Nico Maas

Goodbye WordPress!

Sun, 08 Nov 2026 17:31:30 +0000

I started blogging on WordPress on the 15. August 2008 - and for more than 18 years, WordPress served me well.

Well, a lot changed and its now time to move on: Welcome Hugo!

We see each other in a second… < moving server now >

It took me quite a while to migrate all of my old stuff, maybe not everything is perfect, but I think I managed to clean-up quite a bit. Also, I added Disqus for the moment, but I am not sure whether I will stay at this service for the long run. On the other hand - we got dark-mode now! Isn’t that progress? 😂. Obviously I also need to figure out a lot about how to publish texts in the future, given that I am now tied to HTML only content. But then again, that might be a blessing in todays “security climate”.

[PiAndMore] apex Mk.2/Mk.3 on DLR MAPHEUS 10 Presentation

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 11:50:27 +0000

Here is my presentation to the apex Mk.2/Mk3 @ PiAndMore 14 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 26.09.2026)

apexMk2Mk3_PiAndMore14.pdf

Videorecording can be found here: tbd

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 26 Sep 2026 08:50:06 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 14 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 26.09.2026)

RPi_PiAndMore14.pdf

Videorecording can be found here: tbd

[openBF511] Reverse Engineering a Omron BF511 scale

Thu, 21 May 2026 05:59:39 +0000

I actually own a Omron BF511 human scale, a nice bit of japaense kit. Its a bit old and certainly does not want to interact with the world expect for its LCD display. I wanted to change that and integrate the scale into my health apps/do not keep on tracking stats via paper and pencil. For that reason I did a small deep dive on how to best access its data and send it back via LoRaWAN. All infos can be found on this little Github Repo: https://github.com/nmaas87/openBF511

[Paper] apex Mk.2/Mk.3, apex MCC, apex MRMSS

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 08:00:19 +0000

Finally the series of studies of the apex Mk.2/Mk.3 experiments flown on MAPHEUS 10 (2021-12-06) are peer-reviewed and published. You will find them as follows:

Paper

apex Mk.2/Mk.3: Secure Live Transmission of the First Flight of Trichoplax adhaerens in Space Based on Components Off-the-Shelf: https://doi.org/10.3390/eng6090241
The apex MCC: Blueprint of an Open-Source, Secure, CCSDS-Compatible Ground Segment for Sounding Rockets, CubeSats, and Small Lander Missions: https://doi.org/10.3390/eng6090246
The apex MRMSS: A Multi-Role Mission Support System and Service Module Simulator for Payloads of Sounding Rockets and Other Space Applications: https://doi.org/10.3390/eng6090247

Media

Reworking a Dell Latitude XT in 2024

Sat, 07 Dec 2024 17:49:47 +0000

Intro

I had an old Dell Latitude XT (first generation) in my posession since… quite a long time. One of the first tablet/convertible laptops by Dell, released in 2007.

It was quite a nice machine, but it suffered from multiple issues. On the one hand, the ULV Core2Duo and internal 1 GB of DDR2 memory are nothing to write home about - but the biggest problem in my opinion - is the used mass memory, a 1.8’ 5400 rpm harddrive. And no, you read correctly - 1.8’. What’s that? Thats basically the size and model of HDDs used in Apples iPods: They are awfully slow and even more prone to break.

RAK3172T in Arduino

Sun, 17 Nov 2024 13:00:09 +0000

Updated on 2024-12-01 with latest fixes of STM32LoRaWAN v0.3.0

As the RAK11300 did not really match my requirements (it uses way too much energy), I looked further and found the RAK3172 which is based on an STM32WLE5CCU6 - an STM32 chip which usually include good powersaving modes. As with the RAK11300, I did not want to go down the Wisblock way and designed my own breakout board:

Turing Pi 2 - Retrofitting an EMC2301 Fancontroller

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 19:39:50 +0000

The Turing Pi 2 (v.2.4) has actually some secrets that just start to get uncovered. Looking closely at the board, you will find the red marked area with what seems to be an unpopulated 4-pin fan header (J16) and an unpopulated IC spot (U109).

These spots were, as found out by Sam Edwards (CFSworks) actually a place to install Molex 47053-1000 4-pin fan connector and a Microchip EMC2301 fan controller. It is not clear why they were left out of the production model, probably for cost savings, but without that the Turing Pi 2 lost a nice smooth fan controller. However, thanks to Sam Edwards work, the chip is now supported by the Turing Pi 2 BMC, so that after retrofitting, this will just work out of the box!

GeeekPi RPi 4G Hat for RAKwireless RAK5146 USB

Sat, 16 Nov 2024 17:31:59 +0000

In 2021 I started playing around with the SX1303 based RAKwirless RAK5146 USB LoRaWAN concentrator in mini-PCIe form factor ( 1, 2 ). Back at the time I used the RAK2287 Pi Hat which - even though the website states otherwise (“Note: RAK2287/RAK5146 Pi HAT is compatible only with the SPI version of the RAK2287 and RAK5146 LPWAN concentrators.”) is actually compatible with the USB version of RAK5146. In the second post I even want so far to hack the RAK2287 and bridge the PPS (Pulse Per Second) output of the included GPS onto the RPi GPIOs so that I could turn the RPi into a precise GPS NTP server - and I even added an I2C/“poor-mans-QWIIC connector” to it.

Install a bootloader onto Turing RK1 eMMC memory

Fri, 13 Sep 2024 16:45:45 +0000

The Turing RK1 is a new Compute Module, made for the Turing Pi 2 board and with compability to the Nvidia Jetson cards in mind. While the board has some impressive specs ( https://docs.turingpi.com/docs/turing-rk1-specs-and-io-ports ) it had one small issue: The used Rockchip RK3588 needed a bootloader on its eMMC to be able to boot from an attached NVMe drive. As no isolated bootloader was available, most people flashed a whole OS onto the eMMC - just to be able to use the attched NVMe drive. This process can take quite a while via the Turing Pi 2 board ( e.g. 60 - 90 minutes: https://docs.turingpi.com/docs/turing-rk1-flashing-os ) it was never a good option.

Getting LoRaWAN working with STM32WL55 and Radiolib

Sun, 28 Jan 2024 17:24:03 +0000

Elektor was looking for some ideas regarding their STM32 Design Contest - and so I thought, why not putting the excellent work of the guys behind the RadioLib to good use and getting this board working in LoRaWAN (and it was easier than I thought :)):
https://www.elektormagazine.com/labs/getting-lorawan-working-with-stm32wl55-and-radiolib

Repairing a Turing Pi 2

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 17:56:27 +0000

Intro

In April 2023 I finally got my Turing Pi 2 - happy to finally got it into my hands I plugged it in, headed over to the Turing Pi 2 Github ( https://github.com/turing-machines/BMC-Firmware ) got myself the latest BMC firmware and started to flash it. Thats when things got wrong: The power supply coils started to screech - and seconds later I was greeted with blue smoke and a dead Turing Pi 2. The firmware update actually flashed the board into a paper weight.

Building a MLX90640 Thermal Camera

Sun, 03 Dec 2023 00:15:38 +0000

Intro

Thermal Cameras are neat tools, especially in electronics: You can quickly diagnose short circuits, identify misbehaving components or quantify if subsystems get too hot. However, thermal cameras are still a luxury item which can quickly costs hunderds of euros. Sometimes - however - you do not need the accurarcy of a FLIR or similar system, somtimes its just enough to see which part of a PCB is heating up quicker than others. Enter MLX90640: A 32x24 pixel sensor in two different FoVs, exposing its data via i2c. These sensors can be had on different websites for as low as 25 euros during sale.

RAK11300 - Getting it to work with Arduino-Pico and RadioLib!

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 16:08:49 +0000

Intro

About a year ago I got some RAK11300 modules - which are a nice combination of an RP2040 alongside a SX1262 radio on one module - designed a breakout board - tested it - and quickly shelved it. Reason was that this module was somewhat Arduino compliant - as stated - however only with RAKwireless Arduino mbedOS Repo. Alongside of it being a bit… hacked together, it had the issue of not supporting any low power modes for the RP2040 - making it run on both cores at full tilt and consuming batteries in no time. Not the best thing for a portable/battery powered sensor system, I guess?

RT-Thread IoT-Contest 2023 with NXP i.MX RT1060 - CCSDS-TM-FSM

Sat, 03 Jun 2023 22:35:14 +0000

I just released my latest project, a CCSDS reassembler running on an NXP i.MX RT1060 in RT-Thread OS. You can find it on Github: https://github.com/nmaas87/CCSDS-TM-FSM

RT-Thread IoT-Contest 2023 with NXP i.MX RT1060 - Getting started

Tue, 30 May 2023 18:44:24 +0000

The folks over at RT-Thread decided to make a IOT-Contest using hardware from different vendors and their RT-Thread OS. I was luckily enough to get chosen for a networking project with the NXP i.MX RT1060 EVKB, so I decided to document my journey first getting started with RT-Thread. Here we go! 🙂

Getting started

First of all, its important to know that there are two version of the MIMXRT1060 - the EVK and the EVKB. The EVK seems to be an older version which also includes a Camera sensor module, the EVKB version the recent one. RT-Threads example on Github is for the EVK version, which means things like User LED blinking does not work out of the box, but we will take care of this later.

[PiAndMore] Yamcs Presentation

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:54:10 +0000

Here is my presentation to Yamcs @ PiAndMore 13 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 22.04.2023)

Yamcs_PiAndMore13.pdf

Videorecording can be found here

[PiAndMore] TinyGS Presentation

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:52:51 +0000

Here is my presentation to TinyGS @ PiAndMore 13 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 22.04.2023)

TinyGS_PiAndMore13.pdf

Videorecording can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 13:51:30 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 13 (University of Applied Sciences Trier, 22.04.2023)

RPi_PiAndMore13.pdf

Videorecording can be found here

balenaOS on the Advantech AIR-020X

Fri, 10 Mar 2023 17:20:44 +0000

Last week I posted the review of the Advantech AIR-020X with which I used to create the labSentinel 2 system.

I remarked that the hardware was great, however the software support and update capability of the system was severly lagging behind for an “industrial floor, always on” type of machine. Luckily, thats exactly what balena has been created for.

Even better, their environment already support Nvidia Jetson devices - also Nvidia Jetson Xavier NX modules. With the AIR-020X being a really nice carrierboard (and housing) for this module, I went to work.

Advantech AIR-020X Review

Sun, 05 Mar 2023 12:33:21 +0000

Normally, I am not getting review units. This is due to the fact that I am only hosting this small weblog, along some conference talks - and most companies would probably be better off to send their units along someone with a reach of Linus Tech Tips, or similar.

On the other hand - when I get the possibility to do a review, it can be a bit worrisome for the companies as well, as I am a very honest person. I have been working in tech for some time now and had the honor to build stuff which went to space - and came back to tell the tale. I know what I want in a unit - and what could be a problem.

100 Euro External 13,5'' / 2256x1504 Display with 2x Mini HDMI Input

Wed, 07 Dec 2022 16:40:00 +0000

Working with telemetry, scientific data, programming, writing papers or just casually hacking the Gibson requires one thing: A lot of screen real estate. To allow for that “bit of extra space”, I built myself an external 13,5’’ / 2256x1504 display. It comes with 2x Mini HDMI Inputs and is powered over USB.

Add icons to Jetpack Social Menu

Sun, 27 Nov 2022 18:39:10 +0000

I have been looking around the net quite a lot to find a solution on how to add icons to the “social menu” in wordpress:

At first I thought this menu was a feature of the theme I am using, Independent Publisher 2. I only found a Github repo for the version 1 theme - tried all the hacks there - and finally found out that version 2 was bought by WordPress.com and customized. So all the hacks available for version 1 did not even work. Bummer.

USB C power for the Nvidia Jetson Nano 4 GB dev board

Mon, 17 Oct 2022 08:00:00 +0000

The best way to power a Jetson Nano 4 GB dev board is by using a center positive, 5 V and at least 4 A barrel connector type power adapter. However, these are often bulky and not the best travel companion - while USB C power bricks are becoming more common and the relevant USB C sockets are getting build into nearly every device (maybe yours too, Apple?).

So I set out to build a USB C power adapter for the Jetson board.

An active GNSS antenna for the CAM-M8Q breakout

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 14:00:00 +0000

I have been using multiple CAM-M8Q breakouts by Watterott and really am loving these units. They are small, reasonable priced and have the advantage of an integrated chip antenna. However, this also their small shortcoming: While the antenna is good enough for most outdoor jobs, you can run into sensitivity issues when deploying it indoors - if not setup next to a window. Luckily, the module has two additional u.fl connectors for RFin and RFout, meaning you can use an external antenna.

labSentinel 2

Mon, 19 Sep 2022 09:35:01 +0000

About nearly a year ago, I wrote the labSentinel project for my Nvidia Jetson AI Specialist certification. The basic idea of the project is to be able to supervise old Lab Equipment which does not poses any kind of log output or interface other than a graphical user interface, running on an Windows 3.11 / 95 / NT - maybe even XP system.

I solved this issue by using a video grabber attached to a Jetson Nano and “out-of-band” grabbing the screen output of the experiment computer. I then learned good and bad system states via Nvidias Inference tools and finally got the system to report via MQTT as soon as something did go wrong.

WD My Cloud Mirror Gen2 with Debian 11 and Linux Kernel 5.15 LTS

Sun, 12 Jun 2022 18:05:32 +0000

Intro

Since 2017 I have been using an Western Digital My Cloud Mirror Gen 2 which I bought at Amazons Black Friday (or similar) - because the included 2x 8 TB WD Red were even cheaper with the NAS than standalone. Using the NAS had been quite ok, especially the included Docker Engine and Plex Support were a nice to have, the included Backdoor in older Versions - not so much. Recently WD had their new “My Cloud OS 5” replace the old My Cloud OS 3 - and made things worse for a lot of people. As I don’t want any more surprises - and more control over my hardware - I decided to finally go down the road and get Debian 11 with an LTS (5.15) Kernel running on the hardware. This is how it went.

[Win10] Long Path / Filenames

Sun, 29 May 2022 13:11:16 +0000

Having the need to discuss this topic in 2022 is something I would not have dreamed of - but still, we’re here to address the elephant in the room: Yes, Windows 10 does support long path names - no, it does not support it by default.

You need to enable it using the AD config or the registry.

* launch regedit with admin rights
* navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
* Add a new DWORD (32-bit) named LongPathsEnabled with value 1
* reboot

Alternatively, you can also have the same result by enabling this value in the Group Policy (Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Filesystem > Enable NTFS long path).

Taming the RAK5146 / SX1303

Sun, 08 May 2022 09:21:28 +0000

Its been a while - but good things come to those who wait :) .

Trying to work out a new system you’re unfamiliar with can be quite a challenge. In my case I got my first LoRaWAN concentrator along with some CubeCell HTCC-AB01 and tried to get them to work. It turned out - it was quite hit and miss. On the one hand, the firmware support for the RAK5146 with USB, GPS and LBT was not really ready yet - on the other hand, the CubeCell Arduino code has a fatal flaw with the preamble size so that those cannot join a LoRa network if used in EU868 MHz Band (the perfect fix by 1rabbit is linked as well!).

LoRaWAN with RAKwireless RAK5146: The SX1303 in the field, a rocky start

Sun, 10 Oct 2021 09:11:36 +0000

Setting the scene

Working with the guys over at balena comes with some perks - including the peer pressure of getting into new technologies and trying them out. My go-to person this time was balena Developer Advocate Marc Pous - who is not only no stranger to soldering - but also deeply rooted in the LoRaWAN field (and he is also doing balenaHub projects for LoRaWAN applications 1, 2).

I heared about LoRaWAN a while back, when I was working with Sigfox - but never really gave it a try, other than trying to run a basestation for a certain satellite using LoRa for its communication.

[PiAndRadio] Raspberry Pi GPS Time Server

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 10:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the gpsTime Balena Project @ PiAndRadio 2021 (11.09.2021)

gpsTime_PiAndRadio2021.pdf

[PiAndRadio] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 07:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndRadio 2021 (11.09.2021)

RPi_PiAndRadio2021.pdf

[Talk] IoT Happy Hour #63: balena Ambassador Projects

Sat, 31 Jul 2021 08:10:38 +0000

I took part in balena’s IoT Happy Hour #63 on 30.07.2021 to talk with balenas Marc and David - as well as DynamicDevices Alex about Bees, gpsTime and space communications.

You can watch the talk here on balenas Youtube channel.

gpsTime

Mon, 05 Jul 2021 20:05:33 +0000

I think there is nothing more pleasing than having extremely precise measurements at your fingertips. Like time. While in the past it was quite problematic to measure time accurately (not talking about sundials, but… why not? ;)) - mankind has created one precise time source as the byproduct (read: “waste”) for usage in accurate navigation: GNSS and their different kinds like GPS, Glonass, Galileo, BaiDou and others.

Taping into this time source and providing it to your local computer network via NTP has been done by countless people and is an extreme rewarding task. Is it necessary? Maybe not. Is it really cool? Yes. And now it is even easier as you don’t need to configure it yourself, but can use the balenaHub and the preconfigured gpsTime project.

[Talk] IoT Happy Hour #56: balena in Space

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 16:00:19 +0000

I took part in balena’s IoT Happy Hour #56 on 11.06.2021 to talk about the past, present and upcoming apex missions.

You can watch the talk here on balenas Youtube channel.

[WSL2/Win10] Limit Resource Consumption of WSLv2

Mon, 01 Mar 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Windows Subsystem for Linux 2 has a big problem called “Vmmem” - it is the process WSL uses to allocate RAM for usage within its user context. That itself is all fine, however, there are many known issues that show that even after closing your e.g. Debian session, this memory is not returned to the system. This is also valid for usage of Docker for Windows within the WSLv2 context (meaning using Docker in the “new-style” install, not with the old HyperV machine).

[WSL2/Win10] Install WSLv2

Thu, 25 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

1.) Open an administrative Powershell and activate the WSL feature

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:Microsoft-Windows-Subsystem-Linux /all /norestart

2.) Activate the Virtual Machine Platform, afterwards reboot your computer

dism.exe /online /enable-feature /featurename:VirtualMachinePlatform /all /norestart

3.) Download and install the WSLv2 Linux Kernel package from https://wslstorestorage.blob.core.windows.net/wslblob/wsl_update_x64.msi - another Reboot is needed afterwards

4.) Set WSLv2 as default WSL - open an administrative Powershell and enter

wsl --set-default-version 2

5.) Install one or multiple operating systems in WSLv2 - you can find them here. You can also install these “offline”, meaning without the need to use Windows Store. For the offline install, download the needed package from this link, then install it by doubleclicking on the Icon - or via Powershell with

Presentations with Markdown: revealjs

Mon, 22 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Being an active contributor to the PiAndMore and other conferences, I happen to make quite a few presentations a year. In the past I was using the good old Microsoft Powerpoint - which has its strengths, but also its drawbacks. Positioning text and graphics were never my taste (I use LaTeX, btw) - so I set out to find a new way to create presentations - and found revealjs back in 2018.

Use Sonarqube with sonar-cxx

Fri, 19 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Installation

Download SonarQube from https://www.sonarqube.org/downloads/
- If you are using Java 8, you need to download SonarQube 6.7.x LTS (look for Historical Downloads on the website)
- If you are using Java 11 - SonarQube 7.9.x LTS (look for Long term support area on the website)
Unpack the SonarQube ZIP file
Download the latest sonar-c-plugin.jar and sonar-cxx-plugin.jar from https://github.com/SonarOpenCommunity/sonar-cxx/releases
Insert both jar files into the SONARQUBE_HOME/extensions/plugins extensions directory (within the unpacked ZIP file)
Start SonarQube and Login
- On Windows 10, e.g. via SONARQUBE_HOME/bin/windows-x86-64/StartSonar.bat
- Go to http://127.0.0.1:9000 as soon as “SonarQube is up” is announced
- Default login is user admin, password admin
Navigate to Administration -> Marketplace and make sure the plugins “C (Community)” and “C++ (Community)” are installed

fail2ban Cheat Sheet

Wed, 17 Feb 2021 10:22:00 +0000

Just the commands I always need to look up, because I forgot again…

Overview over fail2ban status and jails

fail2ban-client status

See which e.g. IPs are banned for sshd jail

fail2ban-client status sshd

Unban an IP from sshd jail

fail2ban-client set sshd unbanip IPADDRESSHERE

See which systems are actually banned

zgrep 'Ban' /var/log/fail2ban.log*

[Win10] Download Enterprise ISO with Media Creation tool / check ISO for available editions

Mon, 15 Feb 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Download latest Enterprise ISO

To download the latest Windows 10 Enterprise ISO:

Go to https://www.microsoft.com/de-de/software-download/windows10 and download the latest Media Creation tool
Open a admin powershell and launch said tool with some parameters

.\MediaCreationTool20H2.exe /Eula Accept /Retail /MediaArch x64 /MediaLangCode en-US /MediaEdition Enterprise

You will need to enter the license key / serial to be able to download the Enterprise style ISO (you will not be able to chose any type, this is done by the /MediaEdition switch, as well as the language etc..)

