Elyas Thinks...

Yummy Raspberry Pi

Elyas Kashfi / August 12, 2012 / Internet, Raspberry Pi, Software, Technology / Permalink

Disclaimer: If you are reading this because you thought I am talking about "raspberry piE" then I am sorry to disappoint you . This is about "Raspberry Pi" the computer! For PIE here is the top result.

Wow where to start. Guess an introduction first. The Raspberry Pi is a cheap (around $35) computer that comes as an open circuit board. You get to see the components in the nude, touch the chips and components (not recommended due to ESD and a little shock ) and even add other compatible boards to it.

What makes the Raspberry Pi so special? For one it is quite powerful (taking price and size into consideration of course). It comes with a Broadcom BCM2835 (SoC: CPU, GPU and RAM sandwiched on a chip), 256MB of RAM that can be split between OS and the GPU, 2 USB ports, an Ethernet port, HDMI output (yes, the GPU has enough juice to output 1080p video), RCA video output and the popular 3.5mm audio jack. It also comes with GPIO (General Purpose Input / Output) that will let you connect to other boards (some available, others coming). All you need to run the OS is simply an SD card! And it only needs 3.5W from a USB power supply to run it (the micro USB type B available on some phone chargers today). Basically all you need is any TV with either the old video input or HDMI and a USB keyboard and mouse (or you can simply use Ethernet (it comes with a 10/100 port) for SSH and get rid of the keyboard and mouse).

It took quite a bit of waiting for me to get my Raspberry Pi. I actually had to register on a waiting list (many months ago), when it was my turn (invited to order on the 21st of June) I ordered and paid in full but had to wait a bit longer (16th July) before they shipped my Raspberry! It was also the first time any of my Aramex Shop and Ship packages had to go through customs (a circuit board definitely looks awkward, especially these days).

Software wise, the Pi runs Linux for now. A wide range of distributions are available, the more popular and recommended one being Raspbian (Raspberry + Debian). A more complete list of distros available may be found here (including some media servers). I opted for the recommended Raspbian, that comes with an LXDE desktop. To be honest, the desktop is slow compared to one of those cheap Chinese tablets running Android. However, if all you need is the shell then the Pi is for you.

Given that the Raspberry Pi is targeted for kids and for educational purposes, it does have its applications in other areas. Here are just a few current and upcoming projects based on the Pi.The official site also showcases what people are doing with their Pis. At the moment I have decided to run my Raspberry Pi as a seedbox: no more noisy, power hungry PC left running overnight !

Here are a few great links for the Raspberry Pi:

2 Comments

GDN Pocket Edition App Released

Elyas Kashfi / July 25, 2012 / Android / Permalink

One more app published, bringing the count to 2 apps! Get it from Google Play below:

I tried to get the GDN's mobile site to an Android interface, allowing users to swipe through the newspaper's different sections. This app was quite the challenge since it introduced me to Android's support library which included something called Fragments. It took me quite some time to get even a bit comfortable with Fragments, mainly because of how I wanted to use it. It might be a bit buggy, so any feedback is greatly appreciated ! More details here.

0 Comments

Ramadan Kareem (2012)

Elyas Kashfi / July 19, 2012 / Bahrain, Life / Permalink

That time of year has come upon us once again, Ramadan! There are many reasons it's my favorite month (apart from the religious and spiritual context). Here are a few:

Vimto becomes the official drink of the month (Vimto gets the BIGGEST boost in sales during this month alone!).
Less work, more sleep (never managed not napping in the evening).
Some people are calmer, more friendly (note the word "some").
For some reason food is much tastier.
Related to the above, some food I only enjoy or even eat during Ramadan (like Harees ).
Roads and some places are much calmer after breaking fast.
You have an excuse to stay up at night (or until dawn for some people :-/).
Tents, tents and more tents!
You may end up being invited to someone's every day for the rest of the month to break fast (this can also be a downside).
Eid comes right after .

Of course it's not all fun and games, there are a few downsides:

A lot of food is wasted… Come on, you know you won't eat that whole dish! I at least get full pretty fast during Ramadan.
If you do eat the whole dish above: some people end up in the hospital's ER soon after breaking fast. Take it easy .
Some places do not reopen later, so if you need something you better get it in the morning.
Some people get grumpy during the month. I blame either lack of sleep or their low glucose levels.
Low sugar levels + driving + getting to or from work in a hurry = accidents (plus grumpy drivers).
You feel like you haven't done anything productive in the day, especially if you end up sleeping to pass time.
It's summer, and Bahrain has been witnessing the hottest months in history lately (May 2012 was the hottest in 100 years).

To sum everything up, I wish everyone a Ramadan Kareem

1 Comment

TRA Publishes Bahrain’s Internet Ecosystem Report (by Renesys)

Elyas Kashfi / July 3, 2012 / Bahrain, Internet / Permalink

The TRA of Bahrain has published a mid year report about Bahrain's Internet environment (or ecosystem). This report was compiled by Renesys, Internet intelligence experts. If you are into networking or would like to know more how your Internet at home is routed then you'll enjoy reading it.

