Proxmox, LXC, and Debian Trixie
I run Proxmox Virtual Environment as my virtualisation platform. On top of this I use virtual machines using KVM and Linux Containers using LXC - both of which are natively supported on ProxmoxVE.
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Linux / Unix
Code storage
Code, and where to store it
Tunnels using Pangolin
It’s all about the Tunnels, baby!
Moving the elephant in the room
Ground control to Mastodon… Ground control to Mastodon…
VPS Proxmox Love
Where I (re?)discovered Proxmox for LXC hosting on a VPS
Domains and DNS
It’s always a DNS problem, even when it isn’t.
Reclaiming My Digital Sovereignty, Part 1 - VPS Trials and Container Tribulations
Where I am increasingly skeptical about using US-based providers, find a European VPS provider, test out some initial hosting architecture but decide against it, and other ramblings…
Turning a Youtube channel into a podcast
I frequently listen to Off The Hook, a hacker radio show which airs on WBAI in the greater New York region. As I’m in a different continent, listening live is not practical ;)
Jottacloud - an update
So a while ago (four months) I migrated from Hetzner to Jotta - it’s been smooth sailing until last month, when I got a bunch of errors thrown at me.
Moving ZFS to a Dell Perc H310 HBA
A friend of mine gave me a Dell Perc H310 HBA nearly half a year ago which was flashed to IT-mode, which basically removes all the fancy RAID functionality from the card and turns it into a dumb HBA, just showing all the disks to the operating system. A good guide to flashing Dell Perc cards can be found on https://fohdeesha.com/docs/perc.html.
Moving from Hetzner Storageboxes to Jottacloud
A year ago I migrated from Backblaze B2 to Hetzner Storageboxes. That worked fine, but passing over the 5TB border made my offsite storage rather expensive (again). So another round of investigations was called upon.
Adventures with rootless Podman containers
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Rootless Container
Switching to Traefik and step-ca (from nginx-proxy)
I’ve been using nginx-proxy as a reverse proxy for my docker containers for a few years, where I manually generate and inject the necessary SSL certificates to make stuff work. The certificates were generated on my Opnsense box. A bit tedious, but manageable.
Upgrading to Mastodon v4.2.0 and LibreTranslate
Upgrade to 4.2.0
Additional powersaving using udev rules
Some additional powertweaks - courtesey of syrjala on Phoronix - for my Lenovo Thinkpad T14s Gen3 (AMD):
SSH’ing to Unifi equipment with Fedora 37
Connecting to Unifi equipment (Switch 8/AP AC Pro) from Fedora37 fails out of the box with a very useful error Bad server host key: Invalid key length. This is because the dropbear used on these devices is woefully out of date, and still requires the use of ssh-rsa (with SHA1), which has been deprecated by OpenSSH in 2021,
Lenovo Thinkpad T14s Gen3 (AMD)
10 years ago I bought a Dell XPS13 L322x ultrabook as a replacement for my white Macbook 2,1. This week I replaced the Dell with something newer: a Lenovo Thinkpad T14s Gen3 (AMD).
Using Hetzner Storageboxes as backup targets for Restic/Rclone
For my offsite backup strategy I’m relying on rclone and restic. Rclone is being used to encrypt/copy backups taken by Proxmox Backup Server (which takes backups of the VM’s/Linux Containers running on Proxmox VE, deduplicates and compresses the data) to remote storage, while restic is used to do deduplication/encryption and copying of data stored on my NAS to remote storage.
Installing Displaylink drivers on Fedora 37
I have an Asus ZenScreen MB16AC which uses Displaylink as its display technology. On usb-c you can just plug this in and it’ll work, but on my ancient laptop I only have usb-a ports. The display does come with an USB-A to USB-C convertor - so let’s try ;)
Increasing Mastodon’s post size
Mastodon comes with a default post size of 500 characters. This is not set in stone, and can be increased fairly easily (last tested on Mastodon 4.2.0):
Enabling H.246, H.256 and VC1 VA-API codecs in Fedora 37
For legal reasons Fedora 37 decided to build Mesa without support for H.246, H.256 and VC1 VA-API codecs. (discussion thread)
Dark theme in Flatpak apps
To get flatpak’s to honor your systems dark mode and not show you horrible white menubars, you can use this little snipplet:
Deploying a Mastodon server on Oracle Cloud
I’ve been meaning to test out Mastodon again for a while. It’s is best described as a federated version of the blue bird platform (Twitter), while not being Twitter. No ads, no algorithms.
Automatically unlocking SSH keys with passphrases in KDE
I finally (shame on me) cycled all my SSH keys to use passphrases. One thing I massively dislike is having to enter my passphrase when using them. ssh-agent to the rescue!
Adding en_BE locale to Linux
I live in Belgium, but I prefer english as my default locale. Using the en_US or en_GB locale brings problems of it’s own - not having the right system (metric) or wrong start of week day..
Automatically switching audio to HDMI on Linux
One of the devices in the house has a micro-HDMI connecter which is used from time to time with our TV. Unfortunately Linux (pulseaudio) doesn’t switch automatically to the right audio, keeping the sound playing through the laptop speakers, instead of sending the audio across the HDMI link.
Understanding LXC user/group mapping
I’ve been moving some docker containers back from the VM I put them back to Linux Containers (LXC) because of I/O performance and cpu consumption reasons (caused by that I/O).
Using ZFS snapshots instead of BackupPC
One of the docker containers I’ve been using is the wonderful BackupPC for agentless backups. This thing works quite well, allowing me to backup laptops around the house without too much hassle. It’s a bit work to set it up properly, but it works and is fast.
Migrating Proxmox/ZFS from raidz1 to mirrors
The Proxmox box at my home is also being used as a NAS, with Samba and NFS doing the sharing. It had 4 WD Red 6TB PMR drives, in a raidz1 configuration, giving me a net capacity of 18TB (give or take a few).
Moving docker to a VM
In the original design of my Proxmox box I opted for running the docker containers straight on the host. For a lot of reasons, this is actually a Bad IdeaTM, and it’s been one of my goals to migrate these to a VM at some point.
Adding a SLOG to ZFS
I’ve noticed that quite a few of my VM workloads and NFS workloads are rather slow on my Proxmox box, due to the facts that it’s sitting on spinning rust (also known as hard disk drives) a lot of those are synchronous writes
Renaming volume groups on Debian
I’m prepping a lot of stuff with cloud-init lately, and one step I always forget when installing my base OS is keeping the vg name clear of any hostname stuff.
Using JACK for lower-latency audio on Linux for piano practice
About a month and a bit in me learning the piano, I’ve had to rethink my remote piano learning setup. The latency was at points really annnoying (sometimes nearly a second) - it’s confusing when you hit a key and only hear it when you’re hitting the next key. So, time to look for a lower-latency setup.
Learning the piano, and playing with MIDI & PulseAudio on Linux
I’ve always wanted to learn the piano. Finally, in 2021, I’m following up on it :)
Allowing macvlan-networked docker containers to access the host
This post is more a reminder for myself than anything else ;)
Enter Proxmox and ZFS
Following up on my Exit Synology post, I’ve decided it’s time to move from a consumer grade NAS to something a bit more sturdy. I’ve also been running out of memory on the Synology NAS with all the things that I wanted to run on it… so time for something else.
Exit Synology
I have/had a Synology DS916+ NAS. This is an Intel based NAS with 4 disk bays, running on Synology’s Disk Station Manager - a nice piece of software that offers an easy way to manage the device, and run additional software on top of it.
Using WireGuard on Synology DiskStations
I used to use Synology VPN on my NAS (in OpenVPN mode) as an entrypoint into my local network when I’m away from home. This worked fine, up to a few weeks ago - at that point I kept getting AUTH FAILED errors, even though nothing had changed.
Easy power management on Fedora with powertop, tuned and udev
A simple trick to get Linux to switch between tuned profiles to optimize your battery life. The tuned profile is created using a tool called powertop2tuned, which (on Fedora) is part of the tuned-utils package.
Generating a Plex Auth Token using curl
I recently started using Plex, and since I’m also using Home Assistant, and Home Assistant can do stuff with Plex, I wanted to combine the two.
EDID for ViewSonic Vx2025wm
I recently reinstalled Fedora on my desktop machine, which has (amongst others) a ViewSonic Vx2025wm screen connected to it. It’s an oldie, but still works (quite well). Unfortunately, Linux just complained that it didn’t get a proper EDID out of it, and refused to activate it - might also explain why Windows doesn’t recognise it as a PnP monitor - I guess the chip fried somewhere along the ...
Hibernate after suspend (on Fedora)
I recently found out that Windows has this nice feature where, after suspending your laptop, it’ll go to hibernate after a while to preserve battery. Seems like a really cool feature, saves your battery too, so I wanted it on my linux installation. I’m using Fedora 27 right now. To get it working, you’ll first need to verify that your suspend to ram and suspend to disk actually work. There are...
DIY ambilight with Hyperion and a Raspberry Pi
I’ve always liked the Ambilight technology Philips builds into some of their TV’s. I just don’t like the price that they ask for it… so I looked around if there was no way to build that yourself. There is, using a Raspberry Pi, some leds, and some bits and pieces ;)
Why you should use Syncthing
I’ve been a user of Dropbox for ages, I’ve tried Owncloud, I’ve tried Box, and probably numerous others that I’ve forgotten about, but in the past year I’ve migrated over to Syncthing, and I haven’t looked back. Opensource software, well designed protocol, complete ownership of your data, I could go on… but this post by gbolo explains it perfectly!
