Thank you for that clear and concise explanation. For a change, I believe I actually understood that. I take it that option 2 is the only current viable "light client" available and currently that only will run on Android or similar. So it looks like non Android users are back with the Full Node.
I'm pretty sure that Electrum uses a similar method for desktop machines, but I'm not sure about how ready that client is. The last I heard it was still beta. True, but aren't all desktop clients currently alpha or beta? Electrum has come a long way since the beginning of the year, has no known major bugs, and its main developer (ThomasV) has proven to be extremely responsive and open to suggestions. FWIW, I have been comfortable using it as my main wallet for about 3 months now, and feel that it can really be a nice first choice for new users. (To be honest, MultiBit is also VERY promising in that respect, were it not for the lack of support for encryption at this time.) I would suggest to give it a try to get a first-hand feeling of its learning curve and stability. Full disclosure: I'm a big Electrum fan (as you can probably tell!) - and I also make stand-alone Windows builds for it. |
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Just curious, what's keeping this from working on a Mac?
I think you just need to have the right libraries installed. I run a Mac and after I installed the requisite libraries with macports, everything runs just fine. (I just installed the libraries listed as required for linux) Nice, perhaps the homepage could mention Mac support then? |
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Indeed better forget about setup.py on windows, at least for now. What happens when you run electrum manually, by typing "Python electrum" at the cmd prompt?
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Neat chart. What do the  represent? Thanks! In the chart, this symbol simply means 'feature supported, but...' . Hover the mouse pointer over it to show some brief additional information. |
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Regarding the "local blockchain validation", there are acually three levels: - Do all validation on a trusted server ("lightweight mode"): Electrum
- Trust the longest chain, but do not validate it ("SPV mode"): MultiBit
- Fully validate the chain ("full mode"): Satoshi (and indirectly, Armory)
This may be too detailed for the audience you aim at, but it's not entirely correct to claim that MultiBit does local chain validation. Also, key import/export in the Satoshi code probably needs a +/-, as you need the command-line instead of Bitcoin-Qt for this. Indeed, I wouldn't want this chart to get too technical, but I have updated it based on your feedback. Thanks! |
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Armory and Electrum are Windows / Linux only AFAIK.
+1... An OS row is needed IMHO... OK, due to popular demand, I've just added such a row.  |
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Actually Mac support appears to be quite shaky and there are no official binaries available yet. |
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Nice chart. How about adding Operating System to it? Also, how about a row for mobile support too.
Actually, I'm hesitant to add a row for OS support because I'm trying to focus on key differentiators, and as far as I can tell, the 4 clients in the chart do support all major OSes (Windows, MacOSX, Linux) - someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Regarding mobile support: Perhaps a separate chart for mobile clients would work best - I'll think about making one too, as time permits... I would like this table to stay focused on desktop clients and remain as uncluttered as possible so it can be easy and quick to read for new users. |
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If you're on Windows or Linux, but want a safe, but lighter alternative to the Bitcoin client (no blockchain download required!), you can also try out Electrum... I bet you'll like it! I've also started to maintain a quick comparison chart for Bitcoin wallet clients for the desktop. Hopefully it will help you choose what's best for you. All the clients listed in the chart are open source and recommended by the official bitcoin.org website (at that page) just one issue with your chart, the Fast sync (<1min) section, technically Multi-bit or Electrum don't have any sync. Electrum just queries it's server to get the lastest blockchain information and multi-bit just doesn't worry about blockchain before the address were created. So honestly that isn't syncing it more of how they handle the blockchains. Thanks for your feedback. Electrum and MultiBit DO sync some data to an extent, but not the full blockchain like Bitcoin-Qt does. I have updated my chart to make the distinction clearer (renamed 'fast sync' to 'fast initial setup' and added a new 'local blockchain validation' row) |
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If you're on Windows or Linux, but want a safe, but lighter alternative to the Bitcoin client (no blockchain download required!), you can also try out Electrum... I bet you'll like it! I've also started to maintain a quick comparison chart for Bitcoin wallet clients for the desktop. Hopefully it will help you choose what's best for you. All the clients listed in the chart are open source and recommended by the official bitcoin.org website (at that page) |
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Thanks, glad that you like it! |
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your table has to make some sort of distinction btwn "server based" and "locally held clients".
