Topic: Using loyces love of laptop nodes I built a nice linux laptop node. (Read 121 times)

the wifi card is inside. but it you pull the windows ssd and put in a new 2tb nvme than install linux the linux install has no ready wifi drivers. Thus you are air gapped.

my new from best buy.com laptop doe not have an ethernet port but the usb to eth adapter I got at amazon is driver less so I had a direct eth connection to the net and no wifi if I do not download the linux wifi driver.

So when I want the net just plug in the adapter . When I want off line unplug it.

I can't tell if the only difference is in "settings", but 28W is still a lot for a laptop.
Besides, this is AMD, which usually consumes more power than Intel. With modern Intel CPUs, the low power variant has less performance cores and more eco cores.

Is it really different or have better result? For example, difference between 6600H and 6600U are only about "Clock Rate" and "Power Consumption" according to https://www.notebookcheck.net/R5-6600H-vs-R5-6600U_14086_14090.247596.0.html.

I found the link. You guys pay amazingly little for hardware!

I never tried hard to get it working, but in general, in my experience, it sucks You can click things, move things and sometimes scroll, but it's nothing like I'm used to on Android.

Of course. But you could do the same on a CPU that's designed to consume 3 times less power, with better results. My spare "disposable" vacation laptop uses 4-6 W only, and doesn't have a fan.

Looking at specification, it's great. Although bestbuy webpage currently sells that laptop only for $299.99.



Out of curiosity, how good is the touch screen support on linux mint?


I also have question about it, since bestbuy webpage mention existence of wifi and bluetooth. I wonder whether there's driver issue with the linux mint.


Good point. Although some laptop let you limit watt/TDP usage or undervolt the CPU to reduce electricity usage and heat.

No, DVDs don't do that It's too bad Tails doesn't support "toram", because I like it: plug in external USB DVD drive, boot, read entire DVD, hear "Initiating startup sequence" from the speakers, and unplug the DVD again. You could even run it on a system without any storage, to be absolutely sure there's no way it can save anything.

That's up to the user I can think of a few uses: broadcast a transaction online through Tor, or use two systems: one online, one offline. The online system can have a watch-only Electrum wallet to create unsigned transactions, and the offline system can be used to sign them after entering your seed words.

---

---

I've been thinking about creating a maximum paranoia laptop for a while now, but never did it. I'm thinking of soldered RAM against liquid nitrogen freezing attacks, or complely immersing it in epoxy to make RAM removal virtually impossible. Physically removing all USB connectors, removing webcam, microphone, speakers and networking modules, and encrypting the disk which also gets glued in place. Before closing the laptop, all edges should be covered in glue to make it impossible to open and restore any connectivity. Upgrades? Not possible, just get a new one. Signing a transaction? Possible. Importing a raw unsigned transaction? Type it!

I know that Tails is normally amnesiac, but you have the option to set up persistent storage.
Does knoppix have persistent storage by default?
I believe the purpose of these is to run them offline, using a thumbdrive and mainly store some wallets there, am I right?

I like them for use as desktop too The only thing I don't like, is the limited space for extra storage. Using a laptop as node beats having to hook up monitor, mouse and keyboard to do anything on it.

I've never even considered keeping a permanent air-gapped device, but it could be a good option to use with for instance Electrum. It will be a big cold wallet.

That's a 45W CPU. I'd stay away from "H" CPU's for laptops, "U" usually consumes less power. Less power means lower running cost and less noise. Ideally, it shouldn't use it's fan most of the time and shouldn't feel warm at the bottom. But that's just my personal preference, since I was mentioned in the title

Okay, so without a discount the price for that laptop is $630 atm. That's expensive for a device with 8GB RAM and a 1366x768 screen resolution. I bought an AMD 6600H laptop with 16GB RAM and Full HD resolution a few months ago for less than $450. It's not sold internationally though, since it's produced by a local brand. I guess the market for each country is different, plus the brand plays a huge part here. Anyway, I'd gladly buy another one of that even if I want to exclusively use it as a node since the value is just too good here.

$400 is a whopping amount in my country, and I can get a seriously nice rig with that kind of budget! But, that's a nice move by you..

well, I've got an old PC running Windows 7, just collecting dust, waiting for a new purpose. And, I'm thinking of transforming it into an air-gapped device soon.. I'll only have to get the Linux installed.

Since it's WiFi-only, I'll just need to disable the WiFi completely and use the Ethernet, just like you recommended. though I've not used eth connection before, but there's a first time for everything..

Kudos to you for sharing your brilliant idea

So loyce says he likes a laptop for a node/wallet.

I usually use mac mini and dell tinys but I saw a laptop on best buy with an intel i5 12 gen a touch screen and it was a 15 inch.

it did have a 256 gb nvme2 ssd and only 8gb ram. plus it was wifi only.

I grabbed it for 300 I popped it open put in a 2tb ssd and 32gb ram.

I DID A review of the ssd on newegg as they sometimes give me gear to review.

https://www.newegg.com/crucial-2tb-p310/p/N82E16820156408#IsFeedbackTab

it is the review by philip a.

As an added bonus for security i did this with linux mint.

since the hp laptop was originally windows and I pulled the smaller ssd in-order to connect to the net with wifi you need to connect with a usb to ethernet adapter.

if you never load drivers the laptop is eth only which means it is air gapped when you pull out the eth cable.

link for the ram
link for the eth adapter which was driverless. and did do 1000 speed as I loaded the 630gb blockchain in 6 hours or so.


ram link

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08C4X9VR5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

eth adapter

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B087QFQW6F?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

the laptop is no longer on sale for black friday

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-15-6-touch-screen-laptop-intel-core-i5-8gb-memory-512gb-ssd-natural-silver/6587788.p?skuId=6587788


I paid 350 for laptop
I paid 0 for nvme2
I paid 58 for ram
I paid 13 for eth to usb

just over 400 its pretty nice laptop.

but the real value to the thread is if you get a wifi only laptop switch to linux os use only an eth adapter. never load drivers for wifi and you are air gapped.

there are a lot of cheap laptops with the right size ram 32 gb on ebay.