Version 24.07.0

In this release, the first of Maix Cube, Krux have received a significant performance boost, along with new features and customization options.

Changes

Maix Cube Support

The Maix Cube now has its first official release. This affordable and compact cube-shaped device, equipped with a built-in battery, is an excellent choice for those seeking a discreet option.
P.S.: To flash Maix Cube with the official release using Krux Installer, please download v0.0.14 or later of the installer.

Frozen Code - Speed and Security Improvement

Krux now runs cross-compiled (frozen) Python code instead of real-time compiled code. The Python real-time compiler and REPL have been disabled.

More Single-sig Script Types Support

Beyond Native Segwit, users can now load Legacy, Nested Segwit, and Taproot script type wallets.

Accounts Support

Users can now use custom account derivation indexes.

Wallet Customization Options

New workflow to load wallets, faster for default settings and with more options when custom settings are needed. Wallet's network, script type, single/multisig, and account can be changed during and after loading a wallet.

BIP85 Support

Generate, export, and load BIP85 child mnemonics.

Wallet Sans Key

Krux now has a tool to load a trusted wallet descriptor to view addresses without the need for private keys.

Add BBQr Support

Scan and export PSBTs and wallet descriptors in the compact and efficient BBQr format.

Update Embit

Embit updated to 0.8.

Auto Shutdown - Security and Battery Saving Feature

The device will automatically shut down at a configurable time if left on.

Hide Mnemonics - Security Feature

Disable backup tools and hide private key data when a wallet is loaded.

PSBT Path Mismatch

Detect and warn the user if the PSBT path differs from the loaded wallet's path. This is useful for users who use multiple script types with the same key, ensuring they use the correct account when sending transactions.

Show Multisig PSBT Policy When Descriptor is Not Loaded

Ensure you are signing for the correct multisig setup by inspecting PSBT's fingerprints if the wallet descriptor is not loaded. If the descriptor is loaded, verification is done by Krux.

Status Bar Shows Loaded Fingerprint

The loaded key's fingerprint is now shown in the status bar.

Fee Percentage of Transaction

Show the transaction's fee as a proportion of the transaction cost, warning if it is greater than 10%.

Sats/vB

PSBT now displays an accurate estimation of the transaction’s feerate.

Brightness Control for Maix Cube and M5stickV

Adjust backlight intensity for better viewing and scanning from your Cube or M5stickV.

Fast Forward for Buttons

Hold the NEXT or PREVIOUS buttons when navigating among letters while typing text to fast forward or backward.

Add Display Settings for Maix Amigo

Add more display settings for Amigo to allow different display models to work properly.

Faster Address Scanning and Exploring

The time to scan or display wallet addresses is now less than half compared to the previous version.

Sign PSBTs Without Fingerprints

Krux will now sign PSBTs even if a fingerprint is not properly set on the coordinator. Krux will still warn the user to set it correctly or use Krux-exported public keys to set their coordinators.

Dice Rolls Pattern Detection

Krux warns the user if it suspects there are patterns within the actual rolls

Optimized SD Card Signing

Better suited for large transactions, SD card signing is now more RAM efficient, allowing transactions with +100 inputs to be signed in less than a minute.

Stand Alone Verifiable Signed PSBTs

As required in BIP174, signed PSBT QR codes and SD card files now contain all the required data to verify the signatures without needing the original, unsigned PSBT.

Camera Optimizations for Yahboom (ver:1.1) With GC2145 Camera

Recent Yahboom K210 devices (ver:1.1) come with the GC2145 camera instead of the OV2640 (ver:1.0). Optimizations and features, such as anti-glare, have been added for the new camera.

Yahboom and Cube Devices Added to Simulator

Simulator can now run as M5stickV, Amigo, Dock, Yahboom, and Cube.

Files sorted in SD file explorer

The SD file explorer now sorts files in ascending order, showing directories first.

Receive or change address now starts with the index 0

Address explorer now shows receive and change address starting at index 0 instead of number 1.

Other Small Fixes and Code Optimizations

Bugfixes, optimizations and code refactoring.

