[MINDLINER](https://1ml.com/node/03830ecd6fefbfc926a35ba474e56bb7466402570843b4936fbd984b7fbb213ac7), my first node went online five years ago. I assumed that running lightningd was similar to running bitcoind, i.e., download, start, forget. I was opening a few channels but failed to invest the time to understand the inner workings. As a result, most of the payments failed unless I opened a channel directly to the vendor. I bought [some stickers](
"All I Got Was This Sticker") and updated some pixels at [Satoshhi's Place](https://satoshis.place). After a year, I closed the channels and decommissioned the node.My next node was [KONTIKI](https://1ml.com/node/0322154776b0814c78b2675e34c232d91335ce7ad25137a079adfdb9db279429f1), and it was running slightly better. One morning, my node had a new name: "Slickerglee." I don't know what happened. Was I hacked? I did not have the time to investigate the situation. Happy that I still had my funds, I closed the channels and decommissioned ... "Slickerglee."
With my next node, a [Raspiblitz](https://github.com/raspiblitz/raspiblitz "GitHub - raspiblitz/raspiblitz: Get your own Bitcoin & Lightning Node running - on a RaspberryPi with a nice LCD"), I made a tiny move towards de-centralization. The Raspiblitz works very well, and for the first time, I had a lightning node I could use for day-to-day payments (from sending zaps of a few sats to paying hosting invoices of several hundred dollars). In fact, I only began to appreciate _how_ well the Raspiblitz software package works after I started changing/upgrading stuff manually. Soon, I realized that I was sitting at the helm of on a rather large ship, not knowing how to maneuver.
I wanted my fourth and current node [MindlinerTre](https://amboss.space/node/02d695b01c7a6909e716c863fb39bc5fb7bbdc3824b7fdce53adc593e5be080e73 "MindlinerTre - 02d695...080e73 - Amboss Space") to become a valuable routing node. In addition, I also wanted to understand how it works and eliminate at least a few of the blind spots in my understanding. I started out with a bare metal server and, for three weeks, stacked layers upon layers to finally have all parts working. And there is still much work left.
Conclusion: It was definitely worth my time, and I appreciate the learning. There is a choice to make between two viable options: Either putting in the time to learn about the dozens of crucial components or running a well-functioning Raspiblitz (and refraining from altering it and accepting not understanding much of the setup). And now, of course, you can even run a personal node [on your phone](https://zeusln.app/), which offers a new set of possibilities.