Revised Proposal: Proposal: Peers program - spread Astar nodes across the world with Raspberry Pi

Astar Network (Polkadot)
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Dear Astar Community,

Excitingly, this initiative is open to ALL regions, reinforcing our inclusivity!

In light of the core value of Astar—Decentralization, we are striving to solidify our peer network and reinforcing our commitment to this value by initiating a refined incentive program aimed at extending our reach in regions currently devoid of Astar nodes.

Need for Refinement:

This proposal has been refined and remodeled in response to challenges encountered with the previous structure, where node runners ceased operations after receiving the first month’s payout. Our revamped approach aims to foster a more enduring and committed relationship with node runners, ensuring sustained operation and continual contribution to the network’s strength.

Objective:

This revised proposal is poised to launch a robust incentivization program, inviting community members from underrepresented regions to run nodes, thereby enriching the network’s diversity and resilience. We are particularly focusing on:

  • South America
  • Africa
  • West Asia
  • South East Asia
  • Australia

Program Structure:

  • Milestone 1: Facilitate ten individuals to operate a node, with a specific focus on:
    • Five from the targeted, currently uncovered regions.
    • Five from any other global location to maintain inclusivity and diversity.
  • Milestone 2: Provide incentives to individuals maintaining operational nodes annually.

Fund Allocation:

In this redesigned phase, we propose a reward of $30 in $ASTR tokens per person each month, for ten individuals over a span of five months. Our current balance is 30k $ASTR at Y4rPEERX1ucGe2nWpEqR8ACboThwtgGZDWZNZvzYeoGRTJC. Subject to the successful realization and positive outcomes, we might propose additional fund allocations.

Conditions:

  • Eligibility: Open to residents from specified regions and globally, encompassing non-technical individuals, with selections spearheaded by appointed community representatives.
  • Node Specifications: Nodes must be of the archive type, maintain a minimum of 80% uptime, be connected to Telemetry, and run on a Raspberry Pi 4 (or equivalent ARM machines) with at least 4GB RAM.

Why Raspberry Pi?

Raspberry Pi or equivalent ARM-based machines are chosen for their environmentally friendly attributes, including low power consumption, negligible noise, and small footprint.

Support & Resources:

  • Workshop & Training: Participants will have access to online workshops as part of Astar Decentracademy.
  • Documentation & Guidance: Adequate resources and documents will be provided to assist with node setup and maintenance.

Docs:

You can find information on how to setup a node on raspberry pi here:
https://docs.astar.network/docs/build/nodes/rpi-cheat-sheet
Astar Tech Talk #009 - Astar Peers Program: How to configure Raspberry Pi to run an Astar node - crowdcast

Troubleshooting Guide and FAQ: Astar Peers Program — Troubleshooting Guide and FAQ | by Sequaja | Medium

Feedback and Participation:

Your insights, suggestions, and participation are crucial. We would welcome any suggestions to make this program better.

Let’s synergize to deepen the decentralization of Astar and fortify our network and community collaboratively!

Disclaimer:

This proposal is adaptable and can be refined based on community consensus and feedback.

How to Apply:

  1. Fill out the application form: https://forms.gle/Hmru4rdE9JNJuYN7A
  2. Join Astar Network Discord and navigate to :building_construction:builder-verification channel and click on the :hammer_and_wrench: icon to be assigned the builder role!
  3. All communication related to this proposal will occur in the #peers-program channel.

Thank you for your commitment to realizing Astar’s vision!

Kind Regards

bLd
DevOps engineer at Astar Network

Sequaja
Astar Technical Ambassador

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Can’t thank you enough @Sequaja for managing this program so greatly with amazing ideas.
Let’s push peers program to next level, this is only the beginning :innocent:

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Great proposal! Highly support the proposal! :clap: I wish I was in one of the regions!

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That’s great revise!
I’d like to support for this peers program :smile:

Five from any other global location to maintain inclusivity and diversity.

Just to make sure, according to avobe does the updated program include Japan region? @Sequaja

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fully support this proposal, let’s get astar everywhere!

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Fully support this proposal!

