hi all,
the utilite2 draws: Power 3W – 8W (depending on system load)
http://www.compulab.co.il/utilite-computer/web/utilite2-ssd-specifications
think they must have had site issues… links work fine for me…
picture of the shed attached…
Rup 
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as i’m going photo crazy…
here a couple of the utilite2 with a pen for scale.
the centronics connector is just to lift it off wooden top, silver device to right is ssd drive mapped to the ubuntu running on the system.
the utilite2 is a bit expensive, but its beautifully designed and made, solid aluminium case/heatsink, room for a msata inside (1tb works regardless of them saying 512gb is max) stable and with ubuntu running quick and easy to use…
rup
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What about these new 3D XPoint chips from intel?
Noob question here, sorry I am the tech dunce, if I wanted to spend $500 to best help me farm what should I buy?
Have Win7 desktop computer bought 2 years ago with I believe 4 gb ddr3 ram and 250 gb hd with a super GPU in it, which I know doesn’t mean anything for SAFE network. Should I go the route of adding an internal 6 tb hd plus additional power? Need simple and non-linux/techie.
JL
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I think bandwidth will be the best thing to invest in. Create a mesh network with your neighbors to increase bandwidth and network dependability.
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Hi Jesse,
I think if I were you and had $500 to spend I would look at buying a totally separate computing device to dedicate to Maidsafe farming with the lowest power consumption as possible. This will help you in two ways:
-
You should be looking to reboot your farming hardware as infrequently as possible, as close to never ever is what I am aiming for. The more you reboot your vault the lower your reliability rating will be. I think Windows machines need more reboots than say a Linux based computing device.
-
A low power computing device means you can leave on all the time for less money, the comparison is really the difference between running a 10W Raspberry PI V’s a 500W Windows desktop PC.
For the size of the disk I think I would go for as big and fast as possible, you could go SD and I would if I could afford it, I think I remember reading somewhere that the initial optimal vault sizes are not expected to be that big so perhaps a mid size SD disk would be perfect.
Hope the above helps but maybe the below gives an idea on what others are doing, does anyone else want to provide their intended set-up for Jesse?
I have bought the below kit and am waiting to set-up, this will give me 2 x farming rigs with 2 x 4TB vaults which maybe a bit big for an early vault, but don’t think I will get arrested for it which is the main thing.
2 x Raspberry PI 2
2 x 4TB External USB2 connected disk
2 x Maplin Phone chargers to power the PI boards (10W draw)
2 x Disk power supply (15 - 20W draw)
2 x network cables to plug direct into my router (I want to avoid wireless)
2 x Mice (will be disconnected during normal running)
2 x Keyboard (will be disconnected during normal running)
If you are not a fan of Linux then don’t panic, there are a lot of YouTube short videos that will help you get going, the Rasp Pi 2 is easily set-up and then there will be some final instructions on how to set-up maidsafe, there are some instructions for Pi2 set-up already but think they will need to be updated at the end of this sprint. If you can get yourself a little way into Linux then Im sure I can help via Webex meeting to get you the last mile, just as soon as I’ve done it myself and am able to help others.
p,s, If you are set on being a farmer on your Windows PC then think you have all the resources you need already and can save yourself $500.
Many Thanks
Al
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Thanks for the info.
I programmed an Ubuntu-using VPN Dash masternode, using a step by step tutorial online written for uber-dummies like me, so I bet I could try this route out. Definitely sounds like the better way to go.
Now I have never used nor laid eyes upon a Raspberry Pi device before, is it programmable via Windows or how would one get the SAFE network software on it?
The more you reboot your vault the lower your reliability rating will be.
I’m not sure this is the case any more, since the change to none persistent vaults. It is still a viable strategy though, if you keep power and hardware costs low, hopefully this will be profitable at least in the early days.
Don’t underestimate the alternative though. I recommend having a farming vault on each of your day-to-day devices, because for these your purchase and operating costs will be close to zero, so any earnings will be profit!
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If not last changes, still ranking.
Thanks for the quotes. The question is how soon this tails off, which is not fixed yet, but i think we can assume it will - in which case staying on indefinitely would have no advantage after a certain period.
Odroid XU4 connecting SATA HDD through USB and case assembly. Some good ideas here.
Odroid XU4 NAS tutorial device assembly
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Nice board. I’d be tempted to spend another $25 and get the upgraded version with Sata support, should speed up disk access a bit
Actually it looks like you’d only get USB speed anyway: Xunlong Orange Pi Plus - linux-sunxi.org
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Maidsafe is basically one giant secure botnet just begging for independent botnet developers and and maintainers to create internal data storage redundancy and then basically everything else they already focus on… Personally, If i happen to need and/or plan on buying new hardware, i’ll have maid in mind. Buying hardware specific to maid, might end up, well, competitve such that law abiding investors might find it hard to profit… my speculation anyway… anybody feel otherwise?
From reading this hardware forum again I’m beginning to think more and more that a gaming rig might actually be a suitable option because many of the criteria for gaming seems to be similar if not the same obviously minus video/sound card and plus storage.
The only thing I would need to consider is if I build the thing on my own, buy something brand new off the shelf and of course how I cool it.
What does anyone else think of this logic?
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Whatever you buy, has to be inexpensive, and suit your goals.
For many the goal is to use their spare resources. This is their PC they use normally. Nothing to buy.
For some they need an upgrade soon, so when they upgrade, they only have to consider having enough spare disk space, and account for a lean program running that uses little CPU and little memory, but they do have to ensure they have at least enough RAM. In most case there is enough.
For some they wish low power, so they use something like a Raspberry Pi, or C.H.I.P. or similar costing very little and little running costs.
For some that wish to run 10-30 vaults on the one machine they might go for a low priced PC (or similar gaming rig) that is not powerful compared to machines with big processor/memory, but is modest. Add 6TB drive.
As to building it yourself or not, I guess asking means you might be better off buying.
As to a Gaming rig because of its abilities, then no, I would not. The vaults do not require much CPU, nor any GPU power, and very little RAM in comparison to any game. Lets face it, it is such that phones can run vaults, hardly need the power of gaming units.
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Done…finally 
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Hi all, total noob not even downloaded the software yet (where is it I see no download link for the wallet?), Im thinking of running it side-by-side on my PiGrid once the Kickstarter is complete.
If Im reading this long thread correctly the Pi 2 should be ok with a 3TB HDD, what kind of stress will it place ont he CPU, anyone know?
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Read the forums, wiki, github, then come back and ask questions. I’m not going bother re-typing what already been said.
We’re still in alpha stage. No wallet yet.
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Hopefully yes. For a vault
(farming) the communications is likely to be the limited not CPU. A client (user) will have more CPU load never out is doing encryption and decryption.
You should be able to test this soon, maybe this week or next - watch for the weekly “Dev Update” post which usually goes up late on Tuesday’s. Can’t guarantee Pi (ARM) support will be in there, but fingers crossed.
There won’t be a Safecoin wallet until the network leaves testing, but in the meantime MaidSafecoin (a proxy token) can be bought on exchanges such as Poloniex and stored in the Omniwallet (at any bitcoin address for which you hold the private key), pending transfer to SAFEnetwork and conversion to Safecoin.
Oh, and welcome! :
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