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	Stardate: 20210516.2248
	Location: The Lab
	Input Device: daimos
	Audio: Tracy Chapman
	Visual: bright screen glow, ambient multi-colored LEDs
	Emotional: Sunday night, meh.

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	I have been revisiting an air-gapped, table top, mini Raspberry Pi
	lab in my computing lab at home. It was called to my attention when
	I read this article, "Creating Your Own Digital Fortess of Solitude."
	[1] The author basically writes about cloud computing,
	offline/partially online computing, and stuff you can do to not rely
	on the cloud so much. Good article and lots of helpful tips!

	The table top mini Pi lab is basically a collection of Raspberry Pi
	projects that I have assembled and tinkered with over the years.
	Included in the bottom of this phost is a link to a picture I took
	this evening of the lab devices.[2]

	These devices have not been updated since I put them together since
	they are not on a public network, but they still function as
	intended. I have been thinking of updating them or maybe even
	disassembling them and repurpose the parts for other projects. I'm
	not sure why, especially if the mini lab is air-gapped and the
	projects are complete. Well, I don't think I will make any hard
	decisions tonight.

	Regarding the picture, what I have here from left to right is the
	following:

	1. Raspberry Pi 2b NAS, running Open Media Vault, with 3 USB drives
	(60GB, 375GB, and 500GB.) The case is repurposed jewelry box
	from a thrift store.
	2. 4-node Raspberry Pi 2b Hadoop Cluster with wifi router,
	5-port ethernet switch, and 5-port USB hub for power. The case
	is a repurposed football display case that I mounted on a
	swiveling platform. I fabricated a door from acrylic sheet and
	added USB fans for cooling. The cluster can run on a 12 volt
	battery.
	3. Raspberry Pi 2b with 3-watt speakers running RaspPiOS (recently
	upgraded.) Used for remote terminal applications and streaming
	music from the NAS. The case is also a repurposed jewelry box
	that matches the NAS. On top is a DVD burner.
	4. Raspberry Pi 3b in a Retroflag NESPi case. The monitor is a 7"
	LCD with speakers. All of this attached to a repurposed broken
	clock with clock face removed. The back has a door that provides
	storage for the power adapters and controllers. The Pi3 runs
	RetroPie with a handful of old gaming console emulators.
	5. In the middle is an Arduino Esplora game controller on an oriental
	rug mouse pad. Underneath is a cutting mat to give perspective
	of size.

	My main concern right now is the Hadoop Cluster. I have not done
	any tinkering with it for over a year and I'm not sure what to do
	with it. I'd like to keep it as a cluster, but I could also
	separate the functionality of each node. Maybe I could just keep
	the microSD cards as is and swap out for different cards when I'm
	not cluster computing. Not sure what the state of pi clustering is
	these days, especially for Pi 2b. Perhaps I should do some
	research.

	The nice thing about this lab is that it does not take too much to
	power. If I used old PC's, I'm sure it would take quite a bit of
	power. Perhaps I should run some power tests and take some readings.

	Maybe I should put up something in my Projects section of my gopher
	hole regarding pi projects. I do have some old notes. At least it
	would help motivate me to organize and document stuff I've worked on.

	[1] Building Your Own Digital Fortress of Solitude
	[2] Air-gapped, table top Raspberry Pi Lab

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