Hacker News Reader

Comment by redirectleft | Hacker News Reader

I'm responsible for my sister, my mother, 6 coworkers and 13 friends running Arch on their hardware, in various personalized configurations that took me maybe 30 minutes each. I can push out updates and flag new software for installation within seconds if they ask me for it and so far, I have not had one serious complaint. Some use Libreoffice for their private stuff, some appstream Office directly into a X window. Oh you don't like GNOME? Let me install Xfce. It's perfect if certain use cases apply. My sister has had hers for 6 years and counting, uses it for web browsing exclusively and only complains when she cant execute nickelback.mp3.exe.

View on HN

> I can push out updates and flag new software for installation within seconds if they ask me for it

This seems cool. Can you please tell me how you do it? Some links that I can use to read up on it will do.

I'm sorry for not replying earlier :) Really, in theory this is very easy. You need a command and control channel, but one that is secured and not abusable. In the first years, I used a CRON job that would pull the configuration files off a load balanced domain. Now, I've upgraded to a self made encrypted P2P version which I really do not want to talk about. However, even if I were to die in a horrible accident, all systems would remain like they are in good condition. This is, like someone mentioned, due to custom repositories that repond to each client uniquely, like someone here suggested. There's no magic to be found here :)

What's the reason behind choosing Arch, which is definitely not a common distributions for new users? Is it that you are experienced in it and able to customize to their needs easily, as you talk about customization in your post?

I suspect that yes it is Arch because that is what he himself uses. Note the passage about being able to push updates and new software soon after being asked. That suggests he can SSH into each install as needed to absolve them of admining the installs themselves.

Effectively their computers have become voice controlled appliances, with the voice command parser being Redirectleft...

Or just a custom pacman repository? As far as I remember, packages in official Arch repositories are constantly updated. If you update your system in the morning, then there will be new updates in the evening. So it kind of makes sense to have a custom repo.

I'm sorry for not replying earlier :) Really, in theory this is very easy. You need a command and control channel, but one that is secured and not abusable. In the first years, I used a CRON job that would pull the configuration files off a load balanced domain. Now, I've upgraded to a self made encrypted P2P version which I really do not want to talk about. However, even if I were to die in a horrible accident, all systems would remain like they are in good condition. This is, like you mentioned, due to custom repositories that repond to each client uniquely. There's no magic to be found here :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com