Requirements & Usage

Requirements

If you head to https://filstation.app, you can download the Station Desktop app and start contributing to the Web3 economy immediately. No technical expertise is required!

It is also possible to run Station on a server, without the desktop app UI. Station has been architected such that it can run in both environments.

In each case, the system requirements are currently the same. The first Station module is Spark which tests retrievals from Filecoin Storage Providers.

Very roughly, Spark requires 1 GB of RAM and 2 GB of free disk space, and the bandwidth of any normal home internet connection.

You do not need to keep Station running continually, as people often move around with their laptop devices. The Station team sees this as a feature as it is how devices actually move around the internet and this is valuable.

Usage

Spark, the first module on Station, test retrievals from Filecoin Storage Providers. It uses the disk space to store the retrieved file. It uses your bandwidth to retrieve the file. It uses each Station Operator’s position in the Network to create a diverse range of requests to the Filecoin Storage Providers.

If you are in any doubt about how your resources are used, then remember that everything is open source! The desktop app, the Spark protocol & the reward smart contract are all open source. Any misuse of resources would be visible to see in the codebase.

Beyond Spark

As more modules are built for Station, some will be better suited for laptops, desktop, and even phones. Others will be better suited to run on servers in data centres. Wherever modules run, the top priority for the Station team is the security of your device and ensuring that your resources are looked after.

In the next few pages, we will go into a bit more depth about the current two options for running Station.