It's all baby steps. I certainly did not dive into all of it at once.
Started running my first Bitcoin node back in the spring of 2021, because I wanted to try out the Lightning network that TheGuySwann (npub1h8n…rpev) was always talking about. Made a lot of mistakes, but learned a ton, too. That was before I even got myself a hardware wallet. Probably still had most of my coins on exchange at that point. 😂 The biggest mind-bender from starting to run a node was learning how liquidity works, and how to choose quality channel partners. It was an umbrel (npub1agh…mhct) running on a R-Pi 4 and I was having constant issues with it no longer syncing the chain every few days if I didn't reboot, but I toughed it out.
I started dabbling in mining last year with an S9 turned space-heater thanks to a sale from Kaboomracks (npub1q4z…tv7q) and an enclosure from CryptoCloaks (npub1lrj…zvrj). It was dead simple to get that thing online and pointed to Braiins Pool. Very little technical know-how needed at all.
Then I decided I wanted to upgrade my node hardware and I could either wait until Umbrel released their Umbrel Home device, or I could buy a Start9 (npub126n…e9ll) device. Well, Start9 had a sale going, so that made my decision for me. Spent some time setting that thing up based on everything I had learned from running my Umbrel, only to find out that connecting to it remotely was only really possible over Tor, which meant zapping would be INCREDIBLY slow. So, I stuck with using Alby (npub1get…0nfm) for zapping.
Then Alby released Alby Hub... That service alone made my Start9 Lightning node suddenly useful as a daily driver for zapping and everything else! Why? Because I didn't have to connect via Tor anymore. Everything is done via Nostr Wallet Connect.
Then things started getting colder again up here in the north country and I decided it was time to fire up the space heater again, but I wanted to try out OCEAN (npub1qtv…7dze) because I heard they had added Lightning payouts. Well, they had, but only through BOLT12, which meant I needed to spin up a CLN node. It just so happens that Start9 makes that really simple since CLN is available in their app marketplace. All I had to do was install it, fire it up, and then open a channel from my existing node to the new CLN node and BAM, instant incoming liquidity. Dead simple.
Figuring out how to get OCEAN to pay me over Lightning was a whole different beast, as mentioned previously. I had never signed a message using my hardware wallet before, so it was definitely a lot of banging my head against the wall until I finally went, "Maybe I am doing X wrong... I wonder..." and it finally worked. At that point, I was just pointing my S9 at a different URL. It was as simple as copy/pasting a link into my miner's dashboard in the place of the one I was using for Braiins.
Not long after that GrassFedBitcoin (npub1wnl…n3wr) started making the rounds talking about this thing they coded up at OCEAN called "DATUM," and how it can allow mining to be more decentralized, because each individual miner can connect their machines to their own node for creating block templates, rather than getting the block template from their mining pool. I decided I would absolutely need to figure out how to do it. I already had a node. I was already mining with OCEAN. It just made sense. Thankfully, he made it stupid easy on me by packaging DATUM for Start9 and providing detailed instructions on how to get it up and running.
So... When I ordered my Bitaxe last month and plugged it in for the first time, the only baby step left was to go into its dashboard and give it the URL to connect to my already running DATUM instance on my Start9.
The point is, I didn't get to the point I am at overnight. There were months in-between each of these steps, and a lot of learning from experience along the way. There are also a lot of folks I owe a debt of gratitude to for making this journey possible, some of whom are tagged in this note already. You can get to this point and beyond, too. Just have to take it one little step at a time.
