Never. Stop. Learning.

A place to collect knowledge about Linux, open-source tech, education, and plenty more.

[betweenthieves]

Aviate launcher on my Android phone! Got my invite last week and have been repeatedly impressed by this app. Devs add new features all the time!

[bertelking-deactivated20150204]

What I like most about using a Chromebook is the perceptual shift that has come with using it. Rather than waiting for applications to get ported to my platform, I’m waiting for applications to be developed for and ported to the web. The web is now my operating system, and the web is shared by and open to largely anyone with a modern device. I no longer feel like my computing experience is isolated to me and the others who use my chosen Linux distribution; it’s shared with anyone who has a web browser. It feels liberating to know that any file I edit or software I grow attached to can largely be accessed from any other computer were I to not have mine with me.

[betweenthieves]

(emphasis mine) QFT from his review of the Chromebook Pixel. The greatest thing about Chrome OS is how it changes the way you think, if you let it. Good stuff, thanks for this.

[mightywomble-deactivated2016050]

Having recently withstood some of the worlds best hackers to stay solid and working safely Google are serious about security with this OS, and with hardware between £200 and £1200 this is a serious contender for the commercial PC crown as more and more of us live in the web. However it is missing a few things.

[betweenthieves]

Some good points made on this blog. I'd like to point out, however, that Chrome OS DOES have native SSH support (in dev mode), and that (almost) all of the features the author claims are missing from Chrome OS can be gained using "crouton", a script which sets up a chroot environment in Chrome OS that allows you to switch operating systems with a hotkey, without rebooting.

I do, however, agree about the lack of a native SMB client (or FTP, or SSHFS, or...) This device is marketed as being "always-connected", and some files are just impractical to store in the cloud, like large video files and backups. It would be neat to see Google come out with browser-based solutions to these problems, or even to integrate it into the Files app like they have with Google Drive.

This still leaves the problem of Skype, but for me, it's not a big deal to say "Hey, instead of Skype, open your Gmail and I'll find you."

[betweenthieves]

Quick tip: Fixing duplicates folders in Files app of Chrome OS

The Files app in Chrome OS is a neat, clean piece of work - if a little sparse. Until just now, I was having an issue with seeing multiple versions of my folders in the Google Drive tab (for example, "Documents (1)", "Documents (2)", etc). The solution was simple: Hold CTRL and click on the gear in the top right corner, then, while still holding CTRL, click "Clean local cache." This fixed me right up, and now Files sees my Drive exactly like the website does. Glad someone thought to put that in!

[planetsedge]

Photographers, what would you automate?

We’re working to automate photography workflow.

So far,

wirelessly transmit photos to server

systematically rename

upload to url via dropbox

generate qr code per photo

apply watermark

auto steg

resize

border

What are we missing that doesn’t need human judgement?

[betweenthieves]

Great topic. I've done some work in this area myself using the Raspberry Pi. I wrote a python client/server script pair to handle the first of these. The setup: one Pi in a bag hanging from the tripod, powered by a 4000 mAh battery (also in the bag), connected to the camera via USB, broadcasting an ad-hoc wireless network to a nearby Android tablet. The client script running on the tablet would display pictures in real time as they were taken, with at most an 8-second delay.

The client python script ran using Kivy, an open-source framework, so the exact same Python code used on the desktop could be used on Android (or potentially iPhone). This allowed me to write one interface for any device that would respond to swipes, taps, clicks, dragging, or arrow keys. I'll post the code on my BitBucket if anyone shows interest in it, with the preface that I used that script pair to learn Python, so don't expect it to be pretty ;)

In this setup, the camera controlled the Pi. Libgphoto2 provides tons of functionality that would allow the Pi to control the camera instead, i.e. taking automated time lapse photos, creating HDR images with the press of a button, etc. Exciting stuff!

[bow12321]

My raspberry pi arrived today, now what project shall I do first

[betweenthieves]

Install Raspbian (it's the best general-purpose OS), Set up SSH, and build yourself a web/file server! This is a great way to get to know your new Linux box and its file system. If you want, turn it into a media center with XBMC - just be sure to look up the XBMC wiki article on the RasPi to read up on lightweight skins. It makes all the difference in performance.

