Baby node-runner needs basic help!

[Katherine_Alicia]

I have a strong feeling that I`m way in over my head here!
I revived an old laptop whose battery had died, so I bought a new one and a 2Tb SSD drive for it, it has 8Gb ram and I`m hoping to get another 8 for it soon.
After a lot of messing about I managed to instal Ubuntu 24.04 LTS on it, and update/upgrade after following a few Youtbe guides.
I then headed straight over to Bitcoin.Org to put my node software onto it... well the first one I tried didn`t work, it was TAR GZ something or other, and it did go into my downloads area but clicking on it just kept opening other boxes like russian dolls and non of them were an executable file, so I gave up on that and tried Linux Snap software and that DID install something onto my laptop! and I was Soooo pleased to see the Bitcoin logo on there!
When I clicked that it asked about running a full/pruned node and I want a full node, so I did that and it just closed the box?
I tried clicking it again but it said something about it already running? but I can`t see anything?

I went into what looks like the linux equiv of Task Manager and I can see a process called Bitcoind running in there, so it`s definitely doing Something!
Currently the Bitcoind process in the "Disk write total" section says it`s a 52.6Gb file and it`s slowly increasing! so I`m going to assume that`s the block history file? because I can`t imagine anything else using up so much space.

is there some kind of progress bar I can watch instead? otherwise how will I know when it`s fully sync`d?
Is there some sort of GUI I can use or does it all have to be a load of typing in terminal and text based stuff I don`t understand?
Have I even done it right so far? I`m really flying blind here because this is my first exposure to Linux and I`m just guessing my way through it.
Most youtube vids assume you already know the basics and I don`t, so they`re all way over my head!

and I`m at 58.8Gb downloaded now

[LoyceV]

You're running bitcoind, which is the daemon. You're probably looking for bitcoin-qt, which has a GUI. You're going to download another 600 GB. If you're going to add 8 GB RAM anyway, I can only recommend to do that first. It'll make verifying all blocks a lot smoother.

[Katherine_Alicia]

so do I just type: bitcoin-qt in the terminal?

[ABCbits]

is there some kind of progress bar I can watch instead?

On folder which store blockchain files, open debug.log file. It should contain lines which says CURRENT_DATE_TIME UpdateTip: ... progress=0.XXXXX ... where value of progress should be between 0.0 and 1.0 which represent current sync progress.

[LoyceV]

so do I just type: bitcoin-qt in the terminal?

Depending on how and where it's installed, that should probably work. But you'll need to kill bitcoind first.
This probably works:

Code:

killall bitcoind

[Katherine_Alicia]

I tried entering bitcoin-qt into terminal and it says: command not found

then I tried this line from the bitcoin.org site: /usr/local/bin/bitcoin-qt
and that comes back with: bash: /usr/local/bin/bitcoin-qt: no such file or directory

so I need to add some stuff but I don`t know what or where from or even how???


I can`t find bitcoin-qt anywhere? I can see some Windows stuff, it keeps pointing me to bitcoin.org but I can`t find it on there either, just the  TAR GZ thing and the snap linux that I already installed (I think?).
I`v got 116Gb downloaded now and I think I`m probably going to have to wipe the lot and start again because I haven`t got the slightest idea what I`m doing!
it looks like the -qt program is the one I needed/wanted all along and not this daemon thing whatever that is???

I don`t even understand what half of the instructions mean! perhaps I should just stick to mining, I really don`t think I`m smart enough for this

[LoyceV]

I can`t find bitcoin-qt anywhere?

What directory did you start bitcoind from? You'll probably find bitcoin-qt in the same directory.

