There is now a one-click installer for the Namecoin wallet

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The MeowBit project (THE BEASTLICK INTERNET POLICY COMMISSION outreach team) has added an installer for the Namecoin wallet.

One of the main suggestions we’ve received on the MeowBit project is people wanting a one-click install for the Namecoin wallet. Many people do not understanding which file to click to install the Namecoin Wallet.

So Derrick Slopey of THE BEASTLICK INTERNET POLICY COMMISSION Outreach Team has created a one-click install.

You can get it here:
http://meowbit.com/install/NMC/WalletInstaller.zip

Source code is here:
https://github.com/Derrick-/namecoin_setup

It’s the same wallet from Namecoin.info, but with the installer (and nothing else) added. The binaries that are installed are taken right from the zip at namecoin.info. The installer just puts them in the right palace, sets some convenient registry entries, and creates some shortcuts. It also includes the Namecoin license file and readme.

Feedback welcome. We hope the Namecoin.info team will vet this and adopt and host this as an official option along with to the current download which lacks an installer, and is not easy for the tech un-savvy to use.

In service to liberty,
THE BEASTLICK INTERNET POLICY COMMISSION Outreach Team
www.meowbit.com
www.meowbit.bit

MeowBit, now for XP as well as Windows 7 and 8. View Dot-Bit (Namecoin) domains system wide!

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image0015

Whee! We now cover all common Windows versions: Windows 7, Windows 8, and XP.

NOTE: THERE IS A SEPARATE INSTALL FOR XP. It is HERE.

If you’re on Windows 7/8, you go HERE.

The MeowBit for XP is a hard fork. We will do tech support for it on our forum, but will not be updating it as often as we update the Windows 7/8 version. We just did a lot of work making an XP version due to user requests. We’ve tested it and it works well on our end.

INSTALLING THE XP VERSION: You will still need the updated Namecoin wallet, and should read the install info for the main version of MeowBit, HERE. It’s mostly the same info, except for this:

Special Information for Meow Bit for Windows XP
IMPORTANT: MeowBit requires upgrades for the .Net Framework which is not included in this installer.…

Most people probably won’t need the update. If you’ve updated Windows XP in the last year, MeowBit should work fine out of the box.

If MeowBit crashes shortly after start-up, it is because these updates are not installed on your system.

The preferred method of obtaining these updates is to use Windows Update on your start menu and Install all Optional Updates for .Net 4.0
Alternatively, the Update 4.0.3 for Microsoft .NET Framework 4, available here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29053
contains the updates needed to run MeowBit on Windows XP.

=-=-=-

Source code for XP version is here.

MeowBit – Now with Update Alerts Over the Blockchain – a new feature for software

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As of the latest version of MeowBit (v 0.4.5186.41847, get the latest version HERE), version update notifications are delivered over the blockchain.

(Initial suggestion for this function was posted by Derrick on Namecoin Wiki, here.)

Delivering update notifications over the blockchain is more secure than conventional methods, and as far as we know, it is a first. (Gavin Andresen of the Bitcoin Foundation, Satoshi Nakamoto and theymos each have an alert key to deliver emergency notifications over the blockchain, but it’s only for emergencies and rarely, if ever, used.)

The next version will have an alert balloon, and an MD5 hash. This version, as a proof of concept, has red light/green light indicators. To access these, click the kitty cat icon on the desktop to open the MeowBit Monitor, and click on Settings in the lower left corner of the Monitor window.

clickKittyAndSettings

If you don’t have the Namecoin wallet open or updated (or if you’re not online), you’ll get “Unknown” under “Newest Version”:

latest version unknown

If your wallet is up to date, but your version of MeowBit is not, you’ll get one or two red lights under “Newest Version”:

green red

If your wallet is up to date, and your version of MeowBit the latest, you’ll get two green lights under “Newest Version”:

green green

You may have to close and open the window in this version if an update happens while you have the window open.

Derrick explains:

The p/ spec is here: https://wiki.namecoin.info/index.php?title=Product

There’re some other too on this page: https://wiki.namecoin.info/index.php?title=Category:NEP
The p/ spec probably needs a little work to be more generic, but I whipped it together kind of quickly for publishing version information of MeowBit. In MeowBit on the Version tab of the settings window, it lets you know what the latest version is via the blockchain, and it your version is older it presents a download link. Future work includes automatic downloads of new versions from publishes sources, and verifying the MD5 hash of the files.

=-=-=-=-=-

Source code on GitHub, here.

Other changes in latest version of MeowBit, and version history:

## Version History:
* v0.4.5186.41847 : March 14, 2014
* Settings window with logging (dis/en)ablement, available from tool tray context menu
* Open Log Folder, Latest Log File, or Copy Log contents buttons
* Sounds to verify log copy
* Bug Fix: Resolution fail on unexpected domain info format.
* Internal structural improvements of domain resolution
* Fixed repeating Logging dis/enabled messages
* Added README.md (this file)
* Typo in log output “Determining”… Thanks MWD.
* Query product info from blockchain using query api.
* Setting page displays current version, and latest version from blockchain
* Version info on Settings page offers link to download page if out of date.
* Extended default timeout for Namecoin client API calls to 5 seconds
* System status interval extended to 6 seconds (RpcConnectorTimeout * 1.2)

* v0.3.5179.694 : March 7, 2014
* Better windows management via tray icon
* Add help sub menu with website links
* Fix crashed caused by duplicate config keys
* Unmapped sub-domains default to their parent.

* v0.2.0.0 : March 4, 2014
* Initial Release

–Michael W. Dean and Derrick Slopey, THE BEASTLICK INTERNET POLICY COMMISSION outreach team.

 

HOW DOES MeowBit work?

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huh

We’ve had a lot of questions on this. The basics of it are pretty simple actually:

MeowBit relies on the NameCoin wallet resolve .bit domain names. A simple local DNS-bridge against the local blockchain data.

Under Windows 7 the DNS servers are replaced (and stored) when the system is enabled. On Window 8 the DNScache function allows for specific TLDs to be resolved by specified name servers, so the functionality is a lot cleaner.

The goal is ease of use for the end user, to be able to resolve .bit domains without having to trust a third party.