The idea behind this blog

The core idea behind this blog is to explore the opportunities presented by publicly available open source software, implementing the applications on non-expensive commodity hardware (second hand computers) to address common home computing needs. 

There is an interesting trend of using smartphone as desktop replacements these days (as mentioned here and here).

Yet, the smartphone by itself cannot deliver certain functionality such as functioning as a secured and centralized storage, or to a remote home surveillance system. 

In my opinion, there are values to building certain computing intelligence installed at home. 

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The idea of having a quiet, low-power home gateway with the correct hardware may well bridge the gap as described above. 

On the other hand, we don't the latest and greatest computing power to deliver those value add functionalities. 

There is already a vast amount of good quality, freely available, open source software developed by the community. With the right know how, the second hand computer can be enhanced to deliver the functionalities as needed. 

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I started this blog back in early 2010 as a hobby. Originally, I had a rather ambitious intention to build a singular home gateway covering the functionalities of most of the electronics e.g. wifi router, dsl modem, ata (voip), NAS (storage). 

The hardware was a second hand Compaq computer and operating system was FreeBSD. 

As this project evolved, the downsides became obvious. Predominantly, the pc generated too much noise and finding the proper BSD driver for specific hardware was rather difficult. 

A direct outcome was to shift away from being a FreeBSD purist and including Ubuntu operating system. Furthermore, the scope of blogging materials have also been expanded to include more general home networking experiences.

Other changes have also been made to the overall home networking setup. Most noticeably, the separation of intra-home data traffic (e.g. media streaming) and smart devices' internet access. 

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As more ideas and applications emerge, there will be a parallel increase in demand for the corresponding implementations, which allows these functionalities to become available to the residential users - over-arched by the goal of enhancing the overall home computing experiences. This blog intends to be a part of this growth. 


Jonathon L (22/11/2012)