CmRat: An Affordable Bitcoin Node Solution

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Hey everyone, I wanted to share info about a new and really affordable Bitcoin Node solution called CmRat by DTV Electronics. It's basically a board with CPU and RAM, and all you need to add is a storage device to make it work. Once you do that, you can easily set up and run bitcoin, checking transactions on your own for more privacy and security.

The cool thing is, it doesn't tie you down to specific hardware or software. You can switch out the components (compute module) and use different operating systems. The starting price for the board is going to be very low (way less than $100), and there will also be ready-to-use complete nodes available.

The board is custom-made and operates on PoE (Power over Ethernet) and consumes approximately 10W, making it very energy-efficient. I conducted tests using a customized version of Citadel, a bitcoin node operating system that is entirely FOSS (Free and Open Source Software). I see this as a significant advancement compared to other software/hardware options, such as Umbrel, which, unfortunately, is not open source anymore. However, if you prefer Umbrel or another operating system, you can easily install it by switching to a compatible compute module.

I wrote a detailed review about a pre-production unit, and you can check it out here: DTV Electronics CmRat Full Review.