Latest Tests

Latest Test Notes

SSD + Win 10 Reinstall

• Overall:  In process, Attempt #3!  Attempting fresh Win10 install on SSD to breath some life into AAO.
• Motivation: AAO Hard disk has now turned 11! 
• Had an unused Samsung EVO 850 (250g) SSD* on my workbench ...
  
• Still have a couple of Windows-Only Apps in the house, AAO now is our only windoze machine!
  
• Current AAO Win 10 has never been snappy, but has slowed after years of updates.
  
• Notes:
• Attempted to create System Image Backup of AAO's original disk.  It ran & ran & ran, then ... Failed
  Decided to leave old disk in tact and install anew ... probably a lot of win junk on the old instance anyhoo
  
• Acer said:  Windows 10: Reinstall Windows 10 after the free upgrade
  Sooo ... Visited the  Microsoft media creation tool using the browser on AAO. 
• Attempt #1:  Downloaded and installed Win 10 Home - very slow and too much junk
• Attempt #2:  Installed Win 10 Home N - Looked to be lighter ... BUT ...
  AAO Digital License didn't work!  It won't activate.  Back to Win 10 Home.
• Attempt #3:  Back to Win 10 Home ... it was on the same USB image - no need to re-download.
• Attempt #3 Notes - April 2021:  Side tracked, picking up where I left this off
  
• Still pretty sluggish.  Not sure this is worth the trouble.   Some tweaking/testing before I yank it
  
• Ghadzooks!  I haven't used windoze for a long time ... forgot what a slippery slope it can be
• Switched to "Local" account, I THINK it will allow me to administer ...
  community.windows.com/en-us/stories/everything-you-need-to-know-about-local-accounts#!
  
• Ran perfmon using https://winaero.com/system-performance-report-windows-10/
• 
  

• Overall:  Still Investigating.   Worked VERY well when I booted from USB - Live boot. 
  Same version installed to SSD from VERY same USB, is running like crap... what the heck is going on here!  
  
• Motivation:  Have settled on Majaro KDE for my Raspberry Pi desktop replacement project - it has been working very well.   Decided to boot it up on a couple of older X86 machines to see how it does, including AAO!
  
• Official info @ https://manjaro.org/download/#kde-plasma.
• Notes:
• Start here @ https://manjaro.org/support/firststeps/
• Downloaded manjaro-kde-20.1.2-201019-linux58.iso (2.9g) and burned it to 8g USB stick using Etcher
  (on a Raspberry Pi 4 Manjaro Desktop!)
• Booted right up - pretty snappy
• Live Boot Tests
• AAO Hardware
• WiFi - worked fine. 
  One little glitch, it didnt dicsonnect when I plugged Ethernet.  Probably by design
  
• Webcam via VLC, seemed to work fine.  smooth movement!
• Audio - tested using YouTube video via Firefox, smooth, 40% CPU max!
  
• Internal Speakers worked fine
• Headphone jack, switched when plugged, worked fine
• External Monitor - worked!  Popup when plugged, options of mirror, dual left/right, etc
• Some flaky behavior when using dual monitors, mouse stuck on Monitor#2. 
  I didn't fiddle with it,
  
• Function Keys - Most work fine, WiFi was exception, had to enable/disable via panel
• Software - I like Manjaro  A LOT!
• Active Project
  
• Official Repository is quite full and active
• Also access to Arch AUR applications, VERY nice, integrated into Software GUI
  

• Overall:  Runs pretty well, nice and light.  Will probably take some tweaking for full time use
• Motivation:  Have noticed a couple of lightweight with Enlightenment desktop ... interesting
• Official info @ https://www.bodhilinux.com/w/wiki/.  
• Looks like an active project - https://forum.elivelinux.org/
• Notes:
• Downloaded and etchered a 16g usb drive using bodhi-5.1.0-64.iso - 820M Download
• Live booted, didn't install.  No obvious way to add persistence
• Nice/light install not a lot of extra apps
• AAO Hardware seems to work fine 
• Settings are a little different - felt light/minimal.  Suspect brute force to adjust some things
• Did not get image on ext (vga) monitor, didn't fiddle much.  Should work 'Presentation Mode"
• Browser didn't seem to handle html5(?) - youtube visit failed.  VERY odd
• Little sluggish at times, but may have been the old/slow USB stick I used
• Interesting App Center @ http://www.bodhilinux.com/a/.  
• Pretty nice library, AppStore-Like installs
• Traditional Package MGR also included

