Bitcoin Forum

I am about to buy a fancy laptop primarily for the purpose of doing all my cryptocurrency stuff (but not mining).

Can anybody help me decide between Windows and Linux?  My main question is do wallets/nodes tend to be developed on Linux first or Windows first?  I want to know which platform Bitcoin clients, but also other cryptocurrency clients/wallets in general tend to get developed on first.

I am not an expert with command line (although I can use Linux in a basic way), so I refer mainly to GUI type wallets.  I am interested in software for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero, Factom, Synereo, Dash, Maidsafe, Storj, NEM, Sia and Lisk.  So Windows or Linux for these?

In my personal opinion, an honest dev will publish his sourcecode on github...
In my experience, compiling a node/wallet on linux is a lot easyer than compiling one on windows.

however, i've seen some dev's publishing the windows binary long before publising the linux binary...

Perhaps I can help by being a bit more specific:

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Monero
Factom, Synereo, Dash
Storj, Sia, Maidsafe
Lisk, NEM

Given that list, can anyone say whether Windows or Linux would likely be the first release platform for their wallets/nodes/stuff...?

You're listing the bigger, more established coins here... I don't think there will be a (big) difference between the release times for windows or linux wallets for these coins.
I was talking about new coins with a small community.

I'd personally go for linux, but i think it's just a matter of personal taste...

Sorry, I realised that just now and added a few more.  Doh, I'm being a dummy but I didn't expect such great fast replies!  Thanks!

I'd still go for linux, since an honest dev should, in my opinion, publish his work on github (or an other online repo). Once the sourcecode is on github, i personally think it's much easyer to compile a wallet on linux compared to windows.

The ones in your current list are still older, established coins, so there should be little or no difference in the release time of windows vs linux binaries tough...

Thanks!  I've been wanting a Linux machine for ages, so I'm happy to hear that.  Just a shame that Linux doesn't support Oculus Rift! haha.  Now because of your fast replies I can get on with buying my exciting new laptop!  woohoo!

IF you bought an oculus and really want to use it, there's always the option of either dual booting, or the option of running a linux distro in virtualbox.

Altough untested by me, there even is the option of running windows subsystem for linux on windows 10:
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/commandline/wsl/install_guide

Arch linux even has a wiki page devoted to running an oculus V9 => https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Oculus_Rift

Altough for simplicity and compatibility reasons, i'd suggest either debian or ubuntu as a starter distro

Oh Yeah, it's my first time to properly have a Linux OS, so I want the easiest to use version.

I have used Red Hat Linux at work, but only poking around to make the basics work, I am no expert!

You should go for Ubuntu, as it has a nice UI and is widely used. when it comes to Linux, each user have his own preferences, but in the end what ever you want to use you will have a linux system with different features.
Personally i like Ubuntu because it has a nice GUI, the unity bar is just useless to me, but if you are a MAC user, then it should be handy.

Beside that, no difference.

Been thinking of purchasing one more laptop and a pc soon. I never used linux ever since but I am considering it on at least one of my units mainly for crypto purposes too. So looks like linux is better. I also noticed most wallets were linux based first before considering windows. My friends are also laughing at me for using windows.  ;D

I prefer you windows wallet software because I know that windows is always better product because better kind of qualities because it is so big time and money invested to create it better than any other so I will always prefer windows.

I think that you are either new to the IT world, or completly blind to security threats.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-major-difference-between-Windows-and-Ubuntu
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/6-things-ubuntu-better-windows/
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/os-showdown-windows-10-vs-linux-1299406

Ubuntu is just better on a lot of sencitive points, especially security because windows is backdoored.
the workflow of windows is simple, first make a commercial demo of a product, get some hyip and invest some marketing budgets. Then release it as is, and fix the bugs later, if they get to a dead end bug, they just leave it.

ubuntu is made by the community of the developers who works on it, if you have any problem, you can either solve it yourself and fork it, or ask for the devs to help you. which is far better then an unresponcive so called support.

as long as you know how to compile daemon or wallet gui, imo Linux is the better choice. mind you that sometimes problems arise, like library incompatibility issue, path, etc.

if crypto dev provide Linux binary, just forget about that because mostly they only run on specific version of ubuntu. however there's some exception, like electron/java/python/etc based wallet which is run just fine, again worst scenario you end up compiling yourself.

if you wanna run nodes, well Linux is obvious choice.

anyway, you can also run windoze virtual machine.  ;D

You don't need a fancy laptop just for the sake of bitcoining.However,it is always a good a futuristic thinking process.It is not a bad investment after-all.

Well,it's a subjective question.Personally,all that 'geeky' stuff is always deployed on Linux machines because most of the dev groups reply on it and they're a bit more secure.Most of the wallets always have windows/Linux installations available.If a command line and a terminal really turns you on,go with Ubuntu.

My previous question should answer that. Stick to Windows.

Much will also depend on the sums involved and your risk tolerance.  If you are only going to have a few hundred or few thousand euros or dollars on there, it will be different than if you will have more.

