Hey, that’s a nice looking mini PC. Great specs for the price too! Like any Linux Distro, it runs on most x86_64 systems, but not all. Take a look at our known good hardware forum:
It is possible, there’s just something about that particular machine that is simply incompatible. But I’d try to rule out every other possibility first. I would be surprised if you don’t need the non-free image for that machine. So makes sure you are downloading the correct ISO. I’d also try a different flash drive, just to rule that out as a possible problem. Another thing I might try, is to attempt to install Debian on that machine just to see if that works. If Debian won’t work, you’re going to have a tough time getting StartOS to work, as it’s based on Debian.
Thank you Mike. Indeed, well built and good-looking mini pc with excellent specs and ditto reviews. I had a look at the hardware list (before I purchased this one) and did see a couple of Minisforum models and assumed this one would do the trick and unfortunately overread the part where it reads “x86_64 Architecture”.
In the BIOS I changed two settings:
BIOS > Advanced > Security Device Support > Disabled
BIOS > Security > Secure Boot > Disabled
I booted with a fresh/brand new flash drive with the same results. Then I flashed the nonfree.iso and it worked!
No purchase required. The “free” in non-free, is free as in freedom. This just means the non-free image contains proprietary drivers needed by most x86 systems to function properly. StartOS, is an open source project available free of charge. Start9 sustains our ability to maintain this project by selling premium plug & play servers, other merchandise, and accepting donations.
Freedom is the ultimate value in my life and for that reason I am a libertarian.
The blockchain was synchronized within 20 hours. Next step is to figure out how to securely make the node accessible to the rest of the world. But I’m sure that will be in the documentation somewhere.
Very happy with this open source project.
I will definitely make a donation!
Your node listens for connections from other nodes, to share blockchain data, and relay transactions on the peer interface, over tor. So you are contributing to the decentralization, and security of the Bitcoin Network simply by having the node running. The main benefit to you, is that you can configure wallets, and other Bitcoin services to connect to your own node. This makes you less reliant on other people’s nodes, and more in control of what version of Bitcoin, or the consensus rules you are operating under. Broadcasting new transactions, mempool and transaction lookups on someone else’s node, allows them to see what you are doing, or what they are interested in. Doing so in the privacy of your own node, I like to think of, is like the difference between using a streaming service, and watching your own local media library.
I assumed that for the node to be reachable, port 8333, among other things, had to be opened to do so. No need, I understand. Start9 uses the TOR network. Cool.
Via the tor browser I get the StartOS login page when I go to the .onion address (and via the internal IP address, of course). Everything works as it should. From my switch I can tell that the device generates about 3 Gb of internet traffic daily.
Looking at Global Bitcoin Nodes - Bitnodes, I see that there are about 55,000 nodes worldwide. About 13,000 (24%) are running through the onion/TOR network. Never knew.