One of the challenges I faced in configuring my new backup system on my Ubuntu Linux-based server was setting up my two external drives to mount at the same place in the filesystem.

Why? Because the program I use to manage my backups, BackupPC, expects the storage “pool” to always be in the same place. My options were to write a script to change the BackupPC configuration each time a different drive was plugged in, or make the pool mount in the same location regardless of which drive I’m using. Because I was working with LUKS-encrypted volumes I faced additional complexities which made it  difficult to use other methods (like volume labeling) because of how Gnome handles and mounts such encrypted volumes.

While it took a while to make it work, once I figured it out it did exactly what I needed. Now, I’m sharing my results with you to save you the trouble of doing all the research yourself!

I found the easiest solution both for this problem and my next one (making eSATA drives auto mount) was to use HAL configuration files. HAL stands for “Hardware Abstraction Layer” and is one of the ways Linux interfaces with various hardware elements, including hard drives. Using XML it is easy to create custom policies to define how HAL handles particular devices.

(*Note: I have read that Ubuntu will soon be moving away from using HAL, possibly as soon as 9.10, Karmic Koala. I’ve tested this on Ubuntu 8.04, 8.10, and 9.04, but it should work with any distro that (still) uses HAL.)

(** Note 2: Having recently begun the process of rebuilding my server on Ubuntu 9.10/Karmic, I can verify that this method DOES NOT WORK. I am currently in the process of figuring out a solution, likely using udev and scripting, and will post my results as a post here …)

These configuration files are located in /etc/hal/fdi/policy. My installation included one existing file – preferences.fdi – which defines whether non-removable drives are auto-mounted. (We’ll get to eSATA auto mounting soon enough …)

Some quick notes on how .fdi files work: first devices are matched with pre-determined keys, defined through XML. Then, actions are taken by changing (or “merging”) other keys. A very basic .fdi file might consist of the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->
<deviceinfo version="0.2">

 <device>
   <match key="some.key" string="some_string">
     <merge key="another.key" type="bool">true</merge>
   </match>
 </device>

So what’s the easiest way to find these keys to match and merge? In my experience, Gnome Device Manager (aka gnome-device-manager).

To see if you have Device Manager installed, check under “Applications -> System Tools” or try to launch gnome-device-manager from the terminal. If it doesn’t work, install it using Synaptic or run:

sudo apt-get install gnome-device-manager

With your drive plugged in and turned on, open up the device manager and begin to look for your drive. You may have to expand some of the trees for “SCSI Host Adapters” and “SCSI Devices”, or possibly USB-related trees,  before you see the drive entries, usually titled “Mass Storage Drive” or something about removable storage.  There may be several of these entries. You will need to look at attributes like the model numbers and capacities to determine which drive it is you’re wanting.

Once you’ve identified the drive you want the information for, type ctrl+p or click on “View -> Device Properties” which should make an additional “Properties” tab appear beside the previous “Summary” tab. Now you will be able to see the various keys, types, and values you can use when creating .fdi files. For our purposes here we will need to look at the properties not for the drive itself, but for the volume we want to create a mount point for.

Note: this is with drive attached via eSATA

Our first order of business is to find a key that will provide a definitive match for each drive / volume. In my situation I was using two identical external enclosures with two identical drives. I could have simply created one rule that would specify the mount point based on any drive that matched some shared property, such as the model number (storage.model) but I wanted to make sure that these two volumes and only these volumes would share this mount point. In addition, I wanted to be able to tell at a glance which one was mounted, so I needed HAL to distinguish between them somehow.

Every volume has a distinctive UUID – kind of like a fingerprint that identifies it to the rest of the system. In the device manager, under the properties tab for the volume you’re working on, look for the volume.UUID key. Once you’ve found it you can begin to write your HAL policy file.