Check ISO for version information and available editions

mount ISO in Windows 10 (here mounted as D:)
execute this

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:D:\sources\install.esd

you will get infos about what is in the ISO (in old versions, the install.esd was known as install.wim, then you need to launch that tool with install.wim instead of install.esd at the end)

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1316

Details for image : D:\sources\install.esd

Index : 1
Name : Windows 10 Education
Description : Windows 10 Education
Size : 15.736.130.486 bytes

Index : 2
Name : Windows 10 Education N
Description : Windows 10 Education N
Size : 14.956.748.370 bytes

Index : 3
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise
Size : 15.736.284.481 bytes

Index : 4
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise N
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise N
Size : 14.956.654.647 bytes

Index : 5
Name : Windows 10 Pro
Description : Windows 10 Pro
Size : 15.734.489.825 bytes

Index : 6
Name : Windows 10 Pro N
Description : Windows 10 Pro N
Size : 14.959.031.814 bytes

The operation completed successfully.

If you start the tool a second time with a specific index, you can find out more about that “shard”, e.g. to find out more about the Enterprise version, launch the tool with

dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:D:\sources\install.esd /index:3

you will get these infos

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.18362.1316

Details for image : D:\sources\install.esd

Index : 3
Name : Windows 10 Enterprise
Description : Windows 10 Enterprise
Size : 15.736.284.481 bytes
WIM Bootable : No
Architecture : x64
Hal : acpiapic
Version : 10.0.19041
ServicePack Build : 631
ServicePack Level : 0
Edition : Enterprise
Installation : Client
ProductType : WinNT
ProductSuite : Terminal Server
System Root : WINDOWS
Directories : 24132
Files : 96485
Created : 19/11/2020 - 04:20:58
Modified : 10/02/2021 - 14:13:25
Languages :
        en-US (Default)

The operation completed successfully.

[Win10] Offline installation of FoD like OpenSSH Server without VLSC ISO

Thu, 11 Feb 2021 17:00:00 +0000

Windows 10 comes with a lot of additional options to install, which are not part of the “local” installation media.That means things like e.g. the OpenSSH Server component. These options are called “Features on Demand” (FoD) and do need either an active internet connection to download and install, or a specialized FoD ISO which you only can download from the Microsoft Volume Licensing Service Center (VLSC). If you need to install these options for your Windows 10 Professional or similar offline - without having a valid subscription, you cannot get the needed offline files that way.

xkcdpass - secure passwords for transport

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 16:00:00 +0000

Passwords are problematic. Always. Especially during COVID-19 - were you have to securely transport data via insecure means. What I want to say: Sending confidential data via email. Actually, thats quite easy: (7)-zip everything with AES256 using a long enough key - transfer the key via additional, more secure lines of communication (e.g. phone) and you are ok for the most part.

However, spelling %-FoPN#~OeJQ0h9g3_JWrvnq9h^ip))srzg{\vnj via phone is “a bit cumbersome”. Thats the moment you recall Randall Munroe’s xkcd #936 Password strength:

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Webcam Build Guide

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 10:15:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Webcam Build Guide @ PiAndMore 12 1/4 (23.01.2021)

RPiWebcam_PiAndMore1214.pdf

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 08:45:00 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 12 1/4 (23.01.2021)

RPi_PiAndMore1214.pdf

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[WSL2/Win10] virt-manager for kvm on Windows

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 11:46:00 +0000

kvm Virtualisiation is great, however, useable tools to create and manage said VMs are rare. The best tool for the job, virt-manager is only available for Linux machines. But what if you want to manage said VMs also via Windows 10? WSL2 to the rescue: Just install WSL2 as shown by the excellent Microsoft Guide, install i.e. a Debian/GNU Linux instance and then launch into it.

You should update the instance to the latest version first:

Ubuntu 20.04 Update bricked KVM Virt

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 11:46:05 +0000

I updated an older Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system to the latest LTS and had (among other things) Docker and KVM installed. KVM is actually quite nice if you “just need” a small VM (pfsense ;)). I actually prefer Proxmox and ESXi, but hey, the right tool for the right job.

After the upgrade to 20.04, kvm did not work anymore and I got a lot of lvm2 errors during apt update / apt upgrade sessions, so a short google later I found this. I was a bit nervous, but the fix did neither hurt my kvm nor my Docker instances

[Win10] Random ports blocked while using Docker / WSL / HyperV

Tue, 22 Dec 2020 09:48:57 +0000

I have been using Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) and Docker on my Laptop since a long time. And during last Docker Con, WSL 2 was released to which I switched instantly - which I did not regret.

(Note: Upgrading to WSL 2 and the native Docker for WSL 2 version will cost you your containers and Docker images, there is even a Thanos meme coming around - so I have to give this fair warning ;))

Bash for sending and receiving raw IP packets

Fri, 03 Apr 2020 07:35:12 +0000

I stumbled across this feature during my bachelor studies:

echo "Hello World" > /dev/tcp/127.0.0.1/5000
echo "Hello World" > /dev/udp/127.0.0.1/5000

You need to be root (obviously) and its supported in bash environment - but not on all systems. You can also cat on the ports and use dns adresses. Its neat to just get a byte out :). And if you need something more sophisicated, be sure to use the good old netcat (nc).

Quickly check python imports

Thu, 02 Apr 2020 14:14:36 +0000

If you happen to write a lot of python scripts and just want to check which of the added “imports” are actually needed to function - and do not want to use an IDE - just check out https://pypi.org/project/importchecker/ - it comes down to a quick

easy_install importchecker

and afterwards you can check your scripts by using

importchecker myScript.py

It will only output the imports NOT needed, which you can then remove by hand

Upgrade SonarQube 6.7 to 7.9

Wed, 22 Jan 2020 17:00:00 +0000

That was surprisingly easy: Just swaped the sonarqube:6.7-community for the sonarqube:7.9-community image entry in my docker-compose.yml and restarted the Docker container. Upon boot, the container restarted due to an error:

ERROR: [2] bootstrap checks failed[1]: max file descriptors [4096] for elasticsearch process is too low, increase to at least [65535][2]: max virtual memory areas vm.max_map_count [65530] is too low, increase to at least [262144]

This could be resolved by executing sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144 on my Ubuntu 18.04 LTS / Docker Host. After another restart of the container, it worked and I could start the update using a webbrowser under http://IP:9000/setup

[Paper] apex: A new commercial off-the-shelf on-board computer platform for sounding rockets

Wed, 11 Dec 2019 13:33:54 +0000

In order to supersede the aging Microchip ATMEGA328P as the de facto standard for Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) On-Board Computers (OBCs) with a more powerful system for different kinds of high-speed sensors and image acquisition applications, we developed advanced processors, encryption, and security experiment (apex). The platform consisting of a newly developed OBC using COTS components has been flight tested during the ATEK/MAPHEUS-8 sounding rocket campaign. The main advantages of the apex OBC lies in the speed and simplicity of the design while maintaining operational security with a redundant master-master microcontroller system, as well as dual flash storage within each master. Additionally, a single board computer with a containerized and failure-resistant Operating System (OS) (balenaOS) was included to allow usage of a high-definition camera or other more compute-intensive tasks. The bench and flight tests were performed successfully and already showed feasible ways to further improve operational performance.

SonarQube 6.7 Community with Postgres 9.6 in Docker on Ubuntu

Tue, 30 Apr 2019 12:45:40 +0000

This is a very quick install for SonarQube on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. I presume you got the latest Docker CE 18.09 and docker-compose 1.24 installed.

# create folders for sonarqube files and postgres
sudo mkdir -p /var/sonarqube/{conf,data,logs,extensions}
sudo chown -R 999:999 /var/sonarqube
sudo mkdir -p /var/sonarqube/postgres
# make folder for all Docker files in home
mkdir ~/sonarqube
cd sonarqube
# create docker-compose.yml with following content
version: '3.1'
services:
  db:
    image: postgres:9.6-alpine
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/sonarqube/postgres:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    environment:
     - POSTGRES_USER=sonar
     - POSTGRES_PASSWORD=sonar

  sonarqube:
    image: sonarqube:6.7-community
    ports:
      - 9000:9000
      - 9092:9092
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /var/sonarqube/conf:/opt/sonarqube/conf
      - /var/sonarqube/data:/opt/sonarqube/data
      - /var/sonarqube/logs:/opt/sonarqube/logs
      - /var/sonarqube/extensions:/opt/sonarqube/extensions
    environment:
      - SONARQUBE_HOME=/opt/sonarqube
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_USERNAME=sonar
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_PASSWORD=sonar
      - SONARQUBE_JDBC_URL=jdbc:postgresql://db/sonar
# launch 
docker-compose up -d

You can then access your SonarQube instance on http://ServerIP:9000 with the credential admin/admin.

Migrate SonarQube from MySQL to PostgreSQL

Sat, 27 Apr 2019 12:45:33 +0000

For checking the quality of my private programming code, I have been using the free edition of SonarQube for multiple years. It is actually a cool project with a massive flaw: They did allow to use MySQL as Database - but not MariaDB. This struggle kept me a bit at bay, as I parted with MySQL years ago - with this one exception.

Some days ago I then stumbled upon the anouncement of SonarQube that did not fix this long-standing issue, but will be parting completly from MySQL. So the only choice would be to migrate to Oracle, MS SQL or PostgreSQL.

Won't be able to attend Pi And More 11 1/2 :(

Fri, 05 Apr 2019 09:50:36 +0000

Dear all,

it is quite sad, but after I have been with the “Pi And More” on every single meeting since it started back in 2012 - and have held workshops and talks on all except the very first one, this time, for the Pi And More 11 1/2 I won’t be able to deliver neither my “Raspberry Pi Introduction” talk (which has been quite a mantra since way back) - nor the “How to command a space payload” - due to bad health :(. I, however, won’t drop said talk, but try to deliver it on Pi And More 12.

Windows 10 Change Wifi / WLAN Network Priority

Fri, 04 Jan 2019 10:17:42 +0000

1.) Open cmd.exe
2.) netsh wlan show profiles
The wifi profile names will be shown in the current priority order under the section “User profiles”. Its important to note, that the section starts with “Profiles on interface INTERFACE”, where INTERFACE is the interfacename. If you got multiple wifi interfaces, that section will reoccur with its own “User profiles” and priority list.
3.) To change the priority of one network, enter:
netsh wlan set profileorder name="WIFIPROFILE" interface="I" priority=NUMBER
You need to give the correct wifi name as WIFIPROFILE, the interface which uses said profile as I and the NUMBER for the priority, with 1 being the highest, i.e. should be used prefered. You can also define priorities lesser than 1.

Windows 10 Update Error 0x80070001

Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:00:00 +0000

I had two Windows 10 machines which had stopped pulling upgrades from Microsoft for quite long (1703, anyone?) and I could not get it back working.
Windows Update just showed me the error 0x80070001 and did refuse to do anything.

Tried:

Clearing Windows Update Cache
WSUS Offline Patching (installed the updates, but the normal Windows Update did not start working after that…)
Windows Update Repair Tool from Microsoft

Nothing did really work, until I stumbled upon a post by OksiQuatzel:
Culprit was the installed ImDisk, a virtual Floppy Drive. With this installed and an A Drive mounted - this error arose.
As soon as I unmounted the drive and removed the driver - everything started working again.
Kind of nuts that something like this could occur.

[PiAndMore] ESP32 - WLAN-SoC für das Internet of Things II

Sat, 03 Nov 2018 10:25:07 +0000

Here is my presentation to the ESP32 @ PiAndMore 11 (University Trier, 03.11.2018)

esp32_PiAndMore11.pdf (1,81 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 03 Nov 2018 08:45:58 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 11 (University Trier, 03.11.2018)

RPi_PiAndMore11.pdf (4,68 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

BeagleLogic

Mon, 15 Oct 2018 09:00:46 +0000

To get your Beaglebone Black (BBB) to work as an Logic Analyzer, you can use BeagleLogic:

1.) Download latest version of BeagleLogic

https://beaglelogic.readthedocs.io/en/latest/beaglelogic_system_image.html
Released on 2017-07-13
sha256sum = be67e3b8a21c054cd6dcae7c50e9e518492d5d1ddaa83619878afeffe59c99bd
https://goo.gl/RiXGBs

2.) Burn it onto sdcard with Etcher

3.) Put SDCard into BeagleBone Black

4.) Hold “Boot” Button, plug in BBB with Mini USB Cable to your PC

5.) After 10 seconds or so, release “Boot” Button (this will just boot from SDcard with this trick)

Nexus 7 Fix Touchscreen

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:00:27 +0000

The Nexus 7 has a quite faulty touchscreen which is prone to ghosting and similiar.

If you got your device rooted, you could go for Parrotmod, which seems to fix said problem:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/nexus-7-2013/orig-development/beta-1-parrotmod-improve-2013-nexus-7-t3375928

Another soultion would be to flash a new touchscreen firmware, as shown here. However, I have not tested this yet.

How to read out Dell Servicetag on Windows

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 20:37:43 +0000

1.) Open CMD.exe / Command Shell in Windows

2.) wmic bios get serialnumber

Taken from: https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/04/sln268357/how-to-locate-system-service-tag-using-command-prompt?lang=en

Cannot start Virtual Machine on ESXi 6.5

Fri, 29 Jun 2018 08:00:54 +0000

As described by JC-LAN, I had a lot of trouble with one particular “special” VMDK on a ESXi 6.5 system, which did not start after a reboot of the ESXi host.

The power-on failed with “File system specific implementation of LookupAndOpen[…] failed” - however in the end it just gave me the overall error that it failed to start the machine. As it turned out, the VMDK was corrupted.

1.) Enable SSH on the ESXi host with the corrupted VMDK - and login

[Talk] resin(io|os) and Fin Presentation

Wed, 27 Jun 2018 07:08:18 +0000

Here is my presentation about resin.io, resinOS, balena and Fin @ the internal DLR “Erfahrungsaustausch Workshop - Software-Entwicklung V: Embedded Systems” (Bremen, 16.05.2018)

resin_DLR_EAW_SE_V.pdf (6,07 MB, PDF)

How to delete Hyper-V Virtual Networkcards in Windows 10

Tue, 26 Jun 2018 12:20:18 +0000

As a “Edge” Version user of Docker for Windows, I tend to reinstall Docker from time to time, just to get a clean base. However, Hyper-V digs quite deep into the system and creates its own virtual network interfaces, which you just can’t delete from the Hyper-V Manager.

Best option is to use (READ ALL BEFORE COPY AND PASTE, PLEASE!):

netcfg -d

in a Administrator CMD window.

This does only delete virtual network devices - HOWEVER, it does delete devices like i.e. your OpenVPN interface AS WELL - AND does DELETE ALL SETTINGS of other network interfaces, i.e. your IP configuration or all your saved WIFI credentials.

[Talk] Docker Workshop Pythoncamp 2018

Sat, 07 Apr 2018 15:35:52 +0000

My Docker 101 Workshop @ Pythoncamp 2018 (07.04.2018, GFU Cyrus AG Köln, https://pythoncamp.de).

Docker_Pythoncamp2018.pdf (1,13 MB, PDF).

Sourcecode / Example can be found on https://github.com/nmaas87/docker-demo

NFS Benchmarking RPi 3B, RPi 3B+ & BPi

Wed, 21 Mar 2018 12:07:44 +0000

3-14, PiDay. Sadly the day Stephen Hawking passed away - and the day the new Raspberry Pi 3B Plus was unveiled.
Some days later, I got a small package:

With that small thing at hand, I was looking through the list of changes:

Broadcom BCM2837B0, Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit SoC @ 1.4GHz
2.4GHz and 5GHz IEEE 802.11.b/g/n/ac wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2, BLE
Gigabit Ethernet over USB 2.0 (maximum throughput 300 Mbps)
Power-over-Ethernet (PoE) support (requires separate PoE HAT)

Ok, CPU bumped from 1.2 to 1.4 GHz, new WiFi with 802.11ac (and 5 GHz support), BLE 4.2, PoE “support” - and Gigabit over USB 2.0.
Well, not too bad.
One of the biggest downsides of the RPi - since its release - was the design choice to add Ethernet over USB 2.0 - while sharing the one and only USB 2.0 lane of the BCM with all the other USB sockets of the RPi. While this choice leads to lower production costs, it also limits the speed of Ethernet / USB especially in case where people tried to implement NAS or File sharing applications with an added USB Drive over Ethernet. To see how much the new design improved that old problem, I decided to Benchmark an “old” RPi 3B with the latest RPi 3B+ in the discipline of NFS.

[PiAndMore] hologram Presentation

Sun, 25 Feb 2018 17:22:07 +0000

Here is my presentation about hologram @ PiAndMore 10 1/2 (University Stuttgart, 24.02.2018)

hologram_PiAndMore1012.pdf (2,82 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sun, 25 Feb 2018 17:21:57 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 10 1/2 (University Stuttgart, 24.02.2018)

RPi_PiAndMore1012.pdf (6,86 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[Talk] resin(io|os) Presentation

Thu, 22 Feb 2018 16:26:05 +0000

Here is my presentation about resin.io, resinOS and balena @ Docker & Kubernetes Meetup Feb 2018 (Heidelberg, 20.02.2018)

resin_DKM2018.pdf (2,57 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[VMWare] Deploy vCenter Server Appliance to ESXi 6.5

Mon, 25 Dec 2017 13:00:22 +0000

To deploy the vCenter Server Appliance (vcsa) to an ESXi 6.5 Server, you need to grab the latest vCenter Server for Linux from http://vmware.com/go/evaluate-vsphere-en - at the moment, thats the Version 6.5.0U1d from 19.12.2017 - which equals to the file VMware-VCSA-all-6.5.0-7312210.iso. After downloading that DVD Image, just burn it to a DVD or unpack it. You can then go on with Deploying it via GUI - or via CLI.

For deploying it via GUI, just start vcsa-ui-installer\win32\installer.exe - if you’re on a Windows PC - or execute the installer / Installer.app files in the lin64 or mac folders.

Debian 9 Offline Installation Bug

Fri, 22 Dec 2017 11:00:16 +0000

I had to install a Debian 9.3 without having access to the internet, so I downloaded the full size offline install DVD from https://cdimage.debian.org/debian-cd/current/amd64/iso-dvd. As usual, I inserted the first DVD into the DVD Drive, started the install and everything worked fine - except for the moment where it didn’t ;): I needed to switch DVDs for some software - and directly afterwards, Debian came to the “Install Grub” step - and asked politly to insert DVD 1 again - which I tried to do - but could not:

[VMWare] Get and upgrade ESXi 6.5 "offline" - without paid license

Wed, 20 Dec 2017 11:00:51 +0000

As I wanted to have a very recent version of ESXi, I went to VMWares website and checked out their Products, Free Products, vSphere Hypervisor section. This, however, only presented me with a ESXi 6.5.0a ISO from 02.02.2017 - too old. However, you’ll get the much needed free license - so the visit pays off :).

So to get the latest version and updates, you need to go to http://vmware.com/go/evaluate-vsphere-en - and are presented with the 6.5.0 U1 ISO from 27.07.2017 - a lot better. With said image you can then install your server. Even if you had an old 6.5.0a install, you could download the VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) Offline Bundle - which will upgrade your old 6.5.0 installation to U1 from that site.

Rogue One: My first field pentesting

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 19:34:57 +0000

Earlier that year, very - earlier - I had one technician of an international company calling me for some advice. She/He had a problem with the local networking staff and their “modus operandi” regarding network security. The company had a big assembly line and very powerful, automated machinery - which made the leaky security all the more troublesome. My job was to exploit one of those security holes and show - as clearly and easily as possible - said problems - so that they were getting finally fixed.

[Dell] Using the Update CDs to get Dell Servers to latest firmware

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 11:00:58 +0000

Dell has an very comfortable way of getting new firmware to nearly all of its server components: The bootable media / ISO or Update CDs. You can find them on this website and very useful. On a basic level, you pick your server, download the ISO, compare the MD5 checksum and burn the ISO onto a DVD. After that, you should get the Servicetag of your server and check for BIOS and iDRAC updates - these should be installed manually first. After that, boot from the DVD and let it install all the needed firmware. Basically, the DVD will cycle through all firmware of components ever installed in the series of your particular server and installs updates if needed. After another reboot, you’re done :).

