Looking for a project

Tillotson

So I recently got an old computer...
1.8GHz, 256MB RAM.

It now runs debian and I use it as a print/samba server, torrents etc, ssh and backup server.

Computer's being a trooper, boots in seconds and rarely uses over 100MB RAM

Anyone have any good ideas/projects, something which would teach me something?

ethernet

Teach you something? Well you must be pretty darn knowledgeable to have gotten all of the above working

Stuck to know what to suggest, to be honest. Something in the field of programming or GNU/Linux specific?

What about MythTV from scratch? Not the best thing on that spec but there is a good learning curve.

Orion

Try Gentoo.
Build your own distro from scratch.

That's something I want to do at some stage - good learning curve in it.

PogMoThoin

Install Apache & MySQL and then setup Torrentflux b4rt, Coppermine Photo Gallery or a phpBB forum. I've done all three myself, its not that hard, there are loads of guides if you google

Tillotson

Thanks for the suggestions guys,

Is Gentoo pretty dead since their wiki got hacked? Not much interest in it anyway, using Arch on my main machine...

Think I'll get Apache on there, and maybe some sort of homepage or gallery.
I've messed around with it before - used to have a php app to check for new tv episodes. I just get scared opening anything up to outside my little network.

Orion

There's a project right there then - make your network impregnable

Tillotson

Haha, that might take a while!!!

Any good resources out there?

Tillotson

And I don't have much money

Orion

money not required - it's all free

I meant using built in services to make your network safe. So messing with iptables, key pairing for remote login etc. For example I noticed a while back that there was a brute force attack on my pc over ssh. At the time I was using password authentication. Now I'm using a key pair and password authentication is turned off. Things like that are good for learning.

PogMoThoin

Macros42 wrote: »

money not required - it's all free

I meant using built in services to make your network safe. So messing with iptables, key pairing for remote login etc. For example I noticed a while back that there was a brute force attack on my pc over ssh. At the time I was using password authentication. Now I'm using a key pair and password authentication is turned off. Things like that are good for learning.

Yes, securing his network would be a start.
DenyHosts is a good script for this, bacically after so many login attempts it blacklists the ip address for a certain number of days. Also look into restricting it to just Irish ip addresses, here.

I had a knowlegable fella run a nessus audit on my server, just passing on these tips

Webmonkey

Set up your own PBX exchange with Asterisk. VoIP is fun, hook it up to a blueface number and have a call answering service. I've never done it, but you can set up Asterisk to say turn on the lights of your house (might require a bit of electronics!) by ringing up and pressing a certain code, or set up a VoIP phone and when you ring, it doesn't ring but it goes off hook so you can listen whats going on in your house when you away or even hook up a mic on your PC and this gets fed to your phone call!

I havn't had time to mess with its potential but I did set it up for a college project, details http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=58291238&postcount=6

Naikon

How about some basic C programming?

Most of the base utilities/kernel source is pure C code,
so familerising yourself with even the basics is usefull.
At least now there is no excuse for using a dead Borland/Microsoft compiler.

A *NIX enviroment is a good way to learn how to write standards complient code.
Just make sure you use the "ANSI" switch when compiling:pac:.

I learnt a good bit from the "C programming langauge" book and the C programming
website. I have come far from simply reading and modifying some sources aswell.
Look at some of my early posts in the programming forum for proof.

C is similar to most other procedural langauges like perl and Java, so learning it is never wasted effort.
Learn C before C++ because it is smaller and non "object oriented".

Good luck.

Try out http://cprogramming.com to get started.

Cantab.

FreeSwitch looks like a great piece of software to get up-and-running.

Route all your calls through your own private PBX?!

djmarkus

Virtualisation, Xen or KVM, or possibly VirtualBox(actully not with 256m of ram)

install Fail2Ban(A must for public facing machines).

Set up a linux SoftRAID array for your data.

use Nagios to monitor your network, probably a bit overkill

Set up a windows domain using samba for all the computers on your windows network.

That should keep you going.

mosel

Macros42 wrote: »

money not required - it's all free

I meant using built in services to make your network safe. ... For example I noticed a while back that there was a brute force attack on my pc over ssh.
.

If you have such problems - and they are inevitable once the box is on the internet - why not try to build your firewall from scratch using iptables?
There is so much to learn and it can safe you much trouble. For background information regarding the ssh break-in attacks you'll find a solution in this blog posting.

http://linuxcoaching.eu/kerry_linux_help_center/2009/04/learn-to-frustrate-the-intruders.html

It is a starting point to improve your security.

Tillotson

I've been keeping it small for now. I got public key encryption working, got denyhosts(similar to fail2ban i presume) running and have moved sabnzbd to run behind apache with password protection (.htaccess).

I've also got into using screen, ssh, irssi and bitlbee all together so I can connect to jabber, gtalk and irc channels all through one interface and then when I come back all my messages are waiting for me. Bitlbee is amazing.

@Niakon: C was hard so I quit. I've started dabbling in python. I've been meaning to pick it up again. The library has a book "The C Programming Language", which I've been eyeing. Is this the one you were on about?
@djmarkus: Is KVM really there yet? I tried it a while back but I couldn't find good documentation. I've used virtualbox but tbh I don't have much need for virtualisation because I don't want my main machine on all the time.

I've been looking at dokuWiki to use internally for notes/projects etc.
Also looking at getting rid of denyhosts and using an iptables new connection rate limit instead.

Capt'n Midnight

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Also look into restricting it to just Irish ip addresses, here.

http://xkcd.com/195/ Map of the internet
or look up www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space/

to block invalid addresses too


Another project would be to set it up as a remote boot thin client

Naikon

Tillotson wrote: »

@Niakon: C was hard so I quit. I've started dabbling in python. I've been meaning to pick it up again. The library has a book "The C Programming Language", which I've been eyeing. Is this the one you were on about?

Yes, it's not as easy a read as some other books like "teach yourself C in x hours".
It's not a very good langauge to start out with I have to admit.

I can say after reading a few chapters, it really is the only book you will
probably need on C, unless you need a specialised point of view.

C is actually pretty small, not full of features, but alot of new langauges
are similer to C in many ways. Just don't mess around with 'pointers' too much:p

It's takes some time to get proficient in 'C' but it's a decent investment from
a linux point of view becuase all unix-like systems are developed in it.

Keep up the good work with python, it's a very good and capable langauge,
and not as daunting to learn in a short space of time as C, Perl or Java.

Keep working on Python, and soon C will be no bother to you...no lies!