All in all, Raspbian will serve you best. You can change projects without flashing OSes.

[betweenthieves]

Spring break is here! ... Now what?

I'll be spending some quality time with family and friends over spring break, but I'll still have lots of time on my hands. Got any ideas for a coding project? A language, library, or framework I should learn? I'm partial to Raspberry Pi-based projects - my Pi has been begging for some action, but my latest project got shut down when I found out the Pi doesn't have proper OpenGL support =(. 

Any ideas? Let me know below!

[emilylivesonpluto]

In foundations of special ed, my professor is having us describe how to brush your teeth. 1. Pick up tooth brush 2. Turn on water 3. Put brush underwater 4. Turn off water 5. Pick up toothpaste 6. Cap off toothpaste 7. Squeeze pea size of toothpaste onto bristles 8. Put cap back on toothpaste 9....

[betweenthieves]

An odd parallel, but they have (all) students do the same thing in entry-level computer science. You have to tell the compiler exactly what you want it to do... Otherwise it's "garbage in, garbage out."

[from-student-to-teacher]

[betweenthieves]

This falls right in line with my post from earlier today about lectures. I wish more of my professors believed this.

[betweenthieves]

Teaching Yourself: The Logical Fallacy of Lectures

It takes more than lectures to make a class. I don’t see why that should be difficult to understand. Yet so many of my university’s classes use lectures as a primary means -- sometimes the only means! -- of communicating information to students. Here’s a thought: some people don’t profit from lectures. In particular, lectures are such a minuscule part of how I learn that I almost consider them irrelevant in my education as a whole. There are much more effective ways for someone like me to learn, yet as students we place such a high premium on attending and paying attention in class... for what, exactly? I’m not saying a good lecture can’t teach anything that’ll stick, but most good teachers should know that much of what they say is lost on their listeners. That’s why repetition is such a common pedagogical technique. Neither do I intend to insult my professors, who no doubt work very hard on their lectures -- in fact, I’d consider most of my professors to be experts in their respective fields. I’m simply challenging the role of the lecture in my education. Instead of packing them with information and cramming a rushed presentation into an hour-long lecture, what if a “lecture” were a mere discussion or demonstration of the material? I have nothing but the utmost respect for my professors - I believe that teaching is one of the most challenging and humbling professions, if one cares enough to do it properly. Yet all but a handful of them clearly don’t consider themselves teachers, but lecturers. They’re experts in their fields, yet they’re being asked to perform as pedagogical experts. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that most of my professors sport thick foreign accents, whether Russian, Chinese, Polish, or French, making it difficult for even the most determined of students to follow their increasingly-oppressive lectures. Serving up information in this manner is both condescending and mildly insulting to students. We aren’t expected to behave as adults, learning on our own time and in our own manner. Instead, the information is spoon-fed to us; information is served in cold, indigestible chunks, and we’re expected to chew and swallow. This gourmond approach to communication is almost never effective, yet my university practices it like a religion. As an alternative, what might happen if we did treat students as adults? In the few instances I’ve seen where the professor expects the students to study out of class, I’ve watched my peers step up to the plate like the grown men and women they are. Those classes treated lecture as a time to ask questions to the professor, someone who is no doubt deeply knowledgeable on the subject, and for students to discuss concrete examples of the course material. This relieves pressure from the professor, who no longer has to pack information into one stressful, dreaded hour three times a week, and frees them to do what they do best: perform admirably on problems in their field. Lecture material, if any, is posted online to enable further study. As it stands, however, lectures are useful for nothing more than figuring out what the professor will put on the test. Skipping class seems wise! My time would, beyond doubt, be better spent in the library, studying a textbook and letting my mind assimilate the information in its own manner and on its own time. It might not help me figure out what’s on the test, but ultimately, I’m here to learn about a field of study, not about a set of tests. What do you think? In this world of information-packed lectures -- largely available online after the fact -- is it wise to skip class and be your own teacher?

