Starting a NODE

[apogio]

You are right, its something I have considered!
Doing another search now and it seems like the best value machine I can source is €279
^{already way above my budget but I am willing to do this because my budget wasnt realistic anyway for the spec I really need}

Lenovo IP Slim 3 Chromebook 14M868 14" MediaTek | 8GB | 128GB

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IP_Slim_3_Chrome_14M868/IP_Slim_3_Chrome_14M868_Spec.pdf

Processor - MediaTek Kompanio 520 Octa-core: 2x A76 + 6x A55 8 A76@2.05GHz / A55@2.0GHz

Power consumption - 47Wh Rechargeable Li-ion Battery

14" screen - Dimensions (WxDxH) 325.9 x 221.8 x 18.6 mm

What do you think on those capabilities?

Thanks for all the help & Thanks in advance for more help!

Looks good I believe, but perhaps ABCBits can help more because I am not an expert in terms of hardware.
By the way, there a was a specific time in my life when it was more worth it to upgrade my system back then and convert my old one into a node. This way you could rotate the current pc into a bitcoin node and, even if you have to pay more, you will be left with a better computer and a node.

[DaveF]

Where are you located?

Keep in mind Win 10 is out of support next month. There are a LOT of 6th and 7th gen intel machines that are about to hit the surplus / scrap world as people who held on to them for 8+ years are now kind of being forced out of them. Heck, I am scrapping 6th gens and selling the CPUs separately since at best here you are going to get $35 to $40 for the entire PC or $30 for the CPU.

I mean from a chain store (and I know the drive is to small for BTC) you can get these all day long:
https://www.microcenter.com/product/670293/hp-elitedesk-800-g3-desktop-computer-(refurbished)

-Dave

[28e7166c23e70c2014feb5d64]

About Raspberry Pi 4 (with 8 GB RAM and 2 TB USB SSD storage), what I can say is that for the initial download it is not enough. I am going through this as I write. I was doing it with a Pi 4, it went well until around 2022, then it became super slow. Now I am finishing the download on a very powerful PC and it is going quite fast, it should finish tomorrow probably. Once it finishes I will try to run the node on the Pi 4 and see how it goes.

[ABCbits]

Lenovo IP Slim 3 Chromebook 14M868 14" MediaTek | 8GB | 128GB

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IP_Slim_3_Chrome_14M868/IP_Slim_3_Chrome_14M868_Spec.pdf

Processor - MediaTek Kompanio 520 Octa-core: 2x A76 + 6x A55 8 A76@2.05GHz / A55@2.0GHz

Looks good I believe, but perhaps ABCBits can help more because I am not an expert in terms of hardware.

I'm not expert, but the CPU looks good since it's roughly 2x-4x faster than CPU on Raspberry Pi 4[1-2]. Although it's worth to mention that PDF says the RAM can't be upgraded.

[1] https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-raspberry_pi_4_b_broadcom_bcm2711-vs-mediatek_kompanio_520_mt8186
[2] https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5672vs4297/MediaTek-Kompanio-520528-(MT8186MT8186T)-vs-BCM2711

[aoluain]

Where are you located?

Keep in mind Win 10 is out of support next month. There are a LOT of 6th and 7th gen intel machines that are about to hit the surplus / scrap world as people who held on to them for 8+ years are now kind of being forced out of them. Heck, I am scrapping 6th gens and selling the CPUs separately since at best here you are going to get $35 to $40 for the entire PC or $30 for the CPU.

I mean from a chain store (and I know the drive is to small for BTC) you can get these all day long:
https://www.microcenter.com/product/670293/hp-elitedesk-800-g3-desktop-computer-(refurbished)

-Dave

In Europe Dave, thanks for the heads up but....^{see below!}

Lenovo IP Slim 3 Chromebook 14M868 14" MediaTek | 8GB | 128GB

https://psref.lenovo.com/syspool/Sys/PDF/IdeaPad/IP_Slim_3_Chrome_14M868/IP_Slim_3_Chrome_14M868_Spec.pdf

Processor - MediaTek Kompanio 520 Octa-core: 2x A76 + 6x A55 8 A76@2.05GHz / A55@2.0GHz

Looks good I believe, but perhaps ABCBits can help more because I am not an expert in terms of hardware.

I'm not expert, but the CPU looks good since it's roughly 2x-4x faster than CPU on Raspberry Pi 4[1-2]. Although it's worth to mention that PDF says the RAM can't be upgraded.

