Bitaddress Bill Sized PDF

[osmosis]

This is a new thread for a conversation that started in the bitaddress thread:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=43496.msg655808#msg655808

Bitaddress Bill Sized PDF

Goal: To generate printable PDF images of bill sized bitcoin wallet addresses. Allow for the easy creation of paper wallets which are dollar bill sized so they can fit in wallets, and are visually appealing as well as can be printed on durable paper. A good approach would be to expand on the existing PDF generation code in bitaddress to redraw the print outs to be bill sized. This approach would have the added benefit of being able to be pushed upstream back into the bitaddress code base. BitAddress has been entirely open-sourced.

Usage:
Private key would be exposed. For hand to hand exchanged between trusted parties.
If for use between parties with lack of trust, amount can be withdrawn from the paper using a mobile phone in realtime...like an instant check deposit, and the paper bill can be discarded.

Ideas/Specifications:
Print outs will come in the same size as US dollar bills, or about 6.5cm by 15.5cm. (Could also consider paper currency sizes for other countries.)
Design layout does not in any way need to resemble US bills. Just the same size is needed so that they fit in wallets.
Some basic usage instructions should be included in the layout, or a url for info.
Something cool looking enough that I could get my friend to accept them.
Two-part printout. Have one segment for an "invoices" with the Public Key only, and a second bill with both the Public Key and the Private Keys.  
Printed in different denominations for use as private currency. (For a customer loyalty programs, redeemable only with the merchant that issues them)

Text:
This note allows you to access stored money.
If private key may have been disclosed, you should retrieve the money immediately.
Anyone who has had to this note may retrieve the money first.
To learn more about bitcoins go to: weusecoins.org or lovebitcoins.org
Bitcoin Address: 1xxxx Use this address to send more money to this address.
Private Key: 5xxxx Import this key to retrieve the stored money.
Best printed on paper that's cotton based 50% or better and acid free.
Use in conjunction with bitcoinnotify.com  ( sponsor? )

Resources:
bitaddress.org
printcoins.com
http://bitbills.com/
https://github.com/pointbiz/bitaddress.org
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=43496 (bitaddress discussion)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=43496.msg538311#msg538311 (sgornick paper PoS)
For international cash paper sizes: http://www.dirjournal.com/info/cool-money-collection-from-around-the-world/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=_L0O5uWsgXU#t=380s  (about paper types of currencies)
http://www.amazon.com/Rite-Rain-Weather-Copier-Paper/dp/B0016H1RYE
http://www.amazon.com/Thermanent-Digital-Polyester-2x11-5mil/dp/B0042F6HFQ

[osmosis]

.

[BurtW]

Interested.

[btc_artist]

Watching

[btc_artist]

No reason it has to be a PDF for printing it.  A PNG image would work just as well.

[echowhiskey]

No reason it has to be a PDF for printing it.  A PNG image would work just as well.

If I understand correctly, the benefit is that a pdf can execute code that will generate addresses when the pdf is drawn; but I may be mistaken.

It would be nice if it simply format the QR-codes of keypairs (as many as will fit on an 8.5"x11" piece of paper.)  Cut out a few pairs of QR-codes and use them as you would the wallet on your computer.  If you send money to someone (give them a QR-code pair with funds) have them send the change back to a new address (one of your unused QR-code pairs.)  When a keypair is used - rip it in half.

[casascius]

No reason it has to be a PDF for printing it.  A PNG image would work just as well.

I don't think a PNG image can encapsulate vector elements or fonts.  A PNG would have to be a very high resolution image to look good printed.  A PDF would not.

[PrintCoins]

The printcoin.com bills and cheques come from a dynamically created pdf file. I was considering opening it up for others to print from via the web, and also with downloaded code that they could execute locally.

[osmosis]

The printcoin.com bills and cheques come from a dynamically created pdf file. I was considering opening it up for others to print from via the web, and also with downloaded code that they could execute locally.

That hits pretty close to the target on what we are desiring to create. How similar is your code base to bitaddress? What tools / libraries are used?

[pointbiz]

Is the goal printing a bill or having a PDF?
Is PDF preferred to HTML because it will print more accurately?

I didn't realize it was even possible to generate a PDF from JavaScript but it seems you can redirect the user to a base64 encoded PDF via a data URI in modern browsers.

Modifying the PaperWallet to print something that looks more like a check or invoice is easy, outputting that in PDF is hard.

Look for "var walletHtml" in the JavaScript and modify it with the HTML elements you need to make it look like a check. Then update the CSS.

[phillipsjk]

If I understand correctly, the benefit is that a pdf can execute code that will generate addresses when the pdf is drawn; but I may be mistaken.

PostScript, on which PDF is based, is Turing-complete. I think PDF was specifically designed not to have the capability.

