Hi,
TLDR; is there a guide to a cheap, reliable Zcash node build? Or can someone guide me in the right direction hardware wise? Much appreciated!
Long story:
After reading about Zcash, I really want to supprt the network however I can. And I want to start by building my own node. It should be simple and cheap, but ideally it should also be capable of some mining (CPU). I do not care if it isn`t as profitable (or even profitable at all) as GPU (or whatever else) mining, as priority no. 1 is to just be able to acquire some ZEC totally independently of third parties (not considering mining pools etc.). And the mining should not produce excessive noise and/or heat in my small apartment. I should be able to stow away the node/miner in a small closet or similar. Anyway, we can discuss the miner part at a later stage in the correct category.
Let`s focus on the node itself. I came across this article a while back:
And thought to myself: “I have to build this!” I have gotten as far as purchasing all the hardware, but I have not had time to start building the Thundroid yet. I should mention that I have no experience with building things like these, programming, or using other OSs than Windows, and I generally lack computer skills. But I am a zealous (if that is the correct use of that word, English is not my first language) worker. And to be honest, all I want now is to build a Zcash node instead of the bitcoin node. But I figure the bitcoin node will be good practice, so I will start with that one. Nothing wrong with being early in the planning of the Zcash node, though.
I couldn`t find any similar guides to a full Zcash node. Can anybody help here?
What I have learned is that Zcash requires at least 4 GB memory in order to handle shielded transactions? And this is of course a must. The Odroid HC2 in the bitcoin guide has only 2 GB. So I have been looking at the Odroid MC1 cluster:
http://www.hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G150152508314
But this is lacking a hard drive / SATA 3 port. Can I use an external hard drive (USB connection) for storing of the blockchain? Also, this cluster is basically 4 identical small computers. Each with a quad processor and 2 GB of ram. Doeas that equal 1 computer with 32 core PCUs and 8 GB of ram? I know you can set the number of cores in the mining software, but how does it know or “see” all the cores? Probably a dumb question.
Maybe a better choice is to stack 4 Odroid HC1 or HC2s? And If this is a viable option, does it suffice to just install a hard drive on one of the HC1/2s, and the rest of them can use/communicate with that somehow?
Will a build like the Odroids mentioned (if they at can be used as a node at all) have any chance of mining?
I will probably have a lot more questions, but this is a good start!
And if anybody would want to make a giude like the bitcoin node guide, that would be awesome! But they shouldn`t call it “perfect” unless it runs via Tor etc, right? “The pretty good Zcash node guide” would suffice until then
Thanks!