[Dell] T30 Intel AMT Blank Screen on Ubuntu Fix

Fri, 17 Nov 2017 13:25:10 +0000

The Dell T30 is an awesome little Homeserver, packing a punch with the Xeon E3-1225 V5 - and being affordable at about 399 €. It also comes with Intels Active Management Technology / AMT which is an extension of the horrible Intel Mangement Engine (which was all over the place months ago when some genius figured out how to stop that Man-in-the-Middle-always-on chip with some simple commands) - but quite useful - nonetheless. The good thing about this, is that it acts like an DRAC (Dell) / ILOM (Sun) / IPMI (Supermicro) card - so it is an KVM (Keyboard Video Mouse, not the virtualization thingy this time, sorry ;)) extension which allows you to control the server via network as if you were plugged in directly.

[Dell] PowerConnect 2824 Switch

Fri, 03 Nov 2017 12:46:58 +0000

The Dell PowerConnect 2824 is an oldie but goldie 24 port Gigabit Managed Switch (with ports 23/24 being shared ports like on the Cisco 3560 PoE 8 - which have Gigabit Cooper Ports as well as SFP ports - but you can only use one at a time :)).

You can get them for about 80€ / delivered on eBay as used products and they are qualitywise very good and got an reasonable (although ugly) webinterface as well as SNMP and the usual stuff. They can work as managed or unmanaged switch, which can be switched via the “Mode” port on the front (holding it for less than 7 seconds during operation, it switches the Mode, longer than that -> reset).

Play with Docker - New Version Online

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 09:16:29 +0000

In case you haven’t noticed, we got a wonderful Halloween Gift from Marcos Liljedhal and Jonathan Leibiusky - the all new Play with Docker is online! 🙂

If you want to revisit the changes, just watch their video from Docker Con Europe 2017!

PS: Please disable your Adblocker like uBlock Origin, that stuff can cause serious problems on Play with Docker - had to find that out myself just now ;).

Docker Con Europe 2017 - A recap

Fri, 27 Oct 2017 15:41:00 +0000

Welcome 🙂

Being an Docker Campus Ambassador, I got the oppurtunity to visit Docker Con Europe 2017 - which was an awesome experience which I want to share here. As it has been quite some time since I’ve been to a bigger conference - and this trip does not only include visiting Docker Con - I am going to seperate this blog into two sections.

State of Decay: M.Sc. / Docker Campus Ambassador / Work

Thu, 26 Oct 2017 09:37:00 +0000

Hi there,

the last year was quite a ride, so I wanted to share some more or less private stuff about what is going on in my life currently:

a) As not mentioned here on the blog, I did my Bachelors Degree on Applied Computer Sciences at the University of Applied Sciences (htw saar) in Saarbrücken. After that, I started my Masters Studies in Computer Sciences at the University of Trier. I concluded my studies with the degree Master of Science in July of this year :).

Running resin balena on Raspberry Pi 3

Sun, 15 Oct 2017 14:07:43 +0000

Just two days ago, resin.io announced balena their new, moby based container engine. Basically, it is a Docker-dropin-replacement for IoT Devices: It is compatible with Docker and Docker Hub, gains a lot of stabilty with atomic pulls, more conservative flash memory use - as well as smaller updates due to true container delta pulls. Also, it comes bundled as single file, is smaller in size and as easy to use as Docker. So - a very good bundle.

[Talk] Allesnetz 11 Podcast: Docker Container für IoT mit Resin.io

Sat, 30 Sep 2017 08:00:53 +0000

For my German readers: I took part in Leonid Lezner’s Allesnetz Podcast 11 - about Resin.io and Docker - together with Resin.ios very own Jonas Hermsmeier - you can check out the podcast here.

Upgrade WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) on Windows 10

Wed, 20 Sep 2017 07:30:47 +0000

I had installed WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) a long time ago to gain access to Ubuntu 14.04 LTS directly from my Windows 10 Desktop. However, as time passes, Software grows old. Upgrading the Ubuntu Subsystem via apt-get update / do-release-upgrade should work, but that could have some nasty sideeffects, considering that the 14.04 LTS WSL release had been a beta test - so, a reinstall should be better.

Luckily, TechRepublic got this covered. Just open a CMD and run:

[Ubuntu] PERC6/i on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 09:30:11 +0000

To use the PERC6/i i.e. the

03:00.0 RAID bus controller: LSI Logic / Symbios Logic MegaRAID SAS 1078 (rev 04)

on Ubuntu, megacli is the best tool - but rarely available due to the demise of LSI Logic. Good thing that the guys from https://hwraid.le-vert.net put together a nice repo to host the latest RAID files. And yes, for everyone that does not like the idea of including a foreign repo - sorry to disappoint here :/.

[Freifunk] Upgrade Virtual Freifunk Router on VMWare ESXi 6.5

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:50:41 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, I use a virtual Freifunk Router as part of my mobile Infrastructure / Server. With this little VM, I can actually run a big-area Freifunk Network with lots of users without having to invest in new TP-Link accesspoints: I am running the VM, outputing the Freifunk LAN to a designated VLAN and use old spare Accesspoints as dumb “Media-Converters” (LAN to WIFI ;)).

But, as I only use this appliance every now and then for different kind of conventions and conferences, I need to upgrade that Appliance manually, to get it straight to the latest version without waiting or reinstalling (and droping the VPN key…).

Solve Windows 10 does not automount USB Drives anymore

Fri, 04 Aug 2017 08:54:27 +0000

My Windows 10 machine started behaving weirdly and did not mount any USB Drives / Harddrives and such anymore. I had to open the Disk Management Tool and mount them manually, which is quite inconvenient. So I was looking up the error and came across the nearly perfect solution at http://woshub.com/windows-doesnt-assign-letters-to-external-and-usb-flash-drives/ . However, I did change it a bit so that the VDS is changed to automatically start on boot via the CLI :).

[Gigabyte] BIOS Upgrade on old Gigabyte Motherboards

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 13:00:42 +0000

There are several old Gigabyte Motherboards like the GA-MA Series which uses their BIOS Included Q-Flash Utility for upgrading. This tool tries to access an attached USB Device in a file browser way to give you the choice on which file to flash. Most of the time, you won’t be able to access your drive, as it will only be shown as “Floppy B”. In truth, this means your USB drive is formated the wrong way: You should have only one partition on that stick, with size LESS than 128 MB and FAT as file system. Yeah, I figured that out the hard way ^^’. It will then be shown as “HDD 0-0” in Q-Flash and will provide your files for easy upgrading 🙂

[Dell] BIOS Upgrade on a Dell Precision T1500

Thu, 27 Jul 2017 12:00:39 +0000

Hi there, I just got hands on an old Dell T1500 workstation. It is not the beefiest monster - but still kicking. And I got it for a bargain :). So, while I was refurbishing it, I wanted to do an BIOS upgrade, like usual. Turned out, Dell only offers a combined “DOS/WINDOWS” Upgrade File. I tried upgrading via an FreeDOS USB Stick, created with Rufus, however - it failed. Ok, lets try Windows: I installed Windows 8.1 x64 - and the tool “worked” - however, even after reboot, nothing had changed. Reset CMOS, Load Default in BIOS, nothing. Darn… Well.. All the Dell support stuff for this machine was around Windows 7-ish versions, so I thought “last chance” 😉 - and yes! It worked:

CUDA and Tensorflow in Docker

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 12:00:25 +0000

In this howto we will get CUDA working in Docker. And - as bonus - add Tensorflow on top! However, please note that you’ll need following prereqs:

GNU/Linux x86_64 with kernel version > 3.10
Docker >= 1.9 (official docker-engine, docker-ce or docker-ee only)
NVIDIA GPU with Architecture > Fermi (2.1)
NVIDIA drivers >= 340.29 with binary nvidia-modprobe

We will install the NVIDIA drivers in this tutorial, so you should only have the right kernel and docker version already installed, we’re using a Ubuntu 15.05 x64 machine here. For CUDA, you’ll need a Fermi 2.1 CUDA card (or better), for tensorflow a >= 3.0 CUDA card…

[FreeBSD] Some personal notes for emergencies

Wed, 05 Jul 2017 14:13:41 +0000

Mounting zfs on FreeBSD 9.3 LiveFS for recovery

# List zfs pools
zpool import
-> i.e. syspool
# mount zfs pool syspool
zpool import -f -R /mnt syspool
# create mnt folder for new folder
mkdir /tmp/home
# mount data from zfs pool syspool
mount -t zfs syspool/DATA/home /tmp/home
# work on stuff and umount /tmp/home
# then umount zfspool
zfs umount -a

Format a harddrive on FreeBSD 9.3 and mount it as folder

[resinOS] Build resinOS from scratch

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 13:52:04 +0000

As the time of writing, resinOS is available for Download at Version 2.0.6+rev3.dev for Raspberry Pi 3. This build, however, is nearly 2 weeks old and in the meantime, something great happend: Docker has finally updated to Version 17.03.1 - upgraded from the old ~10 (ten-ish) version - which was not that cool (and without Swarm ;)). So, it is a good idea to get to know how to build your own resinOS in case you really want to live on the bleeding edge ;).

[PiAndMore] Sigfox Presentation

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 15:20:48 +0000

Here is my presentation to Sigfox @ PiAndMore 10 (University Trier, 24.06.2017)

Sigfox_PiAndMore10.pdf (1,7 MB, PDF)

This presentation was not sponsored or supported by Sigfox, however, Wisol gave me Evaluation Boards to test the Sigfox network, thanks a lot!

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction Presentation

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 07:50:44 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 10 (University Trier, 24.06.2017)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore10.pdf (1,96 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[resinOS] Dockerize your own Flask GUI with resinOS

Tue, 16 May 2017 14:55:50 +0000

I have been working with Docker and resin.io as well as resinOS for quite some time now and I am actively using those services actively for different projects: The possibility to just throw away a container and build it anew in record breaking time is just awesome and also the fact that I can now just ship images to some device, deploy it there - and it will just work. As some of you know, I am working as volunteer in different NPOs, i.e. the RepairCafé Trier in which I repair Computers and Mobile phones for free, the PiAndMore / CMD e.V. on which I teach interessted guys and gals about Raspberry Pi and Linux (and even did two presentations on resin.io and resinOS, both linked on this blog - and as video :)) - and also one other NPO which is trying to give information about Japanese Culture. For those events I already created an Tickting System called JCTixx, which uses QR Codes to sell and check tickets for those named festivals. However, I created the Scanner Hardware in 2010, just starting my second year in an Apprenticeship as IT Systemselectronics guy, without anything as a Raspberry Pi available. However, being a bit creative, I just took some old Linux routers, threw the good old OpenWRT on those and soldered directly to the its testpoints / CPU to get the GPIO pins I needed ;). That worked very well - however, nowadays, TLS 1.2 and such eat away those small MIPS cores - and I could - with a lot of work - just get them working with said crypto in 2015. However, being 7 years old now, I need new Scanners - and more flexible way of delivery software as well. So resinOS it is! 🙂

[Talk] Docker Grundlagen Workshop

Sat, 29 Apr 2017 10:00:21 +0000

My Docker 101 Workshop @ T3C Trier (Trier Tech Talk Conference) (29.04.2017, Hochschule Trier, https://t3c.uni-trier.de/).

Docker_T3C2017.pdf (0,74 MB, PDF).

Sourcecode / Example can be found on https://github.com/nmaas87/docker-demo

[RaspPi] How To Compile OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.10 for the RPi on Ubuntu 12.04

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:00:25 +0000

EDIT: This post is from 30.09.2013 and should be the “how to” to this post. However, I never released it for a now unknown reason. Because of the interest in this topic, I still will publish it today so that it can stand as some kind of documentation of what I did back then. However, I might not work anymore.

This is the latest Guide.

What are we doing here?
Building OpenWRT Trunk with the offical RPi 3.10 (next) Kernel.

Reboot Ubuntu if init daemon fails / systemd died

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 08:15:53 +0000

I got following error on an really badly “injured” Ubuntu machine:

Failed to start reboot.target: Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1': timed out
See system logs and 'systemctl status reboot.target' for details.
Failed to talk to init daemon.

Rebooting was not possible anymore, due to the beauty of 2933 zombie processes - slowing down the machine to a crawl.

[Windows/Ubuntu] ADB and Fastboot - useful stuff for your Android

Fri, 21 Apr 2017 08:00:23 +0000

1.) Setup on Linux (Ubuntu)

sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install -y android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot

1b.) Setup on Windows

I recommend the Minimal ADB and fastboot Package by shimp208, which you can get from: https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2317790.

After you’ve installed it, you should add the folder of the installation to your PATH Variable: Press WIN+X Key, choose System, Advanced Systemsettings, Advanced, Path Variables - or just press WIN+R and enter "C:\Windows\system32\rundll32.exe" sysdm.cpl,EditEnvironmentVariables.

You will need to click on the entry Path in the User Variables, edit and then create a new entry by clicking on new.

SSH config for beginners

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 12:00:06 +0000

The SSH config is a powerful tool to get “more” out of your normal SSH connection.

Just create an file called “config” in your .ssh folder and it will be used on a new SSH session.

Lets start with a simple example of how a connection configuration could look like:

Host myHost
  Hostname 1.2.3.4 
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/myHostKey
  User myUser

With this code, an “ssh myHost” will try to connect to the host 1.2.3.4 - using the user myUser and the keyfile myHostKey. And with this - you can use multiple keys and users on the same host without too much trouble 🙂

SSH and Git on Windows (with Public\Private Key Authentication)

Wed, 12 Apr 2017 08:00:45 +0000

This Blog Post consists in huge parts of Daniel Hüskens awesome work, but I still had to rewrite it a bit as I tended to add some stuff on :).

1.) Download latest Git for Windows: https://git-for-windows.github.io/

2.) Install (Entires with * can be changed to your own liking, ** can be changed, but this setting is recommended)

“Without Windows Explorer Integration” *
“Run Git and included Unix tools from Windows Command Prompt”
“Use OpenSSH”
“Checkout Windows-style, commit Unix-style endings” **
“Use Windows default console window” **

3.) Configure

Getting started with Infineon XMC for Arduino

Tue, 07 Mar 2017 16:45:09 +0000

Infineon created the ARM Cortex M Series “XMC” in 2012 to give their users access to a rich portfolio of different AMR Cortex M0+ and M4 MCUs. These Microcontrollers, being supported by powerful peripherals had support for two different IDEs: Keils MDK and Infineons DAVE. While Keil is the definitive choice for most professionals (and expensive…), DAVE was an self-developed plug-and-play kind of programming tool, using Eclipse as framework. However, both tools were directed towards professional endusers and developers, while hobbyists and makers with less experience in ARM Cortex programming would have a sturdy learning curve. Seeing that, and the first tests of the fanproject XMC-to-Arduino - Infineon decided to create an own boards package for the Arduino IDE. And thats what finally arrived some days ago :)!

Blog Defacement

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 15:43:32 +0000

While I am now hosting this blog for nearly 9 years - without any incident - problems tend to happen sooner or later. A lot of hassle and problems has been reduced due to the WordPress Auto Update system - so to update WordPress itself, as well as its plugins - and it works great. However, WordPress introduced - and enabled by default - a REST API - which has a great deal of security problems. And without me always checking each installed version - well, I did not know that… The REST API problems should be fixed by now, but - that came a bit too late for my blog. Nonetheless, I would recommend going to Jetpack -> Settings and disabling JSON API - especially if you’re not using it… I learned it the hard way ^^’..

Keybase.io got a new Client - and it is awesome!

Fri, 17 Feb 2017 18:00:30 +0000

Finally, Keybase.io got a new Client and it is looking gorgeous: https://keybase.io/.

They added a graphical client to the CLI and included a Chat, as well as the File transfer and Search options. So now, Keybase.io got more easy to use than ever before - and the best thing: A mobile client is soon(tm ;)) to be released.

Actually I missed the release of the client and would not have stumbled upon it, if it weren’t for johanbove how send me an encrypted message via the client - and Keybase let me know via email that I got something encrypted waiting for me ;).

Raspberry Pi and its Hardware Random Number Generator (RNG)

Wed, 15 Feb 2017 15:00:45 +0000

Due to a Stackoverflow Post I got to know the fact the BCM2708 / BCM2835 contains a Hardware Random Number Generator (RNG). Two blogposts described how to setup this little module, however, they were outdated, as the needed kernel module is directly baked into the latest 4.x kernel, which ends with the fact that /dev/hwrng already exists :).

The only thing left to do is the installation of the rng-tools, which is easy as pie:

MacType - A better font rasterizer for Windows

Mon, 13 Feb 2017 13:00:24 +0000

If you’re tired of the ClearType Fonts in Windows and long for a more Unix/Mac Style Font Rasterizer, you most probably have heard GDI++ and GDIPP. And as both projects are somehow dead (for 6+ years), someone started a new one, called MacType.

How to install the latest version?

Download and Install MacType (chose English!): http://www.mactype.net/
Download the latest patch: http://silight.hatenablog.jp/entry/MacTypePatch currently the latest version is MacTypePatch_1.19.zip (2016/11/17).
Unpack the patch and copy EasyHK32.dll, EasyHK64.dll and UserParams.ini (from win8.1_or_later folder) to the C:\Program Files\MacType folder
Copy EasyHK32.dll, EasyHK64.dll to C:\Windows\System32
Start MacType as Tray Version and chose an default settings, i.e. FT Opt

Here you can see an example - left without, right with MacType:

Lineage OS Fix: After reboot phone not usable anymore (Only back button/statusbar visible)

Tue, 07 Feb 2017 09:00:37 +0000

Sadly, my Nexus 4 (mako) had a rough experience after upgrading to Lineage OS: After a reboot, I ended up with this screen:

As you can see, only the back button and status bar are visible anymore, I can drag down the status bar and enable / disable stuff but cannot launch the settings or anything else - brick’d :(. I had to reinstall that thing several times, but then came to the conclusion what caused the error: I had enabled a screenlock (does not matter which kind :)) and played with the System Profile under Settings. I created a second System Profile which - as soon as it connected to my Home Wifi, removed the screenlock. And that was the problem. After two additional reboots, the error as seen manifested.

Gravatar considered harmful - disabling it on my blog

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 13:27:24 +0000

Due to the fact that Gravatar makes users very easily trackable (read r1ch.nets Post “Gravatar considered harmful”) I decided to remove the use of Gravatar from my blog. I did this be removing the feature in the Discussion Settings, as well as using the “Disable User Gravatar” plugin to prevent WordPress to leak your E-Mail address through your Gravatar on my blog.

How to run pi-hole in a Docker container

Mon, 06 Feb 2017 09:00:17 +0000

Pihole is an awesome little DNS Server with Blacklists for Ad Sites and the ideal tool to install a small and powerful ad filter for the whole network (Intro Video here).

As diginc designed an Docker Image around the Pihole server (which was normally run on a RPi :)) - and made it x86, you can also run it on your normal Homeserver :)!

Important things just before we start: The Docker container needs to bind to ports 53 (DNS) and 80 (HTTP) - so, if you need to run your own DNS - that could interfere. If you need port 80 for some other website - you’ll have to make an reverse proxy.

[Keybase.io] Add another E-Mail to your Keybase.io Public Key

Fri, 03 Feb 2017 09:00:25 +0000

Keybase.io is awesome!

But the problem was, you could not really use it for email, nor sign your Github commits, as keybase only entered a non existing email into the public key (yourname@keybase.io). But - you can change that :). You’ll need to have GNU PGP / GPG installed.

Download Private and Public Key from Keybase.io (edit Button next to Key on Profile, Export my Private Key, Key Checksum for Export of Public Key)

Cisco 45xx Supervisor 6LE Defect

Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:00:05 +0000

As I tend to work with some Cisco 4506 and similiar switches - equipped with WSX45SUP6LE / WS-X45-SUP6L-E Supervisor Engines, I had the unfortunate delight to seem those rebooting at random.

Cisco did put out an entry in their bug tool (“Sup6LE reloads silently (Reset State: 00000201) / watchdog CISR0: 0x80”) with the Bug Tracker ID CSCtf85481 - however, of the multiple accounts I had, I only found it on one of those. Other accounts did refuse my access to this file. As we confronted our Cisco Tech Support prior to finding the bug ourself, there was “no known error” which represented itself in rebooting the switch at random - so they said.

Nexus 4 / Nexus 7 CrossUpgrade from Cyanogenmod to Lineage OS

Thu, 26 Jan 2017 09:36:34 +0000

EDIT: Experimental Builds were deleted now, as initial stated by LineageOS Team in this post. CrossUpgrade is not possible anymore, best bet would be to wipe the device and start from scratch. So just skip the second step with EXP Image and WIPE EVERYTHING in TWRP and install the latest nightly. Please also stay alert on bugs which are included in LineageOS. This link will give you access to the unresolved section of the Nexus 4 / Mako device, while this link will give you access to the same for the Nexus 7 2013 Wifi / flo :). Also, you can find the latest changes for mako here and for flo here.

