Before restarting the CSI Linux Certified Investigator course on EchothisLabs, I verified my CSI Linux VM's big upgrade, closed five network services an investigation box doesn't need, fixed group memberships, and mapped out where the course goes from here.
A routine update day on my Omarchy/Debian dual-boot travel laptop turned into a lesson in boot internals. I installed Zoom from the AUR after auditing its PKGBUILD, then caught a Debian update quietly shrinking my boot file to a quarter of its size. The cause was a helper script tripping over its own files. Here’s how I diagnosed it, repaired it, and made sure it can’t happen again.
A step-by-step build log for a fully isolated cyber range running three layers deep:
VMware Workstation hosting Proxmox, with Kali and Metasploitable 2 wired onto a private
bridge that never touches the home network. Includes every gotcha I hit — no DHCP, an
IP-range mismatch, and a noVNC console that fought back — plus the nmap scan that proved
it all works.
What began as a simple Oracle version check became a hands-on Debian troubleshooting lesson. I traced a false port conflict, hostname trouble, permission errors, and missing directories until SQL*Plus finally connected to an idle instance—with database creation still ahead.
The CSI Linux Certified Investigator (CSI CI) course is a 27-module, hands-on program that teaches investigators how to use CSI Linux — a purpose-built investigative distro, not an attack platform — for case management, OSINT, forensics, incident response, and threat intelligence. This reference summary covers the full module structure, key concepts, flashcards, study path, and exam prep in one guide.
I turned a second Debian laptop into a private doorway to my Hawaii homelab. Using Tailscale, SSH, Video4Linux, FFmpeg, and SCP, I remotely controlled my main Debian workstation, triggered its Logitech webcam, captured a 1080p photograph, and transferred it back to the laptop—the same basic workflow I could use while traveling in Spain.
Today I began turning a second physical Debian laptop into a real endpoint for my Microsoft security lab. I installed Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, verified its health, and discovered an important distinction between installing an agent and actually onboarding it into an enterprise security organization.
Porting a hand-rolled Unix-socket RPC client from Python to Rust should have been the easy part.
The real payoff came last: the official HTTP API silently hung with no error, so reading the node's own source code on GitHub uncovered its raw socket protocol instead — and a hand-built Python client, no SDK, no libraries beyond socket and json, ended up pulling live chain data straight off the wire.
Installing Omarchy 4 in VMware Workstation on Debian led to a black screen, an enormous pointer, outdated configuration instructions, and even a temporarily missing VM entry. Here is how VMware Tools, corrected display scaling, and Omarchy’s new Lua configuration finally produced a beautiful working Hyprland desktop.