Armory - Discussion Thread

[etotheipi]

Simulfunding drive is moving, but slowly.   Gonna have to do some more marketing!

We're at 5.0 BTC in donations matched.  That's a total of 10 BTC donated!  (0.5 is in transit, so only 4.5 is represented on the webpage).  So we're at about 1/4 our goal. 

I rarely ask for money or donations explicitly, but I am asking now.  Double the value of a donation to an org/charity that supports Bitcoin, OSS and/or digital freedom! 

https://bitcoinarmory.com/donation-match-list/

As mentioned before:  there's only 5 organizations listed there, but also only 17.5 BTC worth of notes which leaves us with 2.5 for "other".  If you have different organization to which you want to donate, let me know!  I'm especially open to OpenSSL and wikipedia.  Though both of them will require a little coordination:  we will have to get a 15-minute payment address and do the simulfunding process within that 15 minutes.  Easy -- it only takes like 2 min -- but it will requires scheduling it.

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[justusranvier]

No PGP key on the keyservers for the donationmatch address?

[etotheipi]

No PGP key on the keyservers for the donationmatch address?

You are free to use my email GPG key, 0xFB596985.  That address just gets forwarded to me. 

Though, strictly speaking, it shouldn't really be necessary.  The best a man-in-the-middle can do to your unsigned transaction is... swap out your contribution with his own...?  I don't think you'd have a problem with that    And on our side, as long as we see 0.5 from someone else we'll sign it, regardless of who is contributing it.

[justusranvier]

Though, strictly speaking, it shouldn't really be necessary.

Maybe I don't want every ISP between you and me knowing which non-profits I choose to donate to(*).

In general, emails should be encrypted unless there's a very good reason to leave them in cleartext.


(*) What if the next presidential administration really dislikes the organization I donate to and directs the IRS to track down everybody who has ever donated to them and hit them with tax audits? That would never happen in a free country though, right?

[etotheipi]

Though, strictly speaking, it shouldn't really be necessary.

Maybe I don't want every ISP between you and me knowing which non-profits I choose to donate to.

In general, emails should be encrypted unless there's a very good reason to leave them in cleartext.

Fair point.  I was thinking more along the lines of security, but privacy needs to be respected as well.  I'm all for using PGP/GPG as much as possible, but it's not for everyone.  It took us a while in the company to figure out the best way to setup enigmail for maximizing the convenience factor while still keeping most of our operations encrypted.  

For this particular donation drive, at least the security is not reduced by foregoing email encryption.



On that note, a quick story that seems quite relevant to the above and recent Bitcoin news:  

About a year ago I wanted to order a 1 oz gold coin from Coinabul.   It was about $1,500 worth of BTC.  When I went to checkout,  I noticed the website wasn't using SSL.  Yet, I was supposed to send my $1,500 to the address their server sent me without any crypto.  I emailed them asking to either make sure SSL was enabled, or at least send me a verification of the address through encrypted email.  The response I got was "

That's fairly small so I wouldn't worry too much as long as you trust your ISP/connection on your end.

My response was not friendly.  I guess $1,500 is "fairly small" for him, but it isn't small for everyone.  And it's not a good excuse to run a precious metals site without basic web security.  I ended up ordering elsewhere, and I'm glad I did because it sounds like I wouldn't have gotten my gold coin...

[justusranvier]

I'm all for using PGP/GPG as much as possible, but it's not for everyone.

If you just upload keys to the keyservers for each address you advertise, then those who want to use it can do so without needing to bothering you. If you're going to be the only one reading them then you don't actually need to generate new keys - just add a new UID to yours.

Something else that would be nice is Bitmessages addresses as an alternate contact method. It's actually not too hard to integrate Bitmessage into an existing email workflow, as long as you operate your own IMAP/SMTP servers.

[cp1]

yeah that's it.  what should i do?

If you're really against reinstalling you can download the packages yourself and transfer them over:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/InstallingSoftware#Installing_packages_without_an_Internet_connection

[sunnankar]

In general, emails should be encrypted unless there's a very good reason to leave them in cleartext.

In general, BitMessage should be used unless there's a very good reason to leave a metadata trail.

And wouldn't it be awesome to have BitMessage broadcast around unsigned simulfund transactions...

[justusranvier]

And wouldn't it be awesome to have BitMessage broadcast around unsigned simulfund transactions...

