While I am trying to repair the Koonlung K1S Dashcam, I am going to build my own dashcam. Sure, I can buy one and pay a ridiculous amount of money for a half-way decent one, but I paid € 230 for the K1S which I assumed did not turn out to be trash.
And so, I am going to build one myself and learn from it in the process. The project was first going to be a pwnagotchi, but I think building a dashcam is more useful. For now @_@
While I am waiting for the auxiliary battery, I will have to start with soldering the 40-pin header onto the board. And if you wonder why I didn;t buy one with a header soldered on it already, my answer is: “I had no idea that this was an option!!1 D: ”
The Koonlung K1S is a very nice dashcam, with GPS, emergency button and HD recording and everything is made quite small. The HD video has a bit of a low bit rate, but it’s still not bad.
That said, it became a piece of rubbish. No matter what kind of SD card is inserted, the software locks up and the whole device becomes useless.
I have tried all the versions of the firmware [⇓1]. I have tried to decompile the firmware [⇓2][⇓3]. Nothing worked, whatever I tried.
So the time has come to take the thing apart. It cannot be any more broken than it is now, so maybe it is a blown cap or something? It is not, by the first look. There seems to be a corroded button cell soldered onto the motherboard.
Alright. So what model is it? It’s not like you can just take it out and read what’s stamped onto it. Luckily I have a reference sheet in my archive that can be helpful. Hooray for being a data hoarder? >_>
The diameter is 4.8mm and the height is 2.0mm. The height is somewhat debatable as everything is small and kinda hard to reach. According to my datasheet, there are two candidates as a replacement battery:
4.8 x 2.15 – 1.55V – Maxell model: SR421SW – Seiko SB-A6 – Citizen 280-77 – GP 348
4.8 x 1.65 – 1.55V – Maxell model: SR416SW – Seiko SB-A5 – Citizen 280-75 – GP 337
As I want to get the exact battery, I grabbed a mini caliper and measured 1.65mm. There we go. It will be a SR416SW or anything compatible.
€5,46 has been paid for a set of 10 batteries because it was impossible to buy just one and now it is time to get the battery out.
Just another snippet of code that can be implemented somewhere:
set-perms.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Function to change ownership of the www folder
change_ownership() {
sudo chown -R "$1":www-data /var/www
echo "Ownership of the www folder has been set to $1:www-data."
}
# Loop until a valid username is provided
while true; do
# Prompt the user to enter the desired username
read -p "Enter the username for permissions: " username
# Check if the username provided exists
if id "$username" &>/dev/null; then
change_ownership "$username"
break # Exit the loop if a valid username is provided
else
echo "Error: User $username does not exist."
fi
done
echo "done!"
Just digging deeper in automating thing, so I made two scripts:
backup_cron.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Define the path to the backup script
BACKUP_SCRIPT="/backup_mysql.sh"
# Define the cron job command to run the backup script once a week (every Sunday at midnight)
CRON_COMMAND="0 0 * * 0 $BACKUP_SCRIPT"
# Add the cron job to the crontab
(crontab -l 2>/dev/null; echo "$CRON_COMMAND") | crontab -
echo "Backup cron job set up successfully."
And the script that executes the backup every Sunday:
backup_mysql.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Define the directory where backup files will be stored
BACKUP_DIR="/var/backups/mysql"
# Ensure the backup directory exists
mkdir -p "$BACKUP_DIR"
# Define the filename for the backup file (include date in the filename)
BACKUP_FILE="$BACKUP_DIR/mysql_backup_$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S).sql"
# Define the compressed filename
COMPRESSED_FILE="$BACKUP_FILE.gz"
# Define MySQL username and password (replace with your MySQL credentials)
DB_USER="USERNAME"
DB_PASS="PASSWORD"
# Dump all databases into a single SQL file
mysqldump -u "$DB_USER" -p"$DB_PASS" --all-databases > "$BACKUP_FILE"
# Add permissions to the backup file
chmod 600 "$BACKUP_FILE"
# Compress the backup file
gzip "$BACKUP_FILE"
echo "Database backup completed. Backup stored in: $COMPRESSED_FILE"
Currently successfullyneeds more testing on a Debian OS 11.5.0 installation. (I now remember why I didn’t want to touch this stuff any more. But oh well, I may as well completely overhaul this script again. The current one does work, but not well enough for me)
Step-by-step is functioning, will now wipe the server to start from scratch again. Also, the previous article will now be deleted.
