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bytestars · 6 years ago

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Added the ByteStars networking instructions for the ByteStars preconfigured raspberry pi. Boots out of the box to the 3.5in touch screen monitor. Then connect to it via remote desktop...neat. See here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/202585866726

Start the Terminal program: >_

then type:

sudo raspi-config

Press return and select change “User Password” use a strong password if you’re going to be accessing your raspberry pi remotely - see the Network/Internet Connectivity section. Enable SSH and VNC. The default user name is: pi and password is: raspberry.

NETWORK/INTERNET CONNECTIVITY/Remote Desktop/SSH and VNC

Network connection with Ethernet: The raspberry pi Ethernet and Wi-Fi port is set to auto: Connect your wired Ethernet network cable to the raspberry pi's Ethernet port or connect to your Wi-Fi. You should now have an internet connection.

Once connected to your network with either the Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection; and you know the IP address that was assigned to the raspberry pi by your equipment: mouse over the network icons or type "ifconfig" in the terminal program to learn your IP address.

For a Remote Desktop Connection (Graphical) There are 2 ways. VNC and Remote Desktop (RDP) Some Differences/Considerations RDP is a security concern if using from outside of your network. Only use on your local network. VNC uses encryption and is more secure. VNC can be used to access your raspberry pi from outside your local network. For example, from office to home. Download the VNC client from https://www.realvnc.com/en/connect/download/viewer/: RDP can display the raspberry pi at better resolutions and creates a non mirrored screen of the 3.5 or other built-in screen. VNC displays the raspberry pi at the built-in display resolution and is mirrored to the built-in screen. VNC can do file transfers with built-in on screen controls.

On Windows/PC, use the built-in program: Remote Desktop Connection From the Windows start button: Start / Accessories / Remote Desktop Connection. the Remote Desktop Connection program will start. Type the IP address of the raspberry pi and click OK. A raspberry pi login screen will then display. Login with your User Name and Password. Neat, your desktop computer now displays your raspberry pi and so does the 3.5 display. VNC connection.

Run the VNC program and start a new connection using the raspberry pi IP address. Connect and login.

To connect to your new raspberry pi device with SSH.

Secure Shell (SSH) is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Typical applications include remote command-line login and remote command execution, but any network service can be secured with SSH. Basically, it will allow a secure remote computer a command prompt connection to the raspberry pi. For windows download the program Putty at https://www.putty.org/ Install the free and very small 2.8mb program. Run Putty. Enter the raspberry pi IP address. A command prompt will display. Login with your User Name and Password. Neat, your desktop computer now displays a command prompt that affects the raspberry pi.

Troubleshooting connection tip. Make sure both the raspberry pi and the desktop/laptop computer are on the same network. On widows desktop, open cmd (command line terminal) and type ipconfig to see your network assigned ip address. On MAC/Linux, run the terminal program and type ifconfig. Both the computer IP address should (for example look like this: 192.168.?.?, or 10.10.?.?. The 1st ? should be the same, 2nd ? should be unique.

For outside connections, for example, from your office computer to the raspberry pi at home. You will need to configure your router for port forwarding - Another topic.

3.5 display setup (need internet connection)

// Run in terminal. 1 at a time. Or automate with a batch file.

sudo rm -rf LCD-show

git clone https://github.com/goodtft/LCD-show.git

chmod -R 755 LCD-show

cd LCD-show/

sudo ./LCD35-show

reboot //

// If you want revert back to the HDMI port. Open the terminal and type commands 1at a time to get back.

chmod -R 755 LCD-show

cd LCD-show/

sudo ./LCD-hdmi

reboot

#bytestars #raspberry pi #raspberry pi remote desktop #preconfigured raspberry pi #stem #education #retro pi

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dyggtheway · 3 years ago

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Why Aspiring Hackers Can Use Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi is a truly competent and adaptable gadget that permits hopeful programmers to become familiar with the subtle strategies.

What is Raspberry Pi?

Raspberry Pi is a little and very reasonably priced PC that you can use to master programming and hone your hacking abilities. This small PC contains every one of the nuts and bolts of any PC including a processor, memory and illustrations processors, all on a credit card sized board. In 2018 the most recent adaptation of Raspberry Pi was delivered to stores. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ which has a preferable CPU over past models and Wi_fi-Bluetooth and Ethernet worked in.

On the off chance that you're an aspiring programmer, you ought to learn however much you can about how PCs work and how you can take advantage of their underlying weaknesses. This learning can come in many structures. You might understand books, watch YouTube recordings, sign up for committed hacking courses - all with an end goal to see how hacking functions. In any case, there's one more key part of discovering that can't be undervalued, and that is preparing.

You can't genuinely realize you have mastered something in the event that you can't exhibit its utilization in reality. Presently, this can be interesting, No one suggests that you test your hacking abilities on your neighbor's Wi-Fi or your bank's PC frameworks—that. Be that as it may, you can test your abilities on your own custom assembled conditions, for example, those made with the Raspberry Pi.

The Kali Linux OS framework is a well known for Wi-Fi Hacking the Raspberry Pi, yet it isn't the main choice, many hopeful programmers decide to utilize Raspbian all things being equal. Kali Linux is a Linux circulation that is incredible for entrance analyzers and white hat programmers.

You can utilize RasPwn OS, a Raspberry Pi image that copies a vulnerable Linux server, to try out your organizational hacking abilities. The OS comes preconfigured with purposefully powerless applications and obsolete web applications like old adaptations of WordPress, so you can hone your pentesting abilities in a protected environment or scenario.

Even if you just want something new to play with, a Raspberry Pi is an affordable and fun alternative to a tradition PC and more flexible for programming and experimentation than a Chromebook.

#raspberry pi #cybersecurity #ethical hacking #pentesting #bugbounty

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tearasshouse · 5 years ago

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Tech & vidya ramblings pt 1

Making original posts? On Tumblr? In this day and age? What?

So I want to do a little cataloging, sue me. With the recent purchase of an Intel NUC, specifically the Crimson Canyon unit I’ve been taking a dive into my old ass Steam and GOG library, with detours into Battle.net and *shudder*, the Epic Games Store (hey, free Borderlands forced my hand). Oh and my Vita TV bit the dust -- bad HDMI port, bah.

NUCs (pronounced “nook”) are, by the way, these tiny desktops that Intel make with almost zero marketing that give you comparable laptop performance in a 4x4″ footprint. They get away with this size by having a bespoke single-board setup, and an external power brick. This product is for those who: want something like a laptop, but not a laptop; a Chromebox, but without the restrictions of ChromeOS; something with way more oomph than a Raspberry Pi or Intel Compute Stick, or those who find even m-ITX form factors on the big side. Gigabyte and ASUS also make the BRIX and Mini PC lines respectively that are the same kind of thing, but the pricing and availability on those (not to mention that they don’t seem to be updated as frequently with newer parts) in Canada are not so good. You could also get those off-lease mini desktops from Lenovo, HP and Dell from eBay, if you’re okay with second hand.

I wanted something with the ability to play games though, and this itty bitty thing packs a discrete Radeon that’s about on par with a GeForce 940MX or AMD’s own Vega 10 iGPU. This model also comes with an 8th gen U-series i3, which I’m going to be honest, I’m not super with thrilled with as dual-core computing, even with hyper threading in 2020 is a bit sketch but benchmarks aside, its handled productivity web apps and older gen AAA games, current eSports titles and possibly even emulation without any complaint. Oh and HDR10 4K video at 60fps through MPC? Yeah, it’ll do those fine too.

Honestly, for the $583 CDN total I paid for this (which includes tax and a 512gb stick of Adata SX8200 Pro for storage), I’m pretty darn happy. You could conceivably opt for a 5+ litre case and go with AMD’s Ryzen APUs for a tiny budget gaming setup, but sourcing those parts at the same price bracket was difficult (again, hello Canadian market and WFH/’Rona putting further strain on supply/demand). The NUCs start to make more sense when you factor in an equivalent bill of materials plus labour.