Krux Community

This release includes numerous contributions to the firmware from @tadeubas and @jdlcdl. Meanwhile, @qlrd has been consistently working on a version of Krux Installer with improved compatibility and user experience. Special thanks to @kkdao, community translators, @3rdIteration and other content creators, and all users who actively participate in Krux development with ideas, tests, and feedback.

Version 24.03.0

This release focuses on internal optimizations to enhance the firmware's performance, making it lighter, faster, and more reliable. These improvements not only result in a better user experience but also lay the groundwork for seamlessly integrating future features.

Changes

Wipe Device

Option on tools to wipe the device, permanently removing settings and stored encrypted mnemonics by erasing every single bit of user's flash space.

Better Deletion of Mnemonics Stored on SD card

When deleting an encrypted mnemonic from an SD card, Krux will now overwrite the memory area making it impossible to recover the previously stored data.

Save and Load Wallet Output Descriptor from SD card

Create or load from a wallet output descriptor file on an SD card. The backup file format is compatible with most coordinators.

Sign Messages at a Derived Bitcoin address

Sign messages from Sparrow and Specter, via QR code, also attesting a Bitcoin address belongs to you.

Reproducible Builds

To enhance the reproducibility of firmware builds, random variables such as file write timestamps have been removed from the build process. As a result, builds from developers' computers, those built within GitHub Actions from published code, and those you compile locally are more likely to be identical and have the same hash checksum as the official and beta releases. This change ensures greater consistency and traceability across all builds.

Add Entropy Quality Estimation for Mnemonic Creation.

Entropy quality estimators, like Shannon's entropy, were added to mnemonic generation through dice rolls and camera snapshot.

IRQ Interfaces

Button and touch presses are now detected by the application through IO interrupts. Meaning inputs events will be registered and handled even if they happened when other tasks were being executed by the processor, resulting in a better UX.

Restore Default Settings

Option to restore the device's settings to its factory state.

Optimized Settings Storage

Device's storage is now used more efficiently, data is stored less frequently, only in case a setting is changed from defaults.

Amigo's Power Manager Enhancements

The power management behavior for the Amigo device has been standardized. Previously, some devices would not wake up from shutdown or sleep mode. Now, these devices will fully shut down when the shutdown option is selected from the menu, and they will always power on when the power button is pressed for 1 second.

GUI Enhancements

Icons, information text boxes, and rounded shapes are now present at the GUI.

Mnemonic Numbers

To match the input options, export mnemonics as decimal, hexadecimal, or octal numbers. When loading from numbers, a new numbers confirmation screen was added.

Optimized QR codes

QR codes rendering is faster and uses less RAM.

Export QR Codes as Images to SD Card

Some QR codes can be exported as images to SD card.

Screensaver

Optional screensaver to reduce pixels' burn-in and grab the attention of the user when the device is left powered on.

Addresses Exploring

More receive and change addresses per page are shown on bigger screens.

Update Embit to version 0.7

Use the latest Embit release.

Maix Dock Simulator

Now Krux PC simulator can also run in Maix Dock mode, mimicking appearance and characteristics of the most DIY Krux device.

New Compatible Device - Yahboom

The Yahboom Aimotion K210 module, a compact touchscreen device, now has its first official firmware release.

Join Amigo IPS and Amigo TFT firmwares

Users will be able to flash a single firmware and change display settings if their device was shipped with a display different from standard TFT.

Other Small Fixes and Code Optimizations

Many other small fixes and optimizations under the hood.

Team Efforts

Collaboration: Many of the advancements in this release were made possible through team brainstorming sessions, mutual support, and code reviews. Contributors also prioritized tasks they deemed essential, leading to significant progress for the project.

Jean Do (@jdlcdl): Jean took an in-depth look at the Krux device's flash memory, leading to the development of tools that assess how settings and mnemonics are saved and deleted. This work resulted in firmware optimizations and new features like "Wipe Device," which enhance the usage and security of flash and SD cards.

Tadeu (@tadeubas): Tadeu introduced features such as a screensaver and the option to store wallet descriptors on an SD card. His contributions extend beyond these features, as he has also been instrumental in code reviews, project structure improvements, documentation enhancement, automation, creation and execution of tests, catching and fixing bugs.