• Overall:  Quite painless.  Seems a little sluggish at times, but it works, usable - especially for Pi/Pixel fans!
• Motivation:  I have a lot of PI's, just wanted to see how this works on AAO
• Official info @ https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/pixel-pc-mac/
• Notes
• ISO Download was 3.1g.  from https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/rpd_x86_latest
• Created Bootable (16g) usb using Etcher from https://www.balena.io/
• Booted RIGHT UP!
• Even had option to run with Persistence
• Automagically Fired up "Welcome to Raspberry Pi" dialog to take of must-do's
• Language/Keyboard 
• Change Password
• Set up WiFi
• Update OS and software friends
• Restart!
• AAO Hardware looks pretty good!
• WiFi worked right out of the blocks
• Webcam, OK
• Touchpad worked fine, even 2-finger scrolling.  No fine tuning w/o installing help, tho
• Audio seems fine, external jacks too!  I didn't test Mic jack
• Keyboard/Function Keys were flaky, some may work
• External (vga) Monitor works ... but ...
• Function Key does not seem to switch
• Dual Monitors (Appearance Settings in Pixel) seemed to always mirror the display
• Power Management:  Monitored AAO battery, no pre-installed power management utils
• Other Observations/Experiences
• One inexplicable lockup - happened when switching from Ethernet back to WiFi
• Seemed a tad sluggish at times - cpu pegged when visiting youtube, for example.  

2018/2019 Activities

NST 28

• Paused - Loaded latest version of ParrotOS Security Edition on USB Drive
• Motivation:  Home networking issue driving me nuts!  Parrot worked great in the past
• USB Via Etcher - 32-Bit downloaded (in haste, but that's OK) - Parrot-security-4.4_i386.iso
  back to original USB stick (overwriting Manjaro, in haste again!)
• Notes as I go (but not right now, I need to fix something!) 
• Ack - fumbling with persistence ...  paused for now
• <more to come>

Manjaro

CloudReady

• Neverware CloudReady Home Edition - Chromium OS on a stick!
  Overall - It works, Neverware did a good job - it's ChromeOS
• On my ToDo List for a long while, noticed that AAO 532h on the list of supported devices!
  
• CloudReady FAQ 
• Motivation: I needed a Chromebook to test out an idea - we'll see how close this comes!
• Notes as I go
• Zip download was 1g - cloudready-free-68.4.59-64-bit.zip from Home Edition Download Page
• etcher.io for bootable USB (my fav).  Using 16g mem stick
• Came up fine - little sluggish, but that may be old USB
• Hardware appears to work BETTER than advertised in Aspire 532h Features & Exceptions doc
• My webcam worked out of the blocks - which was GREAT because my test involved video calls!
• May just be how chromebooks work, but adding apps can be fun(ny)!
  Using Web Store, some get added as 'apps' on OS others may be extensions in chrome browser. 
  Be careful in Web Store, seemed like a lot of junk to weed thru
• My Checklist 
• Looks like it will support multiple user accounts - sort-of Fast-User Switching
• Home network participation w/ some help
• Installed Network File Share for Chrome OS (in spite of 2 our of 5 star rating)
• Printing - network printers didn't work out of the box, installed cloudprint app, but not what I was expecting.  
• AAO Hardware - card reader, external monitor, output audio and such seemed fine
• Some minor slowdowns/sluggishness, but overall quite usable
• Enough of this - it works, it's OK, It's ChromeOS

Linux Lite

Debian

Ubuntu Studio

Network Security Toolkit

• My AAO runs NST 24 most of the time - network/security probe running NTOP and Snort
• Nov 2017 - NST 26 SVN:9267 upgrade *** Aborted ***
• Overall:  Live Boot worked well, but install went poorly.  Features were not what I had hoped
• Live Boot:  Things ran very well off of USB stick, fedora 26 seemed to get along fine on AAO
• Install was rough:  No grub choice for standard Gnome Desktop - Fluxbox was default
• Security App Changes:
• No pre-installed OpenVAS (Vulnerability Scanner), I must have misread release notes
• Old NTOP was removed, I like/know that one.  Will play w/ NTOPNG to be ready next time!
• Hoped to play with Snorby - not there
  