Download it from the TRA here.

Some interesting points:

STC (aka Viva) is providing most of the upstream to providers across the country (66% of traffic going through them). This is good because STC in Saudi Arabia transit with MANY connectivity providers (Level 3, Tinet, Tata amongst others).
Many ISPs are have now single-homed to STC or BIX.
The bad, Bahrain is the ONLY country in the GCC that does not have a single IPv6 network…

Hopefully the next report will contain some information about newcomer Greenisis.

0 Comments

Forcing Google Chrome to Use a Specific Google Engine

Elyas Kashfi / June 27, 2012 / Software / Permalink

Something that I found a bit annoying with Chrome is how it somehow detects your installation location and then installs using that country as the default Google search location. For example, install from Bahrain and it will force the .com.bh engine on queries from the Omnibox (aka the address bar). If you don't care about that and just want English then you just need to click on "English" on the Arabic page. What if you want to use .com in the Omnibox? Visiting http://www.google.com/ncr (no country redirect) doesn't affect the Omnibox and for some reason, adding an engine in Chrome (plus its extra parameters), stops the Omnibox from suggesting keywords.

If you want to force whatever Google localized engine or the regular .com engine try these steps:

Google usually installs in your user's account folder, inside is a file called "Local State". The path to the file is usually: C:\Users\<User Account Name>\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Local State (replace <User Account Name> with your Windows account name). I believe there is also a similar file in Linux, but I can't remember its exact path.
Edit the "Local State" file, right at the beginning of that file look for 2 lines: "last_known_google_url" and "last_prompted_google_url".
In my case, the above 2 lines contained "http://www.google.com.bh/". Just change both to whatever other Google URL you want such as "http://www.google.com/" for regular Google or, "http://www.google.co.za/" if you wish to use Zimbabwe's .
Save and restart your browser, it may prompt you the first time you search if you want to keep using the current engine or switch back. You know what to click.

Hopefully this more hard coded way of changing your Google engine in Chrome give you a permanent fix to your Omnibox Google localization issues.

0 Comments

Bahrain Cinema (Text Mode) App Released

Elyas Kashfi / June 25, 2012 / Android, Software / Permalink

Just published my first Android app in Google Play: Bahrain Cinema (Text Mode)! Get it from Google Play below:

The app will allow you to access Bahrain's cinemas listing and get you the movie's show time and synopsis. Currently only Bahrain Cinema Co. (Cineco) is supported. Show time data and synopsis obtained from the official Bahrain Cinema website.

More details here.

5 Comments

Linode’s 9th Birthday Giveaway!

Elyas Kashfi / June 18, 2012 / Internet, Technology / Permalink

Linode (to me, the best VPS provider in the solar system) is going to be celebrating its 9th birthday on the 19th of June with a super giveaway! Yes, this is a party where you don't need to bring any presents, but get presents from the birthday boy (or company) themselves.

The giveaway is for all, new and existing customers and it is quite simple. According to their blog post if you are a new customer, signup for one of their amazing Xen VPS and you'll get $100 in credit. For existing customers it is even better , add any VPS (aka Linode) or a NodeBalancer and you can get 3 months of service free! So it is possible to get a Linode 2048 (worth $79.95) for free during August, September and October!

Are there any catches? Yes of course. The party (giveaway) starts on Tuesday after 4 PM GMT (16:00 or 1340121600 in epoch) and there is $250,000 worth of services to be given away (live countdown on their home page). The good news is that you will know immediately if you are in or out through the "black box" on the signup page that will be updated in real time with the amount left.

So go ahead, give Linode a try for your hosting needs.

0 Comments

Viva Bahrain Launches Facebook Zero

Elyas Kashfi / June 17, 2012 / Bahrain, Internet / Permalink

Viva Bahrain has just launched "free Facebook" aka Facebook Zero to its customers. If you have a phone with data access (data bundles not necessary) and a mobile browser you can access Facebook Zero through one of the following addresses:

0.facebook.com
o.facebook.com (that is an "o" for "old")
zero.facebook.com

You get a basic Facebook interface suitable for mobile phones (much like m.facebook.com) and you will be allowed to access most of Facebook's services (updates, feeds, messages etc…). You will be charged if you decide to open a photo or click on a link that leads to an external page (any link taking you away from Facebook). Also note that due to the nature of SSL, if you add https:// to one of the URLs above you will be charged even though it is a Zero URL.

If you do end up doing something that will get you charged, the data fees are very affordable: BD0.002/100KB (Prepaid) or BD0.003/200KB (Postpaid). Alternatively you can add a data bundle to your account.