Using a Yubikey for account security
I got a Yubikey 4 half a year ago (during Red Hat Summit 2016), but until now I didn’t do much with it. Time to change that ;)
Replacing Crashplan
I’ve been a longtime user of Crashplan, an easy-to-use cloud backup solution. It works well, and it used to work also on nearly any platform that had a java run-time and some add-on opensource libraries. I’ve used it for some time on my raspberry pi to automatically backup my data to the cloud. (Crashplan on ARM (the architecture of the raspberry pi) is an unsupported configuration though).
Running crashplan (headless) on a Raspberry pi 2
In my grand scheme of “abuse all the low-power computing things!”, I’ve moved my crashplan backups over to the Raspberry Pi 2 (rpi2 for short). Installation is relatively painless: download the installer from the crashplan site, and unpack and execute. I installed mine under /opt/crashplan.
ASUS UX305UA and Linux
The ASUS UX305UA is an ultrabook with the Skylake microarchitecture - the (as of writing) latest iteration in Intel processors. Unfortunately, Skylake support on Linux wasn’t really a granted thing the time the device got released. Fortunately it’s gotten a lot better of late.
Replacing OS X with Linux on my Mac Mini 2,1
I still had an old Mac Mini (model 2,1) - which I bought during a period of experimentation with different operating systems - connected to the TV, running Mac OS X Lion. Not Apple’s finest installment of OS X, truth be told.
Managing TP-Link easy smart switches from Linux
I’ve recently acquired some TP-Link ‘Easy Smart’ managed switches - cheap, decently built (metal casing), and a lot of features above the usual unmanaged stuff:
Debian GNU/Linux 7.0 “Wheezy” gone stable
Debian Wheezy has been released today.
OpenWRT, Atheros & channel availability
If you’re living outside the US, and you’re using OpenWRT (a fantastic 3rdparty opensource firmware for many routers), you might have noticed that not all the WiFi channels which are legally allowed in your region are actually available for you to choose from.
XPS13, Linux, suspend and Intel Rapid Start Technology
As an addendum to my previous post on how to install Debian Sid on the XPS13, I’ve been having issues with suspend - the laptop would sporadicaly not go to sleep properly on lid close, or it wouldn’t come out of suspend afterwards.
Dell XPS 13 and Debian Sid
I purchased a Dell XPS 13 Ultrabook, to replace my ageing Apple Macbook 2,1. After six years of daily use, it’s (over)due to retire.
Fixing the ACPI DSDT of an Acer Ferrari One 200
Last year I installed Debían on my mother in law’s network (an Acer Ferrari One 200). The thing ran fine, but gave some “firmware bug?” warnings. Since no new BIOS’ were available at that time, I left it at that.
Mounting box.net with webdav under Linux
I recently got a Box account with 50 gB of online storage (see this thread on XDA on how to get one).
Adobe AIR 2.6 and Debian Sid 64-bit
I wanted to get Adobe AIR to work on my 64-bit Debian Sid installation, to try out some other twitter clients, more specifically Saezuri. (On a side note: the offering of twitter clients on linux is … mediocre. Bad, even. The (imho) best one is Pino, but it has problems of it’s own).
Running Linux on an Apple Macbook 2,1
This page documents my attempts (and successes!) to get Linux fully working on an Intel-based Apple MacBook, 2007 model.
Multiseat on Debian
Since I have a rather well-scaled desktop PC (nothing really fancy by today’s specs, but it’s underused as it is), and my gf sometimes wants to use it, and sometimes we both want to use it at the same time, I decided to turn it into a multiseat configuration.
VMWare Player 3 vs Linux 2.6.32
I wanted to test some crap in VMWare, didn’t feel like messing with the entire server thing so went for the player. Unfortunately, this thing doesn’t work against the 2.6.32 kernel.
Using an Alcatel X200 under Linux
I recently purchased an Alcatel Onetouch X200 3G USB modem, to be able to use internet on various locations where there is no wired or wifi available. Works fine under Windows/Mac OS X, bit more of a hassle under Linux.
Autoswitching network interfaces
Since I’m a lazy git, I want my laptop to automatically switch back & forth between my wired and wireless interfaces. Seems that stuff like Network Manager can do that for you, but it’s not really my thing. I don’t like stuff where you need a GUI to configure it, a duplicaton of network configuration, and it also tends to hang my machine. No idea why, though. After an afternoon of fiddling...
Linux on the Apple Macbook
I was bored recently, and decided to install Linux on my Macbook. I opted for the distribution I like best - Debian (unstable/Sid).
VMWare server 2.0 with kernel 2.6.28
I just finished updating my machine to the latest Linux kernel, 2.6.28. All worked, except for VMWare Server (which was still at 1.0.8). Since 2.0 has been released, time for an upgrade!
Cadaver and proxy auth
At work we regularly have to send over files to $vendor. $Vendor has two ways of accepting files: FTP, and Webdav (over https). Since our company’s policy is to not send things out unencrypted, we have to go the webdav way. It’s also the policy to send things over our internetproxy if possible.
Reading DRM'ed Adobe Ebooks on Linux
Sade linked me to this nice ebook by Neil Gaiman, Neverwhere. Unfortunately, you need Adobe Digital Editions for it, which only exists for Windows and Mac. Since she’s a Linux user, that one didn’t really fly with her.
Iodine (dns tunnel) on your Mac (to escape those evil firewalls)
Here’s a short how-to to get the iodine dns tunnel working on your Mac.
CoRD and xrdp
I was trying to get xrdp running on my Linux box, so I could takeover the screen from the outside world. The rdp protocol is a (huge) bit more performant than VNC, which is why I wanted to use it.
Copying files and dirs with tar
If you want to copy a bunch of files from one spot to another, but preserve links/permissions/ownership/…, it’s usually a big hassle.
Funpidgin
Thanks to a post on Frank Goosens’ blog I discovered FunPidgin! A fork of Pidgin, a multi-messenger client formerly known as Gaim.
Linux on my MacBook
I’m currently trying to get Linux (Debian Sid) working on my MacBook… it’s installed, but still needs lots of tweaking.
Fixing your VMWare's guest clock
If you’re using VMWare on a variable-speed processor (like all most modern cpu’s these days) you might have noticed that sometimes the guest OS runs a lot faster (causing the guest clock to run faster and all kinds of weird effects).
Vmware console on Debian Lenny
I just installed VMWare server on my gf’s linux-laptop, but the server console didn’t want to start for some reason… Just came back to the command line, nothing happening.
Ubuntu LTS… not so very L?
Ubuntu has these versions of it’s distribution they label LTS: Long Term Support. Now seems that if you use an LTS, and want to go to the next LTS… you’ll have the pleasure of either breaking your system, or reinstalling from scratch.
2600 - Off The Hook / Off The Wall radio show archive downloader
This script is a downloader for the entire archives of the 2600 radio shows Off The Hook and Off The Wall.
arm-linux crosscompiling on Debian Sid
Here’s a simple howto on how to install an ARM crosscompiling environment on your Debian Unstable:
Vmware and Linux-2.6.22
If you’re rolling your own kernels, and upgraded to 2.6.22, you might have bumped into a compilation issue:
Gallery-Remote
I was trying to get GalleryRemote installed today on my Linux installation (because for obscure reasons, using the java applet in gallery directly crashes my browsers), which wouldn’t run. Attempting to run the installer gave obscure errors like: awk: error while loading shared libraries: libm.so.6: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory dirname: error while loading shared li...
Linux, distcc and Mac OS X
If you’re like me, and have Fink installed on your Mac and compiling away all those wonderful unix applications, and you have a desktop nearby running linux (with more processor power being unused), you’ll want to setup distcc so you can harnass all that power.
Fight image spam with FuzzyOCR & Spamassassin
I guess you all know about Spam Assassin. It’s a wonderful tool that allows you to filter out tons of spam easily.
Goodbye Microsoft!
Now we have a very simple way for the Windows-people to turn to linux: A windows installer to install Debian ;)
Irssi scripts
I recently started using the wonderful textbased IRC client called Irssi. It’s console based, scriptable in Perl, fast, low memory footprint.. really nice for the average geek ;p
Running Linux on a Dell Latitude D610
This page documents my attempts (and successes!) to get Linux fully working on a Dell D610 laptop.
Running Linux on an Acer TravelMate 800 series laptop
This page documents my attempts (and successes!) to get Linux fully working on an Acer Travelmate 800 series laptop.
atvsync 0.1
ATV Sync is a simple script that allows you to easily synchronise the premade ATV PalmOS databases to your PalmOS-powered handheld.
phpComics 0.4
This is a collection of scripts that allow you to download complete archives of web-published comics.
TeleMon
teleMon is a script that you can use to monitor transfer rates. Originally it was written to keep track of the usage on the Telenet ISP Network, but now phptelemeter can be used for that.
htmlpop! 0.5
This script allows you to download POP3 mailboxes over an HTTP interface. I wrote it to allow me to get my mail through the company’s http proxy server.
Personal
Now using less external services!
So back in 2019 I moved the site from WordPress to Jekyll (using Minimal Mistakes), and from Gandi to AWS Serverless.
Happy new year MMXXII!
Happy new year Y’all!
Happy new year MMXXI!
Happy new year Y’all!
Happy new year MMXX!
Happy new year Y’all!
A new home
In 2016 I moved this blog from my own CMS over to WordPress. But seeing what a pain it actually is to keep it all updated, I decided to move to a static site generator.
Testing out silicone sponges
I was reading some stories (don’t ask my where anymore - might have been on reddit or Lifehacker) about silicone sponges to replace (the often gross) disposable sponges we used in the kitchen. Sounded like a great idea - something that you don’t need to throw away, that doesn’t become a bacterial warzone, durable.. but after trying it out I’ll be going back to the disposables.
