Trouble Launching Testnet

ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
edited January 2016 in Mist
I'm attempting to work my way through Alex Van de Sande's three-part series on how to build a cryptocurrency, democracy and central bank on the blockchain.

I downloaded the Mist Wallet, Linux 64 version 0.3.8. However, whenever I choose testnet from the menu the app closes. After reading the readme.txt, it seems that I have to change something called the IPC path. Is that why the app keeps closing? I do see the geth.ipc file in the directory indicated. Where do I make the necessary change to IPC path? Is it also necessary to change network id and data directory as seems to be indicated? What are those fields?

Also, it says something about needing at least 1 ether to use the wallet on testnet. Does that mean I cannot mine on the testnet, and get started with the tutorial, unless I have ether?

Thank you.

Comments

  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    Is my question a poor one or perhaps posted in the wrong section? Should I be using Mist? I only did so at the suggestion of Alex Van de Sande from his article.
  • FrankHoldFrankHold Member Posts: 15
    Same problem (windows) - did you find a solution?
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    No solution yet. It seems it is a simple matter of changing that setting but where to change it is the question. If I recall, the readme mentioned that windows users don't even have to change it. I see people mentioning to change it but they never say where to do so. In fact, just a couple of threads down it is mentioned.

    If it is such a simple answer it makes me wonder why no one has popped in here to say so, which makes me wonder if the question is so basic that I shouldn't even be using Mist, which makes me wonder why Alex recommended using it to get acquainted with Ethereum.
  • FrankHoldFrankHold Member Posts: 15
    I am still trying and got a step closer (but I am not sure what I did). Could create a test account and now transferring some test ether https://test.ether.camp/. But have to check still 166k blocks that will take some time on my pc.
  • FrankHoldFrankHold Member Posts: 15
    Ok – Testnet (Modern) up and running in the Mist Ethereum Wallet. So what did I do …

    Basically I switched between the Main and the Testnet back and forth and tried all possibilities.

    First I needed a password to create. (switch back and forth) Then “There is no original wallet found …” – cancel. Now there should be an account. Wait for the “blocks” to be 0. (I had to switch back and forth because the blocks got stuck – maybe my internet connection is not the best). Now I did start mining and had after 1 hour 20 TestEther . https://test.ether.camp/ did not work for me.

    I hope you find a way too.
  • ordoeordoe tehranMember Posts: 132 ✭✭
    mist just uses whatever nodes run on your machine, for example a geth client.

    you can run geth like that to create a testnet:

    geth --testnet

    http://ethereum.stackexchange.com/a/236/87
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    This may sound basic to you but I don't know what a node is or geth client. Where do I run geth --testnet? Whatever they are, aren't they a part of Mist? I was able to run one of the earliest wallets from ethereum and it worked, just by launching it.

    Here is the first in the article series I mentioned: https://blog.ethereum.org/2015/12/03/how-to-build-your-own-cryptocurrency/. It all sounds very simple.

    Unfortunately, the link you included is members only.
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2016
    I guess a follow-up question is whether Mist is usable out of the box as a standalone piece of software. Maybe that is where I'm confused and made incorrect assumptions.

    Note: That is with the understanding it is still not to be considered a stable release.
    Post edited by ashevilletanner on
  • FrankHoldFrankHold Member Posts: 15
    Thanks for the tip.
  • FrankHoldFrankHold Member Posts: 15
    Did you create a test account? Then I could send you probably some test ether.
  • ordoeordoe tehranMember Posts: 132 ✭✭
    Check out your mist download directory. There should be a geth node somewhere.

    For me it is: Ethereum-Wallet-win32-x64-0-3-8/resources/node/geth/geth.exe
    Or Ethereum-Wallet-win32-x64-0-3-8/resources/node/eth/eth.exe

    Launch these with the --testnet flag before you launch mist itself.

    And no, Mist is not designed to run out of the box stand-alone. you always need a node running. The pre-releases ship one for now.
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    When I launch Mist (Ethereum-Wallet.exe), geth (geth.exe) starts automatically so I have a node running out-of-the-box.

    In what file do I change the --testnet flag?
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    FrankHold said:

    Ok – Testnet (Modern) up and running in the Mist Ethereum Wallet. So what did I do …

    Basically I switched between the Main and the Testnet back and forth and tried all possibilities.

    First I needed a password to create. (switch back and forth) Then “There is no original wallet found …” – cancel. Now there should be an account. Wait for the “blocks” to be 0. (I had to switch back and forth because the blocks got stuck – maybe my internet connection is not the best). Now I did start mining and had after 1 hour 20 TestEther . https://test.ether.camp/ did not work for me.

    I hope you find a way too.

