Blog

Kubernetes with containerd using kubeadm

 Posted on April 16, 2022

Wanting to learn Kubernetes, I needed to set up a cluster while maintaining a balance between learning the fundamentals and not frustrating myself on the complexity before seeing actual results. I also want to use the GitLab Agent, as I truly enjoy using GitLab and its CI/CD setup for everyday work. Not sure if all these tools will make life better for my intended use case, I am sure that I’ll learn to use some new and interesting things along the way. [Read More]
kubernetes k8s gitlab containerd kubeadm calico

Sourdough bread recipe

 Posted on May 22, 2021

For when I forget how I make my sourdough bread. Assumes you already have 200g of sourdough starter. Create 2 half sourdough portions of current batch, each 100g. For each halve: Add 50g water, and mix. Add 10g whole wheat rye flour (volkoren roggemeel). Add 40g whole wheat flour (volkoren tarwemeel). Mix. Cover both with a damp cloth and wait until the sourdough has doubled in volume (3-4 hours). [Read More]
bread sourdough

Adding a device to a running Docker (Swarm) container

 Posted on March 6, 2021

I have an RFXcom device which allows me to send and receive signals on 433MHz to interact with for example KlikAanKlikUit devices. I’m running Home Assistant in a Docker Swarm, but that has the limitation that you can’t attach devices to the container. At least, it’s not documented… The following allows you to add a device to any Docker container (swarm or not). The example is geared towards those deploying Docker Swarm services using a GitLab runner, but can be adjusted to any environment. [Read More]
docker docker swarm udev

Decrypting a BinaryBoot TOTP Authenticator backup

 Posted on February 27, 2021

After finding out the vendor lock in of this tool, I wanted to get rid of it to move my TOTP generation to Bitwarden. But for that I would either need to setup TOTP again for 20 separate services, or somehow extract the seed from the current generator. The backup from this tool is a .encrypt file, which encrypts with the password totpauthenticator by default, You can set it under Settings->Encryption Key without knowing the previous password, if you’d like to change it. [Read More]
aes totp

OpenAuto in a Peugeot 206

with a built-in Bluetooth car radio

 Posted on August 22, 2020

I’ve been using Crankshaft for about a year now, with a Raspberry Pi 3 attached to the 7 inch touch screen display just dropped into the center console with the default fascia removed. It eventually led to a cracked display, which has been mostly glued back together. Still fully operational. Now I wanted to upgrade to Android Auto Wireless and decided to go for OpenAuto. I wanted to keep my built in radio because it has all the requirements such as a proper amplifier, Bluetooth A2DP and HFP, and steering wheel controls. [Read More]
openauto peugeot android auto bluetooth

Dual apps Android

Removing the limitation on which apps can be duplicated

 Posted on July 29, 2020

Some phones have software available to run two separated/isolated instances of the same app on a device. This may be called Dual Messenger on Samsung devices, or Parallel Apps on OnePlus devices. Through adb we can add apps which aren’t allowed by default. No root required. Add non-default app First we need the user id of the Android user assigned to the secondary apps. Connect your phone, enable USB Debugging in Developer Options, and run the following. [Read More]
parallel dual android samsung oneplus adb apk

Automating Chocolatey with Intune

 Posted on June 30, 2020

Intune allows to automatically have software installed on target devices. I found a nice write-up on using this in conjunction with Chocolatey, but realized it could be made much easier. First we’ll prepare the files locally which needs to be done only once, instead of for each application. Prepare Chocolatey The following steps depend on Chocolatey, so first follow the previously mentioned write-up on how to install that through Intune. [Read More]
intune chocolatey mdm rmm

Awesome list

Making life easier

 Posted on May 18, 2020

This is a personal list of tools and manuals which I probably don’t use daily, but will help a bunch when their purpose is needed. Tools checkinstall - Replaces make install and creates an uninstallable .deb of any ‘regular’ source package. 365 mail forwarding - Allows forwarding of domain mails without a (paid) mailbox in Office 365 appimagelauncher - Properly integrates AppImage applications into the OS. Tricks SSH Reverse Tunnel Use the following to create a reverse tunnel which allows you to reach a service from a remote host, which only your local host can reach. [Read More]
linux tools list

Hi-res scrolling on Linux

Smooth scrolling for all

 Posted on May 6, 2020

Various Logitech mice implement hi-res scrolling. This means instead of having the content move 3 lines on each scroll click, you can scroll per-pixel using many more precise scroll events sent by the mouse. This gives you a precise and smooth experience in applications that support it. This currently requires X, as Wayland 1.20 does not yet support this. It seems Wayland 1.21 will support this, but probably in a different way. [Read More]
logitech scrolling linux xorg

Reporting VBA errors

 Posted on April 19, 2020

I can imagine some of you are still out there having to maintain a project built for Microsoft Access, and having all sorts of fancy features written in Visual Basic for Applications. I am one of you. So since Access is a nightmare to do proper debugging and error reporting once you’re used to modern tools, and I find I rely too much on my client to give me proper feedback, I decided to see if I can make life easier. [Read More]
vba error screenshot