[Solved] here are the steps to take:
Go into the Frontier repo
Fix the Substrate version to what you need: like polkadot-v0.9.24
Open this file repo/template/runtime/src/lib.rs
Change your default chainId from 42 to something else, for example 1942. Because 42 is also the Kovan's chainId. I have no idea why the chainId was set to 42.
Then build it and run it:
cargo build --release
./target/release/frontier-template-node --dev
That runs a chain based on Substrate Node Template.
The hidden port is actually 9933, so here is the correct URL to connect your MetaMask, Hardhat, Remix to the running chain.
url: "http://127.0.0.1:9933",
chainId: 42,
Setup your Polkadot UI
Open Polkadot UI in your browser at https://polkadot.js.org/apps/#?rpc=ws://127.0.0.1:9944
Copy the polkadot UI setting at https://github.com/paritytech/frontier/tree/master/template
Go to Polkadot UI > Settings > Developer tab: Paste the copied setting
To clarify when to use the Frontier's template folder:
- If you have another repo that uses Frontier as a dependency, then use Option 1 above with Josh's video.
- If you want to run Ethereum smart contracts inside a substrate based chain with minimum effort, use Option 2 above and my steps above.