Project Heimdallr
I bought myself a Fit-PC a week ago, and it shipped yesterday, so I'm continuing to get excited about what I might do with this little box. Key specs are: 5w power consumption (up to 7w when spinning up disks, but in general it is supposed to be much lower), 5" x 5" x 1.5" form factor, 500 MHz, 256 MB RAM, and two 100Mbps ethernet ports (sadly, not gigabit).
I'm thinking about installing this as a firewall / router box. I've been somewhat frustrated by the clumsy port-mapping interfaces in most hardware routers (go to 192.168.0.1 with a predictable password, map one port at a time), and having gained some proficiency in Linux over the past two years, I figure this is a good way to continue my education.
Since the box will act as a gatekeeper, and Cerberos is already a well spoken for name in the world of computer security (see Kerberos), I turned to Norse Mythology. Heimdallr gets to play gatekeeper between Midgard and Asgard, and has other nifty associations like being able to hear the grass grow.
There are other nice uses for a box that is always on. I can start my own website and host it either on Heimdallr or on my Mac, which will be handy for certain upcoming weddings, among other things. As an IRC Proxy, I might finally be able to understand the underworld that is IRC (unlikely). As a bittorrent client, I might finally be able to achieve that 1:1 ratio that is the pinnacle of honor amongst thieves. As an SVN server, so I can subversion my home directory and use consistent profiles wherever I go. Other ideas ...
Also, it seems like a good platform to try LFS on. I always wanted to compile my own libc.
I will try to catalogue my experiences with this machine, though that journal may end up hosted on the machine itself. I'll be sure to keep this journal posted of developments at least until then.
I'm thinking about installing this as a firewall / router box. I've been somewhat frustrated by the clumsy port-mapping interfaces in most hardware routers (go to 192.168.0.1 with a predictable password, map one port at a time), and having gained some proficiency in Linux over the past two years, I figure this is a good way to continue my education.
Since the box will act as a gatekeeper, and Cerberos is already a well spoken for name in the world of computer security (see Kerberos), I turned to Norse Mythology. Heimdallr gets to play gatekeeper between Midgard and Asgard, and has other nifty associations like being able to hear the grass grow.
There are other nice uses for a box that is always on. I can start my own website and host it either on Heimdallr or on my Mac, which will be handy for certain upcoming weddings, among other things. As an IRC Proxy, I might finally be able to understand the underworld that is IRC (unlikely). As a bittorrent client, I might finally be able to achieve that 1:1 ratio that is the pinnacle of honor amongst thieves. As an SVN server, so I can subversion my home directory and use consistent profiles wherever I go. Other ideas ...
Also, it seems like a good platform to try LFS on. I always wanted to compile my own libc.
I will try to catalogue my experiences with this machine, though that journal may end up hosted on the machine itself. I'll be sure to keep this journal posted of developments at least until then.