Why did you become a vegetarian?
“Why did you become a vegetarian?” - It’s one of those questions I get asked fairly frequently, when it comes to food choices / eating habits. I recently had the question again, at work - I’ve changed jobs recently, and it came up during a discussion. I guess it’s a good question, as not everyone has the same reasons.
A new home, a new look
I finally decided to retire my custom-written CMS (wrote it back in 2003, when I had more free time), which - while obviously fantastic, super advanced, and capable of making coffee for you - had some drawbacks. Mostly being that it was a pain to use and update content with.
Happy Xmess!
In yearly tradition..
O hai - a new look
It was about time to update the theme here a bit… so welcome to the new look ;)
Happy New year MMXI !
Happy new year and may all your wishes/dreams/… come true! (except those that I don’t like. Seriously. :p)
FOSDEM 2010
Yes, I’ll be going to FOSDEM 2010!
Happy 2000 + 3! + 2²
Well, happy new year to all of you! May your wishes/desires/hopes/ come true!
Status update!
Short summary of what I’ve been busy with:
Spam is evil…
… see? Even WordPress thinks so.
No, I ain't dead yet…
I’m just extremely busy lately - mostly preparing for moving to a new place.
World of Goo!
A good friend of mine introduced me to a new game: World Of Goo!
Happy [(X)|(Newton)|(Christ)]mas!
It’s that time of the year again, where we all are (supposed to be) happy, cheery, exchange gifts, blabla you know, what not :p
27 things about X-mess and me that you couldn’t care less about
Nicked from Diana’s blog, here’s my list of 27 things that you couldn’t care less about. Oh, and about xmess too. Or christmas. Whatever you want to call it.
Arrrrrrrr!
My pirate name is: Black Jack Flint
Being sick sucks!
Since last weekend I’ve been stuck with a nasty cold, reaching climax on wednesday when I bailed work at noon and went to the doctor. Sickleave until friday, and some painkiller (perdolan) and a coughsirup (mjummm.. not!)
Carnival in Aalst
Yay. Soon it’ll be Aalst Carnaval, a so-called cultural feast. I rather call it a drunkfest, since there’s actually very little culture and loads of drinking going on.
Fuckin' NMBS
The Belgian National Railways (known as NMBS/SNCB) really totally suck. Completely and utterly.
My ISP - Part deux
An update after my previous ISP post:
Signpost in Antwerp
Go Belgium, with our super-duper hyper-effecient roads:
Happy 2000+2^3 !
Well, new year 2008 all!
Trains and the lack of being on time
In Belgium, if you want to get somewhere on time - don’t take the train.
Merry (x|newton|christ|…)mas and happy new year!
Depending on what you (don’t) believe, today is Xmas, Christmas or newtonmas. Or even something completely different, if you want it to be!
Xmas tree!
We got our xmas tree! (and the obligatory decorations, and lamps, ofcourse!)
Thank you for polluting
I’ve often wondered why people insist on letting their cars run when:
What be your nerd type?
Take Your Test Here
Happy birthday Sade!
Feliz Cumpleaños Cariño [Diana!](http://sade.sadevil.org/blog)
Geen kerstgedoe voor 15 december!
No christmas stuff before december 15th!
Blog action day!
Today is Blog Action Day, to bring awareness about the environment and the problems that we (human beans_^W_beings) are causing.
Spri… err… cd cleanup!
I’ve been cleaning up a bit.. and finally decided to check/sort all my empty cd boxes I had lying about.
How nerdy are you?
I’m teh Cool Nerd King! Bow to me! ;)
Birds, little birds!
We’ve (well, my parents really) have had some Zebra Finches for a while. They never really did any real breeding, but last time they seemed more serious about the matter. And yes, we got ourselfs some little birds!
My ISP
In june 2006 I switched from the cable provider Telenet (Expressnet) to the ADSL/hosting provider Schedom / Dommel (Netconnect). I can’t say I’ve been sorry.
Second Life
After all the hipe that’s being created around the virtual online game Second Life, I decided to give it a quick spin. Quick being very quick here, since after around 30 minutes I bailed out and deleted the game.
I sold it on eBay…
A while back (basically, in december) I decided to sell my Cisco Catalyst C2924-XL switch on eBay. Since I’ve done plenty of auctions before there, no problem! So, the item got sold to someone from the EasyHost company. Fine by me, I don’t really care who buys my stuff, as long as they follow up ;)
Posts moved
Hello!
48 Things You Could Care Less About
I saw it from my SO’s site, so I’m gonna include it here!
Spinningwheel!
Is it a plane? A bird! No! It’s a spinningwheel!
Not dead yet
Hmmm.. what can I say, after being ‘away’ for this long :) I just didn’t know what to post, or didn’t think of it usually.
Happy New Year 2006!
Have fun on this eve and the rest of the year!
Happy birthday!
Feliz Cumpleaños Cariño Diana!
The Gift - part 2
Well, I’ve been to Spain, came back in the meanwhile… (unfortunately.. I wanna stay there longer…)
The Gift - Part 1
I was talking a while back about them gifts…
What I've been doing…
What have I been doing the last times… well…
New blog!
As you might have (not) noticed, I’ve migrated this blog from using sphpblog to WordPress.. It seems a lot more maintained, and well, it’s nicer overall :)
Spain
Wheeeeeeeee!
Going to España
I’m going to Spaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiin again to see my girl on the 27th of May!
Recipes
Okay, I added some more of our recipes to the recipe book. Totalling 341 recipes \o/ ;p
Our site… in the middle of the web…
Diana (my lovely girlfriend) and I decided to put up a shared website, under the nick we use on IRC when we’re together.
And thus, it's 2005…
Well, what can I say? Best of wishes to everyone for 2005, and hopefully less violence/war/stupidity/suffering in the world.. Tho we really didn’t start of well, with the disaster that happened (and the medical disaster that’s starting to happen now) in the middle east with the Tsunami.. I hope that solutions are worked out quickly to make sure the needs get resolved…
Happy birthday!
**Feliz cumpleaños cariño!**
December…
1st of December, month of snow, christmas, and togetherness…
Countdown…
Counting down yet again… The days that we are apart are long.. and the time we spend together seems to last an eternity… So well, until the 28th of october this time…
Lanparty!
Oi!
Wondering…
I’ve often wondered if there’s a point to so many things we do, we say, we see. More than once I’ve come to conclude that many things we do are just for the masses, for the appeasing of the public that surrounds us. Looks are everything, who gives a flying fuck about the person underneath these days?
Thoughts
sigh
Apple / Mac OS
My gripes with macOs
For work I have to use a Macbook. This is due to reasons I won’t go into in this rantblogpost, but suffice it to say that there’s currently no other option. It’s a Macbook Pro, previously an Intel variety, now it’s one of the Apple Silicon persuation.
Testing out an iPad Pro 12.9"
I’ve been using the wonderful Mobilesheets Pro on my Android Tablet (a Lenovo Tab 4 10) for my choir(s) that I’m a member of. The best thing since slided bread! (well, not really, but it does allow me to easily take a lot of sheet music along without having to drag around several binders).
Why you should use Syncthing
I’ve been a user of Dropbox for ages, I’ve tried Owncloud, I’ve tried Box, and probably numerous others that I’ve forgotten about, but in the past year I’ve migrated over to Syncthing, and I haven’t looked back. Opensource software, well designed protocol, complete ownership of your data, I could go on… but this post by gbolo explains it perfectly!
Replacing OS X with Linux on my Mac Mini 2,1
I still had an old Mac Mini (model 2,1) - which I bought during a period of experimentation with different operating systems - connected to the TV, running Mac OS X Lion. Not Apple’s finest installment of OS X, truth be told.
Nokia 3109c and Snow Leopard (iSync 3.1)…
As I detailed in my previous post on how to get this phone working with Leopard, upgrading to Mac OS X 10.6 aka Snow Leopard broke things again.
Updating Boot Camp to 2.1
For a reason not to be mentioned here, I needed to install Windows XP (legal license) on my Macbook. Easily done, Boot Camp Assistant, install windows, install drivers, the works.
Using XMLTV with EyeTV
I bought an Elgato EyeTV Hybrid a while back, and I was using the tvtv.co.uk service to get my EPG (Electronic Program Guide) data.
Mac startup shortcuts
Because I keep forgetting them, here’s a list of buttons you can press during a Mac’s boot to change behaviour:
Automounting SMB/CIFS shares on Mac OS X
For my PVR/HTMAC project, I wanted to auto-mount several shares from my NAS. After some searching I ran across this hint on the Mac OS X Hints website, which works perfectly:
Mac mini PVR
I recently acquired a Mac Mini, which I’m going to use as a PVR.
Add recent applications as a Stack on Dock
On TUAW (The Unofficial Apple Weblog) they’ve got a nifty tips section, with today this tip that I rather like:
Cloning woes
After yesterday’s clone I noticed some applications behaved erraticly, amongst which Preview, Thunderbird, Appfresh… rather irritating.
Bigger disk!
Upgraded my Macbook with a bigger disk: from an 80gb Toshiba MK8034GSX drive (with which it came delivered) to a (secondhand) 320gb Hitachi HTS543232L9A300 (what’s in a name…). Long live diskspace! ;)
Iodine (dns tunnel) on your Mac (to escape those evil firewalls)
Here’s a short how-to to get the iodine dns tunnel working on your Mac.
