Tablet vs. Laptop vs. Combo

So, my latest personal technology debate.  Which should be the next system that I invest in for my family members consumption.  Let me state that if I had more money than sense, I would invest for everyone (4 of us) to have Apple products across the board, but that option is way too expensive.  As well the two children should be taking theirs to public school and a loss of that kind of value would be crushing.

As  my primary goal, these new devices should replace older machines and multiple under-powered devices.  In an attempt to consolidate for the kids onto a specific device/platform by which they could accomplish school work.  That choice being more than adequate for their mother who does email and navigation mostly, and for myself something grander than a smartphone, but would clearly be under-powered for vitalization or some of the other purposes that require I have a modern desktop performance system.

Gaming is not coming into the equation at all.  This also drops some of the performance requirements.  I can add that I have an affinity for Linux over all other operating systems for the management of security. As I have mentioned before, Apple would be my mainstay if not so expensive, so I do not shy away from the most productive choice just because it is not my ideal.  In this comparison there are devices which are Win8, Android, and basic systems I would install Linux on.

So I started a quest with a budget.  Since that is probably the most limiting factor, let's discuss it as secondary.  €400-500 per person is what my target is.  This puts me in the high end tablet range or low end laptop.  My first inclination was to go towards the tablet, so that it would be as portable as possible with the longest battery life.  But I personally need to be able to use a hardware keyboard.  So, I know that a bluetooth keyboard can be added to most any device, I didn't want to have yet another thing to try and keep charged as a separate thing.  This has all gotten me down to looking at the following devices closely.

Asus Transformer Pad TF701T (Android 4.3)
Microsoft Surface 2 (Win8 RT)
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 (2014 edition) (Android 4.4)
Lenovo Miix 2 10  (Win8.1)
Asus Transformer Book T100 (Win8.1)

Reviewing point I used were apps, operating system, size, ports and expandability.  Due to some software limitations (like proper office suite missing for Android as well as limitations for Windows 8 RT to windows store only) leaned me towards to the new entries in the "convertible" space.  The Asus Transformer Book T100 and the Lenovo Miix 2 10.  With very similar specs, I've made a short list of the actual differences.

Lenovo Miix 2 10    (+full hd screen, -non standard micro-usb charger, - usb 2.0 only)
+Full HD screen
+rear camera
+larger kb keys
- kb numbers out of alignment
- magnet attach, with 3 fixed positions (no flexible hinge)

Asus Transformer Book T100 (Win8.1)

-HD screen

-kb a 95% like netbook
-no rear camera
+usb3
+physical locking screen to dock
+kb #'s align


I had hoped to find a device that also had built in 3G.  It would seem that that module included on devices in my price range are not common at all.

The Asus came in a bit cheaper, but not really enough to polarize my decision.  So based on these few differences between the two systems I made the choice to go with the Transformer Book T100 based on these points:

1. USB 3.0.  No matter how much I try, I will never be able to make USB 2.0 ports become a USB 3.0 port.
2. I found a cover for the T100 that can let it function in all the best tablet modes (stand horizontal and landscape) that does NOT block the normal keyboard dock section of the tablet. Coodio Smart Asus Transformer Book T100TA.
3. Linux adaptation has already started.
4. Physical latching mechanism for the keyboard to attach.

I'll bet getting the devices very soon as I have ordered them just recently.  I've been watching Win8 "howto" videos on youtube to bone up on the UI as I have not operated a Win8 machine as a daily driver yet.  I'll post back here again after they arrive to follow up on my impression with the machine after some use.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Hackit+ - Ethical Hacking training course

I'm excited to write about a little project I've been working on.  I've helped a team of very special and talented folks with creating Premier Course ware for Ethical Hacking.  It is a paid program for instructing on hacking from the very introductory levels.  If you've never worked on security before, or if you are thinking of trying to, but all the material you find out there is way too advanced, then try Hackit+.

With lessons that start with explanations of virtual machines and Linux all the way up to advanced exploitation techniques, this course will bring you from 0-60 in just 15 lessons.  The product has just launched, but the community plans are strong and engaging.  With user driven forums for members only along with access to download and try to hack example virtual machines.  Launching new ones all the time to test your lessons learned.  These virtual machines comprise "Hackville" which is what they call the collection of virtual machines which represent citizens and businesses inside a simulated town.  With resources and persons simulated with virtual machines, these test your learned material and challenge you to creative problem solving.

