A basic introduction of SCDO network and mining

The SCDO network is a peer-to-peer (p2p) network, and the network nodes are partitioned into 4 shards. The SCDO blockchain has a PoW consensus algorithm named ZPoW, which is based on random matrix generation and determinant computation. ZPoW is CPU friendly. From the testing results of ZPoW, we do not observe any advantage from GPU/ASIC chips. So any one with a computer can mine the SCDO blockchain. The rewarding token is named SCDO. The minimum unit of SCDO is WEN, and 1 SCDO =100,000,000 WENS.

By Slowlifetrader

For a mining node in shard n: it keeps one local chain and 3 light chains for storing information or data. The local chain stores all transactions which involve accounts in the shard. Each light chain stores the hashes of blocks in a related local chain. For example, if the mining node is in shard 1, then it has a local chain to store all blocks of transactions from and to the accounts in shard 1. It uses a light chain for each of other 3 shards. For example, the light chain 2 stores all block hashes from the local chain of shard 2, etc. With the local chain and the light chains, the SCDO blockchain can work correctly.

Since the SCDO network nodes are partitioned into 4 shards, so are the accounts. An account has a unique pair of address and private key. The address is used for holding the balance and the private key is used for signing off out-bounded transactions.

In order to mine SCDO, one needs to create an account (or several).

A mining node can only mine in one shard when it is running and is configured by the json configuration file.

To summarize the above, in order to run a mining node, one needs

1. An account (a pair of address and private key),
2. A configuration file.

Again, all illustrations in the following are in a linux/unix environment. We assume that readers have a basic understanding about the operating system. The executions of commands in MAC, Windows are very similar to linux/unix.

Download the executables

Download the newest [executables and configuration templates] . The extracted directory has the following structure:

Copy

mac/linux/windows 
    ├── node1.json //shard1 config template
    ├── node2.json //shard2 config template
    ├── node3.json //shard3 config template
    ├── node4.json //shard4 config template
    └── build 
        ├── client //client executable for getting info
        ├── discovery
        ├── light
        ├── node //node executable for running a node
        ├── tool
        └── vm

For mining, one only needs the executables of node and client, and creates his own configuration files from these templates. If one mines in shard 1, please use node1.json as a template. Use node2.json for shard 2, node3.json for shard 3, etc.

Dowload SCDO project source codes and compile

You may want to build the executables by yourself from the source codes. Here it is. Download the source codes from https://github.com/scdoproject and follow the instructions in README.md or go to Compile node section.

The configuration file templates shall be in the project source code directory $PROJECTRDIR/scdoproject/go-scdo/cmd/node/config where $PROJECTRDIR is the path to scdoproject in your local machine.

In the next post, we will explain how to create an account.

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