blockdev.io

React on the ESP32 with PlatformIO

Serving a React Web UI from an ESP32 to provide a rich and responsive UI, all while incorporating the build process into the PlatformIO toolchain.

No Pi, No Problem - Part 2: The X86-P1

Introduction I've previously written about Raspberry Pi Alternatives and as it transpires, there are no shortages. The X86-P1 caught my eye the other day on AliExpress (in itself a dangerous thing to idley browse), so I bought two to see what's what... The X86-P1 The P1 is particularly interesting because

ubuntu Featured

On-call with the Asus Transformer T100 & Ubuntu Sway

Installing and running Ubuntu Sway on the Asus Transformer T100 for under £100

The Wallbox Unlock-box

The Wallbox Electric Vehicle charger does exactly what is says on the tin. It charges the car, follows schedules and rules, and is easy to install. That said, the software and app is a bit lacking at times. Originally this project started as an integration with the BMW Connected Drive

Mini Guides

Mini Guide: Read-only boot on the ROCK Pi

There are various use cases for booting a read only OS, including but not limited to Kiosk or IoT projects. I've previously written about an overlay-based read-only Pi setup here. This Mini Guide looks at achieving the same thing on the Rock 4 series (it may work with a wider

Home Assistant: No Pi - No Problem!

A brief look into the universe of Single Board Computers (SBCs) and a perspective on why you don't always need or benefit from a Raspberry Pi, and running Home Assistant on other devices.

Business Automation

Automating Payroll payments with Wise and Starling

Automating salary payments using Wise to save time and reduce risk.

mikrotik Featured

Creating Virtual Static IP with Mikrotik, CHR and AWS

My ISP does not provide me a dedicated public IP address either dynamic or static by default*. Instead I have a private address behind a shared public IP. While Internet access works fine, I cannot set up custom port forwarding and as a result cannot access devices on my network

Mini Guides

Mini Guide: Rich MOTD messages with Markdown and glow

A Message of The Day (MOTD) banner is probably fairly familiar to those of us who SSH around, but how about a richly formatted message with colour and style? This mini-guide explains how to add a richly formatted MOTD banner that is displayed to any user starting a new terminal

Dell

Mini Guide: Easy Dell iDRAC access (on Linux)

Dell's IDRAC IPMI/Lights-out/Remote KVM feature is great except for one thing. It's uses Java Web Start to deliver the remote control interface - at least on some versions. The mini-guide explains how to access it from a computer that struggles, or even refuses to run Java Web Start

Mini Guides

Quick AT Commands from the Linux Shell

There are numerous tools available for Linux that allow the user to interact with Serial devices (usually known as Terminals or Serial Terminals), such as mincom or screen to name two, which are generally great at what they do, but experience shows they are not so good for scripting -

Mini Guide: Quick and easy Client SSL Validation (with OpenSSL and Nginx)

I run a number of services from home, for my own convenience, that I want to be able to access remotely, securely, on the go, without the cumbersome need for usernames and passwords all the time. This mini-guide looks at securely identifying the end user with client SSL certificates instead

mikrotik

Monitoring DHCP Leases with MikroTik and Slack

At home I have a fairly extensive network setup that includes numerous switches, wired connections in most rooms, Wi-Fi and over 100 connected devices. Amongst those 100+ devices are numerous Alexas, Raspberry Pis and smart devices in addition to the computers, laptops, tablets, phones, watches and all the usual things.

ngrok

An ngrok custom domain, for free (powered by AWS)

Introduction ngrok and similar tools are great for providing public access to local services, often for development purposes. I primarily use it for exposing an API being developed locally so that a webhook callback can interact with it, for example an inbound email callback from mailgun - it's very useful

mikrotik

Creating a completely isolated guest network using Mikrotik hardware

Creating a physically isolated guest network using iptables and 802.11q VLANs.

git

Hub Clone Tool - Clone all your GitHub Repositories with one command

Introduction I work with a large number of repositories, mostly on GitHub, some are my own but most are for work, and the volume only grows since we complete a lot of projects each year. I find it useful to be able to clone everything I need in a number

Making persistent changes on a read-only Raspberry Pi

Introduction The ability to boot a Raspberry Pi from a read-only file system can be advantageous for a variety of reasons and I've previously written a number of posts that look at use cases and implementation approaches. A key challenge is then making changes, often this requires a reboot to

mysql

MySQL Workbench, Ubuntu 20.04 and App Armor

Recently when installing MySQL workbench on a clean Ubuntu 20.04 install I've run into the following error when connecting locally using a stored password: "An AppArmor policy prevents this sender from sending this message to this recipient.." This post on MySQL forum suggests its a permissions issue between MySQL

Smart Solar

Coming soon...

arduino

RGB LED Electric Drums - MIDI x Arduino x WS2812

Introduction This is another just-for-fun project which was completed a couple of years ago. I have a number of instruments that I play for the pleasure of it, having had an electronic drum kit for a few years and having had and acquired all sorts of electrical, I was interested

Raspberry Pi

Mini Guide: DHCP Controlled Hostname on Raspbian

DHCP Controlled Hostname on Raspbian Note: This note was originally in the Network Booting a Raspberry Pi 3 from an Ubuntu Server post. In theory the configuration should be as simple as stated below: { ... host pi3-1 { hardware ethernet b8:27:eb:41:8e:fa; fixed-address 192.168.1.59; option

Raspberry Pi

Mini Guide: DHCP Reservations

DHCP Reservations Note: This note was originally in the Network Booting a Raspberry Pi 3 from an Ubuntu Server post. To make life easier DHCP Address reservations can be added in the main body of the DHCP config so that each MAC Address gets assigned the same IP: { ... host pi3-1

Mini Guides

Mini Guide: NFS Debugging

NFS Debugging Note: This note was originally in the Network Booting a Raspberry Pi 3 from an Ubuntu Server post. Initially when trying to understand whether the Pi was booting from the network or not it was useful to enable NFS debugging with rpcdebug -m nfsd -s proc which reports

Mini Guides

Mini Guide: Controlling Screen Blanking

Controlling Screen Blanking Note: This note was originally in the Raspberry Pi 2/3: Chromium in Kiosk mode post. The screen can be turned off using the following command: xset -display :0.0 dpms force off And on: xset -display :0.0 dpms force on These could be used in

Mini Guides

Mini Guide: Pi User and Management User(s)

Pi User and Management User(s) Note: This note was originally in the Raspberry Pi 2/3: Chromium in Kiosk mode post. Auto-login to the GUI works regardless of the pi user's password. It is worth changing this for security, potentially creating a management user which requires a password to