Setup a Tor node using a MinnowBoard Max and Debian (Jeessie)

So, after reading Gunnar's blog post about how he configured a Tor node using his "Cubox-i4Pro" I decided to try and setup one using the MinnowBoard MAX and the installation of Debian done previously accepting the "Tor Challenge".

Once you have your GNU/Linux distribution installed/configured the way you want (and needed to setup the TOR node), this is what I have in the configuration file:

Tor Configuration File (torrc):
SocksPort 0
ORPort 9001
Nickname ididnteditheconfig
RelayBandwidthRate 640 KB
RelayBandwidthBurst 640 KB
ContactInfo Random Person
ExitPolicy reject *:*
BridgeRelay 1
DisableDebuggerAttachment 0

Like Gunnar, I ended with an "exit relay" instead of a "bridge relay", so I had to modify the configuration file accordingly. Please, do not do a "copy & paste" (at least not entirely) of what I wrote here.

You need to configure the "Relay*" parameters based on the available bandwith that you plan to share And you have to setup the iptables rules too, this is what I have (I'm forced to use NAT):

*filter

:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]

-A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p tcp -d your.ip.here --dport 9001 -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
-A INPUT -p udp --dport 123 -j ACCEPT
#Allow ICMP
-A INPUT -p icmp --icmp-type 8 -s 0/0 -m state --state NEW,ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT


-A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -p icmp --icmp-type 0 -d 0/0 -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -p tcp -s your.ip.here --sport 9001 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -p udp --dport 123 -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -j ACCEPT

-A FORWARD -j DROP

COMMIT

Here's a snapshot of the last days:

If you accept the challenge, please take your time and read carefully all the documentation, do not setup a Tor node if you're not the owner of the hardware, you better setup a "bridge relay" if you plan to share the bandwith from your home, if you are allowed to install the Tor node from your job/collegue, then you should configure a relay exit.

24 de Febrero, Día de la Bandera en México.

El Día de la Bandera en México se celebra cada año el24 de Febrero desde 1937, fue establecido siendo presidente de México el General Lázaro Cárdenas del Río.

La fecha fue seleccionada ya que el 24 de Febrero de 1821, Agustín de Iturbide y el General Vicente Guerrero proclamaron el "Plan de Iguala". En ésta misma fecha, José Magdaleno Ocampo adaptó la primer bandera tricolor con los colores blanco, verde y rojo; en ése específico orden: blanco, que simboliza la pureza de la religión católica; verde, representa al movimiento insurgente ó a la independencia y rojo, que representa al grupo Español adherido al impulso libertador.

El significado cambió con el presidente Benito Juárez, a mediados del siglo XIX, verde: la esperanza, blanco: la unidad y rojo: la sangre de los héroes nacionales.



Cada aniversario (además de los honores que se realiza cada Lunes en las instituciones educativas y militares) se canta el "Toque de Bandera":

"Se levanta en el mástil mi bandera
como un sol entre céfiros y trinos
muy adentro en el templo de mi veneración,
oigo y siento contento latir mi corazón.

Es mi bandera, la enseña nacional,
son estas notas su cántico marcial.

Desde niños sabremos venerarla
Y también por su amor, ¡vivir!

Almo y sacro pendón que en nuestro anhelo
como rayo de luz se eleva al cielo
inundando a través de su lienzo tricolor
inmortal nuestro ser de fervor y patrio ardor.

Es mi bandera, la enseña nacional,
son estas notas su cántico marcial.
Desde niños sabremos venerarla
Y también por su honor, ¡VIVIR!."

 Y también tenemos el "Juramento a la Bandera":

"¡Bandera de México!,
legado de nuestros Héroes
símbolo de la unidad
de nuestros padres
y nuestros hermanos,
te prometemos ser siempre fieles
a los principios de libertad y justicia
que hacen de nuestra Patria
la nación independiente,
humana y generosa
a la que entregamos nuestra existencia"

Mas información, aquí.


ACTUALIZACIÓN 2019:

The final(?) design of the laser cut acrylic case for the MinnowBoard MAX

So, finally here we are with the final(?) design of the case for my MinnowBoard MAX, the last days were of lots of fun/knowledge, despite that I was not the one who "cut" the acrylic but gave the ideas about how I wanted it to look.

It was also an excellent oportunity to meet people (designer) and pay for the (very well done) job 'cause there's no chance that I do it in the same amount of time or wasting more material than he did. 

I reallize that designers help us to get things done and that we should consider that they invest time trying to achieve what we want based on our ideas/requirements and that's not always easy to do.

Transparent, green and blue. I like them!

Laser cut acrylic case for MinnowBoard MAX.

I'ts been two days and I got a call from makerlab saying they had a "prototype" of the case and needed the board to verify/make adjustments to the design.