    No progress on finding out how to specify testnet. If I select it from the menu it crashes Mist. I have created an account but not a wallet as it requires ether.
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2016
    FrankHold said:

    Did you create a test account? Then I could send you probably some test ether.

    I was unsuccessful with ether camp as well. Would you mind sending me 1 test ether so I can register a wallet and see if that helps? My address is 0xead3ad836d8c64c8f97fbb5b016b9956eeeff453. Though I don't know how I will receive it as I see this note in Mist: "Accounts can't list incoming transactions, please create a wallet to store ether."

    Thanks
    Jon
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    I feel like I'm in Heller's novel!!!
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    ordoe said:

    Launch these with the --testnet flag before you launch mist itself.

    Where do I do this?
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2016
    This is an issue that someone else has just raised on github (https://github.com/ethereum/mist/issues/123). I will monitor there for an answer as well.

    Perhaps this is just a bug in the software and the answers above and readme are referring to running in terminal?
    Post edited by ashevilletanner on
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2016
    In case someone else comes across this thread, I have discovered that you do not have to create a "wallet" to send and receive ether. You can do that with your "account" (which costs nothing to set up). A wallet does have additional features than an account. At present, the wording used in Mist regarding this is confusing.

    That means to get started with Mist you do NOT have to own ether.
    Post edited by ashevilletanner on
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2016
    The possible solution left by the developer to issue 123 does not work for me. I downloaded and ran the pre-release version of Mist .3.9 with the same results. Whenever I select Develop - Network - Testnet (Morden) from the menu, Mist closes.

    I am running Ubuntu 14.04.3 / Linux Mint 17.2.
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    edited January 2016
    While I still have been unable to mine on the testnet through the Mist gui, I dug further and here is how I was able to finally get started. This does not utilize the Mist gui. Instead, you have to use the command line.

    First, open the command line and run geth on the testnet. I used this command:

    /home/[your user name]/[your/pathto/ethereum]/resources/node/geth/geth --testnet

    Syncing will start after you have run the above command. The testnet has to sync even if you have synced to the mainnet. Currently, the testnet is about 1/3 the number of blocks as the mainnet.

    Leave geth open and while waiting, you can open Ethereum-Wallet (Mist). You will notice that you do not have an account. Even if you have already created a 'live' account, you will have to create another account. My guess is you can't have accounts that transact both on the live and test nets. A good way to look at it is that even though you only have one Mist program you actually have two versions of it. One for the mainnet and one for the testnet. Depending upon whether you open geth on the testnet or mainnet you will get the testnet-Mist or mainnet-Mist when you open the Ethereum Wallet (Mist).

    Once you are synced and have created an account, copy your etherbase address.

    Then close Mist and close geth.

    To start mining, go back to the command line and type:

    /home/[your user name]/[your/pathto/ethereum]/resources/node/geth/geth --testnet --etherbase '[your etherbase address]' --mine

    This reopens geth, sets it to the testnet, designates the account address you want the mining rewards sent, and starts mining.

    Leaving geth open, you can now open Mist and see mining rewards adding to your balance.

    To sum up: f you do not have any ether and want to transact with Mist, until the bug is fixed, each time you will have to manually open geth on the testnet and then open Mist.

    Please let me know if I can explain something better.

    Post edited by ashevilletanner on
  • EddhEddh Member Posts: 1
    I didn't understand why I couldn't mine on the testnet before, but thanks to your reply with the command I got a clue : you need to select your account before clicking "start mining" in order for it work. Thanks !
  • ashevilletannerashevilletanner Member Posts: 17
    Glad to offer what little help I can. Hopefully, with the next update I will be able to do that as well.
  • ordoeordoe tehranMember Posts: 132 ✭✭
    You might want to try http://ethereum.stackexchange.com/ next time. Sorry, I wasnt able to check the thread regulary. Good it worked out finally.
  • jambttjambtt Member Posts: 6
    FrankHold said:

    Same problem (windows) - did you find a solution?

    My solution to this problem is to run the testnet first from Geth, ensuring that I start the cmd line tool with 'run as administrator':

    geth --testnet

    Once block sync is underway, I right click Ethereum Wallet and 'run as administrator' otherwise I get the errors as per OP.

    Hope this helps.
  • bbud148bbud148 Member Posts: 1
    I have tried all the above listed techniques to no avail. I am am able to initiate my geth command line to sync and start mining; however, when I open the Ethereum mist wallet to the correct account, my TESTNET ether count stays at 0.00. When I try to check my balance in geth (eth.getBalance(eth.accounts[0])) the blockchain begins synchronizing again.

    Do you have any other recommendations/workarounds for this issue?
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