Building a mobile Raspberry Pi computer yourself
Pi-to-Go combined a Raspberry Pi, display, battery and SSD in a printed mobile case.
Read the full postBlog 2012
19 posts
Projects, Linux, networks, systems, finds and internet standards from 2012.
Linux controls a real 6502 processor
Hackaday shows how a BeagleBone loads, starts and operates a discrete 6502 as a remote processor from Linux via GPIO. The project uses a discrete 6502. An ARM-based BeagleBone serves as the host.
Read the full postA quiet self-built wooden PC
A self-built wooden case combines powerful PC hardware with an almost silent cooling concept. The original video has the ID CB-_JIjhAyA. Performance and low noise are not mutually exclusive with careful thermal planning.
Read the full postThe scrap value of a hacked PC
Brian Krebs visualises how criminals turn almost every part of a compromised computer, its identity and its network connection into money. The graphic updated an earlier piece Krebs did for the Washington Post. The new version added ransomware as a way of cashing in.
Read the full postA RAST bedside table becomes a monitor stand
Joe shortens the side panels of a RAST bedside table and quickly creates a stable monitor riser whose colour can be adapted. The conversion took about fifteen minutes. The stated cost was 20 US dollars.
Read the full postDNS dampening: Slowing attacks, keeping resolvers alive
Lutz Donnerhacke tests DNS dampening under real load and shows how measurements refute several dangerous assumptions in the first draft. An internal check script produced around 40,000 legitimate queries within minutes. Attacks were detected and blocked after about 40 packets.
Read the full postState trojan maker allegedly loses its own malware
Gamma Group explained the presence of its surveillance software at authoritarian regimes with an alleged server break-in.
Read the full posthß Security update check shut down because of a security hole
In August 2012 heise Security shut down its online update check because it required Java, and Java 7 had just been found to have a highly critical hole that was already being exploited. The hole affected all browsers with the Java 7 plugin; modules for the Blackhole exploit kit were already circulating, and no patch from Oracle had been announced yet. As an alternative, heise recommended the locally installed Personal Software Inspector.
Read the full postWi-Fi mesh as an emergency radio network
In 2012 researchers at TU Darmstadt used wardriving to investigate whether private Wi-Fi routers in cities could form an emergency radio network for first responders. In half a square kilometre they found 1,971 Wi-Fi cells; with a range of 30 metres, each node had an average of ten neighbours and only 2 percent were isolated. However, the routers would need mesh firmware and a power supply that holds up in disasters.
Read the full postNew Linux kernels bring performance improvements
In 2012 kernels 3.0.39 and 3.2.25 were the first to deliberately bring performance optimisations into the stable and longterm branches. Mel Gorman and Greg Kroah-Hartman had extended the rules to also allow changes that fix important performance or interactivity problems. Typical systems were hardly expected to get faster, but on an SGI UV system with 640 cores, throughput when writing to tmpfs rose from 300 to 430 MByte/s.
Read the full postRFC 6698: DANE: Binding TLS keys via DNSSEC
RFC 6698 introduces TLSA records with which DNSSEC-secured domains name certificates or keys for TLS. DANE partly moves trust decisions into the DNS hierarchy. Additional trust paths increase both options and operational responsibility.
Read the full postRailuino: Controlling Märklin digital with Arduino
Jörg Pleumann replaces expensive Märklin control units with Arduino, CAN bus and inexpensive connection boxes to control a digital model railway openly. Understanding an existing bus can replace proprietary control units with small adapters. A toy becomes an open automation platform as soon as its protocol becomes accessible.
Read the full postRFC 6585: Additional HTTP status codes
RFC 6585 adds 428, 429, 431 and 511, among others, to HTTP for more precise error states. Precise error codes make automated reactions more reliable. Rate limits need clear feedback in addition to rejection.
Read the full postFreifunk: wireless community networks
Freifunk connects self-managed Wi-Fi nodes into open mesh networks run by the community.
Read the full postRepairing a Debian system that no longer boots after upgrades
Manuel Schmitt documents a rescue procedure for a Debian system whose upgrade left the kernel package, GRUB configuration and mdadm configuration inconsistent. The affected system had been upgraded from Debian Lenny to Squeeze. /boot contained a bzImage, but not the vmlinuz that GRUB detection expected.
Read the full postLPIC-3 Core: Linux at enterprise level
My LPIC-3 Core certification from the Linux Professional Institute is still active and valid until 25 August 2029. It stands for in-depth Linux knowledge and many years of experience with professional Linux environments.
Read the full postRoot privileges possible via memory exploit
In January 2012 a hole became known in the Linux kernel from version 2.6.39 through which local users could gain root privileges via /proc/pid/mem. Since 2.6.39 write access had been possible there, and the check via self_exec_id could be bypassed with a child process. Jason A. Donenfeld explained the bug, and shortly afterwards exploits via the setuid program su were circulating; Android was affected too.
Read the full postBug in network protocol causes crashes
Since Linux 2.6.36 the IGMP code of the IPv4 stack had contained a bug that could trigger a kernel panic (CVE-2012-0207). Simon McVittie found it after a notebook crashed several times: a crash log recorded with netconsole revealed a division by zero when processing an IGMP packet. The bug was fixed in 3.0.17, 3.1.9 and 3.2.1.
Read the full postAptosid and Siduction with Linux kernel 3.1
The Debian Unstable-based distributions Aptosid and Siduction appeared in new versions in early 2012. Aptosid had emerged from Sidux after a dispute between developers and the association, and Siduction in turn split off from Aptosid in summer 2011. Aptosid 2011-03 brought kernel 3.1, Wake-on-WLAN for Broadcom and Realtek cards and booting on UEFI systems.
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