[Katherine_Alicia]

I`v no idea, I did find a bitcoin-qt in my downloads directory in the BIN folder along with others including the bitcoind (which is running fine), I tried running the Bitcoin-qt binary and it does nothing!? I tried opening it with other things and those just gave me errors.
it just doesn`t seem to want to run? and non of the others do either, it`s only bitcoind that works?

as for directories and stuff, I have no idea where anything is or even how to move around them or find them, it`s totally alien to me. and to top it all off, it turns out that closing the lid on my laptop turns the wifi off!
I can`t find any setting anywhere to change this, unless it`s in the BIOS somewhere? but I can`t find anything in ubuntus settings.
176Gb downloaded now, and it looks like I`m going to have to keep the lid open 24/7 to run as a node now, NOT what I wanted! *sigh*

if it helps at all, I didn`t partition the 2Tb drive, I installed directly onto it.
also, to get the Bitcoind running, I just clicked on the bitcoin logo.


this may help a bit more but it doesn`t make sense!

The original TarGZ thing that went into the Download drawer Has all the Bitcoin-qt and many other files, but I didn`t see an Install thing anywhere so I ignored it.

Then I tried the Snap thingd and that Did install and gave me a bitcoin logo that I clicked on and got Bitcoind working.
the directory path for that is:  Home/snap/bitcoin-core/common/.bitcoin
But... there`s no bitcoind file in there? and yet it`s clearly running? I had to click show hidden files to see most of these things too, but bitcoind doesn`t seem to be in there, but it must be?

so I`m even more confused now! LOL

[LoyceV]

I`v no idea, I did find a bitcoin-qt in my downloads directory in the BIN folder along with others including the bitcoind (which is running fine), I tried running the Bitcoin-qt binary and it does nothing!? I tried opening it with other things and those just gave me errors.
it just doesn`t seem to want to run? and non of the others do either, it`s only bitcoind that works?

I'm not sure if you can start bitcoin-qt while already running bitcoind. That's why I suggested you kill it first.

closing the lid on my laptop turns the wifi off

Just Wifi, or does it put the laptop in sleep mode? Either way, that's a power managent setting.

The original TarGZ thing that went into the Download drawer Has all the Bitcoin-qt and many other files, but I didn`t see an Install thing anywhere so I ignored it.

You need to extract the tarball somewhere on your disk, then you can run the binaries.

~ assume you already know the basics and I don`t, so they`re all way over my head!

I don`t even understand what half of the instructions mean!

so I`m even more confused now! LOL

What are you trying to accomplish? What made you choose Ubuntu to run a Bitcoin node if you have no Linux experience?

[Katherine_Alicia]

Ok, so in that thing that`s a bit like task manager I stoped the Bitcoind process then killed it, I then tried to open the bitcoin-qt and still nothing? same with a couple of other BIN files like Wallet and they did nothing either? I tried the bitcoinD BIN from there and it looked like it was trying to load the block history from the start again! so I killed that too.

Then I clicked on the bitcoin logo and Now I have a propper screen for the first time telling me my sync status in days/weeks etc... pretty much what I wanted really.
it`s still not the -qt thing, but it`s progress!

I can`t find any power management setting in ubunto that deals with the lid being closed, it does go to "sleep" too and require a password to log back in again, but I switched all that off along with screen dimming and time-outs, the lid however... well that`s just not catered for in any place I can see.

I couldn`t find anything called tarball anythere?

What am I trying to accomplish, Hmm.. good question! LOL I essentially wanted to run my own node because one of my miners is a bit underpowered now and my usual pool (ocean) has done something to the difficulty a few months back and now it doesn`t work anywhere near as well as it used to before the change, so I thought it would be nice mine to my own pool as a lottery type thing. I like the idea or running a node and helping out the network, I know it doesn`t need my help but I already mine and have done for a while now and figured this would "complete the collection" LOL
Joking aside, I just find the whole thing fascinating really!
Why did I chose Linux? well I really REALLY! don`t trust windows, like not even a little bit! and I`v many mention about linux being a bit like bitcoin itself, open source and by and for the people and pretty much decentralised. so it seemed like a good idea at the time! LOL
of course looking back, I`m starting to wonder if it was such a good idea now?

well my new screen says I only have 20 hours left to go now, much better than I expected really.

[LoyceV]

Then I clicked on the bitcoin logo and Now I have a propper screen for the first time telling me my sync status in days/weeks etc... pretty much what I wanted really.
it`s still not the -qt thing, but it`s progress!

It's hard to tell exactly what you did when you say "you clicked the logo"....