  
• Created 4g usb boot using iso and mint USB Disk utility
• Initial Boot from Live USB:
• Blueman takes a dump @ startup  ("quit unexpectedly") - has happened since NST 22
• OS Runs fine, notes as I go
• WiFi - no prob
• Network - Win/Workgroup fine
• Audio output works
• trackpad, works fine, had to tweak to set tap-to-click
• Seems to have more general apps, media player for example
• Install Notes - I 'install' to a USB drive instead of using persistence ... can't recall why 
• Release Announcement @ https://sourceforge.net/p/nst/news/2017/10/nst-version-26-9267-released/
• "Install to Harddisk" icon fires up Anaconda, really easy install, but a tad sluggish
• "Installation Destination" for me was USB (32g sdc), Automatic partitioning + make space available 
• <punted>
• Apps
• old NTOP is gone!  Oh NO! change!  I liked that one!  AAO constantly ran NTOP!
• ntopng - it works .... but...
• had to set admin password to match nstpassword?  THEN login with admin/admin(!) and change it again via WebUI ... I need to retrace my steps here 
• Need to figure out filters - need to ignore the probe itself?
• no show stopper, more testing needed
• snort/snorby - TBD, BASE is gone, but I'd like to run snorby
• Fumbling as usual
• <punted>

• Works pretty well - STILL TWEAKING, but IS USABLE especially after adding memory*
• Pretty tight on memory, Still working on making more avail for apps
• Chrome is a PIG - pretty much un-usable!  Probably due to memory 
• Initial Performance tweaks:
• Turned off Animations - sysdm.cpl/performance/visual effects;  Adjust for best performance
• Attempting to Shut up Cortana - Settings/Privacy/Speech, Inking & Typing: click "Stop getting to know me!"  BUT She is still running ... more to come
  
• Windows 10 Creator (v1703) - July 2017
• Win 10 Specs @ https://www.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/windows-10-specifications
• Win Update History @ https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4018124
• Windows Creator Update took A VERY LONG time - At least overnight!  Scary 
• .9g mem in use just idling (no foreground programs) - happy I added memory* a while ago
• Seems to work fine for browsing via Firefox 
• Bottom Line:  Update took a very long time, but runs fine.  Not sure how v1703 would run on a stock AAO with < 2g of memory.

Elementary OS

• Had been playing with Elementarty OS on a desktop, decided to give it a boot on the AAO.  
• Failed - never got past splash screen 
  
  

Mageia 5

• Always liked Mandrake, came up great on AAO - but gave up on testing/tinkering
• Testing cut short, Aborted - never did figure out USB persistence - lost interest and patience 
• Touch pad worked out of box with right/bottom scroll areas, but no real tweaks that I could see (e.g. 2finger scrolling is a fav) 
• WiFi worked out of box - little different configuration
• Power Management seemed to work fine, even suspend/resume, but noted some odd auto brightness adjustments while running on battery
• Little slow/sluggish running off of USB stick
• Didn't test mic or camera
  

Puppy Slacko

• Nice!  Fast!
• Different:  Not really Multi-User, session can be saved/restored - so no 'Fast User Switching"
• Win Workgroups and Linux Network shares came right up
• Lots of stuff installed/buit-in - a tad cluttered on AAO display ... BUT many nice facilities, including a tool to remove built-in packages!   
• Used pAVrecord to test webcam
• Did not get audio input working, but pretty sure I could if I tinkered with ALSA, inbuilt sound could probably use a tweak or two - sounded like crap
• Persistence is a gimme!  You setup persistence and save config during first shutdown/restart - Nice!
  

Security Onion

• Originally tested to simplify Snort install/setup 
• Based on ubuntu 14.04 64-bit
• 14.04 Release Notes:  Little disappointed, no Live Boot option, no Snorby
• No Live Boot:  Couldn't find/figure out LiveCD, ended up doing an install to a 32g USB flash drive.  3 partitions - 8g ext4 for /, 4g swap and 20g ext4 for me (home).  so far so good
• Based on Ubuntu 14.04 ... works a lot better than 13.04 (abort!), but still quirky.  
• Mouse Pointer disappears - probably this bug - its annoying, always happens after sleep/wake sequence
  My lame work-around:  
• Bring up app menu by moving imaginary mouse pointer to upper left
• Type some stuff in search box of programs menu while moving mouse
• Mouse pointer eventually reappears (Yeeeesh!)
• Misc Notes
• System appears to be nicely locked-down from firewall (iptables) perspective, did not fiddle to test home network.  Even struggled with ssh to access system!
• Personalization, user switching, etc handled by outer Ubuntu 14.04, features seemed to be intact
• Not what I was looking for.  I wanted a simple way to spin-up a portable IDS and plug into our home network to watch over things (IoT world in particular).  Looking forward to *not* installing/configuring snort/snorby, but seeing how they work.  Snorby was no longer avail on SO 14.04