“But why would you get this when you could get a laptop?” you ask. Again, these things have equivalent performance to laptops, but occupy a different market segment. They’re replacing traditional tower desktops as computing miniaturizes and “good enough” performance can be had on small budgets for most people. Yeah, you could set your laptop up with a stand, a USB hub, monitor and peripherals, but I just find that clunky and I want my Chromebook unshackled.

“Are you sure you can’t build something as good if not better for around ~$600?” I’m pretty sure I cannot. You’re more than welcome to send me a shopping list though. Again, Canadian here. While space wasn’t a huge consideration for me, I’m also not working on a McMansion sized table, so any chance to free up real estate is much appreciated. I’m not so sure you could find a 4x4″ motherboard that easily, plus that would also come with the price premium SFF computing carries. Trying out a NUC began as a novelty, but now I can’t ever see myself going for something much bigger than a palm-sized unit.

“Aren’t NUCs bare bones kits? You end up paying for RAM and storage which brings the price up.” Yes, this is true for most NUCs, but mine came preconfigured to go (though I added an SSD). I’m not saying NUCs are this incredible price/performance proposition, but they really aren’t as bad as some think. Sure there’s a slight premium that you absorb by downsizing to this footprint (not to mention the Intel premium for their products), so that’s going to be an individual choice. Besides, don’t OEMs charge you exorbitant amounts anyway to upgrade storage and memory? At least you get the option to tinker and upgrade yourself with a NUC.

“Aren’t these just Mac Mini clones? Why should I get one of these instead of those?” Yes and no. You could probably put Hackintosh on these and turn it into a Mac Mini though? And obviously get a Mac Mini if you want real MacOS? They’re clones in the sense that Apple did the whole ultra SFF mini computer first (I think, don’t @ me), but here in PC Land, NUCs and similar products are where it’s at. Intel seem to be the most prolific at refreshing these with new parts in a dizzying assortment of configurations across a variety of price points. You wouldn’t know that though, because they hardly advertise these things to end users.

TL;DR get these if you want a super tiny PC that has a bit of customization going for it if you’re the DIY type. Get this one if you want something with some gaming legs, or better yet its “Islay Canyon” sibling with i5/i7s if you need more CPU oomph. Oh and if you were wondering, no, they aren’t exactly like Valve’s aborted Steam Machine concept, if only because most NUCs aren’t configured for gaming due to the historically crummy Intel iGPUs, but with managed expectations, or if you splash the cash and get their Hades and Ghost Canyon models, you can run a lot more than you might expect.

For myself though, I’m hoping Tiger Lake CPUs and beyond with Intel Xe graphics find their way into future NUCs so I can get below or at console-ish performance while retaining all the benefits of a tiny PC. Or if AMD steps it up with OEMs and makes a similar product with a Ryzen APU. That’s the way it’s playing out for me next gen, as the PS5 (well, consoles in general) is looking less and less appealing to me.

#intel nuc #computing #gaming #vidya #tl;dr #Intel #sff pc #maybe not quite the platform for this kind of post but eh #small form factor #pcmr #work from home #mac mini #tech

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rlxtechoff · 3 years ago

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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coursevewor · 3 years ago

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How to install retropie on sd card mac

How to install retropie on sd card mac manual#

How to install retropie on sd card mac full#

How to install retropie on sd card mac manual#

We’re going to perform our RetroPie set up using an SD card image - essentially a snapshot of an entire working installation of RetroPie rather than doing a manual RetroPie install.īecause the Raspberry Pi doesn’t have an internal hard drive, it uses a microSD card for storage of the entire operating system and all files contained therein.

How to install retropie on sd card mac full#

It combines a full suite of tools and utilities that will allow you to quickly and easily run retro game ROMs for various vintage gaming emulators. RetroPie is a software package for the Raspberry Pi that is based on the Raspbian OS, a Linux distribution. RetroPie runs Emulation Station and supports all major retro video game emulators, allowing you to play games from the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, MAME, and more on your Raspberry Pi.Īny Raspberry Pi model can run RetroPie, but I recommend using the Raspberry Pi 4 and this build will be on a Raspberry Pi 4 w/4gb Ram, since its more powerful GPU, CPU, and RAM capabilities will maximize the range of games we can play. Look out for tutorials/reviews on those in the future too! There are alternatives on single board computers, and even modifying some of the Mini systems like Hakchi with the NES/SNES Classics, and Autobleem for the Playstation Classic. It is one of the most supported by the super community members. It’s one of the most popular Raspberry projects and one of the most popular emulation systems for the Raspberry Pi. RetroPie is a software library used to emulate retro video games on the Raspberry Pi computer. For this build, we’re going to use Retropie and a preconfigured image.

#How to install retropie on sd card mac

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qwertsypage · 5 years ago

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Getting Started with Ansible a.k.a. how to Automate your Infrastructure

After going through this tutorial, you’ll understand the basics of Ansible - an open-source software provisioning, configuration management, and application-deployment tool.

First, we’ll discuss the Infrastructure as Code concept, and we’ll also take a thorough look at the currently available IaC tool landscape. Then, we’ll dive deep into what is Ansible, how it works, and what are the best practices for its installation and configuration.

You’ll also learn how to automate your infrastructure with Ansible in an easy way.

Table of contents:

Understanding the Infrastructure as a Code concept

Why was Ansible created?

What is Ansible?

How to install Ansible

Ansible setup, configuration and automation

Creating an Ansible playbook

Understanding Ansible modules

Running our Ansible playbook

What to use Ansible for

Okay, let's start with understanding the IaC Concept!

What is Infrastructure as Code?

Since the dawn of complex Linux server architectures, the way of configuring servers was either by using the command line, or by using bash scripts. However, the problem with bash scripts is that they are quite difficult to read, but more importantly, using bash scripts is a completely imperative way.

When relying on bash scripts, implementation details or small differences between machine states can break the configuration process. There’s also the question of what happens if someone SSH-s into the server, configures something through the command line, then later someone would try to run a script, expecting the old state.

The script might run successfully, simply break, or things could completely go haywire. No one can tell.

To alleviate the pain caused by the drawbacks of defining our server configurations by bash scripts, we needed a declarative way to apply idempotent changes to the servers’ state, meaning that it does not matter how many times we run our script, it should always result in reaching the exact same expected state.

This is the idea behind the Infrastructure as Code (IaC) concept: handling the state of infrastructure through idempotent changes, defined with an easily readable, domain-specific language.

What are these declarative approaches?

First, Puppet was born, then came Chef. Both of them were responses to the widespread adoption of using clusters of virtual machines that need to be configured together.

Both Puppet and Chef follow the so-called “pull-based” method of configuration management. This means that you define the configuration - using their respective domain-specific language- which is stored on a server. When new machines are spun up, they need to have a configured client that pulls the configuration definitions from the server and applies it to itself.

Using their domain-specific language was definitely clearer and more self-documenting than writing bash scripts. It is also convenient that they apply the desired configuration automatically after spinning up the machines.

However, one could argue that the need for a preconfigured client makes them a bit clumsy. Also, the configuration of these clients is still quite complex, and if the master node which stores the configurations is down, all we can do is to fall back to the old command line / bash script method if we need to quickly update our servers.

To avoid a single point of failure, Ansible was created.

Ansible, like Puppet and Chef, sports a declarative, domain-specific language, but in contrast to them, Ansible follows a “push-based” method. That means that as long as you have Python installed, and you have an SSH server running on the hosts you wish to configure, you can run Ansible with no problem. We can safely say that expecting SSH connectivity from a server is definitely not inconceivable.

Long story short, Ansible gives you a way to push your declarative configuration to your machines.

Later came SaltStack. It also follows the push-based approach, but it comes with a lot of added features, and with it, a lot of added complexity both usage, and maintenance-wise.

Thus, while Ansible is definitely not the most powerful of the four most common solutions, it is hands down the easiest to get started with, and it should be sufficient to cover 99% of conceivable use-cases.

If you’re just getting started in the world of IaC, Ansible should be your starting point, so let’s stick with it for now.

Other IaC tools you should know about

While the above mentioned four (Pupper, Chef, Salt, Ansible) handles the configuration of individual machines in bulk, there are other IaC tools that can be used in conjunction with them. Let’s quickly list them for the sake of completeness, and so that you don’t get lost in the landscape.