[1] https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/compare_cpu-raspberry_pi_4_b_broadcom_bcm2711-vs-mediatek_kompanio_520_mt8186
[2] https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/5672vs4297/MediaTek-Kompanio-520528-(MT8186MT8186T)-vs-BCM2711

Yes thats one thing I did notice "RAM soldered in".

I had to make a move, I ordered the hardware and should be here early next week.

Like nearly everything I do, there has to be compromises made at some point,
otherwise my budget would be x10!

I will post my progress on this thread I suppose - looking forward to getting started,
learning something and contributing a little more to the Bitcoin network.

Again, thanks all for stopping in and helping out

[aoluain]

Chromebook arrived today so I got right on the case, made some updates and initiated
Linux. I then went ahead and down loaded a full desktop version of Debian - LXDE
with the aid of this lady on YT - https://youtu.be/Ea6xKZD41hI?feature=shared.


I even designed a BTC themed wallpaper!




I just waiting for the SSD to be delivered now. Is there anything I should/can be setting up
ahead of the storage?

[ABCbits]

--snip--
I just waiting for the SSD to be delivered now. Is there anything I should/can be setting up
ahead of the storage?

Aside from download and verify authenticaty of Bitcoin Core (along with other cryptocurrency application you plan to use), there are things you may want to do.
1. Make sure you've updated all package/app, if you haven't do it.
2. Enable ZRAM. Basically it's used to compress data on RAM, which is better than using swap file in most cases. Since i also use debian, i can provide a short guidance.

Code:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install systemd-zram-generator
sudo nano /etc/systemd/zram-generator.conf
systemctl daemon-reload

Your /etc/systemd/zram-generator.conf should look like this.

Code:

[zram0]
zram-size = ram

3. Do some CPU/RAM stress test and monitor temperate of your device during test.

[aoluain]

^ thanks for that - all installed

I ran stress but I guess because there isnt anything running its not reporting anything.
I guess its beneficial to run it when its processing.

[apogio]

So what apps have installed? The bitcoin-related ones.

[aoluain]

So what apps have installed? The bitcoin-related ones.

None actually.
I have had a look at what is available and TBH anything that I would use
I already do on my smartphone like a blockexplorer.

I have a very lo-fi^simple 'crypto' footprint, I dont day trade, I'm only interested in Bitcoin
anddont have any altcoins, I only use hardware wallets and buy and sell on Hodl Hodl,
I dont do Bitcoin on social media, I dont track the markets on a daily basis - so I
dont know if I need any apps. I am open to suggestions though!

Also what I am really looking forward to is learning to send my transactions to my
own node from my Trezor and availing of the increased security.

I envisage that most of the time this machine will be just running the node, for
everything else I will continue to use my smartphone.

[apogio]

Also what I am really looking forward to is learning to send my transactions to my
own node from my Trezor and availing of the increased security.

I will give you a very brief overview of what you can do:

You will need to run a node (Bitcoin Core is the best in my opinion).

If you want any app to connect to Bitcoin Core, you will likely need an electrum server. You can do electrs or Fulcrum. Here is also LoyceV's adventure if you wanna take a look.

The only app I've seen that connects straight to bitcoin core without an electrum server is Sparrow wallet.

Finally, if you install an electrum server, you can connect Trezor Suite to it, using this guide.

[ABCbits]

^ thanks for that - all installed

I ran stress but I guess because there isnt anything running its not reporting anything.
I guess its beneficial to run it when its processing.

I'm not sure what do you mean by not reporting anything. But stress only give minimal output on terminal, here's an example with 4 thread and 10 second duration.

Code:

$ stress -c 4 -t 10
stress: info: [9905] dispatching hogs: 4 cpu, 0 io, 0 vm, 0 hdd
stress: info: [9905] successful run completed in 10s

You'll need to use different application in order to know current CPU and other part temperature while it perform CPU (and other kind of) stress. There's no benefit if you run stress together with Bitcoin Core.

[aoluain]

Also what I am really looking forward to is learning to send my transactions to my
own node from my Trezor and availing of the increased security.

I will give you a very brief overview of what you can do:

You will need to run a node (Bitcoin Core is the best in my opinion).

If you want any app to connect to Bitcoin Core, you will likely need an electrum server. You can do electrs or Fulcrum. Here is also LoyceV's adventure if you wanna take a look.

The only app I've seen that connects straight to bitcoin core without an electrum server is Sparrow wallet.

Finally, if you install an electrum server, you can connect Trezor Suite to it, using this guide.