Guilherme (@qlrd): Guilherme has made contributions to the project's structure and has undertaken the substantial task of translating the installer from JavaScript to Python. This change aims to improve security and compatibility with multiple operating systems and other Krux tools. He has several new features planned for the installer.

Community Engagement: Special thanks to @kkdao for managing Krux's social media accounts and Telegram groups. These platforms have been a source of many great ideas and improvements for the project.

Translation Contributions: We are grateful for the translation review contributions from @aglkm (Russian) and Willectre (Vietnamese), which help make Krux more accessible to a wider audience.

We appreciate the dedication and hard work of the entire Krux community in making this release

Version 23.09.1

This release contain bugfixes:

• Encrypted Mnemonic QR codes would fail to decrypt if PBKDF2 iterations settings was changed to non multiple of 10,000.
• QR code transcription helpers that highlight regions could crash on edges of some QR code sizes.
• Address navigation "previous" menu option wouldn't show correct number.

If by any chance you changed the encryption PBKDF2 iterations to a number that is not multiple of 10,000, created an encrypted mnemonic QR code, and didn't test it prior to use as a backup. You can use this python script to retrieve your mnemonic. Use it with this command:
python krux_decrypt.py qr --bf
Is you need help to use it you can also reach Krux Telegram Group

Version 23.09.0​

Version 23.09.0 - September 12, 2023

After a long year, new features are finally coming out of beta and making their way into a stable release. Also @jreesun appointed @odudex as the new lead maintainer of the project.

Changes

Battery Indicator

Check battery status of M5stickV or Maix Amigo on top right of the screen.

New Mnemonic From Camera

Use camera as a source of entropy to quickly create a mnemonic.

Tiny Seed - Export, Print, Punch, Manually Load or Scan

Import and export a binary representation of your mnemonic, in a format popularized by Tiny Seed metal plates. BIP39 mnemonic words number, ranging from 1 to 2048 are punched in binary format on a rectangular grid.
Krux will automatically convert a mnemonic to Tiny Seed format allowing to print or transcript it. You can also load a tiny seed toggling word bits on screen, or make use of machine vision capabilities of K210 chip to directly scan a Tiny Seed mnemonic backup stored on metal or paper.

Stackbit - Import and Export

Without needing tools, guides or dictionaries, import and export another metal plate backup format, where each of the four digits of the word's number is a sum of marked (punched) numbers 1,2,4 and 8.

Enter Mnemonic as Word Numbers - Hex and Octal formats

Also available in some metal plate backup formats, you could load your mnemonic words from its decimal BIP39 word number (1-2048), now you can also load from its hexadecimal(0x1-0x800) or octal(01-04000) word number.

Encryption and Storage

Conveniently store your mnemonics on device's internal flash memory or removable SD card, protecting them with encryption. It is now possible to export encrypted QR codes too.

Addresses

Beyond verifying your wallet's receive addresses, you can now also list, export and print receive and change addresses.

SD Card Hot plugging

SD cards can now be inserted and removed at any time, making it easier to use it for signing transactions, messages and storing encrypted mnemonics.

Transcript Tools for QR codes

Different visualization modes which make it easier to transcript QR codes.

Transaction Details

When signing a transaction, more information is presented, ensuring that the user sees all details before signing.

Tools

Check SD Card

Check if the SD card is detected and explore its content.

Delete Mnemonic

Delete any stored encrypted mnemonic, on device's internal flash memory or SD card.

Print Test QR

Quickly print a test QR code to check and optimize your printer setup.

Create QR Code

Enter a text input to create, print or transcript a QR code that can be later used as an encryption key or as a passphrase.

Themes

Choose your color theme according to your preference.

Thermal Printing and CNC

More mnemonic export formats and tools to create and print generic QR codes to be used as passphrases or encryption keys. You can also export QR codes to gcode files and save them in SD cards, allowing you to machine them GRBL compatible CNCs without the need of computers and CAD tools.

More Settings

Persist

Choose where you want to store your settings, on internal flash memory or SD card.

Touchscreen

If your device has touchscreen you can change the touch detection threshold.

Languages

Dutch translations were added.

