3Speak Encoder Node Tutorial .:. For Linux and macOS | Ecency

For those who like to create video content on HIVE, it wasn't rare to see many problems with the 3Speak platform in the past... When you want to do something useful, and for free for people, it doesn't come without a lot of effort... Many problems with encoding nodes, IPFS, and who knows what more... But, it looks like those are things of the past...

I have to admit that I was frustrated with many problems, which discouraged me from creating more video content... Yes, YouTube is always there to publish your video content, but I don't want to "feed the Web2 beast"! That's why I was trying to be patient with publishing videos, even when they would come out with a 2-3 day delay... I was complaining, but I didn't take a step to help out!! 😱 Until now...

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It was too complicated to run the encoding node, and there was no documentation on how to run it... I forgot about it for a long time, and recently, decided to take a look... Oh boy, things have changed a lot! Running a node isn't that complicated, and it can be set up on your own home computer! As I have recently changed computers, the old one was sitting on the shelf doing nothing... So, I decided to take a chance and try to set up a 3Speak encoding node on Ubuntu 24.04 (Lenovo ThinkPad - Ryzen 5), and today I did the same on my MacBook Air M4! This tutorial will be 2 in 1! 😃

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First things first, if you are lucky, maybe the 2-minute encoder tutorial will work out for you! On that link, you will find the most important details about the encoder, and the source code too!

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/menobass/3speakencoder/main/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

If the 2-minute way didn't work, keep reading... 😀

https://github.com/Mantequilla-Soft/3speakencoder

Let's do it manually... Why not? It's more fun! 🤣

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Prerequisites:

1) Firstly, we have to install Node.js 18+

The procedure is the same for Linux and macOS... Just follow the steps above, or check for more info here

Download and install nvm:
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash
in lieu of restarting the shell
\. "$HOME/.nvm/nvm.sh"
Download and install Node.js:
nvm install 24
Verify the Node.js version:
node -v Should print "v24.12.0".
Verify npm version:
npm -v Should print "11.6.2".

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2) FFmpeg (ffmpeg.org) installation!

For Linux, this is super easy (hard to believe, eh? 😃)
sudo apt install ffmpeg -y
ffmpeg -version -> check out if everything is OK!

For Mac, I had a "few" hurdles... 😃
Have no idea why, but I wanted to do it from Terminal, and there may be a simpler solution (100% 😀)... Firstly, I have installed BREW... One command should do the job:
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

When it finishes, pay attention to the log where it should say something like this:
Run these commands in your terminal to add Homebrew to your PATH:

echo >> /Users/your_username/.zprofile
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> /Users/your_username/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"

It should look something like that, but run YOUR command from the log, and not these 3!!!

Now that we have BREW, we can continue with FFmpeg installation!

brew install ffmpeg
ffmpeg -version (check installation)

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3) IPFS (ipfs.tech) installation!

For Linux, I believe I didn't take any special steps, and this was handled by running the final installation steps.

wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/menobass/3speakencoder/main/install.sh
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

After running that, the IPFS should be up and running too!

For Mac, it was a bit more to do...
Firstly, you have to install MacPorts... Find your OS version, download, and install like any other app on Mac...
After that, it's time to install IPFS... You can find the command here... If you are lazy:

sudo port install ipfs

Now, on this step, I had a specific error that said something like this:

sudo: port: command not found

After searching for a solution, running this line in Terminal helped me:

export PATH=$PATH:/opt/local/bin

Now try again:

sudo port install ipfs

If you are lucky, this will also resolve your issue, and you will successfully install IPFS!

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Final step!

git clone https://github.com/menobass/3speakencoder.git
cd 3speakencoder
npm install
echo "HIVE_USERNAME=your-hive-username" > .env

Start IPFS daemon (in another terminal)
ipfs daemon &

Start the encoder
npm start

You successfully installed your 3Speak Encoder Node!!! Welcome to the family!

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At the end, I would like to say a few words about the people who kicked me in the right direction... Thanks, @thorkellnft, for sharing what you are doing in the Spanish Hive discord, and for motivating me to run the node myself!

A huge thanks goes to @eddiespino, who helped out with adding the node to the official list of 3Speak encoders, and for all his work for 3Speak in the good and in the bad days... It wasn't easy to provide support when everything would go bad... He is always there to help people in need!!! Thanks, man! 🙏