lyth0s (OP)
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World Class Cryptonaire
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June 03, 2014, 12:26:19 AM |
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Just like the title says I'm looking to pickup an inexpensive laptop for bitcoin cold storage. Any ideas?
Lightweight, highly portable, good battery life and cheap would be a great combination.
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"With e-currency based on cryptographic proof, without the need to
trust a third party middleman, money can be secure and transactions
effortless." -- Satoshi
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TheAccountant
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June 03, 2014, 12:36:26 AM |
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Just like the title says I'm looking to pickup an inexpensive laptop for bitcoin cold storage. Any ideas?
Lightweight, highly portable, good battery life and cheap would be a great combination.
It should be easy to pick up a used laptop on ebay. |
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beatljuice
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June 03, 2014, 12:52:03 AM |
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I'd get an old Android phone. A lot more portable, easy to hide, easy to charge. Just turn off WiFi for security.
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beetcoin
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June 03, 2014, 12:57:54 AM |
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just get a cheap netbook, something that can be had for $100.. that or you can swap out your hard drive from a desktop.
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jonald_fyookball
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Core dev leaves me neg feedback #abuse #political
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June 03, 2014, 01:41:38 AM |
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Craigslist.
When you get it, delete the Ethernet driver files. This will take the machine offline permanently.
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picopicopico
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June 03, 2014, 11:00:13 AM |
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maybe a bit offtopic, but some time ago I was thinking of a cold wallet/general password storage based on an android phone with a camera (and working screen). communication (including possible wallet/password updates) solely via QR code exchange/on screen keyboard. i didn't find anything suitable, but should be pretty straightforward to implement.
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CIYAM
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Ian Knowles - CIYAM Lead Developer
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June 03, 2014, 11:04:55 AM |
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I would recommend using an old notepad (and if paranoid then consider removing the WiFi card and perhaps blocking Ethernet and modem sockets if applicable) then using a "live" OS (so always boot from USB). From a major computer store complex in Beijing I managed to pick up one for under 100 USD (although the seller was rather stunned that I wanted the WiFI card *removed*). And here is a picture of what I did to the sockets of it.   |
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Light
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June 03, 2014, 11:28:27 AM |
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Lightweight, highly portable, good battery life and cheap would be a great combination.
A raspberry pi combined with a battery pack and a case would work out for these - except you'd need a screen, mouse and keyboard. Depends how portable you need it to be I suppose. The Pi would set you back about $30 and depending on the other addons you would probably spend about $100 all up. Alternatively you could buy a cheap second hand notebook, but the battery life probably wouldn't be that great. |
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CIYAM
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Ian Knowles - CIYAM Lead Developer
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June 03, 2014, 11:56:59 AM |
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Alternatively you could buy a cheap second hand notebook, but the battery life probably wouldn't be that great.
Agreed that the battery life isn't too great - but it is enough to do at least one transaction (and generally when you are moving from cold storage to hot you only would be doing that). |
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darlidada
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June 03, 2014, 12:17:17 PM |
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Why not just buy another HDD ? boot linux from USB ? Isnt it not enough ? Please enlight me i am a newbie
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jonald_fyookball
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Core dev leaves me neg feedback #abuse #political
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June 03, 2014, 12:27:55 PM |
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Why not just buy another HDD ? boot linux from USB ? Isnt it not enough ? Please enlight me i am a newbie
Theoretically fine. I think the paranoid would say something about the machine being air gapped offline etc |
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CIYAM
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June 03, 2014, 12:53:59 PM |
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Theoretically fine. I think the paranoid would say something about the machine being air gapped offline etc
Yes - I do *air gapped* so it doesn't matter how badly virus ridden the original OS is (or the one you boot). By using the CIYAM Safe ( https://susestudio.com/a/kp8B3G/ciyam-safe) all communication is done via QR code (i.e. by webcam not by USB or any other *wire*). |
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jonald_fyookball
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June 03, 2014, 02:06:09 PM |
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what does air gapped even mean though in this context?
if your computer is offline its offline right?
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Beliathon
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June 03, 2014, 02:46:10 PM |
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Just turn off WiFi for security.
That's not good enough for cold storage. Set a password. Set the phone to Airplane mode, then turn the phone off. Remove the battery, store it separately. Consider the use of a safety deposit box. |
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adamselene
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June 03, 2014, 03:09:37 PM |
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just get a cheap netbook, something that can be had for $100.. that or you can swap out your hard drive from a desktop.
Yeah, a netbook is perfect. Small, cheap, and you can rip the wifi card out. |
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darlidada
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June 03, 2014, 03:11:27 PM |
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Just turn off WiFi for security.
That's not good enough for cold storage. Set a password. Set the phone to Airplane mode, then turn the phone off. Remove the battery, store it separately. Consider the use of a safety deposit box. the phone? why are you talking about a phone ? arent we discussing laptop storage? |
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b!z
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June 03, 2014, 03:14:22 PM |
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Highly portable and cheap computer? Perhaps you should consider purchasing a Raspberri Pi.
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lyth0s (OP)
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June 03, 2014, 04:03:52 PM |
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Problem with a raspberry pi is that then I would also need to find a monitor, keyboard and mouse to plug in, in order to do any transactions, which would be nearly impossible to have ready access to that stuff on-the-go. Problem with true paper wallets is well, its too easy to damage, get moldy, ink to smear or just simply lose it etc.
I do like the netbook with removing wifi card and ethernet drivers and your ethernet port "mods".
However, even more interesting is the idea of a phone in airplane mode. Especially if I could get a full disk/OS encryption (I think android tablets have this function? not sure if the phones do?) AND get electrum on it and somehow sign online transactions with it..... Electrum is a must for me.
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zeetubes
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June 03, 2014, 04:05:36 PM |
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One potential issue with any laptop/PC, regardless of what OS you run is that the bios could be hacked and unless you physically remove wifi and bluetooth capability you will never know if there is a keylogger etc in place. The good thing about cheap chinese phones as cold storage is that they don't generally support google play but you can side load mycelium from an sd card and disable BT and wifi.
Btw I have a really nice tosh r500 portege (2.2lbs and 12.4" screen, 128gb SSD) that I'm probably going to give away but I won't be back in the US for another month or so. It runs linux pretty well but with w7 the browser can be a little slow.
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