Is the open pandora worth buying with all these android devices around?


fourth


the nsa has found a way to directly intercept google cloud data between their servers which is in plain text.

fifth


drones are not pure robots, there are usually pilots behind them. especially for killing purposes.
 
>and using W8

Stopped reading
Why? ;)

Aside from the occasional crash from a display driver it chucks along nicely... I don't want to dualboot the laptop when a Linux VM has no practical performance hit.

I use commercial software I've paid (more than...) good money for, other than games (mainly VSTi). Just throw it away? Hundreds, if not thousands of euros? The alternative would be even worse: OSX...

(And as a disclaimer: Yes, I have OSXes in the house too, but when those machines die, they'll be replaced with anything not "shiny and made by Apple".)

First: get a VPN it is more easy. You can buy a cheap virtual host and make your own if you don't trust companies. More crypto makes it harder for them.

...

Third: You can use tor.

...
I'm more worried about cookies and things like associating an instance of a browser with an instance of an OS than IP addresses and TCP headers.

And running a VPN or tor does nothing to either problem, I would still need the proxy to filter that stuff. The major thing to achieve from doing either of this then is making your location seem different... and so far when I've checked what Google estimates my location to be, it has always been off by at least 200 km, so I'm not too worried ;) .

I don't do anything in the net I would want to hide. But I do not want to be profiled without consent and I do not see my usage of a service without logging into is as consent, that's all. Services I login to (like these boards) I put right to the "do not filter" group...

I know that's a two edged knife in many ways, because saying it is basically the same as: "I do not think I need to honor the contract assumed by the provider of a no-monetary-cost service to use their services, instead I want to use them anyway... Meaning: I want the good stuff but I don't want to pay in any way for it."
 
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Aside from the occasional crash from a display driver it chucks along nicely... I don't want to dualboot the laptop when a Linux VM has no practical performance hit.
It's not just performance, it's the security risks, the annoyance of recurring updates and "service packs" now and then, the utter lack of a proper flexible user interface, the resource consumption, the lack of reactivity, the fact that it will fragment your hard drive more and more after every boot, and on and on.

And I don't like the idea of my OS being a black box at all. Unknown services running in the background, mysterious bugs that populate the forums here and there, hardware issues with windows drivers... I just got sick of all that shit. 

I still keep dual boot myself but i only boot in windows if I really have to, and this has become more rare over time, just because it's just a pain in the ass to waste time and I can get around doing most things in Linux just fine. The only thing that I still really need Windows for is for video edition, mainly. But with openshot getting better and better over time, maybe this wont be a valid complaint for too long.  
 
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MrConfusion

Proxy proxies, tor and vpn encrypts.

Have you tried wine? I dont think the expence of proprietary software is worth your freedom. At least I value your freedom, think of it that way.
Don't you think you're oversimplifying a bit?

Yeah, I forgot you stopped reading at W8 <_< .

So, rehearsal:

My proxy setup filters every cookie that is not strictly needed from each and every HTTP and HTTPS request, it also (dansguardian part) prevents requests to major ad and tracker sites, meaning blocks them completely according to site and url regexp (though this could be done with something like ad block plus too... I actually base my scripts on the lists kindly provided by ad block plus).  And of course it removes the referrer and it can turn every request as coming from a Mozilla compatible browser called whatever I feel like. In general terms all http headers are alterable.

Starting to see what I meant about being paranoid?-) Yes, it totally mangles the HTTP headers of all HTTP traffic leaving our home. And because of this the setup unfortunately has to act as a man in the middle (whom I trust) in SSL connections... It also does break things and I need to troubleshoot things once or twice a month, but luckily we mostly browse "regular" sites typically.

So whenever an ad should pop up I instead get a tiny GIF saying "this place has a useless ad". On the browser it looks uglier than ad block plus, but since I know the system I've set up, it doesn't matter to me. Killing cookies and referrer is actually worse, since several sites stop functioning outright... Wife complains.

As for Tor and VPN... Sorry, but I fail to see the benefits of Tor to myself. VPN I use sometimes, but I use it in the other direction, because I host everything at home and sometimes want to make my laptop a part of the home network while I'm not home. Typically a quick SSH session is quite enough, though...

Https really encrypts when I need to, it does that properly, end to end, with a certificate chain I can check, verify and be happy with personally.

My thoughts on tor are flamebaity, but honest:

Tor is OK if you want to hide your country or city of origin. It has it's uses. But for most western world inhabitats:I think it's a toy and a gimmick. OK, it is very nice for people who do actual crime on the net because it uses masses of clueless "I want security"-kiddies as proxies, though. If I wanted to do something nasty Tor might well be the first link in the chain... but not even the last one I can think of.

