The Cowgirl Coder

There’s a refrigerator that runs Linux now. That seems like a bit of overkill to me, but there are a few devices around the house that I think could use a bit of OSS ingenuity.

We have hibernation features for most laptops; is there a way to hibernate, say, a kitchen? Energy vampires like toasters (and I’m only going off of popular rumor, not fact here) are supposed to suck watts even when powered down. Wouldn’t it be handy to run a script that actually interfaces with your house’s power systems? I bet Bill Gates’ house does that already, so it’s time for the NIX crew to get it together

My dream device: A kitchen touch screen computer like this one, but which can also be interfaced with remotely, and which can control the oven, the yogurt maker, the coffee pot, and the dishwasher. With that, I’d be able to interface my OurGroceries list with the kitchen’s DB on food stores, cook something remotely that requires a long cooking period with changes in temperature over time (like a crown roast), preheat the oven as I’m getting home to throw a pizza in, and which can warn me if the freezer or refrigerator rise above a certain temperature (a sure sign that the cats have found a way to knock open a door).

How about you?

I wanted access to my home machine so I could access any files I want. Dropbox is pretty awesome, but if you’ve forgotten to put something in your Dropbox folder, you’ll be in deep trouble.

(1) Run “sudo apt-get install openssh-server” at the command line.

(2) Run “sudo cp /etc/ssh/sshd_config /etc/ssh/sshd_config.original”. This copies your original configuration file for SSH so if you muck up the settings, you can always replace them.

(3) Run “sudo kate /etc/ssh/sshd_config” (or whatever text editor you use) and change the port number from 22 to another port so you won’t be targeted by so many bots.

(4) Ensure that your firewall isn’t blocking the port you chose. You may need to add SSH as a running service. You should probably also include ‘sshd’ as a startup application in your distro so that if you need to do a remote reboot, the service restarts and you can log back in.

(5) Forward the port being used for SSH in your router. To do this, you need the internal IP address of your computer on your home network, as I presume you’re not dumb enough to directly connect your home machine to a modem. Ask me if you have problems figuring out how to forward the port.

(6) Get out your Android phone if you have one, since a connection over 3G will mean that you can test your SSH connection without ever leaving your comfy chair. Install ConnectBot through Android Market.

(7) Open ConnectBot (or any SSH client from any machine; Putty will work well) and type in your home machine username, your external IP address, and if you have changed the port, include that as well. Here’s the format: username@000.000.000.000:XXXXX Where 000.000.000.000 is your external IP address and XXXXX is the port number you chose to replace the default.

(8) If you have issues getting a connection, hit me in the comments; I had several oddities in router configuration making this work, even though it’s quite simple in theory.

…via your home wifi server.

(1) Install On Air from the Android Market.

(2) Ensure that your home wifi is accessible through your phone’s Settings menu.

(3) In On Air, set your preferences to “use the same 4-digit code”.

(4) Hit the big button to turn on the FTP server on your phone.

(5) In your chosen file manager (mine is Dolphin), FTP into the phone, using the 4-digit password generated by On Air. Save the password, and bookmark/save that FTP location to your Places view or some easy place to find it.

Bingo! Now, you only have to hit the big button on On Air and browse to that place in your file manager to remote-access your phone.