Vagrant: It has been around for quite a while. Contrary to Puppet, Chef, Ansible, and Salt, Vagrant gives you a way to create blueprints of virtual machines. This also means that you can only create VMs using Vagrant, but you cannot modify them. So it can be a useful companion to your favorite configuration manager, to either set up their client, or SSH server, to get them started.

Terraform: Vagrant comes handy before you can use Ansible, if you maintain your own fleet of VMs. If you’re in the cloud, Terraform can be used to declaratively provision VMs, setup networks, or basically anything you can handle with the UI, API, or CLI of your favorite cloud provider. Feature support may vary, depending on the actual provider, and they mostly come with their own IaC solutions as well, but if you prefer not to be locked in to a platform, Terraform might be the best solution to go with.

Kubernetes: Container orchestration systems are considered Infrastructure as Code, as especially with Kubernetes, you have control over the internal network, containers, a lot of aspects of the actual machines, basically it’s more like an OS on it’s own right than anything. However, it requires you to have a running cluster of VMs with Kubernetes installed and configured.

All in all, you can use either Vagrant or Terraform to lay the groundwork for your fleet of VMs, then use Ansible, Puppet, Chef or Salt to handle their configuration continuously. Finally, Kubernetes can give you a way to orchestrate your services on them.

Are you looking for expert help with infrastructure related issues or project? Check out our DevOps and Infrastructure related services, or reach out to us at [email protected].

We’ve previously written a lot about Kubernetes, so this time we’ll take one step and take a look at our favorite remote configuration management tool:

What is Ansible?

Let’s take apart what we already know:

Ansible is a push-based IaC, providing a user-friendly domain-specific language so you can define your desired architecture in a declarative way.

Being push-based means that Ansible uses SSH for communicating between the machine that runs Ansible and the machines the configuration is being applied to.

The machines we wish to configure using Ansible are called managed nodes or hosts. In Ansible’s terminology, the list of hosts is called an inventory.

The machine that reads the definition files and runs Ansible to push the configuration to the hosts is called a control node.

How to Install Ansible

It is enough to install Ansible only on one machine, the control node.

Control node requirements are the following:

Python 2 (version 2.7) or Python 3 (versions 3.5 and higher) installed

Windows is not supported as a control node, but you can set it up on Windows 10 using WSL

Managed nodes also need Python to be installed.

RHEL and CentOS

sudo yum install ansible

Debian based distros and WSL

sudo apt update sudo apt install software-properties-common sudo apt-add-repository --yes --update ppa:ansible/ansible sudo apt install ansible

MacOS

The preferred way to install Ansible on a Mac is via pip.

pip install --user ansible

Run the following command to verify the installation:

ansible --version

Ansible Setup, Configuration, and Automation

For the purposes of this tutorial, we’ll set up a Raspberry Pi with Ansible, so even if the SD card gets corrupted, we can quickly set it up again and continue working with it.

Flash image (Raspbian)

Change default password

Set up passwordless SSH

Install packages you want to use

With Ansible, we can automate the process.

Let’s say we have a couple of Raspberry Pis, and after installing the operating system on them, we need the following packages to be installed on all devices:

vim

wget

curl

htop

We could install these packages one by one on every device, but that would be tedious. Let Ansible do the job instead.

First, we’ll need to create a project folder.

mkdir bootstrap-raspberry && cd bootstrap-raspberry

We need a config file and a hosts file. Let’s create them.

touch ansible.cfg touch hosts // file extension not needed

Ansible can be configured using a config file named ansible.cfg. You can find an example with all the options here.

Security risk: if you load ansible.cfg from a world-writable folder, another user could place their own config file there and run malicious code. More about that here.

The lookup order of the configuration file will be searched for in the following order:

ANSIBLE_CONFIG (environment variable if set)

ansible.cfg (in the current directory)

~/.ansible.cfg (in the home directory)

/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

So if we have an ANSIBLE_CONFIG environment variable, Ansible will ignore all the other files(2., 3., 4.). On the other hand, if we don’t specify a config file, /etc/ansible/ansible.cfg will be used.

Now we’ll use a very simple config file with contents below:

[defaults] inventory = hosts host_key_checking = False

Here we tell Ansible that we use our hosts file as an inventory and to not check host keys. Ansible has host key checking enabled by default. If a host is reinstalled and has a different key in the known_hosts file, this will result in an error message until corrected. If a host is not initially in known_hosts this will result in prompting for confirmation interactively which is not favorable if you want to automate your processes.

Now let’s open up the hosts file:

[raspberries] 192.168.0.74 192.168.0.75 192.168.0.76 [raspberries:vars] ansible_connection=ssh ansible_user=pi ansible_ssh_pass=raspberry

We list the IP address of the Raspberry Pis under the [raspberries] block and then assign variables to them.

ansible_connection: Connection type to the host. Defaults to ssh. See other connection types here

ansible_user: The user name to use when connecting to the host

ansible_ssh_password: The password to use to authenticate to the host

Creating an Ansible Playbook

Now we’re done with the configuration of Ansible. We can start setting up the tasks we would like to automate. Ansible calls the list of these tasks “playbooks”.

In our case, we want to:

Change the default password,

Add our SSH public key to authorized_keys,

Install a few packages.

Meaning, we’ll have 3 tasks in our playbook that we’ll call pi-setup.yml.

By default, Ansible will attempt to run a playbook on all hosts in parallel, but the tasks in the playbook are run serially, one after another.

Let’s take a look at our pi-setup.yml as an example:

- hosts: all become: 'yes' vars: user: - name: "pi" password: "secret" ssh_key: "ssh-rsa …" packages: - vim - wget - curl - htop tasks: - name: Change password for default user user: name: '""' password: '""' state: present loop: - '""' - name: Add SSH public key authorized_key: user: '""' key: '""' loop: - '""' - name: Ensure a list of packages installed apt: name: '""' state: present - name: All done! debug: msg: Packages have been successfully installed

Tearing down our Ansible Playbook Example

Let’s tear down this playbook.

- hosts: all become: 'yes' vars: user: - name: "pi" password: "secret" ssh_key: "ssh-rsa …" packages: - vim - wget - curl - htop tasks: [ … ]

This part defines fields that are related to the whole playbook:

hosts: all: Here we tell Ansible to execute this playbook on all hosts defined in our hostfile.

become: yes: Execute commands as sudo user. Ansible uses privilege escalation systems to execute tasks with root privileges or with another user’s permissions. This lets you become another user, hence the name.

vars: User defined variables. Once you’ve defined variables, you can use them in your playbooks using the Jinja2 templating system.There are other sources vars can come from, such as variables discovered from the system. These variables are called facts.

tasks: List of commands we want to execute

Let’s take another look at the first task we defined earlier without addressing the user modules’ details. Don’t fret if it’s the first time you hear the word “module” in relation to Ansible, we’ll discuss them in detail later.

tasks: - name: Change password for default user user: name: '""' password: '""' state: present loop: - '""'

name: Short description of the task making our playbook self-documenting.

user: The module the task at hand configures and runs. Each module is an object encapsulating a desired state. These modules can control system resources, services, files or basically anything. For example, the documentation for the user module can be found here. It is used for managing user accounts and user attributes.

loop: Loop over variables. If you want to repeat a task multiple times with different inputs, loops come in handy. Let’s say we have 100 users defined as variables and we’d like to register them. With loops, we don’t have to run the playbook 100 times, just once.

Understanding the Ansible User Module

Zooming in on the user module:

user: name: '""' password: '""' state: present loop: - '""'

Ansible comes with a number of modules, and each module encapsulates logic for a specific task/service. The user module above defines a user and its password. It doesn’t matter if it has to be created or if it’s already present and only its password needs to be changed, Ansible will handle it for us.

Note that Ansible will only accept hashed passwords, so either you provide pre-hashed characters or - as above - use a hashing filter.

Are you looking for expert help with infrastructure related issues or project? Check out our DevOps and Infrastructure related services, or reach out to us at [email protected].

For the sake of simplicity, we stored our user’s password in our example playbook, but you should never store passwords in playbooks directly. Instead, you can use variable flags when running the playbook from CLI or use a password store such as Ansible Vault or the 1Password module .

