Just setup a Bitcoin node! By running our own nodes, we're helping to increase the decentralization and security of the Bitcoin network, while also contributing to the stability of the network. If you're interested in doing the same, and need some guidance feel free to reach out and I'll answer the best I can.
Discussion
What size hard drive dose it require?
You need a out 500gb of free space. The Bitcoin block chain is about 400gb right now and growing.
What website(s) did you use to get started? Ideally one that ELI5?
I used ChatGPT. I started by asking it the minimum system requirements were for a Bitcoin node. Then I asked it what are the special considerations when setting up a node. I also asked about maintenance once a Bitcoin node is set up and how to keep it secure.
From there I asked it how to install Bitcoin node on Ubuntu with the command line interface.
It gave me a series of about seven or eight commands to the copy and paste into command line which I did.
I did receive one error about Boost not being available and I typed that error into chat GPT as well and it gave me the fix.
The whole process to kick this off took about 20 minutes. Right now my computer is downloading the 400 gig block and my CPU is pegged.
Don't forget to open up the Bitcoin firewall port as well!
Also don't forget to setup Tor with with your bitcoin node so your private IP isn't revealed. This took about 5 minutes and was really simple to setup.