0 Comments

Hello EMF Pollution

Elyas Kashfi / June 13, 2012 / Technology / Permalink

Within the next few days I shall personally find out whether I have turned into a "little green man", start having migraines, nose bleeds (I never ever had a nose bleed!) or suffer from radiation poisoning. Why? I decided today to move the 23" LED monitor from my desktop PC (RDP FTW!) to right next to my laptop on my desk. Since this monitor also accepts audio through HDMI I dug some old speakers plus a subwoofer (Altec Lansing make pretty good speakers) to pump up the beats.

Doesn't look like there's too many electronic devices in my room right? Let's see… All of the above plus: 2 mobile and a cordless phone within arm's reach, 1 fully occupied power strip that can be felt when I stretch my leg, in the very likely event of falling to my right my head will be greeted by another power strip (hopefully it hits the empty side). On the small coffee table right in front of my desk is an electric razor that is constantly on its cleaning/charging dock (don't forget the alcoholic fumes that's released during cleaning). Under 2 meters away to my 11 o'clock is the TV, PS3, satellite set top box and a powerline networking switch (the interwebs through electricity, cause zapping is the new surfing). Oh and right above me, almost dangling, is a wireless 3G router. All of this crammed into a 6×5 meter room.

I wonder if the monitor and speakers turn out to be the tipping point for EMF pollution in my room…

0 Comments

What to do With an Old Netbook?

Elyas Kashfi / June 12, 2012 / Internet, Software, Technology / Permalink

Many of us at the moment probably own one or more of these devices: a laptop, desktop, smart phone, possibly a tablet and maybe a netbook. If we exclude the smart phone, the weakest device in your arsenal now is probably the netbook.

Netbooks were great. It's light, extremely portable, has a decent battery life and you can do all your browsing and emailing in convenience. However today, notebooks are extremely affordable and have much better specs than a netbook. Then the tablet arrived, it used to be expensive with Apple dominating the market, but thanks to Android a plethora of tablets have poured in the market. By now, you are probably doing your netbook stuff on your tablet (email, browsing, videos, social networking etc…) or combining the netbook usage with some high end gaming or graphics on your notebook.

Now you've got a netbook lying around, doing nothing but picking up dust. So, what other uses can you find for your old netbook? Here are a few I came up with:

Give It Away

This one is pretty obvious, if you have someone that doesn't own a computer the netbook will probably be the best gift ever! You could also give it to a younger sibling or donate it to some charity or thrift shop to be sold. Quick and easy disposal. Someone like me however, would skip this option.

Try a Different Operating System

Your netbook most likely came shipped with Windows XP or Windows 7 Starter, I'm leaning to a majority of XP netbooks. Heard of Linux? No, it is not a hacker thing. Although technically incorrect, Linux is an alternative operating system. However they come in flavors (Linux is the kernel), depending on usage. For beginners I would recommend Ubuntu. Simply download it, get a flash drive, download and run Unetbootin to create a bootable flash drive and let your netbook boot from the flash. Ubuntu will give you the opportunity to try it out without touching your hard disk contents.

For the geeks: install something like FreeBSD and show off your devilish netbook!

Run a NAS

Netbooks aren't really suited for running a Network Attached Storage (NAS) servers because they usually come with small capacity drives. However, if you just need to attach an external USB drive and you've instantly upgraded usable storage. For a quick NAS solution try FreeNAS. It is built upon FreeBSD but has everything you need to start a NAS almost immediately after installation. It comes with an easy to use web interface and several plugins to expand its capabilities. Don't let the system requirements fool you, for a small network your 1GB of RAM netbook should be ok.

I will probably be doing this with my old netbook.

Donate its CPU Cycles

Although I do not recommend it on netbooks, you could "donate" CPU time to one of several grid computing projects out there. Your CPU will be running at (or almost) maximum capacity searching for disease cures or aliens. Reason I do not recommend it is that firstly, the CPU will get hot and netbooks do not have the best cooling fans. Secondly, the CPU in a netbook is pretty slow, so you will complete computation projects pretty slow as well (may take days for a single work unit).

WiFi Repeater

If you live in a large house or one with many walls that make it difficult for WiFi signals to pass through, you may want a repeater of some sorts to extend the signal. Rather than buying a wireless extender, try a software solution. If you are running a Windows 7 netbook simply install Connectify and a few clicks later you have a wireless router that uses your current WiFi network. Place the netbook somewhere in the middle and you'll get better coverage throughout your house. Or, share WiFi with your friends (and your other devices) through your netbook in places that charge for, or have authenticated Internet access such as hotels, coffee shops, convention halls etc…

Other Uses

A few other uses (but that may not be as practical): automating your home (light on, lights off with a clap, sort of ), network firewall (requires at least 2 network cards), sell the parts (HD and RAM probably easiest accessible) or sell it online (is it worth much?)

1 Comment

← Older posts Newer posts →