It finished just after 4am last night.
So that was about 20.5 hrs total for IBD for the i3-10110U cpu w/16GB RAM.
I haven't used Start9 yet, but perusing their app list was a little disappointing.
The goal for THIS build is for the simplest possible setup and operation for a non-techy person. My guess is that Umbrel is going to be the most user-friendly UI once it's up and running. But will give Start9 a try, too.
Because of the above goal, running Bitcoin Core directly on debian/ubuntu isn't viable (e.g. when v26.0 is released, one click upgrade on Umbrel).
(note: I'm running experiments on the far other end of the spectrum building a ProxMox mini PC cluster with each service manually installed by me in its own debian VM)
Internal RAID on a cheap used laptop is probably possible (there is room for nvme and sata ssd) but that's starting to get into "if you're talking about RAID, you're already more advanced so what are you doing here?" territory (again, remembering that this laptop is for non-techy noobs; I don't think a laptop is necessarily the right form factor for someone who's more advanced).
I'll be setting up a RAID mirror/NAS on one of my more advanced mini PCs, but my approach there will be:
* 1TB nvme system drive
* 2TB sata ssd data drive
* 2x USB3 spinning 8TB hdds RAID mirror
So I'm separating safe, redundant storage (RAID mirror) from very fast data access (sata ssd) and keeping that separate from an extremely fast system disk.
The RAID will be the slowest storage I have (because usb3) but it doesn't matter since it's just a giant place to dump lots of regular backups.
Now, sure, if I was building on a regular-sized desktop, I'd run the 8TB RAID mirror on internal sata and wouldn't need the 2TB ssd data drive at all. The mini PC approach does force some compromises.
A little over 12hrs in, done in another 4-5 hrs?
Oh, man, those docs need some reorganization. I didn't realize the Ubuntu section was just some short notes and that the next section was a totally separate topic (steps to build a release img).
"progress", ya?
Continuing my attempt at an "easy mode" bitcoin node build on a used Lenovo laptop (~$120?).
Installing Ubuntu Desktop 22.04.3 LTS was smooth. Installing Umbrel via their bash script was easy once the Docker registry server was back online.
PROBLEM: Umbrel apps wouldn't install via the web UI. Had to free up port 53 for some reason.
https://www.linuxuprising.com/2020/07/ubuntu-how-to-free-up-port-53-used-by.html
Okay, now we're finally cooking!
Will let it do a full IBD just to see what this CPU (Intel Core i3-10110U) is capable of. It's overkill for our needs, while still being a 4-yr-old cpu and still quite cheap. Came with 16GB RAM and I swapped in an okay 2TB nvme.
That's 4.6x more powerful than a Raspi4. IBD started about 5 minutes ago. We'll see how long it takes to finish.
I like that the reported percent progress is... total transactions(?)... and not just counting blocks.
Even though I'm at roughly the halfway point according to block height, the bulk of the IBD syncing time happens in the more recent years' worth of block data. So only being at 15% thus far sounds spot-on.
WTF I just typed a semicolon at the end of a python statement.
First sign of the apocalypse.
Hä? You can run Raspiblitz on an old x86 laptop?
That's what I am doing actually.
https://github.com/raspiblitz/raspiblitz/tree/v1.10/alternative.platforms/amd64
🤯
I stopped at the opening headline.
Too many steps for my goals for an "easy mode" build. Will circle back if/when I want to spec out a more intermediate level build.
https://github.com/raspiblitz/raspiblitz/tree/1186-fints/alternative.platforms#ubuntu
I've never used RaspiBlitz but had a "oh, duh!" moment when I looked into it and realized it only runs on Raspis!
So not a match for these experiments.
Will play with that at some point, but I had quickly looked at the app list in there and it just didn't seem to compare to the utility possible with Umbrel.
For better or worse, Umbrel still looks to me to be the king of the zero-skill noobs. And I think that's fine, there's a niche for that (obv).
More FOSS, more sovereign tools exist for the savvier folks who are willing to put in a little (or a lot) more effort.
As the Raspi performance gets better and better, I understand less and less what it's meant to be used for.
Continuing my attempt at an "easy mode" bitcoin node build on a used Lenovo laptop (~$120?).
Installing Ubuntu Desktop 22.04.3 LTS was smooth. Installing Umbrel via their bash script was easy once the Docker registry server was back online.
PROBLEM: Umbrel apps wouldn't install via the web UI. Had to free up port 53 for some reason.
https://www.linuxuprising.com/2020/07/ubuntu-how-to-free-up-port-53-used-by.html
Okay, now we're finally cooking!
Will let it do a full IBD just to see what this CPU (Intel Core i3-10110U) is capable of. It's overkill for our needs, while still being a 4-yr-old cpu and still quite cheap. Came with 16GB RAM and I swapped in an okay 2TB nvme.
That's 4.6x more powerful than a Raspi4. IBD started about 5 minutes ago. We'll see how long it takes to finish.
We have a new release out!
