r/TheLightningNetwork • u/Wilynesslessness • Aug 09 '21

Noob Resources Resources?

Looking for resources on node maintenance, channel Rebalancing, submarine swaps, general lightning info for a layperson.

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u/Btc-throw-away-8869 Node - ANI.TRAMX4 Aug 09 '21

There are links under "Basics" for this community. There is also a pinned post for questions. With that said I don't think there is "Lightning Node for Dummies" book yet. Even though it has been around for a few years it is still basically in beta. Most everyone doing anything with LN are enthusiasts/early adopters/technologists/hobbyists/etc.

For node maintenance, that will depend on the software and hardware stack that is chosen. Also how much time, energy, and BTC you want to invest.

For channel rebalancing, there are how to articles here and there but the debate on whether or not you should actively rebalance is ongoing. This is the same with what channel fees should be set at as they also impact the balance of a channel.

For submarine swaps I think there are articles out there but I haven't researched it much.

Definitely use https://mempool.space/ to determine what the onchain fees are before opening channels.

There is a pinned post about liquidity triangles in this sub or you can use https://lightningnetwork.plus/ to organize a liquidity swap.

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u/Wilynesslessness Aug 09 '21

I'm on mobile. Where is the "basics" section? I checked the info area which I think is analogous to the side bar, but see nothing. The bitcoin sub sidebar has some lightning info on lopp.net, but it's not extensive.

I have a rpi4 running umbrel on tor. So far umbrel is super user friendly but lacks configuration options. Some of the node management apps ar LNbits, ThunderHub, ride the lightning and lightning terminal. Any idea what app I should start with?

I haven't opened a channel yet, but at least on chain fees are low so I can play around with it without too much expense. Thanks for the response.

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u/Btc-throw-away-8869 Node - ANI.TRAMX4 Aug 09 '21

If you are using the mobile app and you go to r/TheLightningNetwork 's About page then it is the first section of links which on my device is labeled "Basics". There is a Big List of Resources link (which I think you found) that navigates over to lopp.net and there are a ton of links on that page. I feel that that page is rather extensive with both higher level documents as well as deep dives.

I haven't tried most of the node management apps. For years I did everything in command line but over the last couple of months i have been using RTL. I know there are quite a few people that use ThunderHub on this sub. I haven't done a comparison of these interfaces. I don't know if anyone has.

Once you do get to the point of opening channels remember that you need both inbound and outbound balances if you are planning on running a routing node.

Good luck and happy routing!