Electrum - Bitcoin client for the common users (friendly and instant)

[ErebusBat]

Hi Peeps, I'm having problems. The Windows version has been running fine so far so I thought I'd install Electrum on my Ubuntu Linux system too, and it's got a problem. I was given the choice to generate a new wallet or type in an existing seed. I chose the latter so I could type in the seed I generated with the Windows version. But it has been unable to create the wallet, and it seems to be because the client isn't connecting to any servers.

So could somebody tell me why the client isn't connecting to servers? The internet connection here is fine (I'm posting after all!). My client has the standard list of four servers. Oddly, I have a pair of radio buttons that notionally allow me to choose between the tcp and http protocols, but they're stuck on tcp, I cannot select http. Could this be anything to do with the main problem?

Did you try the bytesizedhosting server.

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[Nancarrow]

Heh, yes I just did a split second before you posted. It appears it didn't work with port 50000. I changed that to port 50001 because that's what the other three servers say (I don't really understand what I'm talking about in case it isn't obvious) and it started working!

Should I change it back to 50000 or leave it at 50001?

Also the transactions in my history, my receiving addresses, and my contact addresses, don't have the labels I gave them in my Windows client. I presume it's just a matter of copying over some configuration file?

[Tachikoma]

Hi Peeps, I'm having problems. The Windows version has been running fine so far so I thought I'd install Electrum on my Ubuntu Linux system too, and it's got a problem. I was given the choice to generate a new wallet or type in an existing seed. I chose the latter so I could type in the seed I generated with the Windows version. But it has been unable to create the wallet, and it seems to be because the client isn't connecting to any servers.

So could somebody tell me why the client isn't connecting to servers? The internet connection here is fine (I'm posting after all!). My client has the standard list of four servers. Oddly, I have a pair of radio buttons that notionally allow me to choose between the tcp and http protocols, but they're stuck on tcp, I cannot select http. Could this be anything to do with the main problem?

There still is a problem with connecting to servers with no wallet present. We haven't been able to find it just yet.

Try using electrum.bytesized-hosting.com on port 50001, it's possible it's set to the wrong port in your version. Then shut down the app and start it up again, see if that helps.

[tradevice]

hi
I am using electrum 1.01-e (windoze flatfly compact build, )
I was not able to connect to any server due to some reason(possibly firewall problem, note icon was red, blocks -1)
thomasv from IRC told me to manually change <connect to > field to
electrum.novit.ro:8081:h

it worked and network went green

now my question:

I didnt set any passwords with electrum client. I cannot change existing passwords (there are two pwd areas, one is python other is wallet encryption area)
are there some default passwords?

[flatfly]

hi
I am using electrum 1.01-e (windoze flatfly compact build, )
I was not able to connect to any server due to some reason(possibly firewall problem, note icon was red, blocks -1)
thomasv from IRC told me to manually change <connect to > field to
electrum.novit.ro:8081:h

it worked and network went green

now my question:

I didnt set any passwords with electrum client. I cannot change existing passwords (there are two pwd areas, one is python other is wallet encryption area)
are there some default passwords?

Hi, there is no default password. It is empty. What happens if you just set one, do you get an error message? The 2nd area is to confirm your new password, just type it again. 

[tradevice]

hi
with python pwd area:(seed)
if i didnt type any text and press <enter>, it doesnt complain

with pwd area (with 3 text boxes)
I leave first text box empty and type some new pwd into new and confirm areas, it complains and says incorrect password

this happens when I type in same pwd to both areas and different pwds to both areas

[flatfly]

hi
with python pwd area:(seed)
if i didnt type any text and press <enter>, it doesnt complain

with pwd area (with 3 text boxes)
I leave first text box empty and type some new pwd into new and confirm areas, it complains and says incorrect password

this happens when I type in same pwd to both areas and different pwds to both areas

hmmm strange... My best guess is that you inadvertently set a password on the first run, perhaps by typing something in the textboxes by mistake?