Note:
If you are using this on a fresh Debian install, SUDO might not have been installed, nor has the user (so not the root) been add to SUDO. This is how you do that if you are logged in as user:
You need to exit twice so you log out as root and as user. After that, you need to log back in as user so you can start using sudo from now on.
Let’s begin! You can name the script something like
setup.sh
#!/bin/bash
# Update system
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade -y
# Install necessary packages
sudo apt install gnupg nginx mariadb-server php7.4-fpm php7.4-mysql php7.4-curl php7.4-gd php7.4-mbstring php7.4-xml php7.4-zip ssh ufw nano fail2ban curl wget sudo openssl net-tools unzip -y
# Add repository key for PHP 8.0
sudo apt install software-properties-common -y
sudo wget -O /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg
# Add repository for PHP 8.0
echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list
sudo apt update
# Install PHP 8.0 and extensions
sudo apt install php8.0-fpm php8.0-mysql php8.0-curl php8.0-gd php8.0-mbstring php8.0-xml php8.0-zip -y
# Configure UFW to allow web traffic and SSH
sudo ufw allow OpenSSH
sudo ufw allow 'Nginx Full'
sudo ufw allow 3306/tcp
# Enable UFW
sudo ufw enable
# Configure automatic security updates
echo 'APT::Periodic::Update-Package-Lists "1";' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
echo 'APT::Periodic::Download-Upgradeable-Packages "1";' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
echo 'APT::Periodic::AutocleanInterval "7";' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/10periodic
echo 'APT::Periodic::Unattended-Upgrade "1";' | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/20auto-upgrades
# Disable root login via SSH
sudo sed -i 's/#PermitRootLogin prohibit-password/PermitRootLogin no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sudo systemctl restart sshd
# Generate SSH key pairs
ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096
# Configure Nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
sudo systemctl enable nginx
# Configure PHP 7.4
sudo systemctl start php7.4-fpm
sudo systemctl enable php7.4-fpm
# Configure PHP 8.0
sudo systemctl start php8.0-fpm
sudo systemctl enable php8.0-fpm
# Configure MariaDB
sudo mysql_secure_installation
# Allow Nginx to use PHP
sudo sed -i 's/;cgi.fix_pathinfo=1/cgi.fix_pathinfo=0/' /etc/php/7.4/fpm/php.ini
sudo sed -i 's/;cgi.fix_pathinfo=1/cgi.fix_pathinfo=0/' /etc/php/8.0/fpm/php.ini
# Restart Nginx and PHP services
sudo systemctl restart nginx
sudo systemctl restart php7.4-fpm
sudo systemctl restart php8.0-fpm
# Create a temporary file to store server and PHP info
tmpfile=$(mktemp)
# Get server info
uname -a > "$tmpfile"
# Get PHP version
php -v >> "$tmpfile"
# Append server and PHP info to index.html
cat "$tmpfile" | sudo tee /var/www/html/index.html >/dev/null
# Remove temporary file
rm "$tmpfile"
# Install adminer
sudo apt install adminer -y
sudo ln -s /usr/share/adminer/adminer.php /var/www/html/adminer.php
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /usr/share/adminer /var/www/html/adminer.php
# Set the permissions correct for www
sudo chmod g+w /var/www
sudo chown -R :www-data www
sudo chmod g+s www
change_ownership() {
sudo chown -R "$1":www-data /var/www
echo "Ownership of the www folder has been set to $1:www-data."
}
# Loop until a valid username is provided
while true; do
# Prompt the user to enter the desired username
read -p "Enter the username for permissions: " username
# Check if the username provided exists
if id "$username" &>/dev/null; then
change_ownership "$username"
break # Exit the loop if a valid username is provided
else
echo "Error: User $username does not exist."
fi
done
echo "LEMP setup completed successfully."
echo "Check if Adminer is working by opening a browser, and entering http://IP_address/adminer.php in the address bar"
To make the script executable:
sudo chmod +x setup.sh
and run it with
sudo ./setup.sh
When things like PHP fail to work (becuase y’know… PHP)
These are the files that have to look this way to make PHP happen.
