tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86594778786692688462026-10-01T07:35:53.528+01:00A collection of thoughts, ramblings and experience of making technology work for me. It may include some further diversions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-75151172689645715902026-06-01T20:55:39.575+01:002026-06-01T20:55:39.576+01:00

My OPNSense has been crashing - maybe due to heat?The OPNSense box logs to RAM, as I want to avoid disk usage as the box runs on NVMe / SSD. The logs on RAM get lost.Here's how to setup basic remote logging to a local server running syslog-ng...For a Linux log collector receiving logs from OPNsense, I am using syslog-ng versus the alternative rsyslog.Why syslog-ng:

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-62936430158535741442026-05-17T20:47:25.004+01:002026-05-17T21:20:11.633+01:00

NordVPN does not provide support for native router configurations using the WireGuard protocol. NordLynx, which has been developed by NordVPN, is fundamentally based on the WireGuard VPN protocol. It is possible to establish a NordVPN WireGuard tunnel for the router, and to enable the router to offer NordVPN to its clients. Here's how I configured NordVPN on OPNSense version 25.7...&

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-75486223184332082952026-04-05T15:56:00.000+01:002026-04-05T15:56:22.969+01:00

Setting up a Dell WYSE for Proxmox VE, addition an additional 1tb NVMe to store VMs...The Dell comes in a 8gb DDR4 ram / 32gb NVMe configuration, with a Pentium Silver J5005. I found one on eBay for £50, it is ideal for trying out proxmox. The unit as standard has one NVMe which is on a standard PCIe x4 M key socket (SATA based). I will use this as the Proxmox system drive. I want

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-84328150573532046862025-09-06T22:48:00.005+01:002026-05-17T21:23:06.850+01:00

Here's how to install wireguard on Ubuntu, and to configure it as a server.And setup the iOS wireguard client....Setup the server on Ubuntu1. Install wireguardsudo apt install wireguard -y2. Create directories for the server configsudo mkdir -p /etc/wireguardsudo chmod 700 /etc/wireguardsudo -i cd /etc/wireguard3. Generate the server-side private and public keys wg genkey | sudo

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-80524744158523902862025-07-04T00:03:00.011+01:002026-05-17T21:25:27.511+01:00

Topton sell a unit ideal for OPNSense. Based off an Intel N100, with an Intel i226 4 port 2.5GbE switch, HDMI, DisplayPort, NVMe and 6 USB.. it's ideal. But unfortunately, it runs hot.Here's how to lower the power usage (and temperature) given the box uses only 5-10% of CPU utilisation for OPNSense...                 &nbsp

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-89416300235258873092024-09-16T23:55:00.000+01:002024-09-16T23:55:01.703+01:00

 How to setup 802.1X authentication using EAP-MD5 (passwords not certs)...OPNSense1. Install FreeRADIUS under firmware...then go to the FreeRADIUS service to configure2. Configure - General:Enable service = checkEnable logging for setup3. Configure - Users:Add users i.e. end supplicants4. Configure - Clients:Add clients i.e. authenticators (for me this is the HP switch)Host names did not

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-58954734477172853542024-09-16T01:29:00.002+01:002024-09-16T23:22:03.853+01:00

 Login to the console (via serial or ssh) then...configuresntpsntp server priority 1 192.168.100.1sntp unicastsntp poll-interval 600write memoryshow timeWhere the IP is the ntp server, domain names do not seem to work(?!)

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-32867397201098615592024-05-18T20:52:00.003+01:002024-05-19T23:10:12.602+01:00

Creating a sparse file, formatting it with a file system, mounting it, and sharing it.There are a few ways to go about it. Here's a simple approach that won't require installing any special quota management software. Basically, we set up a 10GB container that we format as ext4, mount, and share.Decide where you want to save her 10GB file. Open a terminal and cd to that directory.Create

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-4909829512063893552024-05-05T23:12:00.002+01:002024-05-05T23:12:18.797+01:00

 Setup of SSH...sudo apt-get install openssh-serversudo vi /etc/ssh/sshd_configmkdir ~/.sshmkdir ~/.ssh/authorized_keyschmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keyscreate and update /etc/ssh/sshrc

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-83193872282007863962023-10-07T23:12:00.002+01:002023-10-07T23:12:31.379+01:00

How to upgrade HASS Home Assistant docker container on Linux... without docker-compose...#1. Backup HASS from GUI backup optionSettings > System > Backup# 2. Download latest image, if this returns "Image is up to date" then you can stop heredocker pull ghcr.io/home-assistant/home-assistant:stable# 3. stop the running containerdocker stop homeassistant# 4. remove it from Docker's list of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-15136417265456646252023-02-02T22:28:00.004+00:002023-02-02T22:28:51.894+00:00

How to use the linux shred tool on a windows machine to secure erase an external disk. This guide assumes the WSL has already been setup.Mount drive in WSL1. Open powershell as administrator2. Determine the physical disk address in windows to mount in WSLGET-CimInstance -query "SELECT * from Win32_DiskDrive"3. Expose the disk to wsl, from powershell wsl --mount \\.\PHYSICALDRIVEX --bareStart

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-15468090200015987122021-04-10T19:51:00.000+01:002021-04-10T19:51:12.406+01:00

My disks don't spin down, here's how I fixed it:To check status without waking the drive:sudo smartctl -i -n standby /dev/sdaTo check status may wake drive:sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdaTo help hard drive goto sleep:sudo smartctl --offlineauto=off /dev/sdaDisables SMART scrubbing (automatic offline testing), which helps the drive is to enter "standby". Note: offlineauto=off value is saved in