For larger sums, Linux is the clear winner due to security. 

Likewise, will this be a "connect to the internet once to get the software then never do it again since you have hundreds of thousands of euros or dollars on it" or "always connected" computer?

Expressing my opinion here:  Linux all the way.  I do computer security and network engineering.  Ubuntu is a nice simple place to start out on your linux journey.  They have pretty good driver support for those that don't know how to go and find drivers on their own.  I have moved on to a custom install distro to capture more control but it isn't really needed.  Whether or not you decide to use Windows or Linux I would urge you to pause and think about running ANY computer online where the private keys/SEED reside on the drive platter, including even if they are encrypted within a wallet.  For 100 bucks or less you can acquire a state of the art hardware wallet and eliminate the inherent risks of being online.

As a linux newbie it would be very incumbent for you to do some basic research before buying a laptop.  Some models just work with linux right out of the box so to speak.  With others, driver acquisition can be tasking for a linux "minnow".

Or he can just buy a laptop which comes pre-installed with one of the Linux Distros ?A lot of new laptops have that option,also it saves on the operating system costs spent on Windows.Learning linux can be get cumbersome ,not if they take a crash course on of the free websites.

I do prefer linux over windows for mining, I think Linux gives me more usage and control.

I am not sure what you mean by "fancy" but Linux is nothing like Windows.  A basic machine will run at lightning speed compared to Windows on the same machine.  Its a cleaner and much leaner running OS.  Frankly, if you had (or are willing to acquire) the skillset you can easily run both Windows and Linux on the same machine.  Its somewhat easy to make them completely independent of each other using full independent encryption.  This will eliminate any cross-talk from even the realm of possibility.  Configured tightly there is no chance for either OS to even know each other exists even though they are on the same drive.  I have some machines with half a dozen unique OS's and none can see each other even if they wanted to.  Just depends upon how much you want to learn.   BTC software is very fundamental and the resources needed are super small.  Security is paramount not mainframe horsepower.  That security comes from your configuration expertise.

If you know what you're doing and have experience with linux, than always go for linux, much better, safer, faster option.
And you'll have more control over your OS also.

i would be more extreme here, regarding the latest security exploit on windows : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/0/ransomware-does-work/
This is one more reason to forget windows and burry him in the "bad techs cemetry", once i have been told by a member of the forum that BSD is one of the best because of the time they take to release updates or new packages as they have a very special way to work, usually they don't release a package untill he is totally ready. It is simply the opposite of windows.

Go with Linux all the way now that this nasty ransomware has hit 300 countries of the world. The most common way to be infected is to click an attachment in an email. I had one at work a few days ago and we format the PC as luckily we had backup of all data. We didn't have premium antivirus at that PC. With this happenings there are 2 ways for the wallet software, keep using windows but keep the seed of  your wallets if you are using a HD wallet in different places, USB, external HDD etc so if you get hit by this ransomware , you just format your PC and reinstall electrum and restore from seed.
Or be smart and install Linux.

If security and privacy are important to you then there is no doubt in my mind you need to go with any Linux distribution you may like, a favorite of many users is Ubuntu since it is very easy to use and feels similar to windows without all the bugs and backdoors windows has of course.

You can always do a dual-boot setup and install both Linux/ Windows with a GRUB bootloader etc.

Or a Virtualbox setup installed on Windows for when you want to run a Linux OS.
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/VirtualBox

Personally I think its good to have access to both.
Open source Linux is better but takes more work to set up usually. Definitely worth learning if you are serious about checking code and learning to compile things yourself.

Here's a small snippet in Python, which creates you Private key, Public key and address. Especially for those, who don't believe anyone, cause using this code, literally only you can know your private key :)

1. install Linux
2. Use pip to install pybitcoin tools - https://github.com/vbuterin/pybitcointools (written by Vitalik Buterin BTW!)
3. Generate all the stuff:

>>> from bitcoin import *
>>> private_key = "28da5896199b85a7d49b0736597dd8c0d0c0293f130bf3e3e1d102e0041b1293"
>>> public_key = privtopub(private_key)
>>> public_key
'0497e922cac2c9065a0cac998c0735d9995ff42fb6641d29300e8c0071277eb5b4e770fcc086f32 2339bdefef4d5b51a23d88755969d28e965dacaaa5d0d2a0e09'
>>> address = pubtoaddr(public_key)
>>> address
'1LwPhYQi4BRBuuyWSGVeb6kPrTqpSVmoYz'

That's it :)

No reason not to use Linux but you really should be thinking about using a hardware wallet for as many of your cryptocurrencies as are supported by Trezor or Nano S.

My advice is to install VMware Workstation. Install a Windows system and completely update it but don't install anything on it. Then create what is called "Linked Clones". Make a linked clone for EACH and every one of your crypto currencies. You can probably put Litecoin and Bitcoin on the first one, but each shitcoin should have it's own VM.

You will notice some shitcoins only really have a Linux wallet. If that's the case then do the same thing with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.

