[sudo-discuss] Hardware for the masses

As some of you have noticed I can be flakier then a lethal case of psoriasis, but I've finally got a couple of images ready to muck with those 50 or so machines that are providing cover for the rats' nest right now. Unfortunately, I'm planning on leaving town for a few weeks to go camping so I won't be able to show folks how I'd like to process the buggers. But I have actually typed up a set of instructions if folks can't be bothered to await my second coming. I took one of the dual core machines, installed Kubuntu 14.04, imaged it and then set it up as a local server. It is over towards the computer hardware wall on one of the tables, ready for enterprising folks to have at. It is a boxy Dell a wifi PCI card so it can get the internet and its ethernet is configured to provide a connection of other boxes through a little switch. The machine (whose hostname is Spartacus) is also attached to a KVM switch so it can share its monitor, keyboard and mouse with up to 3 other machines that are being worked on. There is a black button to control which machine has the KVM's attention at the moment. So Spartacus is configured with a number of services. 1. Apache web server which has the incomplete instructions about how to image the new boxes (there is also a crumpled piece of paper there with some of the instructions). 2. Samba file server to host the images, one for the old Dells under the server rack (40 GB hard drives) and the other for the somewhat newer dual core machines near the 3D printer. 3. Approx, a deb installation file caching proxy, so you can quickly download and install Debian and Ubuntu packages instead of downloading them afresh for each machine. When I have time when I get back I'll put the approx cache on an encrypted partition so it will be harder to muck with. I'll also use the machine to host Linux & BSD distro isos. I'll also include instructions about how to use approx for your personal machines with a few easily-to-follow instructions. I put all that stuff at sudoroom, but wasn't able to totally finish the instructions when I was there. But I mailed an updated "index.html" file and an updated installation script to an account that I set up on Spartacus and its clones, sudoroomie(a)gmail.com. If some helpful person wants they can open Thunderbird, download the 2 files and put up them in /var/www/html. You'll have to sudo to get them there, that directory is owned by root. Anywho, the upshot is, boot up Spartacus, hook up a machine you wish to image, then follow the directions on Spartacus (use a web browser to go to http://localhost). You can use the live CDs or the 256MB USB stick I left there to install the image. When I get back I'll make another install image or two for Debian testing and maybe a 64 bit Ubuntu 14.04 image, as well. The instructions are annoyingly long and don't cover many of the cases that will undoubtedly emerge. If & when I get back in September I plan to start hosting a regular Friday afternoon/evening Linux InstallFest where folks can come to get Linux help, share tips, get access to installation media, and perhaps eat some warmish pizza when I get back from my weekly donation run at 9PM. If you want to install Linux on the machines without my image server there are a bunch of DVDs in a Microsoft Developer kit binder over on hardware wall. But if you don't want to place the box in a home somewhere, please label the sucker appropriately so people who want to use them know what they are getting in to. Also, this should go without typing, please leave my KVM switch, ethernet switch & USB stick more or less where they are, or at least tell me where they have been moved. If any of you are at loose ends this month feel free to join me dispersed canoe camping <https://www.google.com/images?q=Utica%20Reservoir&sa=N&tab=wi&gws_rd=ssl> about 3.5 hours from here in the National Forest in the Sierras. My first (and so far only) wife Kathy will be driving up on Thursday or Friday nights so you can get a ride with her or at least have her show you how to get there. We'll have a couple of extra tents and a few bags & pads and have extra chairs, plates, etc., so you just need to bring your food, grog & clothes (provided the camping gear isn't otherwise spoken for that weakend). I'm hoping I'll be able to get intermittent Internet access at the coffee shop in Bear Valley, about 3 steep miles away. Anywho, my home number is 510-763-0591. The phone is even dumber then I am so you'll have to leave a call-back number loudly and clearly on our 20 year old $5 answering machine. If I'm spared I'll be back in early September. e On 07/30/2014 09:42 PM, Marina Kukso wrote: