I decided to start this thread in order to help proliferate the amount of available nodes. It may sink like a stone, but come on people: get bitcoin core up and running if you have the resources.

I think I can just see my node on this map (west of Nottingham city centre, UK):

https://getaddr.bitnodes.io/

United Kingdom is currently at 378 (5.31% of global nodes).

Come on people:see if you can find your node and let's give bitcoin decentralisation a boost! 

Yup, now that my active connections are all used the website can't connect to me:



I understand how this works a little bit more now. 

The website getaddr.bitnodes.io worked after a restart and only 8 connections! It must be currently connectable because my maxconnections=12 haven't been saturated yet, so the site can currently connect to me.



I'll try again in a bit when I've got 12 connections. Currently on 9. 

Yeah, I've got maxconnections=12 set up in my .conf file to avoid hammering my upload bandwidth.

I'll check it again later when I'm home.

I suggest that upload throttling is included in 0.9.2.2.

I still can't check the getaddr.bitnodes.io site with my public address:8333.

It comes up with address not connected. I know I've got outgoing connections because my ethernet monitor sometimes sends at 150Kb/s without anything running and I've got 12 connections.

Is there something wrong with that site?

Why laminate? I've still got my birth certificate that's perfectly readable and is over 30 years old.

Just put your key in a sealed envelope and you'll be fine.

Also, store an identical copy at someone elses house in case of fire/burglary.

How do I find my own node on that site?

I know the 8333 bit, which I've got forwarded, but which IP do I use? Just the public IP that comes up when I google "what is my IP address"?

Kleopatra is a user friendly front end for PGP. There are both Windows and Linux versions.

Not sure about using it offline though. I'm not sure if it needs to be connected for initial setup, ie generating keys.

When the time comes to access your cold storage funds you can also import the private key by typing it into the import box in electrum wallet. Your funds, which have been dormant for a long time, will become instantly spendable in electrum.

Don't forget to move them to one of electrums pre-generated wallet addresses afterwards, though.

I recently bought 8gb RAM when I realised bitcoin core was using ~850mb of the 4 gig I had installed.

The upgrade cost me £45 for some decent Corsair gaming RAM (not top of the line, but not bad).

The way I see it: if you are willing to spend $500 on a bitcoin then it's the least you can do to support the network and help decentralisation. Even if you're a small fish in a big pond.

I'll tell you what's a decent high entropy password: running the serial number of your refrigerator through SHA256SUM.

Have you edited "maxconnections=" in bitcoin.conf? Set it to 12 and you should have the first 8 as outgoing connections, with the last 4 as incoming.

If there's a method for creating an address/key pair offline with greater random entropy than bitaddress.org then I would be interested in doing that.

I've asked about terminal scripts to do just that on these forums and the general consensus seems to be that bitaddress.org.html used offline and correctly is very safe.

We've been through this before. The chances of a collision, and therefore an attacker generating a private key for your cold storage address, is minimal.

If you have a better idea how to validate security of a newly generated address I'd love to hear it.

Thanks for the replies.

I think I'm gonna top up the old pay as you go SIM that I hardly ever use and keep it to one side for 2FA when SMS confirmation is required.

I'll disable mobile network connectivity and use my home wifi when I need an app to display 2FA codes.

If you encrypt your private key using PGP then you put yourself in a position where you have to store an extra file securely: your PGP key.

So now you have a Bitcoin key and a PGP key that must be hidden.

If you use BIP then you rely on blockchain.info staying compliant with current BIP standard in X amount of years time (and not being hacked/going out of business).

Why complicate things? Just put your (unencrypted) keys on pieces of paper somewhere that they are least likely to be found. Keep an exact copy in a loved ones house and if either of you gets burgled get your keys out ASAP and quickly move all funds to a new, temporary wallet.

I like the idea of using it as a 2FA device. I have an ancient Orange SIM in it that's rarely used, so I could use that for receiving SMS codes for 2FA.

Quite right in saying it's no good for cold storage, as the electronics have seen better days and it wouldn't be a surprise if they fail one day.

Quite right in not using it for a wallet for the same reason. It I need a portable wallet I'm better off using my shiny Nexus 4 and just keeping realistic amounts on it (under £100 in BTC).

I assume by RNG you mean random number generator? The bitaddress.org file has this covered by generating its own random entropy based on human interaction when it loads into your browser.

It could maybe be a little more sophisticated than just using random mouse movement and key clicking but that is down to if you are super-paranoid.

In any case, one can check out ones new address on blockchain.info before depositing to make sure that the randomness is good.

I've got an old HTC desire in the cupboard. It's seen better days: scratched, volume rocker missing, broken proximity sensor.

It's rooted and unlocked and loaded with an older version of Cyanogenmod ROM. The camera and touchscreen work fine, so it could be used with QR codes.

I was wondering if it would be any use as a portable bitcoin wallet or even cold storage. Is there any specialist software available to use a phone just as a wallet or can I just stick it in airplane mode and load a wallet APK onto it?

I wouldn't take my word for it: I'm not an expert. It just seems unlikely to me.

If you encrypt a file multiple times then as long as you use the correct password and software for each decryption layer you should end up with a copy of the original, unencrypted file.

Otherwise, what's the point?