DIY - How to Make your own Lunchbox Linux Firewall!
As an avid fan of Linux operating systems ever since I took Minix class, which Linux was born from, I love to hear about cool little DIYs on making a Linux firewall out of a lunch box.
The greatest thing about Linux operating systems in comparison to Windows or any other operating systems is that it can be easily custom tailored to do one thing whether that’s a web server, firewall, file server, or any type of server that requires stability at “no cost”.
This simple DIY shows us the things that are possible with open source and free software.
Heck, you could probably make a lot of money putting these Lunchbox Linux firewall boxes to production as they are as good as an over-priced Cisco router.
It’s a plastic Thermos brand Hot Wheels lunchbox circa 2007. Black plastic, white handle, but no Thermos inside. As soon as I saw it, I knew it would become a computer case, so I bought it, brought it home, and started digging in the parts box. Grabbed one of my Via C3 embedded 3.5″ boards, a cheap 4GB compact flash card, a small 5V, 8A power supply, and my exacto knife and files.
Related posts
(1 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...Top 10 Reasons Why Linux will be on every PC in 10 Years!
1. Linux is free, open-source platform operating system that’s being developed by engineers all over the world.
2. Linux is not 1 operating system, there are hundreds of different Linux systems including embedded Linux.
3. Google is supporting embedded Linux for mobile phones with its Android platform with thousands of app builders.
4. In 5 years, all desktop applications will be available online, there will be no need to use Microsoft Outlook, Word, or any of that shit.
5. Linux is already taking near 50% market of mini-notebooks, netbooks, whatever.
6. Linux is now picking up more pace with major manufacturers such as Samsung, Asus, etc…etc…
7. Linux is unlimited, Windows is limited to EXE files.
8. Over 50% of web servers in the world already run Linux, proving the stability of the operating system.
9. Linux is about freedom, Windows is about Money.
10. Mac already runs an operating system similar to Linux, based on a unix-like structure.
Related posts
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Linux Server Hacks - How to increase Plesk Q-mail Maximum E-mail Attachment size of 2MB!
Well, recently I had one of my clients that I host their e-mail system on my web server ask me if they can send more than 2MB for their e-mail attachments.
To do this on a Plesk system, you need to create a new file for the Q-mail.
Plesk defaults to 2MB for e-mail attachments.
Goto this directory:
/var/qmail/control
make a file called “databytes” and store the max number of bytes allowed.
For example, “4000000″ would be max 4MB attachments.
Related posts
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...DIY Linux-based 3D Rendering Farm - PC 24 CPU Cores and 48GB of memory!
Wow, check out this DIY Linux 3D rendering farm made with an IKEA Helmer furniture and crams 24 CPUs + 48GB of RAM.
This might give you some great ideas on how to make your own server farm, whether that’s for 3D or the web.
-
- DIY Linux-based 3D Rendering Farm - PC 24 CPU Cores and 48GB of memory!DIY Linux-based 3D Rendering Farm - PC 24 CPU Cores and 48GB of memory!
Related posts
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Android Mobile Platform SDK available for download and win $10 million by developing the best app!
Click Here to View in Full Screen Mode
Check out the new Android SDK, a developer’s kit so you can build apps for the new Android Platform. (Note: Android is simply an open-source operating system that can run on cellphones, it’s not the cellphone itself.)
Maybe we will try making a SiteHoppin application for the Android soon so you can hop on the new Android phones. (It already works on iPhones)
Google is also giving out $10 million to the best Android app developer. Cool stuff, we might have to start developing for that challenge.
Sergey looks like he just got up, did he take a shower yet?
On the bright side, I think Sergey and Google is doing a great job promoting open-source platforms and linux. (Android is basically Linux hacked to run on mobile phones with lots of Google stuff embedded.)
This will be exciting as Google will really try to take over the world with cellphone software and make my GoogleMaps work better too.
Related posts
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Preview of Google’s GPhone with the Android Linux OS
Check out a preview of the new GPhone, basically a Samsung phone with Google’s Linux Android operating system.I think it’s got great browser which I dig the most. There’s also street view from GoogleMaps but I guess that can be useful.
Perhaps most impressive is the Street View mode of Google Maps, pulled down to the 3G prototype reference phone running at a relatively mild 300MHz. That reference design, which may or may not reflect hardware that will run Android in the future, had another interesting feature: a trackball, currently seen on Danger Hiptops and Blackberries.
Related posts
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...DIY Linksys HACK - HOWTO tweak your router to go 10 times faster!