But when the connection has gone through your vpn or Tor tunnel it gets unencrypted again and then traverses the trip from exit node to target site in plaintext (talking of http here). So essentially, like I said, the only thing you win is that the message does not look like it is coming from the "real source", but instead from some distant-to-you location.

I do not believe the NSA is after me. I have no reason to believe every TCP packet I dump to the net is being traced by nasty government agencies co-operating with Google & Co.

Most of the connections I make that are not encrypted no longer contain a cookie to give away even the session id, much less "me" for analysis for the target site (i.e. ad targeting and profiling, which I'm against). So why would I encrypt only "part way" at all? Where's the benefit?

Tor is about stopping eavesdroppers, I don't care of them once I've cleaned the outbound data of stuff I don't want to expose in the first place.

All in all you don't get meaningful encryption by using some simple to use software or turning on a checkbox on screen.

Https is about the only solution for which I can currently give the benefit of my doubt in this regard, that's because the browser and server negotiate that stuff for you and it's up to you to decide which rootcerts you trust, if any. Https is simple, but it works sufficiently well, assuming you trust the judgement of the current big certificate authorities... that is actually a tall order, but works to a sufficient degree...

Well... quite a long explanation for simply saying "I see no role in my life for Tor", eh? Your turn to prove me wrong...

Yes, you bet I've used Wine. Heavy. Next step: My MOTU audio interface and other devices which have no Linux driver?

OSS is not a "lifestyle" thing for me. And thanks to VMs I no longer have favorites among OSs, only the dogs I kick, like OSX :p . I can always use a Linux VM for actual work when I'm done with the fun ;) .
 
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most the android devices do not support linux fully yet, and the ones that kinda do are slow so the server potental is not that great. Some of them are missleading as well like the actual resolution is 30fps at 720p, ect. I would like a low power use high speed arm server. If you are really thinking about it spend some time looking a these three cubietruck, hackberry, raspberry pi. I don't know why I included the raspberry pi... Other then it is cheap and has a huge community base, well not that cheap if you get all the accessorys

Anyways I have had a few moments were I ask myself why the hell did I spend so much on this... And after spending hours and hours reading manuals and crawling web. I'm happy that I was able to afford a pandora and really like it. I had first looked into build one of these devices because I was into arduino and after looking into cost and parts ect. I thought maybe someone has already done this. So I looked around at small linux PC's. When you consider the price it would take for the touch screen and custom work on the controls I think it is ahead of it's time and a good deal.

So while the cubietruck is nice, it dosn't have a lot that the pandora has. For example look at how much it will cost to attach a touch screen ect and then is it going to have a 10 hour battery life and fit in your pocket. Also the community is nice. With the android devices not much linux graphic support yet. Lots of compiled pandora software to use, android software center is ok I guess, they do have some nice video streaming programs.

So it really depends on what you are looking for. Personally I would buy both. Oh, and I don't care for android so I would only get one that has good linux support. I'm still waiting for them to get fast enough to power a minecraft server or runescape server as well.

I spent a lot of time soldering mod chips, and buying rom carts. Only to play old games on my DS XL. The pandora with it's custom work is worth the money if your into that kind of stuff. The linux OS allows you to do a lot more then a rom cart as well. They did release a 3DS rom cart finally but it's expensive and I have no idea what the support is, the old carts end of line a lot depending on what you go with. Then they want more money.

At first I found many things about the pandora and kept thinking, should I send this back? Like the power adapter, it's not one of those sweet magnet types like apple products use by no means. Instead it is a long 2in adapter that I worry about brakeing off. There is no way to upgrade the hardware like the onboard nand or ram very easy. Short built in wifi (but I hate wifi radition so this is a big plus for me) The thing never turns off unless you take the battery out. No HDMI out. Linux required that I read a LOT to get things to work. The out of box experence and manuals is not what I expected due to my lack of understanding, a lot of the manuals appear hand wrote and peaced together a lot of times, sometimes questions are not answered and when they are you find out your going to have to read LOT more... But then I started noticeing the things that made up for it, like the crisp emualtion gameplay (i have the 1Ghz model) and a screen with really tiny pixels that allows a better resolution to fit than you would expect, at least I would anyways. And the main thing is that I have bought other devices (android included) and none of them have been to the quality, speed, and commuity even close to what the openpandora is doing. Maybe in a few years they will catch up.

