How to optimize used space in flash storage images

Linux   / / / Leave a comment

Due to their write-sensitive nature, flash storage (both USB sticks and SD cards) normally don’t get zeroed out when data is deleted, making any images created for backup purposes contain random data in the empty sectors. This makes images take up the full size of the disk/card even if very little is actually used from it and also makes image poorly compressible.

The solution is to zero out the unused space in the image file before compressing it. Linux has all the tools necessary for this task readily built-in. If one is not available, a bootable self-contained system such as SystemRescue can be used instead.

How to filter SSH connections per IP on Rocky Linux 8 / CentOS 8

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The TCP Wrappers suite of programs is no longer included in RHEL 8, meaning the hosts.allow/deny files no longer exist nor work. This makes quick filtering SSH connections per IP address a bit more difficult as it requires configuring the firewall.

Luckily, the tcp_wrappers package is still available in the EPEL repository even for versions 8 so the previous functionality can be restored, albeit with some additional steps.

How to add (experimental) sensors support for IT8665E in CentOS

Linux   / / / / 2 Comments

Due to lacking driver support for newer hardware I have been missing hardware monitoring on my home server for more than 4 years now, having access to only hard disks temperatures.

Now the time has come to upgrade the good ol’ machine to a new hardware configuration – and of course the new hardware is also unsupported in even the latest CentOS kernels.

Google has nightmares and sees evil things

Ranting / Technology   / / Leave a comment

No, the site wasn’t hacked (I checked and double-checked), I haven’t started hosting viruses or other nefarious things, the warning you may be seeing appears to stem from the fact that Google’s algorithms decided (after over a year) that they don’t like a particular program I link to and flagged an entire category of articles as dangerous.

Thanks also to the fact that Google’s SafeBrowsing lists are used by all major browsers this warning is present in all browser while accessing any of my tech-related articles. So until Google gets its fact straight and has less nightmares about invisible enemies, you’re free to browse those articles at your own risk. Or not, your choice.

How to tweak Samba on ASUSWRT with both public and protected folders

Technology   / / / / Leave a comment

ASUSWRT does a decent job at providing Samba shares to the Windows clients on the network and this will work in most cases. However, if you need to mix password protected with public (open) folders, the firmware cannot handle this scenario.

Fortunately, Asus made a decent job at making the firmware customizable enough that this functionality can be enabled with a bit of custom tweaking.

How to play sounds (or run anything) on startup and shutdown with Raspbian

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The Raspberry Pi is very handy for fun projects, and sometimes these projects require running specific events (like playing a sound) on startup or shutdown, or even in both instances – for an interactive machine that reacts to user input and presence, for example.

Sounds on startup and shutdown can also be used as a means of confirming those specific actions taking place – startup is complete and shutdown is taking place (and will complete in a very short while).

Sound Blaster Audigy 5/Rx software controls

Windows   / / / / Leave a comment

Since I’m personally interested in using soundcards that support tone (bass / treble) adjustments and I’ve noticed this information is particularly difficult to find online I’m posting screenshots with the software functionality and controls of the cards that I’ve personally tested and/or used, for anyone else that may be looking for this same information.

How to configure a proxy host in Apache

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Proxy virtual hosts are very handy when you need to publicly access a tertiary system on your local network and you only have one IP address to use but there’s a master web server already configured.

If that server is running Apache, adding a proxy vhost to pass outside requests to the correct LAN system is as simple as adding a new virtual host to the configuration.

How to install Windows 10 on a Ryzen onboard RAID

Windows   / / Leave a comment

Loading a RAID driver for the motherboard integrated controller is a familiar procedure for anyone having used such a setup under Windows regardless of using AMD or Intel-based systems.
However, the AMD Ryzen series of chipsets have a slightly odd driver initialization procedure needing the use of multiple driver layers loaded in the correct order.