Odroid U3 Kernel Upgrade + Docker

Tue, 24 Jan 2017 19:00:27 +0000

I wrote this back in January 2017. Since then I had not much time to work on the Odroid - however, user hexdump did just came up with a new repo, supporting the Odroid U3 with Kernel 5.4.x - you can find the overview over his awesome work here and the repo with complete releases (i.e. Ubuntu Bionic or Debian Buster i.e. odroid_u3-armv7l-debian.img.gz) here

I am using an trusty old Odroid U3 which I acquired years ago. With its SAMSUNG Exynos 4412 Cortex-A9 Quad Core 1,7 Ghz, 1MB L2 cache and 2 GB of RAM, this little puppy was an real beast - compared to the Raspberry Pi 1 at that time. However, Hardkernel did drop the support - again, which left the Users back with very old Kernel versions. However, thanks to some users and the fact that all needed support for the Exynos is now included in the current kernel - well, we can build our own. This write up is the distilled result of days of work and a lot of research - and the work of other people which I found on the net (which I will try to give proper credits at the right locations :)).

[Talk] Docker Grundlagen

Mon, 23 Jan 2017 17:45:19 +0000

My Docker 101 presentation @ Softwaretest, Testautomatisierung und -management Saar 2017 (23.01.2017, https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/Saarland-Softwarequalitatssicherung-Testautomatisierung/).

Docker_Testen2017.pdf (0,44 MB, PDF).

Sourcecode / Example can be found on https://github.com/nmaas87/docker-demo

[Docker] Upgrade Sonarqube from 5.6 to 6.2

Fri, 20 Jan 2017 21:57:36 +0000

I just updated Sonarqube from 5.6 (LTS) to 6.2. Before that, I upgraded all my plugins in Sonarqube itself and made an backup of my installation and database. Then, I replaced image: sonarqube:lts-alpine in my docker-compose.yaml with image: sonarqube:6.2-alpine. I did an docker-compose up and it started, however, I had some errors so it just kept on restarting. Following this advice I then proceded to delete $SONAR_HOME/data/es/. I then restarted Sonarqube, which worked. I then pointed my Webbrowser to the URL of my Sonarqube Instance and added an /setup and allowed the Database Upgrade. After that, I had a working new Sonarqube instance :).

Cisco RAM Problem (Phone/Linecard)

Mon, 16 Jan 2017 09:00:28 +0000

As a matter of fact, I’ve been working for more than 8 years with Cisco equipment and continue to do so. I really like Ciscos products, especially in the router / switch sector and had the pleasure to work with products in the range of Switching, Routing, Communications / Phones, Wifi, Datacenter Connectivity and Security. However, I had 3 unpleasent events with Ciscos products and I want to take the time to talk about two of those, as they occured because of the same reason.

[PiAndMore] resinOS Presentation

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 12:45:54 +0000

Here is my presentation to resinOS @ PiAndMore 9 1/2 (Hochschule Niederrhein / Krefeld, 14.01.2017)

resinOS_PiAndMore9_1_2.pdf (0,6 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Introduction / Workshop Presentation

Sat, 14 Jan 2017 08:15:36 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Introduction @ PiAndMore 9 1/2 (Hochschule Niederrhein / Krefeld, 14.01.2017)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore9_1_2.pdf (1,94 MB, PDF)

and to the Workshop:

RPiWorkshop_PiAndMore9_1_2.pdf (1,09 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[Docker] Autobuild Docker Images from Github Repos you don't own

Mon, 02 Jan 2017 13:00:41 +0000

With Docker Hub it is dead simple to just link your Github Account to Docker, choose an Github Repo which contains your Dockerfiles and Apps - and build them as soon as you push new code. But as soon as you’re not the owner of the repo (i.e. you’re a fan and want to provide Dockerbuilds for Docker Hub) - things get messy. But actually, it works quite easy: Just apply some IFTTT - and you’re set ;).

Configure Git Line Endings

Sun, 01 Jan 2017 09:00:32 +0000

I tend to work crossplatform on different systems, mostly switching between different kinds of Ubuntu/Debian and Windows machines - always checking out and commiting git files on those machines. And I always forget to get the Git Line Endings right, as soon as I add a new machine to that list… So to do that, just a quick one liner:

git config --global core.autocrlf input
# Configure Git on Linux to properly handle line endings

Restoring an Apple //c / 2c and Monitor

Sat, 31 Dec 2016 15:30:12 +0000

Normally, I tend to work on freelance projects in the Art sector, i.e. for exhibitions (like seen here) or props for different cosplays / costumes. Another job I am really into, is the repair of different electronics and computer related things at the RepairCafé in Trier, which I do on a voluntarily base / for free. However, this time a friend approached me to do a commission work / repair an old computer he found - and wanted to see working again :). So, I ended up doing just that.

[Raspberry Pi] Warning - Kernel 4.4.38 breaks boot on RPi 1 & 2

Wed, 28 Dec 2016 22:00:29 +0000

About 14 days ago, RPi Kernel Version 4.4.38 was published. However, something went very wrong somewhere: Raspbery Pi Models 1 and 2 do not boot anymore. As a quickfix I would recommend to download the 4.4.37 Kernel from the Github Repo (https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/) and replace the boot Partition on your RPi 1 or 2 SDCard with the /boot path from the 4.4.37 ZIP File - and it should boot again. If you’re RPi is still working - do not update your kernel until this problem is solved! Issue on Github.

[Review] Packet.net

Mon, 26 Dec 2016 17:31:32 +0000

There are a lot of companies providing cloud services today: Amazons AWS, DigitalOcean, Heroku - just to name a few. Being an ARM-SoC-Fanboy however (well, I do too much RPi and Co stuff.. ^^’), I run into Packet.net - another cloud services provider - but with a little twist: Packet.net does offer Bare Metal Services. So you do not order “another VM”, but the Hardware itself. They claim to have it provisioned within 8 Minutes (Source: https://www.packet.net/) and you also can use a ton of specialized stuff (some servers even got NVMe flash). But what really caught my attention, was the Type-2A server, an Cavium 96 Core ARMv8 @ 2GHz with 128 GB of DDR4 RAM and some SSD space - for 0,50 USD / hour (More Info here, here and here. So I decided to follow Packet.net on Twitter.

Gitkraken - your next Git Client

Sat, 24 Dec 2016 15:00:28 +0000

If you’re in the NetOps/DevOps Teams, chances are high you need to develop code and use git. Well, on Windows Clients, I tended to use Atlassians Source Tree - however, that client became more and more buggy and unstable - unusable to say. Especially if I had to do an really big merge of my main to my deploy tag - it tended to crash most of the time.

So, without further ado: Enter Gitkranken. A nice, free, good looking and fast git client. Without dependencies.

Cleaning Cache on Android >= 6.x (Apps won't work!)

Sat, 24 Dec 2016 12:32:05 +0000

As I am quite an Twitter Addict, I tend to surf a lot on that Social Media Site, blowing my Android Cache to unfriendly-sizes. In earlier days, I installed some random Cache Cleaner from the PlayStore, cleaned the Caches and directly uninstalled those Apps again, as they tended to be full of Ads. However, in recent days, I saw that most Cache Cleaners did not work - even though “the devs said so”. How come? Well, I found my answer on the Github Repo of the android-cache-cleaner: “Starting with Android 6.0, CLEAR_APP_CACHE permission seems to be no longer available to regular applications and since this permission is required for cleaning of internal cache, Cache Cleaner is not able to clean internal cache on Android 6.0 and newer. However, cleaning of external cache is still supported.” Well, cool thing. So most of those apps are useless as hell. But how to clean all the caches?!

Raspberry Pi Pixel - on your x86/x64

Fri, 23 Dec 2016 10:35:02 +0000

The guys over at the Raspberry Pi Foundation - in cooperation with the MagPi Team came up with a cool project: They ported the new “Pixel” desktop from Raspbian over to Debian, so you could use it on your normal x86/x64 machine. The DVD is included in the latest MagPi edition, however, you can also download the DVD from the Raspberry Pi Website, the link is in the article: https://www.raspberrypi.org/magpi/debian-pixel-mac-pc/

Raspberry Pi Remote Desktop

Fri, 16 Dec 2016 20:23:56 +0000

To use the RPi via Remote Desktop, different protocols and programs exist, i.e. VNC. Due to simplicity of use, however, I mostly chose XRDP, which works with the Microsoft Remote Desktop Tools. However, you must not install it via sudo apt-get install xrdp - as this will install it with realvnc and break xrdp (Package error which has not been fixed yet in the recent “Pixel” Release of Raspbian…).

Instead, use:

[Docker] Backup / Restore Images

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 15:00:41 +0000

Images should be a kind of “throw-away” format: You got your Dockerfile, and as soon as you need to run a specific container, you should just built it from scratch: All the latest security updates, software versions - great. However, sometimes you got a bit of specialized stuff which you want to backup for later use.

I found a good answer to that topic: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/26707542/how-to-backup-restore-docker-image-for-deployment

Backup:

docker save myusername/myproject:latest | gzip -c > myproject_img_bak20141103.tgz

Restore:

Dell Servicetag on Ubuntu

Tue, 06 Dec 2016 10:02:48 +0000

You can find out your Dell/Sun Servicetag on Ubuntu via:
sudo dmidecode -s system-serial-number

Nexus 4 Upgrade to CM 14.1 / Android 7.1 Nougat + Updates

Fri, 02 Dec 2016 20:20:57 +0000

[UPDATED 10.12.2016]
A little bit problematic, but… works in the end.

Warning: Bleeding Edge!
Will bootloop, you’ll need to format your phone, it will break eggs, pcs, glass and burn down your house.
Comes with no support what-so-ever from my side.
You have been warned!**

1.) Get all the files

CM: https://download.cyanogenmod.org/?device=mako
- Latest version was: https://download.cyanogenmod.org/get/jenkins/187896/cm-14.1-20161202-NIGHTLY-mako.zip
GAPPS: http://opengapps.org/ (ARM, 7.1 GAPPS, Picco Version)
TWRP: https://twrp.me/devices/lgnexus4.html
- Download from: https://dl.twrp.me/mako

2.) Flash TWRP

[Ubuntu / Proxmox] Hosting NFSv3 Server on Ubuntu for Proxmox Server

Thu, 24 Nov 2016 15:24:36 +0000

So, yesterday evening y0sh came to me with following problem: “I got an real nice proxmox server with loads of CPU and RAM - and nearly no storage left. And I got an small little Atom Server with loads of Storage - but not very useful as VM Host - and yes, they are within the same network”. Ok, so: Lets create an NFSv3 Server on the Atom system and mount it as disk storage within Proxmox 🙂

[Python / QL-570] Using Brother QL Printers via Python

Tue, 22 Nov 2016 20:45:44 +0000

I have been building an complete Invoice / Cashier system for Cafés in my spare time for quite some time. It consists of an server, running the web app, an laptop to use as the real cashier system, multiple Android Phones as a way for the waiters to enter their orders and two Raspberry Pis with Brother QL-570s as Invoice Printers. One of those is set at the counter, printing the “normal invoice”, the second one is located at the kitchen and got some special routing logic, so that it only recieves the items actually produced in the kitchen. However, as I was using these special kind of printers, I was bound to use the printer-ptouch drivers… and yeah, they are kind of buggy. Buggy in that way, that, after installing them with cups and hacking your paper media in there - they will just stop working from time to time. Without further warning. They will stop printing just somewhere in the middle of the job. I really tried all options available to me now - and was now keen on finding other kinds of solutions. And after two days of searching, I stumpled upon this master piece: https://github.com/pklaus/brother_ql. Mr. Philipp Klaus did actually dump the whole cups and printer server stuff and directly converted png files into the needed binary code for the printer. And not only the QL-570, but other types as well. I really recommend checking out his code and trying his way on printing - its a huge timesaver, especially on embedded devices like the Raspberry Pi :)!

[Talk] Docker Grundlagen

Fri, 14 Oct 2016 20:00:34 +0000

My Docker 101 presentation @ Containerschifffahrt SB - Docker-Meetup 2016 (14.10.2016, https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/Containerschifffahrt-SB-Docker-Meetup/events/234248360/)

Docker_Meetup2016.pdf (0,42 MB, PDF).

Sourcecode / Example can be found on https://github.com/nmaas87/docker-demo

[Freifunk] Virtual Freifunk Router on VMWare ESXi 4.1

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:44:33 +0000

This post was planed a LONG TIME, however - due to the fact that I could not get it working back in 2015 (See: https://github.com/freifunk-gluon/gluon/issues/496) it had been delayed. However, as I have the need to get Freifunk working as VM on a central ESXi Server - I tried it again - and it worked! Basic instruction to get it working can be found here in german: https://www.it-kl.eu/2015/08/gluon-x86-unter-vmware/

I got following equipment: ESXi 4.1 Server with multiple NICs.
Start up with getting the right image from your Freifunk Team. I got the gluon-fftr-0.8.4-x86-vmware.vmdk from the Firmware Store of my trusted guys from FFTR (https://github.com/freifunktrier/firmware_store/tree/master/firmware/stable/factory [ Trier 0.8.4 is gluon 2016.1.6-3-g9300421, it’s just 2016.1.6 + ee597c6 + Webinterface-color-patches ] )
After that, create a new VM on your VMWare ESXi Server. Choose an user definied configuration, “Other” OS and “Other (32-Bit)” Version. I gave the VM a 1 vCPU and 512 MB of RAM - but you can chose as you like. After that, you need to create two Network Devices / NICs. I chose two E1000 ones, and gave the first Interface the Freifunk LAN and added the second Interface to my common WAN (IMPORTANT!). After that, you’re not going to create an HDD.
After the creation of the VM, upload your vmdk file to the folder, edit the VM and chose the downloaded VMDK as Harddrive.

[Sonarqube] Use Sonarqube in IntelliJ / PhpStorm / etc.

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 08:00:16 +0000

Sonarqube is cool, as the generated results can not only be viewed via the web interface, but also via an plugin in IntelliJ or other Jetbrains IDEs. The installation is quite simple, you just need to download the latest plugin on this website: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7238 and install it in the way described here: https://github.com/sonar-intellij-plugin/sonar-intellij-plugin. After that, you can easily hunt down and eliminate those errors :)!

[Docker] Sonarqube with Gogs/Drone to check software quality

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 08:00:20 +0000

Sonarqube is an really useful tool to check for different kind of errors in all kinds of programming languages. If you want to check out Sonarqube in a livedemo, just go over to https://sonarqube.com/. In the last two parts of my Docker series we created an gogs Git Repo as docker container and then went over to integrating gogs with drone (Version 0.4), an CI Build Server - also as Docker container. Today, we want to install Sonarqube as a tool to check upon our software quality, so that - as soon as we push an update to our gogs project, drone will execute an analysis using Sonarqube - which will give us information about different kind of errors and code quality.

[Ubuntu] Use Molly-Guard to stop shooting your own leg

Fri, 23 Sep 2016 08:00:06 +0000

If you’re working on some dozens of linux servers (or even more than 100,.. as in my case), you end up doing administration via SSH - which is the way to go. And chances are, that you’ll get dozens of SSH connections open in dozens of tabs and you did some updates on some of those servers and want to restart this thing with a quick sudo reboot now…
I won’t lie if I say, it happend more than once that I accidentally rebooted the wrong server - at least that was the case more than a year ago.
For the last year, since I have been using Molly-Guard - that did not happen once. Why? Because Molly-Guard does stop the reboot command if it detects that you’re issuing it from an SSH console - and asks for the server name. If you’re entering it correctly - it will reboot. If you’re in a frenzy, doing your “sudo reboot now” and enter name serverB while you’re on serverA - yep, Molly-Guard will stop you from shooting yourself in the leg. Neat, ain’t it?

[Docker] CI with Drone and Gogs

Mon, 19 Sep 2016 08:00:38 +0000

Now that we have a running Gogs installation for our source code (see here) - we can use Drone to build working software from those repos. Drone is an Continious Integration System, that comes in two flavors: Drone.io - which is the hosted service you could use - or Drone - as self-hosted service. We want to use the later one. To install drone in our existing Docker setup (with gogs already installed) we need to complete following steps:

[Ubuntu] Secure your Apache 2 Reverse Proxy

Mon, 12 Sep 2016 10:36:40 +0000

We got an Apache 2, working as Reverse Proxy to some Docker instances (we won’t talk about the nginx vs Apache stuff here for the same reasons we won’t talk about vi vs emacs vs xyz ;)) - and somehow we realized that our apps are a little bit too sensitive to allow them from any ip.

First, we want to activate the needed modules. Normally that should not be necessary, but for sake of completeness:

Cisco Prime Infrastructure 3.1 Cheat Sheet

Fri, 12 Aug 2016 07:18:30 +0000

A little cheat sheet for myself. All commands can be used via SSH or Shell:

Show Config: show run
Show Inventory: show inventory (Does show i.e. how many CPUs and RAM is installed. This does match normally to the Version of Cisco Prime. i.E. 8 vCPUs and 16 GB RAM -> Express Plus Type)

Show status of prime: ncs status

Backup OS and Application: backup PI311 repository defaultRepo
Backup Application only: backup PI311appOnly repository defaultRepo application NCS

[Ubuntu] Radsecproy for secure Radius over WAN

Mon, 27 Jun 2016 11:51:44 +0000

Chances are you going to need an radius Auth over WAN - because your Radius and Identity Mngmnt is hosted in the security of the local datacenter of your corp… but the client (i.e. an network switch) is somewhere over the ~~rainbow~~ WAN. You could just pipe the radius traffic over the internet - but there be dragons: radius communication is unencrypted. So… just no.

Enter radsecproxy: Radsecproxy is - as the name implies, an radius proxy - which needs to be installed on both servers (the local one in your company, now called SERVER, and the remote one with the switch attached, now called CLIENT) - and does encrypt the communication between both server parts (over WAN i.e.) via TLS.

[Review] Western Digital WD Labs PiDrive 314GB

Thu, 16 Jun 2016 13:38:26 +0000

Today, I want to do my first review on this blog, concerning the Western Digital / WD Labs PiDrive 314GB. I received this nice little drive from the guys over at PiAndMore as a gift for my three presentations at the PiAndMore 9 (among other loot ;)). So, what is this PiDrive and what is so special about it? Well it is in fact a small 2.5 HDD with integrated Sata to USB 3.0 Controller (with the matching “two-piece” connector). It was specially designed by WD to work with the Raspberry Pi Series and gives the RPi 314 GB of space (hence the name PiDrive - however, there is an 1 TB Version available as well).

[PiAndMore] resin.io Presentation

Sun, 12 Jun 2016 15:11:46 +0000

Here is my presentation to resin.io @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

resinio_PiAndMore9.pdf (1,03 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[PiAndMore] platformIO Presentation

Sat, 11 Jun 2016 15:00:52 +0000

Here is my presentation to platformIO @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

platformIO_PiAndMore9.pdf (830 KB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[Talk] Docker Grundlagen

Sat, 04 Jun 2016 20:55:22 +0000

My Docker 101 presentation @ SaarCamp 2016 (04.06.2016).

Docker_Saarcamp2016.pdf (0,56 MB, PDF).

Sourcecode / Example can be found on https://github.com/nmaas87/docker-demo

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung und Grundlagen Presentation

Sat, 04 Jun 2016 20:54:59 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung und Grundlagen @ PiAndMore 9 (Trier, 11.06.2016)

RPiEinführungUndGrundlagen_PiAndMore9 (7 MB, PDF)

[Ubuntu] Freeradius: Improve Uptime

Fri, 20 May 2016 08:00:43 +0000

As a network admin, you’re going to have at least one Freeradius running, mostly for 802.1x authentication. At my place the problem arised, that the service was down too often - for different reasons.

1.) Logrotate
If you’re using logrotate, you should check out /etc/logrotate.d/freeradius:

/var/log/freeradius/*.log {
weekly
rotate 52
compress
delaycompress
notifempty
missingok
postrotate
invoke-rc.d freeradius reload &gt;/dev/null 2&gt;&1 || true
endscript
}

Logrotate does restart freeradius after it swapped the logs with reload, which often results in a crash or race condition (freeradius does not shutdown fast enough, and the restarting process thinks it already got one running process - and both terminate). So to change that, you should stop the process, wait, and start again.

[Ubuntu] Letsencrypt with Apache and Freeradius

Mon, 16 May 2016 08:00:53 +0000

This little tutorial describes how to use Letsencrypt with Apache, Freeradius and Auto-Renewal of the Certificates.