However, once the PDF format became popular (because it acted like paper), Adobe decided to screw it up. At about version 6 of the Acrobat reader (not sure which PDF version), JavaScript support was added, adding back turing completeness. Adobe also added DRM features, making PDF files act decidedly unlike paper by betraying the user (refusing to open, print, or edit).

Even with a turing-complete language, I would not trust the quality of any random number generator running inside the printer.

[osmosis]

>First tip there is no existing PDF generation code at bitaddress.org

I see. Bitaddress.org is using a javascript windows.print() function, which with Chrome brings up a nice PDF output option. In firefox, there is no mention of PDF or preview display for the printer output. Given the friendly print display that chrome uses, and the existing functionality of bitaddress, modifying CSS/HTML looks like an tenable option.

[osmosis]

I'm having a hard time determining if your proposal is about:

1) Paper wallet that fits in your physical wallet
2) Paper wallet that looks like a negotiable instrument (check, note, currency, etc) that fits in your physical wallet
3) An invoice or paper point-of-sale system
4) Generating PDF wallets

Thanks for the question. Mostly yes.

1) Indeed it is a paper wallet that fits in a physical wallet. Though I can get the current bitaddress tear offs in my wallet, they end up being scrunched up pieces of paper because they don't stack nicely with the rest of my dollar bills or personal cheques. So they should be the same dimensions as a dollar.
2) The idea is not to try and imitate or confuse btc paper bills with conventional money or checks, but rather to make them functional and attractive. This may be the way that some people are introduced to bitcoins for the first time, or possibly the first time they ever receive an item signifying bitcoins that they can hold in their hand. We should want their response to be "Cool!" We may come up with one good design, or possibly multiple designs for the user to select from. I want a slick and attractive graphical design. For usability, we should include simple instructions or a link to instructions on how to use and basic information about bitcoin..
3) It has been proposed that a tear off receipt on the side, or a companion receipt could be included and may be useful to some. These are already found in standard business cheque books. This could include a field for inscribing notes about the transaction, as well as show the public key. This would be additional functionality, or possibly a separate layout option.
4) PDF is good. HTML/CSS is still an option as well.

[osmosis]

Note, there are already "label making" programs around that can take a list of data values and merge to produce PDF output bulk coupons. A tool like that may satisfy some users already with no programming needed.

Usually you can create a fancy layout and then pump it with data to generate bulk output. I did this for a batch of ISBN barcodes once. (I used glabels, in linux, which supports various barcodes and can produce any sized repetitive printed blocks. It uses libzint so can insert QR codes from given data.)

That would be one route to accomplish it, though it would require the user to have the label making software for their particular platform, and then require the additional step for the user of having to import bulk key list. Probably not the best of our options at this time.

It is important that we make these as extremely easy to create so that they can be widely used.

[osmosis]

The only way I know of right know from the users perspective to redeem a bitcoin private key is through the mtgox.

[PrintCoins]

Strongcoin also allows for import, as well as pywallet.

I keep instructions here:
http://printcoins.com/redeem

It is what I print on my bills.

[BurtW]

I have asked this question before:  Currently I know of only three ways to redeem private keys (Mt Gox, StrongCoin and PyWallet).  Does anyone know of any other ways to do this?  It seems like some of the other exchanges and on line wallet systems would have added this feature by now.

 

[osmosis]

I have asked this question before:  Currently I know of only three ways to redeem private keys (Mt Gox, StrongCoin and PyWallet).  Does anyone know of any other ways to do this?  It seems like some of the other exchanges and on line wallet systems would have added this feature by now.

 

re: redeem private keys
from http://printcoins.com/redeem
"A future version of the bitcoin client will likely have import key functionality native to it. This pull request implements it..
https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/pull/220
"

[mcorlett]

I have asked this question before:  Currently I know of only three ways to redeem private keys (Mt Gox, StrongCoin and PyWallet).  Does anyone know of any other ways to do this?  It seems like some of the other exchanges and on line wallet systems would have added this feature by now.

 

Blockchain.info's Wallet also has this functionality, and it accepts the private keys in basically every format known to man.

[mila]

I use apache fop for creating pdf files
it uses a stylesheet (set of rules how to organize information on the print / pdf - layout rules) - here bar.xslt
 and data (key, address pairs, optional paths to qr images) in an xml file - here foo.xml

In this example running this command:
 ./fop -xml data/foo.xml -xsl data/bar.xslt -pdf data/1.pdf -dpi 600

as you may guess inside the working directory with my fop.jar I have directory data with the stylesheet and data xml and where my output pdf appears. the options are virtually countless. I came across fop few years ago and used it to generate our company phone book from a raw sql dump to xml to pdf (adding table of contet with hypertext document links, images, borders and stuff).

printing 'simple' pdf files is a piece of cake.
seems to me you're not aware of this tool.