i don't know Electrum as well as i should but i believe that the generation and encryption of deterministic wallets and the holding of private keys is on the client side. that is good. my only concern, which might be an invalid one, is that once private local keys are decrypted a malicious server could somehow upload the keys. someone correct me if i'm wrong.
i admittedly use and like Armory b/c of the offline tx signing which in my opinion is superior. again, correct me if i'm wrong.
I've put in a mention that Electrum relies on remote servers (which are open source as well). About the risk of a malicious server: the Stratum protocol doesn't allow for any executable code or scripts, so "uploading the keys" is impossible IMHO. The worst thing a malicious server could do, in theory, is lie about your balance. However, note that I'm not an expert in the Electrum technicalities, better ask ThomasV for an authoritative answer. Also Electrum DOES support offline transactions already, but only through the command-line at this time. Armory's GUI-based support for them is clearly more intuitive IMHO. |
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Isn't the satoshi client portable? I mean, if you put the client and the blockchain on the usb drive it should work without problems. You have to put in the parameters to tell it to use the blockchain on the usb drive but except that it should work...
Hi, thanks, I will test this when I get a chance. I'm mostly worried about whether the performance is bearable, and initial setup duration (downloading the blockchain to a USB drive...) |
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Wallet encryption was added in 0.4.0 (though it was flawed, initially; it sometimes left traces of the unencrypted keys on disk for a while).
If you have an encrypted wallet, the encrypted keys are loaded into memory, and only decrypted when necessary (after asking for a passphrase). When using the RPC interface, you can ask to keep the passphrase cached for a while, but even then, the actual keys are not decrypted until needed.
Thanks for the info, I have updated the chart. |
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Hi flatfly, That is a very handy chart for people to use when looking at the different bitcoin clients. By 'Portable' do you mean 'Can it run from a USB drive?' If so, you can run MultiBit off a USB drive for all of Mac/ Linux/ Windows as described here: http://multibit.org/help_runFromUSBDrive.htmlCheers, Jim Thanks Jim, I've updated the chart accordingly. |
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The Satoshi client also has the wallet encrypted while running.
Sorry, I must have missed this change. Has this been fixed recently? |
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Thanks for the feedback. I will first fix the incorrect information (in a few minutes), then I will start adding stuff.
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I've made this chart for my own usage, but thought it might help new users navigate through the existing options for Bitcoin clients. Note that I purposefully chose to focus on desktop-based (non web-based), open-source clients only. If others find the chart helpful, I can update it regularly, as new versions get released. Also feel free to suggest any other criteria that would be interesting to compare in a table format. And thanks for letting me know of any mistakes. Disclaimer: Although I have tried all the clients listed, I'm almost exclusively an Electrum user - and I make stand-alone Windows builds for it. |
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I don't think so. I have my email in that leaked database and never ever got one of those  Same, receive no spam at my gmail, word. Ah... Mistery solved. Gmail flushes them and they don't even reach the spam folder. Mine is a gmail also. Just curious, how did you determine that Gmail deletes them automatically? |
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...
But regardless, you should always see the correct global balance in the GUI.
Yes, I can see the total balance but not in detail, i.e. the amounts of the change addr are not displayed in the gui. Say a user imports some vanity addresses: 1customer1xxxxxxxxx, 1customer2xxxxxxxxx, 1customer3xxxxxxxxx, etc and for some reason he has to send a partial amount back to a customer, than he needs to see the remaining (partial) balance in the client (gui). For this purpose, it would be useful to get the change amount back to the source address. I also think that it would be very useful to see the balance of the change addr in the gui (it could be marked in some way for a better distinction). Agree, that would be a nice option to have! |
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