Install Letsencrypt

sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install git  
cd /opt  
sudo git clone https://github.com/letsencrypt/letsencrypt /opt/letsencrypt  
cd /opt/letsencrypt

# Become root  
sudo su

# "Order" certificates (replace SERVERDOMAIN.COM with the DNS of your Server!)  
./letsencrypt-auto --apache -d SERVERDOMAIN.COM --rsa-key-size 4096  
Enter Contact Mail: mail@SERVERDOMAIN.COM  
Configuration Type: Secure #is best, as it does redirect insecure http to https)

# Read PATH variable  
echo $PATH

# Cronjob for certificate renewal  
#you should under all circumstances replace the string following PATH= with your own, as read with the command above.  
#Seperate with ; from the rest of the command like shown in the example  
crontab -e

# letsencrypt
30 2 * * 1 PATH=/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games;/opt/letsencrypt/letsencrypt-auto renew &gt;&gt; /var/log/le-renew.log
35 2 * * 1 /etc/init.d/freeradius restart
35 2 * * 1 /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Configure Freeradius

cp -r /etc/freeradius/certs/ /etc/freeradius/certs_bkp  
rm /etc/freeradius/certs/*.pem  
cp /etc/freeradius/eap.conf /etc/freeradius/eap.conf_bkp

vi /etc/freeradius/eap.conf

#certdir = ${confdir}/certs
#cadir = ${confdir}/certs
certdir = /etc/letsencrypt/live/SERVERDOMAIN.COM
cadir = /etc/letsencrypt/live/SERVERDOMAIN.COM
#dh_file = ${certdir}/dh
dh_file = ${confdir}/certs/dh
#private_key_password = whatever
private_key_file = ${certdir}/privkey.pem
certificate_file = ${certdir}/cert.pem
CA_file = ${cadir}/fullchain.pem

# Configure access rights on /etc/letsencrypt  
cd /etc/letsencrypt/  
chgrp -R ssl-cert archive csr keys live options-ssl-apache.conf renewal # set group of cert/key dirs to ssl-cert  
find . -type d -exec chmod g+xs {} \; # directories executable and setguid (set group ssl-cert for new files/dirs)  
find . -type f -exec chmod g+r {} \; # files readable

# Restart Freeradius  
service freeradius stop  
service freeradius start

Additional infos: https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-secure-apache-with-let-s-encrypt-on-ubuntu-14-04

[Docker] Keep Docker Container up-to-date with Watchtower

Thu, 12 May 2016 08:00:59 +0000

If you’re using Docker, you know you will need to update these containers from time to time by hand. Mostly with an docker pull repo/DockerContainerName and an docker-compose up -d. If you want to automate this, you can now use Watchtower: https://github.com/CenturyLinkLabs/watchtower

Using it, is very easy. Just run following command to let all your containers automatically update via watchtower:

docker run -d \
  --name watchtower \
  -v /var/run/docker.sock:/var/run/docker.sock \
  centurylink/watchtower

If you want choosen containers to be updated, include the names of the running containers as arguments, i.e.:

[Ubuntu] Networked UPS with apcupsd, APC 750 and Windows

Tue, 10 May 2016 14:47:33 +0000

Due to some serious power outages, I had to install an UPS at the Office of one client. It is an rather small setup: One low-power Ubuntu Server, one Laptop with one TFT Screen, one i3 Desktop with two TFT Screens, one network switch. All in all, about 400VA. I had an old APC Smart UPS 750 VA at hand and used it. Idea was to connect the UPS via USB directly to the Server and hook Laptop and Desktop to that Server via Network. As soon as the Server found that the whole Powergrid went offline, all pcs should shutdown automatically: Enter apcupsd.

[Art] real-time operator

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 10:46:23 +0000

real-time operator was an project of Melanie Windl, an artist from the University of Mainz, Germany on which I helped as technical advisor and programmer. The idea of the project was to live-record sounds from the staircase of the Tokyo Wondersite and replay them using different filters on multiple ballons (using exciters). The project was realised using three Raspberry Pi, Modell B+, some USB Soundcards and PureData. You can find more about the project here: https://atelier-windl.com/portfolio/real-time-operator-2/

Where can I find the free VMware Player?

Wed, 27 Jan 2016 19:00:36 +0000

I was looking for the free VMware Player, which was available for quite some time.
Turned out, the free Player still exists - but is now called “VMware Workstation Player (formerly known as Player Pro)”.
If you got to this website: http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ - you will find a lot of text about some paid version - but if you look up closely to the last paragraph “VMware Workstation 12 Player Free for Personal Use” - you will find the text “environment you may use Workstation 12 Player at no cost.
Download Workstation 12 Player for personal use.” - and the “Download” writen in faint blue color - yep - that is a somehow hidden link. Click it! ( Hint: https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_workstation_player/12_0 ) - And there you will be able to download the latest version for free.

[Docker] Install Gogs as Docker container

Thu, 21 Jan 2016 19:00:51 +0000

Gogs (Go Git Service) is an awesome Github/Gitlab like solution, completly written in Go(lang) - which makes it blazing fast - and lightweight.
And as there is even an Docker Container of Gogs available - I thought - why not using this to finally move from my SSH-only-Git to an “real” Gitservice :).

We are going to use docker-compose in this example - so I assume you have installed this as shown in my last guide on Docker.

[Docker] OpenWRT Images for x86, x64, Raspberry Pi and Raspberry Pi 2

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 19:00:55 +0000

As some of you know, I am trying to learn to use Docker.
I love the simplicity of this tool and the fact that a lot of my Appliances could be built and mainted more efficiently with the use of it.
So I thought “Well, I should at least try to create some useful Images for the Docker Registry / Hub” - and so I came up with the Github Repo of https://github.com/x-drum/docker-openwrt which I could not help - but fork ;). So, x-drum showed an easy way to build x86 Images for 14.07 and 15.05 OpenWRT.
And I thought “well, lets extend that”. So now, we also got 12.09 OpenWRT x86, as well as trunk x86… and while I was doing some research, I slapped the x64 Versions for trunk and 15.05 on as well :).

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung Presentation

Sat, 16 Jan 2016 12:30:27 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung @ PiAndMore 8 (Trier, 16.01.2016)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore8.pdf (4,42 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[RPi] The cheapest Raspberry Pi Cluster Ever Made v2

Fri, 15 Jan 2016 19:00:41 +0000

Ok, an little update on the PiZero Cluster Front:
Now, that OTG is compiled directly into the “next” kernel of RPi, we can use the OTG USB Virtual Ethernet directly - which makes it a lot easier. So I updated this :).

Preparing Minibian Jessie Image
I used some old Appliance Image I created from an Minibian Wheezy Image (https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/) earlier this year - for the 1.) section on the RPi Modell B pre 2.0 and RPi Modell A+. For the 2.) section, I used an special Appliance Image I made from an Minibian Jessie Image. However, I will document needed changes here, to get it running from any source. I recommend the Minibian Jessie Image as starting point, with this changes:

apt-get update
apt-get install -y raspi-config keyboard-configuration
raspi-config
# Default Configuration and Expand Filesystem using raspi-config
# Enter Finish and press Yes on Reboot the Device
apt-get install -y rpi-update sudo
apt-get -y dist-upgrade
reboot
rpi-update
reboot
# Create Default User pi
adduser pi
# Enter Password as wanted, i.e. raspberry
# Add user to default groups
usermod -a -G pi,adm,dialout,cdrom,audio,video,plugdev,games,users pi
# Add sbin Paths to pi
echo 'export PATH="$PATH:/sbin:/usr/sbin:usr/local/sbin"' >> /home/pi/.bashrc
# Add user to sudo
visudo
# Add under
# # User privilege specification
# root ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
pi ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL
# Save and Exit
reboot
# Disable root login
sudo passwd -l root

or - and default RPi Jessie Image.

[Ubuntu] Install Docker

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 19:00:44 +0000

This is a short guide to install the recent Docker Version from the official ppa on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS - along with some other great tools like docker-compose.
Please bear in mind, that Docker needs an 64 Bit System to work with :)! So no i686 plattforms from here on.

# Add Docker Key  
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://p80.pool.sks-keyservers.net:80 --recv-keys 58118E89F3A912897C070ADBF76221572C52609D  
# Add Repo  
echo "deb https://apt.dockerproject.org/repo ubuntu-trusty main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list  
# Update and Install  
sudo apt-get update  
# Install Recommended Package  
sudo apt-get install linux-image-extra-$(uname -r)  
# Install Docker itself  
sudo apt-get install docker-engine  
# Useradd - so you can use docker with your own user without sudo  
sudo usermod -aG docker ${USER}  
# Install pip  
sudo apt-get install python-pip  
# Install docker-compose  
sudo pip install docker-compose  
# Test Docker Install  
sudo docker run hello-world  
# After an additional reboot, you will be able to use docker with your own user (also recommend because of the the new linux-image-extra 🙂

[Windows/Ubuntu] Install chromeIPass: KeePass2 to Chromium Password Management

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 16:37:56 +0000

This post is outdated, the plugin in question does not exist anymore. I would recommend to use “Kee” (https://www.kee.pm/) plugin - but please as bridge to KeePass Password Safe 2 - and not in its own database mode 🙂

I really loved KeeFox, an cool tool which let you use KeePass2 as Password Safe for your Firefox Passwords.
But today, I use Chrome - so no KeeFox for me anymore. And I really do not like the “Synchronize Password” Feature of Google.
So… chomeIPass it is ;)!

[RPi] Measuring RPi Zero USB Network Speed with iperf

Sun, 27 Dec 2015 19:24:30 +0000

As I saw Jeff Geerlings Website and his iperf Benchmarks of different RPis link, I wondered how the RPi Zero would perform by using the USB Virtual Ethernet Interface on my Windows 7 x64 PC.

So I got the latest iperf 2 Version (iPerf 2.0.5-3) from the iperf Website at https://iperf.fr/iperf-download.php, installed iperf from the Raspbian Jessie Packages and launched the iperf Server on my Windows 7 x64 PC via iperf -s. The PC was attached to an Gigabit Switch via an Gigabit Ethernet Interface - so no bottleneck here.

[RPi] The cheapest Raspberry Pi Cluster Ever Made

Sat, 26 Dec 2015 20:13:03 +0000

As soon as the Pi Zero came out, I started on thinking about Clusters again. I wanted to create an big - but at the same time, cheap cluster.
Yes, an Pi Zero is not nearly as fast, as an RPi 2. And yes, there are some problems with this idea - especially about the fact, that the Pi Zero is not as common as an - say - RPi Modell B v. 2.0 - but - as this is more about science and trying to just “do it” - I tried it anyway.

Letsencrypt - Now secured

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 08:58:52 +0000

Hello there,

now that finally the Letsencrypt.org project is alive, I did secure this blog with an SSL Certificate (yes, was about time!).
I did already pariticipate in the closed beta and secured about 5 websites (among them some RPis, of course!) and private hosted embedded devices.
Worked like a charm :)!
If you want to find out more about this awesome project or secure your website - go to https://letsencrypt.org/ Let’s encrypt all the things :)!

[RaspPi] Multiboot with BerryBoot

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 14:05:17 +0000

If you start using Raspberry Pis, you will run out of Sdcards rather quickly. Reason for this is, there are so many awesome Distros you would like to use - that you are becoming something like an Discjokey for Sdcards: An awful load of sdcards with just some 100 MBs of distros - spread all over your desk. And while sdcards are somehow cheaper than they used to be - today - it is still an awful waste of money.

[Logitech] R400 Presenter pairing

Fri, 04 Dec 2015 13:11:43 +0000

Warning: The R400, R600 and R700 series of presenters are attack vectors and considered harmful. While Heise made an article that detailed that Logitech would exchange the receivers, it did actually not. They sent out a pair of incompatible C-U0014 receivers which could not be paired with R-R0004 presenters and then stopped their program, claiming only to exchange the presenter if it was under warranty, which is a security nightmare (I just tried to get the correct receiver, but Maven M. from Logitech wanted to have the receipt for the module which I obviously do not have anymore). In other words: The hardware is extremely vulnerable, Logitech accepts that it is like that but does not want to get this fixed, so I can only recommend to dispose of the presenter line and do not buy from Logitech anymore. Here is the security write up with the proof of concept to that attack: https://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Oct/60

Telekom blocking SMTP Servers without asking Users

Fri, 13 Nov 2015 12:31:59 +0000

Sometimes, you see things you just want to refuse to believe.
While it is true that most problems and quirks of software or hardware are due to really profound reasons and can be fixed quickly, sometimes you just cannot find them easily, if something unexpected happend - something which you never even thought of or you just found to be impossible.
My gamechanger - for the WORST - has been Telekom, which I happily would like to propose for the next BigBrother Award:
To cut a long story short: A friend of mine did order an Webhosting Account at all-inkl.com - and this did work without any problem.
I did configure some Domain Redirection, Mail Accounts, included them to the Android Phone of that friend - everything was working just fine.
However, as soon as the person arrived at home, Mail did not work anymore on the phone.
After trying to track down the problem for far too long, I did call the (very nice) support and got some immediate help:
“Are you using a Telekom Line?” - well… Yeah? - “Oh.. Well, they include SMTP Whitelists in the new routers, to stop spammers and we are not on this whitelist… So you can recieve but not send mail…” - WAIT. WHAT?!
A quick check on the WIFI Symbol, IP Range of the Phone and an Network IP DOT 1 in the friendly browser later - “Speedport W724v - What can I do for you?” - Well, [D|F|S][a-z][a-z][a-z]! Turns out, the new W724V, Entry 2 and Hybrid Home Routers of the Telekom “feature” an SMTP Server WHITELISTE. So if you try to use your nice myname.de SMTP Server - nop’! You have to include your own Servers to that list, otherwise connection will be blocked - regardless if you try to communicate via Port 25 or 587 via SSL or encrypted formats. Really, hot, bad, nasty stuff.
One could mention that fighting spamers is a good idea, but this approach is as china-like as it is 1984.
So, kudos Telekom - you just made it impossible for “non-IT people” to use their own not Telekom and al. hosted SMTP service!
More can be found on this german site: http://all-inkl.com/wichtig/anleitungen/programme/e-mail/speedport-w724v-hybrid/liste-der-sicheren-e-mail-server_399.html

Netflow on Ubuntu

Mon, 26 Oct 2015 12:18:37 +0000

Netflow consists of three parts:

The collector, which collects the connection data on a host
the capture, which receives data from collectors and writes them to disk in binary format
the dump tool, which presents the data

We use fprobe as collector and nfcapd as capture tool:

sudo apt-get install fprobe nfdump

fprobe wants to be configured during the installation. It asks for the interface which should be listend upon and where the flow collector does listen. In our example, eth0 should be listend upon and the flow collector is situated on the same computer. Please use 127.0.0.1:9995 for that.

Removing Windows 10 Diagnostics from Windows 7/8/8.1

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 20:03:28 +0000

Windows 10 “Security?”: We got opt-out-only-all-included-private-Wifi-Password-Sharing with all your Facebook Friends, access to all data, addressbooks, emails, voice and video as well as the possiblity to shutdown hardware you attached to your PC - if MS does not like it. Quite some people from the Facebook and Computerbild Front already upgraded to the new Windows 10 - “don’t get left behind and get your upgrade” - well… it sounds more like a really evil episode of Dr. Who and the Cyberman to me. Ugh.

[Android] Stagefright Bug

Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:01:20 +0000

To check if your current Android System is vulnerable to the Stagefright Bug, just use this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zimperium.stagefrightdetector

[Ubuntu] Screenshot to File

Thu, 06 Aug 2015 16:00:00 +0000

Just a quick tip. If you want to do a screenshot of a certain area of your screen and save it to a file, use the command CTRL + Shift + Print on Ubuntu Linux.

Open-source / private Evernote alternative: Paperwork

Fri, 26 Jun 2015 17:30:36 +0000

I use tools like Google Keep and Evernote from time to time to manage my pile of recipies, data and “knowledge” (what ever that’d be ;)). However, I don’t feel really comfortable and looked for alternatives. There are certain plugins for ownCloud, however, these are basically text-editors at best… Never liked that idea. So I came around Paperwork: http://paperwork.rocks/
Truth beeing told: It is still in development. It is as bleeding edge as it gets. Sharp as a knife. And yes - I forgot to do backups of my (until then not used) database and lost a lot of data on an simple update… (Yep, the reason why I introduced you to automysqlbackup some days ago…).
But at the moment, it is working very well and I like it very much. I think it will become an really great tool :)!

Private Dropbox/Google Drive/File Sync: Syncthing

Wed, 24 Jun 2015 17:30:06 +0000

I tested quite a lot of sync tools out there: Dropbox, G-Drive, Bittorrent Sync, ownCloud, plain Rsync,… You name it.
But to be true, I never really liked any tool that much: It never really worked out somehow: The Mobile Apps were bad, “Servers” did eat up too much performance, etc. etc.
And we don’t want to forget these little itching problems with privacy - thinking about Dropbox, G-Drive and the now closed source Bittorrent Sync…
Well - enter Syncthing: https://syncthing.net/
In truth I can only say one thing: It works. It just, plainly, works for syncing data from your mobile devices to your swarm of servers or pcs.
So give it a shot :)!

[Ubuntu] Automatic Backup of MySQL Databases

Mon, 22 Jun 2015 17:35:54 +0000

Just install automysqlbackup via apt-get.
You can configure the whole system via /etc/default/automysqlbackup
Backups will be sent to /var/lib/automysqlbackup

[PiAndMore] piRefly - Kuramoto Oscillator

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 15:25:15 +0000

Here is the presentation of the piRefly Kuramoto Oscillator @ PiAndMore 7 (Trier, 20.07.2015)

piRefly_PiAndMore7.pdf (1,7 MB, PDF)

You can find the repo on github: https://github.com/PiAndMore/piRefly

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Appliances

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 13:25:20 +0000

Here is the presentation to my Appliances Talk @ PiAndMore 7 (Trier, 20.07.2015)

RPiAppliances_PiAndMore7.pdf (0,6 MB, PDF)

[PiAndMore] ESP8266

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 11:25:59 +0000

Here is the presentation to my ESP8266 Talk @ PiAndMore 7 (Trier, 20.07.2015)

ESP8266_PiAndMore7.pdf (2,8 MB, PDF)

Thanks a lot to Espressif Systems for their tremendous support!

[Win7+] Arduino 1.6.4+ Portable Installation

Sat, 20 Jun 2015 11:25:17 +0000

In the last months, a lot of new updates arrived from the Arduino front. The latest installment of the Arduino IDE is now 1.6.4 and got some really nice additions, i.e. an Board Manager to install board definitions from the net via one click, the Library Manager, line numbers and much more. However, given the nature of the Board Manager, it always installed the files somewhere on the Computer, i.e. the AppData folder - which not really made the Arduino IDE portable. However, with 1.6.3, this was fixed.

[ØMQ] Getting started with ØMQ and Python on Windows 7, x64

Wed, 15 Apr 2015 15:36:40 +0000

ØMQ (zeroMQ) is one of these sexy “new” Message Queue Systems. I wanted to dive into it right away, starting with Java. However, building zeroMQ with Java Binding on Windows 7, x64 is a pain (read: Did not work out fast enough - as I wanted to get my feet wet fast!) - so I switched over to Python. Well. Getting that to work is quite easy.

1.) Download and install latest zeroMQ
You can get the Windows Downloads on https://zeromq.org/distro:microsoft-windows, i choose the Stable Release 4.0.4 for Windows, x64 Release for Vista and newer. Just download and install it.

[RaspPi] Minibian Basic Setup

Tue, 07 Apr 2015 05:54:14 +0000

For basic appliances with an very specific task, an complete Raspbian Installation can be too heavy weight and unnecessary. Striping down Raspbian of things like Mathematica can be time consuming. Enter Minibian: Just download the Image at https://minibianpi.wordpress.com/ and flash it to your SD Card like a normal Raspbian Image. Following is the procedure to setup Minibian with raspi-config, rpi-update and sudo / Default User pi.

How much resources does Minibian need after installation?
About 469 MB of space on the SD Card.
About 60 MB of RAM.
I think that is way better than Raspbian.

[Art] Suomalainen Äänimaisema

Thu, 02 Apr 2015 09:39:09 +0000

Suomalainen Äänimaisema was an project of Melanie Windl, an artist from the University of Mainz, Germany on which I helped as technical advisor and programmer. The idea of the project was to field-record several sounds and music of Finland, load them onto some Raspberry Pis and let them play, as soon as a person came close enough to the object. The project was realised using three Raspberry Pi, Modell B+, some PIR sensors and USB Soundcards. You can find more about the project here: https://atelier-windl.com/portfolio/suomalainen-aanimaisema-2/

[ESXi5.5U2] Install ESXi on VMWare Host with less than 4 GB of RAM

Thu, 26 Mar 2015 15:01:31 +0000

I found this solution in the Spiceworks VMWare Forum by User ZEFiR and after testing it succesfully with ESXi 5.5 Update 2, I wanted to preserve it for future use. The Original Post can be found
https://community.spiceworks.com/topic/411970-installing-esxi-5-5-with-4gb-ram-memory_size-error?page=1#entry-3816226. Thanks a lot to ZEFiR for sharing this very useful piece of knowledge :)!

Boot from VMware ESXi 5.5
wait “Welcome to theVMware ESXi 5.5.0 Installation” screen
Press Alt+F1 for enter console and login as “root” (no password needed)
go to:

SSH Socks Proxy

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:01:08 +0000

Very easy and handy is to use an SSH Server as Socks Proxy:

ssh -D 8080 username@my_ssh_server

Or use Putty:
Enter the IP Address of your SSH Server, Port and go to Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels.
In Source Port enter the Port where the Proxy should be available. I.e. 8080
Then choose “Dynamic”.
Leave Destination Port Empty and the IP Configuration on “Auto”.