If your not into linux, reading, solving problems. Then the OpenPandora (I call mine the horadric cube) could be useful as and emulator with ease of use to get that functionality running. I actual have other computer nerds stop me to go.. WHAT IS THAT!!  :-D The pandora lived with me through the dust of Afghanistan as well. Over all I would say it has been well worth the money, when I spend days trying to get something to work on a linux box I'm working on and it dosn't... well.. I just pick up my pandora and ahh, a linux device that works :wub:

Edit* I used the screen protector with the scotch tape to remove dust before I put it on. (As seen on youtube) The dust in the air gets between the stylus and the lcd and leaves scratches. I learned this the hard way with a Nintendo DS XL
 
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Even so the OP doesn't seam to care anymore:

- If you don't mind to be spyed upon

-if you don't mind to get most of your data stolen

-if you don't want to be able to run a full desktop Linux

-if you don't need USB host mode

-if you are happy to pay for a internet connection all the time to have access to your data (instead of store it on huge SD cards)

-if you like to be trackable everywhere you walk

-if you like tobe forced to get a google account, just to get free software

-if you like to pay extra for a hardware keyboard and a gamecontroller (which is missing in your price calculation btw)

-if you like to be forced to buy a new device every 2-3 years, because there will be no security updates for the old one

-if you don't want to be able to chage a broken battery (because yours is glued in)

-if you don't like hacking (hardware and software)

-if you don't like open systems, which even hand you a hardware hacking advice for all the feature only waitung to get stuff soldered on

-if you don't need to get spare parts

-if you don't mind to get weak or no answer from the support (or the "boss" himself in most cases with the pandora)

-if you like to be forced to buy a phone, even if you'd rather only want toown a cool pocket computer

well,  then perhaps the answer to the original question is NO
 
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What concerned me the most was that Google was letting people have my GPS and cell tracking data. With the exception of a couple of apps I have that involve maps, none of the apps had any legitimate reason for requiring my location data.
I read about an app (or some kind of hack) that would expose itself with false information, random GPS coordinates, fake accounts and addresses, that sort of thing, so these applications that want the information for whatever stupid reason they do don't get anything actually identifiable. It was specifically advertised as some kind of anonymizer, so there was almost certainly a lot more stuff that it took care of, but this was a few months ago and I've since lost track of it. Something to keep an eye out for, though.
This app gotta come from notaz otherwise I will never download. If it is not from ED or notaz, how do you know if it is not the evil app of all evil apps? :)
 
Even so the OP doesn't seam to care anymore:

- If you don't mind to be spyed upon

-if you don't mind to get most of your data stolen

-if you don't want to be able to run a full desktop Linux

-if you don't need USB host mode

-if you are happy to pay for a internet connection all the time to have access to your data (instead of store it on huge SD cards)

-if you like to be trackable everywhere you walk

-if you like tobe forced to get a google account, just to get free software

-if you like to pay extra for a hardware keyboard and a gamecontroller (which is missing in your price calculation btw)

-if you like to be forced to buy a new device every 2-3 years, because there will be no security updates for the old one

-if you don't want to be able to chage a broken battery (because yours is glued in)

-if you don't like hacking (hardware and software)

-if you don't like open systems, which even hand you a hardware hacking advice for all the feature only waitung to get stuff soldered on

-if you don't need to get spare parts

-if you don't mind to get weak or no answer from the support (or the "boss" himself in most cases with the pandora)

-if you like to be forced to buy a phone, even if you'd rather only want toown a cool pocket computer

well,  then perhaps the answer to the original question is NO
...and this applies to any product.

If you don't care about the advantages product A has over product B, then don't buy product A.
 
What concerned me the most was that Google was letting people have my GPS and cell tracking data. With the exception of a couple of apps I have that involve maps, none of the apps had any legitimate reason for requiring my location data.
I read about an app (or some kind of hack) that would expose itself with false information, random GPS coordinates, fake accounts and addresses, that sort of thing, so these applications that want the information for whatever stupid reason they do don't get anything actually identifiable. It was specifically advertised as some kind of anonymizer, so there was almost certainly a lot more stuff that it took care of, but this was a few months ago and I've since lost track of it. Something to keep an eye out for, though.
This app gotta come from notaz otherwise I will never download. If it is not from ED or notaz, how do you know if it is not the evil app of all evil apps? :)
Many browsers have the "Do not track" option to limit the informations sent to a site
 
No, the do not track option just sends an extra bit of information to the site telling it you've chosen that option. It does nothing to ensure the site respects your choice, as far as I know. Most of the stuff they use to track you is stuff you need to send to the site to make it work (not counting sneaky stuff like persistent flash objects).
 
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