Well 0.12 is due soon and you can run a pruned node, so that's only 2Gb
I was almost running a full node on my zero but it's 2 much for my 64gb sd card and my portable hdd is busy in another project
Topic: Raspberry Pi 2 Node (Read 4438 times)
http://www.geek.com/chips/raspberry-pi-zero-cluster-in-development-1645823/
Beowulf cluster of piZero running a full bitcoin node ftw
Beowulf cluster of piZero running a full bitcoin node ftw
That would be really cool, but probably not really cost-effective
Is there any reason one could not run a full bitcoin node on a Raspberry Pi 2? I see these are very cheap now, just $37. Add a 32GB SD card and you have a fully functioning node right?
Not a chance. I tried that last summer while the blockchain was still less than 40GB and after a month it still had not synched and burned out the usb storage, presumably from too many rw cycles while doing the rather busy -reindex.
Now on my other computer my /.bitcoin/ is >67GB and still growing.
Feb 2016 specs for a full node;
minimum:
>=2GHz x 4core cpu such as an intel i5
>=2GB RAM
>=80 GB HDD presently used and sure to grow
recommended:
>=4GB RAM
>=160 GB HDD preferably SSD for speed and rw
What does work with a raspberry pi is
- electrum bitcoin wallet
- various altcoin full nodes
Well, if you check this thread and feedback online you can see one can indeed run a Bitcoin node on a Raspberry Pi 2. Definitely not the most powerful node, but it works.
Is there any reason one could not run a full bitcoin node on a Raspberry Pi 2? I see these are very cheap now, just $37. Add a 32GB SD card and you have a fully functioning node right?
Not a chance. I tried that last summer while the blockchain was still less than 40GB and after a month it still had not synched and burned out the usb storage, presumably from too many rw cycles while doing the rather busy -reindex.
Now on my other computer my /.bitcoin/ is >67GB and still growing.
Feb 2016 specs for a full node;
minimum:
>=2GHz x 4core cpu such as an intel i5
>=2GB RAM
>=80 GB HDD presently used and sure to grow
recommended:
>=4GB RAM
>=160 GB HDD preferably SSD for speed and rw
What does work with a raspberry pi is
- electrum bitcoin wallet
- various altcoin full nodes
60GB bytes at 20MBps avg(USB 2.0)? 00:30:00-00:45:00
WIFI storage with a SATA 802.11N enclosure is faster by tens of megabytes/minutes.
WIFI storage with a SATA 802.11N enclosure is faster by tens of megabytes/minutes.
http://www.geek.com/chips/raspberry-pi-zero-cluster-in-development-1645823/
Beowulf cluster of piZero running a full bitcoin node ftw
Beowulf cluster of piZero running a full bitcoin node ftw
Pi2 is a great device and I've been actively looking for others that support analog input. Intel Edison has been another one i've experimenting with.
Is it possible to attach a screen to the Pi 2 and have it run information like the bitnodes hardware did? Their LCD code is here, how would one use this to have information being presented on screen?
Yes, this is possible. Some specially designed screen are available on diverse website on the web. I think that they have to be connected to the 40-pin GPIO port, but I'm not sure at 100%.
I know that there are screens and that they can be attached to the GPIO port, but my question is more software related: if I attach one of those screen how would I get on about making it work like it did on the bitnodes hardware?
Is it possible to attach a screen to the Pi 2 and have it run information like the bitnodes hardware did? Their LCD code is here, how would one use this to have information being presented on screen?
Yes, this is possible. Some specially designed screen are available on diverse website on the web. I think that they have to be connected to the 40-pin GPIO port, but I'm not sure at 100%.
Is it possible to attach a screen to the Pi 2 and have it run information like the bitnodes hardware did? Their LCD code is here, how would one use this to have information being presented on screen?
However, would it be possible to store it on a PC and on a NAS, as a kind of backup.
Storing a backup of the blockchain on a NAS would be possible, yes, however it might be a bit of a pain copying 60GB worth of data to the NAS every few days or week, if you want to back it up that often. You could look at an incremental backup scheme (only backing up changes since the previous backup) and that would speed up backing up the blockchain. I'm not so sure I'd bother backing up the Bitcoin blockchain at all, just because it seem like Bitcoin-Qt doesn't corrupt the blockchain very often, and even if it does, there are re-scan and re-index options built into Bitcoin-Qt to attempt recovery of a corrupt blockchain. In the worst case, you'd just need to re-download the blockchain which would probably take a day or two, and then you'd be back up and running.This is in your case mate ! For me, it would more like a week or two
. I'm not the owner of an high-quality connection 
...The case is a bit more complex. My connection is theorically good, but in the day, the bandwich is really low. However, the night, it is fine. Along the possibility for me to store my bitcoins and don't be tempted by using them like I sadly do often, I'll also help the community, at least the night.
