TurnKey BitKey Live CD

TurnKey BitKey Live CD is an open source distribution of Linux designed from the ground up to be used as an appliance for deploying a cold storage that offers secure offline Bitcoin transactions to everyone. It is based on the highly acclaimed and award winning Debian GNU/Linux operating system.

Availability, supported architectures, boot options

The distribution is available for download as a single Live CD ISO image, specifically engineered to be used only under 64-bit (amd64) hardware platforms. It can be used from a CD media or a USB flash drive.

From the boot prompt, users can start the live environment using the cold-offline option to create a Bitcoin wallet and sign transactions, the cold-online option to watch a Bitcoin wallet and prepare transactions, and the hot-online option to create and watch a Bitcoin wallet, as well as to prepare and sign transactions.

Usage, desktop environment, installed apps

Once the graphical session has been loaded, users will see a message that instructs them on how to use the operating system. To get started, you'll have to remove the BitKey (red) boot device, insert a USB flash drive (black) for data storage, and click Electrum (the first icon on the dock) to create or open the Bitcoin wallet.

The desktop environment is extremely basic and comprises of a single dock (application launcher) located on the bottom edge of the screen. It includes a file manager (Thunar), a terminal emulator, a text editor (Gedit), a password strenght estimation tool, a Bitcoin address generator utility, a network manager (Wicd), and a web browser (Chromium).

Bottom line

In conclusion, BitKey Live CD created by TurnKey provides users with a great tool for creating and managing Bitcoin wallets, as well as to sign and prepare Bitcoin transactions in a safe and secure environment.