I'll go a step further and say Bitmessage should be the basis for a Bitcoin payment protocol.

https://gist.github.com/ryanxcharles/1c0f95d0892b4a92d70a#comment-1275249

[MoreBloodWine]

I still have yet to set up armory but am curious about a few things.

I know in the past, at least with XP, memory was an issue or I think online systems. In any event, I'm looking to get two used laptops to which I will re-write the OS so it's all fresh. That bein said, for both the online and offline systems that will be used or nothing but armory / the main btc client.

What should I look at in terms of processor, memory etc ? I don't want to spend a whole lot since these wont be used for every day use but just left running 24/7, a least in regards to the online system where as the offline system will just run sleep mode most of the time.

So...

Online System (Armor & Core Client)
Memory: xxx
OS: xxx
Processor: xxx
Anything else I'm not thinking of: xxx

Offline System (Armory only if I recall right...)
Memory: xxx
OS: xxx
Processor: xxx
Anything else I'm not thinking of: xxx


Again, since these wont be used for every day use but just armor an the core client I'm not looking to spend a lot for two used laptops but want to make sure I have something I can use for at least a year or more.

Ty.

[Ente]

Offline System (Armory only if I recall right...)

The offline system is completely uncritical. It doesn't need bitcoind nor the Armory blockchain, so 100mb free HDD space is enough. CPU and memory wise, a Raspberry Pi is already sufficient. This means that *any* computer you are able to install a recent OS on will be fine with offline Armory. I highly suggest Linux for this.

It got much, much better with the online system too. Before, you needed around 8 gig memory. Now a "normal computer" is fine. Others will chime in what this means in detail (more than 50gb HDD for example).

Ente

[Ente]

And wouldn't it be awesome to have BitMessage broadcast around unsigned simulfund transactions...

I'll go a step further and say Bitmessage should be the basis for a Bitcoin payment protocol.

https://gist.github.com/ryanxcharles/1c0f95d0892b4a92d70a#comment-1275249

I second that!
Also, I love the idea of a DIY Bitmessage-Mail-gateway on my own hardware. Is there anything out there already?

Any progress on internationalization (i.e. support for localization)?

I don't mean to bug anyone about this, but I believe i18n will help spreading one of the most secure Bitcoin wallets to regions of the world where English is not a language that is mastered fluently by everyone, especially on a technical level. Perhaps it will even help to ease the general notion (?) that Armory is hard to master (to which I disagree, btw.). For a desktop app, Armory does have a lot of text (which is good for an app of this kind, IMO), and I for one would like to see that more accessible throughout the world. I'd be volunteering to translate Armory into my language without hesitation.

I'm in for translating!

Would it make sense to have localisation via addons?
Any news on addons, by the way?

Ente

[justusranvier]

Also, I love the idea of a DIY Bitmessage-Mail-gateway on my own hardware. Is there anything out there already?

All the pieces exist if you know how to put them together.

If you're running your own mail server, then you can run Bitmessage in daemon mode and use bmwrapper to add a POP/SMTP interface that your stack can interface with.

[MoreBloodWine]

Offline System (Armory only if I recall right...)

The offline system is completely uncritical. It doesn't need bitcoind nor the Armory blockchain, so 100mb free HDD space is enough. CPU and memory wise, a Raspberry Pi is already sufficient. This means that *any* computer you are able to install a recent OS on will be fine with offline Armory. I highly suggest Linux for this.

It got much, much better with the online system too. Before, you needed around 8 gig memory. Now a "normal computer" is fine. Others will chime in what this means in detail (more than 50gb HDD for example).

Ente

Ty for that, I know shit about linux aside from my limited experience with my cloud VPS.

So that said, it would be I guess as you said, at least for offline, any old laptop I can get my hands on with at least one USB port running XP, Vista or I guess 7. However XP is the only OS I have a copy of.

[Ente]

Also, I love the idea of a DIY Bitmessage-Mail-gateway on my own hardware. Is there anything out there already?

All the pieces exist if you know how to put them together.

If you're running your own mail server, then you can run Bitmessage in daemon mode and use bmwrapper to add a POP/SMTP interface that your stack can interface with.

Thanks for the pointer, noted down!

Offline System (Armory only if I recall right...)

The offline system is completely uncritical. It doesn't need bitcoind nor the Armory blockchain, so 100mb free HDD space is enough. CPU and memory wise, a Raspberry Pi is already sufficient. This means that *any* computer you are able to install a recent OS on will be fine with offline Armory. I highly suggest Linux for this.

It got much, much better with the online system too. Before, you needed around 8 gig memory. Now a "normal computer" is fine. Others will chime in what this means in detail (more than 50gb HDD for example).

