Looking for the most affordable set up for a BTC Node \ stacker news ~bitcoin

Looking for the most affordable set up for a BTC Node

1060 sats \ 19 comments \ @criptopanas 25 Jul 2023 bitcoin

I don't have a technical background and my IT skill are not huge...

So, for someone like me, what kind of set up would you recommend to use for running a BTC Node?

I don't have an old laptop available...So, I'll need to buy the equipment and also my space is limited....

Thanks!

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27 sats \ 0 replies \ @Storyteller 26 Jul 2023

I’m not technical and I have done this myself some months ago.

Most important: do it yourself. Locally. Don’t run a node in the cloud. You want self custody. You want to run your own sats bank on your own hardware. You don’t want any other eyes looking at your transactions. This is key!!!

You don’t want to ask anybody permission to access your funds and keys!!!!

And my bitcoin node has been running since. Without interuption.

I recommend the following:

Hardware A Raspberry pi 4 with 8 Gigabyte. An SSD card of 1-2Terrabyte You need a screen with HDMI that connects to the Raspberry PI 4 A card - the ones you put in a digital camera (the Raspberry Pi will have one otherwise you buy one).

Internet You need stable internet of say 50 mb per second. Downloading the bitcoin blockchain with this speed will take a week . 7 days at least.

Software Umbrel. This is the easiest open source like app store. With umbrel you can install apps like Bitcoin, Lightning, Wallets, Bitcoin browsers. You need to install the umbrel appstore first and then download all those apps for free.

Process

Go to the umbrel site https://umbrel.com/
Download the umbrel software
You need to use a software (umbrel will tell you that) to put the downloaded software on the sd card (the one you used for your digital camera)
Insert that SD card in the raspberry pi 4 and restart.
Umbrel will be set up. It first puts an operation system on the raspberry pi. Like Windows 2000 (but another operating system). Then it installs Umbrell.
Log in in umbrel and download Bitcoin core.
Have patience. This takes 1 week. It needs to download 500 gigabytes of blockchain to sync.
When bitcoin is ready install lightning. By going in umbrel appstore on your raspberry pi and installing it.
Install wallets you want.
Install NOSTR. For chatting. This if you want this.
Install a blockchain browser. So you can check transactions.

Now you are ready.

You have your own bitcoin core. You have your own working node and you can verify everything.

Stack stats!!!

I did this myself some months ago.

The Raspberry pi 4 is about 200 dollars on Amazon. The SSD card - this means solid state and is fast. It needs to be fast would not cost more than 200 dollars.

For 450 dollars you could have your own node.

My node runs for months without going down.

Good luck. Let me know how it went.

You can do it!!!

1104 sats \ 3 replies \ @Taranis 25 Jul 2023

we have some inexpensive pre-built nodes over at https://pleb.parts if you're in the states.

1 sat \ 1 reply \ @021da48107 25 Jul 2023

Good to see pleb.parts back up and running. Question for you, are these nodes setup with bitcoind, or some interface like Umbrel, Start9, etc? Do they have a copy of the blockchain on them before you ship?

1000 sats \ 0 replies \ @Taranis 26 Jul 2023

the systems are running ubuntu server lts plus a node package.

we'll ship with whichever node bundle you're seeking assuming there is a setup guide.

we could pre-seed the blockchain, but recommend you allow bitcoin to download/verify the blocks instead.

1 sat \ 0 replies \ @criptopanas OP 25 Jul 2023

I'm in Europe, but the equipments and prices looks great!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SovranSystems 26 Jul 2023

We do that. Ours is all put together right out of the box. No need to install anything.

https://sovransystems.com

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @fiatdenier 26 Jul 2023

Get a 8GB NUC & 2TB SSD from Amazon, rrun Ubuntu and Umbrel. Easy

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SpaceHodler 25 Jul 2023

I've just set up a node. An Intel NUC from eBay, a 1TB SSD from eBay (in hindsight I should have bought a 2TB one), already head a usb keyboard and mouse and an HDMI TV, but it's going to be used headless and via SSH. Total spend under €140.

I've installed Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, Bitcoin Core and electrs. Bitcoin core synced in under 3 days.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @021da48107 25 Jul 2023

If you don't have any technical experience I imagine building your own even with used parts would be a bit daunting. However If you are willing to learn and do the work I'd recommend getting one of these: https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t620/

You can pair that with a basic 1TB m.2 SATA SSD (check prices here: https://diskprices.com)

Then install start9, umbrel, etc should be pretty easy.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @021da48107 25 Jul 2023

You can also run testnet, or just a pruned mainnet node if you don't want to jump right into a 1TB drive.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @byzantine 25 Jul 2023

minibolt.info

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @jk_14 25 Jul 2023

for less than 100usd I took recently Optiplex 3050 i3-6100t mini 18x18x4cm 8GB RAM, 120GB SSD, 6.5W in idle state (comparable with Raspberry Pi) running bitcoind and CLN with some spare 2TB HDD USB disk - and almost idle still (Linux)

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @CoSatoshi 25 Jul 2023

Seconded to most of these posts: buy a old/used cheap laptop from FB/Craigslist, wipe it clean with a fresh install (Linux preferred, but Windows works) then install Bitcoin Core directly from the website. Plug it in somewhere, make sure it stays on, and you're done. Full dedicated Bitcoin Core server in your house.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @criptopanas OP 25 Jul 2023

Thanks, I guess this the path to follow. What will be the minimum requirements RAM, Hard Drive, etc?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SovranSystems 26 Jul 2023

16GB and 2TB more future proof

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @CoSatoshi 25 Jul 2023

You can prune the blockchain down to 2GB, I believe. That's something you'll select during the setup process when installing Bitcoin Core. RAM, I'd say 4G is minimum, but you'll want at least 8G imo.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @ursuscamp 25 Jul 2023

People always say a Thinkpad but literally any laptop will blow a Rasp PI out of the water. I'm using a budget laptop from about 2015/2016 and it crushes with a dual role as a bitcoin node and a home media server. All I had to do was expand the storage and we were good.

I also removed the battery. Some people leave the battery in but that made me nervous and I decided it wasn't worth it.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Lux 25 Jul 2023

I would skip the pies and buy a used thinkpad, min i5, 8gb ram, slap an ssd or m.2 and install debian

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @KoreaComK 25 Jul 2023

For a bitcoin node and not a lightning node, you can use, for example, a Raspberry Pi with 2gb of RAM, and a 1Tb HDD. You can find cheap laptops that allow you to extend the storage capacity. You can use them too. Rasp's solution is cheaper, either because it doesn't need to be the latest version, or because it only consumes 30 watts/hour. With that, you can download a debian version for Rasp, but if you don't have a background in the area, I recommend downloading for example Umbrel (https://umbrel.com/) or Citadel (https://runcitadel.space/). Just install them, download Bitcoin Node and Electrum Server to connect your node to your applications and that's it.