Thanks for that, yea will be running Bitcoin Core ^{I guess I didnt count that as an app as its an essential
to running a node}

I have read about Electrum server and will definitely run that to utilise my Trezor connecting to it. I would rather
run that with the Trezor than not run it and using a different wallet like Sparrow as you suggest.
electrs or Fulcrum? no idea yet, will have to do some[MORE] research.

Thanks for the link to LoyceV's thread - phew - will have to read that a few time to get me yead around it.

*DISCLAIMER* I am not a programmer or even as technical as is probably required when it comes to computers,
hopefully I can learn enough to at least get up an running without too much difficulty.

^ thanks for that - all installed

I ran stress but I guess because there isnt anything running its not reporting anything.
I guess its beneficial to run it when its processing.

I'm not sure what do you mean by not reporting anything. But stress only give minimal output on terminal, here's an example with 4 thread and 10 second duration.

Code:

$ stress -c 4 -t 10
stress: info: [9905] dispatching hogs: 4 cpu, 0 io, 0 vm, 0 hdd
stress: info: [9905] successful run completed in 10s

You'll need to use different application in order to know current CPU and other part temperature while it perform CPU (and other kind of) stress. There's no benefit if you run stress together with Bitcoin Core.

gonna run some tests and report back, I imagine it will all be normal . . .

Did some more reading on > https://manpages.debian.org/testing/stress/stress.1.en.html

Code:

~$ stress -c 4 -t 10
stress: info: [2245] dispatching hogs: 4 cpu, 0 io, 0 vm, 0 hdd
stress: info: [2245] successful run completed in 10s

Code:

~$ stress -i 4 -t 10
stress: info: [5466] dispatching hogs: 0 cpu, 4 io, 0 vm, 0 hdd
stress: info: [5466] successful run completed in 10s

have you installed stress-ng?

[apogio]

I would rather
run that with the Trezor than not run it and using a different wallet like Sparrow as you suggest.
electrs or Fulcrum? no idea yet, will have to do some[MORE] research.

Thanks for the link to LoyceV's thread - phew - will have to read that a few time to get me yead around it.

*DISCLAIMER* I am not a programmer or even as technical as is probably required when it comes to computers,
hopefully I can learn enough to at least get up an running without too much difficulty.

I 've had better times with electrs, but I 've tried both. The essential difference in my personal experience was that I tried Fulcrum on Windows and electrs on Linux, so I can't really comment on different variations.

Well, anything you need about specific instructions, comment here and there will be users to help you. You don't need to be too technically savvy, but it's definitely worth some kudos the fact that you try to run your own node.

I forgot to mention EPS (Electrum Personal Server). This can be an option as well.

Btw, in 2022, Jameson Lopp posted an article comparing the performance of various electrum servers. Give it a look, just for your information.

[NotATether]

I have gotten a pruned node to sync on a VPS with just 2GB of RAM, a single core, and 20GB of storage. But it was very slow and kept hitting the swap space. So I recommend at least double the amount of resources.

[ABCbits]

--snip--
have you installed stress-ng?

stress-ng is just different software to perform stress test. The point of my suggestion is to perform CPU stress test for certain duration and see how hot is your chromebook during maximum CPU usage.

I forgot to mention EPS (Electrum Personal Server). This can be an option as well.

EPS last updated 3 years ago, so IMO it's not ideal option.

Btw, in 2022, Jameson Lopp posted an article comparing the performance of various electrum servers. Give it a look, just for your information.

Also see this benchmark, https://www.sparrowwallet.com/docs/server-performance.html.

[aoluain]

Thanks for the info all, I havent done anything on this in the last while but I got
a notification from Amazon that the SSD is out for delivery so this weekend
coming will see a bit more action.

@ABCbits From the link you posted after a quick read I think I am leaning towards
the Fulcrum but I would like to know which option would be the easiest for me to
complete without too much head-scratching and frustration.

Well, anything you need about specific instructions, comment here and there will be users to help you.

Thank you apogio!

[ABCbits]

@ABCbits From the link you posted after a quick read I think I am leaning towards
the Fulcrum but I would like to know which option would be the easiest for me to
complete without too much head-scratching and frustration.

Based on my experience, Fulcrum is best option for personal usage. In addition,
1. Installing ElectrumX and it's dependency is more complicated. Using it's Docker container somewhat helps the issue, but it means you also need to know basic of using Docker.
2. electrs by Blockstream is intended for big-scale/production server. It's definitely not suitable for personal usage.
3. I never use electrs by romanz, so i have no comment about this one.