I can`t find any power management setting in ubunto that deals with the lid being closed, it does go to "sleep" too and require a password to log back in again, but I switched all that off along with screen dimming and time-outs, the lid however... well that`s just not catered for in any place I can see.

One of the things of running Linux, is that you'll find yourself Googling any problem you have, and most of the time you'll find a solution.

I couldn`t find anything called tarball anythere?

It's the .tar.gz file

Why did I chose Linux? well I really REALLY! don`t trust windows, like not even a little bit! and I`v many mention about linux being a bit like bitcoin itself, open source and by and for the people and pretty much decentralised. so it seemed like a good idea at the time! LOL
of course looking back, I`m starting to wonder if it was such a good idea now?

You're going to find a steep learning curve, but once you get it, you'll probably like it. But that includes Googling stuff and reading things.
For what it's worth: I've never liked the Snap system, and try to avoid it. I prefer to install install packages normally.

well my new screen says I only have 20 hours left to go now, much better than I expected really.

Chances are it's a bit optimistic, especially when your 8 GB RAM starts becoming a limitation (because chainstate grows to 12 GB during sync).

[Katherine_Alicia]

unbeleivable! what I thought was me running bitcoinD again wasn`t, in fact when I checked "task manager" it`s Bitcoin-qt working!

it must be lagged or something because there was no sign at all that QT was doing anything other than it`s usual Nothing.
so this new screen I have isn`t bitcoind that I started, it was that QT was taking ages to do anything. at least I know it works now and that I can only run one or the other.

of course now I`m a bit concerned because the near 160Gb progress I`d made running bitcoinD seems to have gone to zero now I`m running QT, which is only at 19Gb currently? I really hope I don`t end up downloading 2 copies of the blockchain!

[LoyceV]

of course now I`m a bit concerned because the near 160Gb progress I`d made running bitcoinD seems to have gone to zero now I`m running QT, which is only at 19Gb currently? I really hope I don`t end up downloading 2 copies of the blockchain!

Maybe the Snap version has a different location to save it's files. I'm not sure, never used it. It sounds like you started from scratch again.

[Katherine_Alicia]

yup, I`m thinking that too, I seem to have 2 versions on here with very similar items in each and I dare not delete one in case it`s the wrong one!
I`m happy with this -QT version though, it makes a lot more sense to look at, though I can`t seem to change DB cache value in there from the default 450Mb, and I tried opening the conf file and it won`t open? so I`ll just leave it for now.

I`m at about 7% now and it says it`ll be about 24 hours. so will that mean that when it`s fully synced I`m technically running a node? or is there more I have to do after this?

I know I`d like to get TOR implemented on there and use that rather than my own IP eventually, but that`s not essential to running a node.

[LoyceV]

I`m happy with this -QT version though, it makes a lot more sense to look at, though I can`t seem to change DB cache value in there from the default 450Mb, and I tried opening the conf file and it won`t open? so I`ll just leave it for now.

You should be able to change this by clicking Settings, no need to manually edit the config file.

will that mean that when it`s fully synced I`m technically running a node?

Yes.

I know I`d like to get TOR implemented on there and use that rather than my own IP eventually, but that`s not essential to running a node.

For mining, Tor (delays) are not recommended. Imagine you'll jackpot-mine a block, but are half a second slow in broadcasting it so someone else wins....

[ABCbits]

this may help a bit more but it doesn`t make sense!

The original TarGZ thing that went into the Download drawer Has all the Bitcoin-qt and many other files, but I didn`t see an Install thing anywhere so I ignored it.

Then I tried the Snap thingd and that Did install and gave me a bitcoin logo that I clicked on and got Bitcoind working.
the directory path for that is:  Home/snap/bitcoin-core/common/.bitcoin
But... there`s no bitcoind file in there? and yet it`s clearly running? I had to click show hidden files to see most of these things too, but bitcoind doesn`t seem to be in there, but it must be?

so I`m even more confused now! LOL

That directory path used to store blockchain and other files. If you want to find location of bitcoind installed by Snap, AFAIK you can do that by using command which bitcoin-core.daemon.

of course now I`m a bit concerned because the near 160Gb progress I`d made running bitcoinD seems to have gone to zero now I`m running QT, which is only at 19Gb currently? I really hope I don`t end up downloading 2 copies of the blockchain!