CoRD and xrdp
I was trying to get xrdp running on my Linux box, so I could takeover the screen from the outside world. The rdp protocol is a (huge) bit more performant than VNC, which is why I wanted to use it.
Nokia 3109c (Symbian S40) and iSync…
I got a company phone, a Nokia 3109 Classic, which is nothing less nothing more than a standard company phone. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles I’d like to have, but it works.
Mail.app tips & tricks
I still haven’t found any mail client I really like on the Mac… I’ve been using Thunderbird now for a while, but it doesn’t really have what I want in a mail client. I guess I’m spoiled, since I’m used to using KMail at home (and I’m forced to use Lotus Notes at work - a horrible client from a usability point of view).
Imagine
(sung to the tune of John Lennon’s “Imagine”)
Linux on my MacBook
I’m currently trying to get Linux (Debian Sid) working on my MacBook… it’s installed, but still needs lots of tweaking.
Mac is back… again…
After they screwed a screw in my previous repair, it’s back again. I’ve checked it, nothing’s loose, everything seems to be in order. Let’s hope it is!
… and back to Apple…
Grmble.
X11-style mouse window manipulations for Mac OS X
In short, I finally found a way to manipulate windows under Mac OS X like you can in X11:
Changing Terminal.app ANSI colours
I use Irssi on my mac with Terminal.app in Leopard. All very nice, except that in Terminal.app, the dark gray colour used in my Irssi theme shows black. Black on black doesn’t work very well.
My Mac is Back!
I put it in for repair after hairline cracks started appearing in the front bezel and on the bottom.
Leopard ships on october 26th
Apple has confirmed the 26th as the releasedate for Leopard!
GPRS/3G connections using Mac OS X
Here’s a simple howto to get your Mac internet-connected using GPRS/3G on your bluetooth-equipped phone. I’ve only tested this with my Motorola V3 and Vodafone (Spain), so no guarantees about the other providers, but the main part should be the same.
iPhone rant
Really. What’s up with iPhone owners these days? They buy an overpriced piece of equipment, knowing:
Installing X11 on Mac OS X
I’ve been trying for a while to get the Apple X11 installed on Mac OS X. I just couldn’t figure out how.
Linux, distcc and Mac OS X
If you’re like me, and have Fink installed on your Mac and compiling away all those wonderful unix applications, and you have a desktop nearby running linux (with more processor power being unused), you’ll want to setup distcc so you can harnass all that power.
Hack a Mac
Anyone want to Hack a Mac and get paid for it? Well, now you can:
Leopard delayed until october…
From http://www.apple.com/hotnews/, there’s an Apple Statement:
Typing spanish on a Mac
I finally (well, no, I got the answer from my thread on mac-forums.com) found how to type spanish characters on Mac OS X (thanks to the wonderful Study Spanish site):
Handy Mac software
A few days onwards with my spiffy new macbook, I’ve discovered a lot of useful tools:
Yay!
Yesterday I went to FEM Computer Systems in Aalst, Belgium - a local computer store that sells PC’s and Apple stuff. After my wonderful time in another store, I was kinda weary, but for nothing :) The service is great, they treat people like they should be treated :)
Switch? No thanks.
Since I sold my trusty 3-year old Acer Travelmate 803, I was going to go and look in some stores for new laptops. Hopping around in Ghent, I walked off to the Fnac, noted the offers there (nothing that really drew my attention), and then to the Switch computer store (an authorized mac reseller). Their non-mac offerings are not too great (you can better go to another store), so I waited my turn ...
Music
Using JACK for lower-latency audio on Linux for piano practice
About a month and a bit in me learning the piano, I’ve had to rethink my remote piano learning setup. The latency was at points really annnoying (sometimes nearly a second) - it’s confusing when you hit a key and only hear it when you’re hitting the next key. So, time to look for a lower-latency setup.
Learning the piano, and playing with MIDI & PulseAudio on Linux
I’ve always wanted to learn the piano. Finally, in 2021, I’m following up on it :)
Christmas concert Arte Musicale - Praise
On the 26th of december we’re giving our annual christmas concert in the OLV Sint Pieterschurch on the Sint Pietersplein in Ghent.
Magnificat by C.P.E. Bach
The choir Cantabile, together with Furiant and the Ghent Baroque Players are performing:
Christmasconcert Arte Musicale
As some of you might (not) know, I’ve recently joined a choir, called Furiant, which is part of the Arte Musicale group. (I already play in a pipe band (the Flemish Caledonian Pipes & Drums))
Poppenkast - Jasperina De Jong
From the musical “De Engel van Amsterdam”.
De Opstand Der Bloemen - Jasperina De Jong
Wij zijn de tuin van het echtpaar de Bondt Aardige lui dat gaat best Wij staan in redelijk vruchtbare grond En krijgen steeds volop mest Maar dat is tevens een ernstige grief Onze ideeën zijn alternatief En ook al zijn er de hondjes heel gul ‘t Is altijd kunstmest, kunstmest, kunstmest Steeds weer dat chemische spul Wij zijn helaas niet ingesteld Op harde actie en geweld Maar door de zwoele voo...
Willem Vermandere - Bric A brac
‘t is niet den auto, ‘t is de reis niet de tafel, ‘t is de spijs niet den oven, ‘t is de koek niet het meubel, ‘t is het boek niet de potten, ‘t is de pap niet het lopen, ‘t is de stap niet de letters, ‘t is ‘t gedicht niet de lampe, ‘t is het licht…
R.E.M. - Find The River
Hey now, little speedyhead, The read on the speedometer says You have to go to task in the city Where people drown and people serve Don’t be shy. Your just deserve Is only just light years to go
RIP Richard Wright
Today Richard Wright, the great self-thaught pianist/keyboardist of Pink Floyd, passed away, aged 65.
Fixkes - kvraagetaan
Fixkes - kvraagetaan
Fixkes - Lievelingsdier
Fixkes - Lievelingsdier
Eels - Need Some Sleep
I need some sleep. I can’t go on like this. I try counting sheep, But there’s one I always miss. Everyone says I’m getting down too low Everyone says: “You just gotta let it go” “You just gotta let it go” I just gotta let it go I need some sleep time to put the old horse down I’m in too deep and the wheels keep spinning round
Sweeney Todd - A Little Priest
We went to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street the other week.. a good (if rather grim) musical!
Imagine
(sung to the tune of John Lennon’s “Imagine”)
Querer…
Querer - Cirque Du Soleil (Alegria)
Krijg de kleren…
Thanks to my mum I discovered and can appreciate Jasperina De Jong (a dutch cabaretier, who no longer performs unfortunately) a lot.
You And Me (Neil Young)
Open up your eyes See how life time flies Open up and let the light back in.
Gee, Officer Krupke!
ACTION Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, You gotta understand, It’s just our bringin’ up-ke That gets us out of hand. Our mothers all are junkies, Our fathers all are drunks. Golly Moses, natcherly we’re punks!
Memories (Within Temptation)
In this world you tried Not leaving me behind. There’s no other way. I prayed to the gods let him stay. The memories ease the pain inside, Now I know why….
The Swan Song (Within Temptation)
Winter has come for me, can’t carry on. The chains to my life are strong but soon they’ll be gone. I’ll spread my wings one more time.
The Queen and The Soldier (Susanne Vega)
The soldier came knocking upon the queen’s door He said, “I am not fighting for you any more” The queen knew she’d seen his face someplace before And slowly she let him inside.
Shiny Happy People (REM)
Shiny happy people laughing Meet me in the crowd People people Throw your love around Love me love me Take it into town Happy happy Put it in the ground Where the flowers grow Gold and silver shine
The Human Equation - Day Twelve: Trauma (Aryeon)
[Reason] Think hard, you are lying here in a hospital bed Disregard the emotions inside your head Concentrate on the real world beyond your mind It’s not to late to leave your burdens behind
In Perfect Harmony (Within Temptation)
In a world so far away At the end of a closing day A little child was born and raised Deep in the forest on a hidden place Mother never saw his face
Our Farewell (Within Temptation)
In my hands A legacy of memories I can hear you say my name I can almost see your smile Feel the warmth of your embrace But there is nothing but silence now Around the one I loved Is this our farewell?
Tower of Song (Leonard Cohen)
Well my friends are gone and my hair is grey I ache in the places where I used to play And I’m crazy for love but I’m not coming on I’m just paying my rent every day Oh in the Tower of Song I said to Hank Williams: how lonely does it get? Hank Williams hasn’t answered yet But I hear him coughing all night long A hundred floors above me In the Tower of Song
Take This Waltz (Leonard Cohen)
Now in Vienna there’s ten pretty women There’s a shoulder where Death comes to cry There’s a lobby with nine hundred windows There’s a tree where the doves go to die There’s a piece that was torn from the morning And it hangs in the Gallery of Frost Ay, Ay, Ay, Ay Take this waltz, take this waltz Take this waltz with the clamp on its jaws
Android
My history in gadgets - update 2025
An update on the My history in gadgets, the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2019 bis, 2020, 2020 bis and 2022 updates:
My history in gadgets - update 2022
An update on the My history in gadgets, the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2019 bis, 2020 and 2020 bis updates:
Adding custom certificate authorities to Firefox on Android
In the past (before the introduction of the new design/engine/…), you were able to import Certificate Authority certificates without problems. The new version took that away, unfortunately.
My history in gadgets - update 2020 bis
An second update on the My history in gadgets, the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2019 bis and 2020 updates:
Activating VoLTE and VoWiFi on Orange (Belgium) on the OnePlus 8 Pro
Orange, my ISP, supports VoLTE (Voice over LTE) and VoWiFi (Voice over WiFi) on a limited set of devices. Unfortunately, OnePlus is not one of the manufacturers.