There's soooo much to cover with this release. Going to try to point out as many of the big details as I can while keeping this post brief-ish.
First thing: Please show our contributors some love AND demonstrate the power of Nostr and zap the crap out of this post. All zaps are forwarded to our development fund that goes to reward our contributors.
General note: Our release cadence tends to be less frequent than other tools -- this is a natural facet of our work as a volunteer project, and that we have a more technically conservative posture given the importance of what we're helping bitcoiners safeguard.
Headline feature: reproducible builds. Anyone in the world should be able to reproduce and validate that the software we're releasing is in line with what is in our relevant code repositories.
Big quality of life improvements:
. Power-to-Splash: ~12 seconds
. Vastly improved live camera preview
. Noticeably more responsive controls
. Brightness adjustment reminder
. MicroSD removal reminder
Something big for the Uncle Jim SeedSigner maxis out there: Formalized support for SettingsQR! Transform SeedSigner from a featureful, more technical device into a dead-simple signer for grandma, and then back again with a couple of non-private QR codes.
For devs and everyone else who is on-mission to preach and teach the SeedSigner gospel: Screenshot generator! Create pixel-perfect renderings of most UI screens for explainers, tutorials and even development use cases.
All of these updates have come from more contributors than we've had involved in any previous release.
If you are receiving value directly from SeedSigner; or if you simply understand the importance of a discreet, DIY, non-corporate, FOSS, cold storage signing tool for the global bitcoin ecosystem -- please make a donation to our development fund.
I will be digging into the above features and updates in the coming weeks to provide more detail on their value, but for now grab your signer and give 0.7.0 a try!
1 SeedSigner = ♾ Cosigners
Thank you everyone!
Release: https://github.com/SeedSigner/seedsigner/releases/tag/0.7.0
Donate: https://seedsigner.com/donate-custom/
Yo nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx, nostr:npub1guh5grefa7vkay4ps6udxg8lrqxg2kgr3qh9n4gduxut64nfxq0q9y6hjy,
I think our huge nostr:npub17tyke9lkgxd98ruyeul6wt3pj3s9uxzgp9hxu5tsenjmweue6sqq4y3mgl v0.7.0 release fell through the RHR software update cracks (was released just as everyone was descending on nostr:npub1theparkprcs70dcs437ke9zzwsr6u60f8flu7rg28m30438aep9sd94dha for Grassroots and the HRF event).
Six months of work. Record number of contributors. REPRODUCIBLE BUILDS!!! Incredible quality-of-life usability improvements.
So proud of this release! 🎉🔥🔥
Shout out to nostr:npub17tyke9lkgxd98ruyeul6wt3pj3s9uxzgp9hxu5tsenjmweue6sqq4y3mgl! Shout out to nostr:npub1rfd0hxdzcze6pzj29thuz34vur57wm9quje7w3edxjgusq6m47csnl7wrt! Shout out to myself 🤣!! And especially to our growing list of awesome FOSS contributors!
ps - we wrote the "Highlights" part of the release notes specifically for RHR!
nostr:note1tw508y5rlhn8lufps5agyjvpxt2z0hf4f3fpyyg7hr2hhf7n3jdsp2ne6a
"Easy mode" DIY node test: Ubuntu Desktop + Umbrel
tldr: "Easy mode" is easy until usual tech shit gets in the way.
Everything went way better than the Ubuntu server route, but then...
Docker's fault. Their server is down.
But the Umbrel installer can't gracefully retry and resume. Have to know to wipe the `umbrel/` directory first. But no point in trying until that Docker server is back up.
First mistake: Don't use Ubuntu server. Should have started with Ubuntu Desktop. Duh.
The Ubuntu server installer steps are def too techy and I screwed up my drive partitions. It's a 2TB nvme but Umbrel only has 105.1GB to work with? Ug.
Testing out "easy mode" DIY node setups to see what's practical to recommend to non-techy plebs!
Signaling support for STV: Sjors Template Verify
#amethyst #ux #feedback
cc: nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z
Yup, the color really pops on the black background. And I've always loved time series charts. They convey so much information without being complicated.
But few things which did make the UI a bit complicated to me at first:
1) The "Today arrow icon" evokes to me switching in between different time frames. But instead, in production, it does hide/display the whole chart.
*I would actually enjoy the ability to switch from daily, weekly, monthly, yearly view with the x-axis changing accordingly.
2) It took me long time at first to decipher which events are being tracked on which y axis. There might be way to visually seperate them and make it more obvious that right axis is for the zap amounts only, while left axis is for everything else.
3) Even when the chart is displayed, there still persists the big top-front-and-center Global/Follows/Muted switch, which doesn't interact with the chart anyhow, but with the detailed notification feed displayed below.
I'd suggest to strictly visually seperate these two; move the switch below the collapsible chart.
==
Lmk what you think, and let's find some UXD who wants to play with it 😇
The right y-axis must be for zaps. That's the only stat that I have that would reach the thousands.