Sam Kear Dot Com
working and playing with technology
How to Install a Linux Image on the Raspberry Pi Using Windows
If you’ve just purchased a Raspberry Pi computer the first thing you’ll probably want to do is load an operating system so you can begin experimenting with the hardware.
Loading a Linux image directly to a an SD card is the quickest way to get the Raspberry Pi to a usable state. While you can do [...]
Reviewing Maximum PC’s FreeNAS Mini ITX System Design
January 14, 2013
by Sam Kear
Hardware
Maximum PC recently posted a build guide with some interesting hardware selections for their version of the FreeNAS Mini. Overall the system specs are reasonably good and would provide plenty of performance for a home NAS. Some of the components actually seem like overkill for a home storage [...]
Analyzing the pfSense 2.0.1 XSS Remote Command Execution Exploit
January 6, 2013
by Sam Kear
pfSense
If you have any pfSense systems running software version 2.0.1 I would advise immediately updating them to 2.0.2. Version 2.0.1 contains a cross-site scripting vulnerability which can give a remote attacker root access to the targeted pfSense system.
The code for this exploit has now been released [...]
Taking a Look at the Linode Backup Service
December 31, 2012
by Sam Kear
Hosting
One of my new years resolutions is to implement more backup systems to protect my critical data. I decided to kick things off by improving the robustness of the backup system for my website.
Linode, the company which hosts my domain, has been tempting me with their backup offering so I decided to [...]
Top 10 Geek Gifts Under $100 – Christmas 2012 Guide
November 25, 2012
by Sam Kear
Hardware
Geeks can be tough to buy for but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t receive a gift! To make your shopping experience easier this year I’ve complied a list of the top 10 gifts for geeks. Everything in the list sells for less than $100, and almost all of the items are available with free 2 day [...]
Identifying Unknown Network Hosts Using pfSense
November 22, 2012
by Sam Kear
pfSense
One of my friends recently sent me the following question regarding how to identify some unknown traffic he noticed in his pfSense firewall logs. He also sent me a screenshot of the firewall logs.
So I see these things on the firewall being blocked. How do I figure out what they are and if they [...]
Best Mini Gaming Towers for Running Steam Big Picture
October 26, 2012
by Sam Kear
Hardware
If you don’t have a PC connected to your living TV then you may want to consider doing so now that Steam Big Picture is available. Big Picture is a new beta feature designed to run the Steam interface on your TV.
The thought behind Big Picture is to allow gamers to play their favorite PC games in [...]
Time Warner’s New Navigator Guide Launches in Kansas City
August 29, 2012
by Sam Kear
Software
Last week I received a call from Time Warner letting me know to expect their new on screen navigator guide on my cable box (Cisco 8742 HDC) this week. Today I turned on my box and discovered that the update was pushed out over night.
A reader first brought the new navigator guide to my attention a [...]
Performance Test and Review of the ZyXEL PLA4201 Powerline Adapter Kit
August 13, 2012
by Sam Kear
Hardware
In this post I’ll be sharing my experiences with the ZyXEL PLA4201 powerline networking starter kit. ZyXEL calls this their HD networking kit claiming that it is ideal for media streaming and gaming.
They claim a max throughput of 500Mbps which is more than double that of most other powerline kits [...]
Visiting the Google Fiber Space in Kansas City
July 29, 2012
by Sam Kear
Networking
Yesterday was opening day for Google’s new Fiber Space located in Kansas City (1814 Westport Road). I’ve been really excited about this project since it was announced so I decided to go down and check it out.
The Fiber Space is basically a big demo area for Google Fiber where you can test out [...]
