Home: What these pages are all about

I decided that I would run a staking pool, so did lots of preparation. I bought a Linux computer and installed all the software. I got Nix installed and compiled the Jormungander client. Bits of it didn't work immediately, but after a bit of fiddling I got it all working. In the end I went with the Rust client, no NIX. The computer won't be used for anything else, so NIX seems to be overkill. It worked well for the Testnet, and gave me the experience I needed to have a go at Mainnet.

So how did Mainnet go?

Well, things are a bit more complicated in the real world. Its real money, so you have to be super careful with the keys and the firewalls. Also, while a single node was fine in test you need relays and cold storage on live. I have also found that a lot more power and memory is a good idea, to make sure it always keeps up with the chain. It has to be up all the time, upgrades have to be fast and have to work immediately, there has to be plenty of spare capacity. I started an Ocean Droplet and got the software working reliably. I have managed to attract a few important delegators too, after a slowish start. Smaller pools don't get going easily, but if the pool is reliable it can be done. The pool runs and stays up to date, it makes blocks. In fact it seems to be unusually lucky, with luck rates consistently above 100%.

Up time

The up time on the pool has been excellent. Two relay nodes make sure there is always a connection, and I have had no fails. I have found that the upgrade process is fairly seamless, with the nodes done one at a time, the relays going first as a test. If the blockchain falls behind a little it doesn't stay that way for long.

Who am I

When I am in the forums I just call myself "Kevmate" because I thought that in the age of decentralisation the more of us that are hard to trace the better. Its not that I need to remain anonymous. I'm sure I could be traced easily, but nobody has to trust me so its not a big deal.

The history

In 2013 I heard about bitcoins, but I didn't put any actual money into it. Yes, like everyone else who heard about bitcoins in 2013, I wish I had bought some. But anyway, I had that little bit of knowledge. In fact I actually tried to mine some, but I learned that you had to do it seriously or not at all. Even then, GPU mining didn't work.

In 2017 I heard Charles talk about Cardano, and I was sold. I bought a few ADA and started to learn about the technology. The idea was to get involved in the Incentivised Testnet to make some rewards. That allows me to get to real ADA. Great.

This website

I started off creating this website because I heard Charles say that you didn't really need a website to run a staking pool, but it would help. Well, I thought I would create a website and it would serve the dual purpose helping people understand what Cardano is all about and attracting them to my pool. It does seem to be working. People can link through to this site from the pool and it shows them that I have worked at it a bit. I try to know what is going on, and I learn the technical aspects of the platform, and I am ready to embrace the future. There is also lots of information here that can help people about Cardano generally. I have been investigating Marlowe and Plutus smart contracts and a lot of quite detailed information is building up about how they work. In fact, the Cardano world is huge, so I have been working on a lot of things.

To be honest one thing led to another and before I knew it I had a lot to say. Its been a lot of fun (OMG I think Charles says that). I expect I can help the community. I'm quite technical and I have learned a lot about cypto-currency. And I think Cardano rocks.

I hope you enjoy the read.