My journey to find the ideal Uncle Jim node \ stacker news ~bitcoin

My journey to find the ideal Uncle Jim node

3870 sats \ 18 comments \ @ACYK 3 Sep bitcoin

Desired Features:

Simple Wallet Creation: Can create a simple send/receive wallet for friends and family using my node
Secure Connections: Securely allow family to connect to my node
Link to Services: My family members can link their wallet to things like
- Stacker News [3a]
- Nostr clients [3b]
- Podcasting 2.0 podcast apps [3c]
Static Payment Address: Family members get a static payment address (Lightning address, Bolt12 address, etc.) to receive payments
Flexible Funding Sources: Ability to change the funding source without disruption to family members (e.g., starting with an LSP, then later switching to direct channel management)
Channel Management: Ability to open channels from a hardware wallet so if they close, the balance goes back to cold storage

Contenders:

Shockwallet
Alby Hub
LNBits

Initial Experience with Shockwallet:

I tested out Shockwallet today. I wiped an old laptop, installed Ubuntu, and used the one-line deployment (https://github.com/shocknet/Lightning.Pub#readme). It was very easy. Shockwallet seems to address [1, 2, 5] already, with various pieces of [3, 4, 6] in development. Overall, Shockwallet seems very capable already with lots of features in development. Shockwallet uses Nostr to connect, achieving [2] without direct network exposure, which is a huge advantage.

Next, I plan to try out Alby Hub and LNBits to see how well they tackle these items.

My Understanding of Existing Features:

Shockwallet:

[1, 2, 5]

Alby Hub:

[1, 2*, 3a, 3b, 3c, 4, 5, 6**]

LNBits:

[1, 2*, 3a, 3b, 4, 5, 6**]

* Both Alby Hub and LNBits are very capable when it comes to connecting to external services. However, securely allowing family members to connect will require more effort. This is where Shockwallet really shined.

** Zeus can be used to connect to LND and open channels from a hardware wallet. This may be possible for all three node options eventually, assuming the funding source is ultimately LND under the hood.

Connection Options:

Wait for Start9 0.4.0 for more user-friendly clearnet options, run Alby Hub and/or LNBits on it
Use a domain with Cloudflare DNS hosting and a Cloudflare tunnel, though this involves different trust tradeoffs in Cloudflare
Set up a reverse proxy
Research VPS providers that accept Lightning payments to run Alby Hub or LNBits on it

VPS Providers That Allegedly Accept Lightning (needs confirmation):

view all related items

207 sats \ 4 replies \ @Alby 3 Sep

Hey, let us know if you need help with Alby Hub!

The most useful Uncle Jim setup is to create Isolated NWC Connection in your Hub (Connections -> Add New), and then to share this NWC Connection Secret with another Alby Account on getalby.com - so your family members or friends could have another lightning address, wallet interface and a separate balance, while sharing the liquidity of your node.

35 sats \ 3 replies \ @ACYK OP 3 Sep

Thanks! I’m sure I’ll have questions as I get into it. My general plan the next day I get a few hours to play around with it (likely next week) will be working through the following (and likely generating some questions in the process):

Install Alby Hub, likely on the Raspberry Pi4 I have my Raspiblitz LND node running on (no channels open on it, as it was offline for a while for a move).
See how easy it is to get Alby Hub set up with an LSP to start such as Phoenixd.
See if it is possible to onboard a family member with a single link (something I really like about Shockwallet). Even better if I can send a single link that provides a pre-funded wallet (not yet in Shockwallet, but coming soon). If not, I’ll move forward with giving them an Alby referral and make notes on the workflow of them getting set up and adding a NWC Connection Secret provided by me.
Go through the process of adding NWC to send and receive from Alby Hub in Stacker News (something Shockwallet can’t do yet).
Go through the process of adding NWC to send and receive from Alby Hub in various Nostr clients (something Shockwallet can’t do yet).
Connect to Alby in a few Podcasting 2.0 Apps that support connecting via Alby, such as Podverse, Castamatic, Podcast Guru, etc. (something Shockwallet can’t do yet).
Assess the options for static payment addresses (Lightning address, Bolt12 address). For example, does a user still get a getalby.com lightning address even if the Alby Hub is behind Tor and only connecting via NWC? What are the options for me to bring my own domain and make custom lightning addresses? Is Bolt12 support on the roadmap (or already possible)?
If I change the funding for my Alby Hub (move from Phoenixd to opening my own channels in LND) is that all hidden from family members who may be using my Alby hub via NWC? i..e no reconfiguring for them?
Can I connect to my LND backend (which is connected to Alby Hub) via Zeus so I can open larger channels via hardware wallet that when closed, go back to being secured via my hardware wallet? Are there other more direct ways to open channels in Alby Hub via hardware wallet?
Are there any issues (speed, reliability, etc.) with being behind tor that I need to figure out a secure way to get my Alby Hub directly reachable on clearnet?