Maybe the Snap version has a different location to save it's files. I'm not sure, never used it. It sounds like you started from scratch again.

You're most likely right. Looking at https://github.com/bitcoin-core/packaging/blob/main/snap/snapcraft.yaml#L16-L23, it seems it override $HOME which makes it's impossible for Bitcoin Core (snap version) to access actual $HOME.

Code:

    plugs: [home, removable-media, network, network-bind]
    environment:
      # Override HOME so the datadir is located at
      # ~/snap/bitcoin-core/common/.bitcoin/ instead of
      # ~/snap/bitcoin-core/current/.bitcoin/, and each new version of the
      # snap won't have a different data directory:
      # https://docs.snapcraft.io/environment-variables/7983
      HOME: $SNAP_USER_COMMON

[Katherine_Alicia]

well I`m at 58% now and it`s still saying another 22 hours! LOL I guess that`s because the block height increased over time.
I need to find some sort of instruction manual for it now, even if it`s just how to keep it maintained and security updated reglarly, I expect that some time tommorow it`ll be nearly done, then I can shut it down and try figure out how to stop it closing the wifi down when I shut the laptop lid, hopefully it`s something simple in the BIOS, failing that I`ll have to try and find the sensor switch when I`m fitting the ram upgrade and bypass that.
Good point about TOR and lags, I think I`ll hold off doing that for now unless my ISP decides to be more of an ass than usual.
Thanks for helping me out here, and talking me off a ledge! LOL
I have a bit more confidence that this is going to work now


a few more questions, I`m looking at the Bitcoin-qt program as it`s syncing up (60.54% now) and I`m in the "Peers" section.
in "Type" it has 2 sorts listed; `full relay` and `block relay`
is `full relay` the same as a full node like I`ll be running soon, and is `block relay` a pruned node?
also in "User agent", is that the node software they`re running? would they see me as; /Satoshi:27.1.0/ for instance.

[Cricktor]

Please, stop violating rule #32 of Unofficial list of (official) Bitcointalk.org rules, guidelines, FAQ, posting unnecessary consecutive posts. When the last post in a thread is yours and you want to add something new, you can simply edit your own last post. No need to artificially blow up your post count, it doesn't make you smarter.

A full relay node relays blocks and transactions, a block relay node only transmits blocks, no transactions.

A pruned node can be a "full relay" or "block relay", depending what the node owner set up, but it indicates to its peers by its capabilities that it can't provide all block data, IIRC.

[ABCbits]

a few more questions, I`m looking at the Bitcoin-qt program as it`s syncing up (60.54% now) and I`m in the "Peers" section.
in "Type" it has 2 sorts listed; `full relay` and `block relay`
is `full relay` the same as a full node like I`ll be running soon, and is `block relay` a pruned node?

1. Your node can be used by other node either as full relay or block relay.
2. Block relay isn't indicator of pruned node.
3. If you want to know whether certain full node is pruned or not, AFAIK you can find out by checking list of services which mention "NETWORK_LIMITED" but doesn't mention "NETWORK".

also in "User agent", is that the node software they`re running? would they see me as; /Satoshi:27.1.0/ for instance.

Yes. But in theory, malicious node or node with poorly written software may give "wrong" user agent.

[Katherine_Alicia]

Ok, so the node`s been running perfectly now and I managed to stop the lid closing from turning off the wifi by altering a config file and it`s all good!

I`v bought a second 2tb internal ssd drive for the laptop so I can make backups of the block data every now and again (perhaps monthly).
From what I can tell I need to copy the folders 'Blocks' and also 'Chainstate'
are there any other essential files that will need backing up? I`m not bothered about wallets because I won`t be using it for that.

also, on linux (specificaly ubuntu) can I just copy / paste these files onto the new drive and the next time I do it, will it just copy the new stuff that`s been added or will it be awkward?
On windows it gives the option to 'Skip' files that already exist.