to be honest I’m thinking I would prefer the StartOS route. Maybe I will need to upgrade the ram and move to internal SSD in that case.
This means a tunnel will be required. Let me look at porting my HashGG app to work on Linux Mint (this would be the simplest option). It is already containerized, so I would just need to figure out the routing/firewall to connect it from Docker to Knots running on the host.
For the 16GB system, just the internal SSD upgrade would be sufficient. I’d go with 2 TB, to make sure there is room for the host OS and for the StartOS overhead along with the blockchain data.
I would also recommend checking if StartOS runs on the base system (that would be a bit simpler setup than running it in a VM). That also depends on if you want to use the system for other things too, though (i.e. not just for Bitcoin). StartOS in a VirtualBox VM on Linux Mint would probably be my second recommendation (somewhat less performant than running it on Proxmox, but that setup is simpler to manage for most people who do not deal with VMs routinely) BTW, I published a tutorial here on Youtube for this setup.
got it, thanks Paul. Yes I’ve seen the video and looks straight forward to be honest. Its a shame I need to IBD again. Let me get back to you when I’ve managed to buy a reasonably priced internal SSD
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If your laptop supports an NVMe drive (make sure – some models only support M.2 SATA which look very similar to NVMe drives but are not the same, and other models only support the larger rectangular standard SATA drives) then probably the least expensive option is a refurbished NVMe from ebay. This one here, for example.
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The latest version of HashGG can be run on Linux Mint and other Debian-based distros (instructions here). I know you are looking at running StartOS so probably don’t need this, but I decided to write it anyway since a lot of folks run Knots this way (eventually I’ll probably add support for MacOS and Windows as well)
The setup is a bit more technical than doing it from StartOS, but as long as you are comfortable pasting commands into a terminal, it isn’t too terrible. It comes with a helper script for building and running Datum Gateway first, then it launches HashGG in a Docker container (which you can then access on a local IP and port from your browser).
Hello! I am following Mathew Kratter’s tutorial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plzh3CVQebA&t=208s) and I’m at the 14:23 mark.
I’ve sideloaded your HashGG service, I am on the 3.5.1 version of StartOS, and made sure to download/sideload the correct version. I have Datum Gateway and Bitcoin Knotes BIP-110 running and configured. When I click on “start” and then “launch UI”, I am not able to reach the “choose your tunnel method” page. Google Chrome says “this site cannot be reached - check if there is a typo”. In Start OS, I have 1 green checkmark showing that Datum Gateway is reachable, my second healthcheck Tunnel Status which is a revolving blue circle and says “tunnel mode not configured yet”… which makes sense I guess.
Could you help me troubleshoot why my browser won’t launch the UI properly? I already have the playit.gg premium account so I think I can take it from there if we can get the UI to launch properly.
thanks for your help!
I am guessing that you are on Windows (this is where you see this quite frequently). If so, uninstall Bonjour, then reinstall it. Once reinstalled, reboot your computer.
One other place I saw this was in Linux Mint for one user (the only user that I have seen with this problem, so it is much less common). In his case, the solution was to simply reboot his computer.
The third place I have seen this is on older Android phones (before support for mDNS was added). There is no workaround on these phones (you will need to access your server from another computer in this scenario)
Hi Paul. Can I take you up on that offer? I have Start OS 040 installed and running. I have an account with Braiins hashkpower and set up playit.gg but I am stuck now.
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Rich
@richmartin sure, let me know when you have some free time and I’ll set up a virtual meeting.
Great! Right now works for me.
I DM’d you a link to the meeting (check the chat bubble icon at the top of the page)
Thank you - it turns out, I did not have Bonjour installed on my PC at all, so I downloaded from your link and it fixed the issue. thanks.
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Just a follow up. HASHGG working like a charm (Start9 OS 3.5.1).
Routing is in place and working via playit.gg and verified extranonce2_size of 8.
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Hey Paul,
I am stuck trying to decide whether I should go with a playit.gg ($3) premium subscription or rent a ($11) VPS and set up start tunnel. I have consulted this with chatgpt and have learned the pros and cons of both, but still not sure if spending an extra $8/month on the VPS is worth it, especially since I am just looking to rent hash and point it to my node. Are the privacy benefits of a renting a VPS and paying in btc worth it? Is there a risk to privacy if using playit.gg?
Appreciate your thoughts on this!
thanks
I found another VPS provider https://btcvps.com/ which takes Bitcoin, and it is a bit cheaper than BitLaunch (€6 /mo, which at current exchange rate is ~$7 /mo). Still an extra $4 /mo more than Playit.gg.
On Matthew’s latest live class, someone mentioned in the chat that they were able to use a Prepaid credit card via Bitrefill to pay for premium on Playit.gg. I don’t use Bitrefill myself so I can’t confirm (also, I’m not sure whether Bitrefill require any identifying information to sign up), but that might be worth investigating to see if it is an option.
The risk with Playit.gg would be that their records would have your fiat payment that links your identity with your account (and tunnel). That information alone might not be useful, but combined with records from Braiins, one could then track your Bitcoin on chain and link it to your identity. Given that it would require data breaches from two seprarate entities, realistically the sophistication of the privacy threat involved here would be more along the lines of a government entity rather than a wrench attacker.
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Great, thank you very much Paul!
Hi Greg further to your comment above. I am preparing to top up my Braiins account. Their deposit info states that I must only must deposit coins with clear origin. If I have a UTXO from a whirlpool mix would this get confiscated? If so could I get around this by sending the same UTXO to my RTL lightning node and then send onto Braiins from there or would it still be at risk?
I cant really say. Braiins is vague as to exactly why the UTXO’s fail. It seems if I send an entire UTXO set from Sparrow (Q) (no change) which does consist of multiple transactions from LND Lightning (OCEAN payouts) via Boltz back to my Sparrow (Q) cold wallet I have a better chance of getting past the silly “check” but I cant say for sure a deposit wont be held in the future.
Like I say..I’m confused as to the “why”?
Note: Out of 22 transactions 2 have been held for review
This at least suggests one method of “untainting” sats that works at least some of the time (though we will need to repeat it a number of times to determine how reliable it is) Basically, get your potentially “tainted” sats locked into the Lightning network (in your case, you received them initially over Lightning, but this could also include using base layer sats to open a channel, or doing a base-layer to lightning swap via Bolts).
Once the sats are on the lightning network, then they can be swapped out for a fresh new base layer UTXO via Boltz lightning to base layer swap. Then use the resulting UTXO to fund Braiins.
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Can confirm that Bitrefill works with Playit.gg and they don’t require any identifying information. However, you are essentially paying ~1.5% premium for the VISA debit card. In other words, $10 = $10.15