In the afternoon we had the first version of the case but with some adjustments/changes requested by the other autor of this blog, we paid the design and lef the board this night at makerlab so they could work on the case and provide the final result.

Today in the afternoon, I got the very first case (I requested a transparent) and had the chance to see the laser cutter in action (sorry about the poor quality of the video, the camera of my cell didn't work as expected).

I really like it in the transparent case but the green one also looks very nice!! 

There was something that was not considered....  the size of the USB keys / the mini HDMI connector.

 Also, the size of the transparent acrylic was "smaller" than the green, causing to be more difficult to assemble/disassemble it, and I payed the price.  I broke one of the pieces while I was trying to get the board out of the case, and despite that "little" accident the case seemed to keep the board safe.

 Only one more (and last!) visit to  do for the the final adjustments to the case and "voilà" our very own acrylic case for our MinnowBoard MAX!!

A 3D printed case or a designed laser cut case for a MinnowBoard MAX.

What to do if you can't get the extenders?  There must be a good reason, so I tried something else. I went back to check the 3D printed half case and my wife told me about a place near were she believed they had a 3D printer. I started to look at Google Maps, found the place and called.

I explained to the guy who pick up the phone that I had a board very similar to the Raspberry Pi/Arduino, asked him if he knew what I was talking about and he replied saying "Yes, recently I did a 3D printed case for a Raspberry Pi, come over and let's have a talk!".

Today in the afternoon I was at "makerlab" I provided the link to the "half case", asked about the prices but I was not really convinced about the half case, so we started to look at other images and this guy tells me, "look, I can use this as a base and design a new one for you using acrylic/laser cutter in about... two days".

I'm a desperate person. I really wanted a 3D printed case today!!!  So I just take a deep breath and agree to wait for the design from the makerlab guy.

Lures and cases for my MinnowBoard MAX.

I considered several options to protect this board, I checked from the simplest (lures), 3D printed half case and a full case.

Trying to find the screw space extenders (I took the idea from the lures) is a pain, places like "Tornillos y Tornillos" didn't have them (they didn't recognize them!), I got recommendations to look at other business like "Herrajes Bulnes" but I just couldn't be there before they close, I did some calls explaining what I was looking for, I sent e-mails with pictures to someone at  "Tecnofijaciones" but got no answer from them.

I found only this web site (www.grainger.com.mx) with different sizes of the space extenders, would you believe me if I told you that I called and no one ever picked up the phone? I am really dissapointed 'cause I really want to get those extenders.

Will continue...

Installing Debian to a MinnowBoard MAX.

Finally I got Debian (Jessie) installed at the MinnowBoard MAX.  I had to do a couple of tries 'cause with the emotion I forgot to check the minimum space needed to perform a very basic installation.

 I tried first using a 2 GB USB key, then a 4GB USB key which worked perfectly fine with the exception of the /var partition, which almost got full while downloading packages. So let's see (almost) every step.

1.- Booting

I got "UEFI shell" and saw the USB key available and ready to boot, some explanations here about this.

Really, it's not that hard to boot and start the installation, you just need to read a little if you really don't know what are you doing.

2.- Install

Let's start the installation of Debian!

"Some of your hardware needs non-free firmware files to operate". As of now, I didn't take a look at this, I just continue with the installation and everything went fine.

As I said before, I used a couple of USB keys (2 GB with the image to install, 4GB to get the basic installation completed) to get things done. The board comes with 2 USB ports, 2.0 and 3.0. Also a  SATA port is available so you can use a hard drive if you plan to use this a a mini-pc or something like that.

 

 Look at the size of the partitions, I tried with different approaches until I got enough space for /var partition, remember I'm using a 4 GB USB key, if you're not planning to put some big files inside your home, use that space and assign it to the /var partition. 

Yes please! let's get this installation completed! (check that I was using "sdb", the 2 GB USB key)

And here's when I found my mistake (not checking the minimal space required for partitions) I was using the 2GB USB key as final destination, I should have used the 4GB USB key from the very beginning.

  
Yeah.... error but not related to what is provided by the installation procedure so, let's take a look at virtual console 4 (or just skip it and keep reading).

If you check slowly the messages you're going to read "No space left on device".   I powered off the board, swapped the USB keys, booted, restarted the installation and.....

1.1 (Re) Installation.

Yes!! this time we got the installation going on, btw... when you're doing a network installation remember to use your nearest mirror :)

And we're done! The installation of Debian (Jessie) is completed I just need one more thing. A case.

MinnowBoard MAX

So, this time I'm lucky to have a MinnowBoard MAX :)

I'll do some tests installing Debian, Android and who knows? For now I just tested that boots, sends output using the HDMI port and was looking for places that might sell the cable to use the serial port.