MultiBit

[jim618]

btw is it possible with multibit to import private keys from a paper backup? if so, how?

Sorry for your loss - the encrypted wallet code when it comes out will be better in this respect - it automatically creates encrypted private key backups.

There is help on importing a private key here:
https://multibit.org/help_importASingleKey.html

If you are doing a lot of private key work then I think Armory is better than MultiBit as it has the whole blockchain at hand and is more tailored to that kind of work. MultiBit only stores the very minimum amount of data (to keep things speedy) but for private keys you need to look through everything. For the occasional vanity key or paper wallet MultiBit is fine though.

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[Jouke]

btw is it possible with multibit to import private keys from a paper backup? if so, how?

Sorry for your loss - the encrypted wallet code when it comes out will be better in this respect - it automatically creates encrypted private key backups.

There is help on importing a private key here:
https://multibit.org/help_importASingleKey.html

If you are doing a lot of private key work then I think Armory is better than MultiBit as it has the whole blockchain at hand and is more tailored to that kind of work. MultiBit only stores the very minimum amount of data (to keep things speedy) but for private keys you need to look through everything. For the occasional vanity key or paper wallet MultiBit is fine though.

In that file there is talk about a private key that starts with a 5. In my wallet there are keys that start with a K and a L, so doess that mean that multibit is using compressed keys? Are they interchangeble in the multibit wallet ie. can I used compressed and uncompressed together?

Also, what encryption is used on the passworded backup? I couldn't find it in the help files.

[jim618]

Hi Jouke,

If you are using the version 0.4.21 then the compressed and uncompressed private keys are interchangeable. Earlier versions did not understand the compressed keys and could not import them properly. I'll update the file contents to make it clearer.

You can see which version you are on in 'About MultiBit'.

The encryption format for the private keys is OpenSSL compatible - you can use openssl on the command line to encrypt/decrypt. See the bottom of:

https://github.com/jim618/multibit/wiki/Export%20and%20limited%20import%20of%20private%20keys

It uses the OpenSSL key derivation function and 256 bit AES.

[Jouke]

Hi Jouke,

If you are using the version 0.4.21 then the compressed and uncompressed private keys are interchangeable. Earlier versions did not understand the compressed keys and could not import them properly. I'll update the file contents to make it clearer.

You can see which version you are on in 'About MultiBit'.

The encryption format for the private keys is OpenSSL compatible - you can use openssl on the command line to encrypt/decrypt. See the bottom of:

https://github.com/jim618/multibit/wiki/Export%20and%20limited%20import%20of%20private%20keys

It uses the OpenSSL key derivation function and 256 bit AES.

Ah, github, didn't think of that Thanks!

[opentoe]

I have a problem with Multibit. Right now I have exactly 37.41 btc in my Multibit wallet. I'll subtract the transaction fee of 0.01 and that will come to 37.1. And yet when I still go to send that amount it tells me I do not have the available funds. This has happened to me before several times. How am I supposed to know what I can and cannot send if the program is not even letting me send the exact amounts? Here is the screen shot of what I am talking about. You can clearly see the amount in the wallet and the amount I'm trying to send. It all works out, but Multibit has it's own way of thinking or something here? Please help me with this as it happens all the time and I can never clear out my wallet, EVER.
37.39 + 0.01 = 37.4  So there actually is .01 left in the wallet according to the math, but it still won't let me send it out??

[jim618]

Agreed that that does not look right.
You should be able to spend up to your fully confirmed amount (less any fee).
Can you email me the address where your balance is and a screenshot of your transactions tab and I will have a look. (contact details at https://multibit.org/team.html)

[btctrada]

Gday Jim

Firstly great job on the client, the simplicity is what makes it so good!

I have a similar situation as Mr Opentoe (love the name) Where it will only allow me to withdraw a certain amount, which is much less than the balance. What I have however noticed is as time goes by the amount you can increase increases. I did an import of my private keys and waited for MB to do her stuff before attempting the first withdraw. I also have screen shots which I am happy to pass on.

Second problem is when I actually press send for the second time, the program stalls and hangs indefinitely. I have to use task manager to kill the program. Not sure if that has already been identified?

Again great job and I am sure you will iron out these annoyances, I shall send through an email shortly.

[jim618]

Hi btctrada,

I've had a look at your screenshots - replied by email.

[(A)social]

Hello jim,
I started using MultiBit (0.5.8beta) on Linux Mint this month. Even if I don't like too much java soft, for my purpose (and my poor netbook) it is way better than the official client. Thanks!
I installed it on a encrypted USB key, so to run it in portable mode, then imported my keys from two wallet.dat and two Android Bitcoin Wallet files. As usual, at first I messed up things a couple of times, but after some trials and errors (and backups!), I got everything OK.

Have some questions, suggestions & bugs for you:
1. MultiBit did froze many times when importing keys, at first I tought there was too many keys to handle (two wallet.dat 200 keys), so I tried with less, but occasionally it did happen even with 20 keys.

