Quote from: EhVedadoOAnonimato on May 05, 2012, 06:41:30 PM

Why is this topic in the Newbies section by the way?

'Cause I was a newbie when I started it. Wink

Quote from: EhVedadoOAnonimato on May 05, 2012, 06:41:30 PM

Wouldn't it fit better in the Alternative clients section, like the other one about the Hardware Wallet?

It would. But I think I've learned what I wanted to know from this thread, so I'm going to summarize it and, after a little time for comments, close it. I'll then organize my thoughts and start a new topic in the appropriate forum later, probably when I've got a prototype (unless my flights of fancy take me elsewhere...).

Quote from: casascius on May 05, 2012, 05:29:51 PM

Having the credit card terminal approve and sign transactions sent by a computer (either via RS232 or USB) is also a very useful application. (When connected to a computer, it will look like a serial port over USB, as it supports serial port emulation).

Quote from: EhVedadoOAnonimato on May 05, 2012, 06:38:44 PM

Actually, if you manage to make the printer "detachable", or make it capable of connecting to an USB-printer instead of having its own, than your device may be really small. By that I mean "portable". Improve it with p2p wireless communication like that bitcoincard thing, and hidden volumes for plausible deniability, and you've got the best bitcoin storage and payment device. Wink

Well, while these things are all excellent and useful; I think the easiest way to make them happen would be for someone42 to add printer support to his ongoing project. I haven't read more than the first few posts of his thread, but from the sound of things it already does most of what's been discussed here in terms of connecting to a computer and dealing with transactions, etc. I need to read the rest and get up to date.

Also, it sounds like a POS term would be the easiest and cheapest OTS hardware for this purpose, so maybe casascius and someone42 should be collaborating on the best and most cost-effective hardware wallet around? Or...competition is always good... Wink

But the device I had in mind is truly air gapped. It never connects to a computer, and it doesn't even store keys. It's a wallet generator, not a wallet. Some folks don't like paper wallets, and I can understand that, but I do.

A hardware wallet is a replacement for a checking account or a real wallet full of cash. They don't have nearly the attack surface of a general purpose computer, but they do have an attack surface. Think of my proposed device as a savings account generator instead. It makes wallets which never have and never will touch a networkable device until the moment you're ready to transfer the entire balance elsewhere. When you want to do so, you boot your computer with your handy live CD and generate an offline transaction and when it's gone through you throw away the old paper wallet. Since the paper wallet is a one-time thing, you might not even need the live CD/offline transaction hassle if you're reasonably sure nobody will be able to snarf your private key and empty your wallet before your own transaction goes through.

So I guess the point of this thread, for me, was to see if anybody would be interested in dedicated hardware to do what GP hardware and a dedicated live boot CD already does very well. It seems to me that if you generate enough wallets with a CD boot you won't need to reboot to generate wallets as often as you'll need to reboot to generate transactions. So there probably isn't a market for an air gapped wallet generator unless it also generates air gapped transactions.

However, there does seem to be quite a potential market for hardware wallets. Someone42 and casascius seem to be on similar paths for a convenient but reasonably secure daily-use type hardware wallet. I'll keep thinking about how a proper savings account generator should work, and whether one is even useful versus something like a brain wallet or just CD booting a computer once in a while.

Maybe I'll just put together a bitcoin-tailored live CD. :-P

-Mo

PS - Feel free to post your closing comments, but I'd like to close this topic soon so if there's a good discussion to be had it should have its own topic.