The installation guide for SolarCoin Core v2.1.8 has been updated, the guide works for Pi2b or Pi3b. Pi Zero will install but syncing the block-chain causes a RAM shortage so this is not reccomended.

The full guide can be found here and will be updated as more improvements are found https://github.com/Scalextrix/SolarCoin-Raspberry-Pi-Node and is made simple for even novice Linux or Pi users. There are links for how to flash an SD card as well as guidance on setting up WiFi.

Latest commits removes duplicated BerkeleyDB install instructions, adds swappiness configuration, links to Raspbian Jessie Lite
https://github.com/Scalextrix/SolarCoin-Raspberry-Pi-Node/commit/8cc0b7986065b2725edf60908fffd5cf33f6700c

SolarCoin-Raspberry-Pi-Node

Instructions to build a SolarCoin full node on Raspberry Pi

PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH USE OR OTHER DEALINGS.

1 - THIS GUIDE ONLY WORKS ON RASPBIAN JESSIE, LITE DOWNLOADS AVAILABLE FROM https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspbian_lite/images/ make sure and use the version dated 2017-07-05

You will need to be able to open the command line Terminal either using a screen on the HDMI port with a keyboard and mouse, or via SSH. The guide will compile a version of SolarCoin that can only be controlled via the command line.

For instructions on how to flash an SD card: https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/installation/installing-images/

2- Setup Raspbian in the Pi

a) Insert the flashed SD with Raspbian in the Raspberry Pi 2/3.

b) Plug in the USB mouse, the USB keyboard, the HDMI screen, the network cable, and the power cable. You may also SSH to the Raspberry Pi.

The Raspberry Pi will boot for the first time, login with user 'pi' and password 'raspberry'.

sudo raspi-config

You will be presented with the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool (raspi-config). To navigate in this tool, the useful keys are: The up/down arrow, the Enter key, and the Tab key whenever the up/down arrow keys don’t do the job. Here, we will do next things:

b.1) Expand the Filesystem by choosing Option 1, TAB to Finish, and Reboot. You will get a message Root partition has been resized. If you are on SSH your terminal may abort, if this occurs just close the session and login to the Pi again.

b.2) Select your Proper Time Zone and Change the User Password by choosing option 2. Enter your new password twice. When entering the password, the characters won’t be displayed as a security feature. You will get a message Password changed successfully. After reboot check the time is correct with:

date

b.3) OPTIONAL If you don’t intend to use a display (ie you are on SSH), or output any video media we can free up additional RAM by reducing the amount dedicated to the GPU

sudo raspi-config

Select Advanced Options > Memory Split

Change the entry from 64 to 16

TAB to FINISH and Reboot

b.4) OPTIONAL (not needed if using desktop): If you have a Pi3 with internal Wi-Fi on SSH and would prefer to connect to the Pi via Wi-Fi; then edit the wpa_supplicant.conf file

sudo nano /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

Add the following lines

network={

ssid="YOURWIFISSID"

psk="YOURWIFIPSK"

}

CTRL+X to save, Y to confirm and then hit Enter

sudo reboot

Disconnect the Ethernet cable and find your new IP address in your Wi-Fi router.

3- Update the Raspberry Pi device.

Run the following commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade -y

4- Setting up the Raspberry Pi for compiling SolarCoin

a- Use the following command to change the default swap size:

sudo nano /etc/dphys-swapfile

Make sure it reads CONF_SWAPSIZE=1024 Use the left/right arrow keys to navigate the file. After change is done, press Ctrl+X followed by Y then Enter key to save the file. Use the following commands to enable the swap file with its new size:

sudo dphys-swapfile setup

NOTE: This may take a few minutes

sudo dphys-swapfile swapon

You can check the new active swap size with next command:

free -m

Reduce the 'swappiness' so as to only use SWAP when absolutely needed:

sudo nano /etc/sysctl.conf

add

vm.swappiness=1

as the last line then CTRL+X, Y and Enter to save.

b- Install Required Dependencies with next commands:

sudo apt-get install autoconf libevent-dev libtool libssl-dev libboost-all-dev libminiupnpc-dev libdb-dev libdb4.8++ libdb5.3++-dev git hardening-includes rng-tools -y

We installed rng-tools to give us really good random number generation entropy, we just need to make one change to the configuration file

sudo nano /etc/default/rng-tools

In the file uncomment (remove the # symbol) from this line

HRNGDEVICE=/dev/hwrng

CTRL+X, Enter & Y to save

sudo reboot

** If you are on SSH you will lose connection, log back in to continue **

5- Clone the SolarCoin Github, compile and install the client / node with following commands:

git clone https://github.com/onsightit/solarcoin.git

cd solarcoin

git checkout c97373dd89ada90da5add4312974763a86071ad2

NOTE: ** This will create a new directory /home/pi/solarcoin **

cd solarcoin/src

sudo make -f makefile.unix -e PIE=1

NOTE: ** This is going to take a long time, go and make a cup of tea **

sudo strip solarcoind

hardening-check solarcoind

** The output should look like:

Position Independent Executable: yes

Stack protected: yes

Fortify Source functions: yes (some protected functions found)

