Bitcoin Core Node, Raspberry Pi with LCD Display
See the HARDWARE tab for parts list and assembly/build information
Latest Update 8th July 2017
Step (1) Preparing the Pi
Because all the preparation steps are the same for all nodes here, I have made a beginner friendly guide with images, step-by-step. "Getting started" Link opens a new window
Getting Started
Then continue below...
Latest Update 8th July 2017
Step (1) Preparing the Pi
Because all the preparation steps are the same for all nodes here, I have made a beginner friendly guide with images, step-by-step. "Getting started" Link opens a new window
Getting Started
Then continue below...
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Step (2) Enabling WiFi
Wifi is available once the Pi is rebooted. Either reboot now using
sudo reboot and remove the ethernet cable. Or continue, and reboot later as it is required after the next step. |
With the Pi turned on, booted and you logged in with SSH we can start the setup.
First WiFi network connections are stored: sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf Go to the bottom of the file and add the following text: network={ ssid="YOUR WIFI ROUTER NAME" psk="YOUR WIFI ROUTER PASSWORD" } **Note: Enter details between the quotes, leave the "" in save and exit using ctrl+O Then 'enter' ctrl+X |
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Step (3) Expand the file system, (making full use of the SD card) and changing the Password.
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enter:
sudo raspi-config The default password for obvious security reasons should be changed. That is done in this menu. select "1 change user password", and follow the on-screen instructions. This will be the new password when using PUTTY to SSH into the Pi. Because we installed a 2GB image onto the card, the Pi may think that the card is only 2GB in size. So we tell it to expand the file-system (returns it to it's full size allowed): select "7 advanced options" select "A1 expand filesystem" select 'finish' system will reboot, (remove the ethernet cable if you didn't at the previous step). And log back in with SSH and PUTTY once reboot is complete. |
Step (4) Updates
The image we downloaded may have an update or two since they released it:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
select 'y' to accept the storage requirement.
The image we downloaded may have an update or two since they released it:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
select 'y' to accept the storage requirement.
Step (9) Moving everything to the USB drive
People have been making projects (not just nodes) on the raspberry pi for some time. A common failure point seems to be the SD cards. The constant read/write process 24/7 drastically shorten their life. We can reduce this by moving the entire file-system to the USB drive, and where possible using traditional platter HDDs. Check out the 'HARDWARE' section for cheap solutions available to the Raspberry Pi.
For moving the file-system we need the "git" repository
sudo apt-get install git
Insert the USB drive if you havn't already, then check it is mounted to the Pi.
sudo lsblk
99% of the time it will be mounted as /dev/sda with a partition called sda1. However if it has found sda1 it won't let us continue until it is unmounted. (It would be telling it to make changes to the filesystem whilst it's in use. It won't let us and doesn't like it). So we unmount with
umount /dev/sda1
We need to delete this partition to stop raspbian from automatically using the drive on boot, at this point. The helper in the next step will automatically create a new partition to do it's job of moving the files.
sudo fdisk /dev/sda
d
(deletes old partition)
w
(writes and commits the changes)
Now it's compatible with the helper script.
The folks at Adafruit have made a very useful helper to reduce the amount of commands you need. These next three lines create a new partition and move the entire file system onto the USB drive. It does warn you that any data currently written to /sda will be overwritten. If you are an advanced user and have called the partition something other than /sda, this is where it should be changed.
git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Pi-ExternalRoot-Helper.git
cd Adafruit-Pi-ExternalRoot-Helper
sudo ./adafruit-pi-externalroot-helper -d /dev/sda
It will ask you to check that you are writing to the correct partition, select y when you are sure. When I do this step it takes a little under 10mins. Please be patient.
People have been making projects (not just nodes) on the raspberry pi for some time. A common failure point seems to be the SD cards. The constant read/write process 24/7 drastically shorten their life. We can reduce this by moving the entire file-system to the USB drive, and where possible using traditional platter HDDs. Check out the 'HARDWARE' section for cheap solutions available to the Raspberry Pi.
For moving the file-system we need the "git" repository
sudo apt-get install git
Insert the USB drive if you havn't already, then check it is mounted to the Pi.
sudo lsblk
99% of the time it will be mounted as /dev/sda with a partition called sda1. However if it has found sda1 it won't let us continue until it is unmounted. (It would be telling it to make changes to the filesystem whilst it's in use. It won't let us and doesn't like it). So we unmount with
umount /dev/sda1
We need to delete this partition to stop raspbian from automatically using the drive on boot, at this point. The helper in the next step will automatically create a new partition to do it's job of moving the files.
sudo fdisk /dev/sda
d
(deletes old partition)
w
(writes and commits the changes)
Now it's compatible with the helper script.
The folks at Adafruit have made a very useful helper to reduce the amount of commands you need. These next three lines create a new partition and move the entire file system onto the USB drive. It does warn you that any data currently written to /sda will be overwritten. If you are an advanced user and have called the partition something other than /sda, this is where it should be changed.
git clone https://github.com/adafruit/Adafruit-Pi-ExternalRoot-Helper.git
cd Adafruit-Pi-ExternalRoot-Helper
sudo ./adafruit-pi-externalroot-helper -d /dev/sda
It will ask you to check that you are writing to the correct partition, select y when you are sure. When I do this step it takes a little under 10mins. Please be patient.
This is our drives labels and addresses. We need to check that the PARTUUID long number (that's the USB), is entered into
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt |
So everything has been copied over and the drive configured. We just need to change the boot file so it starts from the USB drive from now on. The helper untility should have done this automatically. But recently this has not been the case. Do this just to check, it's simple and is just a copy/paste action. sudo blkid -o export /dev/sda1 The numbers will be different but it brings up something like the image on the left. |
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Enter:
sudo nano /boot/cmdline.txt And ensure that the helper has changed root=PARTUUID= to match the one that was listed to you above. Yours will be different to mine. Then Save and exit using ctrl+o then ctrl+x. Do another reboot with sudo reboot and when the Pi starts this time your USB activity light will blink like crazy, showing it's now getting it's data from there. |
Step (11) Security
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I've been made aware that there are some underlying defaults that can affect system security. One is to disable root login by ssh by editing
sudo nano /etc/ssh/sshd_config and changing PermitRootLogin without-password to PermitRootLogin no and add the line below to only allow ssh access to user 'pi' AllowUsers pi Save, ctrl+o, enter, exit ctrl+x then reboot just sshd by sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart I will update any security recommendations as I become aware of them. Enjoy |
