Hardware

Your First Bite of Raspberry Pi

I have to give Kyle Rankin all the credit for my Raspberry Pi collection. I never really felt geeky enough to do anything with an Arduino, and for some reason I mentally lumped the RPi into the same world. Boy was I short-sighted! Thankfully Kyle showed me the light, and I managed to snag some of the new 512MB model B units.

Getting Started with 3-D Printing: the Hardware

I've been interested in 3-D printers ever since I saw one at a Maker Faire a few years ago, but it was only a year ago when I started seriously thinking about having one of my own. At that point, I started to realize just how many different options existed and ultimately started researching the RepRap family of 3-D printers (more on the different printer families below).

ZaReason's Valta X79

I was recently contacted by Earl Malmrose of ZaReason, who wanted to know if I'd like to review ZaReason's new Linux-based desktop computer, built around the new Intel 6-Core processor and quad channel memory.

Practice Hacking on Your Home Router

Although it's true that I tend to focus mostly on Linux in systems administration (after all, that is my day job), I've always had a secondary interest in security, whether it's hardening systems, performing forensics on a hacked system, getting root on a pico projector or even trying my hand at finding and exploiting vulnerabilities.

Zorin PC

After waiting like Job for the pre-installed Linux machines we deserved, we've arrived at a literal Garden of Eden full of worthy choices. A compelling new offering is the Zorin PC, a new mini-laptop that runs its own Linux distro, Zorin OS.

Raspberry Pi: Tiny Computer That Runs Linux

700MHz processor, 256MB of RAM. It doesn't seem that long ago since I was running a desktop PC like that. However, these are the specs of a new keyring-sized computer to be released by a UK not for profit company. They hope to be able to sell it for $25 dollars a pop, and best of all, it runs Linux.

Get Green, with Brown!

The folks at Recompute have taken the notion of "Going Green" to a whole new level. They've made computer cases out of recyclable cardboard. We had the pleasure of speaking with Recompute's Brenden Macaluso and took one of their computers for a test drive. Here's what we found:

The MosKeyto's Buzz

A review of a USB drive might seem like a silly notion, but when the USB drive is barely bigger than the USB port itself, it seems worth mentioning. I recently was sent a LaCie MosKeyto USB drive, and I must admit, it's even smaller than I expected it would be. In fact, the cover to the Flash drive is actually bigger than the drive itself!

PLUG And The Fender Mustang

Recently I decided I needed a new guitar amplifier for my studio. Its sole employment would be studio work, so I looked for a small lightweight amp with a good sound, high-quality digital effects, and amplifier/cabinet modeling. Of course I'm always on the look-out for hardware that can be edited from a computer running Linux, and did I mention that a low cost would be nice ?

Power Supplies

One hundred forty-seven dollars and thirty-nine cents—that is the cost for replacing a power supply for an old MiniITX computer system I found in my office. Mind you, the entire unit cost about $199, and that was five years ago, but still, the cost for a replacement power supply is absurd.

What Hardware Do I Have?

Often you may not necessarily know what kind of hardware you have—you may have a no-name box from a smaller company or a used machine. This month, I present the tools you can use to find out what you have installed.

Smarter Than Phones

The phone business is changing at a rate so fast, and on such a curved path, that Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle comes to mind. Where it is and where it's going may be conjugate variables, but trying to reconcile the two is kind of futile.

iPhone Linux!

The iPhone is certainly known for its elegance and beauty, but around these parts it's also known for being closed and proprietary. The Open Source community does a little cheer when we hear about jailbreaking the iPhone -- but soon we'll have even more to party about.

Wii-Linux + T2 SDE Linux 6.0 + X Server Running XD

This video is from nuvalo who writes: "This is the latest kernel from Wii-Linux, which supports USB, Bluetooth, etc. This video shows how it boots T2 SDE for PowerPC, with its X server and the login. The colors are messed up as the X server writes its colors in RGB format, and the Wii frame buffer only supports yuv2. Anyway, it is possible to run an X server without too much effort."

Linux Makes Phones Even Cheaper

Purple Labs, a company based in France with a multinational management team, is pushing Linux mobile phones outward in capabilities and downward in price.