My history in gadgets - update 2020
An second update on the My history in gadgets, the 2014, 2015, 2016, 2019 and 2019 bis updates:
My history in gadgets - update 2019 bis
An second update on the “My history in gadgets”, the 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019 updates:
My history in gadgets - update 2019
An update on the “My history in gadgets”, the 2014, 2015 and 2016 updates, I bring you… edition 2019! (mostly because I forgot to update stuff)
Testing out an iPad Pro 12.9"
I’ve been using the wonderful Mobilesheets Pro on my Android Tablet (a Lenovo Tab 4 10) for my choir(s) that I’m a member of. The best thing since slided bread! (well, not really, but it does allow me to easily take a lot of sheet music along without having to drag around several binders).
Why you should use Syncthing
I’ve been a user of Dropbox for ages, I’ve tried Owncloud, I’ve tried Box, and probably numerous others that I’ve forgotten about, but in the past year I’ve migrated over to Syncthing, and I haven’t looked back. Opensource software, well designed protocol, complete ownership of your data, I could go on… but this post by gbolo explains it perfectly!
Installing microG services (as Play Services replacement) on the Asus TF101 tablet
I still have an Asus Transformer TF101 tablet in use - running MarshMallow - but after a Play Services upgrade, in which Google inserted some NEON instructions (which the TF101 does not support) , a lot of “Play Services has stopped working” popups showed up - making the tablet nigh unusable. Initial tests blocking upgrade of the services yielded no success, and a lot of programs demand the ne...
My history in gadgets - update 2016
An update on the “My history in gadgets”, the 2014 and the 2015 update, now the 2016 update. Who would have guessed!
Using adb with a OnePlus X on Linux…
… is not really that hard. Just annoying. Since OnePlus’ USB ID is not in the default adb list, you need to add it yourself: echo "0x2a70" >> ~/.android/adb_usb.ini
My history in gadgets - update 2015
An update on the “My history in gadgets” post from a while back, and the 2014 update:
My history in gadgets - update 2014
An update on the “My history in gadgets” post from a while back, as things have progressed a bit meanwhile ;)
LG Nexus 5
I’ve always been a fan of the “stock Google” look of android, also often referred to as AOSP (Android Open Source Project) - a clean look, no bells and whistles added by the vendor of the device in question. The ‘vendor’ looks usually change the look of the Android OS, add (unneeded?) applications, and add their own launcher. There are several vendor skins, like Samsung’s TouchWiz (pictures), H...
Compiling Android / CyanogenMod from source
On the HTC Desire S, I’ve been using an unofficial build (made by Flinny) of CyanogenMod 10 for a while - happily so.
Android Backup & Restore
You’ve just gotten your shiny new Android Phone, and you want to migrate to it. There are several options, including Titanium Backup to move stuff, but Google also has you covered (party): Android Backup & Restore. You can find this setting on your phone, under “Settings” and “Backup & Restore”. This thing backups several things, but far from all:
Manually flashing an OTA-update
I recently acquired a second-hand HTC One X. A week or two back HTC decided to release the JellyBean update for the phone, all was well. Yesterday, another update was sighted on XDA, and since it seems like this one gives better battery life, I didn’t feel like waiting another 3-5 weeks before it became available in my country, so I searched on how to manually flash an OTA.
Copying over your wifi access points on Android
In case you have just bought a new phone, rooted it, and want to copy over all your wifi access points, there are a few options:
S-OFF and Jellybean on the HTC Desire HD (Ace)
I acquired a secondhand HTC Desire HD, a nice phone (albeit a bit heavy). Comes with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and Sense. I’m personally not much of a Sense fan, and I wanted to move to a newer Android release, so I looked around on how to achieve S-OFF.
Reset android lockscreen to slide
You’ve just reconfigured the security lockscreen settings on your (rooted) android phone, and then forgotten eg. the PIN code to unlock it? It happened to me yesterday.
My history in gadgets…
As a geek, I’ve always been quite the gadget freak. The fact that my father was also interested in the newest toys didn’t help.
How to RUU your Desire
I’ve always been a fan of the 3rd party roms that are available for the different Android based phones. Unfortunately, it seems mine has developed a bit of a quirk: sometimes, when unplugging the USB cable, it will reboot. Or it no longer detects it as ‘external storage’ when putting it in USB-drive mode.
Enter the HTC Desire
A little while back I finally caved in to all the peer pressure and got my second Android phone, the HTC Desire. It’s faster than the HTC Hero, which I’ve been using sofar. My girlfriend wanted that one, so it’ll have a good home :) and I can keep it updated to the latest firmwares.
Hello there, Froyo (Android 2.2)
Google released Android 2.2 - codename Froyo (for Frozen Yoghurt), giving Android users a nice speedboost.
Android 2.1 (Eclair) on the HTC Hero…
I’ve bought an HTC Hero a while back. Rooted it too, so I could edit the sms database. Loving the phone.
Rooting the HTC Hero
Note: This is at your own risk. If you fry your phone, your problem, not mine.
phptelemeter
phptelemeter 1.36-beta3 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.36-beta3. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.36-beta2 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.36-beta2. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.36 beta 1 released
I’ve released phptelemeter 1.36, beta 1. Beta because it doesn’t have everything yet that I want, but it needed to get out there due to lots of changes by Telenet.
phptelemeter 1.35 released!
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.35. This version only has a few changes, but I wanted to get it out there:
phptelemeter 1.34 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.34. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.33 released!
After nearly 8 months of no release (if you don’t count the 1.33-beta1), I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.33. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.32 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.32. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.31 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.31. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.30 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.30. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.29 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.29. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.28 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.28. This version includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.27 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.27. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.26 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.26. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.25 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.25. This release includes the following bugfix:
phptelemeter 1.24 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.24. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.23 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.23. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.22 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.22. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.21 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.21. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.20 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.20. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.11 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.11. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.10 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.10. This release includes the following changes:
phptelemeter 1.01 released
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.01. Brown paper bag release!
phptelemeter 1.00 released!
I’ve just released phptelemeter 1.00. The first ‘stable’ *cough*
phptelemeter …
I’ve started a new project, a php based ‘meter reader’, for Telenet, to be able to get the usage statistics in an easy way instead of having to log into their site all the time…
Networking
Proxmox, LXC, and Debian Trixie
I run Proxmox Virtual Environment as my virtualisation platform. On top of this I use virtual machines using KVM and Linux Containers using LXC - both of which are natively supported on ProxmoxVE.
VPS Proxmox Love
Where I (re?)discovered Proxmox for LXC hosting on a VPS
Reclaiming My Digital Sovereignty, Part 1 - VPS Trials and Container Tribulations
Where I am increasingly skeptical about using US-based providers, find a European VPS provider, test out some initial hosting architecture but decide against it, and other ramblings…
SSH’ing to Unifi equipment with Fedora 37
Connecting to Unifi equipment (Switch 8/AP AC Pro) from Fedora37 fails out of the box with a very useful error Bad server host key: Invalid key length. This is because the dropbear used on these devices is woefully out of date, and still requires the use of ssh-rsa (with SHA1), which has been deprecated by OpenSSH in 2021,
Migrating from the Ubiquiti USG to OPNsense on a PCEngines APU2E4
As Ubiquiti seems to have abandoned any development for their UniFi Security Gateway - the last “stable” update (version 4.4.51) was more than a year ago, wasn’t all that stable and doesn’t fix many outstanding issues - I’ve decided that it’s time to move to something else to fill my routing/firewalling needs.
Targus PA-088 USB To Serial Port Adapter Cable & Windows 10
For reasons that will soon be documented, I needed my trusty old Targus PA-088 USB to Serial Port Adapter, in Window 10 (yeah yeah, I know…).
Allowing macvlan-networked docker containers to access the host
This post is more a reminder for myself than anything else ;)
Telenet and Unifi
Some months back a friend of mine wanted to switch over to the Unifi platform (which I’ve been using now for about a year), and get it to play nice with his Telenet ISP setup aswell.
Upgrading the TP-Link Archer C5 (v1.2) to an Archer C7 (v2.0)
I own a TP-Link Archer C5 router, version 1.2 - which is identical to the TP-Link Archer C7, version 2.0, save for some limitations which are introduced through software. These limitations include a 300Mbps cap on 2.4GHz (450Mbps for the C7) and a 876Mbps cap on 5GHz (1300Mbps on the C7). Not that much, but still enough to be worth tinkering for. Since I was looking at increasing the WiFi sp...
Managing TP-Link easy smart switches from Linux
I’ve recently acquired some TP-Link ‘Easy Smart’ managed switches - cheap, decently built (metal casing), and a lot of features above the usual unmanaged stuff:
OpenWRT, dual routers, dual SSIDs and VLANS
Back in the day I used to have one router in the house: the D-Link DIR-825, flashed with OpenWRT. Configured with two SSIDs - one for internal network use, and one for guest access - the latter being separate from the internal network of the flat.
OpenWRT, Atheros & channel availability
If you’re living outside the US, and you’re using OpenWRT (a fantastic 3rdparty opensource firmware for many routers), you might have noticed that not all the WiFi channels which are legally allowed in your region are actually available for you to choose from.
Hosting move
I’ve moved hosting, from Lunar Pages to OVH. Lunar Pages is a good hosting, but their overselling and price hikes in the last few years made me look for something else.
Backup & restore of your Tomato-based router statistics
Since I recently moved, and now have my Tomato based WRT54GL on 24/7, I also wanted a way to keep a backup of those nice statistics the router generates. You have the option (built-in) to write them to nvram or to a CIFS share, but the former has a limited amount of writes, and the latter is not really stable (and I don’t have anything powered on all the time to keep the backups on).