[betweenthieves]

I thought this was awesome - here's a Raspberry Pi and an Arduino processor working together with a bunch of custom electronics and medical-grade pumps to make an automated bartender machine that can mix together ingredients within 1 mL! The robot generates its own wifi network and web interface over which users can order and customize drinks. There's a cool video on their Kickstarter site in the link, check it out!

[betweenthieves]

Trimming the Fat: Lightweight Development on the Raspberry Pi

To me, the greatest thing about the Raspberry Pi is the way it's changing the way I think about computing. A thought experiment in lightweight computing led me to reevaluate my long-standing choice of development environment. I was accustomed to developing in Eclipse, an excellent open-source IDE with plugins for several languages. However, Eclipse is too heavyweight (i.e. too CPU- and RAM-intensive) to run on the Pi, and it often has stability issues (though not as badly as a comparable Microsoft product). While Eclipse offers an impressive project management feature set, the overall experience can wear on you - the interface relies heavily on mouse usage, and the editor leaves much to be desired. Enter vim: “VI iMproved,” easily the most impressive program I’ve ever seen. Vim is an open-source text editor with an astonishing set of tools for manipulating text in complex ways. Seeing an expert vim user in action is an inspiring spectacle. Vim is so advanced that sites like vimgolf.com host competitions for people to solve puzzles using vim, including listing the first 100 prime numbers and converting XML to JSON, with the fewest number of keystrokes possible. There’s a steep learning curve involved with getting to know vim, but screencast sites like vimcasts.org and Derek Wyatt’s blog have helped me tremendously. Vim’s features are incredible, and it’s difficult to grasp them all. You can store text into variables called “registers” for later use, record macros, replace words without spamming “backspace”, visually select and move text, insert text in the same column of multiple rows all at once, “fold” your code, and much, much more. In addition to the impressive default features, vim offers both customization and extensibility. I can define hotkeys to compile my program, check for errors, skip to the first or next error, run my program, and display the output -  all without leaving vim. The few features I missed from the Eclipse editor, like code auto-completion and bracket-matching, are available via simple vim plugins. I encourage you to find lightweight alternatives to the software you use every day, too! Using vim with my Raspberry Pi has afforded me a degree of portability that I never thought possible. Now, I can access my entire development environment over SSH, turning any machine I’m on into a developer box. What’s more, vim is far more stable than Eclipse ever was. By leaving behind my resource-hungry IDE, I’ve actually *gained* features that matter to me and lost features that had no use to me. I’ll be adding a few more posts about my adventures with vim in the coming days. including a link to my .vimrc and links to my favorite plugins. Thanks for reading!

[betweenthieves]

[planetsedge]

betweenthieves:

I’m thinking about putting together an in-depth guide to the Raspberry Pi, the $25-$35 credit-card-sized Linux computer that’s sparked a small revolution in DIY projects, computer science education, HTPCs, and more. Topics would include basic setup, choice of hardware and operating systems, media…

Let’s collaborate.

[betweenthieves]

Sounds great! Since I can't send fan mail yet, here's a link to what I've got so far: https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B4FYnUIJI7S9Sm1udEl3SVYzUTg/edit?usp=sharing

Feel free to add any topics you want to hear about, or to flesh out any of the topics I've already listed. Just be sure to put your name on any sections you fill out so that you get proper credit.

Anyone else who happens to be reading is free to contribute as well! (The internet is wonderful, isn't it?)

[betweenthieves]

The Raspberry Pi Omni-Guide: Part 1

Hello Tumblrs! 