Anyway, if you don't have any coins yet in that wallet, i would recommend to rename the
electrum.dat file (in Application Data\Electrum) to start over again.

[ehmdjii]

i cant seem to install electrum:

Code:

root@kitsch:~/electrum# git pull
Already up-to-date.
root@kitsch:~/electrum#  sudo python setup.py install
/usr/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py:267: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'install_requires'
  warnings.warn(msg)
running install
running build
running build_py
file lib/icons_rc.py (for module electrum.icons_rc) not found
file lib/icons_rc.py (for module electrum.icons_rc) not found
running build_scripts
running install_lib
running install_scripts
changing mode of /usr/local/bin/electrum to 755
running install_data
error: can't copy 'data/icons/accounts.png': doesn't exist or not a regular file
root@kitsch:~/electrum#

[Tachikoma]

i cant seem to install electrum:

Code:

root@kitsch:~/electrum# git pull
Already up-to-date.
root@kitsch:~/electrum#  sudo python setup.py install
/usr/lib/python2.7/distutils/dist.py:267: UserWarning: Unknown distribution option: 'install_requires'
  warnings.warn(msg)
running install
running build
running build_py
file lib/icons_rc.py (for module electrum.icons_rc) not found
file lib/icons_rc.py (for module electrum.icons_rc) not found
running build_scripts
running install_lib
running install_scripts
changing mode of /usr/local/bin/electrum to 755
running install_data
error: can't copy 'data/icons/accounts.png': doesn't exist or not a regular file
root@kitsch:~/electrum#

Which branch are you trying to install here? I would advice you to always use the latest stable branch, 1.0 currently.

Code:

sudo pip install http://electrum-desktop.com/files/Electrum-1.0.tar.gz?\#md5\=ba94ba25c2abaa038cd4df9b2e1503ff

Or from your git repo

Code:

git fetch 
git checkout 1.0
python setup.py install

Let me know if that works, feel free to drop by irc if you need some more direct help.

[ehmdjii]

Code:

sudo pip install http://electrum-desktop.com/files/Electrum-1.0.tar.gz?\#md5\=ba94ba25c2abaa038cd4df9b2e1503ff

Or from your git repo

Code:

git fetch 
git checkout 1.0
python setup.py install

Let me know if that works, feel free to drop by irc if you need some more direct help.

if i do that, then i get

Code:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/electrum", line 27, in <module>
    from electrum.util import print_error
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/electrum/__init__.py", line 4, in <module>
    from simple_config import SimpleConfig
ImportError: No module named simple_config

about the branch: is the correct git location the one on github or the one on gitorious?

[Tachikoma]

Code:

sudo pip install http://electrum-desktop.com/files/Electrum-1.0.tar.gz?\#md5\=ba94ba25c2abaa038cd4df9b2e1503ff

Or from your git repo

Code:

git fetch 
git checkout 1.0
python setup.py install

Let me know if that works, feel free to drop by irc if you need some more direct help.

if i do that, then i get

Code:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/electrum", line 27, in <module>
    from electrum.util import print_error
  File "/usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/electrum/__init__.py", line 4, in <module>
    from simple_config import SimpleConfig
ImportError: No module named simple_config

about the branch: is the correct git location the one on github or the one on gitorious?

git branch returns 1.0 ?

Github one

[ehmdjii]

ok, so now i am using https://github.com/spesmilo/electrum.git and it works!
thanks!

[genjix]

Haven't been able to develop Electrum during last 2 weeks. I'm the main organiser of the Bitcoin conference and it's taking up all of my waking hours.

Once it's over, I plan to get back onto finishing the next release of Electrum.

[420session]

I am trying to setup electrum 1.01-e (windows flatfly compact build) on Win7 64bit.
Is it possible to generate a private key on brainwallet.org using a pass phrase and then using it in electrum instead of taking the default (12 random words) key?