If you are like most folks who don’t know about DD-WRT and your Linksys router is dying on you, it’s time to switch your OS to DD-WRT.
DD-WRT also works on over 80 other routers, so be sure to check the supported devices list here.
DD-WRT is basically an aftermarket linux firmware for your Linksys router. It’s like putting an aftermarket turbo system on your hot import car, except this one is open-source and free to download.
There are many instructions floating on the internet but the most important thing is to identify what type of Linksys router you have.
You can refer to the instructions on the DD-WRT website wiki here. It might look a little hairy but usually it takes 3 simple steps of uploading a new firmware via the web GUI admin interface, TFTPing another file, then simple rebooting and wala you have a .
Check the back of your Linksys router to see what model it is. I have several different Linksys routers ranging from Linksys WRT-G V8, WRT-GS V5, and WRT-GS V7.
I’ve successfully installed the DD-WRT on my WRT-GS V5 and my WRT-G V8, but have bricked my WRT-GS V7.
If you have WRT-G V8 or WRT-GS V7, you can try this guide here. I’ve successfully installed the WRT-G V8 but bricked my WRT-GS V7, so be careful.
If you have one of the newer models or thinking about buying one, I highly suggest trying to get an old one off eBay or get the WRT-G models. Although WRT-GS V8 is supported, sometimes, it can brick your router just like it happened to me.
Bricked your router while trying to upgrade to DD-WRT?
Well, normally this doesn’t happen, but here’s resources just in case you do brick your router.
The only choice I have is to make a hairydairymaid JTAG cable which allows you to directly program and erase the flash and the Broadcom chip inside the router.
If you ever brick your router, you can always refer to the WRT54G revival guide before trying the hairy dairy method.
Click below for on the rest of the guide to tweak the settings and make the router go 10 times faster!
Continue reading ‘DIY Linksys HACK - HOWTO tweak your router to go 10 times faster!’
Related posts
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5) Loading ...DIY Linux HACK - HOW TO optimize your Wordpress Blog, MediaWiki, or any other high load website with Compression!
Well, we did a lot of server hacking before with some MySQL, eAccelerator, and httpd.
There’s a lot of major blogs out there I have checked using Web Page Compression Tool that are not using compression. (For one, I checked John Chow’s blog)
Try to check one of your posts instead of checking your main URL as the tool is funky with root domains. (e.g. Check http://zedomax.com/blog/2008/02/23/never-give-up-especially-your-blog-dude/ instead of http://zedomax.com)
Here’s a screenshow of compression test I did for one of John Chow’s posts:
As you can see, John Chow’s blog does not use compression. As a result, he’s losing out on almost 5 times of bandwidth!!!
With level 9 compression, his site could be loaded on your web browser at 21K instead of the whopping 100K.
Now the compression might not be for all of you with slow CPUs. Our Zedomax.com runs on Quad-CPU server which has a lot of CPU processing power.
Here’s a screenshow of my server under normal load:
As you can see, most of the time, my CPU is idling at 80.8%! That means my CPU is pretty much sitting on its ass instead of doing work for me.
Now, if you have a similar situation, compression will help your site load faster and also bring your load down so you can handle more traffic.
Here’s how to enable compression if you have a dedicated or access to root on your server:
(Most servers have zlib installed, if you don’t have zlib installed, you will have to install that first, you can check it by making a test file and putting <?php phpinfo() ?> and search for zlib)
Add the following lines to your /etc/php.ini:
zlib.output_compression = on
zlib.output_compression_level = 5
and then restart apache! (of course):
httpd -k restart
Now, go check one of your posts on the Compression Test Tool here.
As you can see above, I just compressed one of my blog posts by a whopping 76.1%!
If you are using Super Cache plugin for Wordpress, make sure to go to options and do this too:
Now, your server will run faster since there’s less data being transmitted to your visitors, meaning you save bandwith, time, and most importantly, the ability to handle more traffic.
At 70% increase in bandwidth, that could translate to that many more visitors too as bandwidth is directly proportional to amount of time a visitor stays on your site. (Yes, I did take Calculus in college, I failed miserably before passing.) The less time a visitor takes to load a page on your blog or your site, the more time and bandwidth you have for other visitors.)
I was searching through the web for many ways to use compression for server optimization but I couldn’t find any so I sort put everything together here.
Hopefully, it helps you.
And one more thing, you can also check out this great tutorial on your httpd.conf setup.
You can always check out HOWTO decrease load on your server by 5 times also.