Create a new, blank text file in /etc/hal/fdi/policy. (You will probably need to do all this as root / sudo) Name it something like 30-sharedmounts.fdi. (The “30″ in the file name makes sure this policy is evaluated prior to the general preferences file.) Once you have created your file, open it in your favorite text editor and start with the following:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <!-- -*- SGML -*- -->
<deviceinfo version="0.2">

Now we need to specify the device and they keys we want to match and merge:

<device>
 <match key="block.is_volume" bool="true">
 <match key="volume.uuid" string="7feeefbf-416b-4383-9bb3-7fd51cb3e702">
   <merge key="volume.policy.desired_mount_point" type="string">ext_backup</merge>
   <merge key="volume.label" type="string">Ext Backup 1</merge>
 </match>
 </match>
</device>

Here’s a quick explanation of what you see above, and what each does:

• <match key=”block.is_volume” bool=”true”> – A little bit of insurance, to make sure we’re working with a volume and not a drive.
• <match key=”volume.uuid” string=”7feeefbf-416b-4383-9bb3-7fd51cb3e702″> – As described above, identifies the particular volume you want to specify the mount point for.
• <merge key=”volume.policy.desired_mount_point” type=”string”>ext_backup – This is the new mount point, which will appear beneath /media/ , so this example would mount as /media/ext_backup .
• <merge key=”volume.label” type=”string”>Ext Backup 1 – A little extra nicety. This is how we can identify between different volumes, even when they’re mounted at the same point in the filesystem.

Now that you’ve got the mount point specified for your first volume, you’ll want to do the same for your second (and any other subsequent) volumes. For each volume, just find the UUID and create a new <device> section in the .fdi file. Be sure to specify the same mount point and unique volume labels (if you so desire.) Once you’re done, save your file and restart HAL (or just reboot.)

sudo /etc/init.d/hal restart

Now, whenever you plug in your drives and Gnome auto-mounts your volumes, they will mount in the same place every time.

What’s that, you say? You’re using eSATA drives and they don’t auto-mount? My next blog post will take care of that for you, and it shouldn’t take more than about 5 minutes of your time. As an added bonus, this method will mount the volumes in the same place regardless of whether they’re connected by USB or eSATA.

After obtaining (and assembling) my new backup hardware my first order of business was to get the external hard drives formatted and set up with drive encryption. Since I’m swapping out one drive to store off-site I wanted to use drive encryption just in case it somehow ended up in someone else’s posession. In Ubuntu, the easiest way to encrypt a whole drive is using LUKS. I chose LUKS because it is easily readable by most Linux computers and can even be set up on a Windows PC, if absolutely necessary. This post will walk through the (remarkably simple) process of setting up encryption and formatting.

(Note: most of these instructions are condensed adaptations of articles I found here and here. )

FYI: I set up my drives using these instructions on Ubuntu 8.10 – Intrepid Ibex. I was later able to successfully mount and access the drives using Ubuntu 8.04 – Hardy Heron on my server and 9.04 – Jaunty Jackalope on my laptop.

When setting up my drives I was using USB 2.0, therefore these directions reflect that. The process may have been faster using eSATA, but at the time I did not yet have a controller card. The directions should be applicable to eSATA as well (unless otherwise noted), but your mileage may vary. These instructions can also be easily adapted for creating a handy, encrypted USB “thumb” drive.

Necessary Software

In order to proceed you must have the cryptsetup package installed:

sudo apt-get install cryptsetup

Finding the drive

After powering on the drive and hooking it up to the computer you need to identify the device:

dmesg | tail -20

[33884.688746] usb 4-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd ...
[33884.764079] usb 4-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[33884.764868] scsi8 : SCSI emulation for USB Mass Storage devices
[33884.765316] usb-storage: device found at 9
[33884.765321] usb-storage: waiting for device to settle before scan...
[33888.042416] usb-storage: device scan complete
[33888.043707] scsi 8:0:0:0: Direct-Access     HDS72505 0KLA360 ...
[33888.047550] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 976773168 512-byte hardware sectors
[33888.048292] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[33888.048300] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
[33888.048305] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[33888.049648] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] 976773168 512-byte hardware sectors
[33888.050421] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Write Protect is off
[33888.050428] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Mode Sense: 00 38 00 00
[33888.050432] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Assuming drive cache: write through
[33888.050438]  sdb: unknown partition table
[33888.066470] sd 8:0:0:0: [sdb] Attached SCSI disk
[33888.066545] sd 8:0:0:0: Attached scsi generic sg2 type 0

In the example above (from this article)  you can see that the drive has been recognized as /dev/sdb. Your drives may show up differently (mine appeared as /dev/sdd and /dev/sde.) I’ll continue to use /dev/sdb to refer to the drive we are working with, but you should replace it with whatever your result is.