An introduction to peering and transit
An interesting read on Ars Technica: How the ‘Net works: an introduction to peering and transit.
My ISP - Part deux
An update after my previous ISP post:
Grmble!
I hate having to go through the blog to correct posts!
wrt54g time to live exceeded?
I wonder how long the lifetime is of a Linksys WRT54G v2.2 router… I have one, and it’s been showing more and more problems with the WiFi part of the router: often after a powerup it just doesn’t initialise, no WiFi to be seen. The router reports it’s up, but there just isn’t any signal.
Gmail goes IMAP
Finally!
Proxy settings for Brussels Airlines lounge in Brussels airport
Just in case you ever find yourself in the Brussels Airlines VIP lounge (in Brussels Airport), and you want to do something besides using IE on their internet pc’s, here are the proxy settings (that you can use in eg. putty). I had to find a way to open a command box to get to the settings, but in the end I managed.
My ISP
In june 2006 I switched from the cable provider Telenet (Expressnet) to the ADSL/hosting provider Schedom / Dommel (Netconnect). I can’t say I’ve been sorry.
DD-WRT
I reflashed my good old Linksys WRT54G router two weeks back, from using Sveasoft Talisman to DD-WRT. I must say, I’m happily amazed with the quality of this firmware. And, it’s for free too :D (you have to pay a 20$/year subscription fee for sveasoft to have access to their firmwares)
Random
Managing your digital/paper documents with Paperless-ng
Close to when we were moving I decided to do something about my rather huge paper archive (bills, receipts, …). I set about digitizing it all using a flatbed scanner, my cellphone and Swiftscan (formerly known as Scanbot) to turn them all into PDF’s.
Spam is evil…
… see? Even WordPress thinks so.
An alternative christmas story (dutch)
Over at Jut blogt you can read an alternative version of the christmas story, which I actually prefer above the original ;)
Having fun replacing a backup battery in a laptop
Yesterday I had some good old fun trying to replace the backup battery of an Acer Travelmate 803 laptop.
You know what sucks…
… waking up at 6 in the morning, because you hear a certain sound you associate with water that’s coming under high pressure from a tap.
Weird pc issues…
I’ve been having a weird issue with the motherboard on my pc. The first time you boot it in a day, it was very likely to freeze on you - either after the USB started flopping on and off, or the sound starting cracking, and so on… not very fun. Solution: power off the power supply for a minute, power it back on, and it would be good to go for the rest of the day. It’s not an unknown issue (see t...
Spam!
Woohoo! Another milestone reached:
Coffee and tea in Ghent!
Yesterday, when walking through Ghent, we discovered a new shop specialised in coffee and tea: Simon Lévelt on the Kleine Vismarkt (nr. 5) in Ghent. It’s a small shop easily passed, but really worth a visit.
R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke and Hugo Claus
Yesterday, Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001: A Space Oddysey” and other great works, passed away at the age of 90. He’ll be sorely missed both by the science community and the millions of fans he had.
R.I.P. Gary Gygax
On the 4th of March 2008, Gary Gygax - creator of D&D, which laid the basis for the tabletop RPG’s as we know them today - passed away, age 69.
NAS Project
I “recently” ordered (after doing some research) a Raidsonic Icybox NAS (full model: IB-NAS4220-B). I chose it because of:
The Bible…
… in Lolcatian!
The Scope Of Horror
Also known as Horoscope.. :p
The Nerd Handbook
A nerd needs a project because a nerd builds stuff. All the time. Those lulls in the conversation over dinner? That’s the nerd working on his project in his head.
How to fly
by Ryan Somma
Dirk Gently on the BBC
BBC 4 Radio is running Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency as an audiobook series!
It's oh so quiet…
Yeah, yeah, I know, that title is about the lamest I could come up with. It’s appropriate though - since yesterday evening the main source of background noise when my pc is on is no longer my pc! I finally decided to get that noisebucket tamed, after hearing my brother-in-law’s new computer (or better, the lack of hearing it).
Lulzkat tranlashun!
Wanna learn Lolcatian? Then try the lolcat translator!
Motorola V3
A few weeks back I finally decided to get me (yet another…) new phone.. and I decided on the Motorola V3. Coming from using a multitude of phones from different vendors, this one took me the longest to get used to. It has a different style phonebook, the menu system is totally different, … Intuitive, yet different. The manual, on the other hand, is totally crap. Half of the things aren’t explai...
Farewell, dear mouse!
… and on this fair day, my trusty ‘old’ USB Logitech optical mouse ceased to process electrical inputs.. henceforth it shall go to silicon heaven with all the other mice and electrical appliances.
Old hardware!
Had the pleasure of installing a good old box (pentium 200 with 64mb of ram and a 2gb disk) for a friend of mine who gives them to the lesser fortunate ppl. Was actually quite fun, since I didn’t remember half of the things i should have… typical. Must say that obsolete operatingsystems work quite nicely on obsolete hardware ;p
Pegasi Web Server (pws)
PWS is the Pegasi Web Server, written from scratch in Java.
Comics
Thank you, Nikola Tesla!
The Oatmeal recently had a nice post on Nikola Tesla, one of the greatest minds that ever lived. We owe a ton to that guy, even though he’s often not credited for it. Hell, you wouldn’t even be reading this without him.
Phone versus gingerbread
© Geek And Poke, ofcourse!
Code review - always try to find something positive
© Geek And Poke, ofcourse!
If you get this…
… you’re most definitely a geek.
Parking…
(Comic © http://www.xkcd.com)
Er lässt sich nicht lesen
Another very beautiful “Dead Piro Day” comic, from Megatokyo.
Meetings…
This is sometimes so very true:
R.I.P. Gary Gygax
On the 4th of March 2008, Gary Gygax - creator of D&D, which laid the basis for the tabletop RPG’s as we know them today - passed away, age 69.
Death to reality tv!
This guy deserves a statue and medals…
Megatokyo art!
One of my favourite web comics, MegaTokyo, published a really very beautiful DPD (Dead Piro Day, a ‘filler’ image that’s used when there’s no real episode) of Miho, one of the characters of the Story.
Travels
Come flush with us!
… or the story of our two-week vacation in Madrid.
What we've been doing…
Diana’s been here since the 27th of july, and we’ve been busy bees sofar ! Ofcourse the necessary amount of relaxing and just enjoying the time, too :)
Short German Trip
It seems that visiting Germany is becoming a habit of ours during summer ;) This time we went to visit Laura, Christian and Lumi (and Fina, the cat) in Germany, last (long) weekend.
April 2006
Saturday, 8th On saturday, I went to pick up Diana, and we drove straight on to Ikea in Zaventem, to look for some general stuff and to check out their couch department. We decided on the Lund Valla couch (the red one), which comes in a handy do-it-yourself package :D It’s very comfy, you do need the pillows tho. Otherwise the back is a bit hard.
New year in Madrid
I spent my new years in Madrid, went there the 28th (evening). After an uneventful flight, we went to Diana’s place, didn’t do much and went to sleep.
There and back again
I went, had fun, came back (unfortunately)… It’s all on Diana’s blog!
Trip in October…
Last week I went back to Spain to visit my girl - it was an overall quiet and relaxed stay, we didn’t really do much - except making american style pancakes (thick ones) *mjumm* and we went to an Indian restaurant, the Taj where we tried the Chicken Vindaloo (Red Dwarf anyone?).
September in Spain
On tuesday, 20 september I took the plane (yes, I gave it back ;p) once again to spain, to visit Diana :) :)
July meeting!
Last thursday, the 30th of June to be precise, Diana landed back in belgium :) After going through hell traffic we got home, spent a quiet evening there. We watched The Tuxedo) and went to sleep.
26th.. Back to Belgium
Fenfen dragged us along to see some more nice viewpoints around Saarland, and old castle that was preserved more or less up a hill< insert name here >. From the tower you have a very lovely view of the surroundings :) During the walk down we did some impromptu-footballing with a rock, which unfortunately had to stay behind near the bottom of the walk.
Crucifictions on the 25th
This fine day we went with Fenfen to Saarlouis, his hometown, a small quiet town next to Saarbrücken. First we went to see the Teufelsburg, which translates to “The Devil’s Castle”. There are some midieval organisations that use this as a place for their campments or to perform acts, which can be found here. Afterwards we went into the city itself for a quick dinner, and moved on because Fenfen...
24th.. Germany, here we come!
Today we ran off to Germany, Saarbrücken to be more precise, which we reached in about 4,5 hours, driving in turns and taking a pitstop here and there to refuel / restock. We also had the honor of having some lovely traffic jams due to roadworks in the province of Luxembourg, but we got there in the end.
23rd, and a faim fatale!
This fateful day we met up with an old friend of mine (actually, ex-gf *panic*) in Ghent, were we had lunch at a cute little bar, then walked over to a deliceous Chocolate Bar (mjummy choco milkshakes… *melt*). And the two girls had lots of fun (I wonder what they’re planning against me… *runs away in terror* *g*)
22st! Something something!
We went to see the city of Ostend today, which is one of the coastal cities of Belgium. We had some bad weather for starters, but it cleared out pretty quickly. And most of all: it was _quiet_. ;) We walked along the coastal line for some km, enjoying the sounds of the sea and the refreshing winds ;)
21st… Monday monday…
Today after my work (waaaaay to early to get up.. *snif*) we went to act like little children in Mini Europe, a place with tons of scale models of great sights (and sometimes sounds!) of the European countries. Unfortunately several models weren’t finished yet when we went there, but that’s okay. After spending more than an hour in that place (ooh! A button! *push* *bark! bark bark!*) we walked...
