Reset and repurpose old MacBook into a Bitcoin node.
Full node if disc space allows. A pruned node if not.
Yes or no, why or why not?
For the sake of discussion, this is the only piece of hardware available.
#asknostr
#bitcoin
Discussion
100% yes. Way better than a Raspi. More powerful, and most important: has a battery to survive momentary brown outs or longer outages.
Two of my Pis died (I think) because of power issues leading to SD card or ssd corruption.
I know you said only piece of hardware but if you can add an ssd that would be great. If you want Bitcoin core to finish syncing
ssd what size min
Bitcoin core size is 539GB right now. 1TB would be enough but 2TB is better
peanuts for gamers
maybe use my old msn gx7 destroyer
AMD proc though
Nice!
msn gx70 destroyer, not gx7 lol
it's bulky, but Japanese made
RGB kboard is so sleek but only runs on Win8 if you wanna use the rgb kboard. If you use Win10, no rgb
Thing is, I needed to use Win10 due to microsoft 365 excel and ppt so I'm not using it anymore, maybe set it up again #fortheloveofbtc
what decent brand of docking station though? I may need a new one
Trade it for a refurbished dell optiplex or hp elitedesk and run Linux.
nostr:npub1xswmtflr4yclfyy4mq4y4nynnnu2vu5nk8jp0875khq9gnz0cthsc0p4xw
The Apple operating system is Linux.
...kinda
Very little space in a city apartment for a desktop computer is the only thing there. Ie my desk if Iām working from home is the dining tableā¦.
Some of these tiny workstations are really small.
Processor is a slower one, and it needs an SSD, but that should work just fine for a node! I've got a 10 year old i5 running my node right now, an old HP workstation.
Na, like this
nostr:note18rz2sl78rpm3sz2k2x8z9nlkplyhp2kjnzceychcsty5t4plhnhs4yc3ml
Are you in sales? Do you have a list of diy, i have questions now
40% sick of rpiās, 40% stacking, 20% enjoyment.
Yes*
*Turn it into a bare metal hypervisor through Proxmox first! This way, you get to do more than run a node with the same machine.
nostr:note1cpdh9ly9vzjcjseslqlquxjmpa6d4h38ayzu0vpnev0ghjxrpzkq2kggge
Go for it!
Think I will. Finally grabbed the old computer from the storage unit last month
Sell it, buy an even cheaper PC for $50, stack sats with the rest
Ppl pay too much for MacBooks and offer no advantage for a node over a much cheaper pc
Imho
Based
This is a very rational idea. We also have an absolute piece of crap PC laying around somewhere. Next to zero storage, overheats watching YouTube. Use this too? Lol
Slap a used SSD in that bad boy and you're off to the races. Mac is too valuable for a node, id much rather have the sats š«”š«”
Why not š¤š½ I say do it bring new life into that laptop
Thatās the way Iām leaning š¤š«”
why not is the real question. replace the hard drive if there's not enough space for a full node and whatever electrum software you want to run. i'd recommend fulcrum
Thank you!
MacBook? You can use any old laptop for something like this...Windows, Mac, Linux...
I'd recommend loading Linux to any of the above hardware platforms so that you can continue to receive security updates.
One of many online guides on how to do this:
https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-install-linux-on-an-old-laptop/
Thatās a thought. Why Linux over something tailor-made for Bitcoin like StartOS (which I believe is Linux based but Iām new to this)
Start9 can run on any OS (Mac, Windows, Linux). The benefit of Linux is you can always upgrade the OS to stay current...whereas with the others you may need to buy an upgrade / license (or even get new hardware).
Great advice, thank you for the clarification šā”ļø
No worries--IMHO everyone should try out Linux--you can run it off a USB stick without affecting your current computer's OS...a great way to get started without *any* risks.
In fact, I typically run Linux straight off of a USB stick--it's perfectly usable with a reasonable laptop, and because nothing is saved to the USB (unless you choose to) it is immune from viruses / malware (as you're always starting with a "fresh" system with each boot).
And (no matter what) if you're ever concerned, just download a fresh copy of Linux, flash it to the USB and you're off an running--good as new.
SO many advantages of Linux, but security is definitely tops on my list of why I use it...(and the price tag--free--is a close second).
Sounds like tails (booting from a thumb drive and all that). Guess I didnāt realize other operating systems could do that!
Yup--exactly like Tails.
If you really want to play, get a large thumb drive and load Ventoy:
https://www.ventoy.net/en/index.html
That will let you put multiple OS images on a single thumb drive, and then boot to whichever one you'd. like. Really a cool piece of software.
Fascinating - thank again š¤
Absolutely agree. I am the IT Administrator of the Linux division in my company, and unfortunately, I have to use Windows due to company policy, but certainly not as my only OS. I have my 1TB NVMe USB drive running Rocky9, inside a VM with Windows 10, which I use only for the minimum requirements set by the company. When I finish working, I never need to carry the PC with me; I only take my NVMe USB, and in case of necessity, I connect it to the first available PC and get to work. With Windows, you couldn't do this without going crazy with drivers and license activations. Of course, Rocky has to be properly hardened and secured, but the beauty of Linux is that you can do whatever you want via scripts without needing third-party software, which I rarely trust.
Huh...new one for me (Rocky) - I see it's a Red Hat variant...may have to give it a try! Thanks!!