Create the partition

Before you can actually set up encryption or format the drive, you must create a partition. This is simply a portion of the drive you intend to store data on. A single physical drive may contain multiple partitions (as is usually the case with a linux boot drive) or just one. At this point you could easily choose to set up both an encrypted and a non-encrypted partition on your drive. I didn’t have a need for this, so I’ll be continuing with a single partition.

While it can be accomplished via the command line, I chose to use the graphical GParted program, available under the “System -> Administration -> Partition Editor” menu.

Choose your device via the drop-down menu in the upper right-hand corner. Then, select the unallocated space and create a new partition that encompasses the entire available space. We do not want to format the partition, only create it, so select “unformatted” as the filesystem.

Click “Apply” and your new partition will be created. You should now have a partition named something like /dev/sdb1 (notice there’s now a number added.) Once you have created the partition successfully, close GParted.

Setting up encryption

The next section is copied verbatim from the aforementioned article:

The dm-crypt, sha256 and aes kernel modules will need to be loaded prior to encrypting the partition:

sudo modprobe dm-crypt
sudo modprobe sha256
sudo modprobe aes

If the following error messages appear when loading sha256 and aes:

sudo modprobe sha256
WARNING: Error inserting padlock_sha ... No such device

sudo modprobe aes
WARNING: Error inserting padlock_aes ... No such device

it is an indication that the system does not have a hardware cryptographic device (source: Ubuntu Bug #206129)

The workaround is to add the following lines (using your favorite editor) to the bottom of /etc/modprobe.d/aliases and re-run the modprobe commands for the sha256 and aes kernel modules:

alias sha256 sha256_generic
alias aes aes_generic

Note that this is only necessary when we are setting up the drive. Later we will access them through Gnome and won’t need these modules.

Encrypting the partition

Finally, we can run the command to encrypt the /dev/sdb1 partition.

While there are other ways of securing your encrypted drive (such as key file stored locally or on a USB flash drive) I have chosen to use a strong passphrase. Mine is 23 characters long, but any password 12 characters or longer not consisting of dictionary-findable words should suffice.

The tutorial I used recommended the following command:

sudo cryptsetup --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/sdb1 -c aes -s 256 -h sha256

The LUKS-formatting command above has the following options:

• –verify-passphrase – ensures the passphrase is entered twice to avoid an incorrect passphrase being used
• -c aes – specifies the use of AES encryption (c for cipher)
• -s 256 – specifies a 256-bit key size
• -h sha256 – use 256-bit SHA for password hashing

However, after reading this article I decided to go with 128-bit AES encryption instead, along with a strong passphrase, in hopes of reducing some computational overhead. Therefore, my command instead looked something like:

sudo cryptsetup --verify-passphrase luksFormat /dev/sdb1 -c aes -s 128 -h sha256

Creating the filesystem

After setting up the encrypted partition, you must open and map it in order to set up the filesystem and begin using it.

Start with:

sudo cryptsetup luksOpen /dev/sdb1 secureUSB

Which should prompt you for your passphrase and map the drive to /dev/mapper/secureUSB. Now you can format the encrypted partition with a filesystem using whatever method you prefer. I had good luck using GParted to format in ext3.

Like before, select the device you want to create the filesystem on – in this case /dev/mapper/secureUSB. You should again see a block of unallocated space, which you should select and create a new partition within. You may be presented with a big, scary message about setting a disklabel – tell it to create (since you have no data to lose on the drive at this point anyway!)

The create new partition screen will look just the same as before, only this time you will want to specify the filesystem type you want to use. Apply all the pending operations and wait for the formatting process – it can take quite a while, especially for large drives.