20th.. Battice, here we come
Today we went to Battice - Vervies, to a whiskey festival, where the pipeband I play in played several times. It was okay, prolly more fun if you’re a fan of whiskey ;p which, for the record, I’m not really. After a tiring day we went back home again, and had a quiet eventing at home. Nothing much, really.
19th.. Diana's here!
After picking Diana up from the airport, we went to Ikea in Zaventem to pick up some stuff we’d need for home still (living with two requires organizing). After that we went to Brussels (you know, capital city of our pocketsized country called Belgium ;p) which unfortunately was crowded due to a general strike by the labour unions with the oncoming TOP-meeting of the EU in brussels. I must say ...
To Spain and back again!
I’ve spent the last 12 days together with my lovely girlfriend… Travelled off to Spain last week on wednesday, to find her in Barajas Airport. she came together with her mum to pick me up :) Had a lovely stay at the Abba Hoteles in the Pza. de Castillia, tho the elevators are a bit noisy there :(
Cars
Smog-alert!
Today the government of Flanders imposed another “Smog alert”, atleast until tomorrow evening.
It's here!
I finally got our brand new Prius! It’s damn pretty, drives smoothly… <3 ;)
Insurance - part 2
I do hate insurance companies.
Insurance!
Ok,
Mad dash - continued
Yay! I finally got the firstall of my certificates of the leasing firms - now we can go insurance-hunt!
Prius Preview
Today we went to get the papers for the Prius, and got a sneak-preview at it too ;) (no, the pic ain’t blurry, you’re just drunk! :p)
Mad dash
Today the 100 meters mad dash started to get all the paperwork in order for my too early delivered Prius.
I can haz Prius? I can!
Wh00t!
Wh00t!
Amazing! Today I saw the second Prius on the road since I bought mine! wh00t!
Prius prejudice
What’s with people and their prejudice against the Prius?
It's decided! It's ordered!
Today I went for another testdrive with the Toyota Prius, longer this time - 2 hours - to see how the car handled in all the usual traffic, and also to be able to judge the seats, the radio, the cruise control, the multi-info-display, everything.
Test-drive with Toyota Prius
Today I managed to get a testdrive with the Toyota Prius (thanks to Garage Holvoet in Dendermonde).
Cars - part 2
Continuing from my previous post, I’ve now visited a bunch of car manufacturers: (all cars are diesel fueled except the hybrid)
Cars, cars, cars
I’m in the market for a car.
Rants
Belgium: FAIL!
Once again, Belgium is the laughing stock of the EU.
Crap parkers
You know what I really hate? Crap parkers. People that have a car, and that, according to them, needs to take up atleast 1.5 parking spots. Parking so badly that you - parked nicely in between the lines, in the bloody center - can’t get in or out of your car anymore, save by crawling in the car over the seats.
I can has weekend? Seems not.
This is not a good weekend. For me atleast…
Wanna do drugs? Become a professional sportsperson!
I can get so goddamn annoyed at our local sport-crazy people…
Yet Another Illogical Legal Conclusion (YAILC)
In another episode of totally wonky legal battles, eBay was found guilty of selling counterfeit Hermes handbags by a french court.
Carnival in Aalst
Yay. Soon it’ll be Aalst Carnaval, a so-called cultural feast. I rather call it a drunkfest, since there’s actually very little culture and loads of drinking going on.
Fuckin' NMBS
The Belgian National Railways (known as NMBS/SNCB) really totally suck. Completely and utterly.
Signpost in Antwerp
Go Belgium, with our super-duper hyper-effecient roads:
Trains and the lack of being on time
In Belgium, if you want to get somewhere on time - don’t take the train.
Grmble!
I hate having to go through the blog to correct posts!
Thank you for polluting
I’ve often wondered why people insist on letting their cars run when:
iPhone rant
Really. What’s up with iPhone owners these days? They buy an overpriced piece of equipment, knowing:
WiFi's bad, mmmkay?
In case you don’t hate SCO yet (or don’t know them), they’re a company that sued IBM because they had allegedly put SCO code into the Linux kernel. The whole thing still has to be proven, point, counterpoint, yadda yadda yadda. Basically they want to make everyone pay a license to them if you use linux. Old news.
Switch? No thanks.
Since I sold my trusty 3-year old Acer Travelmate 803, I was going to go and look in some stores for new laptops. Hopping around in Ghent, I walked off to the Fnac, noted the offers there (nothing that really drew my attention), and then to the Switch computer store (an authorized mac reseller). Their non-mac offerings are not too great (you can better go to another store), so I waited my turn ...
Politics
Belgium: FAIL!
Once again, Belgium is the laughing stock of the EU.
Wanna do drugs? Become a professional sportsperson!
I can get so goddamn annoyed at our local sport-crazy people…
Yet Another Illogical Legal Conclusion (YAILC)
In another episode of totally wonky legal battles, eBay was found guilty of selling counterfeit Hermes handbags by a french court.
Smog-alert!
Today the government of Flanders imposed another “Smog alert”, atleast until tomorrow evening.
Signpost in Antwerp
Go Belgium, with our super-duper hyper-effecient roads:
WiFi's bad, mmmkay?
In case you don’t hate SCO yet (or don’t know them), they’re a company that sued IBM because they had allegedly put SCO code into the Linux kernel. The whole thing still has to be proven, point, counterpoint, yadda yadda yadda. Basically they want to make everyone pay a license to them if you use linux. Old news.
Ahem…
You know what you get when you do a Google search on the word ‘Failure’?
RIAA Settlements for 5$?
A friend of mine pointed me to http://www.blogmaverick.com/entry/1234000270043583/
Black day
Another black day for the world: G. W. Bush won the 2004 elections. Great. Fantastic! Now we’re atleast sure that the US will be hated even more throughout the world than it already is… Wonder what stupid decisions he’ll make this time. Perhaps rule that the US is the only power in the world that should be allowed nuclear weapons, and that every country that doesn’t do it’s bidding must be atta...
Work
Cadaver and proxy auth
At work we regularly have to send over files to $vendor. $Vendor has two ways of accepting files: FTP, and Webdav (over https). Since our company’s policy is to not send things out unencrypted, we have to go the webdav way. It’s also the policy to send things over our internetproxy if possible.
Meetings…
This is sometimes so very true:
One week of working!
After one week of working again, here’s a quick .. urr.. reviewish kind of thingy:
Worky worky!
Today, my stay of 1.5 months at home comes to an end, and I’m going back to work! Yay!
Cars, cars, cars
I’m in the market for a car.
So long… and thanks for all the fish!
As some of you might already know, last friday was my last day of work for Tri-enniuM (and ergo, Reuters and KBC). I went to say goodbye at our head-office in Rotterdam on the 25th, gave a farewell drink for the collegues at KBC on the 26th, and finally left the company on the 28th. It’s still somewhat strange, being that this was my first job after leaving school. Oh well, we move on in life…
Uhm.. thanks CTG ;)
I know some companies are thankful when an employee chooses to work for them (like I did - choosing to go work for CTG)… but it’s a first that the employer actually sends flowers to your home address with a thank you note :P
Change of work!
I’m changing employers…
Work-event: Karting!
Today we went Karting with work in Brussels Kart, a karting / expo / restaurant thing in Groot-bijgaarden (just outside of Brussels).
Allnighters at work
Okay, first time I spend an entire night at work, because of a multicast routing problem. It took us a while to diagnose and to figure out where it went wrong and why it did… And having spent a 12h shift before, and then after would’ve been quite deadly ;p
Symbian
My history in gadgets…
As a geek, I’ve always been quite the gadget freak. The fact that my father was also interested in the newest toys didn’t help.
Nokia 3109c (Symbian S40) and iSync…
I got a company phone, a Nokia 3109 Classic, which is nothing less nothing more than a standard company phone. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles I’d like to have, but it works.
Firmware update for Nokia E65
From Symbianworld:
Handy codes for Nokia E65
Mostly because I keep forgetting…
Blogging from Symbian Smartphones
I’ve recently discovered a new python based blogging client for Symbian S60 3rd edition based phones.
Nokia E65 software update
There’s a Nokia E65 software update available, updating the mobile to version 2.0633.65.01.
Symbian software update!
I’ve just updated my list of applications I use on my Nokia E65. Go take a peek!
Software for the Nokia E65
After owning my Nokia E65 for about a month, here’s the list of apps I installed on it:
Reflect theme for Symbian
In my quest for a prettier theme than the default themes of the Nokia E65, I’ve found the Reflect theme by Psiloc on the Symbian in Motion blog. See the blog for a full review of the theme.
Using Voipfone.co.uk on Nokia E65
I recently bought a Nokia E65, a very classy, handy, and feature-packed phone. One of the reasons I went with this one is because it has WiFi, which I want to use for making internet-calls. The SIP client is a bit of pita though to configure, but I finally managed to get it working.
Cavies
Cage change
We made another change to our cavies’ cage: we put it on a table (so we see them better and they see us better):
Outside
Today I put them little critters outside for a change, in an old cage we have standing around. It was obvious that they had a bit of a hard time adjusting to all the noises that are there and as such they were hiding a lot…
Destructive critters…
Those cavies are damn destructive creatures! We installed a wooden stairs made of balsa for them, basically they trashed it completely… So I went out and got a new piece of balsa, cut it to size and installed it (leaving the old one for chewing):
Piggy Pics
‘ear ye! ‘ear ye!