After connecting to your SSH Server, you can configure i.e. Firefox to use your Socks 5 Server on IP 127.0.0.1 and Port 8080.

[RaspPi] Virtual Accesspoint on Xbian

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:08:08 +0000

Little How To to get an Virtual AP running on XBian.
I did NOT choose to install an DHCP Server on Xbian, as I just wanted to use the central one in my network.

1.) Install software

sudo apt-get update  
sudo apt-get install install hostapd hostap-utils iw bridge-utils

2.) Update hostapd

cd ~  
wget http://www.adafruit.com/downloads/adafruit_hostapd.zip  
unzip adafruit_hostapd.zip  
sudo mv /usr/sbin/hostapd /usr/sbin/hostapd.ORIG  
sudo mv hostapd /usr/sbin  
sudo chmod 755 /usr/sbin/hostapd

3.) Configure hostapd
sudo vi /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

Vagrant on Windows 7

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 13:07:10 +0000

So I wanted to try out some “new technologies” as Docker and Vagrant, so I decided to install Vagrant on my Windows 7 machine. It turned out to be not that “just install and go” as written down in the tutorial.

So, the short version to get you up and running:
1.) Install VirtualBox VirtualBox-4.3.12-93733-Win
Yes, 4.3.16 is current, no - you can’t use something higher than 4.3.12 because of an error with ssh…
2.) Install some software which comes with ssh
So if you haven’t installed git until, that should be the perfect time to do that.
Oh, and please include the bin folder with the ssh.exe in the PATH Variable of your Windows machine. Vagrant needs to call it to connect to your “VM”.
3.) Install Vagrant 1.6.5
4.) After doing all that, you should reboot your pc.

[Linux] Delete old SSH Keys and recreate them

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 13:07:08 +0000

If you are downloading an Linux Image for i.e. Embedded Systems like Raspberry Pi, sometimes, the SSH Keys are still on the system and are not recreated.
To do that manually, just enter:

sudo rm /etc/ssh/ssh_host_*
sudo dpkg-reconfigure openssh-server
sudo service ssh restart

[RaspPi] Trouble with xfce4-panel on Kali Linux

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:35:15 +0000

Errors with xfce4-panel

I got an error that the xfce4-panel / Taskbar disappeared.
I solved it by right-clicking on the Desktop, choosing Applications, Settings, Panel.
After that it told me that it got no panel running, and if it should start one.
I answered yes and the panel would appear again.

After an reboot, I always got the question wheter it should start an panel.
As that was quite annoying, I looked for another solution to the problem.
I found the answer here: http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/probleme-mit-panel-und-kiosk-modus/
Just delete the xfce settings like that:

[RaspPi] Install Kali Linux on RPi with HDMIPi

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:05:14 +0000

1.) Download Kali for RPi
https://www.offensive-security.com/kali-linux-vmware-arm-image-download/

2.) Extract if with 7zip, format your SDCard with the Formatter from the SDCardAssociation and write the Image (kali-1.0.9-rpi.img) to your SD Card

2b.) If you plan on using Kali with your HDMIPi Screen, create an config.txt file with following content on the sdcard to have correct HDMI sizing:

hdmi_ignore_edid=0xa5000080
hdmi_group=2 # HDMIPi for 1280 x 800
hdmi_drive=2 # for alternative modes get sound
hdmi_mode=28 # 1280 x 800 @ 60 Hz Specifcations

3.) Boot it

[RaspPi] Faintly glowing steady green LED on Raspberry Pi

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 13:05:31 +0000

[RaspPi] Faintly glowing steady green LED on Raspberry Pi

I got some serious issues with one of my Raspberry Pi, Modell B Rev. 2.0.
With an recent image, the Raspberry Pi refused to boot, but did only light up the red ACT LED as well as an really faintly glowing steady green PWR LED.
After my shop of trust sadly declined to help me with that issue, I tried to come up with every possible fix possible.

[RaspPi] Snappy Ubuntu Core on Raspberry Pi 2

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 12:55:09 +0000

Well, I finally got my Raspberry Pi 2 and just could not hold back and wanted to test Snappy Ubuntu Core and give a little introduction and how that thing works.

Ok, but short into: What is Snappy Ubuntu Core?
Well it is meant to be a secure operating system for embedded applications.
It is based on an transactional system-management and can even rollback upgrades of the system core.
There are three kinds of Snappy Ubuntu Core Components:
Snappy Ubuntu Core itself (Core), Frameworks and Apps.
Frameworks can access the Core in certain ways and thus need to be reviewed by the Ubuntu Team.
Apps are completly isolated from each other and have limited access to the system, therefore they don’t need special security profiles or reviews, which makes publishing easier.
Ok, and everything is controlled via the command “snappy”.

[RaspPi] HDMIPi Repair and VGA Upgrade

Fri, 27 Feb 2015 10:31:04 +0000

Sadly, some weeks ago, the Micro USB Port of my HDMIPi broke.
I wrote an letter to Alex Eames, which is quite known for HDMIPi, RasPi.TV and his lattest Kickstarter Project the RasPiO Duino.
Alex is an awesome guy and gave me his blessings to try to repair that problem myself.
With some flux, a fine solder tip and soem patience, you can get that repaired in no time.
After succeeding, I created some strain-relief by using two-component epoxy resin to glue it down a bit. Highly recommended!

[1841] Reset Password / Config, ROMMON Upgrade and Software Upgrade on Cisco 1841

Sun, 08 Feb 2015 15:35:45 +0000

1.) Reset Password / Config

Connect to the router via Serial Cable
Power on the router, but send a break during the first 60 seconds of boot time to get to the rommon CLI
enter confreg 0x2142 followed by a reset
Router is booting up, as soon as it does enter the system configuration dialog, answer the question with no
enable
conf t
config-register 0x2102
exit
wr mem (because I just want to overwrite the old config :)!)

2.) ROMMON Upgrade

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung / Workshop Presentation

Mon, 26 Jan 2015 13:48:08 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung @ PiAndMore 6 (Saarbrücken, 24.01.2015):

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore6.pdf (4 MB, PDF)

and to the Workshop:

RPiGrundlagenWorkshop_PiAndMore6.pdf (3 MB, PDF)

[PiAndMore] MQTT - Glue that keeps the IoT together

Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:30:11 +0000

Here is the presentation to my MQTT Talk @ PiAndMore 6 (Saarbrücken, 24.01.2015)

MQTT_PiAndMore6.pdf (0,9 MB, PDF)

[Python] Python HTTP Server One Liner

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 21:22:50 +0000

As fidepus learned the “Python HTTP Server One Liner” from anyk, I needed to duplicate this wisdom myself - because I’ll forget it as well ;)!

These commands will start an HTTP server on the current directory, listening on Port 8080.

Python 2.X:

python -m SimpleHTTPServer

Python 3.X:

python -m http.server

Original Post and Kudos to: http://www.fidepus.de/2014/05/python-server-one-liner/

[Office] Quotes

Mon, 19 Jan 2015 21:03:22 +0000

You can actually turn of typographical quotes in i.e. PowerPoint using File, Options, Check on Document, Autocorrection Options, Autoformat while typing. Just uncheck “Typographical Quotes”, to get the only " " quotes.

[Win8.1] ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 on Windows 8.1 / 64 bit

Sat, 10 Jan 2015 22:58:47 +0000

As I wanted to use an older Notebook with ATI Radeon Xpress 1250 Graphics Chip, I needed to get an recent driver.
Sadly, ATI/AMD does not provide drivers for Win 8.1 / 64 Bit for this old chips.
However, with Digitalflem you can create your own “old/new” Driver:

1.) Download the ATI Catalyst 10.2 Windows 7 | Vista (64-bit) legacy driver, start the installation and abort it - so you got the files unzipped
( i.e. from http://downloads.guru3d.com/ATI-Catalyst-10.2-Windows-7-%7C-Vista-%2864-bit%29-download-2478.html )

[RaspiPi] RF24 Radio Link between 2 Raspberry Pis

Fri, 26 Dec 2014 16:30:14 +0000

Hi there,

awesome coder TMRh20 did write some cool librarys for the widely used RF24 radio modules.
These tiny things work with SPI and thanks to TMRh20s work, you can use them quite easily to connect two RPis.
You can find his/her Github on https://github.com/TMRh20, as well as a lot of good documentation on his/her blog http://tmrh20.blogspot.de/ and github.io http://tmrh20.github.io/

To make it short and connect to RPis, this is my reciepe, worked out with TMRh20 - Thanks a lot!

[Win7+] Software Accesspoint

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 08:02:21 +0000

Sometimes you just need to give wireless access to one of your little toys (i.e. Tablets, Smartphones, Raspberry Pis with Wifi - you name it) - but you got no wifi access point with you. Starting with Windows 7, this ain’t a problem anymore. You can setup an software ap in just a minute:

Enter following code into your command line interface to start an software access point with the SSID WiBridge and the password mh28-dyi9-txwt:

Update HP Procurve via XModem

Fri, 12 Dec 2014 07:54:01 +0000

I got an old HP Procurve Switch and wanted to upgrade the firmware.
After booting the switch, we configure the serial link to an Baudrate of 115200, so we won’t have to wait all-night for the update to finish.

config
console baud-rate 115200
exit
write memory
reload

After reloading the switch and configuring our terminal software to 115200 baud, we can start the XModem Upload via:

copy xmodem flash primary

After that command, the switch waits for an XModem datatransfer to begin. So, just upload your new firmware image via your terminal software, using XModem.

[Paper] (In)Security in the Internet of Things

Wed, 08 Oct 2014 11:57:45 +0000

Internet of Things is the latest buzzword beeing used in the media and a new sector for the entire electronics industry.
But connecting every electronic device to the internet disconnects everyone’s privacy in reality. This paper examines the current problems with an normal homebased “Internet of Things” system and how the information technology industry is more concerned with profit versus user security. Ultimately, we need to decide for ourselves whether we want to continue using these types of technology.

[PiAndMore] Raspberry Pi Einführung / Workshop Presentation

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 08:00:27 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Raspberry Pi Einführung @ PiAndMore 5 (Trier, 28.06.2014)

RPiEinführung_PiAndMore.pdf (3,4 MB, PDF)

and to the Workshop:

RPiWorkshop_PiAndMore.pdf (2,6 MB, PDF)

[PiAndMore] Where Is My Pi Presentation

Sat, 28 Jun 2014 07:30:38 +0000

Here is my presentation to the Where Is My Pi project @ PiAndMore 5 (Trier, 28.06.2014)

wmp_PiAndMore.pdf (0,7 MB, PDF)

The Github project can be found and forked here: https://github.com/nmaas87/whereismypi

[Talk] Wearables & IoT Presentation

Sat, 24 May 2014 09:00:14 +0000

My introduction to Wearables & IoT at the Saarcamp 2014:

Download: IOT_Saarcamp.pdf (3 MB)

[Brother] Brother MFC-9465CDN Webinterface Password

Wed, 30 Apr 2014 15:14:33 +0000

User: admin
Password: access
User: user
Password: access

[RaspPi] Raspberry Pi and the ili9341 Display

Sun, 27 Apr 2014 15:14:36 +0000

Raspberry Pi - Bad Apple on ili9341 Display

1.) Enable SPI

# remove or comment out the spi blacklist line  
sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/raspi-blacklist.conf

2.) Install
a) FBTFT drivers as loadable modules

sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/notro/rpi-firmware rpi-update  
sudo shutdown -r now

b) FBTFT drivers built into the kernel proper

sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/notro/rpi-firmware BRANCH=builtin rpi-update  
sudo shutdown -r now

3.) Install the frame buffer driver (as root):

apt-get install xserver-xorg-video-fbdev

4.) Configure frame buffer driver:

sudo vi /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/99-fbdev.conf  
Section "Device"  
Identifier "myfb"  
Driver "fbdev"  
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"  
EndSection

5.) add Autostart:
( the gpios= Pins need to be changed to YOUR specification and connection! )
sudo vi /etc/modules

[Win7+] Reset IP Stack

Sat, 26 Apr 2014 15:13:16 +0000

If your network doesn’t do networking anymore - and it comes down to the Windows IP Stack, try reseting it this way:
(In Admin CMD):

netsh int ip reset C:\netsh.log.txt
netsh winsock reset

After that, reboot

[Security Spotlight] Upgrade OpenSSL to 1.0.1g - Heartbleed Bug - Urgent!

Mon, 07 Apr 2014 14:00:49 +0000

So, thats no joke: OpenSSL broke badly!
Here is the background: https://heartbleed.com/

And as there is no zero-hour-fix for Ubuntu (including 12.04 LTS…), I decided to take chances and overwrite my existing OpenSSL 1.0.1 with the new code. It worked out flawlessly - but your system could REALLY break. Thats as dirty as it possibly could get!

wget http://www.openssl.org/source/openssl-1.0.1g.tar.gz
tar -xvzf openssl-1.0.1g.tar.gz
cd openssl-1.0.1g/
./config --prefix=/usr
sudo make
sudo make test
sudo make install

[Arduino] Intel Galileo Board Unboxing Video

Thu, 03 Apr 2014 18:13:57 +0000

Hello there,

tonight I got my Intel Galileo Dev Board and I decided to do an Unboxing Video.

The first one for me - so.. be kind ;): Youtube

Regards,

Nico

[RaspPi] Really poor mans DS18B20 Temperature Sensor

Sat, 29 Mar 2014 16:53:18 +0000

As I had to quickly come up with two DS18B20 Sensors for the Raspberry Pi, I decided to built them “quick and dirty” without any breadboard. It is not the most beautiful nor the best way, but it works out quite well. With one exception: It seems like the sensor is too near to the Pi and picks up heat from it :/. Anyway, here are some photos:

That is how it would look like later.

[RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.32+ #648 Kernel – as Image download

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:09:24 +0000

As a lot of people asked for the OpenWRT / Raspberry Pi Images, I decided to make a new version which replaces the old one from this post ([RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.18+ #585 Kernel – as Image download.

That said, the rules haven’t changed:

It is the trunk version of OpenWRT, injected with the latest Raspberry Pi Kernel
opkg list does contain the current stable package list for the OpenWRT RPi port of the latest stable release and will work out of the box (opkg update, opkg install..) Most packages like apache should work out of the box – but kernel moduls could/will probably fail. I won’t build an package mirror and won’t build packages because of limitied time. Sorry!
Other than the normal behavior, the RPi does use DHCP to get its IP Adress. To connect for the first time, use nmap to find your RPi in your network. (Then connect via telnet, set an password with passwd and you’re good to use SSH finally!)
The main partition size has been changed from 48 MB to 64 MB – giving you additional space

You can just download and use the (7zip-ed) image here: rpi_openwrt_2.7z [ 6.1 MB ]

[Security] BetterCrypto.org - Applied Crypto Hardening

Fri, 03 Jan 2014 20:45:57 +0000

So, now something a little bit more personal: We all know about the problems in our modern world: NSA, espionage, data stealing / selling, and such. We all use computer systems on an daily base and we know about the importance of cryptography. BUT: We don’t really all have an masters degree in computer crypto or such. We all do things in a “well, should be quite right”-way. Because, well - we have a life and a lot of stuff to do. We can’t really tell apart which ciffer to use and such. But now - we don’t need to - anymore. Please visit https://bettercrypto.org/ and read their paper. It got excellent “Copy ’n Paste” configuration commands for your Apache, Postfix, Mail, etc, etc!

[Win8.1] Android MTP doesn't work

Tue, 17 Dec 2013 11:59:58 +0000

Got Windows 8.1 installed? MTP doesn’t work?
Well - maybe you got the Windows 8.1 N Version installed. The Version without Windows Media Player - and without MTP Drivers!
Just install the Windows Media Feature Pack for Windows 8.1 - reboot - and it works. It’s Magic, ain’t it?!

[Ubuntu 12.04] Resolve Grub Boot Problems

Wed, 20 Nov 2013 16:19:32 +0000

If you killed your trusty grub (i.e. by new Install of Windows 8.. :/) you can repair it quite easily:

Boot with an Ubuntu 12.04 Live CD
CTRL + ALT + T

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair

And click on the repair button! Done!

Source: http://askubuntu.com/questions/333483/how-to-restore-grub-after-deleting-it-from-windows-8-disk-manager

[Win8.1] EEE PC 1015PN and Windows 8.1

Sun, 17 Nov 2013 11:47:46 +0000

Very funny coincidence: Exactly one year after my devastating test of Windows 8 on the EEE PC 1015PN (here) I tried Windows 8 again - 8.1 to be frankly.

After booting from the DVD, I entered my Key and choose to keep my data and such - an Upgrade Installation. Sadly, installer told me that I needed to choose that after booting into Windows 7 and starting the installation process there. Well, I did. But I only could choose to keep my data - not my programs(!). Sad, but - well. So - if you want to install and keep your stuff: Try to install Windows 8 first and then upgrade to Windows 8.1! I made an backup (just in any case - last time showed me the importance again…) and started with the installation. I took quite a while, but in the end it succeded. This time (and maybe because I changed my Wifi/Bluetooth Card from Azure for an Intel ABGN/WiMax Card?!) - I got none problems with Wifi. Working excellent from the first moment on.

Disable Root Account in Ubuntu

Fri, 15 Nov 2013 18:56:26 +0000

An freshly installed Ubuntu got the root Account set to the best and most secure state ever: DISABLED!
But if you use ready-made Appliances and such, most of these Ubuntu Appliances come with an enabled Root Account. How to disable this account? Easy:

sudo usermod -p '!' root

Source: https://serverfault.com/questions/178080/how-do-i-disable-root-login-in-ubuntu

Android Failed to Build Eclipse Android Project Fix

Mon, 11 Nov 2013 10:16:24 +0000

[2013-11-02 08:26:51 - SearchViewDemo] Dx
trouble writing output: already prepared
[2013-11-02 08:26:51 - Dex Loader] Unable to execute dex: java.nio.BufferOverflowException. Check the Eclipse log for stack trace.
[2013-11-02 08:26:51 - SearchViewDemo] Conversion to Dalvik format failed: Unable to execute dex: java.nio.BufferOverflowException. Check the Eclipse log for stack trace.

Well that happend to me as I tried to build my latest project.
Solution was quite simple but… strange.
Just remove all newer Android SDK build-tools (i.e. 19) until the Version 18.1.1 with the Android SDK Manager.
Restart Eclipse. And it will work.

[RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.18+ #585 Kernel - as Image download

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:49:53 +0000

THIS POST IS OUTDATED! A NEW IMAGE HAS BEEN POSTED! PLEASE USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION TO FIND THE LATEST VERSION!

As I found out that the old tutorials weren’t helpful and either the OpenWRT Trunk OR the Raspberry Pi Kernel broke the build process (you can still build it successfully, but you won’t be able to use the RPi after boot!) - I sat down and found an new way. This time I don’t let the kernel build by the OpenWRT enviroment, but insert an healthy and prebuilt one by the RPi Team ;)!

[Win7] Upgrade Error in Android SDK for Windows

Mon, 04 Nov 2013 13:21:34 +0000

Recently I got an error on trying to upgrade my Android SDK, claming that I would not be able to access an URL. I was looking around the Internet and got the information that I should first upgrade the Eclipse Plugin. OK!

Upgrading AVT:

In Eclipse go to Help
Install New Software - Add
inside Add Repository write the Name: ADT and Location: https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/
after loading you should get Developer Tools and NDK Plugins
check both if you want to use the Native Developer Kit (NDK) in the future or check Developer Tool only
click Next
Finish and Restart Eclipse

Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14869929/update-android-sdk-tool-to-22-0-4latest-version-from-22-0-1

[Win7] Asus EEEPC 1015PN: Getting Optimus working (again) on Windows 7 Pro

Wed, 23 Oct 2013 14:48:55 +0000

Optimus is a really nice concept: Having installed an low-power Intel GMA3150 next to an “high-end” (compared to the Intel ;)) NVIDIA ION2 with 512 MB RAM (and CUDA!) is very nice - switching between both cards on the fly depending on the application - awesome. But getting it to work can be quite painful. I had to reinstall the drivers on my EEE PC and got it wrong. And now that it is working, I just want to write it down. Just in case, you never know ;)!

elektor Live 2013

Sat, 12 Oct 2013 07:15:18 +0000

You can find my slides from the elektor Live 2013, Raspberry Pi 101 Workshop here: elektor_RPi_2013_Maas.pdf [ 6,1 MB ]

The handout or “cheat-sheet” can be downloaded here: elektor_RPi_2013_Maas_Cheat_Sheet.pdf [ 0,4 MB ]

… and finally, you find the Sourcecode of the Sample Projects here: elektor_RPi_2013_Maas_Sourcecode.zip [ 0,03 MB ]

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

elektor Expert Meeting 2013

Fri, 11 Oct 2013 10:05:55 +0000

You can find my slides of the elektor Expert Meeting 2013 here: elektor_ER2013_Maas.pdf [1,2 MB]

Also, you can find my presentation to the sun//well (RPi, MSP430 and ATTiny85) project here as well as the video (PiAndMore 3 - sun//well Project) to that presentation.