This is the first in what I'm hoping will be a detailed series of guides to getting started, restarted, or inspired with your Raspberry Pi! While this first installment is my own, I hope to collaborate on the next piece with anyone who has experience with the Pi, in hopes of making this series as accurate, informative, and exciting as I can. So, let's get started!   What is the "Raspberry Pi"?   The Raspberry Pi is an affordable, tiny, tremendously versatile Linux device. It's a credit-card-sized computer that was built to help students learn how to program. Its parent foundation offers it for sale to the public for $25 (model A) or $35 (model B). Let’s talk about the hardware for a bit: the Pi is equipped with a Broadcom system-on-a-chip (SoC) that sports a 700 MHz single-core processor 256 or 512 MB of RAM, and a GPU that is capable of decoding 1080p video in real-time. It also offers connectivity to external devices by way of an HDMI audio/video port, one or two USB ports, an ethernet jack, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an RCA (composite) video port, and a GPIO port. The operating system and root filesystem are stored on an SD card that is inserted on the underside of the board. Its power-efficient ARM processor and GPU allow it to run on a mere trickle of 2W of power at idle, reaching a maximum of 5W while decoding 1080p video (these specs are for the model B - the LESS power-efficient of the two models). The Pi therefore dissipates so little heat that a little ventilation is all it takes to keep it cool via natural convection - no fans required. So, what can we do with this tiny little computer? Nearly anything, really! The Pi bridges the gap between traditional computers and microcontrollers. It sports both microcontroller- and PC-like port layouts, while running a full-blown Linux installation on its CPU. This means that the Pi is capable of connecting to everything from digital cameras to breadboards to portable hard drives; its hardware support is quite broad. A variety of Linux-based operating systems exist for the Pi, each designed to fulfill a specific purpose. Typically, Debian Linux is chosen for the Pi due to its support for the ARM v11 architecture, minimal memory footprint, and easy-to-use package management system. Debian provides excellent hardware support out-of-the-box, recognizing most USB devices without any additional configuration. The Debian repositories provide access to a huge selection of open-source software, yet the default installation is quite minimal. With Debian, you can build the Pi into nearly anything you want it to be, and the system won’t get in your way. However, if you want more of a pre-packaged setup, other operating systems do exist for purposes like penetration testing and media playback.   What it ISN’T While the Pi provides an incredibly versatile array of hardware and Debian provides extensive software, it is important to note the limitations of this device. The primary limiting factor is a design choice: the ARM architecture of the Pi’s CPU (most desktop CPUs are x32 or x86_64 architecture). This choice of architecture is what allows the Pi to use such small amounts of power, but it also means that typical binary executables cannot be run on it. Instead, most programs installed on the Pi must be built from source - a chore that is, thankfully, elegantly handled by the Debian package-management system. This means that programs like WINE, or proprietary software in general, will not work on the Pi. While the Pi has a lot of potential as an HTPC platform, it will not run Netflix via the popular method of Silverlight and WINE. For those looking to turn the Pi into a MAME (Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator), please note that there is not yet a stable way to emulate N64 games on the Pi. Additionally, unlike similar products like the Pandaboard ES, the Pi does not currently run any version of Android newer than 2.3 - and, frankly, installing Android 2.3 will severely limit what can be done with your Pi.   Choosing the Right Hardware The Raspberry Pi comes in two varieties: Model “A” and Model “B”. I can almost universally recommend that the reader chooses model “B”, the more expensive and more versatile of the two. Model B has 512 MB of RAM and two USB ports, while the model A has 256 MB and one USB port. The model A has one niche advantage over the model B: its power consumption is greatly reduced. The Raspberry Pi Foundation says that this is to allow its deployment in low-power situations - perhaps so that the Pi can run off of solar power, for instance. For most of us, however, the model B is plenty power-efficient and the extra 256 MB of RAM will greatly smooth out the system’s performance. The next-most important hardware choice is the SD card. The operating system must be loaded on a full-size SD card, which must then be inserted into a slot on the underside of the board. However, SD cards typically offer very slow read speeds. This is generally the bottleneck of the Pi’s performance, so I must strongly recommend that the reader purchases a Class 10 or faster SD card. Additionally, if you intend to tinker with the Pi and install a variety of packages, it’s best to opt for the 8 GB SD card or larger (my 8 GB card is ~90% full). While the default Debian installation is quite minimal, it’s important to leave space for packages that will provide utilities for your own applications. Choosing the correct power adapter is also important. The Pi runs off of a standard microUSB power cable, the same that charges most modern cell phones. The RasPi forums are riddled with bizarre problems - typically related to USB devices - that end up being power-related. This is due to the fact that choking that Pi’s power supply might impair its ability to power external devices like mice and keyboards. An ideal power supply for the Pi will be rated at 5 Watts: 5V at 1A of current output. This is the most amount of power I’ve ever seen my model B consume - its typical usage is in the 2W range. When choosing a case for the Pi - and you do need a case! - keep three things in mind: ventilation, protection, and of course, stylistic features. Many Pi owners are big DIYers who build their own cases from Legos, blocks of wood or aluminum, acrylic, or even 3D printers. Depending on what your own wild ideas for your Pi are, you might consider designing a special case for your application. Photographer David Hunt, for instance, embedded his Pi in an old Canon DSLR battery grip, seamlessly integrating his Pi with his camera and opening up countless possibilities (wireless tethering, image manipulation, automatic timelapses, automated HDR image processing...) My projects are more software-based, so my own Pi sits comfortably in a white plastic enclosure from MCM with vents on the top and bottom, holes for each port, and a wall mount on the back side.