However, would it be possible to store it on a PC and on a NAS, as a kind of backup.
Storing a backup of the blockchain on a NAS would be possible, yes, however it might be a bit of a pain copying 60GB worth of data to the NAS every few days or week, if you want to back it up that often. You could look at an incremental backup scheme (only backing up changes since the previous backup) and that would speed up backing up the blockchain. I'm not so sure I'd bother backing up the Bitcoin blockchain at all, just because it seem like Bitcoin-Qt doesn't corrupt the blockchain very often, and even if it does, there are re-scan and re-index options built into Bitcoin-Qt to attempt recovery of a corrupt blockchain. In the worst case, you'd just need to re-download the blockchain which would probably take a day or two, and then you'd be back up and running.This is in your case mate ! For me, it would more like a week or two
. I'm not the owner of an high-quality connection ...However, would it be possible to store it on a PC and on a NAS, as a kind of backup.
Storing a backup of the blockchain on a NAS would be possible, yes, however it might be a bit of a pain copying 60GB worth of data to the NAS every few days or week, if you want to back it up that often. You could look at an incremental backup scheme (only backing up changes since the previous backup) and that would speed up backing up the blockchain. I'm not so sure I'd bother backing up the Bitcoin blockchain at all, just because it seem like Bitcoin-Qt doesn't corrupt the blockchain very often, and even if it does, there are re-scan and re-index options built into Bitcoin-Qt to attempt recovery of a corrupt blockchain. In the worst case, you'd just need to re-download the blockchain which would probably take a day or two, and then you'd be back up and running.This is in your case mate ! For me, it would more like a week or two
. I'm not the owner of an high-quality connection ... However, would it be possible to store it on a PC and on a NAS, as a kind of backup.
Storing a backup of the blockchain on a NAS would be possible, yes, however it might be a bit of a pain copying 60GB worth of data to the NAS every few days or week, if you want to back it up that often. You could look at an incremental backup scheme (only backing up changes since the previous backup) and that would speed up backing up the blockchain. I'm not so sure I'd bother backing up the Bitcoin blockchain at all, just because it seem like Bitcoin-Qt doesn't corrupt the blockchain very often, and even if it does, there are re-scan and re-index options built into Bitcoin-Qt to attempt recovery of a corrupt blockchain. In the worst case, you'd just need to re-download the blockchain which would probably take a day or two, and then you'd be back up and running. 
This is actually possible to run Bitcoin Core on a RPi 2 and to store the blockchain on a NAS ? This could (or maybe not, I d'ont know) be a good idea.
I used to run the blockchain off of my NAS and I never had any issues doing so. However, I did that with a Windows machine running Bitcoin-Qt, so I'm not sure if that would differ from running the node on an RPi (I suspect there would be no difference though - just create a folder, and then mount the network location to it).One thing to note if running the blockchain from a NAS is that the blockchain can only be used by one device at a time. So, if you're wanting to run a node on your PC, as well as your RPi (for whatever reason), you won't be able to.
Thank you for your explanation. I don't think that I'll ever need to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2 at the same time, at least with the same folders. Would it be possible to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2, but with two separated blockchain files on the same NAS ?
OK. This was a question. The PCs that I'll be using will have their own hard-drive (that's quite obvious), so I'll surely don't need to put two blockchain copies on a NAS. However, would it be possible to store it on a PC and on a NAS, as a kind of backup. If the blockchain get's corrupted (I don't know if is possible), then the PC will look at the NAS, and thus the full node will never be down.
This is actually possible to run Bitcoin Core on a RPi 2 and to store the blockchain on a NAS ? This could (or maybe not, I d'ont know) be a good idea.
I used to run the blockchain off of my NAS and I never had any issues doing so. However, I did that with a Windows machine running Bitcoin-Qt, so I'm not sure if that would differ from running the node on an RPi (I suspect there would be no difference though - just create a folder, and then mount the network location to it).One thing to note if running the blockchain from a NAS is that the blockchain can only be used by one device at a time. So, if you're wanting to run a node on your PC, as well as your RPi (for whatever reason), you won't be able to.
Thank you for your explanation. I don't think that I'll ever need to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2 at the same time, at least with the same folders. Would it be possible to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2, but with two separated blockchain files on the same NAS ?
OK. This was a question. The PCs that I'll be using will have their own hard-drive (that's quite obvious), so I'll surely don't need to put two blockchain copies on a NAS. However, would it be possible to store it on a PC and on a NAS, as a kind of backup. If the blockchain get's corrupted (I don't know if is possible), then the PC will look at the NAS, and thus the full node will never be down.