Most modules expose a state parameter, and it is best practice to explicitly define it when it’s possible. State defines whether the module should make something present (add, start, execute) or absent (remove, stop, purge). Eg. create or remove a user, or start / stop / delete a Docker container.

Notice that the user module will be called at each iteration of the loop, passing in the current value of the user variable . The loop is not part of the module, it’s on the outer indentation level, meaning it’s task-related.

The Authorized Keys Module

The authorized_keys module adds or removes SSH authorized keys for a particular user’s account, thus enabling passwordless SSH connection.

- name: Add SSH public key authorized_key: user: '""' key: '""'

The task above will take the specified key and adds it to the specified user’s ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file, just as you would either by hand, or using ssh-copy-id.

The Apt module

We need a new vars block for the packages to be installed.

vars: packages: - vim - wget - curl - htop tasks: - name: Ensure a list of packages installed apt: name: '""' state: present

The apt module manages apt packages (such as for Debian/Ubuntu). The name field can take a list of packages to be installed. Here, we define a variable to store the list of desired packages to keep the task cleaner, and this also gives us the ability to overwrite the package list with command-line arguments if we feel necessary when we apply the playbook, without editing the actual playbook.

The state field is set to be present, meaning that Ansible should install the package if it’s missing, or skip it, if it’s already present. In other words, it ensures that the package is present. It could be also set to absent (ensure that it’s not there), latest (ensure that it’s there and it’s the latest version, build-deps (ensure that it’s build dependencies are present), or fixed (attempt to correct a system with broken dependencies in place).

Let’s run our Ansible Playbook

Just to reiterate, here is the whole playbook together:

Now we’re ready to run the playbook:

ansible-playbook pi-setup.yml

Or we can run it with overwriting the config file:

$ ANSIBLE_HOST_KEY_CHECKING=False $ ansible-playbook - i “192.168.0.74, 192.168.0.75” ansible_user=john ansible_ssh_pass=johnspassword” -e ‘{“user”: [{ “name”: “pi”, “password”: “raspberry”, “state”: “present” }] }’ -e '{"packages":["curl","wget"]}' pi-setup.yml

The command-line flags used in the snippet above are:

-i (inventory): specifies the inventory. It can either be a comma-separated list as above, or an inventory file.

-e (or --extra-vars): variables can be added or overridden through this flag. In our case we are overwriting the configuration laid out in our hosts file (ansible_user, ansible_ssh_pass) and the variables user and packages that we have previously set up in our playbook.

What to use Ansible for

Of course, Ansible is not used solely for setting up home-made servers.

Ansible is used to manage VM fleets in bulk, making sure that each newly created VM has the same configuration as the others. It also makes it easy to change the configuration of the whole fleet together by applying a change to just one playbook.

But Ansible can be used for a plethora of other tasks as well. If you have just a single server running in a cloud provider, you can define its configuration in a way that others can read and use easily. You can also define maintenance playbooks as well, such as creating new users and adding the SSH key of new employees to the server, so they can log into the machine as well.

Or you can use AWX or Ansible Tower to create a GUI based Linux server management system that provides a similar experience to what Windows Servers provide.

Stay tuned and subscribe to our newsletter! You can find the subscribe box in the left column, on the top of the article.

Next time, we’ll dive deeper into an enterprise use case of Ansible with AWX.

Getting Started with Ansible a.k.a. how to Automate your Infrastructure published first on https://koresolpage.tumblr.com/

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mokosmart · 5 years ago

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Something about iBeacon SDK

Possible use cases and business models for a beacon that enables location-dependent user interaction even inside buildings are currently being hotly debated. In-store advertising and discounts, mobile payments, navigation, public transport, localization in public buildings and museums and home automation are just the tips of the iceberg. And of course the omnipresent collection of data – now new and with precise location information. Before learning more about ibeacon technology, we will also mention ibeacon SDK in the article.

What is the hype?

The iBeacon protocol developed by Apple based on Bluetooth Low Energy is supported by a variety of devices. The article explains iBeacons and Bluetooth Low Energy and uses the example of developing an Android app for location-dependent shopping lists to show the location-dependent interaction of an app with iBeacons. The implementation is based on MOKOSmart ibeacon SDK.

iBeacon, Bluetooth 4.0, BLE, SMART. Wot?

The basic technology for iBeacon is Bluetooth. Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), which is often referred to as the Bluetooth Smart marketing label, has been included in version 4.0 of the Bluetooth standard. BLE is not backward compatible with previous versions called Bluetooth Classic. Bluetooth 4.0 specifies that standard-compliant devices must implement one or both variants, i.e. Low Energy or Classic.

BLE is implemented on almost all current smartphones such as the iPhone 4+ and the Samsung Galaxy 3+. An iPhone can function both as a receiver of iBeacon signals and – unlike Android – as a beacon itself. Android includes BLE drivers from API version 18, i.e. Android 4.3. Incidentally, current computers are also BLE-capable. In Windows, however, the drivers are only on board from Windows 8 and since around mid-2011, BLE has been available on Apple computers.

BLE continues to support a variety of peripheral devices such as heart rate monitors and toy helicopters, thermometers, fitness equipment and toothbrushes, yes, toothbrushes and sneakers.

Interesting in connection with iBeacons is the Sensor

Tag from Texas Instruments, which in addition to its function as an iBeacon can also measure temperature, humidity, pressure and acceleration. The Sensor Tag also comes with a gyroscope, a magnetometer and two hardware buttons. The ideal device to remotely control presentations while transmitting and displaying the moisture and temperature of the speaker’s hands. I think my next sandpit project will be stage fright-o-mat. You can find a detailed list of devices on the official Bluetooth website.

GATT ready

The communication model used by devices to exchange data is called the GATT – Generic Attribute Profile. GATT defines the roles of the client and server. The client requests data from the server via services. A service groups several atomic key/value pairs, which are called characteristics. Both services and characteristics are identified via UUIDs and can also contain further descriptions. Services and their characteristics are cataloged in the form of profiles; the specification defines a whole range of them from the fields of healthcare, sport and fitness and – in our case interesting – proximity sensing. The individual profiles and their services and characteristics can be found in the Bluetooth developer portal under GATT Specifications.

Get to the beacon

So what are iBeacons? iBeacon is a very simple technology (and a trademark of Apple that enables location-dependent interaction with applications. A beacon sends out a signal that can be received with BLE-compatible devices and processed by applications installed on it Signal contains the identification of the beacon and the reception strength. Ibeacons themselves are, therefore – contrary to inaccurate statements in the press – unable to deliver content or track customer behavior. This is the responsibility of the receiving applications and therefore developers.

iBeacon IRL

Larger deployments of iBeacons in Germany will probably be a long time coming, but there are some examples from the USA and the Netherlands. For example, Major League Baseball has equipped 28 stadiums with iBeacons and uses them, among other things, for check-ins in the MLB app “At the Ballpark”.

A showcase was implemented in the Rubens House in Antwerp, which offers background information such as X-rays of paintings and geocaching games for visitors.

The prime example in terms of size comes from Apple itself. Over 250 Apple Stores have been equipped with iBeacons. In combination with the Apple Store app, location-dependent messages are sent to buyers who are in the store. However, the possible interactions currently seem to be quite limited: First reviews report only two different (and quite generic) messages that they would have received. Special offers or specific information about individual products nearby were not offered.

Functionality

iBeacon SDK does not use a separate BLE profile, but rather Bluetooth advertising packages, i.e. broadcast packages, which are used to discover Bluetooth devices. If you are interested in the exact structure of the package, you can read this, for example, on Adam Warski’s blog.

Such a package is sent at regular intervals that can be configured via GATT. It contains the UUID of the beacon, which is typically preconfigured by the manufacturer. So all MOKOSmart beacons send the same UUID. Major and minor IDs are also used to identify the individual beacons. Major IDs can represent, for example, a branch of a shop or a restaurant in a franchise chain, the minor IDs a single shelf or a table.

Furthermore, the signal strength is included in the advertising package, which can be used to measure the distance of the receiver from the beacon. However, you cannot expect high accuracy here, since the signal can be obstructed by spatial obstacles such as furniture or people.