UI Tweaks

Small changes to optimize user experience.

Under the Hood

Small bugfixes, optimizations and code refactoring, targeting better compatibility with coordinator softwares, faster boot and better RAM management.

Version 22.08.2

This patch release reverts the zpub QR code format, once again including key origin derivation info which is necessary for BlueWallet to use when preparing PSBTs for signing with single-key wallets.

It is recommended to update to this version if you are using a single-key "Imported Watch-only" wallet with BlueWallet and are seeing a "cannot sign" error message in Krux when trying to send an outgoing transaction. If so, please do the following:

1. Upgrade Krux to this new release
2. Delete the affected wallet in BlueWallet (funds are safu as long as you have your mnemonic)
3. Create a new wallet in BlueWallet by importing from the new zpub QR code that Krux now displays.
4. Open the wallet in BlueWallet and pull down to fetch the old wallet's transaction history.
5. Create a new outgoing transaction and scan the QR code with Krux.
6. Krux should display the tx information and allow you to sign.
7. Display the signed QR back to BlueWallet.
8. Broadcast!

Version 22.08.1

This release is to fix a bug that would have prevented Amigos from performing airgapped upgrades to the next release.

Version 22.08.0

Update: Please use Version 22.08.1 which includes an important fix for a bug that would have prevented Amigos from performing airgapped upgrades to the next release.

This latest version of Krux is brought to you by @odudex, who tirelessly worked for months to get Krux working on three new devices: the Maix Amigo, Maix Bit, and Maix Dock. Thank you for all your hard work!

Many other improvements to Krux were made along the way which will be listed below.

Enjoy!

Installing

For instructions on how to install this release, please follow the Getting Started guide on https://selfcustody.github.io/krux/.

To perform an airgapped upgrade (with a microSD card) from a previous signed release, please follow the directions here: https://selfcustody.github.io/krux/getting-started/installing/#upgrade-via-microsd-card

Changes

¡Three Amigos!

Krux now supports three new devices: Maix Amigo, Maix Bit, and Maix Dock. The Amigo is an all-in-one device with a touchscreen display, while the Dock and Bit are more DIY-focused kits where some assembly is required.

New touchscreen UI + UX enhancements

Along with being usable on multiple devices now, Krux also has native touchscreen support and many refinements to its UI to make better use of the screen space it has. More work has gone into improving UX including the ability to escape out of the mnemonic loading or creation screens at any point.

Built-in translations + Portuguese

Krux now includes translations in the firmware due to using a more space-efficient font format. With this change, the rendering issues with Vietnamese characters have also been fixed. A new Portuguese translation has been added.

Amigo support added to Krux Simulator

The Krux Simulator, which lets you simulate on your PC what it would be like to run Krux on a device, was updated to support the Amigo. There is also now a PC option if you want to run Krux "natively" on your PC (NOTE: This is a toy for fun and is not recommended for real usage).

CompactSeedQR support

Support for scanning SeedSigner’s newer "CompactSeedQR" QR codes

BIP39 passphrases

Support has been added for BIP39 passphrases. After loading a mnemonic, you will be asked if you want to "Add a passphrase?" to it.

Export signed PSBTs to microSD

You can now save a signed PSBT to microSD which should help users having trouble getting their webcams to read the tiny QR codes on the M5StickV. Furthermore, Krux supports loading a PSBT from microSD as well if you want to forgo QR codes entirely.

Better mnemonic generation

The flow for entering rolls has been streamlined to allow more rapid input, with your string of rolls now being visible along the top of the screen as you go. We also introduced a change to how the D6 roll string is built, no longer including "-" between rolls prior to hashing to have consistency with ColdCard and SeedSigner.

Note: We continue to use a "-" separator between D20 rolls to avoid reducing state space due to collisions (e.g., rolling 1-17 and 11-7 would result in the same 117 string without a separator, and would thus have the same hash)

Back button and rotary encoders

All devices, even the M5StickV, support moving backward in the UI now. The left-side power button on the M5StickV no longer does one-press resets and instead acts as a third input button. Note: You can still shutdown the device by holding it down for 5 seconds.

