Topic: Mycelium announces Entropy project on Indiegogo (Read 4756 times)

I did, in fact, test it this way; I directly printed a jpeg from a thumb drive plugged into it, so you can definitely add it to the list, then! Looks like I'll be ordering one.

Yes, that's how you would test it. Plug a USB stick with a jpeg on it into the port, and see if there's some way to print it.

I read through the printer manual, and although it supports printing photos without a computer, it doesn't say if it can do that from the USB port, or if that is limited to just the memory card slots. I asked on Amazon, but if you can just do the USB stick with a jpeg photo test on it, that would be quicker. Let me know if that works, and if yes, I'll add it to our list of compatible printers.

Is there an easy way to test for this? Like, put a jpg on a thumb drive and see if the printer detects it?

Btw, can anyone confirm for me if the HP Photosmart 8450 is compatible? My folks have that printer model, so I'd like to get them an Entropy if it will work!

Today, Mycelium has announced the launch of an Indiegogo project for its Mycelium Entropy device. Mycelium Entropy is the newest addition to the Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet ecosystem, first announced at the Bitcoin2014 Conference in Amsterdam, and demonstrated at the Central Europe Bitcoin Expo in Vienna, as well as the recent Bitcoin in the Beltway conference in Washington DC. The project fundraiser was initially delayed when Kickstarter decided to deny it on the grounds that "Kickstarter's guidelines do not allow for offering money processing services." Attempts to explain that a hardware random number generator is not in any way a "money processing service" has failed, but the Mycelium team was not deterred, and we found a new place to host the fundraiser.

Mycelium Entropy is a small, simple USB device that is designed specifically to generate paper wallets. All you do is plug it into a printer's USB port, and the device uses specialized hardware to create a random number with 256-bits of entropy. It then uses that number to generate a paper wallet with public and private keys, which your printer sees as a JPG photo that it can print directly from the device. This is currently the most secure way to create paper wallets, since the keys are never exposed to the web, use true high level entropy, and only exist on paper. For extra security, Mycelium Entropy can also create M-of-N split keys, where the private key is split up in such a way that you need two out of three parts to spend from an address. In this way, if one of your paper backups is lost or stolen, the thief still can't steal your coins, and you can still access them using the remaining 2 paper backups. Since the Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet has full support for spending from paper wallets, using Mycelium Entropy in combination with the Mycelium Bitcoin Wallet can be a very safe and easy way to store and protect your savings. Think of it as being able to create your own bank deposit certificates that you can keep in a safe, while keeping only a bit of spending cash on your Android wallet. With this combination, the idea of "Be Your Own Bank" comes much closer to reality, and becomes much easier as well.

At this stage, the devices are fully functional, and need just a few minor software tweaks, such as fixing issues of incompatibility between US and European sized paper standards causing the headings on the paper wallet image to be cut off. Mostly minor things that will be resolved by the time we are ready to launch. Although the device hardware is open source, we need to raise money to be able to order them in sufficient enough quantities to make them cheaper for everyone, since mass production is much cheaper than ordering them one at a time. Also, about $1,500 of the money raised will go towards testing and compliance for these types of devices, like CE marks, FCC part 15 approvals, etc. While the devices are being developed, we will spend time testing printers and putting together a list of recommended printers to use with these, just to make sure that yours can handle this, or if it can't, to help you find the cheapest (and most secure) option you can get.

You can read many more details, and see examples, on our Indiegogo page.

Any Entropy news? Are we still on schedule for October / November delivery?

Thanks for the info on the instruction manual. Btw, the Epson XP-610 looks to be cheaper, at around $89. I haven't price checked this entire list, so maybe there's an even cheaper one on there?

you should be safe using someone else's printer but if you need your own printer you might need to do a bit more research as the printer you cite seems to have that USB port for transferring files or saving a scan rather than for printing from direct to USB.

https://files.support.epson.com/pdf/wf2540/wf2540ug.pdf




List of Printers Tested So Far

Brother HL-4150CDN Color Laser - OK
Brother MFC-J875DW Wireless All-In-One - resets printer when trying to print
Brother MFC-8710DW All-in-One Laser - OK
Brother MFC-9970CDW Color All-in-One Laser - OK

Most Canon printers do not have USB ports.
Canon i560 - does not work
Canon imageCLASS MF8280CW Color Laser - OK
Canon Selphy CP910 - comes out plain white on multiple sheets
Canon PIXMA-MG6250 - OK

Epson XP-610 - OK
Epson XP-810 - OK
Epson XP-850 - OK
Epson WF-2540 - No way to print photos from USB
Epson WF-3520 All-in-One - OK
Epson WF-3540 All-in-One - OK
Epson WP-4540 - No way to print photos from USB
Epson WF-7510 Wide-format All-in-One - OK

HP Envy 120 Wireless - OK
HP LaserJet Pro 200 Color - OK
HP LaserJet Pro MFP M476dw - OK
HP Officejet 6700 Premium - OK
HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus - OK
HP Officejet Pro 8610 - OK
HP Officejet Pro 8630 - OK
HP Photosmart 7520 - OK


So it looks like the cheapest option is
HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw Laser Printer  for 156
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0092VVI3Q/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1VSW57XH453U1

The selling point here involves owning a printer with a USB port on the front that one can print from. The cheapest printer I could find on Amazon that definitively had a USB port it could read from was the Epson WorkForce WF-2540, for $79. From my brief search, it seems like printer manufacturers aren't so often including these USB ports, and are more often including a combination of memory card, WiFi, Bluetooth, NFC, or cloud printing features. Does anyone know of other budget level printer models that actually have this USB thumb drive reading capability?

If you don't reach your funding goal we can try to help you out over at BitcoinStarter.com!

I love what you all are doing.