Cheap & silent mini PC for Bitcoin node & blockchain explorer?

[ABCbits]

How is that possible? I only know pagers from nurses and firefighters. Actually, I don't even know what the heck it is but as I read the information, it's a very old device and there is no place for it in 21th century when there are smartphones.

It's not just the problem with pagers, m0ssad infiltrated supply chains coming from all over the world, and more devices with batteries are now exploding, including phones and walkie talkies.

And i thought Pegasus spyware is insane.

I have a trust issue today. I can't trust my 14th gen i9 or RTX 4090, I believe that they have backdoors.

Few people have been saying that since Intel introduce Intel ME (Management Engine) in 2008.

[LoyceV]

I have a trust issue today. I can't trust my 14th gen i9 or RTX 4090, I believe that they have backdoors. That's why I prefer to use my very old computer as a cold wallet for Bitcoin. There is no guarantee that old hardware doesn't have issue but I believe I can trust it more because back then it was an innovation and development was the major motive for companies.

Luckily, you don't need an i9 to run a cold wallet. Even better, since a cold wallet will never go online, even if the hardware is compromised, it can't get online. That's why you use a cold wallet in the first place: to rule out all possible attack vectors.
As long as your random generator isn't compromised. But you could use dice throws for that. Good luck compromising those.

[DaveF]

Just as an interesting comment to the exploding radios and pagers. They were able to be attacked BECAUSE they were old and secure.

ICOM the maker of the radios has not made the one model that was targeted for 10 years. Parts were scarce so it was easy to create fake parts, most likely battery packs, and sell them. Why, because you could not get them from the original source.

Same thing with pagers, there are no 'large name brand' companies making them anymore. Yeah, the sticker on it may say 'mega corp' but they are being made by some 3rd party under license.

Could have just given them all Galaxy Note 7. No need to add explosives :-)

-Dave

[dkbit98]

Just as an interesting comment to the exploding radios and pagers. They were able to be attacked BECAUSE they were old and secure.

They are manufactured even today and name of the company is publicly known as Gold Apollo that is based in Taiwan.
Interesting fact is that m0ssad killers were doing this operation for 15 years, so it's not something new, and I can only imagine what they are doing with smartphones, computers and chips that are all coming from China/Taiwan.
We can have very silent PC nowadays until they stop being silent

Could have just given them all Galaxy Note 7. No need to add explosives :-)

Anything with lithium batteries is a ticking time bomb and fire hazard.
Here is just one example:
https://youtu.be/LB5dsF440us

[RickDeckard]

Considering that almost 1 year has passed since the creation of this thread, I wonder if the users that have commented this thread have moved one / purchased a more efficient node that they would like to share with us? I'm still on the fence about ODROID considering that it seems a best of a machine to end up being used for running a node and a few other services related...

[LoyceV]

I wonder if the users that have commented this thread have moved one / purchased a more efficient node that they would like to share with us?

I recently bought a "disposable laptop", meant for my next vacation. It's cheap, old, light, fully encrypted, and doesn't have a fan. It barely gets warm, while the N5000 CPU is not disappointing. But the limitations are RAM (max 8 GB) and the disk format isn't very common so I don't know if it would accept 2 TB. It usually consumes 3-6W with the screen on.

So I can only reiterate what I've said before: I like cheap old low power laptops. But memory is a limitation.

[dkbit98]

I recently bought a "disposable laptop", meant for my next vacation. It's cheap, old, light, fully encrypted, and doesn't have a fan. It barely gets warm, while the N5000 CPU is not disappointing.

You can't do much with Intel Pentium these days, but silence without fan is nice if components are not overheating.
I am all for old laptops but I am always looking for something that has removable CPU and RAM, so I can easily upgrade it if I want.
Using Linux OS with XFCE, LXDE or similar less demanding DE would also be a good idea.

[LoyceV]

You can't do much with Intel Pentium these days

It's faster than my (aging) daily

but silence without fan is nice if components are not overheating.

It stays almost cold to the touch. A few watts is not a problem, just like the early days of computing

I am all for old laptops but I am always looking for something that has removable CPU and RAM, so I can easily upgrade it if I want.

I've never seen a laptop with removable CPU. I do like to add as much RAM as possible though.

[dkbit98]

I've never seen a laptop with removable CPU. I do like to add as much RAM as possible though.

Than you never saw an (old) Lenovo Thinkpad laptop, it's built like a tank with military specs, and there are are several old models with removable CPU, for example t440p, t430, t420, etc  
I guess you could also replace whole motherboards with integrated cpu's for other models, but that takes much more time.
T440p is still good:
https://youtu.be/TyOketsMHWM

[philipma1957]

Dell 3551 can upgrade .  I WILL find a link.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/156033594175?



16gb

I7

512gb ssd

299 usd

You can upgrade to a 2tb nvme for 100-150

Dell has a manual that shows the upgrade.

I do not know the vender of that laptop


Here is a beast for 420

https://www.ebay.com/itm/296557869797?


32gb

I9

522gb ssd

420 price

Just add a 2tb nvme ssd

[RickDeckard]

I wonder if the users that have commented this thread have moved one / purchased a more efficient node that they would like to share with us?

I recently bought a "disposable laptop", meant for my next vacation. It's cheap, old, light, fully encrypted, and doesn't have a fan. It barely gets warm, while the N5000 CPU is not disappointing. But the limitations are RAM (max 8 GB) and the disk format isn't very common so I don't know if it would accept 2 TB. It usually consumes 3-6W with the screen on.

So I can only reiterate what I've said before: I like cheap old low power laptops. But memory is a limitation.

Are you planning on using it as a node and additional services (like Electrum server, Mempool, and others alike)?

I've never seen a laptop with removable CPU. I do like to add as much RAM as possible though.

Than you never saw an (old) Lenovo Thinkpad laptop, it's built like a tank with military specs, and there are are several old models with removable CPU, for example t440p, t430, t420, etc  
I guess you could also replace whole motherboards with integrated cpu's for other models, but that takes much more time.
T440p is still good:
https://youtu.be/TyOketsMHWM

Interesting, I was also unaware that Lenovo had laptops that were able to switch their CPU. Even Framework laptops[1], currently the laptop that has the most interchangeable options, the only option to change CPU would be to replace the entire motherboard. I guess that it goes to show that most of consumers do not care to replace the CPU and have others parts that they do prefer to be interchangeable.
[1]https://frame.work/products/laptop13-diy-intel-ultra-1

[LoyceV]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/156033594175?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/296557869797?

Both are "H" CPUs, I'd go for the "U" CPUs. They consume much less power, which is better for the "silent" part of this quest.

Are you planning on using it as a node and additional services (like Electrum server, Mempool, and others alike)?

I'm not going to do that. I think the CPU will be fine for that, but the disk space and RAM are too low.