Mounting the encrypted drive

Having successfully set up encryption and created a filesystem, we’re almost ready to to mount the drive and begin using it! (Of course, this is still assuming you’re using USB. If you’re using eSATA then this won’t work as easily – that will come in a later post!)

Shut down the computer, disconnect the drive, and reboot. Once you’re back up and logged in, reconnect the drive and Gnome should prompt you for the passphrase and then mount automatically.

If you want the drive to unlock automatically on this computer, select “remember forever.”

After you’re unlocked and mounted, the final step is to take ownership of the drive’s root folder with a user other than your sudo/root user:

sudo chown youruser:youruser /media/disk

where youruser is the user you want to have ownership and /media/disk is where gnome auto-mounted the drive.

Finished!

Whew! I must say it has taken far longer to write this post than it did to actually perform these operations. The longest part of the entire process was creating the ext3 filesystem. If you’re using eSATA to set up the drive it will go much faster, however as I mentioned you will have a few more steps to take before you can easily hot-swap your drive. Stay tuned for the next post in this series for that how-to …

Before I get to what my new backup hardware consists of, it might be helpful to know a bit about my existing (old) setup. My home network consists of a workstation, a laptop, a netbook, a seldom-used garage PC, and a multipurpose server. Among it’s many duties, the server is a centralized backup server, allowing the various computers to back up files each night. It runs on an old AMD Athlon motherboard with 512MB RAM, using a 30 GB drive for the OS and programs and a pair of 200 GB drives for storage and backup.

Prior to this upgrade, the backup drive was regularly at 95% capacity. Even with the intelligent pooling technology used by the BackupPC software it had become necessary to limit the number of nightly backups I was keeping in order to make space for the unique data from the various PCs.  So I decided it was time to upgrade my storage situation.

I had been debating for a while how to best increase my storage space while also ensuring the integrity and protection of my data. Having recently witnessed my parents’ misfortune and recognizing that if a similar tragedy would have happened to me that many priceless digital memories and large amounts of work-related data would have been lost, I knew it was time for a system that incorporated some kind of off-site backup.

One option I contemplated was an online backup service, where your data is stored in the “cloud” and available whenever and wherever you need to access it. The particular provider I considered was SpiderOak. I had one of their free 2 GB accounts already and I was very impressed with their security and privacy policies as well as their interoperability with Linux. However, the problem with such online backup options is their monthly fees. For the price of 100 GB per year at SpiderOak I could buy a hard drive ten times that size!

So that’s what I did – I bought two 1TB hard drives. This will allow for one hard drive to be in service and the other stored at a secure, off-site location in case of disaster. I’ll have tons of storage space and no monthly fees. A win-win situation.

Of course, juggling two different drives means additional complications with set-up and management, but those are later blog posts.

My original plan was to buy two bare drives and two USB enclosures. My server does not support serial ATA (SATA) drives, so USB seemed easiest for both compatibility and swap-ability. I’ll elaborate later, but to make a long story short USB simply was not adequate for my particular needs, so I ended up purchasing a PCI SATA controller as well. Thankfully the enclosures supported both USB and eSATA, so everything else was simply a matter of configuration (also another post.)

So finally, here’s the hardware I ended up using to make my backup plans a reality. All links are to Newegg, my personal favorite purveyor of computer parts. (The prices listed were as of July 2009, and I’m sure will probably become laughable as time passes.)

• 2 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS  1TB SATA drives – $79.99 ea.
• 2 Vantec NST-300SU external USB / eSATA enclosures – $27.98 ea.
• Rosewill RC-210 PCI internal & external SATA controller – $19.99

Total cost – $235.93 (All the items qualified for free shipping at the time I ordered them.) Less than the cost of 100GB for two years through an online backup provider.

Thus far I’ve had no hardware-related problems, and everything has been superbly compatible with Linux (Ubuntu 8.04 LTS / Hardy Heron.) The drives are extraordinarily quiet. Since the server still has 3 internal hard drives and several fans, the new external drives are basically inaudible.

