Espacio Mixto

I'm using the box I mentioned here before (MinnowBoard MAX) with GNU/Linux (CentOS) to configure a personal VPN Server.  Following tutorials was really easy and now I can have a little more privacy connecting my devices from work to my VPN.  The next step would be to update the configuration and be able to browse files from other devices at home, just for fun ;-) .

I'm shutting down my Tor node. I'm doing this because my ISP (Axtel) for some unknown reason (for them) can't fix an issue with the Zhone gateway device. This is affecting the way the Tor node works and if I can't offer a stable connection the best I can do is to shutdown the node. This does not make me happy but at least I could share some bandwith and I want to believe that people who really needed was able to use it. For the history, this is the graph: What's next?  Test the MinnowBoard MAX with Android / OpenBSD / FreeBSD / NetBSD / etc.  If you wonder what the issue is with the Zhone device, it keeps the dhcp address for all the connected devices but there's no connection to the Internet. Why? Axtel support does not have idea. Until now, all the answers that I get from them are lies. Once, they told me that they applied a patch, that a firmware-update was needed another timethey  just did a reboot and asked me to check the connection. I was takin...

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 ban...

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!

I'ts been two days and I got a call from maker lab 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 maker lab 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 assem...

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 " maker lab " 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...

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...

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 ...

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.