This courseware is not your traditional fare.  It is engaging and pushes the student to try and experiment and learn by doing.  This course is not for a passive student base.  But for people who are curious about the field of Penetration Testing, Security or just wanting to learn from the bottom up, this course is engaging and has the promise of a strong community structure to keep you engaged for months to come after your complete the course.

There is a certification exercise at the conclusion if you are so inclined, this process will earn you a certificate of completion that will be backed by the Hackit+ team.  This certification is included with the courseware at no extra charge.  Visit the website for the details and dive in if you too would like to learn how hacking works, even if you don't have any previous experience.

I do apologize, I normally don't endorse products on this blog, but as it is very much in line with my philosophy on these things and the Tin Foil Hat Show podcast, I thought it an interesting piece for anyone who normally follow what I'm writing about.

Happy Hacking.  And remember: If it hacks you, you should HACK IT BACK!
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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Home Server - Media (tvmobili + subsonic)

As part of my home server project, I've been trying to configure what should be a multimedia server solution.  With PC's, laptops, TV and mobile devices who all connect in the house I was looking for the combinations that would produce the most viewed media on the most devices.

My first attempt was to return to Mythtv.  But after the server took a upgrade to the mythtv package it basically borked the db, and mis-matched with the desktop clients that I couldn't find the correct versions for.

I then tried to look into DLNA compliance a few months back with the introduction of a new TV.  Ushare was simple to configure and it seemed to speak the folder structure to the TV but didn't give the list of files.  I then installed tvmobili which works 100% and serves the files over DLNA to the TV with no issue.

Previous computer solution was Boxee using Samba (windows file sharing) to stream.  This was nice because it would pull all metadata as well as subtitles.   I haven't gotten rid of the Boxee solution, but I will probably look into XMBC for the same purpose without the customization.  XMBC should be a bit more resilient to changes as it is the code base for Boxee.

My newest discovery is Subsonic.  Man, I can't say enough good about this one.  Simple deb package install on my ubuntu server, web interface makes management/configuration completely painless.  It comes with simple and built-in dynamic DNS service.  It does ask for a donation to the project for a license that allows video streaming playback beyond a 30 day trial period.  I will be making that donation.  The web interface offers a flash player playback with adjustable bitrate to support LAN connections or even 3G connections.  Very well developed howto included to help with firewall issues if there and I have to say it's just working.  I've tried the Android client and the performance and results is truly impressive.  Try the demo on your own, see if you think it is work a small donation to the project.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

MultiBoot LiveUSB - multiple iso + persistence

I had found a usb multiboot solution some time ago and realized that I had not written about it.  I would like to demonstrate an amazing piece of software that does exactly what it claims.  It does it so well, that I have purchased two 8Gig USB keys to manage using this software.

The concept is the same as the Ubuntu USB-creator, or even the same as Unetbootin.  Both of those tools are only loading a single disk image (.iso) onto a usb key (typically 1G).  These tools are amazingly useful to try out liveCD versions of linux distributions without a full blown hard drive install, but also not at the mind-numbing slowness of a proper CD Burn as the CD-Rom devices are so much slower than disk access that you no longer get an experience for an alternative operating system that is enjoyable.

Both of the tools I have already mentioned have over the last year and a half come to incorporate also a persistence mode which means that unlike a burned CD, a usb key in persistence mode with extra space is able to maintain updates across reboots.  So if you add an application to a livecd .iso on usb key using one of those tools with the addition of persistence mode then any application installed would be persistent the next time the usb key was used for a reboot.

Being a very demanding geek, the idea of a collection of usb keys with single unique linux distributions seemed too troublesome.  One key for installing Ubuntu on machines of folks who are converting.  Another key with rescueCD on it for diagnostics and data recovery.  Another key for me to try out the latest version of distros.  And so the list goes on, and then I end up with a small grocery bag filled with 1Gig usb keys each unlabeled and with unique purpose.

Enter the best usb boot tool I have found to date.  MultiBoot LiveUSB.  This software is truly amazing.  Will manage as many distro's/livecd's that the usb key can store.   Will let you load as just the live version or _also_ with persistence.  There are some limitations to which distro's have persistence available.  Most of those limitation have to do with the manner in which the .iso's are made.  The tool also allows you to remove old distro's and add new ones.  The tool also has a list of distro's known to work which looks like the majority listing of distro's from Distrowatch.