sudo nano /etc/nginx/sites-available/default
##
# You should look at the following URL's in order to grasp a solid understanding
# of Nginx configuration files in order to fully unleash the power of Nginx.
# https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/
# https://www.nginx.com/resources/wiki/start/topics/tutorials/config_pitfalls/
# https://wiki.debian.org/Nginx/DirectoryStructure
#
# In most cases, administrators will remove this file from sites-enabled/ and
# leave it as reference inside of sites-available where it will continue to be
# updated by the nginx packaging team.
#
# This file will automatically load configuration files provided by other
# applications, such as Drupal or WordPress. These applications will be made
# available underneath a path with that package name, such as /drupal8.
#
# Please see /usr/share/doc/nginx-doc/examples/ for more detailed examples.
##
# Default server configuration
#
server {
listen 80 default_server;
listen [::]:80 default_server;
# SSL configuration
#
# listen 443 ssl default_server;
# listen [::]:443 ssl default_server;
#
# Note: You should disable gzip for SSL traffic.
# See: https://bugs.debian.org/773332
#
# Read up on ssl_ciphers to ensure a secure configuration.
# See: https://bugs.debian.org/765782
#
# Self signed certs generated by the ssl-cert package
# Don't use them in a production server!
#
# include snippets/snakeoil.conf;
root /var/www/html;
# Add index.php to the list if you are using PHP
index index.php index.html index.htm index.nginx-debian.html;
server_name _;
location / {
# First attempt to serve request as file, then
# as directory, then fall back to displaying a 404.
try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
}
# pass PHP scripts to FastCGI server
#
location ~ \.php$ {
include snippets/fastcgi-php.conf;
# # With php-fpm (or other unix sockets):
fastcgi_pass unix:/run/php/php8.0-fpm.sock;
#non-standard addition
fastcgi_param SCRIPT_FILENAME $document_root$fastcgi_script_name;
include fastcgi_params;
}
# # With php-cgi (or other tcp sockets):
# fastcgi_pass 127.0.0.1:9000;
#}
# deny access to .htaccess files, if Apache's document root
# concurs with nginx's one
#
#location ~ /\.ht {
# deny all;
#}
}
# Virtual Host configuration for example.com
#
# You can move that to a different file under sites-available/ and symlink that
# to sites-enabled/ to enable it.
#
#server {
# listen 80;
# listen [::]:80;
#
# server_name example.com;
#
# root /var/www/example.com;
# index index.html;
#
# location / {
# try_files $uri $uri/ =404;
# }
#}
You can give your Debian installation a static IP address by following these steps:
1. Determine your network interface name: Use the following command to determine the name of your network interface:
ip addr
This will display information about all of your network interfaces. Look for the interface that you want to configure with a fixed IP address. The interface name will be listed on the left-hand side of the output (e.g. eth0, enp0s3, etc.)
2. Edit the network configuration file: Use a text editor to edit the /etc/network/interfaces file. For example, you can use the nano editor by running the following command:
sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
3. Configure the network interface: Add the following lines to the file, replacing the interface name and IP address with your own values:
For example, if your network interface name is “eth0” and you want to set the IP address to “192.168.0.10”, the subnet mask to “255.255.255.0”, the default gateway to “192.168.0.1”, and the DNS server to “8.8.8.8”, the configuration would look like this:
4. Save and close the file: Press Ctrl+O to save the file, and then press Ctrl+X to close the editor.
5. Restart the networking service: Use the following command to restart the networking service and apply the changes:
sudo systemctl restart networking
After you’ve completed these steps, your Debian installation should have a fixed IP address. You can verify the configuration by using the “ip addr” command again and looking for the interface that you configured.
More info here: https://wiki.debian.org/NetworkConfiguration
Thanks to https://fosstodon.org/@HankB for the tips and better choice of words!
* Disable the Display Manager: The Display Manager is the graphical login screen that appears when you start up Debian. You can disable it by stopping the service and preventing it from starting at boot time. Use the following command to stop the service:
sudo systemctl stop display-manager.service
And then disable the service from starting at boot time:
sudo systemctl disable display-manager.service
* Remove the GUI packages: You can remove the GUI packages from your Debian installation by using the following command:
sudo apt-get remove task-gnome-desktop
This will remove the GNOME desktop environment and all its associated packages. If you’re using a different desktop environment, replace “gnome” with the name of your desktop environment.
* Reboot your system: Once you’ve disabled the Display Manager and removed the GUI packages, you’ll need to reboot your system for the changes to take effect. Use the following command to reboot your system:
sudo reboot
After the reboot, your Debian installation should boot into a command-line interface without any GUI.
Keep in mind that disabling the GUI permanently may make some tasks more difficult or time-consuming to perform. It’s recommended to proceed with caution and ensure that you have a backup plan in case you need to re-enable the GUI later.
The following has been suggested by https://fosstodon.org/@HankB :