IBeacon SDK offers two concepts for the interaction of an app with this information: ranging and region monitoring. When ranging, the distance to the beacon is determined. Due to the inaccuracy mentioned above, this takes place in only three stages. “Immediate” is a distance of a few centimeters, “Near” is a few meters and “Far” is a distance of over ten meters. Ranging is only possible if the receiving app is active.

This is not necessary for region monitoring. In this mode, an inactive app can also be notified when entering or leaving a region defined by one or more beacons. At the latest now it is becoming clear what makes this technology attractive for advertising and retail. In addition, for most beacons, the transmission strength and the interval can be configured in order to optimize the battery life based on local conditions.

“Most beacons” implies that there is more than one manufacturer of iBeacons on the market. In fact, there are quite a few: MOKOSmart, Kontakt.io, Gelo, Estimote and Gimbal. In addition to the hardware, these manufacturers also offer iBeacon SDK service and cloud solutions for the management of beacons. The hobbyists among us can set up iBeacon transmitters themselves with relatively little effort using Raspberry Pi or Arduino.

Flashing list

Let us assume the following situation for the implementation example: The developer is in the supermarket on Saturday morning. Hungry children are waiting at home and in the afternoon there is a bake sale at school. Only then will the weekend really start. So good reasons to hurry up. Unfortunately, the shopping list is long and not adapted to the layout of the supermarket. If the supermarket were equipped with iBeacons in the different departments, a shopping list app could highlight the appropriate entries and significantly reduce the stress level of the (of course completely fictional) developer.

Since our app has to communicate with Bluetooth, we first require BLUETOOTH and BLUETOOTH_ADMIN authorizations in the Android manifest. In order to be able to use the service offered by the Estimote API to interact with iBeacons, we must also make it known and place the downloaded API in our libs/directory.

Our prototype consists of a simple, pre-filled list and pre-defined regions, i.e. departments in our supermarket. A list entry knows which region it is assigned to. In our example, we only assign one beacon to each region. It is also possible to combine a list of beacons into one region. The main activity is responsible for recognizing the current region and forwards this information to an adapter, which is responsible for highlighting the list entries. In addition, we add the option to select the active region without beacons to make our UI testable without additional hardware.

In the activity’s on Create method, we instantiate a Beacon Manager from MOKOSmart for our app. We use a listener for the region monitoring by making the current region known to our adapter and defining the interval for the beacon scans. In the example, we define that one second should be scanned and then 250 ms should have waited. These values are chosen relatively aggressively to get quick results in tests. In reality, the difficult balance between responsiveness vs. To meet Battery Life. In this prototype, we also fill our shopping list with dummy values. We start or stop monitoring in the on () Start or onStop () method of the main activity.

The ItemList

Adapter is implemented as a derivative of android.widget.Array Adapter and overrides the get View () method, which is called for each line to be displayed. The title of the item is written in the first line of the review defined in the layout, in the second the assigned region.

As can be seen in Listing 1, the entered region is transferred to the adapter in the on Entered Region () callback of the MonitoringListener, which is assigned to our BeaconManager: itemListAdapter.setRegion (region). When calling getView (), this checks whether the region of the entry in the line matches the current region. If this is the case, it colors the background of the line. Additionally or alternatively, one could also put the entries for the current zone at the beginning by sorting the list.

The code of the application is clear; it doesn’t take many implementations effort to receive iBeacon signals and handle them in the app. The iBeacon concepts ranging and monitoring are mapped in the MOKOSmart iBeacon SDK so that they can be used intuitively. The full source code of the app can be found on GitHub.

Conclusion and outlook

We saw that interacting with iBeacons using the MOKOSmart iBeacon SDK is easy to do. So I don’t expect major hurdles in the technology of implementation, but rather in the deployment of the beacons and the tuning of transmission power. These parameters have a direct impact on the responsiveness of the application when the location changes. In any case, the balancing should be difficult.

For particularly interesting, e.g. B. in the area of home automation, I consider the combination of iBeacons with sensors, as in the Sensor Tag from Texas Instruments mentioned above. Estimote will also launch mobile beacons with motion and temperature sensors on the market with Estimote Stickers. The first developer previews should have been delivered at the end of October 2014, but no kits were shipped by the end of 2014.

It remains to be seen whether the “Indoor Navigation” application area can be mapped robustly with this technology. Due to the susceptibility of the Bluetooth signal to interference factors, strong illumination with iBeacon signals of the corresponding area and position calculations using triangulation with room plans would be necessary. Appropriate solutions are offered by MOKOSmart (Indoor Navigation ibeacon SDK) and various other manufacturers such as LabWerk, but the author is not aware of any practical reports.

With the development of an app interacting with iBeacons, security and data protection aspects must also be taken into account. Due to the simplicity of the signal, iBeacon is prone to spoofing, which should not be forgotten during development. Data such as the current location and the movement profile that can be collected based on user behavior also have a high need for protection.

#beacon ibeacon ibeaconsdk beaconsdk mokosmart

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dayolisto-blog1 · 7 years ago

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3 motives Bitcoin And Cryptocurrencies Will continue To rise

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The each day economic effects from working a miner are credited to a miners distinct account via the host that operates the data middle. in case you don't include a mining price on your transaction, it would take weeks or months earlier than the miners virtually embody the transaction. center comes preconfigured to run by using the Tor anonymizing network. to this point, this remains basically the most easy and correct description of what Bitcoin is.

#best usb minaer #cryptomining

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sciforce · 7 years ago

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JEEConf 2018: Highlights

photo source

The past month was rich in conferences for SciForce team. Among others, our colleagues visited one of the largest Java conferences in Eastern Europe, JEEConf, which took place in Kyiv, May 18–19th.

Let’s have a look at what they found to be the most exciting newest developments and trends.

15 Years of Spring: Evolving a Java Application Framework

The opening speech was given by Juergen Hoeller, the co-founder of Spring Framework.

Spring is the most widely used application framework for Java developers which celebrates its 15-year anniversary. Mr. Hoeler started with a brief overview of Spring history as it evolved from a small open-source project to a true development philosophy and a huge ecosystem which supports new Java-based languages such as Groovy and Kotlin. In his speech, Juergen Hoeller presented new features for Java and Kotlin, including Reactive Web Stack on Reactor and the support of JDK 11.

Juergen Hoeller on Twitter and GitHub.

Building Event-Driven Microservices with Event Sourcing and CQRS

Lidan Hifi, a Team Lead at Wix, shared his experience on designing and supporting systems with Event-Sourcing and CQRS patterns for an invoice service. Before describing these patterns, he sketched the drawbacks of the state-based model for high-scaled and complex regulation rules as well as the advantages of saving the whole event sequence in order to rebuild the actual state once needed. Such approach, on the one hand, allows generating an audit log and, therefore, debugging the process at no expense; yet it adds additional complexity to the system.

Slides and video. Lidan Hifi on Twitter and Medium.

Spring Framework 5: Feature Highlights & Hidden Gems

It was the second speech given by Juergen Hoeller, the co-founder of the Spring Framework. This time, he gave an overview of new features in Spring Framework 5, including the out-of-box first-class support for Kotlin and Java 8 and the functional-style API. He also presented a infrastructure-level reactive interaction model based on the publisher-subscriber pattern. This innovative model underlies new stream-based methods used in the framework. The presentation also touched upon a new stack named Spring WebFlux as a programming model for reactive microservices. Last, but not the least, Juergen Hoeller raised the curtain over the upcoming release 5.1.

Designing Fault Tolerant Microservices

Orkhan Gasimov, Senior Data Developer at AppsFlyer, gave in his speech an overview of popular approaches, patterns and complete solution cases in the field of microservices and distributed business applications.

First, he described the Service Discovery pattern which provides an means for service orchestration in network without preconfigured service locations and dynamic load-balancing.

The following approach described was an autoscaler-service, which balanced the infrastructure based on a range of metrics. This approach has a number of open-source solutions that make in potentially attractive for businesses.

The Circuit Breaker pattern helps identify an overloaded or corrupted path in the RPC services orchestration. The user is notified that his request can’t be processed, or another path will be chosen.

