Vessel 0.2.5 - Bug Fixes (Connection Issues)

If you have been experiencing connection issues with Vessel over the past week or so, and are unable to use the wallet, this update should resolve your issues. This update is purely maintenance and bug fixes related to issues that users have been experiencing recently.

Before going too much further, since new users (and old users alike) may have no idea what Vessel actually is:

What is Vessel?

Vessel is a desktop wallet for the Steem blockchain, which can be downloaded and run on your computer. Vessel is free to use and open source, and is designed to be a way to help secure your account on the Steem blockchain. While using Vessel, your keys/password never leave the app, transactions are signed locally, and then broadcast to the network much like any other downloadable cryptocurrency wallet.

Here's a few of the other most recent updates, as well as the original announcement:

Download Vessel

Vessel is still beta software and it's recommended that you treat it as such. Before committing irreversible actions on your account (such as large outgoing transfers), please test with smaller amounts to ensure it's working properly on your computer.

Download available on github for macOS (.dmg file), Windows (.exe file) and Linux (.snap and .deb files).

Releases: https://github.com/aaroncox/vessel/releases
chainBB Forums: https://chainbb.com/f/vessel
Bug Reports: https://github.com/aaroncox/vessel/issues
Source Code: https://github.com/aaroncox/vessel

What's new in 0.2.5

You can now change your Preferred Steem Node from the initial welcome screen.
Fixed a bug where the default node wasn't being specified and defaulting to a decommissioned server.
The default node has been updated to rpc.buildteam.io temporarily.
Attempting to clarify the wording in the account creation process so users realize there's one final step.

Connection issues should be resolved

There have been a number of message, github issues, and steemit posts recently about users being unable to use Vessel. To boil down what happened:

Last week Steemit Inc decommissioned steemd.steemit.com. This was a planned event and was announced in advance.
Vessel itself was coded to use wallet.steem.ws to connect to the blockchain by default.
A fresh install of Vessel, where you add your first account, was relying (unintentionally) on this decommissioned server due to the user's preferences not already being established and the default mechanism failing.
Previous versions of Vessel actually forced the default and saved it to localStorage, even though the default in the current version didn't work. Those users remained unaffected.
To put a cherry on top, the provider that hosts the wallet.steem.ws server decided tonight was a good time to reboot to apply security patches. Problem being, the server is now unreachable and I'm awaiting a response on a support ticket. This server may have to be replayed (which might take a day or two) before it's back online.

So tonight, after taking the time to investigate all of this, I've decided to push out a new minor release (0.2.5) to resolve the issues at hand.

By default, Vessel will now use the rpc.buildteam.io server provided by @buildteam. This is a temporary change until I can reliably bring the wallet.steem.ws server back online.
The bugs within the code that were preventing the default from being set and saved are now fixed.
The initial account creation screen now has a text area at the bottom that you can change the default node, without requiring an account to already be imported before making the change.

Downloading and using 0.2.5 should once again connect to a default and working server, and if for some reason it's not, you can change it from either the initial welcome screen or from the settings page.

Here's a list of servers, just incase you're unable to connect to one for some reason:

Simply enter any of these in the "Preferred Steem Node" field and hit update.

If you have any further issues connecting with 0.2.5 installed, please let me know.