2. importing new keys delete every pre-existent labels.
In the future I would like to use it seriously for my sellings, my idea is to give the name of each item to each address so I can print small QR codes and apply it on the item itself (the name of the .png image will be printed under the code as well, usefull for cataloguing at the same time, even if I sold the item in €). What happens if one need to import/export keys from/to another wallet? Plus, it would be nice the public keys are included in the file when exporting keys (even better with the labels?), like it happened when I exported wallet.dat keys with pywallet (it helped me to find some duplicated keys on two wallet; did I said I messed up things a bit?).

3. maximizing the window creates some bad glitch; I can't work with menus, they open but can't select anything, same thing in the transaction tab, can't change columns wide and can't select transactions details. No problems with buttons or input fields (max resolution on my 10" screen is 1024x600, can be this the problem?).

4. I really wished to try to use MultiBit in testnet modet o show it to potential future bitcoiners, but the instructions you gave on post #971 didn't work, instead it created a Multibit drawer in my home/user, with a production wallet!

5. is there a limit on the number of keys per wallet?

6. I'd like to run MultiBit under the Tails Linux distro, directly (without command line) is there any hope there will be an option in the GUI to tweak it in the near future?


Uhm, a last thought back to point 2... what about a QRcodes printing function inside MultiBit? Now I have to click and drag each QRcode in a folder, then open gThumb (a pics viewer), select all, select print, select rows/columns/print names, and finally print it out...

Another last time idea: possiblity to insert an image inside the QRcode (the bitcoin symbol for example).


P.S. I hope to find the time to help with the italian translation, because it is badly done in many parts.

[opentoe]

Hi btctrada,

I've had a look at your screenshots - replied by email.

Ever get back to my issue or check out the screen shots I sent you?

[jim618]

Hi (A)social,

Going through your numbered points:

1. I have seen MultiBit freeze on replaying the blocks, especially if you run several imports at once. I am going to improve this to have a "Task queue" to manage it better. 200 keys you should be able to import ok.

2. The import/ export format is pretty limited - the main reason for this is to keep it simple so that it will be compatible (with Andreas's Bitcoin Wallet) and to avoid incompatibilites that you can get for anything more complicated. I'm not sure what the best approach here is, because the more functionality there is to edit your wallet the more things can go wrong and you need more and more validation. What if the address does not match the private key in the import file for instance ?
I can see it would be useful though.

3. This could be either to do with the screen - 10x6 *should* be ok - or more likely the version of Java that you are on as that is responsible for all the screen rendering. In a terminal if you type:
java -version
what does it say ?

4. There is a file configuration.txt in your install directory with the testnet configuration information. Does that not work ?

5. There is no *absolute* limit of keys in a wallet. But of course everything in life is limited. On my Mac laptop I can do "hundreds" of keys ok but when it gets to "thousands" the UI is getting a bit slow to be usable. It depends on your hardware and the number of transactions you are dealing with. The keys themselves are pretty small.

6. I'm not sure quite what you mean here - you can set up a shortcut to run MultiBit if you want.

Printing I doubt I will put into MultiBit - mainly because everyone wants something different and it is not 'core' functionality for a wallet.
That is not to say it would not be useful but there is only so much you can do.

RE: Translations - yes that would be very helpful. Because people's time is valuable and there are several hundred terms now to translate it is inevitable that typos and inconsistencies creep in. The last but one job I had we had a team of six working fulltime on translations - it is quite timeconsuming to do. Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Jim

[jim618]

Hi btctrada,

I've had a look at your screenshots - replied by email.

Ever get back to my issue or check out the screen shots I sent you?

Hi opentoe,

Sorry - should have posted earlier.
I have been looking today at the code that shows the balance in the header and the code that does the validation before the send to see if there was some sort of discrepancy. I could not see any difference in how they calculate the balances.

I have added in more logging to the validation code so that it logs directly:
+ the estimated balance
+ the available balance
+ the amount you are sending
+ the fee
+ the total amount it wants to send (should always be amount + fee but I log it anyhow).

That will mean (after the next release) I will have a bit more data to go on when your bug manifests itself.

I think we are at the stage now in MultiBit where the bugs occur *sometimes* or with particular sorts of transactions so they are a bit trickier to track down.

[opentoe]

Hi btctrada,

I've had a look at your screenshots - replied by email.

Ever get back to my issue or check out the screen shots I sent you?

Hi opentoe,

Sorry - should have posted earlier.
I have been looking today at the code that shows the balance in the header and the code that does the validation before the send to see if there was some sort of discrepancy. I could not see any difference in how they calculate the balances.

I have added in more logging to the validation code so that it logs directly:
+ the estimated balance
+ the available balance
+ the amount you are sending
+ the fee
+ the total amount it wants to send (should always be amount + fee but I log it anyhow).