Helping to decentralize the network nodes is a significant move. It makes our network much more secure and stable by spreading the load, eliminating single weak points.

Moreover, seeking nodes in global territories where we currently lack a substantial presence is vital. This approach provides more stability and decentralization to the network.

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This is a great initiative! I support decentralization on Astar

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This is important for decentralisation, so I support it. I wonder why raspberry pi4 ? I have an idle rasp. pi 3b model, won’t it work?

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Really a very good initiative and I fully support it.
I’m considering specially purchasing a Raspberry Pi 4 to help further decentralize our network.

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Fantastic initiative! Astar’s commitment to inclusivity and decentralization is truly commendable. This refined incentive program will undoubtedly strengthen the network and expand its reach to underrepresented regions. Kudos to the team for their forward-thinking approach!

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Greetings Everyone! :star2:

A heartfelt thank you for your incredible support! I’ve updated the initial post with the application form: https://forms.gle/Hmru4rdE9JNJuYN7A

:memo: Please overlook the current description on the form, as it will be updated shortly to align with the new reward mechanisms.

:globe_with_meridians: We welcome applications from everyone! We aim to select individuals who are best suited to contribute to the program. Specifically, we’re seeking five individuals from regions currently underrepresented and another five from any location worldwide to enhance our network’s decentralization.

Yes, @tksarah, you can apply from any part of the globe! :earth_africa:
@tksarah and @guigou would be happy to have you both onboard :).

We are looking for committed individuals who will actively engage and contribute to the network over the long term. :herb:

How to Apply:

  1. Fill out the application form: https://forms.gle/Hmru4rdE9JNJuYN7A
  2. Join Astar Network Discord and navigate to :building_construction:builder-verification channel and click on the :hammer_and_wrench: icon to be assigned the builder role!
  3. All communication related to this proposal will occur in the #peers-program channel.

Let’s build a more decentralized and robust Astar Network together! :rocket:

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Hello @MrKarahanli-Emre,

Thank you for your response! I believe @bLd759 created the Proof of Concept using a Raspberry Pi 4, which informed our decision to incorporate it into this program. Let’s delve deeper into technical discussions on the #peers-program Discord channel. It might be worthwhile exploring the possibility of integrating other devices as well!

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Unfortunately it is more complicated with a RPi 3 because of the CPU architecture that is very different (ARM 32 bits), this requires much deeper adaptations of rust and cpp compiling that we don’t have for the moment and I’m not sure it would work, because this hardware is not much supported by most recent languages.
Also, CPU characteristics of the RPi 3 may not be high enough to run the Astar node.

But if you have knowledge and are interested into cross compile for ARM 32bit, you can see here how we do for the ARM 64bit (target arch64-unknown-linux-gnu)

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A small update:

We got now nodes running in Australia, Africa, South America & much more all over the world where we hadn’t any nodes before! :slight_smile:

For anyone intrested you can check the following link:
https://telemetry.polkadot.io/#list/0x9eb76c5184c4ab8679d2d5d819fdf90b9c001403e9e17da2e14b6d8aec4029c6

and click on the map to view all the nodes:

grafik

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Glad to see that the Brazilian community (Curitiba and São Paulo) has answered the call!

Congratulations on another step towards on decentralization @Sequaja @bLd759

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The payments for December have been made: Subscan | Aggregate Substrate ecological network high-precision Web3 explorer

As a matter for transparency, you can find here the history of payments and members of the program: Peers Program payment - Google Sheets

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Hey everyone,
some more updates:

We now have 17 people running nodes for the astar peers program! :slight_smile:

We get a lot of active discussions in the discord which helps the eduaction of the ecosystem which was one of the main golas with the program.

The map starts to look better aswell:

grafik
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Still looking for people for Africa, if you have someone then recommend them please ! :slight_smile:

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Great to see thsi program is growing! Thank you Sequaja for your good work!

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Quite positive to see the progress of the program, this is a benefit to both the community and our Astar protocol, great job guys.

By the way buddy, I would like to set up the first Astar node in my country :slight_smile:

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As already answered in the discord you are ofc welcome to join mate! :slight_smile:

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