I tried generating a key on brainwallet that contained letters/numbers/symbols and then chose restore when launching electrum.
I entered the same pass-phrase in the "Seed or mnemonic" field, left the gap limit to the default 5, clicked OK and got the error "I cannot decode this" then the client aborts. When I relaunch it, there is no prompt to create or restore a wallet.

Also is there a way to access the command line or help files from the windows GUI?
Sorry about the newb questions, I'm sure I'm missing something obvious 

[ThomasV]

I am trying to setup electrum 1.01-e (windows flatfly compact build) on Win7 64bit.
Is it possible to generate a private key on brainwallet.org using a pass phrase and then using it in electrum instead of taking the default (12 random words) key?

I tried generating a key on brainwallet that contained letters/numbers/symbols and then chose restore when launching electrum.
I entered the same pass-phrase in the "Seed or mnemonic" field, left the gap limit to the default 5, clicked OK and got the error "I cannot decode this" then the client aborts. When I relaunch it, there is no prompt to create or restore a wallet.

Also is there a way to access the command line or help files from the windows GUI?
Sorry about the newb questions, I'm sure I'm missing something obvious 

first: NEVER use brainwallet.org!!! this site looks like an obvious phishing attempt.

Second: if you want to generate a seed from a passphrase of your choice, well, it is possible, but very dangerous. Therefore, this approach is not encouraged, and the software should not facilitate this method.

if you want to know why, I suggest you read the discussions in the official Electrum thread, I don't want to repeat them here.

[keewee]

I have a question regarding passwords.

I'm not really sure I understand how this client is supposed to work, but if you use an encrypted wallet shouldn't it ask for the password every time the program is run? Mine goes straight into the application.

I'm running v1.01 on OS X Lion 10.8.1 if that helps

[Tachikoma]

I have a question regarding passwords.

I'm not really sure I understand how this client is supposed to work, but if you use an encrypted wallet shouldn't it ask for the password every time the program is run? Mine goes straight into the application.

I'm running v1.01 on OS X Lion 10.8.1 if that helps

Only when you need a need acess to your private keys. Try sending a payment and it should ask for your password.

[keewee]

I have a question regarding passwords.

I'm not really sure I understand how this client is supposed to work, but if you use an encrypted wallet shouldn't it ask for the password every time the program is run? Mine goes straight into the application.

I'm running v1.01 on OS X Lion 10.8.1 if that helps

Only when you need a need acess to your private keys. Try sending a payment and it should ask for your password.

That works as you describe. Thanks 

Now if a couple of irritating bugs can be fixed it'll be the perfect client for me. Have to send a bug report...

[BkkCoins]

Just forked Electrum and plan to do the items below. Please let me know if there is interest in creating a pull request to merge them back into master.

I'm just trying out Electrum for the first time after using normal client for the past year.
I would like to make a few tweaks for my own use and want to gauge it it's worth my time doing this properly with github and doing a pull request after. Otherwise I'll just tweak my local copy, which doesn't need me to get setup on github and doing things properly. My question is prompted by previous contributions to projects where after setting up everything I found my improvements were always ignored.

I would do the following if no one is currently working on them or planning to:

1. A setting that allows starting up in Pro Mode and skipping what I see as the useless small window currently the default.

2. SOCKS proxy support so the client can get to the server via an ssh tunnel when at public wifi locations (amongst other uses).

3. Have the current balance in local currency (fiat) on the Pro Mode window (like on the small regular startup window).

4. Have main window remember it's size and location on the desktop.

Also, is there a simple step by step intro/tutorial for standard way of doing github changes so that they get accepted.
Figured it out, was easy. Here: https://github.com/bkkcoins/electrum
Thx.

[ThomasV]

1. A setting that allows starting up in Pro Mode and skipping what I see as the useless small window currently the default.

2. SOCKS proxy support so the client can get to the server via an ssh tunnel when at public wifi locations (amongst other uses).

3. Have the current balance in local currency (fiat) on the Pro Mode window (like on the small regular startup window).

4. Have main window remember it's size and location on the desktop.

very nice! thanks a lot, I hope this gets merged soon.