251 sats \ 2 replies \ @rolznz 4 Sep

Hi, to answer some of your questions:

You need to use the LDK or LND backend rather than Phoenixd, if you want to do an Uncle Jim node with Alby Hub. You still easily can get liquidity with one of the LSP partners in the app. There is a one-click channel opening during the onboarding.
For single link invitations, this will be possible in the "Friends and Family" app coming out in 1.7.0 in the next few days. There is also the Jim app (https://github.com/getAlby/jim) which connects to your hub and allows 1-click wallets (Nodana even offers one-click deployments of that: https://nodana.io/)
Bolt12 is on our roadmap but not available yet
You cannot easily switch to a different node backend. If you plan to use LND, I would start with LND from the beginning. Alby Hub can connect to an existing node.
You do not need clearnet access for apps powered by Alby Hub to work. Alby Hub can and is meant to run behind a firewall or in a private network. NWC (through the relay subscriptions) allows communication with the world

100 sats \ 1 reply \ @ACYK OP 4 Sep

Awesome, thanks for all of this great info. Maybe I'll wait for the "Friends and Family" app to be ready, and then go through the full workflow of setting up Alby hub, getting some initial liquidity, and setting a family member up with a wallet (testing out the Friends and Family App, as well as the Jim App). Really appreciate it!

121 sats \ 0 replies \ @rolznz 4 Sep

1.7 has been released now with the Friends & Family app, so do try it when you get the chance! it'll be even easier as the Alby Go mobile app becomes generally available, as this is the simplest wallet interface to use as an onboarded family member or friend.

121 sats \ 5 replies \ @justin_shocknet 3 Sep

Thanks for the write-up and feedback in Telegram, its very helpful in setting our priorities... we'll get this channel view writable asap... and I think our successor to NWC is going to blow minds very soon :tm:

https://m.stacker.news/49616

https://m.stacker.news/49615

Might take a few weeks yet on Lightning Addresses for self-hosted nodes, currently they're a problem everywhere as web servers passing them off are still custodial (you have to trust the webserver to actually issue your invoice and not theirs), we've got a solution though thanks to Nostr for handoff and signing... working on formalizing some NIP's for all this today actually

210 sats \ 4 replies \ @ACYK OP 3 Sep

Yea, the reason I started with Shockwallet is it seems there is a lot of great innovation going on to sidestep the tradeoff between the speed/reliability of tor and the security tradeoffs of other solutions when making a node available over clearnet. On that note, have you considered applying for an OpenSats grant? The intersection of lightning, Nostr, doing things differently and formalizing NIPS, open source development, etc. It all seems to overlap with the types of things OpenSats funds. Would be well deserved and worth considering.

56 sats \ 3 replies \ @justin_shocknet 3 Sep

I applied some time ago but was denied, our application was "too thin", which I found interesting since Nostr's pre-history is conversations between Fiatjaf and I about our use of GUN and the necessity of web-relays back in the original Shockwallet / Lightning Pages from 2018-2020...

I suspect we don't fit into what seems to be an ECash agenda on that board, but i'll try again, possible they've come around seeing all that we've done...

Any support is appreciated, we stepped back quite a bit from Lightning.Video which has a lot of profitable closed-source code to make Lightning better overall and make the pie bigger because no one else seemed to be doing it. Anyone who'd like to help us keep going can do so through Github/Geyser...

For the investment minded, we do of course have a plan to make these projects sustainable in their own right, they may be AGPL projects but I have an enterprise background and won't be satisfied until most Fortune 100's are running a Pub.

38 sats \ 1 reply \ @ACYK OP 4 Sep

I second @brian_sabc, a lot of PoW out there now with what you've been building. Just sent a little support to lightningpub@geyser.fund as well. Thanks.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justin_shocknet 4 Sep

Very generous ty!

42 sats \ 0 replies \ @brian_sabc 3 Sep freebie

Definitely apply again. PoW means a lot

240 sats \ 0 replies \ @thebullishbitcoiner 3 Sep

Nice post! First time hearing about Shockwallet.

147 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 3 Sep

Nice review guide!

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @ACYK OP 3 Sep

Thanks! Compared to your wealth of useful guides, I’m not sure I can call this a guide, however, I figured I’d at least drop in a progress update in case anyone else was on a similar journey. I plan to put together a more complete comparison after I have tested out each of these three options.

60 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satoshi__Nakamoto 3 Sep

Do you need help

227 sats \ 0 replies \ @ACYK OP 3 Sep

Not yet. I had a couple questions and @justin_shocknet was very helpful on the Shockwallet Telegram. Alby is in here already offering help with Alby Hub and I haven’t gotten to that one yet. One nice thing about these options is they all seem to have developers very eager to help which is incredible.

30 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 3 Sep

Wait for Start9 0.4.0 for more user-friendly clearnet options, run Alby Hub and/or LNBits on it

What’s planned 0.4.0 for clearnet? Native tunnel support?

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @ACYK OP 3 Sep

I should have said StartOS 0.4 and not Start9. I’ve seen in multiple places that StartOS 0.3.6 is expected to have initial clearnet support (likely via command line without much documentation) with 0.4.0 being a more complete rollout with GUI support and more documentation.

Here is one such mention: Configure Start9's Firewall.

Here is the link to the GitHub milestones for these releases: GitHub Milestones.

Maybe someone else can chime in with more details. I’ve just seen "wait for v0.4" mentioned enough times in various places to be on my radar, but I don’t have a lot of specific details.