Ente

Ty for that, I know shit about linux aside from my limited experience with my cloud VPS.

So that said, it would be I guess as you said, at least for offline, any old laptop I can get my hands on with at least one USB port running XP, Vista or I guess 7. However XP is the only OS I have a copy of.

Yep, anything with USB should do.
I'd really suggest you to give Linux a try. Use a Ubuntu Live-CD for example, if you don't like it, remove the CD and use windows as before (well, backup your wallet, right? heh)
You will only be using Armory anyway. Armory (and firefox and openoffice and thunderbird etc) look all the same, no matter if on windows or Linux.
Linux will be more robust, and runs better on slower hardware than comparably new windows versions.
You'll get plenty of help should you get stuck.

Ente

[Ente]

Simulfunding drive is moving, but slowly.   Gonna have to do some more marketing!

We're at 5.0 BTC in donations matched.  That's a total of 10 BTC donated!  (0.5 is in transit, so only 4.5 is represented on the webpage).  So we're at about 1/4 our goal. 

I rarely ask for money or donations explicitly, but I am asking now.  Double the value of a donation to an org/charity that supports Bitcoin, OSS and/or digital freedom! 

https://bitcoinarmory.com/donation-match-list/

As mentioned before:  there's only 5 organizations listed there, but also only 17.5 BTC worth of notes which leaves us with 2.5 for "other".  If you have different organization to which you want to donate, let me know!  I'm especially open to OpenSSL and wikipedia.  Though both of them will require a little coordination:  we will have to get a 15-minute payment address and do the simulfunding process within that 15 minutes.  Easy -- it only takes like 2 min -- but it will requires scheduling it.

I'm missing Tor on that list :-)
Honestly, I never (consciously) heard of FSF nor CCN..
Nor "Chamber of Digital Commerce", but that's a Bitcoin-thingie anyway, so thumbs up.

Hmm.. OpenSSL is an important piece of Bitcoin. "Standing on the shoulders of giants".
Wikipedia Wikimedia? I dunno, after they took so long, with so many offers and pleas, I'm a bit recalcitrant ;-)

Ente

[Ente]

Simulfunding drive is moving, but slowly.   Gonna have to do some more marketing!

We're at 5.0 BTC in donations matched.  That's a total of 10 BTC donated!  (0.5 is in transit, so only 4.5 is represented on the webpage).  So we're at about 1/4 our goal.  

I rarely ask for money or donations explicitly, but I am asking now.  Double the value of a donation to an org/charity that supports Bitcoin, OSS and/or digital freedom!  

https://bitcoinarmory.com/donation-match-list/

As mentioned before:  there's only 5 organizations listed there, but also only 17.5 BTC worth of notes which leaves us with 2.5 for "other".  If you have different organization to which you want to donate, let me know!  I'm especially open to OpenSSL and wikipedia.  Though both of them will require a little coordination:  we will have to get a 15-minute payment address and do the simulfunding process within that 15 minutes.  Easy -- it only takes like 2 min -- but it will requires scheduling it.

Also, once all slots are taken, this is a good opportunity for media coverage. We are talking about a cool $24k donations here. Let'##s get this, with Armory and multisig onto some frontpages! :-)

edit: messed up quotation tags

Ente

[MoreBloodWine]

Also, I love the idea of a DIY Bitmessage-Mail-gateway on my own hardware. Is there anything out there already?

All the pieces exist if you know how to put them together.

If you're running your own mail server, then you can run Bitmessage in daemon mode and use bmwrapper to add a POP/SMTP interface that your stack can interface with.

Thanks for the pointer, noted down!

Offline System (Armory only if I recall right...)

The offline system is completely uncritical. It doesn't need bitcoind nor the Armory blockchain, so 100mb free HDD space is enough. CPU and memory wise, a Raspberry Pi is already sufficient. This means that *any* computer you are able to install a recent OS on will be fine with offline Armory. I highly suggest Linux for this.

It got much, much better with the online system too. Before, you needed around 8 gig memory. Now a "normal computer" is fine. Others will chime in what this means in detail (more than 50gb HDD for example).

Ente

Ty for that, I know shit about linux aside from my limited experience with my cloud VPS.

So that said, it would be I guess as you said, at least for offline, any old laptop I can get my hands on with at least one USB port running XP, Vista or I guess 7. However XP is the only OS I have a copy of.

