Step-By-Step: How I built a Virtual Node on World's Smallest Mini PC

$170 USD for a forever virtual node is very economy in the long term instead of using vultr or another VPS services

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I have finally got it (170€ + 35€ taxes). But the adapter was faulty. I had to strip the usb c cable to prevent a short circuit. It is now running fine. My node is synchronizing. I am just waiting the PRV’s withdraw from provide to stake 1750 PRV on this node. How much time does it take to synchronize fully?!

CPU usage weird but…

Is it normal I still don’t see my node on watch.incognito.market?

@Linnovations what tool do you use to follow temp, cpu usage etc?

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It is great to see this experiment has inspired others already.

Syncing speed has been improved recently. Shouldn’t take more than a few hours I think.

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Hey @Stradimarius, awesome to see that you got your vNode up and running.

I must admit I didn’t time how long it took to sync, so I can’t answer your question, sorry.

The app I am using to measuring CPU, Memory and Network is called “System Monitor”. I think it may be a standard app that comes with Ubuntu Desktop OS.

I hope this helps and good to see that you are up and running.

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@Linnovations my LarkBox cpu usage is pretty high even when it is not in earning mode. Did you do anything special to lower the overall load?
Thank you

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Hi @Stradimarius, I logged in to check my CPU usage and Ubuntu prompted me to update some of my software, so I did that and had to restart my LarkBox.

I just got everything back up and running and I’m not running any other apps nor have I tweaked any other settings. I’m a complete newbie when it comes to Linux so I don’t really know how to tweak settings with the OS.

My idle vNode (not earning) CPU usage after restarting my LarkBox is averaging around 15% according to System Monitor , and around 1-5% in Linux Terminal (see below)

Perhaps you can apply all the latest updates and restart your mini PC?

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I will try not to bother you too much in the future… thanks for your help.

What is the process to launch the pNode on a machine where it is already installed? Do I just need to click on run.sh?

Regarding the load it is now earning and it is pretty much the same CPU usage.

Other question for @Jamie,

there was a small sale on Amazon for the LarboxPro (CPU is an 4125 instead of a 4115 it should be about 10% faster for just 180€), and yes I bought an other one to stake my next week PRV. Can I use the same validator key and so the same account? Or do I need an account per node?

Edit : I have got the answer no need to answer the below question.

Thank you all

Hey @Stradimarius, did your CPU settle down on your Larkbox?
I have been paying more attention to my vNode when it is earning and I’ve noticed things have really improved (just like what @Jamie said) my vNode was selected to be in the committee again and whilst it is “Earning” the CPU remained relatively stable around 15-25% and my LarkBox did not get hot at all (see photo below)

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Hi @Linnovations! Indeed it is now running pretty smoothly (I think it was still in sync for the first 24 to 48hrs). It has already be in two committee for the first 3 days of my nood being up! At idle the temp is at 40°C and 80°C when earning, without the fan working (don’t know why. Maybe because of ubuntu or because I uninstalled windows).

Just one small question. How to restart the node if the LarkBox is switch off?

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Is that the common temperature? I found this
image

Maybe it is a bios setting.

With the default setup the Node software will start after a restart of the server.

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Congratulations! :+1:

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Thanks @Natasha! My node has already been selected 4 times and has earnt some PRV but most importantly it’s helping to secure the awesome Incognito network.

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This is awesome! I am going to do this the minute I have any time. Been looking to see one of these examples!

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Hi @Joe_Moffett, thanks for your comment and I hope my post helps you get your vNode up and running, once you get some time.

Speaking of time I forgot to mention, the entire process start to finish (including installing Linux Ubuntu) took me a little over 1 hour. Please note, I had zero Linux knowledge prior.

That said I don’t have super fast internet and the CHUWI Larkbox Tiny PC is only running an Intel Celeron processor with a nothing-fancy SSD drive.

Good luck with getting your vNode running.

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A quick clarification, you’re calling it a vnode, but your not using a server from a cloud, is it technically a pnode?

To answer your question @Joe_Moffett, “pNode” is short for Physical Node device and “vNode” refers to a Virtual Node device.
Hence my tiny PC is a vNode.
Please confirm that I have this correct @andrey or @Jamie.

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To be more precise, a pNode is a plug and play device dedicated to run an Incognito Node. At this moment only manufactured by Incognito, but if others want to create their own they could.

A vNode is kind of a multipurpose machine that is running the Incognito Node software.

If you can turn your little machine in a plug and play version, you could sell it as pNode.

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Will Incognito provide the funded stake for that “pnode”? Otherwise, isn’t it just a vnode hosted at your house instead of on someone else’s server?

Incognito funds the staking for the pNodes they manufacture. The manufacturer of third party pNodes will have to find their own way of dealing with the staking.

Plug and play is also a difference. When you set up a Node using your homecomputer you will have to juggle ports, as mentioned in the original post. Setting up a pNode doesn’t need any of that.

That said, a third party pNode can be completely different from the Incognito pNode, even work in a different way. That is up to the manufacturer. Would be wonderful if someone started their own pNode (or other name) line of Nodes.

This small computer device is actually a great start.

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This is great clarification @Jamie thanks. I was always confused about this. I didn’t know if p officially stood for physical and v virtual, but I was always confused as to if it was possible to set up a physical node on a computer they way @Linnovations did here.

And I now understand why there is a differentiation between a pNode made by incognito and a node made from a personal computer. Mainly being the plug and play as well as the ability to host without staking

I think what @Linnovations created should be called a dNode!

DIY Node :slight_smile:

That being said would it be possible for someone to write a program for a linux startup boot disk that basically runs and installs all the software needed to become a node with auto popups requesting the specific information to get up and running on the incognito network? I.e. validator key, port forwarding info etc.

I think I asked about this before, I tried to do what was done here, but I couldn’t get past the port forwarding section. Now that it’s been done and instructions are down I want to try, but I’d still be curious if it could be even easier with a startup boot disk

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