Cavies de luxe
Seems they did like the changes I made to their cage… I had to modify a bit still, because appareantely they took to pooping on one corner of the cage, where the stairs used to be. Oh well, moved to the other side, and I added some cardboardish panels to the sides of their ‘loft’ so the hay doesn’t spill out so much anymore :) I also made their floor ‘complete’ because for some reason Nero insi...
The Cavy Cage
Today I decided to change some things to their cavia cage, and see if they like - use it.
Windows
Why you should use Syncthing
I’ve been a user of Dropbox for ages, I’ve tried Owncloud, I’ve tried Box, and probably numerous others that I’ve forgotten about, but in the past year I’ve migrated over to Syncthing, and I haven’t looked back. Opensource software, well designed protocol, complete ownership of your data, I could go on… but this post by gbolo explains it perfectly!
Using a Yubikey for account security
I got a Yubikey 4 half a year ago (during Red Hat Summit 2016), but until now I didn’t do much with it. Time to change that ;)
Using WiiMotes (and classic controllers) on Windows
After the latest lan-party with some friends, where we played a lot of Rocket League, it dawned on me that this game (and numerous others) is probably a lot easier to play with a game controller instead of the mouse/keyboard combination. And as I have the WiiMote and the Wii Classic Controller lying around, I thought I’d have a go at getting these to work on Windows (as opposed to buying someth...
Updating Boot Camp to 2.1
For a reason not to be mentioned here, I needed to install Windows XP (legal license) on my Macbook. Easily done, Boot Camp Assistant, install windows, install drivers, the works.
Strange problems with windows 2k3…
I’m wondering if anyone out there can help me with this one…
Svchost hogging yer cpu
In case you’re using Windows (or Microsoft) Update, you’ll probably have noticed that your PC sometimes grinds to a halt after bootup. Checking with task manager usually reveals that svchost.exe is abusing your CPU, pegging it at 100%.
Cost analysis of Vista's DRM
Interesting readup.
Why Microsoft can blow off with C#
See http://www.alenz.org/mirror/khason/why-microsoft-can-blow-off-with-c.html
Virtualisation
Proxmox, LXC, and Debian Trixie
I run Proxmox Virtual Environment as my virtualisation platform. On top of this I use virtual machines using KVM and Linux Containers using LXC - both of which are natively supported on ProxmoxVE.
VPS Proxmox Love
Where I (re?)discovered Proxmox for LXC hosting on a VPS
Reclaiming My Digital Sovereignty, Part 1 - VPS Trials and Container Tribulations
Where I am increasingly skeptical about using US-based providers, find a European VPS provider, test out some initial hosting architecture but decide against it, and other ramblings…
VMWare Player 3 vs Linux 2.6.32
I wanted to test some crap in VMWare, didn’t feel like messing with the entire server thing so went for the player. Unfortunately, this thing doesn’t work against the 2.6.32 kernel.
VMWare server 2.0 with kernel 2.6.28
I just finished updating my machine to the latest Linux kernel, 2.6.28. All worked, except for VMWare Server (which was still at 1.0.8). Since 2.0 has been released, time for an upgrade!
Fixing your VMWare's guest clock
If you’re using VMWare on a variable-speed processor (like all most modern cpu’s these days) you might have noticed that sometimes the guest OS runs a lot faster (causing the guest clock to run faster and all kinds of weird effects).
Vmware console on Debian Lenny
I just installed VMWare server on my gf’s linux-laptop, but the server console didn’t want to start for some reason… Just came back to the command line, nothing happening.
Vmware and Linux-2.6.22
If you’re rolling your own kernels, and upgraded to 2.6.22, you might have bumped into a compilation issue:
Palm
My history in gadgets…
As a geek, I’ve always been quite the gadget freak. The fact that my father was also interested in the newest toys didn’t help.
Goodbye, Palm!
“Goodbye, my trusty Palm! May you bring joy to your new owner and know many more years of use!” … and there was much rejoicing …
Boys with Toys
YAY! My new toy got delivered today!
atvsync 0.1
ATV Sync is a simple script that allows you to easily synchronise the premade ATV PalmOS databases to your PalmOS-powered handheld.
Palm Applications
Hmmm… In my quest for useless applications to put on a Palm, I’ve come across SSH2 for Palm - an SSH2 client, PalmVNC - a VNC client ;p and upIRC - an IRC client…. totally pointless to have on a palm if you don’t have a flatrate gprs connection or the like. ;p
Palm Tungsten T3
Got my Tungsten T3 a few days back, great machine - works very fast. I’ll do a review on it when I’m more accustomed to using it - it sure is different from my old m500…
WordPress
WP Table Of Contents plugins
I was using the rather nice Table Of Contents+ WordPress plugin to auto-generate tables of content on certain posts/pages, but that has since been abandoned. Luckely Steven A. Zahm took over development, and presto, we have the Easy Table of Contents plugin. You can peruse the sourcecode on GitHub.
Tweaking WooCommerce payment workflows
I’m playing part-time webmaster for the choir I sing in, and as such, am getting up close and personal with WooCommerce. Quite a nifty shopping cart, but it does require a lot of tweaks to really make it work to your liking - unless you’re willing to shell out a lot of cash. The latest modification was changing the workflow of the payment gateways - more specifically, the BACS gateway (Bank Ac...
Now-reading for WordPress 2.7
After upgrading the blog to WordPress 2.7, the Now Reading plugin didn’t work very well anymore.
WordPress Widgets!
I just finished creating three new WordPress Widget Plugins. Some are conversions of older plugins I made for WordPress, one is brand stinkin’ new.
What I've been doing…
What have I been doing the last times… well…
New blog!
As you might have (not) noticed, I’ve migrated this blog from using sphpblog to WordPress.. It seems a lot more maintained, and well, it’s nicer overall :)
Home Automation
Using Cloudflare ZeroTrust and mTLS to securely access Home Assistant via the internet
I’m a big fan of Home Assistant, and until now I only had it accessible from inside my own network. Outside access was only possible through a WireGuard VPN. This works, but isn’t very practical - definitely when I quickly want to check something, or need to diagnose something while on the road, having to toggle the VPN & hope that the DNS resolution works (which sometimes it doesn’t) - the...
Disabling Home Assistant fallback DNS
For some obscure reason the Home Assistant folks decided to add fallback DNS functionality to the Homeassistant Supervisor. This meant that it would fall back to using Cloudflare’s DNS servers if/when the DNS servers you regularly use weren’t responding or acting weird. That was done with good intent, but it is a breach of privacy, trust and giving up a part of local control - something Home As...
Adding the Xiaomi Roborock S7 to Home Assistant
We’ve had an iRobot Roomba 625 roving the house doing the vacuuming now for over two years and have been happy with having it around. It definitely helps keeping up the vacuuming, but it doesn’t do anything else.
Chromecast Radio control using a Logitech Harmony Elite (and Home Assistant)
Building further on my CC Radio, I wanted to integrate this with my Logitech Harmony Elite (+hub) remote, so that no interaction is needed with Home Assistant itself to work the radio.
Chromecast Radio with Home Assistant and Node-RED
Telenet, our local cable provider, decided that analog cable radio is dead and everyone should switch to either DAB (Digital Radio over the air) or DVB-C (Digital Radio via coaxial cable). For me, that’s a bit of an issue: DAB radio is fine, but requires good reception. Our house is rather well insulated so radio reception is crap at best DVB-C radio would require buying yet another device...
Generating a Plex Auth Token using curl
I recently started using Plex, and since I’m also using Home Assistant, and Home Assistant can do stuff with Plex, I wanted to combine the two.
Videos
Simon's Cat
Simon’s Cat YouTube channel
Classics… Mah Nà Mah Nà!
Mah Nà Mah Nà
Portal end squence… Still Alive!
I recently bought Portal - a puzzle game (based on the Source engine) by Valve. The game in itself is fun, but even more fun was the end sequence!
More Multitouch from Jeff Han
Wow. As in, wow. Damn. Wow. I want ;)
Chamberchoir Furiant
Christmas concert Arte Musicale - Praise
On the 26th of december we’re giving our annual christmas concert in the OLV Sint Pieterschurch on the Sint Pietersplein in Ghent.
Magnificat by C.P.E. Bach
The choir Cantabile, together with Furiant and the Ghent Baroque Players are performing:
Christmasconcert Arte Musicale
As some of you might (not) know, I’ve recently joined a choir, called Furiant, which is part of the Arte Musicale group. (I already play in a pipe band (the Flemish Caledonian Pipes & Drums))
Flemish Caledonian Pipes & Drums
Back to top ↑Coding
Advent of Code
It’s that time of the year again… Time for the Advent Of Code! This year I’ll have a go with Go - I’ve never written anything in it, so it’s going to be a challenge!
Advent of Code
Some IRC friends of mine recently made me aware of the Advent Of Code, so I’ve decided to partake in Python ;)
Chromecast
Connecting your Chromecast to wired networking - DIY
I’ve had a Google Chromecast (1st</sup> generation</a>) for a while now, connected over WiFi. Works great, although sometimes the wireless reception cuts out, or the signal gets saturated. Since I’m mostly streaming from a device which sits less than 10 cm away, it is also rather stupid to have all those packets going back and forth to my router, causing unnecessary load. Google has...
Pebble
My first smartwatch…
Something like this, perhaps...
Rant
My gripes with macOs
For work I have to use a Macbook. This is due to reasons I won’t go into in this rantblogpost, but suffice it to say that there’s currently no other option. It’s a Macbook Pro, previously an Intel variety, now it’s one of the Apple Silicon persuation.