[aoluain]

Thanks ABC


Major head scratching going on ATM, Starting right off with the most basic setup.

I received the SSD on Friday and proceeded to get started with the setup/install.
I am stuck at the point now for about 4 hours of sorting out saving to the SSD!

First off I thought I better format the SSD to a favourable format - ext4 [done]
after about an hour and finally realising that there was pre-installed software on
the drive. I found this out on my home PC. I am finding I have to try figure out stuff
on my own, some of the different suggestions are not working.

Code:

sudo mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda1mke2fs 1.47.0 (5-Feb-2023)
/dev/sda1 contains a exfat file system labelled 'T7'
Proceed anyway? (y,N) y
Creating filesystem with 488378008 4k blocks and 122101760 inodes
Filesystem UUID: 8210498d-0a5f-4452-be11-5d93662f0826
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
        32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912, 819200, 884736, 1605632, 2654208,
        4096000, 7962624, 11239424, 20480000, 23887872, 71663616, 78675968,
        102400000, 214990848

Allocating group tables: done                            
Writing inode tables: done                            
Creating journal (262144 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done  

Next up is automatically downloading files to the SSD - because I wont have enough
space on the internal HD for Fulcrum at least - this I havent been able to setup yet.
I'm taking a break from it for the moment.

I'm following the instructions from gemini > https://www.google.com/search?q=automatically+save+downloads+to+external+ssd+in+debian+&client=firefox-b-e&sca_esv=8555f25f11312303&channel=entpr&ei=sa3GaOGVK_6ihbIP1pei6Ag&ved=0ahUKEwihsvO-mdiPAxV-UUEAHdaLCI0Q4dUDCBA&uact=5&oq=automatically+save+downloads+to+external+ssd+in+debian+&gs_lp=Egxnd3Mtd2l6LXNlcnAiN2F1dG9tYXRpY2FsbHkgc2F2ZSBkb3dubG9hZHMgdG8gZXh0ZXJuYWwgc3NkIGluIGRlYmlhbiAyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigATIFECEYoAEyBRAhGKABMgUQIRigAUiYHVCpBljeEXABeAGQAQCYAa4BoAHNCqoBBDAuMTC4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgigAvYIwgIKEAAYsAMY1gQYR8ICBBAhGAqYAwCIBgGQBgiSBwMxLjegB5QksgcDMC43uAecCMIHBzMtNy4wLjHIB4cB&sclient=gws-wiz-serp

Code:

@penguin:~$ sudo fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sda: 1.82 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Disk model: PSSD T7         
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x6d2d1fc5

Device     Boot Start        End    Sectors  Size Id Type
/dev/sda1        2048 3907026112 3907024065  1.8T  7 HPFS/NTFS/exFAT
@penguin:~$ sudo mkdir /mnt/dev/sdal
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/mnt/dev/sdal’: No such file or directory
@penguin:~$ sudo mkdir /mnt//dev/sdal
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/mnt//dev/sdal’: No such file or directory
@penguin:~$ sudo mkdir /mnt/dev/sda1
mkdir: cannot create directory ‘/mnt/dev/sda1’: No such file or directory

everything it obviously a massive learning curve and frustrating at the same
time, I have to research everything, even how to paste copied text in Debian!!

~~~~~EDIT~~~~~~

A few hours later . . .

I have managed to locate the UUID for the partition and follow the steps in the
Gemini guide, create a mount point for the SSD.
I am not confident that I have done any of it correctly.

After setting the download location in firefox to the new mound point for the SSD
I cannot download Bitcoin Core.

I also tried creating a folder in the SSD and the message I get is:

Code:

@penguin:~$ sudo chown -R zzzzzzz /path/to/ext_ssd
chown: cannot access '/path/to/ext_ssd': No such file or directory
@penguin:~$ cat /etc/fstab
# UNCONFIGURED FSTAB FOR BASE SYSTEM
    UUID=<8210498d-0a5f-4452-be11-5d93662f0826>  /mnt/ext_ssd  <ext4>  defaults,nofail  0  2

So more questions to be asked . . .

[ABCbits]

Major head scratching going on ATM, Starting right off with the most basic setup.
--snip--
So more questions to be asked . . .

I'm not sure whether you just share your experience or also asking help. So i'll just mention few things,
1. To format drive, set it's mount point and permission, i usually just use GUI application (such as GNOME disk utility). See https://askubuntu.com/a/1407682.
2. Based on PDF you shared a week ago, your Chromebook have 64GB or 128GB storage. It should be more than enough to download and store application you need.