Bitcoin Forum

This project has been obsoleted. Please go here (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13055.0).

If you found this virtual appliance helpful, feel free to send lots of bitcoins to 1KAtZFDWYVt6hZPzJjGh7dByq9SmFMjrTi

Because a lot of people are having trouble running bmc (https://gitorious.org/black-market) (the GLBSE (http://glbse.com/) client software) on Windows I decided to put together a virtual appliance. This has some nice advantages even if you aren't having problems. For instance, you can keep the appliance on an encrypted USB stick for additional security and portability.

The virtual appliance currently requires 64MB of RAM and about 1.1GB of hard drive space when installed.

Getting Started

1. Download and install the free VMware Player (http://www.vmware.com/go/downloadplayer/). (If you already have another VMware product installed, you can skip this step.) You will need to restart your computer after the installation completes.
http://oi56.tinypic.com/2cejm1i.jpg

2. Download the virtual appliance (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24777749/bmc-0.1.zip) (current version: 0.1) zip file and extract its contents somewhere on your hard drive or USB stick.
http://oi54.tinypic.com/hx24bp.jpg

3. Double-click the bmc.vmx file to start the virtual appliance.
http://oi56.tinypic.com/2dkww2h.jpg

4. The first time you run it, VMware Player will ask you if you moved or copied the virtual machine. Choose I copied it. If you install to a USB stick or Truecrypt container and see this message later, choose I moved it.
http://oi55.tinypic.com/2hhi0ec.jpg

5. It will ask you for your keyboard layout and time zone, then the virtual appliance will restart itself.

6. Login as user bmc with password bmc. You can now use the GLBSE as shown in the tutorial (https://gitorious.org/black-market/pages/Tutorial).
http://oi53.tinypic.com/f0yb9x.jpg

If VMware asks you to install the VMware Tools, you can safely ignore the message by choosing Remind Later or Never Remind. VMware Tools was not used for this machine since it would have dramatically increased the necessary disk space.

Every time you restart the virtual machine, it will automatically download and install the latest version of bmc from its git repository.

Note that while using the virtual machine, your keyboard and mouse will be locked to it. This is a restriction imposed by VMware. To unlock the keyboard and mouse so you can switch to other programs, tap the left Ctrl and left Alt keys at the same time. To return to the VMware window, press Ctrl-G or click inside it.

Some other stuff you might want to do

passwd - Changes your login password. (This does NOT change your passphrase for accessing GLBSE!)
sudo halt - Shuts down the virtual machine.
sudo reboot - Reboots the virtual machine.

Can I trust this?

The virtual appliance is built from Debian 6 (squeeze) and the sources are available from the Debian mirrors. Further, debsums is installed and can be used to verify the integrity of the installed packages (http://raphaelhertzog.com/2011/02/21/debian-cleanup-tip-4-find-broken-packages-and-reinstall-them/). All changes I have made are isolated to /opt and /etc/rc.local with a symlink for bmc in /usr/local/bin. These changes allow for the virtual machine to ask users for their time zone and keyboard layout, as well as keeping bmc updated, and are plainly readable.

To do

Make it easier to move files into and out of the virtual machine; ssh/scp is available but this isn't particularly easy for Windows users.

Ensure that the virtual machine clock remains in sync if the virtual machine is left running for a long period of time.

Implement a GUI if people want it. This would also allow for installation of VMware Tools which would eliminate the clock sync problem and the keyboard/mouse lock issue.

Enjoy!

If you found this virtual appliance helpful, feel free to send lots of bitcoins to 1KAtZFDWYVt6hZPzJjGh7dByq9SmFMjrTi  ;D

Thank you for the aplication. I will be using this but will however have no money to send to you, I am sorry but I just don't. It looks good though and I will try it in a few days.

Nice.

After a little prodding on the irc chan (bullying more like) there is demand for a web client for the exchange. Someone (can't remember who) said we don't have an exchange, we have a toy exchange....that hurt(I hope you feel guilty whoever you are).

After spending a little time investigating I've learned that yes, we can have a client built entirely from within the browser in javascript (RSA and the various needed parts for RSA signing and authentication are available).

So once we have a little more functionality on the command line client (coming this weekend) done then that's it, we'll be focusing our development on a web interface.

I always figured the command line client was going to be just a proof of concept, and the real interface would come later. :)

Thats right, it's just the command line client is the only thing we have right now.

Even so, I'd like to hear from anybody who finds this appliance useful. :)

so i can download this onto a USB stick?  can it only be run thru a Windows computer or a Mac too?  does the VMWare install go on the USB stick too?

Is there any estimate of a new gui client?

I think 2 weeks at the earliest.

OK, good to know I am just worried to use it in case I make a mistake, or people don't want to use it to buy my stocks because of the nature of it being a pain in the a**. It is very promising looking, and I will definetly want to use it in the future.

No problem, wait until the web UI is done before using, I understand.

As far as I know, there's no VMware for the Mac. Though Macs can run the client directly and don't particularly need this.

As for installing VMware itself to a USB stick, this may or may not work. I haven't tried it myself. To be safe, I'd keep the installer around.

where do i put the .blackmarket3.rsa file?

You're copying one into the virtual machine? Put it in the home directory /home/bmc .

not a good idea?

I am currently having an issue where whenever I use a command that starts with bmc.py is says command not found.  ???
Can I have some help.
Edit- Nevermind, the wiki tutorial lists many commands as bmc.py while they are actually just bmc

In windows cmd, i always type bm & click tab, it will fill as bmc.py, then i type folio to see my shares.

There's nothing wrong with it, but keep in mind it is your private key and should be kept secure.

The only issue I am having now is there is no way to create an asset with this client. Can you please provide a solution.
Thank you,
Pwrleveld

I can't provide a solution without knowing what the problem is. Did you attempt to create an asset?

Yes, I attempted to create an asset, then I realized you need acces to the file you are creating the asset with. I would need to put the file in the virtual hardrive. It could be done if there is a way to mount the virtual harderives though.

well the file is usually just a textfile, so you could use a text editor like vim. Or gedit if there's a gui

This is still the next item on the to-do list, but so far I've seen virtually no interest from people wanting to see it developed further.

This project has been obsoleted. Please go here (http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13055.0).

Existing users should copy their .blackmarket3.rsa file out of the virtual machine into secure storage prior to shutting it down for the last time and migrating to the new platform.

Thanks for your hard work error.