Hardware & Open Source

Second Life

Reusing and repurposing old hardware for new purposes.

Year

2023

Role

Hardware Development

Context

Personal Project

Overview

I have been collecting a lot of tech gadgets that I don't really have a great use for nowadays, so I have been wondering what would be some use cases for these gadgets that I have got.

Ideas & Implementations

1. Nextcloud on a Raspberry Pi Zero

Use as a portable cloud storage solution.

2. P4wnPi

Turn my Raspberry Pi into a USB pentest tool.

3. Internet-in-a-box

Turn any old computer into an offline internet catalogue.

4. Kiwix

Use Kiwix on desktop or a smartphone to have access to all the internet knowledge.

5. Raspberry Pi 4b as USB Gadget

Code remotely with my iPad using only a USB-C connection.

The Setup

Left to Right: Raspberry Pi Zero W with P4wnpi. Raspberry Pi 4b 8GB with my Dev Env. Raspberry Pi Zero 2W with PiSugar. Raspberry Pi 4b 4GB with IIAB, Nextcloud, Wikipedia, and Khan Academy. Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with Kiwix.

USB Rubber Ducky

Portable Cloud

I did not succeed in making the Zero 2W a portable cloud using Nextcloud but now I am trying to keep it simple and just created a Samba share. As the Samba share does not automatically sync with my phone, I use a Raspberry Pi 4b 4GB turned into a portable cloud and internet in a box.

Read more about PICLOUD →

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install samba samba-common-bin
mkdir ~/shared
sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

[0smbshare]
path = /home/"USERNAME"/shared
writeable = yes
browseable = yes
public=no

sudo smbpasswd -a 0smb
sudo systemctl restart smbd
hostname -I
sudo nmcli device wifi hotspot ssid "example-network-name" password "example-password"