The only nitpick I’ve got is with the Vantec enclosures. There is a bright blue power / activity LED on the front the enclosure, and when you install the drive into the internal tray you have to plug the LED in as you put the enclosure back together. Two small, recessed screws hold the drive tray in place. I found (with both my enclosures) that if I tightened the screws all the way down, completely closing the gap between the tray and the rest of the enclosure, the lights would not work. If I backed the screws out just a few threads everything worked fine. I don’t think the gap is large enough to pose a concern, so it’s basically just a small aesthetic annoyance. Not a deal-breaker, but something worth noting.

That’s it for the hardware specs! Next up, formatting the removable drives and setting them up with LUKS encryption.

Over the next couple days (weeks?) you can expect more on the following topics:

• New backup hardware: drives, enclosures, and controller card
• Setting things up: LUKS encryption on external drives
• Specifying a shared mount point in Ubuntu Linux
• Switching from USB to eSATA, making eSATA automount
• Making external encrypted drives work with BackupPC

As you can tell from this list I faced a lot of hoops to jump through in order to get this up and running. I’ll add links to the individual posts as I write them. Feel free to ask questions if you’ve got any!

Open Source & Freedom

Linux is an operating system that is based on the “open source” model. In explaining what open source software is, the discussion often shifts quickly to the issue of freedom. One of the attributes of Linux that is often used to convince people to try it is because it’s free, it costs them no money to use it. While this is sometimes true, it is a distortion of the freedom of open source. The phrases that are often used in describing the freedom of open source are “free as in beer” and “free as in speech.” Put briefly, not all open source software is necessarily available free of charge. In fact many of the versions of Linux that are used by businesses and corporations can cost quite a bit. However, true open source software is always free as in speech.

At it’s most basic definition, open source is software where the end-user is allowed to change the source code of the program to suit their needs or desires. This means that if a user is technically savvy enough to know how to make changes in the programming language the software is written in they can adapt it to their particular situation. Often times users are then allowed to redistribute their new version. This contrasts with the “closed source” model, which has been the predominant method in the computer industry and used by companies like Microsoft, in which the end-user is given permission only to use software as the original author intended, and does not allow for any unauthorized changes, modifications, or distribution.

Why does it matter?

For those who could not edit the source code of a program if their life depended on it, why should you care whether or not the software you use is open or closed source? I’ve heard “open source evangelists” take a number of different tacts to this. One is the economic route – the scenario mentioned previously based on acquiring software that is “free as in beer.” While this may appeal to some people’s purse strings, I think it trivializes some of the larger implications of open source. Besides, most average users will never install a new operating system, so to them whatever version of Microsoft Windows (Or Mac OS X) came preinstalled on their computer probably seems just as free in this sense. Similarly, it is an unfortunate reality that software piracy leads to many people acquiring closed source software for free using less-than-legal methods.

In my mind, the attractiveness of open source (and in turn Linux) is that it is a more socially just model for using technology. As a Christian and a concerned world citizen I care whether or not my actions are furthering social justice or hindering it. Open source allows people and populations to adapt and use software in ways that are most useful to their situation, whether it is because of language issues, social context, cultural differences, and so on. Large, closed-source software companies are often less interested in smaller, less economically viable markets because of their primarily profit-based nature. Meanwhile open source allows programs to be translated into many different languages and settings and to be easily (and legally) distributed.

Open source software is available for all different operating systems, with one of the most popular examples being the Mozilla Firefox internet browser. Another great open source program is OpenOffice.org, a full featured open source alternative to Microsoft Office. But in my opinion the ultimate expression of open source is the Linux operating system. Because of its open source nature, there are many different versions (called distributions) of Linux. I personally have chosen to use Ubuntu Linux, but there are many other no-cost options that are just as viable, such as Fedora, openSUSE, Foresight, gOS, and more.

The nice thing about many distributions is that they available on a “LiveCD” which allows potential new users to try the operating system without making any irreversible changes to their computers.

It is important to me to support business practices and institutions that I feel are working toward fairness and equality. This is especially true with technology, because it can create such a rift between the haves and the have-nots. For me, I feel that supporting Linux and open soure software in general are ways to make technology more accessible to a broader range of people. One way I see this happening is through initiatives that make old computers and hardware usable once again by installing Linux and then making them available to people and families that may not otherwise be able to afford a computer.

