#### Note: > The bitcoin daemon on the **offline computer** is used solely to sign > transactions and runs without a blockchain. Thus even a low-powered computer > such as a netbook will suffice as your offline machine. > > The bitcoin daemon on the **online computer** requires a complete and > up-to-date blockchain for tracking addresses. Since its work is more CPU and > disk intensive, a more powerful computer is recommended here. You'll also > need plenty of free disk space for the rapidly growing blockchain (~30GB at > the time of writing). > > Two blockchain operations are especially resource-intensive: **synchronizing > the blockchain** and **importing existing addresses with balances**. If you > synchronize often (once a week, for example) and take care to import your > addresses **before** spending into them, then it's possible to use a > low-powered netbook as your online machine. #### Download: > For the time being, Windows installers and Linux binary tarballs can be > obtained [here][00]. Once version 0.10 is released, get them from Bitcoin > Core's [main download page][01] instead. Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit versions > appropriate for your respective computers. #### Install: > **On both the online and offline computers:** > Windows users: run the Windows installer. Linux users: unpack the tar archive > and copy the bitcoind executable in bin/ to your execution path or just run it > in place. #### Run: > **On the online computer:** > Open a terminal and start bitcoind with the command: $ bitcoind -daemon > Warning: If you already have Bitcoin Core installed, **move your existing > wallet.dat out of harm's way** before starting bitcoind. The new wallet > now created will be used as your **tracking wallet**. > If you're connected to the Internet, bitcoind will begin downloading and > verifying the blockchain. This can take from several hours to several days > (depending on the speed of your computer) if you're downloading the blockchain > from scratch. > **On the offline computer:** > Open a terminal and start bitcoind with the command: $ bitcoind -daemon -maxconnections=0 -listen=0 > Note that in the absence of a blockchain the daemon starts very quickly and > uses practically no CPU once running. [00]: https://bitcoin.org/bin/0.10.0/test/ [01]: https://bitcoin.org/en/download [bd]: https://bitcoin.org/bin/blockchain/