Done !
toknormal MN-01 up and running. Many thanks to all for their useful tips and advice !
Local mode done using the Mac DarkcoinQT wallet and darkcoin.conf located in home/Library/Application Support/Darkcoin/darkcoin.conf
This is my second attempt at it. The first time (months ago) I just followed El Presidente's guide monkey-see-monkey-do style but didn't really understand what I was doing. This time I tried to understand it more (I took the old one down).
Here's my 'tokormal masternode setup principles' incase it helps anyone else (use in conjunction with the other guides which are much more detailed on specific steps). If people want to add corrections and augmentations please feel free.
********* Remote ********
[1] - set up a linux server and secure it by:
- closing all ports except 22 for SSH and 9999 for full access
- create a 'login user' using sudo useradd <username> -s /bin/bash -g sudo -m
- set its password using passwd < username >
[2] - while logged in as the 'login user' (not root) create a new directory: mkdir ~/.darkcoin
[3] - create a darkcoin.conf in that directory with a masternode key generated from your local wallet
[4] - download darkcoind with "wget
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/darkcoinproject/darkcoin-binaries/master/darkcoin-0.10.17.24-linux.tar.gz"
[5] - expand it with "tar xfvz darkcoin-0.10.17.24-linux.tar.gz"
[6] - drill down the expanded directories and locate darkcoind in /64. Put it wherever you want (I put it in /usr/bin but some people sy don't bother). Run "chmod +x darkcoind" on it
[7] - call darkcoind and start up the daemon. (Use darkcoind getinfo to check when it's finished downloading the blockchain)
********** Local ************
[1] - create a new wallet. Encrypt it. Note the receiving address.
[2] - use 'dumpprivkey <address>' to make a paper backup of the wallet
[3] - use "masternode genkey" to generate a masternode privkey (To be used in darkcoin.conf at step 3 of the remote setup above)
[4] - send 1000 DRK to that address
[5] - from the command line (or 'Debug' window on Mac) in the local wallet call "masternode start "PASSWORD"
...thats it !