[REQUEST] Developing Bootable Bitcoin-QT

[jubalix]

one point

if you build this a nice feature would be to have it work so transactions are done offline by signing, then transferred to another virtual running linux os inside, or other os that only happens when you hit send, an this is what accepts the signed instruction and connects, so it is auto air gapped. The primary os would have no internet driver or so it could not connect, or alternatively if the primary os had to have such this then the virtual os would be the one running you user gui client to make the signing.

This would be done behind the scene away from the user of course

[kostagr33k]

@jubalix that would be interesting but since this would be a USB wallet with an "offline" OS it might be overkill / more of a pain. IF you only go online with that USB drive to send , then I'd say you should be almost 99% safe from someone stealing your wallet.

For that to happen, they would have to know when you boot up that system in the short timeframe that it takes you to send coins. And since this system would be firewalled from any incoming connections, it would be fairly hard to get into it.


Kosta

[rme]

Bump

[doof]

good idea.

[rme]

Up

[devthedev]

This is a pretty slick idea! Like others have mentioned, Linux from Scratch is a pretty fantastic framework.

[blockgenesis]

This idea should probably not be made available for download until HD (deterministic) wallets are used in the bootable environment.

The reason for this is that in a temporary environment (or with cheap USB storage), there's plenty of risk for new unsaved Bitcoin addresses to be destroyed at shutdown. In case you don't know this, Bitcoin-Qt for instance always create a new Bitcoin address for each payment and moves the "change" of a transaction to this address. There's at least one case of someone who lost a lot of bitcoins in that exact same situation in the past.

Deterministic wallets will be (to my knowledge) immune to this problem, as all Bitcoin addresses generated by these wallets can be re-generated later if the wallet hasn't been saved correctly or when restoring an old backup.

[rme]

This idea should probably not be made available for download until HD (deterministic) wallets are used in the bootable environment.

The reason for this is that in a temporary environment (or with cheap USB storage), there's plenty of risk for new unsaved Bitcoin addresses to be destroyed at shutdown. In case you don't know this, Bitcoin-Qt for instance always create a new Bitcoin address for each payment and moves the "change" of a transaction to this address. There's at least one case of someone who lost a lot of bitcoins in that exact same situation in the past.

Deterministic wallets will be (to my knowledge) immune to this problem, as all Bitcoin addresses generated by these wallets can be re-generated later if the wallet hasn't been saved correctly or when restoring an old backup.

True, we can also change this request to "Developing Bootable Electrum Wallet".

This will save us from downloading the blockchain.

This way we only need a bootable cd + our wallet seed to import our wallet.

[kostagr33k]

Is electrum considered the "Safe way" to do it? I know I read in the past people prefer Bitcoin-qt as you have the whole block chain, and less of a chance to get duped.


Thanks

Kosta

[rme]

Is electrum considered the "Safe way" to do it? I know I read in the past people prefer Bitcoin-qt as you have the whole block chain, and less of a chance to get duped.


Thanks

Kosta

As I said in the post, I am not developing this, just presenting the idea to the comunity so someone may develop it.

The Bitcoin Core developers have telled to me that they have no time for this so the Electrum ones may have.

[super3]

Yeah having to download the blockchain would make this quite unusable. Essentially Electrum on LiveCD is all you need. Combine this with a hardware authentication method like YubiKey. Essentially a Trezor like solution for $30.

[rme]

We need that someone trusted develop a bootable Electrum with the same requirements as the first idea.

[super3]

We need that someone trusted develop a bootable Electrum with the same requirements as the first idea.

Put like a $500 bounty for the Electrum part. Probably not hard for someone with LiveCD skills. Just need to add an extra package, and recompile the LiveCD.

[frito_mosquito]

We need that someone trusted develop a bootable Electrum with the same requirements as the first idea.

Put like a $500 bounty for the Electrum part. Probably not hard for someone with LiveCD skills. Just need to add an extra package, and recompile the LiveCD.

I am actively working on this, although I am not sure I meet the 'trusted' requirement, as I am rather new to the community.  My plan is to be as transparent as possible, and include detailed instructions for creating the ISO yourself.

[frito_mosquito]

Looks like I may be out of my league.  Bitcoin needs an entire suit of linux distributions.  Cold Wallets. Hot wallets. Different node types. All these need their own, custom Linux distro, and possibly even kernel, built from scratch.  That is out of my league for the immediate future.

But that won't keep me from trying.  I will see if I can hack something together.

Regards,
Frito_Mosquito

[UncleBen]

If security is a higher goal for that application, why not use a slim and bootable version of OpenBSD with XServer as terminal system?
They don't even found a backdoor after a FBI affair, see: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2010/12/openbsd-code-audit-uncovers-bugs-but-no-evidence-of-backdoor/.

Their slogan: "Only two remote holes in the default install, in a heck of a long time!"

Just my 2BTCcents…

[jbis1]

I started working on an Electrum live cd. You can find the source at https://github.com/josephbisch/electrum-live-cd-amd64. Build instructions are found in README.md.

The main changes I made are in /config/hooks/ and /config/includes.chroot/. There is no desktop environment, just metacity as the window manager.

An i386 version will be coming soon. In the meantime, you can just modify /auto/config by replacing amd64 with i386. Make sure you run lb config after making the change.

I hesitate to release a build of binary.hybrid.iso for obvious reasons, but will if people really want me to. It is currently at 412MB, but there are probably packages that aren't strictly necessary to run Electrum.

There are currently some known issues. The .xsession script, which starts metacity and electrum when X is started, should restart electrum when it exits with an error. It should shutdown the computer when electrum exits without error, like when you go to file and click on close. Currently, it is shutting down even if electrum exits with an error.

I need to figure out a good way to allow the user to configure their wireless network. Currently just electrum is running, so you must switch to a console and configure your network through there. Suggestions welcome.

As always with Electrum, if you import a private key, you must backup your wallet. Any private keys you import will not be regenerated from your seed.

https://i.imgur.com/6Q1VfNn.png

https://i.imgur.com/FoMvWgG.png

[GianniDalerta]

this is awesome! been wanting to provide my family and friends a working cold storage system. This I think is a great way to do it.

[rme]

Bump

[bitcoinbitcoin]

Currently, what is the most secure Linux Distro to run BitcoinQT or Armory?
Is Linux-TAILS the best or something else better? But is it possible to install TAILS to an internal hard drive while still having persistence?
Is there another distro with TOR on by default, that you can install on a hard drive?

Or is there a newer custom Bitcoin Distro? Like LinuxCoin or Bitsafe, but they are old.
Sorry if this is redundant, it's hard to keep up with the latest custom Bitcoin Distros.