If you still don’t want to use Linux …

I’ll freely admit that not everyone will want to (or even be able to) switch over to Linux. I promise I won’t think any less of you, and if anyone else does then shame on them. However, there are still some things you can do to help support social justice issues when it comes to computers. If you are interested in open source and don’t want to take the big step of replacing your operating system, give Firefox or OpenOffice a try. If you don’t want to (or can’t for whatever reason) take that step and you still want to support socially just computing, then you might consider donating money to an organization that is working to further such values. I also realize that some of you may not be interested in doing any of these things, even if you agree that Linux and open source are great ways of making technology more accessible. However, there are still some things you can do as well.

Let me tell you a short story: I recently had some interactions with an organization that required me to complete some extensive paperwork for them. (I won’t name any names, but some of you who know me may be able to figure out the identity of this organization.) To complete this paperwork, I had to use a program that only runs in Microsoft Windows. This was a problem for me, since none of my computers use Windows as their primary operating system. Thankfully I was able to set up a “virtual” instance of Windows that allowed me to use this program, but had I not had access to a legitimate Windows license and install CD I wouldn’t have been able to use this program and would not have been able to fill out the important paperwork. After using the program I had to upload a file to this organization’s web site. I first tried this using Firefox on my Linux computer, only to have it fail. I called them and discovered that their web site would only work with Internet Explorer.

I share this story as an example of how you (and others) can support social justice through supporting Linux and open source software. Our actions must not stop at celebrating the fact that there is a free and fair alternative to often expensive and inaccessible closed source programs. Linux and open source software not only address a social justice issue but they also create another. Once people have access to technology and the internet, we must also do what we can to make sure they are not treated as second-class because they do not use Microsoft Windows. Companies and organizations need to realize this as they require the use of computer programs and web sites that only work with Windows.

I don’t expect this article will cause anyone who hasn’t considered using Linux to do so. If it does, by all means let me know how it goes and if you have any questions. It is my hope that together we can begin to help others understand that Linux and other open source programs are not only used by “geeks” anymore, but are a viable alternative for less privileged people in this country and throughout the world, for non-profit organizations (such as churches) who cannot afford to spend lots of money on computers and software, and for users like me who want to support social justice in the area of technology. Regardless of what operating system and other software you may use, it’s time to stop looking down our noses at one another and recognize the social implications of the way we all interact with computers.

What do things like word processing and surfing the ‘net have to do with saving the environment? More than you might realize. In this day and age of constant connection it is increasingly common for households to have multiple computers left running 24/7. In addition, the marketplace’s push for us to constantly upgrade our computing equipment means that there is a lot of “e-waste” with lead or other toxic chemicals that is not being disposed of properly. Here are some quick tips and links on how you can make your computing experience a little greener:

Power Down

I’ll start off with a tip that I admit I could do more often. Currently we have three computers in our house (a server, a workstation, and a laptop) that stay on all day and all night. My excuse for doing so is that they are all set to back themselves up to the server overnight. Some folks also leave their computers on at night to do things like update virus protection or run system updates. To help counter this practice a little bit my wife and I have instituted a practice of going “unplugged” on Monday nights, powering off our two main computers (and the television) around 6pm and leaving them off all night long. In the near future I plan to rework our backup server’s schedule and set up our computers to initiate a timed shutdown automatically (using GShutdown) after we have gone to bed. Windows users may want to look into Poweroff for the same sort of functionality.

Also, powering off peripherals such as speakers, monitors, and printers when you’re not using them can help cut your power consumption as well. All modern operating systems will allow you to set up your monitor to automatically enter a low power “sleep mode” after a predetermined amount of time. Instead of setting your computer to display a screensaver when it goes idle, which means your monitor continues to use the same amount of energy, you can set it up to cut your monitor off after 5 minutes instead. After all, do you really need a screensaver to remind you that you’ve stopped using your computer? You may also want to check out the SmartStrip, which is a surge protector that will automatically cut the power to accessories when you power down your computer.

