Author Topic: Fettled any computer stuff today? (Read 217519 times)

Phil W · « **Reply #550 on:** 10 March, 2016, 10:52:39 pm »

In other news I've got html5 web sockets in use on a new website I'm building. It's lightening fast compared to Ajax, with just a 2 byte overhead over the size of you message and full duplex between server and clients, and a permanent TCP socket connection. I like it a lot.

pcolbeck · « **Reply #551 on:** 12 March, 2016, 08:59:48 am »

TP-link powerline WiFi access point purchased and installed to plug the annoying wifi blackhole that is the front room. Smashing £25 and now the WiFi in there is faster than in the kitchen/lounge. I think I might buy another one to replace the ancient Linksys router running Tomato that lives in the attic providing WiFi for the kitchen/lounge.

Kim · « **Reply #552 on:** 12 March, 2016, 04:49:10 pm »

Replaced the fans on my desktop. It's no longer making irritating whining noises. But it is an order of magnitude louder

woollypigs · « **Reply #553 on:** 12 March, 2016, 09:26:40 pm »

Finally got around to try to root my Android again, found a rooter(is that a word in that sense?) that could. Removed various installed bloatware and the phone feels like it is running faster. Though I can't see/find if cyanogenmod has a version for my phone, so It looks like I'm stuck with what the phone came with. At least I removed the bloat.

Afasoas · « **Reply #554 on:** 13 March, 2016, 12:54:30 am »

Added an interface to the firewall ready for the installation of fully expensed* Virgin Media fibre which will hopefully arrive early next month.
Configured a default routing policy that will prioritise the Virgin Media fibre over existing 5Mb ADSL connection, using the latter in the event of packet loss or high latency.

*Work are cottoning on that supporting two datacentres out of hours takes its toll on us. I'm really not sure what the point in having dual WAN connections is when there are so many other single points of failure. Although I could technically make the firewall and other network services highly available with a few simple upgrades to my backup server, I'm not willing to foot the extra expense (network card, extra memory and ideally a better PSU and more efficient CPU to reduce energy consumption). That said, it will be nice to have some more bandwidth and eventually when there's more bandwidth into the office, working from home on occasion might become a real possibility. I would just settle for getting paid when on call.

Phil W · « **Reply #555 on:** 16 March, 2016, 08:42:35 pm »

First iteration of GPS Tracking website now live.

Setup to auto publish and restart the remote server daemons on a git push from the local machine
Identity role setup with limited permissions for running remote server
SSH shortcut so I can login with ssh shortcutname
SSL certificates in place
Load balancer in place
DNS CName records done.

So quite a productive day. I'm most pleased with the git workflow as auto publishing updates to cloud servers has been a pain with the standard offerings out there. Git hooks are brilliant for pushing updates live!

Afasoas · « **Reply #556 on:** 17 March, 2016, 09:34:24 am »

I'm not able to obtain a static IP for the internet connection at Chez Afasoas. To date, I've been relying on DynDNS but on seeing the price jacked up to $40 and reviewed a number of free alternatives with unsatisfactory privacy policies, I attempted to build my own dyndns. I'm part way there already with running my own DNS servers for a number of domains.

So...

sub-domain ('A' record) created for the DynDNS 'service'
sub-domain ('A' record) created for the dynamic IP which will be used as a VPN end point into Chez Afasoas
NGINX site created with Perl/fcgi->cgi gubbins
HTTP auth set-up
BIND RNDC key created
The BIND zone which contains the A record for the dynamic IP tweaked to allow updates specifically for the dynamic IP record
BIND changes tested with nsupdate
Perl script copied and amended

So now I'm able to update the A record for myvpn.somedomainname.sometld using curl !!

I'm having some problems getting the user from http basic auth using Perl so I've hard coded it for now. I'm no Perl expert, but I read this should be fairly straight forward to resolve.
Then I need to create/install a self-signed certificate for the dynamic DNS service and persuade my pfSense box to trust it*

*I think it will probably trust it anyway with the "check ssl peers" checkbox unchecked. It doesn't work as of right now because the cert has the wrong CN.

If any other forummers want a dyndns service FoC, I should as of next week be able to set this up for them.

On Edit: Installed a certificate with the right CNAME and it works, at least for a single user. I've had to hard code the user name used for the DNS updates into the perl script as the NGINX FastCGI->CGI adapter seems to be getting in the way of passing across the http basic auth details. I suppose it's not the biggest security risk on the planet ...

On further edit: It's dawned on me that the default NGINX FastCGI configuration doesn't pass either the username or auth header to the perl script. Hopefully adding a "fastcgi_param REMOTE_USER $remote_user;" to the appropriate config file will do the trick.

tiermat · « **Reply #557 on:** 22 March, 2016, 08:21:18 pm »

As well as the day job, which has been more politics than IT today, I have built the Raspberry Pi 3, TLD for the use of. Not impressed, so far, but that could be down to user error (one typo in the fstab prevented boot and then no desktop for the one user). Currently running an update to see if that fixes the desktop issue, if not I will install the Gnome group.

Tim Hall · « **Reply #558 on:** 23 March, 2016, 08:51:50 am »

Over the weekend I:

1. Untangled my backup by deleting a spurious crontab
2. Discovered that rsync creates a directory if the specified target doesn't exist. Or if the USB drive it's trying to write to isn't plugged in.
3. Discovered why I had more copies of $DIRECTORY_NAME than I should have (see 2)
4. Got over enthusiastic deleting $DIRECTORY_NAME
5. Got familiar with data recovery software (see 4)
6. Learnt about mountpoint (see 2)

It all works much better now.

