Blog posts written by Nathan Hart

Nathan Hart
15 August 2023

Docker on Mac – a lightweight option with Multipass

Ubuntu Article

For those looking for a streamlined, lightweight command line interface for Docker on Mac, look no further. Multipass is a flexible tool that makes it easy to create and run Ubuntu VMs on any platform, and it comes with built-in tools that make running applications like Docker feel native on platforms such as macOS. What ...

Nathan Hart
10 July 2023

An introduction to smart home business models

Ubuntu Article

Smart homes are changing. A modern smart home typically isn’t a self-contained, set-it-and-forget-it, custom installation. It’s a hyper-connected set of devices that work together to automate and enhance the users’ living space. Today’s smart homes contain devices from many manufacturers, running dozens of protocols, interfacing with mult ...

Nathan Hart
11 May 2023

Matter on Ubuntu: getting started with the standard for smart home devices

Internet of Things Article

Canonical joined the Connectivity Standards Alliance last year to lead the charge for Linux in the smart home. The Matter standard is a particular focus for us. Its secure design and open ecosystem align well with Ubuntu’s own values of security and openness. Ubuntu Core and Matter make for a powerful pair. Ubuntu Core’s containerisation ...

Nathan Hart
28 March 2023

How to create a VSCode Linux remote environment

Ubuntu Article

What’s the best way to get a Linux environment in VSCode? Developers love Visual Studio Code (VSCode) for its flexibility and for its goldilocks balance of powerful features and lightness / speed. VSCode is a popular choice for developers using Linux, but even those using it on Mac or Windows often look for ways to ...

Nathan Hart
1 February 2023

Multipass 1.11 brings enhanced performance for Linux on Mac and Windows

Ubuntu Article

Multipass 1.11 is here! This release has some particularly interesting features that we’ve been wanting to ship for a while now. We’re excited to share them with you! For those who aren’t familiar with Multipass, it’s software that streamlines every aspect of managing and working with virtual machines. We’ve found that development, partic ...

Nathan Hart
5 January 2023

Security in the smart home: considerations for device makers

IoT Article

When people think of home security they usually think of an alarm system with a keypad next to the door. These days, however, home security should have two meanings. I’m here to talk about the second: cybersecurity. In other words, security in the smart home. A recent investigation found that a shocking number of leading ...

Nathan Hart
25 October 2022

Two approaches to IoT prototyping

Ubuntu Engineering

Taking a new device from an idea to production readiness can be a challenge. Hacks or workarounds can help you deliver a proof of concept, but they can negatively impact production devices. A development kit can be great for quickly proving out an idea, but oftentimes the hardware constraints will be more stringent in production ...

Nathan Hart
13 September 2022

Home Assistant tutorial on Ubuntu Core

Ubuntu Article

Install Home Assistant and create a motion-activated light automation with this tutorial Key Value Summary Install Home Assistant and create an automation Categories Smart Home, Ubuntu Core Difficulty 3 Author nathan.hart@canonical.com Overview In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to install Home Assistant on Ubuntu Core, then create a motio ...

Nathan Hart
29 July 2022

Multipass 1.10 brings new instance modification capabilities

Ubuntu Canonical News

Developers rejoice! The Multipass team has been listening to your feedback, and we are excited to announce that the latest update to Multipass contains one of our most requested features – instance modification. For those who are just discovering Multipass, it’s software designed to make working with virtual machines as painless as possib ...

Nathan Hart
29 June 2022

Multipass documentation: proudly a work in progress

Ubuntu Article

In February of this year the Multipass team took on a challenge: completely overhauling our documentation. Canonical has put a renewed emphasis on documentation in recent months, led by Daniele Procida and his Diataxis framework, and we wanted to be an early adopter of this methodology. We had no idea where to start, but fortunately ...

Nathan Hart
10 May 2022

Linux on Mac takes the next step with Multipass 1.9

Ubuntu Article

This week, the Multipass team announced a new version of the VM manager and local mini-cloud. Multipass makes it easy to run Linux virtual machines on Mac, Windows, and Linux hosts by providing a streamlined CLI that abstracts away the admin overhead of working with VMs. This update comes with some exciting new features, including ...

Nathan Hart
29 March 2022

The Evolution of the Smart Home: Future Predictions [Part 3]

Internet of Things Article

In blogs one and two of this series, we covered how far we’ve come from the earliest smart homes, including older technologies and standards, and smart-home ideas that covered the gamut from innovative to total head-scratchers. We also covered the smart home landscape today, and what developments are on the immediate horizon. Here, we’ll ...