Support for using a rotary encoder as the previous and next buttons has also been added. Check out @odudex’s open source case design with instructions on how to use one with the Dock:
https://github.com/odudex/DockEncoderCase

Just to note, he also has a case design for the Bit:

https://github.com/odudex/MaixBitCase

Updated website + i18n future

The Github Pages site has been updated with new documentation and screenshots for the Amigo.

A new internationalization (i18n) framework has been added by @qlrd that will allow the website to be easily translated to other languages so we can eventually have documentation for every language that Krux supports!

@qlrd is also working on a graphical installer we hope to start making use of in the future when it’s ready. Keep tabs on it here: https://github.com/qlrd/krux-installer

Version 22.03.0

Finally, after much TODO, the first official release of Krux is out!

Krux will be following a calendar version release schedule similar to Ubuntu, hence the first release is version (20)22.03.0. If any glaring security issues or important bugfixes come up, they will make their way into point releases such as 22.03.1, 22.03.2, etc. All new work will go toward major releases which will get a new year and month combo.

Thank you to everyone who contributed their time and effort toward this release. It's been very cool to see people take an interest in the project! Also, a special thank you is due to @stepansnigirev for creating the embit library that Krux leans so heavily on.

Installing

For instructions on how to install this release, please follow the Getting Started guide on https://selfcustody.github.io/krux/.

Changelog

• add weak link to uio by @stepansnigirev in #13
• Support UR types and arbitrary wallet vendors by @jreesun in #14
• Add support for Sparrow + Electrum, bitstring mnemonics, various fixes by @jreesun in #16
• Added note regarding VirtualBox / group vboxusers by @bavarianledger in #20
• Add I18n support by @jreesun in #23
• Add support for single-key wallets (#22) by @jreesun in #30
• Add pylint and refactor code to pass it by @jreesun in #35
• Update de-DE.json by @SatFrog in #36
• Add unicode support and satcomma notation (#32, #37) by @jreesun in #40
• Create fr-FR.json by @johngtrs in #41
• Display and print QR of found receive address (#42) by @jreesun in #45
• spanish translation for Krux by @bluejayws in #53
• Settings submenu by @jreesun in #54
• Add word_wrap to text drawing functions by @jreesun in #55
• Change Check Address to Scan Address (#56) by @jreesun in #58
• Add vendor dir and move submodules into it by @jreesun in #59
• Add more unicode coverage to default font by @jreesun in #63
• Vietnamese translation by @annb-ctu in #64
• Bake software into firmware; allow airgapped OTA upgrades via microSD by @jreesun in #65
• Add workflows for testing, building, and deploying gh-pages by @jreesun in #67
• Build the kendryte toolchain from source by @jreesun in #71
• Add 'New Mnemonic' option to create from D6 or D20 rolls by @jreesun in #68
• fixed function declaration mismatch by @odudex in #72
• Update README.md by @jreesun in #84
• Tests by @jreesun in #74
• New splash by @jreesun in #89
• Perform translations at runtime; add persistent settings by @jreesun in #90
• Format all python code with black by @jreesun in #91
• Smart typing and word search speed-up by @jreesun in #95
• Switch to codecov by @jreesun in #97
• Add SYS_EXC_INFO for micropython to handle exceptions by @odudex in #96
• Separate xpub text from QR and simplify key expression logic by @jreesun in #98
• Add MaixPy as submodule by @jreesun in #102
• Add dev instructions to README, update dependencies by @jreesun in #105
• Add message signing feature and tweak firmware sig verification by @jreesun in #106
• Adjust font scripts to account for >8px width fonts by @jreesun in #110
• New documentation for v1 by @jreesun in #112
• Add simulator by @jreesun in #113
• Release 22.03.0 by @jreesun in #115
• Hotfixes for release 22.03.0 by @jreesun in #116

New Contributors

• @stepansnigirev made their first contribution in #13
• @bavarianledger made their first contribution in #20
• @SatFrog made their first contribution in #36
• @johngtrs made their first contribution in #41
• @bluejayws made their first contribution in #53
• @annb-ctu made their first contribution in #64
• @odudex made their first contribution in #72

Full Changelog: https://github.com/selfcustody/krux/commits/v22.03.0