Bitcoin Forum

After successfully setting up my  first air gapped  device with the help of my fellow Bitcoin takers I wanted to proceed to the next step which was setting up a wallet which will be totally offline.
With the advice I got on using an open source operating system, coupled with some research I decided  to uninstall and replace the windows OS with Linux software. I then did some research about good offline wallets  I came across the TREZOR model 1 and ledger nano s.
I am having a hard time choosing one of the two and I am quite concerned about how to get the software as safe as possible to avoid installing a malware alongside,which could put my device at risk.

Why do you need an offline wallet when you already have an airgapped device? You need an online wallet connected to the Internet in order to broadcast the transaction. Create that wallet in a safe environment, such as creating a new, clean, open source operating system next to your operating system, or using an old computer and making sure that you delete the old data and use an open source operating system.
As for wallet options, you have Electrum and Sparrow (if you want easier integration with hardware wallets).

If you carefully go through this thread you may be able to get the solution to what you seek. Which Bitcoin wallet to use (by Lauda)  (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1631151.0) It gives explanation for any of those two wallet you are confused about , in addition to more other bitcoin wallets.

First of all, Ledger hardware wallet is not a recommended wallet. If you will not go for Trezor coinjoin which is from Wasabi, you can buy Trezor Model 1, or Trezor Model T for more supported coins. The recommended buy bitcoin-only hardware wallet, I will recommend Passport.

But hardware wallet and wallet on airgapped devices are different topics. If you do not need airgapped wallet, you can use Passport. But if you need airgapped wallet, you can use Electrum or Sparrow on an airgapped device.

You can read this guide: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5328271.msg56705405#msg56705405

The guide is about sweeping of bitcoin, but it contains how to use Electrum offline on an airgapped devices.

I will definitely read the thread so I can get my air gapped wallet on the go
thanks for the information Bitcoin talkers

Both of these wallets will be a good way to store your coins since your keys will be stored on your device. You will be required to carefully store the seed phrase so that it does not get to anyone other than you and also so that you can always have access to it if necessary.

Perhaps the biggest danger would be if it turns out that developers have access to user keys, as was recently mentioned about the Ledger Nano X. Of course, they were only talking about the possibility of a backdoor for the Nano X model, but this alerted users anyway.

Can you briefly describe what your set up is? What is your airgapped device? How is it airgapped?

Although you can absolutely combined a hardware wallet with an airgapped device, the benefit from doing so is fairly marginal. If you have a truly airgapped and permanently airgapped computer, then using a software wallet such as Electrum or Sparrow is usually sufficient. If not, then an airgapped hardware wallet such as Passport will be the way to go instead.

I wouldn't recommend that thread anymore. It is three years out of date, and will only get worse as time goes on given Lauda is no longer active. It suggests wallets which no longer exist (such as Jaxx and Bread), it suggests wallets which are no longer recommended (such as Wasabi, Ledger, and Trezor), and it misses out some of the best wallets available (such as Sparrow and Passport).

Trezor Wallet is quite amazing, when you want to store the key offline, it can help a lot. We have always worked in wallets online, like I TrustWallet, Metamask wallet, and many more.
Although I didn't use the Trezor wallet I had read about it in some articles. And that is quite nice to use it offline. Also nowadays too many hackers are there, so there are a lot of possibilities to be hacked, but the Trezor wallet has a beneficial aspect in that the private key will not be shared with anyone, not on the internet.
And more precisely, it doesn't require any customer fee at all, it is free to use. So, I think it would be a great choice to use it. I will also try to use its features.

Don't mix apples and oranges, because Trezor or Ledger are not offline or cold wallets, because at some point you still have to connect them to the internet, whether it's about doing a firmware update or a coin app update. And what fee are you talking about? Each device has its own price, and each transaction you make on such a device also has its own fee.

If you ever get the chance to use a hardware wallet, I advise you to try to understand some basic things before using it, because regardless of how good a device is, the human is usually the weakest link.

You did not know what is an air gap wallet that is totally offline.

Creating your air gap wallet and wanting to have a wallet totally offline?

You can use Electrum wallet to set up an airgap wallet too but it must be on an air gap device. It depends on how you set up your wallet and how you use that device online or offline.

Creating an offline wallet (https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html)
Creating a Cold Storage wallet in Electrum (https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-a-cold-storage-wallet-in-electrum/)

OP, I would also like to hear from you: which Linux system did you choose? In the same way, please answer how quickly you were able to master this axis, and do you have problems understanding the command line and installing wallets in this system? If you're learning things step by step and pretty quickly, it would be interesting to hear about your steps. ;) ;) ;)

Note; I would like to hear answers only from the OP, as a real-time practitioner.



https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5467534.msg62878416#msg62878416
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5467534.msg62878508#msg62878508
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5467534.msg62879127#msg62879127
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Moreover, OP, you were recently given a good guide on wallets and explained which wallets would be the most optimal to use. Do you even read user responses? In your opinion, everything you wrote here completely discourages discussion on this topic. Do you really need help? Or merit?

Sorry for my late reply @lovesmayfamilis I had some issues with my network service provider.
I am new to the Linux interface however I do have some basic knowledge about software and operating systems so it wasn't very difficult for me to use the Linux OS.However I had a hard time installing the Linux software on my device but I was able to navigate through using some articles and YouTube videos I could not carry out the installation of the Linux software seamlessly I even had to do the installation twice.I used the Linux Ubuntu Os for the PC.
For the air gapping I used a HP Compaq 6910p PC I disconnected the networking components but I left the USB components as it was the medium I used to carry out the Linux installation.
I made this post because I really needed the help.after the air gapping process I got some contradictions on setting up a wallet. But with the help of these threads;
https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html
https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-a-cold-storage-wallet-in-electrum/
I have been able to sort it out by using an electrum wallet on the air gapped device thank you all for the information.