi since it is the cheapest to go with experimenting and practicing about BTC nodes. This would be more like a hobby than a real thing since the RPi is not very powerful for this task. 

If you tried to use a flash drive to store the data on the raspberry pi to allow the bitcoin node to function faster. So long as you did a backup every week you could try to enable write-only on the drive to stop it from being likely corrupted. Or just leave it and format it when i does become corrupted.

Write only? Then you wouldn't be able to run a node... Or do pretty much anything...

If you tried to use a flash drive to store the data on the raspberry pi to allow the bitcoin node to function faster. So long as you did a backup every week you could try to enable write-only on the drive to stop it from being likely corrupted. Or just leave it and format it when i does become corrupted.

Thanks for the advice. A flash drive might come in handy for the RPi BTC node. I am thinking of setting up a swap partition from within the drive for better performance of the node. 

P.S. Just saw that there will be a much more powerful SBC to be released soon. Its name will be the Raspberry Pi 3. It will have a 64-bit CPU. 

Pi 3 is already released and going out fast (but not enough to be already out of stock, so you can get it fairly easily). 64 bit will certainly be an advantage for things related to cryptography... But we'll see if it will be a major improvement for Bitcoin. I doubt that a bit. An improvement to run a node would be more RAM, and that's not possible with the current SoC on the Pi.

[Abiky]

Pi 3 is already released and going out fast (but not enough to be already out of stock, so you can get it fairly easily). 64 bit will certainly be an advantage for things related to cryptography... But we'll see if it will be a major improvement for Bitcoin. I doubt that a bit. An improvement to run a node would be more RAM, and that's not possible with the current SoC on the Pi.

Wow that was really fast. So that means I could get my hands on one and improve my BTC node. Still, I would also order a Pine 64+ which has bigger RAM and will be suitable for running a BTC node as well. 

[unamis76]

Pi 3 is already released and going out fast (but not enough to be already out of stock, so you can get it fairly easily). 64 bit will certainly be an advantage for things related to cryptography... But we'll see if it will be a major improvement for Bitcoin. I doubt that a bit. An improvement to run a node would be more RAM, and that's not possible with the current SoC on the Pi.

Wow that was really fast. So that means I could get my hands on one and improve my BTC node. Still, I would also order a Pine 64+ which has bigger RAM and will be suitable for running a BTC node as well. 

Well, it took some time for development, but yes, it was quite fast to be released after the rumors. After all, Raspberry Pi's anniversary day was the best and obvious choice to release a new product.

Pine gives you 2GB + Wi-Fi for 39$, excluding shipping, making a little bit more expensive and shipping in May only... I'm not sure if I'll be getting one just to upgrade RAM in order to run a bigger node as my personal usage does not require 2GB RAM (neither a Wi-Fi chip for that matter... I'd settle for 2GB without Wi-Fi which has a much more appealing price).

Also, no reviews and low community support doesn't inspire me confidence in Pine, yet. Things might change if or when I can afford running bigger nodes just because