Getting my money’s worth!
Several months ago I purchased an HP Mini 1000 to do some work for a client in their SQL Server 2005 environment. The work ended rather quickly and the Mini’s been sitting around gathering dust. I came across it in a pile of junk the other day while cleaning and decided that it would be the machine to replace my MacBook Air when the MBA goes in for repair. The basic tasks I would be performing are:
- Lots of database work
- Linux, Solaris, and FreeBSD administration
- Penetration Testing and Security Audits
Right away I realized I would need to kick it up a notch by upgrading to 2G of RAM. I would also need to be able to run Linux, but couldn’t sacrifice my only Windows installation (virtualization is not an option on either the MBA or the Mini). Dual booting also wasn’t an option because the 16G hard drive on the Mini is barely enough to run Windows. So my only real option was to do a persistent install of Ubuntu on USB (using the NetBook Remix, of course). HP made some awesome decisions with USB on the Mini: SD Card and Mini Flash slots in addition to the regular USB port. So I purchased an 8G JetFlash USB Drive to serve as my Linux machine. After then spending a few hours on my typical Linux install (which is pretty much half of the top 100 SecTools and a few other base packages), I was ready to go.