[RPi] spidev_test File

Sat, 05 Oct 2013 17:18:52 +0000

Download

spidev_test.c for Pingback Testing of RPi spi: spidev_test.c

Test:

Short MISO and MOSI Pin on your RPi, GPIO9 / GPIO10

wget <spidev_test.c above>
gcc spidev_test.c  
sudo ./a.out

If you get some different Output than all 0, everything is fine

[Google Music] Or: How do I get all my music online?

Fri, 04 Oct 2013 21:06:29 +0000

I appreciate art and I love music. And I just can’t get enough of it: I really love to listen to my collection on “near all devices”: On the Netbook while doing work at the University, on the Tablet while sitting on the couch or on my Phone - while running or commuting. That said, there is always the little and persistent problem of synchronizing data.

Google solved that problem by starting “Google Music”: You can upload 20.000 Songs from your collection and listen to them - again and again - for free. Awesome!

Visit me @ elektor Live 2013

Mon, 30 Sep 2013 09:08:33 +0000

I just wanted to mention that I got an “Raspberry Pi Basics” Workshop at the elektor Live 2013 in Frankfurt, Hanau (12.10.2013). The first workshop is already fully booked and an second timeslot has been opened. So feel free to come over and let me introduce you to the 101 of the Raspberry Pi.

Link: https://www.elektor-live.com/

[RaspPi] Build Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.10 / NEXT for Debian Wheezy / Raspbian with eGalax Touchscreen Support on Ubuntu 12.04

Thu, 12 Sep 2013 19:26:33 +0000

This is about building the latest Kernel / 3.10 for RPi. Bleeding Edge.

Preperations

sudo apt-get install git libncurses5 libncurses5-dev qt4-dev-tools qt4-qmake pkg-config build-essential gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi bc  
# NEEDS BC!!!!

Clone Stuff

mkdir rpi_kernel_10  
cd rpi_kernel_10  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/tools.git  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/linux/.git  
git branch -a  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/linux  
git checkout -t -b rpi-3.10.y remotes/origin/rpi-3.10.y  
git pull  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware.git  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/.git  
git branch -a  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware  
git checkout -t -b next remotes/origin/next  
git pull  
cd ~/rpi_kernel_10

Make Kernel

cd linux  
make mrproper  
mkdir ../kernel  
# Kernel Types  
# find . -name \*bcmrpi\*config -print  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_emergency_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- bcmrpi_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- menuconfig #xconfig  
#Device Drivers->Input Device Support->TouchScreens->USB Touchscreen Driver (Build it into or as module, check if eGalax here!)  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- -k -j3  
cd ../  
cd tools/mkimage  
./imagetool-uncompressed.py ../../kernel/arch/arm/boot/Image  
cd ../../

Make Modules

cd kernel  
mkdir ../modules/  
make modules_install ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- INSTALL_MOD_PATH=../modules/

Install Kernel on existing RPi SD Card / Raspbian

# mount sdcard in your Ubuntu (I made an folder sdb1 for boot partiton and sdb2 for the root partition)  
cd ~  
mkdir sdb1 sdb2  
mount /dev/sdb1 sdb1  
mount /dev/sdb2 sdb2

# boot partition  
#replace /sdb1/boot/bootcode.bin with rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/bootcode.bin  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/bootcode.bin  
cp ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/bootcode.bin ~/sdb1/  
#replace /sdb1/boot/kernel.img with the previously created kernel image  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/kernel.img  
cp ~/rpi_kernel_10/tools/mkimage/kernel.img ~/sdb1/  
#replace /sdb1/boot/start.elf with rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/start.elf  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/start.elf  
cp ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/boot/start.elf ~/sdb1/

# root partition  
#replace /sdb2/lib/firmware with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/firmware  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/firmware/  
sudo cp -a ~/rpi_kernel_10/modules/lib/firmware/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/lib/modules with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/modules  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/modules/  
sudo cp -a ~/rpi_kernel_10/modules/lib/modules/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/opt/vc with firmware-next/hardfp/opt/vc/  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/opt/vc  
sudo cp -a ~/rpi_kernel_10/firmware/hardfp/opt/vc/ ~/sdb2/opt/

# sync usb mount  
sync

# Unmount sdcard  
cd ~  
umount sdb1  
umount sdb2

Boot Pi and calibrate Touchscreen

This stuff happens on the Pi!

Preperations

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxext-dev libxi-dev x11proto-input-dev

Install Tool / xinput_calibrator

cd ~  
wget http://github.com/downloads/tias/xinput_calibrator/xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
tar -xvzf xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
cd xinput_calibrator-0.7.5  
./configure  
make  
sudo make install

Calibrate (in Xserver, so open Terminal while beeing in Graphical User Mode)

xinput_calibrator

It will give output like this:

[Win] Update DeltaCopy

Sun, 08 Sep 2013 14:57:45 +0000

In terms of backups, I still love Rsync / DeltaCopy. Rsync is an awesome protocol, as it does only transmit data changes. So it is extremly useful if you are running on an slow dataconnection and try to backup big data chunks or files you are working on. It does save time as well.

The problem: DeltaCopy (which was developed by Synametrics) is not supported anymore and has been replaced by their (non free) tool Syncrify. (And no, the free Personal Edition does not count as a useable alternative!). Problem with DeltaCopy would be the really old Version of the used rsync Part. But don’t worry, it is really easy to update that one (and that will resolve many problems including the ones experienced with special character filenames etc).

[Ubuntu 12.04] EEE PC 1015 PN with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Fri, 06 Sep 2013 14:57:03 +0000

I could not help myself but felt the need to have at least one real “Dual Boot” system (not VMWare Stuff) - so I setup my Asus EEE PC 1015 PN with the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS according to mtrons excellent Tutorial ( https://sites.google.com/site/mtrons/howtos/eeepc-1015pn ) which worked out right out of the box.

But - as I haid some trouble with the old Broadcom Wifi/BT Card in Windows 7, I went for an Intel 6250 AGN/WiMax Card. I do not use WiMax and would love an BT option - but the price point of that card on ebay finally got me to press the “Buy now” button. I thought “Well, it is an Intel Card - that should work quite well and stop throwing me out of the University Wifi with no chance but doing an hard reboot of the Laptop to solve the problem” - yeah - it really did. BUT - somehow, after some time and updates to the Ubuntu System, I lost connectivity: Network Manager was nagging for the password all the time - without a reason. Finally I found the solution on this website: http://askubuntu.com/questions/104651/how-do-i-get-wireless-working-on-an-asus-notebook-u56e - with some changes.

[Security Spotlight] The worst idea in a brave new world: The all-new Boxcryptor 2.0

Thu, 05 Sep 2013 08:18:17 +0000

Some things make life easier. Think about your data. And the way you used to share it. USB Sticks, DVD, CD-Rom, Harddisks - are a thing of the past. Many people use services like Dropbox, Google Drive, Box and similar on a daily routine. Some of those did not think about data security - and just dropped everything into the cloud: From bank data to keys and passwords and such… Others did think about those problems and tried to secure their important files via means as encryption like TrueCrypt. But that did come at a cost: Loss of usability: You just cannot open a file on your Android Smartphone on the fly. And occasionally, somehow the TrueCrypt drive would be uploaded as copy a second time to the Dropbox. Really nasty.

[RaspPi] How To Compile OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.6 for the RPi on Ubuntu 12.04

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:55:36 +0000

What are we doing here?

As far as I understand the problem, there are two worlds:
Raspberry Pi Foundation on the one hand, the OpenWRT Team on the other one.
OpenWRT does try to patch “Default Kernels” until they work out with the intended Plattform, which does work in most cases very well.
The problem is, RPi is an new target for the latest OpenWRT Release - and does work - but it does not get much love of the devs:
No trunk compiles or nightlys of the Image or the packages - i.e.
And - the “so patched Kernel” does not represent the state of the art of the RPi Kernel Development at all:
I got many errors of the “first days of Pi”, like the loved “SDcard error” which corrupted the whole filesystem and such.

[Win7/8] Batch Print / Work with more than 15 Files

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 12:48:23 +0000

Windows 7 / 8 do limit the number of files you can “batch-work” with, after selecting them in Explorer and Right-Clicking for options. The Standard Limit is set to 15 files. Selecting more than 15 files will remove options like “Print” from the context menu. To work with more than 15 files in batch mode, open your registry ( Run, regedit ) and go to

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer

Create an new DWORD key with the Name MultipleInvokePromptMinimum and the Decimal Value of the Maximum Files you want to batch work with. I.e. 1000 (which could be too much or not enough - depending on your work and machine!)

[RaspPi] Build Raspberry Pi Kernel for Debian Wheezy / Raspbian with eGalax Touchscreen Support on Ubuntu 12.04

Mon, 02 Sep 2013 14:54:35 +0000

Preperations

sudo apt-get install git libncurses5 libncurses5-dev qt4-dev-tools qt4-qmake pkg-config build-essential gcc-arm-linux-gnueabi bc

Clone Stuff

mkdir rpi_kernel  
cd rpi_kernel  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/tools.git  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.git  
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware.git  
cd ~/rpi_kernel/firmware/.git  
git branch -a  
cd ~/rpi_kernel/firmware  
git checkout -t -b next remotes/origin/next  
git pull  
cd ~/rpi_kernel

Make Kernel

cd linux  
make mrproper  
mkdir ../kernel  
# Kernel Types  
# find . -name \*bcmrpi\*config -print  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_emergency_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_defconfig  
# ./arch/arm/configs/bcmrpi_cutdown_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- bcmrpi_defconfig  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- menuconfig #xconfig  
#Device Drivers->Input Device Support->TouchScreens->USB Touchscreen Driver (Build it into or as module, check if eGalax here!)  
make O=../kernel/ ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- -k -j3  
cd ../  
cd tools/mkimage  
./imagetool-uncompressed.py ../../kernel/arch/arm/boot/Image  
cd ../../

Make Modules

cd kernel  
mkdir ../modules/  
make modules_install ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=/usr/bin/arm-linux-gnueabi- INSTALL_MOD_PATH=../modules/

Install Kernel on existing RPi SD Card / Raspbian

# mount sdcard in your Ubuntu (I made an folder sdb1 for boot partiton and sdb2 for the root partition)  
cd ~  
mkdir sdb1 sdb2  
mount /dev/sdb1 sdb1  
mount /dev/sdb2 sdb2

# backup config  
cp ~/sdb1/config.txt ~/rpi_kernel/  
# boot partition  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb1/*  
# Copy all Files from boot  
cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/firmware/boot/* ~/sdb1/  
#replace /sdb1/boot/kernel.img with the previously created kernel image  
sudo rm ~/sdb1/kernel.img  
cp ~/rpi_kernel/tools/mkimage/kernel.img ~/sdb1/  
# restore config  
cp ~/rpi_kernel/config.txt ~/sdb1/

# root partition  
#replace /sdb2/lib/firmware with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/firmware  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/firmware/  
sudo cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/modules/lib/firmware/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/lib/modules with <modules_builded_above_folder>/lib/modules  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/lib/modules/  
sudo cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/modules/lib/modules/ ~/sdb2/lib/  
#replace /sdb2/opt/vc with firmware-next/hardfp/opt/vc/  
sudo rm -rf ~/sdb2/opt/vc  
sudo cp -R ~/rpi_kernel/firmware/hardfp/opt/vc/ ~/sdb2/opt/

# sync usb mount  
sync

# Unmount sdcard  
cd ~  
umount sdb1  
umount sdb2

Boot Pi and calibrate Touchscreen

# This stuff happens on the Pi!

Preperations

sudo apt-get install libx11-dev libxext-dev libxi-dev x11proto-input-dev

Install Tool / xinput_calibrator

cd ~  
wget http://github.com/downloads/tias/xinput_calibrator/xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
tar -xvzf xinput_calibrator-0.7.5.tar.gz  
cd xinput_calibrator-0.7.5  
./configure  
make  
sudo make install

Calibrate (in Xserver, so open Terminal while beeing in Graphical User Mode)

xinput_calibrator

It will give output like this:

[PiAndMore] sun//well Presentation

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 14:21:52 +0000

Here is my presentation to the sun//well project @ PiAndMore 3 (Trier, 15.06.2013)

sunwell_PiAndMore.pdf (2,2 MB, PDF)

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

[Talk] Raspberry Pi Presentation

Sat, 25 May 2013 13:21:54 +0000

My introduction to the Raspberry Pi at the https://www.saarcamp.org / Saarcamp 2013:

Download: RaspberryPi_Saarcamp.pdf (1,49 MB)

[Paper] Cyberwar – Just „Warcraft in Space?“

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 18:10:16 +0000

Following my presentation, feel free to download the final paper.

Download: Nico Maas - Cyberwar (Paper) PDF

Java 7 Update 13 Hotfix

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 10:28:32 +0000

The Java 7 Update 13 has been released by Oracle. You should make sure to download it from http://www.java.com/download asap.

[PiAndMore] Videos online

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:18:31 +0000

All the presentations and videos are now online: https://sites.google.com/site/piandmore/downloads/zweites-treffen

[PiAndMore] JCTixx Scanner

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:16:46 +0000

Following my presentation on the JCTixx Scanner, shown at the PiAndMore 2, 17.01.2013 @ Hochschule Trier.

Download: JCTixx_PiAndMore.pdf [1 MB]

Videorecording of the talk can be found here

Java 7 Update 11 Hotfix

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:33:32 +0000

The Java 7 Update 11 has been released by Oracle. You should make sure to download it from http://www.java.com/download asap.

[RaspPi] Supercomputing with RaspPi / MPI

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 18:48:53 +0000

Prof. Simon Cox has written an awesome tutorial about turning multiple RaspPis into an “Supercomputer Cluster”. He himself build an cluster of 64 RaspPis at the University of Southampton. I could not resist but rebuild his project - with the 3 “old” (256MB) Pis I got. It turned out to be an quite awesome and interessting experience, introducing myself to MPI (Message Passing Interface) for the first time. You should definitly take a look yourself.

Cyberwar - Just „Warcraft in Space?“

Sat, 05 Jan 2013 22:59:36 +0000

A presentation and (upcoming) paper which I wrote for an Seminar (Applied Informatics)

Cyberwar is a buzz word used widely in media today, but the problem is no one really knows what it even means.
What is Cyberwar? What does Cyberwar include or imply? Is it like real war - and if so, where does it take place? Which corperations deliever the needed weapons and how do they look like?

[Web] Youtube in HTML5

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 17:00:25 +0000

Flash. It does crash, has many security flaws and is quite horrible. But nevertheless, it is still widely used. I.e. in flash videos, like on Youtube. But now, you got a choice: To switch to HTML5 Videos. On Youtube.

To do so, goto / jump ( 🙂 ): http://www.youtube.com/html5

There you can activate / deactivate HTML5 and Testdrive the new features.

[Win] Windows Partition Tools

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:51:26 +0000

Needed for Android SD Card partitioning or Raspberry Pi gambling:

MiniTool Partition Wizard
- http://www.partitionwizard.com/free-partition-manager.html
- Awesome Tool for Windows, can part and format even EXT4. It is small, fast and easy to use.
SD Card Formatter
- https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
- Official Tool of the SD Card Foundation. Can format even problematic cards.
Image Writer for Windows
- https://launchpad.net/win32-image-writer/+download
- Great to write .img Images to disks.

[Win7] Printer disappeared

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 12:17:06 +0000

If your printers do disappear, check the spooler:

Start, Run, services.msc - enable Spooler / Druckerwarteschlange and - there they are again.

[Win8] EEE PC 1015PN and Windows 8

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:00:05 +0000

I have been using my EEE PC 1015PN for nearly 2 years now, and I am quite satisfied with it. But after the release of Windows 8, I wanted to try it, too. So I decided to upgrade install from my Windows 7 Professional to Windows 8 Professional. Before this test, I made an Acronis Image, which turned out to be an really good idea. Installation itself needed about 1 1/2 hour, as I decided to upgrade and not start from scratch.

OpenWRT

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:00:32 +0000

OpenWRT is one of my most “beloved” operating systems ever. I am using it since 2006, already. It is very small (>= 4 MB), light weight and therefore an excellent choice for embedded computing or very small appliances. I have used it on several occasions (“prototype”) in my blog, but never actually gave a heads up in terms of “What is it?” - So, let’s get rid of that:

OpenWRT is a debian linux derivate especially made for routers. OpenWRT does derive from the famous Linksys WRT series, which were based on Linux. One of the founders found out about that and got Linksys (by pointing out about the caveats of the used Linux GPL License) to the point of releasing the source code (except the wifi drivers). From the point on, OpenWRT was founded and the project began to write an own “router linux”. On the course of that adventure, several forks of OpenWRT were founded (i.e. FreeWRT) - but in the end, OpenWRT remained “THE” third hand firmware for your router. Nowadays OpenWRT does support a load of routers out of the box, with famous titles like the Linksys WRT Series or even hardware like the Seagate Dockstar (which was an sort of NAS Appliance for Seagate Hard drives).

Raspberry Pi Con "Pi and More"

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 18:17:32 +0000

At the 23. of August 2012, the University of Trier held the first Raspberry Pi Convention in Germany. It was a little, but awesome gig with about 30 IT Students and other interested people.

The main idea was to rise the awareness for the new microcomputer, called “Raspberry Pi” which combines an 700 MHz ARM Processor, 512 MB of RAM, Full HDMI Output, Audio, Ethernet and USB into an very small and affordable package (about 35 US Dollar). With this microcomputer, and its General Purpose Input and Outputs (GPIO), pupils can actually have a “hands-on” (in) physical computing. That means: Connecting software (i.e. Python, Perl, C programs) with the real world. For example: Controlling LEDs, driving motors or even react on buttons, attached to the GPIO port. Combining these possibilities into a small and affordable package started a big hype about this little computer, long before it was even available to the public.

IPv6 Primer \ Presentation

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:37:17 +0000

Following my work on IPv6/Dualstack EIGRP Routing on c3560 I did create an IPv6 Primer / Presentation for my staff and other technical interessted people. So if you are interessted in an little insight to my work and IPv6, feel free to download this file (German, about 1 MB): IPv6, Nico Maas (2012) PDF

[WinXP/Vista/7] Port 80 Blocked

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 08:09:07 +0000

Developing Websites with XAMPP is always neat and nice: Compact package, everything you need is there - and even having it portable on an USB Stick (in an TrueCrypt file ;)) will get you up and running on every Windows PC - where ever you are - in no time. But the problem with this solution comes with the “Host PC”: There are a lot of tools nowdays which hijack and use Port 80 (your most beloved Webserver / Apache Standard Port) for their own needs. And so you are quickly on the point of “Apache terminated” in your XAMPP Windows - because of the blocked port. Finding out which program is blocking / using that port is easy, as XAMPP comes with an “Port-Check” Tool which can be used from the XAMPP Control Panel. Other than that, here is the TOP 4 of the most annoyning port blocking apps:

[WinVista/7] WLAN "Site Survey"

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 06:18:28 +0000

To show active stationary wifi accesspoints, use following command:

netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid in the commandline.

Very helpful to get shown the current wifi situation for a customer within going out to him/her with Ekahau or another site survey tool.

Netgear WNCE2001 Notes

Tue, 26 Jul 2011 11:14:48 +0000

We just got an Netgear WNCE2001 - and the need to support it.
Basically, its an Wireless -> Ethernet Converter which does bridge an WIFI Network to an LAN / Ethernet Connector.
You need to install it via WDS System or - plug it into an PC / Laptop, DHCP Client on and configure it via Webbrowser before using it on an “dump” ethernet-only device. Problem: The device itself asks for an IP Adress (to be configured after inital stage) and the connected Ethernet Client does ask itself again - some DHCP Servers don’t like that behavior, as far as it seems. So, our workaround was following: Giving the WNCE2001 an static assigned IP by the DHCP Server and “blocking” another IP for the Client. The Client has been configured statically and does now work as it was intended to be.