Afterwards, Mr. Gasimov discussed the advantages of N-module-redundancy both for fault-tolerance and for acceleration of processing. At the same time, he pointed out that we should always take into account a situation where more than one service will give a response at the same time.

The procedures of service recovery should not slow down the processing by default. The normal behavior should be processed as fast as possible. It is the pattern recovery blocks that realize this feature.

If a root (or parent) microservice fails, the whole job is compromised. These services are error kernels in the system. The instance healer service realizes event-sourcing and CQRS patterns (see the previous speech) for saving states of child services. This approach ensures that the jobs of executors will not be lost upon a failure of parent service.

Slides Orkhan Gasimov on Facebook.

Hexagonal Architecture with Spring Boot

“Have you seen the Domain Driven Design in the real world?” — was the first question Mikalai Alimenkou, Founder and Coach at Xp Injection, asked. He represented the Hexagonal Architecture as the new level of Application Design that came just in time in the era of Microservices Architecture. The idea it rests upon is rather simple: logic inside, ports outside. With Spring Boot, it is possible to implement the application ports for external communications without the temptation for moving a part of the business logic to application bounds. Spring Boot and other Spring projects isolate the business logic inside the microservice around the domain and save it in the use cases structure. If you want an API or an UI, use Spring MVC. Want to connect to the databases — use Spring Data. Listen to message queues — Spring Messaging is ready to help. The Hexagonal Architecture brings the Domain Driven Design described by Eric Evans into the real world.

Slides Mikalai Alimenkou Twitter and GitHub.

Bootiful Kotlin

The second conference day began with a speech by Josh Long, Spring Developer Advocate. It was a very exciting and funny morning. With his sense of humor Josh presented the Kotlin support provided by Spring Framework 5.0 and demonstrated how quick and easy it might be to build apps with Kotlin + Spring Boot 2.0. Just go to start.spring.io which configures everything for you and do your best while coding. The second part is a little bit harder as Kotlin looks of course less verbose than Java. Therefore, you should be ready to spend some time trying it on try.kotlinlang.org.

Josh Long on Twitter, GitHub and on his Blog.

Building event sourced systems with Kafka Streams

This year, there were multiple presentations on Event sourcing and CQRS, because these techniques are suitable for big applications with huge amount of data and, therefore, have become quite popular nowadays. They solve a lot of problems but, as it usually happens, also cause new problems. Amitay Horwitz (Software Engineer at WIX) shared his team’s experience of using the Event Sourcing and showed how Kafka & Kafka Stream became a rescue for them.

Kafka is a distributed streaming platform that enables exchanging messages between producers and consumers which are actually microservices. The topic is a basic structure that Kafka gives us. The producer can send messages to different partitions of the topic which is configured by a message key. Kafka Streams is the library provided by Apache Kafka that does amazing things with messages in partitions. You can write a small app that takes messages from partition into a stream, transforms it by mapping, filtering, joining separate streams and sends the resulting stream to another partition which can be read by a consumer. Besides, with this tool you can add or change your query views easily.

Slides and video Amitay Horwitz on Twitter, GitHub and Medium.

Dive into the Internet of Things with Java 9/10

Finally, we dived into the Internet of Things with Java 9/10. Alexander Belokrylov, CEO/Product Manager at BellSoft, shared his experience of using Embedded Java that has recently been included into OpenJDK 9. He presented a few features that simplify the usage of Java for hardware products: modularization, AppCDS, http/2, and Process API. Even for those who are not hardware developers, it was exciting to watch his demo cooling the beer bottle and notifying the user about the current and desired temperature in Telegram. Veronika Herasymenko, our Java developer, has admitted after the conference that she was so amused that the demo made her want to buy a Raspberry Pi 3 and try something similar just for fun.

Slides Alexander Belokrylov on Twitter and Facebook.

As a concluding remark, we can say that, as you could notice, the main trends in Java 9/10 world are Event Sourcing + CQRS, Spring Framework and its projects, Reactive, and Kotlin. Now, with new insights and ideas, we will be waiting for Java 11… and, of course, for JEEConf 2019!

#microservices #java #kotlin #spring #development

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abckidstvyara · 7 years ago

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Gear for getting better at your side gig

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work.

In this day and age, either you have a side gig or you know someone who does. The type of work that’s done outside of your 9 to 5 is one thing that sets side hustles apart—the type of gear that’s used is what can help you get better.

From vlogging to graphic design to music production, accessories and must-have equipment should come with features and capabilities that enhance your projects. Here are a few of our favorite picks fit for upping your side gig skills.

Podcasting: Yeti USB Microphone

The Yeti by Blue, our top pick for USB microphones, sits above the competition because it offers the best overall audio, build and included features. It’s a good option for podcasters because its balance of bass and frequency peaks help to make a wide range of voices sound clear and captivating. It has a dial that can be set to four different pickup patterns, which comes in handy when conducting interviews with multiple people. Whether used for live or pre-recorded voice work, its zero-latency and mic-gain control features allow you to do most anything you want — and well.

Of all the microphones we tested, the Blue Yeti makes it easiest to sound good on a podcast, live stream, video call, or most any other kind of recording. (Photo: Nick Guy)

Vlogging: Sony RX Mark IV Camera and GorillaPod 1K Kit Tripod

High-quality video is no longer something that’s only necessary for filmmaking. In our guide for the best vlogging camera and gear, we recommend the Sony RX Mark IV as an also great pick—and the best vlogging camera—for its small size, image stabilization and its ability to record in slow motion. YouTubers and social media video fanatics can easily create top-notch video content recorded at 4K resolution.

Use Wi-Fi and your smartphone as a remote to capture the best selfies with the camera’s flip-up screen and facial recognition feature. Coupled with the flexible GorillaPod 1K Kit Tripod, the camera can be positioned to snap difficult shots.

The Sony RX Mark IV’s small size, image stabilization and ability to record in slow motion make it our best pick for a vlogging camera. Photo: Michael Hession

Video and Photo Editing: Dell XPS 15 Laptop

The ports and connections on the Dell XPS 15 Laptop accommodate all types of gear used for capturing and transferring video. In addition to having a huge 4K display, it has a powerful processor and graphics card. This means you’ll spend less time waiting around as large files load and render faster.

One reason that it’s our top pick for video and photo editing laptops is because its keyboard is comfortable enough to use during long editing sessions. The XPS’s trackpad is responsive and its touchscreen is intuitive—two features which contribute to the ease of making precise edits.

The Dell’s 4K display and powerful processor and graphics card make this laptop well-suited toward video editing.

Building & Prototyping: CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit

It’s a lot easier to create hardware prototypes when you have a legitimate starting base. The Raspberry Pi 3, a mini Linux computer, can operate as a starting point and brain of a variety of gadgets. We recommend the CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit to get going on building anything from a gaming console to a smart-home speaker. The included Raspberry Pi 3 Model B computer has software and general input/output pins for running added lights, sensors, or switches. The kit is also packed with everything you need to begin a project including cables, a power supply, a microSD card, and a case for convenience.

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. (Photo: Andrew Cunningham)

Music Production: Arturia MiniLab MkII MIDI Keyboard Controller

Listening to music is a favorite pastime for many, creating it is possibly a curiosity for more. You don’t have to break the bank when buying gear that’ll help you take a stab at music production. The Arturia MiniLab MkII is our top pick for MIDI keyboard controllers for beginners and it’s perfect for making electronic music or playing it live. Its compact design is a plus and its pads offer the responsiveness you need, especially when paired with its included software. The MiniLab Mkll comes preconfigured but it’s functions can be customized through a separate app.

This set-up for beginners is perfect for making electronic music or playing it live. Photo: Michael Hession

Digital Art: Wacom Intuos Draw

There are endless graphic design software options and it’s helpful to have a tool that seamlessly pairs with them. The Wacom Intuos Draw, our top pick for drawing tablets for beginners, comes with its own software (Art Rage Lite), and it’s compatible with Windows, macOS and top-rated art programs. Artists who are just starting out will find the tablet’s grid pattern useful.

It connects to other devices via USB and also comes with a comfortable, customizable pen that can be used for drawing and painting. We like the tablet’s pressure sensitivity and the precision of its pen which will allow for easier detailing and add to the overall quality of your creations.