Kali

• Updated to Kali 2016.2 32-bit on 32g Flash Drive.  I needed more space for logs, capture files and such
• No audio devices, a few fcn keys work.  Overall appears to be solid
• Config steps and links so I don't have to find them next time!
• Live, Persistent Kali USB drive @ kali.org/prst
• Tweaking in process
• AAO Trackpad - turn on Tap to Click, but still a bit touchy/odd
• service ssh start (as needed)
• snort/snorby - I punted, not using snort/snorby under kali - it was a pain to install/configure
• Kali is now my road warrior boot - for external scans and such away from home
• NST used as probe, IDS, monitor, etc when AAO is on home network
  

KNOPPIX

• KNOPPIX 7.7 - install to flash disk to get reusable environment, I didn't bother
• It talks (Audio) when it boots! 
• LOTS of applications, very nice UI and pretty snappy on AAO 
• Almost too much included with the distro - you have to sift through applications and menus
• Audio did not work out of the box - record or playback.  Fiddled a little with kmixer, probably OK
• Touchpad worked, but never found the tweaks I use for 2 finger scrolling and tapping
• Some function keys appeared to work - Mute, Brightness and monitor on/off
• Networking worked out of the box. One slight hiccup with WiFi required reboot
  

Network Security Toolkit

• My AAO runs NST most of the time now - quite useful as a network/security probe
  more @ http://www.networksecuritytoolkit.org
• Jan 2017 - NST 24:SVN 7977 - works VERY Well
• Successfully updated to 24:SVN 7977 64-Bit - lots of nice tools
• "Installed" to a 32g memory stick this time - instead of live boot w/ persistence
• Notes to self (stuff I struggle with each time I upgrade this one)
• httpd.conf is @ /etc/nst/httpd/conf *not* /etc/httpd/conf!  Service is nstwui *not* httpd!
• Handy http://wiki.networksecuritytoolkit.org/index.php/Getting_Started
• Setting up NST Geolocation (connections on map!) 
• Runs great on AAO - lots of security tools accessible via web browser
• Nov 2017 - NST 26 SVN:9267 upgrade *** In Process ***
• Mostly interested in OpenVAS (Vulnerability Scanner) and snort UI (snorby), release notes @ http://www.networksecuritytoolkit.org
• Created 4g usb boot using iso and mint USB Disk utility
• Initial Boot from Live USB:
• Blueman takes a dump @ startup  ("quit unexpectedly") - has happened since NST 22
• OS Runs fine, notes as I go, will fill-in test table later
• WiFi - no prob
• Network - Win/Workgroup fine
• Audio output works
• trackpad, works fine, had to tweak to set tap-to-click
• 
  
• old NTOP is gone!  Oh NO! change!  I liked that one!  AAO constantly ran NTOP!
• ntopng - it works .... but...
• had to set admin password to match nstpassword?  THEN login with admin/admin(!) and change it again via WebUI ... I need to retrace my steps here 
• Need to figure out filters - need to ignore the probe itself?
• no show stopper, more testing needed
• snort/snorby - TBD, BASE is gone
• Fumbling to get 

Parrot

• Security Oriented OS, runs great on AAO!
• Followed Parrot Live Install Procedure to create 3.4.1 Live USB.  Booted fine on AAO
• Lots of Security Tools!  Well organized.
• Mate bottom panel gets in the way of dialogs periodically - set to autohide on AAO 
• Looks REALLY good - Playing with persistence so I can put some more miles on it
• Ended up moving to 16g USB Stick w/ persistence.  Some tools require space to install/use
• Quite possibly a replacement for my Kali portable security toolkit
• OpenVAS vulnerability scanner is pre-installed, typically a BEAR to get up and running.  
  Steps (and notes to self):
• Menu:  Parrot->Vulnerability Analysis->OpenVAS initial setup - will take a while (hours?)
• Remember to reset OpenVAS admin password or record password created by script
  
  sudo openvasmd --user=admin --new-password=<new_password>
• Menu:  Parrot->Vulnerability Analysis->OpenVAS start
• Menu:  Parrot->Vulnerability Analysis->OpenVAS Sanner->openvas check setup
  (fix anything that needs it 
• Menu:  Parrot->Vulnerability Anaysis->OpenVAS Sanner->start gsd
• Greenbone is @ https://localhost:9392 - add ssl exception and permit scripts
• Sept 2017 update:
• Now using Parrot on AAO instead of Kali for portable security scans and such
• Recreated my 16g Live Boot USB using v3.8 64-bit Full Edition - MUCH faster than upgrading
  Steps (in case I need to do this again)
• Download via https://www.parrotsec.org/download.fx (torrent)
• Create Live Boot usb via Rosa Image Writer Step by Step
• Create persistence partition and persistence.conf using gparted and these steps 

Gentoo