What I do is a bit different. I have an install of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. I use what is called LXC containers. Each LXC container has a node on it. One for bitcoin, one for litecoin, a few for shitcoins, etc. But I'm a lot more technically apt than most people.

I would also completely blow away your laptop and perform a vanilla installation of Windows 10 without all the bloatware. Most importantly, do not browse the internet or install anything else on it.

I bought a second machine recently ( an HP netbook ), mainly because I wanted a machine to use off grid, so I got one without a fan, and with an SSD. I was shocked by the "extras" in the Windows 10 that was installed, and I decided that it was insecure with all the Microsoft tracking and reporting -Cortana, cloud saving, and various other things. I reformatted the drive, and installed Ubuntu without any difficulty. I bought an external SSD for the blockchain storage for two reasons - the internal drive wasn't really large enough, and I felt that the detachable drive gave me extra security.

I've had no problems at all with running core, and you can use the Ubuntu updater to keep your node software up to date.

You will find it cheaper to buy a Windows machine and wipe the disk, than to buy a Linux machine. This is because the Windows machine comes loaded with trials and "free" software that poses a security risk in my opinion. The Linux machine will run faster as well.

The problem is many OEM Windows machines will not run Linux due to compatibility problems. HP laptops are famous for rejecting Ubuntu installs. Dell and Lenovo, not so much. If you go this route check the laptop for compatibility at https://certification.ubuntu.com/certification/

System76 sells laptops with Ubuntu loaded ready to go. A bit pricey though. Whatever you do try to get yourself an SSD you will be amazed at the speed.

By the looks of it, the NSA tools that were leaked are mostly targeting Windows operating systems and these Malware attacks and Ransomware are also predominantly on Windows. I bought several second hand computers and notebooks and use them for different tasks.

I have a bootable Tails {Linux based} DVD that I clean boot with to do some of my Bitcoin related tasks. < This method, reduce the risk of having spyware and malware and keyloggers being installed and collecting data of everything I do >

I also use one to create paper wallets < This one will never connect to the internet again >

Do not use one OS, try multiple operating systems for different tasks. ^smile^

That's not the fresh news.Windows Kernal is easily exploitable.NSA's tools were leaked on purpose.It's an inside,planned job.

Why not just  install grub bootloader and keep windows along ? The interesting part is,if my hard disk ever fails due to system issues,I can always login from Linux and back it up.

Windows laptop with a Linux boot usb stick

I imagine it will be easier to compile for linux, but easier to reach a larger audience with a windows executable. Depends on the overall goal of the new coin. I run my wallet on an offline linux machine.

Try using debian linux, I am also one of the people who use linux variant, operating system which I think is very safe for your wallet.

 8)
Linux is most recommended.....

A USB stick with ubuntu isn't that good, as you are very limited.
You have a hundred ways to generate a bitcoin keypair, just pick the one you want to use.

If you are really aware of security, you can use virtualbox to create a temporar Linux machine, regardless of the flavor, and then from there you can generate private and public key, address, and create your transactions, once it is done, just backup the keys, write them down, and delet the machine.

It is one the safest ways to work with bitcoin.

In my opinion, Linux is better than Window. :)

For Me It's Window But The More Secured Is Lunix Obviously
And Vmweare exist For this Situation  :D

Linux is a highly secure operating system. ... But as the operating system with largest user it is the primary target for malicious coders. As a result, of all major systems, Microsoft Windows is the most likely to be the victim of viruses.

Using a terminal may be easier than you think, especially in Linux. Get comfortable in it and you'll quickly learn how powerful it is.I'd recommend using Linux for your case. Even if you dislike the terminal and want to stick to GUI, that's no problem too in Linux. In general, a Linux OS is much more stable and reliable than Windows, there's no sketchy background processes and no automatic updates. Give it a shot ;)

This is true, but I have noticed that Linux has problems running in some laptops and weird bugs appear so if the laptop is compatible I will recommend Linux but if it is not then I will recommended windows instead.

for me I go for a Linux OS for a software wallet.
but in my research on bitcoin wallet I found out that these is not recommended for a better wallet for some issues in personal hardware like pc or laptop because this hardware can easily be stolen, hacked or even damage instantly.

That is very common, usually in the download section for most things you will find:

Download link for Windows: A compiled, ready to run package with binaries, sometimes even an installer. Just unpack and run.

Download link for Linux: Source code package for compilation that requires specific knowledge


It is frustrating sometimes, especially when you don't know how to compile or dependencies are missing and there is no information available.


If you can afford the problems, take your time to learn how to compile things in Linux, then go Linux.

If you can afford the extra cost of Windows, and you are satisfied with it then go Windows.


I'm Linux user myself, and I can tell you it is pretty frustrating when you want to run a program and it does not compile and they have it as an installer for the Windows and/or Mac.

Note to developers: Please explain what are the dependencies of your program detailed, accurately. What is used to compile and all. PLEASE!

Linux for every aspect: security, ease of installation and future-proof.