New(bie) Dev

#1

Hello. Been waiting for Blockstack for quite some time, glad to barely catch the release yesterday! :slight_smile:

Finally (after a few workarounds) got it installed, following the instructions from github but, a little afraid any update may break my set up… please be careful when the time comes, there are so many packages :slight_smile: I’m not on ubuntu.

I was going to proceed to the tutorial but, testing it from the frontpage I can only login as guest and, apparently, I need 0.01 btc to register a username? Can I begin developing without it and maybe bootstrap the whole journey from “guest”? :smiley:

I’d like suggestions on where to proceed to learn more after this, thanks.

Anyway, really excited with the whole project.

1 Like
#2

  • It’s cheaper to get a really long username, but yes, with the transaction fees it has gotten quite expensive to get a name. (The money that gets into “Blockstack” is currently burned, so it goes to noone (or the Bitcoin network you could say))

  • You can get a blockstack ID using https://onename.com. It’s free, onename sponsors the cost for you. So that’s one way. You’d have to transfer it to yourself though if you want low level access. And that will involve a BTC transaction fee.

  • I’m not sure it’s implemented yet, but there is supposed to be a way to use a public key address rather than the ID. I think maybe the ‘Log in with Blockstack’ use this(?)

  • Maybe you could use the integration tests in a way for development? https://github.com/blockstack/blockstack-integration-tests

For all this, @jude will have better answers (and now he’s pinged).

#3

Hi, Odinho! Thank you.

Regarding your points:

is currently burned

I guess I could use a credit card but, I’m trying to see how much… “pseudonymity” I can squeeze out of this 1st run. :slight_smile:

onename sponsors

Cool! Got it! thanks!

You’d have to transfer it to yourself though if you want low level access

what exactly do you mean by “transfer”… as in “it’s a colored coin”? and how would I do that (I see a “send bitcoin” on the website but nothing more) I saved the key locally, is that it?

Also, what “low level access” entails? What things can I not do as an App developer? (I’m not planning on hacking blockstack itself)

a way to use a public key address

That would be great. Please tell me when it’s ready. :slight_smile:

Maybe you could use the integration tests

It says: “In addition, you must install the Bitcoin daemon and CLI tool.”

Sounds a bit too ‘expensive’ for me, would I have to run a full node?! (also remember I’d just like to try making decentralized apps, not coding blockstack itself)

I’m following those instructions here.

Not sure this would be the right place to ask but, it worked the first time but now is giving an error. Apparently gulp can’t load babel stuff (core, register…)

As everything is already installed, I’m only running the virtualenv activation, then blockstack api start (should I “setup” it again? I assume the btc password would be entered just once for that?), which goes fine (the browser can connect) until I try the npm run dev-proxy & which quits after a few seconds with the complaints above. It worked the first time around and I was able to interact with the blockstack dashboard, run the tutorial, etc… Any ideas?

#4

@odinho @jude

Hello, managed to set up Blockstack.

I want to proceed to the tutorials, however, the onename / identity thing… Is this enough to begin developing?

I do have a onename account now, how to set it up so Blockstack can use it?

Please help.