if so, is there a stand-alone progam, that i can use to "BIP38" a big block of text?
I'm also looking for a Linux GUI program that does GPG symmetric encryption, any ideas?
thanks!!
BIP0038 is a bitcoin standard soley for private keys, so I doubt you will find a program for wall of text.
BIP0038 isn't better then GPG it is just something different. With BIP38 you need to enter a password to decrypt a private key, but for the computer to check if the password is correct it needs to do quite a lot of computational work. For a i7 processor it takes about 10-20 seconds to check one password. This makes bruteforcing multiple magnitudes harder.
BIP38 is used for coldstorage paperwallets, because even if someone finds your keys, they can do jack shit.