I can't say enough about this tool.  An affordable 8G usb key can now be turned into a virtual "swiss army knife" of bootable linux distro's.  It supports much more and my description of the software here is abbreviated.  The website is in original french, but the application has been translated into many languages.  Seems at this time there is no windows or mac port of this app, so you need linux to manage it.  So just to be ironic, maybe you make a persistence install on a usb key with this application installed to manage all other usb keys.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Featured Interview on The Frostcast - Part Deux

Oops, I did it again.  With the help of Jonathan Nadeau, and making another appearance on the Frostcast.  In this episode we had a very specific discussion on the personal cloud project that I'm working on at the house. 

We talk about the hardware and the server applications being run up to present in more detail than I've covered on the Tin Foil Hat Show to date.  So please, check out his podcast. 

I did discover during this interview that the shownotes for the Tin Foil Hat show are handi-accessible which makes me very happy.  As always I had a great time chatting with Jonathan, and I'm really looking forward to more from him in the future.   I've linked to Jonathan's welcome announcement at the FSF's intern program.  And make sure to stay tuned to all the Frostbitemedia podcasts to hear about his upcoming projects that he told me about off-line.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Home Server deployment - Part 1

So I got a home server (nettop system dual core atom).  I'm migrating my current server applications from the wife's desktop (always on) system to the new low power consumption system.

Here is what I ordered:
Shuttle XS35GT Barebones Nettop (No OS) (1.66GHz, 2GB, 500GB, No Monitor)

So I have already migrated dnsmasq (copy config and hosts files), ddclient to update the "way home", nzb grabber and samba which is the method I've gone to since my mythtv setup went bonkers in my 10.10 upgrade.

I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS server to ensure stability.  I'm hoping it should prevent issues with stability.

I've got on the list to re-deploy mythtv, asterisk, openarena-server, a LAMP stack with some CMS system that will let the wife have/manage a website, statusnet and if possible I'll try to set up a server to receive the mozilla sync or xmarks in such a way that my "personal cloud" should be close.

I'm making a conscious choice to not migrate email as that system needs to be higher availability and accessibility than my home dsl and system can manage.

I'll try to chronicle my tales here.  So far it's been pretty easy to migrate servers by installing the server and then moving the configuration file.  The biggest issue so far has been me who forgets network orientation (one IP vs. another) or file permissions.  Outside of that, it's been pretty easy.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Indiana Linux Fest :: 25-27 March

 

So it turns out that I know someone who is very involved in the organization of the Indiana Linux Fest and he asked me to let the community at large know.

This is their first year and while there is no way for me to cross the Atlantic to be there, this looks like one of the best organized inagural year linux fests I've ever seen.  Doubt me, read on...still doubt then visit the site for the Indiana Linux Fest and then ... Believe!

I'm going to post their promotional material here.  Please do try to attend if you are in the area, not only for awareness, not only for the cool speaker tracts they have planned but also just to show support.  Remember, the more of us who show up at these the more likely things get kicked off for another one next year or more get scheduled and planned support the community by just showing up, being counted and having your voice and presence mean something.

Here are the words from our friends at ILF, make sure you read the notes on the Prizes, yep..Prizes.

 Indiana Linuxfest is proud to announce our first annual Linuxfest on March 25th to March 27th in 2011. This event will be a conference put on by The Indiana F/oss Society.

Indiana LinuxFest is about community, information, and friends. We strive to bring the F/OSS Community together for more than just
information gathering, we want a place for people to network, communicate, and have a good time.

We want to give you and other members of the community a Linuxfest worth writing home about. The events being planned include community driven talks given by other great people in the Free Linux Open Source Software (FLOSS) community. A Professional Day where we will have talks geared more towards professionals in the Linux and Open Source world, a Hackerspace Village which will focus on all kinds of hacking, from lockpicking to various forms of hardware hacking as well as arduino hacking and a LPI Exam Cram class. This will be a first for any Linuxfest to feature something like the Hackerspace Village.. We will also feature Linux Professional Institute testing and a Drupal camp. At Indiana Linuxfest you will be sure to come away with new found knowledge, new friends, and a few good stories to tell.
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A special promotion for all Supporter and LPI Exam Cram passes.  Every 50th registered pass will recieve either a Nook Color or a Archos 70.
===========================

We are still looking for sponsors. If you or your company would like to sponsor our event just head over to our website and fill out the sponsorship form, it's that easy! Not only will you be helping us out but you will gain more exposure, come for the benefits, stay for the good times!



There you go!   I can't get there.  I'd appreciate it if you get there, let Lord_D know that CafeNinja kept his word.

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CafeNinja

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.