Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Development & Technical Discussion => Topic started by: m4rkiz on May 08, 2011, 06:52:12 PM



Title: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: m4rkiz on May 08, 2011, 06:52:12 PM
most of the people on that forum don't really need that (as they [we] are bit on a geeky side) , but as bitcoin gains more and more popularity it have to have proper backup solution
(average windows user don't even know that there is such file as \Users\user\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\wallet.dat or if it is important)

next, before era of bitcoin clents that are actually working on your mobile devices, why not to have your bitcoin client with you on pendrive?
(after all you most likely won't need to send bitcoins unless it is linked to some other activity as online purchase, currency trading, and that mean you will have access to some pc)

so one simple solution - http://portableapps.com (http://portableapps.com)

can be copied into another place\medium with all necessary data
can be stored in truecrypt traveller disk container or to keep it simple in password protected zip archive (although that need additional shredder app for deleting wallet  to be safe - still, good for holding some every day wallet with just few btc)

any opinions? (i can't create a pool - either not allowed in this subforum or may be due to fact that i'm still newbie)


Title: Re: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: Matt Corallo on May 08, 2011, 06:56:10 PM
Frankly, I would much more like to see more people using mybitcoin-style sites (though I suppose I'd more like to see better and more mybitcoin-style sites set up by trusted parties).  tcatm's js-ui works brilliantly on Android and pretty well on iPhone, plus Spesmilo and the chrome plugin and I could see a ton of use for a mybitcoin-style site which supports RPC calls to it (virtualized bitcoind instances).

I know, I know distributed and such, but if you are talking about the average end-user here anyway, no one cares whether its a central authority or not.


Title: Re: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: ribuck on May 08, 2011, 07:06:02 PM
I'd like to see a Bitcoin installation for the Ben NanoNote (http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote), a cheap and ultra-small piece of Linux hardware that includes a tiny keyboard and a 320x240 display. Everything is open and readily hackable.

http://en.qi-hardware.com/w/images/thumb/7/78/Nano_cola.jpg/400px-Nano_cola.jpg

You could carry your Bitcoin wallet in your pocket.


Title: Re: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: m4rkiz on May 08, 2011, 07:06:49 PM
i agree, but there is few problems there:

unless there is more than just one or two sites, and they are running for longer period of time (to prove that they are legit) portable solution might be better
vide - mtgox down few days ago due to DDoS, if there is only one person that runs site like that it might be impossible to access your funds if something happens to him etc.

each solution have good and bad sides, just wanted to know if anyone except me would use that - if not then i'm not going to proceed with that topic on their forum


Title: Re: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: m4rkiz on May 08, 2011, 07:08:06 PM
I'd like to see a Bitcoin installation for the Ben NanoNote (http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote), a cheap and ultra-small piece of Linux hardware that includes a tiny keyboard and a 320x240 display. Everything is open and readily hackable.

You could carry your Bitcoin wallet in your pocket.

AFAIR someone made client for n900, that may be close enough depending on cpu in that thingy


Title: Re: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: Matt Corallo on May 08, 2011, 07:10:59 PM
unless there is more than just one or two sites, and they are running for longer period of time (to prove that they are legit) portable solution might be better
vide - mtgox down few days ago due to DDoS, if there is only one person that runs site like that it might be impossible to access your funds if something happens to him etc.

each solution have good and bad sides, just wanted to know if anyone except me would use that - if not then i'm not going to proceed with that topic on their forum
No, I agree, there are many problems with such an idea, but there are also people who can fix them easily.  Such as Gavin's Clearcoin and such is incorporated and people know and trust his real-world identity.  There is also instawallet. 

AFAIR someone made client for n900, that may be close enough depending on cpu in that thingy
Great, so how do I sync my wallets securely?  No, copy wallet.dat to my phone is not secure.  I don't want to (nor do I think any non-techies will want to) send coins back and forth to their different wallets. 


Title: Re: Portable Bitcoin Client
Post by: singpolyma on May 08, 2011, 07:12:36 PM
Frankly, I would much more like to see more people using mybitcoin-style sites

Yeah.  There are definite trust issues, but there are anyway.  I like https://www.instawallet.org for this sort of thing, because it's so easy for a new user to set up.  Just visit the site and bookmark it.  Done.