Anyone knows if the new available Raspberrypi 5 model works / hast been tested?
Do I understand it right, that I can join in without beeing selected, if I want to participate without any rewards? I would love to try it…
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Hey @Eskimo.
I think we only have people using raspberry Pi 4 atm. But the best way to verify would be to join our discord:
- Join Astar Network Discord and navigate to
builder-verification channel and click on the 
icon to be assigned the builder role! - All communication related to this proposal will occur in the #peers-program channel.
Atm we only invite people from uncovered regions. If you are from an uncovered region aswell we would love to have you join us aswell!
Join the discord and there we can talk about the next steps 
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Thanks Sequaja
Regarding the technical aspect, I will checkout the Astar Network Discord.
As for the invitation, I am still not sure. Sorry for my ignorance…
Do I understand it right, that I would have to be invited to run a node, even if I don’t want to receive any rewards? I would like to do it just for fun.
It’s no problem for me, I could wait if it is the case, I am just not sure, if I understand it right.
I am from Switzerland, therefore I am not from an uncovered area.
Thanks for your effort and best regards.
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I can’t buy the Raspberry Pi5 in Japan yet, so I’m looking forward to it.
My friend who knows Raspberry Pi told me, "The official retailer has announced that it has not yet been determined.‘’
However, I believe that the Pi 5 would work well with with a similar setup to build also.
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Hello Eskimo, I appreciate your response.
Absolutely, you’re invited to participate. The primary aim of this program is to educate individuals about the ecosystem, and we’d be delighted to have you on board. There’s no invitation required to operate a node, though it is necessary for earning rewards. You’re welcome to join our Discord channel, where we delve into all the technical aspects.
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Mine should be shipped in a few days/weeks, I’ll let you know as soon as I receive it.
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Looking forward to it… Did not yet buy one, but I am interested the hear how it goes. I would like to buy the new model, but on the other side, the Nr.4 Model needs less energy… I dont think, that the faster Nr.5 model has any advantage as an astar node…?
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Since Pi 5 has improved performance in various ways, it is possible that the required power will be higher than Pi 4. However, since it is a Single Board Computer after all, I don’t think there is a big enough difference in energy usage to cause a stir.
Pi 4 is also sufficient for Astar Archive Node.
For me, it’s just that I’m personally interested in the smaller, yet upgraded Pi5.
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I came across this opportunity to make ASTAR more decentralized recently and tried to hop on as I reside in one of these regions, in filling out the form I came across the hardware specification and also got to know about the incentive structure.
This is a good opportunity for me and many others that will be chosen to gain valuable knowledge and also contribute meaningfully to a leading technology like ASTAR however there are some bottlenecks,
I chatted with one of the admins on discord and stated I am opened to raising this in the forum, the admin explained explicitly why this structure was put in place and encouraged me to go ahead and respond to this proposal with my thoughts.
It is important to note that my views are are mine solely and not for financial gains but out of genuine interest to participate and see this programme successful. Illustration made is true for me and may not be true for others, but I suppose majority would agree with me.
Also all said here does not insinuate I know more, better, or have a clearer picture of why these programme is structured this way, they are simply a person view and solely mine.
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It’s a great move from ASTAR to want more nodes in various regions even Ethereum is a culprit having most of its nodes in a single region we would all agree this needs to change and I commend the ASTAR, team, forum and/or foundation for this initiative.
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Myself like some others own an high-end machine but cannot run a node with it in my region (West Africa ) because of instability of electricity and network connectivity in some areas, so often opt for virtual servers to host majority of the nodes I currently operate, I understand that both of these are not in line with ASTAR vision as ASTAR wants to improve the quality of life of people and wants to avoid using high end machines so to run these node one would have to get a raspberry pi dedicated primarily for ASTAR.
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Getting these devices are cheap to be honesty but in view of $30 rewards per month it is not really cost effective in my region to run and maintain a node. To be fair such incentives echos the quality of service ASTAR wants in these regions and it’s not a good look. Ideally it would cost around $100 for operational cost only in my region (West Africa).
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I understand the foundation is disappointed with the misuse of resources that is why these changes and plans were made, I however would want us to reconsider and draft a more fair incentive mechanism which will incentive more participants.
There are people willing to genuinely participate and see this as an opportunity but would obviously be put off by the incentives structure. A new mechanism can be put in place to distribute these devices to a select few and make diligent research on how much it would really take an operator to run ASTAR node “with good practice” in these regions before a price tag is put on the incentive structure. After experiments with 1 or 2 participants the foundation can make a proposal and decide to increase the numbers of participants in these regions if they are satisfied with the performances
I personally would suggesr distribution of these specified device, building of trust with 1 or 2, then have a supervisor responsible for regions, could be a team member or even a trusted operator who may be doxxed if need be.