That will mean (after the next release) I will have a bit more data to go on when your bug manifests itself.

I think we are at the stage now in MultiBit where the bugs occur *sometimes* or with particular sorts of transactions so they are a bit trickier to track down.

Can you make it show the exact available amount of BTC the user can spend WITH the transaction fee already deducted? Instead of having the user trying to figure it out and then even after doing the math still doesn't work? Just like I did myself, deducted the transaction fee and I was still unable to send that amount.
Thanks

[jim618]

At the moment the fee in multibit is a flat fee which isn't the "right" way to do it.
In general the fee depends on several factors - if you search the forum you'll see what i mean.

I think in Armory Alan has an option to specify 'all' in the amount field which means "just send everything I've got and deduct the fee you generate". That is probably the best approach.

The fees generally in multibit need beefing up (This also opens the way to rework the UI to do multisend).

[opentoe]

At the moment the fee in multibit is a flat fee which isn't the "right" way to do it.
In general the fee depends on several factors - if you search the forum you'll see what i mean.

I think in Armory Alan has an option to specify 'all' in the amount field which means "just send everything I've got and deduct the fee you generate". That is probably the best approach.

The fees generally in multibit need beefing up (This also opens the way to rework the UI to do multisend).

I'm coming from a system that sets up a sale order then within a certain amount of time (like 10-15 minutes) I have to give this order the exact amount of btc or the order expires. If I'm even .01 short, no good. Once I send that btc out and it is short I won't see it for a while. This is why I would like to know the exact amount of btc I can send out, not just ALL. If I can't get the exact number of btc minus the fee then I'll need to figure out something else or come up with a better plan.
Thanks

[(A)social]

Hi (A)social,

Going through your numbered points:

3. This could be either to do with the screen - 10x6 *should* be ok - or more likely the version of Java that you are on as that is responsible for all the screen rendering. In a terminal if you type:
java -version
what does it say ?

4. There is a file configuration.txt in your install directory with the testnet configuration information. Does that not work ?

5. There is no *absolute* limit of keys in a wallet. But of course everything in life is limited. On my Mac laptop I can do "hundreds" of keys ok but when it gets to "thousands" the UI is getting a bit slow to be usable. It depends on your hardware and the number of transactions you are dealing with. The keys themselves are pretty small.

6. I'm not sure quite what you mean here - you can set up a shortcut to run MultiBit if you want.

Printing I doubt I will put into MultiBit - mainly because everyone wants something different and it is not 'core' functionality for a wallet.
That is not to say it would not be useful but there is only so much you can do.

RE: Translations - yes that would be very helpful. Because people's time is valuable and there are several hundred terms now to translate it is inevitable that typos and inconsistencies creep in. The last but one job I had we had a team of six working fulltime on translations - it is quite timeconsuming to do. Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers,

Jim

Thanks jim

3. it is the last from the Mint 13 repository:
java version "1.6.0_27"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment (IcedTea6 1.12.3) (6b27-1.12.3-0ubuntu1~12.04.1)
OpenJDK Client VM (build 20.0-b12, mixed mode, sharing)

4. no, it didn't, it seems it just ignored multibit.properties that time

5. in the first wallet there are around 2000 small tx from the last years that I got from various free bitcoins site (oh, I noted some old tx was missing in the list, but the total amount was OK, strange!). By the way, I have a eeePC 901 and a LG X110 (same motherboard, same 1,6Ghz processor). Not a big problem at the moment, and anyway I'am used to low power PCs. Will buy a better computer one day.

6. sorry, I did mean that Multibit did not connect under Tails the last time I tried (it was some month ago, maybe this has changed?). I've just read yesterday that it can work with Tor running it from command line and some parameters, but it will be nice to start it just wth a click on the icon. Will try in the next days, after installing the updated Tails.

Instead of printing an export function could be useful (like for private keys), both for the addresses and QR codes.

[shkiser]

I would like to back up my wallet, but am concerned I will mess things up, rendering my wallet useless. I recently bought 2 PNY drives to back up my wallet. Ive browsed this thread, and several others looking for instructions on how to back up my wallet, and files incase of my computer crashing, or some other unavoidable situation.
I am using windows 7. Can someone give me clear and concise instructions to protect my btc, and wallet.

[World]

One simple variant
http://multibit.org/help_runFromUSBDrive.html
or https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Securing_your_wallet

[teste]

Hi Jim,

I think multibit could have a tab (showing a map or listing directory) with places that accept Bitcoin.
See the idea here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=148712.msg1649007#msg1649007

What do you think? Any chance?

[jim618]

It's possible (well all things are possible !) but it would probably be better as a website.

Browsers are the de facto way of getting information now - it's much easier to update one server and deliver the new functionality by HTML than to install code on everybody's machines. 


I would imagine pure "wallet / private key / money" related things are going to keep me busy for the forseeable future so I doubt I'll be able to add in whole new areas.