Open source artisanal iOS Jailbreak released using only grass fed locally sourced exploits.

February 26, 2019March 2, 2019 | be3n

A long time in the works, this is the first completely open source jailbreak to be released for an almost current version of iOS (11-12.1.2). This is an interesting jailbreak. It is semi-tethered, but unlike previous jailbreaks, this can at least be untethered from the device itself. Using Cydia Impactor, you can side load the unc0ver app and install the jailbreak directly from the app. it also allow the easy rejailbreak upon reboot or battery drain. Great work all around despite the remaining bugs and instability (it is still beta. Huge thanks to the efforts of @pwn20wnd and @sbingner). To be honest, there are very few tweaks and apps that are ready for iOS 12, but i am excited to see the tradition of jailbreaking continue. I have cydia again! For the first tine since I closed down my own cydia repo. C’mon developers, do you thing!

In truth, i never got it going on my phone, only my iPad. I get a crash on my phone immediately after this dialogue comes up. It took a few passes to get a picture (this one extracted from a screen record). Not sure exactly what went wrong, but “Unexported kernel task port” is my best clue. With my phone cashing as soon as it becomes untethered, i am never actually able to run Cydia. On my iPad, instead of rebooting, it resprings. either way, it is very hard to read the final message.

UPDATE: This problem was resolved in b38.

hardware, Media, technology

2019 Storage upgrade phase 2 begins!

February 25, 2019February 26, 2019 | be3n

Now the waiting truly begins. fingers crossed against additional failures. On the next upgrade i’ll be able to test to see if the Drobo Pro (the original Drobo 8 bay) supports disks greater than 4TB. Apparently, no one has tested that. I honestly wonder how many of these are still in use? I have now replaced every drive in my Pro.

Update: I have been informed by @mistacabage that the Drobo Pro will not accept drives larger then 4TB. The official documentation just said it was untested.

hardware, pointless, Raspberry Pi, retro, technology

Cleaning out my office I found an ancient Asterisk Box!

February 22, 2019February 22, 2019 | be3n

Originally my router/PBX this Dell P4 was installed with some of the earliest Digium PCI analogue cards. This card supported both FXS and FXO modules, and i used them both in various configurations. One of the FXS modules is what allowed my housemate’s old rotary phone to connect to the house phone system. I loved testing the system by ringing his phone. The ringing of its actual bell, was a delight. That dell survived the infamous flood (by already being decommissioned). I think I paid over $200 for this card alone. Now i run Asterisk off my Raspberry Pi with a total hardware cost considerably less than that.

hardware, technology

Waiting for new backups to complete before repurposing old backup drives.

February 22, 2019February 22, 2019 | be3n

After installing the new backup disks, i must wait the interminable delay for the new backup to complete. Every step in this upgrade is going to take forever! In the end, it will upgrade 3 different arrays with new life and storage capacity.

Culture, hardware, Media, retro, revolution, technology

Visiting iFixit and finally fixing my laptop!

January 13, 2019January 13, 2019 | be3n

I got the full tour, the place is amazing and far tidier then any workshop I have been in. They have pieces for nearly everything and almost everything in pieces. I got to try out their tools. I even touched their flame thrower!

It turns out this little bugger was the cause of all my problems or at least my technical ones. Once I got this guy replaced, my 2011 MacBook Pro was back kicking ass. Thanks Daniel you are awesome!

I brought this gift to show my appreciation, I hope you like it. It is TechStep diagnostic tool from Apple for testing and diagnosing vintage Macs. I don’t even remember what i traded it for nearly 20 years ago, but i never once used it. I hope you enjoy it and maybe even do something cool with it. I cannot wait to come back.

Culture, hardware, retro, technology

Got schooled at the Computer History Museum!

January 12, 2019February 22, 2019 | be3n

I learned so much from my visit. I spent nearly four hours there and still there is probably more to see. The tour guide taught much about the computers before my time.

Continue reading “Got schooled at the Computer History Museum!” →

hardware, Software, technology

My laptop is dead. long live my laptop…

January 3, 2019January 4, 2019 | be3n

I am restoring my laptop to an iMac temporarily because I need it’s data and I don’t trust my backup being the only place that information exists. hopefully i’ll have this all resolved next week.

hardware, Internet, Raspberry Pi, Software, technology

my Asterisk PBX is back!

December 1, 2018December 3, 2018 | be3n

Google Voice Killed Asterisk Support After Google killed XMPP support for Google Voice, I no longer had a house phone. I was using my Google Voice number as a home phone and for the gate info our building. This lead to the whole system being ignored and neglected. By the time the SD card gave up the ghost, even the backups were in poor shape. I rebuilt the whole system fresh from the latest RasPBX dist and it’s working better then ever. Bought a real DID so i could continue to use Google Voice on our handsets at home. It’s great to have my Asterisk back.

art, hardware, revolution, technology

More then printing out, I’m printing up! Experiments with my first 3D printer!

September 3, 2018September 23, 2018 | be3n

When a colleague offered me a great price to buy his barely used Monoprice Maker Select V2 , I was instantly transported into the future. No more waiting for amazon deliveries, now i can download things straight into reality from the inerwebz! Well, that’s almost what happened.

The learning curve was not as steep as i expected. my 3rd print was actually perfect; or would have been if i hadn’t run out of filament. Funny story… i inherited with the printer a 1Kg spool of PLA. Unfortunately, the Monoprice Maker Select’s included spool holder doesn’t support large spools like this one. So I had to maintain the slack on the spool or break off pieces for prints. That is no way to live. The very next pint was of course was Maker Select V2 Spool Holder Mod by toastedsilicon

Continue reading “More then printing out, I’m printing up! Experiments with my first 3D printer!” →

art, Culture, hardware, Internet, Raspberry Pi, Recreation, retro, revolution, Science, Security, Software, technology, Travel, Wi-Fi

Back to reality after another amazing DEFCON!

August 15, 2018August 15, 2018 | be3n

I met a pile of incredible people. Bought some amazing toys (for science), some i’ve even got working. Saw some talks and demos. Talked to some of my heroes and listened to even more. I saw Ladar Levison talk about epoxying your ports and adding thermite to your hard drives. I played with the ECU of a fake car! now i just have finish building the DarkNet Badge! enjoy my pictures. The hat data is still being analyzed. I’ll try to build something out of it eventually.