Dikaios1517
npub1ku…v3lhe
2024-12-13 23:50:41
in reply to nevent1q…cedp
Author Public Key
npub1kun5628raxpm7usdkj62z2337hr77f3ryrg9cf0vjpyf4jvk9r9smv3lhePublished at
2024-12-13 23:50:41Event JSON
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"content": "It's all baby steps. I certainly did not dive into all of it at once.\n\nStarted running my first Bitcoin node back in the spring of 2021, because I wanted to try out the Lightning network that nostr:npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev was always talking about. Made a lot of mistakes, but learned a ton, too. That was before I even got myself a hardware wallet. Probably still had most of my coins on exchange at that point. 😂 The biggest mind-bender from starting to run a node was learning how liquidity works, and how to choose quality channel partners. It was an nostr:npub1aghreq2dpz3h3799hrawev5gf5zc2kt4ch9ykhp9utt0jd3gdu2qtlmhct running on a R-Pi 4 and I was having constant issues with it no longer syncing the chain every few days if I didn't reboot, but I toughed it out.\n\nI started dabbling in mining last year with an S9 turned space-heater thanks to a sale from nostr:npub1q4zl8v0cpeu0lv47msq2z0jpkr2q3wq5d4ukylxg9sx7t7rcz0uq5ftv7q and an enclosure from nostr:npub1lrjgpa9m2dl6esdah5pq7m005ymwh4glq4aet76q2zlz2f83esfsa2zvrj. It was dead simple to get that thing online and pointed to Braiins Pool. Very little technical know-how needed at all.\n\nThen I decided I wanted to upgrade my node hardware and I could either wait until Umbrel released their Umbrel Home device, or I could buy a nostr:npub126ntw5mnermmj0znhjhgdk8lh2af72sm8qfzq48umdlnhaj9kuns3le9ll device. Well, Start9 had a sale going, so that made my decision for me. Spent some time setting that thing up based on everything I had learned from running my Umbrel, only to find out that connecting to it remotely was only really possible over Tor, which meant zapping would be INCREDIBLY slow. So, I stuck with using nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm for zapping.\n\nThen Alby released Alby Hub... That service alone made my Start9 Lightning node suddenly useful as a daily driver for zapping and everything else! Why? Because I didn't have to connect via Tor anymore. Everything is done via Nostr Wallet Connect.\n\nThen things started getting colder again up here in the north country and I decided it was time to fire up the space heater again, but I wanted to try out nostr:npub1qtvl2em0llpnnllffhat8zltugwwz97x79gfmxfz4qk52n6zpk3qq87dze because I heard they had added Lightning payouts. Well, they had, but only through BOLT12, which meant I needed to spin up a CLN node. It just so happens that Start9 makes that really simple since CLN is available in their app marketplace. All I had to do was install it, fire it up, and then open a channel from my existing node to the new CLN node and BAM, instant incoming liquidity. Dead simple.\n\nFiguring out how to get OCEAN to pay me over Lightning was a whole different beast, as mentioned previously. I had never signed a message using my hardware wallet before, so it was definitely a lot of banging my head against the wall until I finally went, \"Maybe I am doing X wrong... I wonder...\" and it finally worked. At that point, I was just pointing my S9 at a different URL. It was as simple as copy/pasting a link into my miner's dashboard in the place of the one I was using for Braiins.\nNot long after that nostr:npub1wnlu28xrq9gv77dkevck6ws4euej4v568rlvn66gf2c428tdrptqq3n3wr started making the rounds talking about this thing they coded up at OCEAN called \"DATUM,\" and how it can allow mining to be more decentralized, because each individual miner can connect their machines to their own node for creating block templates, rather than getting the block template from their mining pool. I decided I would absolutely need to figure out how to do it. I already had a node. I was already mining with OCEAN. It just made sense. Thankfully, he made it stupid easy on me by packaging DATUM for Start9 and providing detailed instructions on how to get it up and running.\n\nSo... When I ordered my Bitaxe last month and plugged it in for the first time, the only baby step left was to go into its dashboard and give it the URL to connect to my already running DATUM instance on my Start9.\n\nThe point is, I didn't get to the point I am at overnight. There were months in-between each of these steps, and a lot of learning from experience along the way. There are also a lot of folks I owe a debt of gratitude to for making this journey possible, some of whom are tagged in this note already. You can get to this point and beyond, too. Just have to take it one little step at a time.",
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