My Experience with Accessories The Pi’s convenient USB connectivity will undoubtedly serve you well during setup and deployment. If, however, you want to connect more USB devices than the ports allow, you can use a powered or unpowered USB hub. A word of caution, however: unpowered hubs rely on the Pi itself to power their connected devices, and this might cause abnormal behavior on the software side if the Pi isn’t getting enough power to itself or the connected devices. In fact, power issues are a very common problem among Pi owners. If you’re going to connect power-hungry devices like external HDDs to your Pi, it’s best to use ones that supply their own power, or to operate them through a powered USB hub. One important feature for many users will be wifi connectivity. Many home setups have routers that are simply inaccessible via ethernet, and will require a wireless connection. Fortunately, the Edimax Wireless Nano USB Adapter (http://amzn.com/B005CLMJLU) offers a power-efficient solution to this problem in a tiny form-factor that works out-of-the-box with the Pi if you’re running Raspbian (Raspberry + Debian = Raspbian).  I’ve also found a similarly-sized generic bluetooth adapter for the Pi, I bought it for $0.99 USD here: http://amzn.com/B001EBE1LI This also worked out-of-the-box with the Pi and it connected to my PS3 Sixaxis and Dualshock 3 controllers just fine. Lastly, if you’re looking to embed the Pi in other hardware, you might not have access to a power outlet. Fortunately, the 4000mAh Sinoele external battery bank (I bought it here for $12: http://amzn.com/B009430HT8) offers a portable solution to this: 4000mAh is roughly 10+ hours of Pi battery life, and it can put out power fast enough to run the Pi on its own. Plus, the battery is equipped with an LED and is capable of charging anything that takes power over USB - handy for when your cell goes dead or the power goes out at home. Coming up next... Phew, now that we’ve got the hardware out of the way, let’s move on to the software! (My favorite part, ofc) My next post will cover the traditional use-cases for the PI and the corresponding choices of OS. I’ll also go over how to get started with Raspbian. Soon after, we’ll go over the meaty stuff: applications for the Pi, my thoughts on integrating Chrome OS and the Pi, and how to use this wonderful device for development, entertainment, and even art!

[betweenthieves]

Meet the Raspberry Pi, the $25-$35 computer that's changed the way I think about software and lightweight computing. My next several posts will detail various aspects of Pi ownership, from choosing the right hardware to installing an OS to my own experience in deploying the Pi for a wide variety of applications!

[betweenthieves]

Forgive the off-topic indulgence, but this is me and Emma, my companion in everything. (I'm the slightly-less-hairy one)

[betweenthieves]

One of the first things I missed when I started using Chrome OS full-time was the lack of a native Steam client -- not for the games, but for the chat client (I swear, it's the only way I can get a hold of my roommate when he's in a raid).

Well, this one was an easy fix. Steam has a wonderful webapp implementation of their chat client here that does the job nicely (it even displays chat history, unlike the native clients!). To add a touch of Chrome to this discovery, I made my first Chrome web app! (You can download it from the link in the title of this post) Sure it's just a bookmark, but it adds a nice touch of integration with Chrome and Chrome OS. I cannot, however, publish said app on the Chrome Web Store because, well, I don't own Steam!

To install it, simply unzip the archive to a folder of your choice, go to chrome://extensions/ in a new tab, check the "Developer Mode" box (don't you love doing that?) and select "Load Unpacked Extension". From there, select the folder you made earlier, and you should be good to go.