Namecoin Forum

All,

It comes to my attention that Namecoin is in need of a lightweight wallet to strore one's coins.

I am proposing to port the MultiBit Bitcoin client ( see: https://multibit.org/ ) to be used for Namecoin (NMC).

The Bitcoin foundation has now recommended that desktop clients use MultiBit SPV mechanism rather that Bitcoin-QT. This mechanism does not require that users spend days downloading the entire Bitcoin blockchain.

This kind of convenience and usability would be a big boost to the adoption of NMC as a currency.

The current namecoin client is still on version 3.72 which dates back several years.

This proposal is to make available a new client that will run on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Furthermore, this proposal will make possible the development of Namecoin clients for Android phones.

The effort required to do this port will require the porting of two existing Bitcoin open source projects into Namecoin. Specifically:

(1) Bitcoinj
(2) MultiBit

This takes a considerable amount of work and I am therefore seeking donations for this effort:

Namecoin address: MwDtDr6FxHAav4FqxcqqfKDdZM3J3oYsi4

If you are heavily invested in NMC, please consider investing to this project to further NMC development.

Regards,

FrictionlessCoin

Great initiative! Have you thought about how to handle names in the SPV model, though? I think there was already some discussion from time to time here about how to do that best. What is your plan? Or do you want to go ahead with "just" the coins first, which seems like a good plan?

domob wrote:Great initiative! Have you thought about how to handle names in the SPV model, though? I think there was already some discussion from time to time here about how to do that best. What is your plan? Or do you want to go ahead with "just" the coins first, which seems like a good plan?

Just the coins. Registering names can already be done conveniently by other services out there. In fact, why would anyone need a fat client to register names?

However, if you are storing coins, then certainly you want a fat client.

Great!

I've been searching for a good wallet for NMC because for example for Linux there is hard to get a working new package. At the time there are only Github Sources to compile by yourself.

Would be a really great step - are you planning to support different Linux packaging system as well (Ubuntu, Archlinux, Debian, Opensuse ...). It is suggestable that you just define how much money you need as a counter and what you like to integrate / support in Mulitbit Client with NMC support. You can take a look at Kickstarter maybe Bitcoinstarter or just do it at your own.

If your project is more clearly defined i would like to support it! A good wallet support is in my opinion the most important step for Namecoin to use it at least as a currency like Bitcoin. All other features of Namecoin need more development time.

Thumbs up !

FrictionlessCoin wrote:

domob wrote:Great initiative! Have you thought about how to handle names in the SPV model, though? I think there was already some discussion from time to time here about how to do that best. What is your plan? Or do you want to go ahead with "just" the coins first, which seems like a good plan?

Just the coins. Registering names can already be done conveniently by other services out there. In fact, why would anyone need a fat client to register names?

However, if you are storing coins, then certainly you want a fat client.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. The only trust-free way to register or lookup names right now is using namecoind/namecoin-qt. It would be highly beneficial to have an SPV client that can lookup names. Gregory Maxwell proposed this a while back: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/User:Gmaxwel ... sucks_less

Obviously handling currency transactions is a required first step... but I would encourage you to consider SPV for names (and discuss it with us).

This is a great Idea and I'd say essential if Namecoin is to be adopted. its perhaps worth looking at the recent post by fellowtraveller on reddit as the new OT software will soon support Namecoin and hence double as a lightweight client ( storage at least) although a fully functional lightwieght client would be much better.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comment ... sktop_app/

question are you planning on making this a namecoin only client? or would you consider working alongside the multibit team to create a combined NMC BTC Multibit version (now that would really make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck)

sudoquai wrote:Great!

I've been searching for a good wallet for NMC because for example for Linux there is hard to get a working new package. At the time there are only Github Sources to compile by yourself.

Would be a really great step - are you planning to support different Linux packaging system as well (Ubuntu, Archlinux, Debian, Opensuse ...). It is suggestable that you just define how much money you need as a counter and what you like to integrate / support in Mulitbit Client with NMC support. You can take a look at Kickstarter maybe Bitcoinstarter or just do it at your own.

If your project is more clearly defined i would like to support it! A good wallet support is in my opinion the most important step for Namecoin to use it at least as a currency like Bitcoin. All other features of Namecoin need more development time.

Thumbs up !

The scope of the project is well defined. That is, a straight port of the MultiBit client to Namecoin (see: http://www.multibit.org ).

It should run and install with other versions of Linux as long as you have a compatible Java VM installed.

Well, let me see if I can use Bitcoinstarter (or is it Bitfunder) to raise money for this.

biolizard89 wrote:

FrictionlessCoin wrote:

domob wrote:Great initiative! Have you thought about how to handle names in the SPV model, though? I think there was already some discussion from time to time here about how to do that best. What is your plan? Or do you want to go ahead with "just" the coins first, which seems like a good plan?

Just the coins. Registering names can already be done conveniently by other services out there. In fact, why would anyone need a fat client to register names?

However, if you are storing coins, then certainly you want a fat client.

I'm not sure what you're talking about. The only trust-free way to register or lookup names right now is using namecoind/namecoin-qt. It would be highly beneficial to have an SPV client that can lookup names. Gregory Maxwell proposed this a while back: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/User:Gmaxwel ... sucks_less

Obviously handling currency transactions is a required first step... but I would encourage you to consider SPV for names (and discuss it with us).

Right now, registering and looking up of names will be out of scope for this project. This is a straight port of the MultiBit client. I think there is enough complexity in the Namecoin block chain for me to not want to tackle the Namecoin specific features for now.

We can discuss the issues if you would like.

lunar wrote:This is a great Idea and I'd say essential if Namecoin is to be adopted. its perhaps worth looking at the recent post by fellowtraveller on reddit as the new OT software will soon support Namecoin and hence double as a lightweight client ( storage at least) although a fully functional lightwieght client would be much better.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comment ... sktop_app/

question are you planning on making this a namecoin only client? or would you consider working alongside the multibit team to create a combined NMC BTC Multibit version (now that would really make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck)

The bitcoinj sources will need massive refactoring to support more than one block chain. Therefore you request for a combined NMC BTC version is clearly out of the question. Sorry to disappoint.

Well interesting info about OT and NMC.

Here is the status of the donation address:

http://explorer.dot-bit.org/a/MwDtDr6Fx ... ZM3J3oYsi4

144.9 NMC donated so far!