Replying to Avatar Keith Mukai

Best option* for running your own bitcoin full node:

* Used bare-bones used ThinkPad w/8GB RAM

* Replace ssd w/cheap 2TB nvme

* Run it as some flavor of linux

For $220 you have a solid enough machine WITH a screen, a keyboard, and -- super-important -- a BATTERY (y'all underestimate what a power outage can do to your Raspi).

Has enough storage onboard to not have to prune blocks. And enough RAM(?) to run more intense services like a Lightning node.

In other words: @npub1pfezegswrn8lpt0aerp2hvyhj4lsuzln9kcccs5p7qch2m2sawxsxcelvf is right!

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*(best guess. I haven't built this combo myself but tempted to)
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:P 2y ago

Going to use this set up for my next node/relay! Thanks for sharing!

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Keith Mukai 2y ago

Awesome! Def let me know how it goes.

Next question is: which flavor of linux? I only interact with linux over a terminal so I don't know which GUI I'd want to run. Ubuntu?

And are there any linux pitfalls (e.g. incompatibility with laptop hardware X)?

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:P 2y ago

I have Ubuntu running now on a VPS so probably will stick with that and plan to run proxmox

What do you think of proxmox?!

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Keith Mukai 2y ago

I've never used it, but people deeper into linux than me have mentioned it so... that's... some kind of data point?

@npub1r7psmkr4zv93xnal8un6d8hvmpsn5jvhfzn3kk38rfcel6awznks7znspg

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Dimi 2y ago

I absolutely recommend a hypervisor! Adding an extra abstraction layer is very powerful & helps to better separate workloads. Sometimes containers are more appropriate, sometimes full vms are, and proxmox gives you the flexibility to do both.

My dayjob uses ESX, and I was able to migrate a vm to proxmox with barely any work.

The gui sucks, but the product is great.

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Dimi 2y ago

Also, “deeper into Linux than me” lol. That’s bizarre to hear since I’m coming from the windows & related closed source tech stack world 🤣

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CruisingLevel 2y ago

I have been running Umbrel for over two years on an Ubuntu VM on Proxmox. It's stable, sometimes it runs for months until I reboot after an OS update. However, recently there has been talk of Umbrel frequently sending the server IP address to Umbrel HQ. I am switching to Start9, IBD is running.