The Wacom Intuos Draw is the top pick for drawing tablets for beginners. Photo: Michael Hession

This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter.

Note from Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

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theinvinciblenoob · 7 years ago

Link

This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter’s independently chosen editorial picks, it may earn affiliate commissions that support its work.

Podcasting: Yeti USB Microphone

Of all the microphones we tested, the Blue Yeti makes it easiest to sound good on a podcast, live stream, video call, or most any other kind of recording. (Photo: Nick Guy)

Vlogging: Sony RX Mark IV Camera and GorillaPod 1K Kit Tripod

The Sony RX Mark IV’s small size, image stabilization and ability to record in slow motion make it our best pick for a vlogging camera. Photo: Michael Hession

Video and Photo Editing: Dell XPS 15 Laptop

The Dell’s 4K display and powerful processor and graphics card make this laptop well-suited toward video editing.

Building & Prototyping: CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 Complete Starter Kit

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B. (Photo: Andrew Cunningham)

Music Production: Arturia MiniLab MkII MIDI Keyboard Controller

This set-up for beginners is perfect for making electronic music or playing it live. Photo: Michael Hession

Digital Art: Wacom Intuos Draw

The Wacom Intuos Draw is the top pick for drawing tablets for beginners. Photo: Michael Hession

This guide may have been updated by Wirecutter.

Note from Wirecutter: When readers choose to buy our independently chosen editorial picks, we may earn affiliate commissions that support our work.

via TechCrunch

#IFTTT #TechCrunch

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zeroviraluniverse-blog · 7 years ago

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The best cloud storage of 2018

Visit Now - http://zeroviral.com/the-best-cloud-storage-of-2018/

The best cloud storage of 2018

It’s pretty clear that people and businesses will continue the trend of reducing their need to rely on costly hardware and infrastructure by placing files and applications in the cloud.

Given the multitude of cloud storage providers out there, you must take care in choosing a provider who will offer the maximum amount of low-cost storage and bandwidth, while still keeping your data safe.

This list represents our top 10 picks for cloud storage. All offer a free tier allowing you to see if they’re right for you before handing over any hard-earned cash.

1. Dropbox

Veteran cloud storage provider

Business features including collaboration

Referrals get you extra storage

But you only start with 2GB free storage

The Granddaddy of cloud storage, Dropbox offers a rather measly 2GB of free storage, but this can be increased up to 16GB free of charge by linking your Dropbox to social media and referring friends to join the service.

Dropbox Business subscriptions allow users to collaborate on work as well as giving each person unlimited space in a personal Dropbox account. There are also enhanced features for file recovery and versioning. Business pricing starts from around $12.50 per user per month (£10, around AU$16.50), or you can give it a go for free with a 30-day trial.

Price: 2GB free. 1TB for $10 a month (£6.58, around AU$11) with Dropbox Plus

2. Google Drive

A smart option for Google fans and G Suite users

Generous amount of free storage

Integrated with Android devices

Web interface isn’t the best

Google Drive is a natural choice for owners of Android devices as it’s already integrated, but users of other platforms may appreciate the generous free storage too. You can also store high definition photos on your mobile phone with companion app Google Photos, and make use of Google’s own office suite (now known as G Suite).

Downsides include the fact that the web interface isn’t very easy-to-use, although Windows and Mac users can download a desktop app to drag-and-drop files easily.

Price: 15GB free. 100GB for $1.99 a month (£1.59, around AU$2.50). 1TB for $9.99 a month (£8, around AU$13).

3. Mega

Puts a premium on security

Easy-to-use UI

Extremely generous free offering

Sync client is open source

With an insanely generous free tier and a simple drag-and-drop interface, New Zealand-based Mega is one of the cloud storage heavyweights. There’s a handy mobile app to allow you to upload files and photos, as well as sync clients with desktop machines.

Mega claims that all data stored in its cloud is encrypted on your device before it reaches the firm’s servers. As the company has released the source code to its sync client, experts can check that there are no vulnerabilities.

Price: 50GB free. 200GB for €4.99 a month (£4.50, $6, around AU$7.50)

4. OneDrive

Backed by Microsoft and ideal for Windows users

Integrated directly into Windows

File restoration features

Free storage is only 5GB

OneDrive (formerly SkyDrive) is integrated into Windows 10’s file explorer. You don’t have to download an additional app – it’s there to use out of the box, which is obviously very convenient for those who have made the jump to Microsoft’s newest operating system.

Microsoft’s Photos app can also use OneDrive to sync pictures across all your devices. There’s an app for Android and iOS devices, and there’s even one in the App Store for Mac users (although it has received mixed reviews).

Price: 5GB free. 50GB for $1.99 a month (£1.99, around AU$2.50)

5. iCloud

Apple’s competitively priced cloud storage locker

Reasonable pricing

Tight integration with Apple’s platforms

Only 5GB storage for free

If you want to back up your iPhone to iCloud, you’ll need more than the free 5GB allowance Apple gives you, but compared to rivals iCloud prices are very reasonable.

The Mac Finder app integrates iCloud Drive, where you can store any files you wish. Documents created in the iWork office suite are also saved to iCloud and can sync across your devices. Windows users can also sync their files with iCloud Drive using the official client, and access the iWork apps on the iCloud website.

Price: 5GB free. 50GB for $0.99 a month (£0.79, AU$1.49). 200GB for $3.99 (£2.49, AU$4.49)

6. Box

Well-known service with some powerful business options

Supported by many apps

Business plans with advanced security

Free account file upload limit of 250MB

Box’s website currently seems to be pushing its Business plans as clicking ‘sign up�� takes you to the pricing page where for $15 per user (£11, around AU$19) you can benefit from advanced collaboration options and unlimited storage. But there is a 10GB free option, too.

As Box has been around for a while, it is supported by a number of mainstream apps such as Google Docs and Office 365. The Box Sync client is available from the Downloads page for Mac and Windows, plus there’s also an official Android client.

Price: 10GB free. 100GB for around $5 a month (£3.50, around AU$6)

7. NextCloud

DIY cloud storage solution

Innovative self-hosting solution

Tailor your cloud locker to your needs

Preconfigured setups available

NextCloud isn’t an online cloud storage provider itself, but offers free software to download and install a cloud storage service on your own server. Using a server on your home network for cloud storage is much faster. You can also enable encryption and make sure the information never leaves your home network, which is far safer.

If you’ve no server or IT experience, you can even purchase a preconfigured NextCloud Box from the website which comes with a 1TB hard drive and will work with an inexpensive Raspberry Pi board to keep your data synced.

Price: Free to install and use. Self-hosting so storage costs vary. NextCloud Box is $79.99 (around £60, around AU$100)

8. SpiderOak

A ‘zero knowledge’ cloud storage provider

Tight security

Plenty of native clients

Limited free offering

SpiderOak is part of a new trend of zero knowledge cloud storage providers. The website claims that after installing the client your data is encrypted before syncing. Unfortunately since SpiderOak hasn’t made the client source code public, there’s no way to confirm this.

The SpiderOakOne client is available for Windows, Mac and Linux as well as Android and iOS. You can also log in via the web interface but privacy lovers may prefer not to as it exposes your password to SpiderOak employees.

Price: 2GB free for 60 days only. 250GB for $9 a month (around £7, AU$11.50). 1TB for $12 a month (around £9, AU$15)

9. IDrive

Storage solution which extends to cover network drives

Broad range of file sharing options

IDrive Express service is handy if disaster strikes

Free offering only gives you 5GB

IDrive offers continuous syncing of your files, even those on network drives. The web interface supports sharing files by email, Facebook and Twitter. Cautious or click-happy users will be pleased to hear that files deleted from your computer are not automatically deleted from the server, so there’s less danger of removing something important accidentally.

IDrive also offers IDrive Express – a service whereby if you lose all your data they will ship a physical hard drive out to you, allowing for the swift restoration of all your backed up files.

Price: 5GB free. 2TB for $52 a year (around £40, AU$66)

10. pCloud

Ideal for those storing large media files

20GB of free storage

Neat privacy and security features

Some bandwidth limits apply

While some bandwidth limits apply, there seems to be no limit to the size of files you can upload, so feel free to sync large media files with pCloud.