Yep, anything with USB should do.
I'd really suggest you to give Linux a try. Use a Ubuntu Live-CD for example, if you don't like it, remove the CD and use windows as before (well, backup your wallet, right? heh)
You will only be using Armory anyway. Armory (and firefox and openoffice and thunderbird etc) look all the same, no matter if on windows or Linux.
Linux will be more robust, and runs better on slower hardware than comparably new windows versions.
You'll get plenty of help should you get stuck.

Ente

Again, thx for he help. As for the online system, I'm thinking maybe like a 1.5+ Gh CPU, 2gb of RAM with something like 100gb minimum of disk space. Will probably just use XP for the time being to see how that works out then figured out where to go from there.

I suspect the two laptops alone will run me at least a $100 a pop, probably closer to $150 each which is why options will be limited. I know I don't need much though since it will just be an Armor online only system and not have email and stuff running.

[etotheipi]

Simulfunding drive is moving, but slowly.   Gonna have to do some more marketing!

We're at 5.0 BTC in donations matched.  That's a total of 10 BTC donated!  (0.5 is in transit, so only 4.5 is represented on the webpage).  So we're at about 1/4 our goal.  

I rarely ask for money or donations explicitly, but I am asking now.  Double the value of a donation to an org/charity that supports Bitcoin, OSS and/or digital freedom!  

https://bitcoinarmory.com/donation-match-list/

As mentioned before:  there's only 5 organizations listed there, but also only 17.5 BTC worth of notes which leaves us with 2.5 for "other".  If you have different organization to which you want to donate, let me know!  I'm especially open to OpenSSL and wikipedia.  Though both of them will require a little coordination:  we will have to get a 15-minute payment address and do the simulfunding process within that 15 minutes.  Easy -- it only takes like 2 min -- but it will requires scheduling it.

I'm missing Tor on that list :-)
Honestly, I never (consciously) heard of FSF nor CCN..
Nor "Chamber of Digital Commerce", but that's a Bitcoin-thingie anyway, so thumbs up.

Hmm.. OpenSSL is an important piece of Bitcoin. "Standing on the shoulders of giants".
Wikipedia Wikimedia? I dunno, after they took so long, with so many offers and pleas, I'm a bit recalcitrant ;-)

Ente

If you want to donate to OpenSSL or Tor, we'll be happy to match!  Part of the issue is that they refused to get us a persistent donation address, so they only address we could get would technically only be valid for 15 min.   If someone wants to donate to them, we can schedule a 15 minute window to execute the simulfunding process

FSF, EFF and Bitcoin Foundation should be fairly well-known within this community.  CCN (college cryptocurrency network) is a group that is trying to get college students involved in Bitcoin, which may very well pave the next generation of Bitcoin innovations and Bitcoin services.  After seeing what's going on at MIT, we wanted to help get as many young minds into Bitcoin as possible.

Chamber of Digital Commerce is very new, though it is headed by Perianne Boring which has been active in the community.  She is a former ... correspondent?  staffer?  lobbyist?  on Capital Hill, and has a tremendous amount of experience with public policy and lobbying.  Her organzation is trying to be a lobbyist on behalf of Bitcoin (in general), to make sure the intelligence/sanity is present in lawmaking and public policy related to Bitcoin. 

[Ente]

If you want to donate to OpenSSL or Tor, we'll be happy to match!  Part of the issue is that they refused to get us a persistent donation address, so they only address we could get would technically only be valid for 15 min.   If someone wants to donate to them, we can schedule a 15 minute window to execute the simulfunding process

FSF, EFF and Bitcoin Foundation should be fairly well-known within this community.  CCN (college cryptocurrency network) is a group that is trying to get college students involved in Bitcoin, which may very well pave the next generation of Bitcoin innovations and Bitcoin services.  After seeing what's going on at MIT, we wanted to help get as many young minds into Bitcoin as possible.

Chamber of Digital Commerce is very new, though it is headed by Perianne Boring which has been active in the community.  She is a former ... correspondent?  staffer?  lobbyist?  on Capital Hill, and has a tremendous amount of experience with public policy and lobbying.  Her organzation is trying to be a lobbyist on behalf of Bitcoin (in general), to make sure the intelligence/sanity is present in lawmaking and public policy related to Bitcoin. 

You did choose wise on those, I can see that! :-)

Also, I messed up my quotations:

Also, once all slots are taken, this is a good opportunity for media coverage. We are talking about a cool $24k donations here. Let's get this, with Armory and multisig onto some frontpages! :-)

Ente