Read-only relocations: yes

Immediate binding: yes**

sudo install -m 755 solarcoind /usr/local/bin/solarcoind

cd

6- Start the SolarCoin daemon with:

solarcoind

NOTE ** This will auto-create a new directory /home/pi/.solarcoin which will contain your wallet.dat and blockchain files **

NOTE ** This is not the same as /home/pi/solarcoin that was created in step 5 **

NOTE ** When executing the next commands be careful to use the right one **

NOTE ** If you connected via SSH you may need to close the terminal and login again **

7- You may get a warning and need to create a solarcoin.conf file, don’t worry:

cd .solarcoin

sudo nano solarcoin.conf

Enter the following:

addnode=162.243.214.120

server=1

daemon=1

rpcuser=solarcoinrpc

rpcpassword= ** enter a secure password **

listen=1 ** if you want a fullnode that listens for connections, you will need to enable port forwarding on your router on port 18188 as we have not complied for UPNP **

Hit CTRL+X, Y and Enter to save the file:

cd

solarcoind

8- To check if SolarCoin is running:

solarcoind getinfo

NOTE ** If you see error: couldn't connect to server, don’t worry, it just means the program is still starting up, keep trying every 30 seconds until it works **

9- OPTIONAL: Move the blockchain/wallet to a USB drive, recommended to reduce wear on the SD card:

NOTE ** Users with a distro that has a desktop, you may find that when you insert a USB drive, this is automatically mounted, probably somewhere in /media, you may want to look at lpninjas instructions in https://github.com/Scalextrix/SolarCoin-Raspberry-Pi-Node/blob/master/StorageonUSBforROKOS.md as a better guide for this section **

Insert a USB drive, then:

solarcoind stop

cd /media

sudo mkdir disk1

sudo fdisk -l

** find an entry like /dev/sda1, could be different on your device **

sudo mount /dev/sda1 disk1

cd

sudo nano /etc/fstab

Add the following underneath the rows already present:

/dev/sda1 /media/disk1 auto defaults 1 2

Hit CTRL+X to save, Y to confirm and Enter

mv .solarcoin /media/disk1

ln -s /media/disk1/.solarcoin .solarcoin

solarcoind

10- IMPORTANT: Encrypt and back up your wallet and keep it on at least one other device!

solarcoind encryptwallet enter your secure passphrase here

** NOTE: Never lose your passphrase or all your coins are lost, forever! Never share your passphrase with anyone or they can steal your coins! Longer passphrases are more secure**

solarcoind walletpassphrase enter your secure passphrase here 9999999

Insert (another if you followed option 9) USB drive:

sudo mkdir /media/usb

sudo fdisk -l

** find an entry like /dev/sdb1, could be different on your device **

sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /media/usb

solarcoind backupwallet /home/pi/wallet.dat

sudo mv wallet.dat /media/usb/wallet.dat ** you will see this message, dont worry "mv: failed to preserve ownership for ‘/media/usb/wallet.dat’: Operation not permitted" **

sudo umount /dev/sdb1

Remove the USB drive

11- Run SolarCoin as a service, this will ensure proper shutdown and startup, and will restart SolarCoin in case of failure

solarcoind stop

sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/solarcoind.service

Enter the following in the file:

[Unit]
Description=SolarCoin daemon services
After=tlp-init.service

[Service]
Type=forking
PIDFile=/home/pi/.solarcoin/solarcoind.pid
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/solarcoind
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=3
User=pi

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

CTRL X, Y and Enter to save

sudo systemctl enable solarcoind.service

sudo systemctl start solarcoind.service

systemctl status solarcoind.service

You should see an enabled service with a 'PID' number

That is it; you now have a SolarCoin node on your Raspberry Pi. You need to wait for the block-chain to sync, this may take several days! If you forget a command

solarcoind help

is useful, or see https://github.com/Scalextrix/SolarCoin-Raspberry-Pi-Node/blob/master/Useful-SolarCoin-Daemon-Commands.md

** Once the block-chain is synced, its advisable to keep regular backups (I do mine monthly) of the SD card image, in this way if you have a hardware or software problem you will be able to get back up and running quickly without re-installing everything, here is a guide: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-clone-your-raspberry-pi-sd-card-for-super-easy-r-1261113524 **

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