This is actually possible to run Bitcoin Core on a RPi 2 and to store the blockchain on a NAS ? This could (or maybe not, I d'ont know) be a good idea.
I used to run the blockchain off of my NAS and I never had any issues doing so. However, I did that with a Windows machine running Bitcoin-Qt, so I'm not sure if that would differ from running the node on an RPi (I suspect there would be no difference though - just create a folder, and then mount the network location to it).One thing to note if running the blockchain from a NAS is that the blockchain can only be used by one device at a time. So, if you're wanting to run a node on your PC, as well as your RPi (for whatever reason), you won't be able to.
Thank you for your explanation. I don't think that I'll ever need to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2 at the same time, at least with the same folders. Would it be possible to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2, but with two separated blockchain files on the same NAS ?
This is actually possible to run Bitcoin Core on a RPi 2 and to store the blockchain on a NAS ? This could (or maybe not, I d'ont know) be a good idea.
I used to run the blockchain off of my NAS and I never had any issues doing so. However, I did that with a Windows machine running Bitcoin-Qt, so I'm not sure if that would differ from running the node on an RPi (I suspect there would be no difference though - just create a folder, and then mount the network location to it).One thing to note if running the blockchain from a NAS is that the blockchain can only be used by one device at a time. So, if you're wanting to run a node on your PC, as well as your RPi (for whatever reason), you won't be able to.
Thank you for your explanation. I don't think that I'll ever need to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2 at the same time, at least with the same folders. Would it be possible to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2, but with two separated blockchain files on the same NAS ?
This is actually possible to run Bitcoin Core on a RPi 2 and to store the blockchain on a NAS ? This could (or maybe not, I d'ont know) be a good idea.
I used to run the blockchain off of my NAS and I never had any issues doing so. However, I did that with a Windows machine running Bitcoin-Qt, so I'm not sure if that would differ from running the node on an RPi (I suspect there would be no difference though - just create a folder, and then mount the network location to it).One thing to note if running the blockchain from a NAS is that the blockchain can only be used by one device at a time. So, if you're wanting to run a node on your PC, as well as your RPi (for whatever reason), you won't be able to.
Thank you for your explanation. I don't think that I'll ever need to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2 at the same time, at least with the same folders. Would it be possible to run it on both my PC and my RPi 2, but with two separated blockchain files on the same NAS ?
This is actually possible to run Bitcoin Core on a RPi 2 and to store the blockchain on a NAS ? This could (or maybe not, I d'ont know) be a good idea.
I used to run the blockchain off of my NAS and I never had any issues doing so. However, I did that with a Windows machine running Bitcoin-Qt, so I'm not sure if that would differ from running the node on an RPi (I suspect there would be no difference though - just create a folder, and then mount the network location to it).One thing to note if running the blockchain from a NAS is that the blockchain can only be used by one device at a time. So, if you're wanting to run a node on your PC, as well as your RPi (for whatever reason), you won't be able to.
My two cents
I used to run a node on an Intel Atom 1.6Ghz, 2GB ram system, the blockchain was on an external hdd connected via USB.
On normal days the performance was ok, but since the stress tests began and now that most of the blocks are full it became a problem. Everytime a new block would come it would eat up the cpu for like 30 seconds. Also bitcoind would slow down dramatically every few days, still running but it lagged a few blocks behind of the network, requiering a manual restart to clear up the mempool and catch up with the chain...
So my advice would be to keep away from the Pi, bitcoin is way too heavy nowadays. A Pi can be useful for running a node for one of the staking coins and actually make a few cents on it.
For the bitcoin node I now use this: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4918#ov
Much better performance, not as cheap as the Pi but still low cost, low power consumption, passive cpu cooling so it stays quiet and enables the use of a normal sata drive.
You can find simmilar boards that have wifi integrated if you need it or just add a pci or usb wifi adapter...
I used to run a node on an Intel Atom 1.6Ghz, 2GB ram system, the blockchain was on an external hdd connected via USB.
On normal days the performance was ok, but since the stress tests began and now that most of the blocks are full it became a problem. Everytime a new block would come it would eat up the cpu for like 30 seconds. Also bitcoind would slow down dramatically every few days, still running but it lagged a few blocks behind of the network, requiering a manual restart to clear up the mempool and catch up with the chain...
So my advice would be to keep away from the Pi, bitcoin is way too heavy nowadays. A Pi can be useful for running a node for one of the staking coins and actually make a few cents on it.
For the bitcoin node I now use this: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4918#ov
Much better performance, not as cheap as the Pi but still low cost, low power consumption, passive cpu cooling so it stays quiet and enables the use of a normal sata drive.
You can find simmilar boards that have wifi integrated if you need it or just add a pci or usb wifi adapter...
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