Vince · « **Reply #559 on:** 20 April, 2016, 10:55:56 am »

Swapped the cases of two computers so the desktop has the useful front mounted audio and USB connections and the server has a smaller box to hide inna cupboard.

David Martin · « **Reply #560 on:** 20 April, 2016, 10:03:29 pm »

set up the pi Zero with a HDMI<>VGA adapter, an old screen, and goodness knows how many other adapters to get it to work. And it all behaves.
well, once I had found a mouse so I could change the default log in and launch X setup on the latest Raspbian to a console only, and turn off serial port output.
Next step tomorrow, check it has Git installed.

DaveReading · « **Reply #561 on:** 20 April, 2016, 10:39:17 pm »

Not exactly a computer, but my cherished BlackBerry Pearl died a few weeks ago. Attempts to resuscitate it were in vain, so I bought a second-hand one from eBay, planning to restore my backup onto it.

Everything restored OK, but I couldn't get email or my browser to work despite Vodafone's best efforts and I eventually discovered that the new BB was an ex-corporate one (albeit unused) with a bunch of installed policies which wouldn't allow BIS email or browsing.

After chatting to the eBay vendor, who sent a replacement BB with the same symptoms, we agreed that I could try wiping and reinstalling the OS with the aid of some downloaded utilities (JL_Cmdr, BBSAW). Happily it worked, and with the backup restored once more all was tickety-boo.

T42 · « **Reply #562 on:** 21 April, 2016, 10:03:05 am »

Cleared a bunch of ancient crap from our network drive. Like the mucking of Geordie's byre, stuff going back to before ye Fludde, clones of directories hidden within other directories, etc. Tossed about 50% so far and there's more to go but IC no longer BA.

Kim · « **Reply #563 on:** 26 April, 2016, 04:32:43 pm »

Barakta came home and turned her computer on. The BIOS randomly decided to recover itself from backup, restoring some default settings in the process. Then Windows booted and BSODed a couple of times before getting to the login screen. When she rebooted to switch to Debian, it transpired that Windows had run amok on the bootloaders, and all roads pointed to Windows 7.

Cue lots of fucking about by me to recover a working system. This EFI voodoo is a pain in the proverbial.

Jaded · « **Reply #564 on:** 26 April, 2016, 07:10:53 pm »

Doing an SSD in a 17"er...

except the disk directory on the old HD needs TLC and a glass of whisky and a lump hammer.

Mr Larrington · « **Reply #565 on:** 06 May, 2016, 01:37:58 pm »

2x NAS want firmware upgrade. FatBoy does everything properly. Only threats of violence and vigorous frobbing of the the on/off switch persuade TubbyJohnson to do likewise. Now the backups are all in a quandary chiz.

Phil W · « **Reply #566 on:** 07 May, 2016, 06:35:58 pm »

Early entry system for LEL2017 completed this week, so I can relax over summer before coming back to website stuff in the autumn. If you know what a http header is, you might find some geeky suprises if you visit the website

David Martin · « **Reply #567 on:** 07 May, 2016, 07:56:12 pm »

Quote from: Phil W on 07 May, 2016, 06:35:58 pm

Early entry system for LEL2017 completed this week, so I can relax over summer before coming back to website stuff in the autumn. If you know what a http header is, you might find some geeky suprises if you visit the website

Like!

T42 · « **Reply #568 on:** 10 May, 2016, 11:17:19 am »

Installing a NAS. The usual boredom interspersed with periods of figuring out what the suppliers think their English means and/or "if I say yes to this, what's it going to fuck up?"

hulver · « **Reply #569 on:** 10 May, 2016, 11:38:40 am »

Quote from: Phil W on 07 May, 2016, 06:35:58 pm

Early entry system for LEL2017 completed this week, so I can relax over summer before coming back to website stuff in the autumn. If you know what a http header is, you might find some geeky suprises if you visit the website

Ha ha, very nice

T42 · « **Reply #570 on:** 15 May, 2016, 01:46:24 pm »

Configured a spare router as a WAP.

Gattopardo · « **Reply #571 on:** 15 May, 2016, 11:23:36 pm »

Looked at a raspberry pi, believe it is a model B something....so now with a galileo board and a pi I should do something with them.

David Martin · « **Reply #572 on:** 17 May, 2016, 10:15:11 pm »

Yesterday at close of play I was trying to get my Pi Zero to talk to a spectrometer. Unfortunately the serial adapter (RS232) just had the minimal connections - +ve, GND, RX and TX. The Spectrometer dates from the era of very slow serial printers (anyone remember those?) so requires hardware control. A quick visit to Makerspace and use of a soldering iron, some headers and I could then bridge CTS/RTS and pull DTR high. It now behaves so I can enhance the functionality of the spec with simple Python.

I should really put the DSR and or DCD (whichever is the equivalent of DTR going the other way) instead of guessing the time it takes to perform operations like shutter open/close and changing wavelength. At present I just use a time.sleep(n) to allow it time to do what it needs.

But it works and the colleagues are impressed.

Kim · « **Reply #573 on:** 17 May, 2016, 10:36:21 pm »

Continuing the Pi theme, I got one working with one of those Adafruit I²C PWM boards for driving servos, and lashed up a boost converter and transistor driver to run an 80mm fan from one of the channels. At no point was any magic smoke released.

David Martin · « **Reply #574 on:** 17 May, 2016, 10:40:17 pm »

The I2C board has a good rep at Makerspace. seems to behave nicely for modest loads and give a robust behaviour (unlike PWM direct from the Pi)