I would be open to hearing what everyone thinks about this, and would be glad if the foundation treat this as important.
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Hi @avaworld, thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts here and your encouragements, I appreciate a lot!
Please let me give you a feedback as the initiator of the original proposal. Important here to note is that I initially proposed this program based on my personal beliefs and vision. I am actually part of Astar core team but I did this entirely on my personal initiative, on my personal time. The original aim is to both decentralize the network through more nodes, and educate non technical community members to run a node.
- Thanks again, I hope this is just the beginning!
- I am also running high end hardware on my own for some validators and collators, but collators are out of the scope of this program and will not be part of it. Instability is not a problem at all, as described in this thread there is a large tolerance for uptime and we can even increase it in particular cases. The program excludes high end and even standard consumer hardware as it is a waste of energy to simply run an archive node.
- On the contrary, $30/month of reward to run a Raspberry Pi is totally costs effective, gross estimate is a cost of $10/year of electricity. The average consumption I measured myself on an overclocked Raspberry Pi 4 running an Astar node is ~7W/h = 168 Wh/day = 61.3 KWh/year.
Let’s take examples:
- World’s most expansive electricity price is in Ireland - $0.52/KWh = $31 / year to run Astar node on a Raspberry Pi
- World’s average electricity price - $0.155/KWh = $9.5 / year tu run Astar node on a Raspberry Pi
Considering a Raspberry Pi 4 full kit costs ~$200 to buy, a member gets - year 1: $360 reward - $200 (hardware)- $10 (electricity) = $150 net reward
- all following years: $360 reward - $10 electricity = $350 net reward
- Once again it is not a Foundation program, it has been a consensus among voluntaries who manage the program (mostly @Sequaja and me) and the community to make the program more efficient. We are welcoming with open arms any members willing to dedicate time to help manage this program.
Your latest proposal seems nice on paper but we don’t have the man power to set this up with all the control and centralization of means it would require.
I’d like to keep feet on the ground and from my perspective, this is a quite simple win-win deal:
- invest $200 in hardware
- start earning rewards from the program - be profitable from 8th month
- learn and get to learn more talking with experts on node management
I’d be happy to read opinions from other community members.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts @avaworld.
I agree with all the points @bLd759 mentioned. The primary goal is to educate non technical community members to get started with running a node.
As bld mentioned, the nodes discussed in the proposal are not collators, which offer higher rewards but require a substantial self-bond and carry the risk of being slashed. You can find more details about collators here: Learn about Collators | Astar Docs. A collator plays an essential role in our network and is responsible for crucial tasks, including block production and transaction confirmation.
We want people to run an archive node. An archive node stores the history of past blocks. Most of the time, an archive node is used as an RPC endpoint. RPC plays a vital role in our network by connecting users and dApps to the blockchain through WebSocket and HTTP endpoints. For example, our public endpoints run archive nodes for anyone to quickly connect to Astar chains. Archive nodes also play a vital role even without being RPC; they allow a fast and secure sync from other peers worldwide. The more decentralized it is (i.e., the more archive nodes around the world), the easier anyone can deploy a new node.
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Greetings, I’m looking at the wallet address and there’s $4,230 left.
I will share with our followers in Turkey to run a node. Maybe I will translate some documents into Turkish. Can I still give them the news that they can earn 30$ every month?
Or is 5 months (sample period) over and done?
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Hey @MrKarahanli-Emre.
Yes, you can still give them the info that they will receive 30$ every month.
The funds we have will suffice for the next months, and if we need more we will think about making a proposal.
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Thanks for your response my primary interest is contributing and taking this opportunity presented to be a part of the network. I just signed up for this program btw.
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Isn’t it enough just to set up a server, my community asks. Without a Raspberry Pi4.
My technical knowledge is not enough, I may be asking something wrong.
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There is a new question, if a user runs more than one R.Pi 4 from the same location, can they get more than 30$? Example;
Can he get 90$ with 3 R.pi4?
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We are aiming for diversity and widespread participation. Therefore, we request only one entry per individual from various locations to maximize the number of people onboard and enhance educational outreach efforts and decentralize the nodes even more.
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The program was established with the intention of running it on a Raspberry Pi for educational purposes. Consequently, we are specifically seeking individuals who are running nodes on Raspberry Pi software or similar hardware configurations.
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The most important thing is expansion, bearing in mind the future decentralization of Astar. I like the direction the project is taking 
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