Know How... 108

Brains for Project Lunchbox, make a super backup, Lunchbox parts list, Dynamic DNS, analyzing wireless, WD Red drives are great for NAS not for your desktop, and more.

Braiiiiiins for Project Lunchbox

Maybe Project Lunchbox is going to get some brains!

Brent Burnette (in the Know How G+ Group) sent us the link to an AWESOME possible addition to Project Lunchbox

A company by the name of "3D Robotics" has been making a "Multiplatform Auto Pilot" for planes, boats... and land vehicles. They've created two products, the "APM" and the "Pixhawk" auto-pilot boards that can run missions with a set of pre-programmed GPS waypoints. The APM was originally created as a UAV system -- built on the Arduino Platform. It won the 2012 Outback UAV challenge. It allowed them to turn ANY fixed wing, rotary or multirotor vehicle (in other words, plane/copter/quad-copter) into a GPS-programmable autonomous vehicle.

If we were to use it in Project Lunchbox, we would install the controller between the receiver and the servos/speed controller. It could be programmed to follow a pre-programmed GPS path. It could also be set to "learn" a path as driven by the user.

The platform also has the ability to use IR sensors for obstacle avoidance
- This means that you can program a GPS waypoint-path, and the APM would figure out how to get around obstacles to follow that path.

3-2-1 SuperBackup
How to Manage your Cloud Backups without breaking the bank, your NAS, or your computer.

What are we looking for in a SuperBackup?

1. A Solution that is Inexpensive to buy
2. A Solution that is Inexpensive to Operate
3. A Solution that does not slow down my network experience
4. A Solution that solves Sync Poisoning
5. A Solution that requires no user Intervention

Cloud Syncing is great, but there are a few problems:
1. Sync Poisoning:

• Popular cloud storage services like Dropbox and OneDrive allow you to easily have multiple copies of your files across multiple devices, but those files are all synced to one another. If one of your authenticated clients is compromised, and somebody maliciously deletes your files, the deletes will be synced across all your devices.

2. No long-term Versioning

• It's nice to have a time-machine to step back versions of files or to contain files that you've deleted.
• Dropbox will let you recover previous version for 30 days, or forever if you purchase their Pakrat service
• (Pakrat costs $3.99 a month or $39.00/year)
• OneDrive allows for versioning, but you have to turn it on, and it can eat up your space.

3. Costly in the Long-Term
Let's say you want to backup 100GBs

• Dropbox will cost you $99/year (Actually... they upgraded to $9.99/month for 1TB)
• OneDrive will cost you $24/year
• Amazon Glacier will cost $12/year
• Crashplan would be $60/year

Our plan
We're going to use a cheap, low-powered computer to act as the hub for our Cloud Storage AND Cloud Backup

• We found an Acer Aspire One Netbook on eBay for about $60 shipped
• It runs Windows 7, so it will still get updates
• It has an Ethernet port (10/100)
• It has a 250GB Hard Drive -- with about 150Gb of Usable Space
• Since it uses Win7, we can use RDP to run the processes on our Desktop.

Why use a separate computer and not your main box?

• We want a backup system devoid of viruses, trojans, user-errors or anything else that you might introduce.
• We want a bullet-proof system that's easy to use and has it's own display for easy use.
• We also want a system that can ALWAYS be on and NOT suck down a lot of power.
• The average desktop computer will pull between 75 and 250 watts of power
• The Acer Aspire One pulls 8 watts.

Project Lunchbox Parts List

• Lunch Box Kit (Includes 540 Motor and ESC) - $115.00
• Ball Bearing Set - $15.00
• Futaba 2 Channel AM Remote Control - $44.00
• 2 x 2.3v 3800mAh Batteries + Tenergy Smart Charger - $60.00
• Total Price (As Built) - $234.00

If Project Lunchbox is too expensive:

• Tamiya Grasshopper Kit (Includes 380 Motor and ESC) - $94.00
• Futaba 2 Channel AM Remote Control - $44.00
• 7.2V 1500mAg 6-Cell NiCD Battery Pack - $12.00
• Tenergy Trickle Charger - $7.00
• Total Price - $157

Connect with us!

Don't forget to check out our large library of projects at https://twit.tv/shows/know-how.

Tweet at us at @padresj, @Cranky_Hippo, and @Anelf3

• Transcripts: Know How... 108 (Transcript)