The service is available for all desktop and mobile platforms – users can also log in via the website. The company itself is registered in Switzerland which has strong privacy laws, and you can also pay a premium of $3.99 a month (around £3, AU$5) for pCloud Crypto to lock (and unlock) individual files with passwords.

Price: 20GB free. 500GB for $3.99 a month (around £3, AU$5). 2TB for $7.99 a month (around £6, AU$10)

#2018 #cloud #storage #Tech #Tech World

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takenews-blog1 · 7 years ago

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The Qubes high-security working system features traction within the enterprise

New Post has been published on https://takenews.net/the-qubes-high-security-working-system-features-traction-within-the-enterprise/

The Qubes high-security working system features traction within the enterprise

When nation-state adversaries frolic and gambol throughout your company community, enjoying hide-and-go-seek, sysadmins turn into central factors of compromise. Savvy attackers know that if they’ll personal sysadmins, they’ll personal the community.

“I hunt sysadmins,” an NSA operator brags in a slide leaked by Edward Snowden. No matter what one could consider Snowden, we could conclude that that is how the NSA, and different nation-state predators, consider their prey. Blessed with the keys to the dominion, sysadmins are sitting geese.

So how do you defend your enterprise — your mental property, the integrity of your clients’ knowledge, management of your methods — towards such threats?

The high-security Qubes OS will be an efficient a part of a defense-in-depth answer. “Assume breach and compartmentalize” are clever phrases for each your community and for working system design, and Qubes OS has been driving safe working system innovation with little fanfare for the previous eight years.

Based by safety researcher Joanna Rutkowska of “Blue Tablet” fame, Qubes is constructed on a hypervisor, at the moment Xen, and allows customers to compartmentalize their work into a number of digital machines that map to a number of safety domains. This makes it attainable to segregate high- and low-security duties on the identical machine. Qubes at the moment helps Linux and Home windows digital machines.

“Qubes is very worthwhile in industries the place delicate knowledge needs to be securely segregated, comparable to finance and well being,” says Andrew David Wong, chief communications officer for Invisible Issues Lab, the builders of Qubes, “and it is notably suited to information employees who require entry to untrusted assets whereas creating worthwhile mental property.”

Qubes takes the segregation concept and runs with it, even going as far as to partition networking right into a separate, untrusted digital machine. USB drivers are additionally banished to their very own digital machine (VM) to scale back the chance of USB-based malware. Networkless “vault” VMs are perfect for storing code signing keys, a password supervisor, cryptocurrency wallets, and different delicate knowledge probably of curiosity to a persistent attacker. Disposable VMs cut back the chance of viewing a poisoned web site, and Qubes’s pioneering “convert to trusted PDF” characteristic is now apparently being utilized by recruiters to defend towards malware-laced job purposes.

Till now, nevertheless, Qubes has seen restricted adoption within the enterprise, partly as a consequence of a scarcity of automated deployment and distant administration capabilities. That is set to vary with the approaching launch of Qubes four.Zero, at launch candidate four on the time of this writing.

Qubes four.Zero will provide enterprises the flexibleness to deploy and handle a fleet of hardened Qubes laptops whereas retaining the robust endpoint safety properties that make the working system worthwhile. This makes it simple for sysadmins to supply stronger endpoint safety to tech-savvy customers like software program builders, safety researchers and geekier executives of their organizations.

“This is a crucial milestone for Qubes, and Joanna and group simply preserve crushing it,” Kenn White, a director of the Open Crypto Audit Undertaking, says. “Whereas there aren’t any silver bullets in safety, the hardware-based micro VMs and segmented workspace structure solves so much entire class of widespread vulnerabilities.”

“In a contemporary enterprise surroundings, there is no getting round the necessity to handle e mail attachments, PDFs from untrusted sources, and [Microsoft] Workplace paperwork, all of that are attackers’ favored paths for compromise,” he provides.

Two key parts of Qubes are particularly designed with enterprise customers in thoughts. Qubes Salt stack integration, included in Qubes since Three.2, makes it simple to spin up new laptops preconfigured to go well with the wants of the person. The brand new Qubes Admin API, at the moment obtainable in Qubes four.Zero-rc3, makes distant administration attainable with out the chance of full system compromise.

“Whereas most working methods will be remotely managed, doing so usually requires vital trade-offs in safety and privateness,” Wong, says. “The distant administrator usually has elementary management over managed methods, particularly in company contexts. In contrast, the brand new Qubes Admin AIP permits Qubes installations to be remotely managed with out compromising the standing of the set up as a safe endpoint (i.e., with out entry to dom0).”

The trick lies within the novel concept of a non-privileged admin who has permissions to handle and provision digital machines on a person’s laptop computer remotely, however with out the power to learn the person’s knowledge. Such a design alternative, the Qubes documentation suggests, additionally addresses considerations about admins having limitless energy over customers and the authorized lability that might create for admins or their organizations.

Qubes is very helpful to software program builders working in an enterprise surroundings, Wong suggests. “Software program builders are usually particularly keen on Qubes, because it permits them to take care of separate construct environments and simply check untrusted code in a safe method.”

“Too typically, firms and staff resort to mixing trusted and untrusted actions on the identical machine for the sake of effectivity,” Wong provides. “Qubes solves this drawback elegantly by delivering the safety of limitless remoted containers within the effectivity of a single bodily machine.”

Bonus: Qubes is (largely) efficient towards Meltdown, particularly the brand new four.Zero launch.

One of many frustrations the Qubes group has skilled in growing a brand new, security-focused working system is the elemental incapacity to belief software program and decrease down the stack. Securing the hypervisor at Ring -1 does little good if Intel ME runs a full-blown Minix working system, together with an online server, at Ring -Three, or if the itself is susceptible to assaults like Meltdown and the 2 Spectre variants.

Because it seems, Qubes four.Zero totally virtualized VMs forestall the Meltdown assault, essentially the most highly effective of the three exploits revealed earlier this month that have an effect on most trendy processors. Slightly than congratulate themselves on this success, the Qubes builders are as an alternative in search of methods to create reliable finish factors that do not depend on the underlying .

“About untrustworthiness,” Joanna Rutkowska, founding father of Qubes OS, says. “That is exactly one of many issues that we intend to resolve with Qubes Air.”

The widespread “transfer to the cloud” pattern prompted the Qubes group to rethink endpoint safety. What does endpoint safety imply at a time when knowledge may as probably be in transit or at relaxation on a cloud occasion than at relaxation on a person’s system?

“Readers who’re allergic to the notion of getting their personal computations working within the (untrusted) cloud shouldn’t quit studying simply but,” Rutkowska writes in a weblog put up saying Qubes Air. “The essence of Qubes doesn’t relaxation within the Xen hypervisor, and even within the easy notion of ‘isolation,’ however fairly within the cautious decomposition of varied workflows, gadgets, apps throughout securely compartmentalized containers,” she writes. “We are able to simply think about Qubes working on high of VMs which might be hosted in some cloud, comparable to Amazon EC2, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Engine, or perhaps a decentralized computing community, comparable to Golem.”

Qubes Air, introduced final week, stays vaporware, however given the Qubes builders’ singular dedication to innovating higher endpoint safety for thus a few years, their eventual success appears inevitable. “Now house owners (or admins) will be capable of distribute their payloads throughout a number of platforms (PCs, cloud VMs, separate computer systems comparable to Raspberry Pis or USB Armory, and many others), nearly seamlessly, working round the issue of treating one platform as a single level of failure,” Rutkowska says, “which is what Qubes has all the time actually been about.”

Qubes OS is free software program and really helpful by many well-known consultants. The challenge estimates there are at the moment round 30 thousand customers. Some gotchas: assist will be finicky and requires VT-x and VT-d to make the most of Qubes’ security measures. Most customers will need loads of RAM. Sysadmins, software program builders, and geekier customers will discover Qubes OS simple to grasp, however the person interface might not be prepared for non-technical finish customers.

This story, “The Qubes high-security working system features traction within the enterprise” was initially printed by CSO.

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