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-68531940436248391932020-07-31T02:12:00.004+01:002021-04-10T19:53:43.118+01:00

In 2016 I wrote "Apple's TimeMachine now works with Samba SMB2. Apple also is moving to depreciate AFP which was the previously underpinned TimeMachine" Fast forward to 2020 - what a year: I have finally upgraded from Ubuntu 16.04 LTS > 20.04 LTS Samba was never really hugely reliable for TimeMachine in my experience Netatalk is still around now at version 3 MacOS I'm running is High

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-24382601301710128712018-01-21T15:42:00.004+00:002018-01-21T15:43:23.728+00:00

VS.  The following has taken me an eternity to figure out. I use Airplay from a Linux server to Apple and other airplay devices on my network. Configuring the firewall properly for this to work has not been simple - many guides are vague and lack the specifics needed. My actual configuration centres around Logitech's squeezeboxserver now known as logitechmediaserver 'LMS' whereby I

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com90tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-13351558059703632392017-10-10T19:05:00.000+01:002017-10-10T19:05:14.564+01:00

Clipboard not working over VNC to Linux? To share clipboard over VNC if its not working (e.g. on xfce) try autocutsel. sudo apt install autocutsel -y

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-32443475997649959172017-04-30T18:00:00.000+01:002017-04-30T18:00:01.076+01:00

To enable the LMS logitechmediaserver cd player plugin by BPA: 1. Install cdda2wav which is required to ensure that the cd can be extracted to a wav file for LMS to play the stream sudo apt-get install cdda2wav If your version of linux does not have cdda2wav use icedax 2. [OPTIONAL - Install icedac - this wasn't critical on Ubuntu 16.40] sudo apt-get install icedax 3. [

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-67328393661676279362017-03-21T21:47:00.001+00:002017-03-21T21:47:10.408+00:00

To prevent Apple Scripts from opening the Apple Script Editor on Mac OSX login the script should be export to an application within Script Editor. The application (.app) should be added to OSX login items, not the script (.scpt). To do this From the Script Editor menu, choose File -> Export and select “Application” from the File Format dropdown. This is necessary because if you only save

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-2891104635269056912016-08-07T14:23:00.004+01:002016-08-07T14:23:55.184+01:00

This post shows how to setup an ipsec VPN connection in roadwarrior fashion. Roadwarrior mode is where you typically have a mobile device which has a dynamic address and you want to connect back to a VPN server. This post uses a simple pre shared key to establish the VPN connection using strongswan. This is much simpler than my past openswan approach which also relied on L2TP, Pluto etc.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-32150730859964095362016-08-04T21:12:00.001+01:002016-08-04T21:12:15.320+01:00

Apple's TimeMachine now works with Samba SMB2. Apple also is moving to depreciate AFP which was the previously underpinned TimeMachine. Since Yosemite OSX 10.10 it is possible to use samba which in my view is easier and simpler to set up. Read on... This post assumes that samba is already installed and working with users set up. 1. Create A Sparse Image First we create a sparse

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-62815185385614327572016-02-14T15:55:00.001+00:002016-02-14T15:55:05.681+00:00

Getting BBC iPlayer to work on Logitech Squeezebox has not been simple in the last 18 months due to BBC's ongoing changes to their iPlayer infrastructure. Here's how I have it working as of February 2012 on a Logitech Squeezebox Plus and Logitech Squeezebox Classic, read on... This is based on using Ubuntu and Logitech Media Server 7.7.3. The latest versions are: BBC iPlayer

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-66071502160700842972015-09-12T22:01:00.002+01:002016-02-14T16:39:42.778+00:00

I needed to tail a logfile in realtome for specific strings to understand why mpd was failing to update all of my music. To do this I tail the log file as follows: tail -f filetofollow This follows the output of the log file, however this includes everything; including a lot of unwanted noise. Grep can be used to search through text for specific strings, filtering out the noise.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-34491783392874107352014-10-04T20:30:00.002+01:002014-10-11T23:57:07.958+01:00

I've wanted for a while to play music / all audio from my linux PC on my Squeezeboxes, with ease. I've tried in the past to do this with BPA's Squeezebox WaveInput plugin but this route isn't for the faint hearted. It also limits the audio source just to the Squeezebox Server local machine unless you are advanced. Here is a very simple method which allows you to stream from any linux PC on your

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-64512533324735463602014-07-05T13:50:00.001+01:002014-07-05T13:50:03.313+01:00

Xubuntu 14.04 does not come with VNC working out of the box which is frustrating and feels like a step backwards. So here is how I enabled VNC on Xubuntu... 1. Install vino the VNC server: sudo apt-get install vino-server 2. Run vino preferences: vino-preferences 3. Set them as follows: 4. Update the firewall: sudo ufw allow from any to any port 5900 5. Update the encryption

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-75498016701923957412014-04-18T17:44:00.002+01:002014-04-18T17:48:45.895+01:00

DynDns has closed its door and support for free accounts. Try afraid.org for a free alternative dynamic dns service.

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8659477878669268846.post-43301894970618853742014-04-18T17:42:00.001+01:002014-04-18T17:48:37.475+01:00

Linux can receive AirPlay audio using a program called Shairport that I covered over a year ago. Shairplay has since been re-written by the original developer James Laird to no longer rely on perl. The latest version is v1.0-dev here's how to get AirPlay working on Ubuntu using Shairport and iTunes to test it. 1. Download AirPlay (Shairport) cd /tmp sudo git clone https://github.com/abrasive

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3