Reuse or Recycle Old Hardware

There is an increasing amount of e-waste being generated by our society. A great deal of this comes from old computers. Knowing that many computer parts like circuit boards and hard drives can contain hazardous chemicals, I have never thrown away any computer hardware (much to my wife’s chagrin.) In addition, I try not to replace hardware unless it physically fails. This recently happened when my server’s motherboard and power supply literally melted down, fusing to one another and shorting out in the process. Both parts were about 7 years old and had been running nearly 24/7 since they were purchased. Not too shabby. But instead of going out and buying all new hardware to rebuild my home server, I instead walked out to my garage and disassembled an old computer I had been using for web surfing and streaming music while I worked on cars. It only took a day or so of work to get my server back up and running, and with no additional cost.

One of the things that allows me to get by without using cutting-edge hardware is the fact that I run Ubuntu Linux on all of our computers. Like most versions of Linux, Ubuntu can run comfortably (and quickly) on older hardware. It has been my experience that most installations of Windows become bloated to the point where they slow to a crawl after a couple of years. Meanwhile, I recently replaced my garage computer with one that was saved from a local dumpster (how’s that for reusing!) and it runs Ubuntu quite easily, despite the fact that most of its hardware is at least 10 years old! Sure, I won’t be doing as much multi-tasking or complex number-crunching on that computer, but for surfing the web and listening to music it works just fine.

So what should we do with all of our old computers that have either died or we no longer need? My recommendation would be to find a local charity or other organization that will recycle (or reuse) your old computer for you. You may be able to find such places by calling up some locally owned computer shops in your area (who may also be willing to take your old hardware off your hands.) The church I currently attend has recently started a computer “hardware co-op” that does this. For a small processing fee they will take nearly any old computer parts and either properly dispose of them or rebuild them into functioning computers that can then be redistributed to those who may not be able to afford computers otherwise. It’s a great idea, and one that I hope catches on.

Greener Hardware

Finally, when you do find that it’s time to replace aging or failing hardware, you can do so with more environmentally friendly products. I recently replaced the power supply and motherboard in our workstation, and in doing so I was sure to look at products that were RoHS compliant, meaning that they contained less toxic chemicals, and when possible I tried to look for solutions that used less energy. One way of getting computers to use less energy is to start from the source of their energy, the power supply. The 80 PLUS program is an effort to certify and recognize high-efficiency power supplies that may use up to 33% less energy than similar, non-certified models. The model I ended up settling on is an Antec EarthWatts EA380, which at the time had a mail-in rebate that made it nearly the same price as other similarly-sized units.

Another consideration when upgrading hardware is the fact that LCD flat-panel monitors are much more power efficient than old-fashioned CRT monitors. LCDs are more efficient not only when they’re in use, but also when they are turned off in sleep mode. Depending on how much time your monitor spends “awake” or “asleep” you could use between 60% and 90% less energy by switching from a CRT to a flat panel of a similar size.

If you are looking to replace your entire computer system, a popular low-energy solution is to get a laptop. In general, laptops use much less power than desktops, plus you have the added convenience of being able to pick up your computer and take it wherever you like. Just don’t forget to properly recycle those batteries! You may think that getting a laptop would cost much more than getting a desktop, but that’s not necessarily the case, especially if you’re willing to look into the possibility of getting a slightly used model (reuse and recycle, remember?) I recently helped acquire a lightly used IBM Thinkpad laptop for my mother-in-law for less than $500. Though it may not be brand new, after loading it with a fresh install of Ubuntu it has been a great system for her to use on a regular basis.

I hope these ideas help to spark your interest in the growing “green computing” movement. If you’ve got any additional ideas of how to make our interactions with technology less environmentally intrusive I’d love for you to share them, so post them in the comments section below.

Update: Here are a couple links for further reading on this subject …

• Easy Ways to Go Green with Your Computer @ Lifehacker
• 8 Ways to Easily Reduce the Energy Consumption of Your Computer – and Save Big Money @ The Simple Dollar