Sunday, June 24, 2018

How to collect wireless sensors readings using rtl_433 and display them using OpenWrt

Goal: to use an OpenWrt capable router to receive wireless sensors reading and log them using OpenWrt luci-app-statistics module.
Why: because my router is always on anyway, so why not to use it to also log wireless sensors readings?
What is needed?
  • A router (or any other device) with USB port(s) that is supported by OpenWrt
  • A RTL-SDR dongle
  • Wireless temperature/humidity sensors supported by the rtl_433 application
Note: I’m referring to the old OpenWrt project name, which is currently called LEDE, which in turn will be called OpenWrt again. It’s because of the nonsense they started some time ago by forking the project and calling it LEDE because they couldn’t agree on which side they should start counting bits. Some of them there little-endians and the others big-endians. Finally they have agreed to use both approaches and now they are busy merging everything back together and use the good old name [sic!]. So the next release is supposed to be called OpenWrt as their branch name suggest. At the moment this branch is not usable but maybe it will be released at the end of the year. It is still not known which year should it be…

Thursday, January 4, 2018

A simple apt-get based script to get upgradable packages change logs

I do upgrade packages manually on my machine because I want to control when and what to upgrade. Security freaks could argue that it is not secure not to update computers frequently but I believe that chances to get hacked because of an outdated package are less than receive an upgrade that bricks your computer. The recent Canonical fuck up with activating experimental Intel SPI drivers in kernel that bricked some Lenovo laptops is a very good example. Another reason is the time needed to upgrade packages because apt-get is really slow. So basically I need to check what has been changed and only upgrade if really needed.