[VSS] Upgrading Software on c6509e-VSS / Sup720-10GE

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 11:59:34 +0000

1.) Find an suitable image on cisco.com [i.e. s72033-adventerprisek9_wan-mz.122-33.SXJ1.bin ]
2.) Copy the image to the CF of active Supervisor by TFTP or FTP

copy tftp://IP/images/s72033-adventerprisek9_wan-mz.122-33.SXJ1.bin disk0:

3.) Verfiy the image against the MD5 and internal checksum

verify /md5 disk0:s72033-adventerprisek9_wan-mz.122-33.SXJ1.bin  
verify disk0:s72033-adventerprisek9_wan-mz.122-33.SXJ1.bin

4.) Delete old Software on active Supervisor CF

del sw1-slot5-disk0:s72033-ipservicesk9_wan-mz.122-33.SXI5.bin

5.) Unconfigure other Boot Images

conf t  
no boot system  
config-register 0x2102  
boot system flash disk0:  
end  
copy running-config startup-config

6.) Reload active Supervisor

[IE] Simulate other IE Version with IE Tester

Wed, 13 Jul 2011 14:09:21 +0000

If your old Software does challange an special / old Version of IE, you can fulfill that requirement without another Virtual Maschine by installing IETester.
http://www.my-debugbar.com/wiki/IETester/HomePage
I would loved to had known that Software a bit earlier.
I ran into serval problems in upgrading an Zyxel 2000W Wlan Phone by using Win7 with Firefox 3.6 / IE 7.
I couldn’t find the “Browser for Upgrade File” bar, so I tried everything on the net, including Chrome.
In the end, I used an Virtual PC / Windows 98SE(!) which I keep handy for… stuff - and could upgrade the phone.

[Samba] Windows Client can't access Unix Samba Share KB2536276

Thu, 07 Jul 2011 14:07:43 +0000

On 16.06.2011 Microsoft fixed an Security Issue with Samba which ended in Windows Users beeing unable to access Unix Samba Shares by using Plain Text Authentication.
By removing Security Update KB2536276 and rebooting you can enable your client again - or you patch your samba server, which is the real source of error - Microsoft did just fix an flaw.

https://bugzilla.samba.org/show_bug.cgi?id=8238

https://bugzilla.samba.org/attachment.cgi?id=6593

Infos taken from:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_xp-windows_update/kb2536276-windows-xp-pc-get-system-error-58-when/d9dbdde5-2666-4423-b47c-fbdb80b995d9

[Putty] Multiple Tabs with Putty

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 09:59:00 +0000

An “Multi-Tab” Putty Version?
Does that exist?
No - putty does not do tabs, neither any custom version.
But theres an so called “Putty Connection Manager” which does mange your Sessions 256 bit AES encrypted as well as do Multiple Tabs via wrapping Putty multiple times within itself! http://puttycm.free.fr/cms/index.php

[Firefox] about:everything

Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:23:31 +0000

The about: Addresses in Firefox are powerful parameters to change the behaviour of Firefox or watch stats. Therefore:

about:config - Configuration Stuff  
about:memory - Memory Consumption  
about:robots - Easter Egg

[IPv6] Dualstack EIGRP Routing on c3560

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 08:46:21 +0000

IPv6.

Everyone is talking about it.

And not too soon, ppl will need it.

As my corporation needs to switch to v6 soon, I’ll started to work into this hexadecimal notated nightmare ;-).

I’ll got some basic stuff written down already - but I’m not feeling like starting off IPv6 in my blog with too much boring theory.

So lets jump into a full blown network! ^^

[PROCMAIL] Anonymized E-Mail

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:59:52 +0000

Feedback is always important, especially if its about working with other people.

For our little (now over 10 year lasting) monthly meeting we wanted an Mailaccount to which people could send ideas and other stuff - but before the Mail would be forwared to the “heads” accounts, we wanted an function to strip off the senders email address - as we wanted to give them the freedom of sending anonymous feedback with their current Mailaccounts (yeah, we won’t be able to answer because of that - but its ok!).

Back to Work

Tue, 28 Jun 2011 11:45:33 +0000

Good News Everyone,

I’m finally back to work. I managed to complete my apprenticeship as “IT Systemelektroniker” successfully and am still working at my old place.

At the moment, I’m diving into IPv6 and Cisco IPv6 Worlds and already got an Lab up and running - so maybe you get some fresh files and stuff soon.

Thanks for your patience!

Nico

Timeout

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 18:57:09 +0000

Hi there,

some of you might have been wondering why there weren’t that much updates in the last weeks.
Reasons are simple:
1.) I’m going to write my finals on 4 of May.
2.) My Convention Managment System JCTixx, which has been in Development for about 10 Months and 1000 Manhours, is going through its Final Live Test on 7. - 8. of May in Ludwigshafen on the Hanami. I’m looking forward to serval 1000 to 10000s of Scans and Transactions. So… I pray for the T-Com to keep their systems up and running!

[pfSense] Install curl and wget

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:59:58 +0000

To install wget and curl onto pfSense,
use

/usr/sbin/pkg_add -r wget

and

/usr/sbin/pkg_add -r curl

After that, use the command rehash

Alternative to wget is fetch avaible and installed

[pfSense] Access with SCP

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 09:00:46 +0000

If you need to access your pfSense with WinSCP (i.e.), activate SSH in pfSense first.
After that, you can log in with the Account root (!!!) and your Webconfiguration password.
Yeah, that saved my day after hours of trying to… “work-around”.

[ESXi4.1U1] UMTS Stick on VM [ZTE MF 190 / HUAWEI E160G]

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 09:00:37 +0000

I needed to connect an UMTS Stick (O2 Surfstick) to an VM Machine which should serve as “Router”.
No problem - ESXi does support “USB Direct Through” - so you can easily connect an USB Stick to your VM…
At least, thats “normally” the Case:
With UMTS Sticks, this feature doesn’t work.
Why?
UMTS Sticks start up with an U3 Partition with all that needed, nice connection software….
And therefor, ESXi does see an CD Rom - which doesn’t show up within USB.
And… how to solve that?
Luckily I found this post: https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=26045
Which does contain the secret sauce:
Just connect your USB Stick to an already installed System… (your Laptop with the Connection Software and Drivers i.e.)
Look up your UMTS Stick within the Device Manager, get the COM Port.
Open Putty (9600 Baud worked for me, the Original Author does think of: 115200 kbps, 8 data bits, parity none, stop bits 1, Flow control None) with that Com Port.
Type in: AT+ZOPRT=5 and AT+ZCDRUN=8
Thats it!
Now the U3 doesn’t show up anymore, and it works!!
To reenable the feature, enter AT+ZCDRUN=9

[Snom360] Auto Provisioning

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:00:44 +0000

Finally, I got it working.
Its quite easy with these two Tutorials:

But Things you should really know about:

If you use an Unix TFTP Server for autoprov. do write the Filename of your phonesettings which does contains your Phones MAC in UPPER LETTERS!… i.e. settings-0023456700AE - otherwise it could fail
Set right permissions for your settings

And if you would love to upgrade your Snom 360 Phones to Firmware 8, upgrade it from 6 to 6.5, 6.5 to 7 and from 7 to 8.

[ESXi4.1U1] vCenter Server Startup Problems

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 09:00:01 +0000

I got the vmware virtualcenter server error 1000 odbc error on bootup of my Windows Server 2003 (64bit) which did serve my vCenter Server.
In fact this did mean in my case: The MSSQL Server didn’t boot / or too slow, so that vCenter Server came up - couldn’t access the DB and shutdown - “great!”.
Luckily, there is an solution, pointed to by this ( http://communities.vmware.com/message/1247357 ) and this Website ( http://blogs.egroup-us.com/?p=1821 )

[ESXi4.1] Update ESXi 4.1 to Update 1

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 09:00:34 +0000

Just found an awesome easy tutorial to upgrade ESXi 4.1 to ESXi 4.1 Update 1, that I would like to share with you:
http://www.sysprobs.com/guideserver-virtualization-update-vmware-esxi-41-update-1-vmkernel-release-build-348481

[Android] Android x86 Project

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 09:00:50 +0000

If you want to testdrive Android 2.2 on an VMWare Machine or your EEE PC, feel free to:
The Android x86 Team did Port Cupcake (1.6) and Frozen Yoghurt (FroYo, 2.2) to these!
Project is alive, kicking and gets updates!

http://www.android-x86.org/

[Android] Exclude folders from beeing scanned for music / pictures

Mon, 04 Apr 2011 09:00:23 +0000

Upon opening the Gallery, Android showed up dozens of Application Folders…
Winamp did play programm sounds.
Thats not what we want.

If you ever come across this problem, the solution is simple:
Just put an empty file named “.nomedia” into the root of your “Problem Folder”.
Thats it! After an reboot, these folders are ignored from media scan!

HTC Universal

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 09:00:53 +0000

I found a “bricked” HTC Universal without - everything.
So I decided to piece it back together.
First thing to find was an USB Cable to recharge the battery.
Working is an normal Mini USB Cable, even tough the connector looks different.

After that, I found out that the HTC was a brick.
So to unbrick:

get mtty1.42.exe, enter bootloader mode , (Power + Light Bulb + Reset)

Stop Activesync USB connection
Uni : Reboot Bootloader then Connect USB
PC : Run mtty1.42.exe
Choose USB in “Port” (Reconnect if can’t find/reconglize USB and try remove sim and sd card)
type : task 28 55aa
Press Enter
Cause DOC reformatted, so there’s no rom in DOC ,try reflash any rom that you like .

For task 28 55aa in mtty success , will show the message (attachment )

[Android] Install FroyoMod onto Motorola Milestone

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 09:00:01 +0000

This document does explain in short how you install the popular FroyoMod onto your Motorola Milestone.
( Froyomod does use Android 2.2.2 )

install RSD Lite v4.9
download and unzip vulnerable_recovery_only_RAMDLD90_78.zip
download androidiani-openrecovery ( http://code.google.com/p/androidiani-openrecovery/ ):
unzip into root of your Android SD ( update.zip + OpenRecovery Folder )
Download Bootimage for your Droid (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=815595) und verschieben auf SD nach /sdcard/openrecovery/updates ( Zip nicht entpacken! )
Shutdown Phone, Connect USB, HOLD D-PAD UP, Power on
RSD Lite Flash Vulernable, Hold D-PAD UP on Reboot -> Boot to Boot Loader (OTHERWISE: OTA LOCK!)
Shutdown, Hold Camera Button + Power Button (or X+PWR), Maintance Screen comes up. Press Speaker U+ Camera, choose with D-Pad apply sdcard:update.zip and click
Backup: Recovery, Recovery All
Wipe: Wipe Dalvik, Wipe Cache und Wipe Data/Factory Reset
Flash: Apply Update

Cisco PIX 506e Software Upgrade

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:49:48 +0000

Following the Hardware Upgrade, the Software needs to be renewed, too!
The latest PIX OS running on the 506e would be 6.3.5.125.
You can upgrade to that and use the pdm to configure the Device.
Or… you can go to ASA!
As described here ( http://www.rownet.co.uk/installing-v7-software-on-a-cisco-pix-506e/ ) you can do that quite easily.

But in short:

Boot into Pix
Start downloading an pdm file with copy tftp://Your_TFTP_Server_IP_Address/Your_pdmfile_name flash:pdm and disconnect the ethernet cable!
After disconnecting, the PIX will erase the pdm from your pix, clearing the flash space for pdm
clear flashfs
reload your PIX into Monitor Mode / RMON
activate your interface (interface 0 is E0, interface 1 E1)
enter ip addr of tftp server ( server ), filename ( tftp ), ip addr of your pix ( address ) and start downloading to pix
It will boot from tftp into ASA
Copy ASA Image: copy tftp://Your_TFTP_Server_IP_Address/pix712.bin flash:
Reload

Done, you got ASA.
No ASDM / PDM anymore, because not enough space, but ASA ^^

[Firefox 3.6] XMarks Problem

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 06:34:47 +0000

I have been using XMarks for very long time to synchronize my Bookmarks over all my PCs.
( Even since XMarks has been known as Foxmarks… )
But at some point, I got some really nasty problem:
The “Unsorted Bookmarks” Folder started to get “replicated”:
Every sync or so, I got one more.
And more.
And more…
And I never found out why, until now:
I had serval sync profiles (Work, Home, Mobile, etc…) with restricted access to my Bookmarks.
Problem was: My Work PC didn’t sync the Unsorted Bookmarks Folder - my other PCs did.
That means: Every time the Work PC did sync and saw the Unsorted Bookmarks Folder, it was “new” to him and without settings and it did download.
Next time, he did “Push” it as new Folder to the Web - not as correct Unsorted Folder, but only as a normal Favorite Folder called like that.
The Other PCs did grab that, create it a new, sync it… and so on -.-’.
Folder Storm or so.
After removing all the trash folders and enabling the Work PC Sync for the Unsorted Bookmarks, I hope it will work out…

Cisco PIX 506e Hardware Upgrade

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 09:00:27 +0000

The Cisco PIX Series has been “the” well known and powerful firewall appliance of the last decade - and for some people, this decade ain’t over yet.
Cisco has released the successor “ASA” some years ago, but many people still got a PIX running.
Reasons are simple: The PIX Series has an Appliance for every problem and is rock solid.
My personal experience with that Firewall Series started with a “burned out” PIX 520 (that one is getting its own entry soon ^^).
After that, I got more into Security by doing my CCNA Security studies.
While doing the CCNAS I also bought the smallest PIX, the PIX 501 from Ebay for 70€ or so.
Sometime later, I discovered an dead PIX 506e in my Office - and I just couldn’t help myself and started taking it apart.

[Linux] Ubuntu Root Server to VMWare BareMetal Recovery

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 07:00:41 +0000

I got an root server on the net hosting an important website and am doing backups on a daily base using Tartarus ( http://wiki.hetzner.de/index.php/Tartarus_Backup-Konfiguration ). But as we all know: Backups are only worth a penny if they really work and are usable after an crash. Therefor I did try to recover the “dead called” machine onto BareMetal - or at least BareAir - as it was an VMWare Machine I used.

[Win7] ATI HD6870 + Mjölnir 1

Wed, 16 Mar 2011 07:04:37 +0000

I recently bought an ATI HD6870, replacing my old and very noisy and hot HD2900XT+.
As far as it seems it was an really good idea, as the new graphics is just awesome in performance and price (~180€).
By the way, I would recommend the Sapphire “Not-Reference” Model which comes with an special cooler - and is damn quiet.

And another thing: ATI brought out an Preview of the new 11.4 Driver called “Mjölnir 1” which does improve overall performance.
Its not stable yet, but maybe you want to check it out: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/Catalyst114earlypreview.aspx
( Windows 7, Vista Only )

[Win] Simple Search and Replace Command Line Tool

Fri, 11 Mar 2011 10:22:48 +0000

Sometimes you really miss sed on Windows.
If you don’t like the Windows Ports and just want to search for a text and replace it within a batch script, try this little tool (SSR):
http://www.programmersheaven.com/download/41236/download.aspx

[Android] Welcome!

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 07:40:14 +0000

Starting from today on, I want to give a little bit more detail about the little green Robot above:
The Smartphone OS Android.
Reasons for that is quite simple: I helped myself to an Motorola Milestone ( German “Droid” ).
And I’m really happy with that.
Actually I do want to get a bit more into Detail about the different Versions and the nice “side projects” and Apps.
I hope you’ll enjoy it.

[Linux] Multiplexing Screen

Wed, 09 Mar 2011 07:40:03 +0000

And now an nice tip by Darren Kitchen of Hak5!
( www.hak5.org )

HakTip: Multiplexing Screen Sessions

What’s more wicked than a screen session? Two screen sessions! As we’ve talked about recently the unix command Screen is a great way to maintain bash sessions from multiple SSH clients without losing your work. My favorite shortcut after invoking the “screen” command is CTRL+a followed by “S”, which splits the screen horizontally in two. Use CTRL+a then Tab to switch between the views. Debian users get the added sexyness of vertical split by hitting CTRL+a then Pipe.

[WinXP] Windows 7 Taskbar Tool

Tue, 08 Mar 2011 07:36:05 +0000

Some of us still work on Windows XP.
I myself still prefer to have my P4 3 GhZ Single Core at work to run with the “old” Windows, because of Ressources and the good feeling to have an proven system installed. The only thing that I find really annoying is the taskbar: I really love the feature of Windows 7 to reorder taskbar entries without restarting applications.
And thats something Windows XP can do as well with Taskbar++
( http://www.chip.de/downloads/Taskbar_19900036.html )

[Linux] Screen

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:12:50 +0000

Hello there, this a 5 Minute Tutorial to screen.
What Screen is?
Well screen is an old unix / linux terminal programm with which you can create multiple virtual “screens”.
You can switch between these screens and also can disconnect from them.
Especially useful: If you start an daemon within screen and disconnect from it,
you can reconnect anytime and see what its doing.
Or you can setup a screen session, detach and close your SSH.
If you reconnect, it will still be running.
Oh, and it will be also there and running if your connection drops.

Webconverger - Install ISO to HDD

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 04:46:55 +0000

Just found some old notes, dunno wheter they still apply but its worth a try.

Make an Image of your choice by the creator. I made an post about that. Copy the resulting ISO to an USB Stick.
Boot in the new PC with Ubuntu or Knoppix Live DVD. Mount the USB Stick.
Copy the ISO to the Harddrive. With dd. Check your of first, don’t do something stupid - like overwriting your main drive…
dd if=webconverger.iso of=/dev/sda
Reboot, thats it

Thank you!

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 21:43:03 +0000

I want to thank all the visitors for an amazing amount of 1277 visits last month!
Yesterday I saw links to pictures and posts of my gps stuff in an Russian Forum and was completly stunned.
Originally the blog started in August 2008 to be an private online notebook for writing down all the little scraps and pieces of code and notes I have had flying around - and never found when I needed it.
I’m happy to see that some people seem to make frequent use of this website and actually find use in the stuff I write.

[OpenWRT] Build your own image on Ubuntu 10.03

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:22:36 +0000

I’m a huge geek when it comes down to OpenWRT.
I love the style of small little router boards with not much power consumption and still big impact and power.
I have been registred on OpenWRT Forums since 2006, and thats also the time I’m already working on it and doing (weird) stuff with it.
And actually I just plainly love that small debian derived linux.

And thats why most of you would be wondering why I never downloaded the build enviroment and build an image myself.
Actually, I have to face the same question. Because, In fact, its very easy to build an image from source to your own like.

[ESXi4.1] Review

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:31:51 +0000

It has been sometime, but I still want to tell my experiences with ESXi 4.1.
In the beginning, I was very annoyed from the fact that you really need an 64 bit System and at least 2 Gigs of RAM.
But the rest just turned out fine, I have to admit.

Theres an upgrade path available, so you can upgrade your ESXi 3.5 Machine via an Upgrade to 4.1 without losing your Machines or the need to reinstall.
Actually - it worked, which did surprise myself in a good manner.

Dropbox

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:39:46 +0000

So, another tool I’d like to present, Dropbox.
Dropbox is an online file synchronisation service which does take place on Amazon Servers.
The files are encrypted and stored securely, also with quite high performance.
Nice part? 2 GB of space are free.
You get 250 MB for doing the Tour,
and another 250 MB if you followed the invitation of another person.
( Oh, and yes the other person does get 250 MB as well.. )
Just in terms, heres my invitation link, would be nice if you would consider using it: http://db.tt/tIYzeey

Sorry for keeping you waiting

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:12:52 +0000

Sorry there, has been some time since the last post.
Nope, this blog ain’t dead.
Problem was that I’m within a big project, taking place since June / July 2010 which didn’t let me that much spare time.
Another thing I’m working on is my apprenticeship which will end in June this year.
And a lot of private stuff was going on.
So, I’m quite sorry and hope you’re not disappointed.
Some new stuff will follow shortly.

Ubuntu 10.04 - Install Madwifi and Aircrack-ng

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 17:08:15 +0000

PreWork:

apt-get update  
apt-get install build-essential  
apt-get install libssl-dev

Install Madwifi for AR5007EG / AR5001

# Download latest from http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6/  
tar -xvzf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r4126-20100324.tar.gz  
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r4126-20100324  
make  
make install  
# System, Hardware Driver, mark "Activate Alternate Drivers"  
reboot

Install latest Aircrack-ng

# Download latest from http://www.aircrack-ng.org/  
# i.e. wget http://download.aircrack-ng.org/aircrack-ng-1.1.tar.gz  
tar -xvzf aircrack-ng-1.1.tar.gz  
cd aircrack-ng-1.1  
make  
make install

Lets go! ^^

[WinXP Tablet Edition] Tabtip.exe does Crash

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 20:09:35 +0000

If the virtual Keyboard on your Tablet PC does Crash on start, just do an “Fix-install” of the .Net Framework 2.
Reboot, and everything should be fine.

PS: There should be some memory leak within that Application, and theres a patch for that. Just to note it.

Office 2003 Error 2908

Mon, 20 Sep 2010 15:12:12 +0000

Delete or move the File C:\windows\system32\mscoree.dll and try Installation again!

[79XX] Cisco IP Phone Factory Reset & Reboot

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:26:44 +0000

To Factory Reset a Cisco IP Phone do the following:

Press and hold #, disconnect and reconnect Power
The Phone will check through the Line LEDs, on an 7911 or similar it will just light up the both Menu Keys and the Reciever \ Handset LED - after that, let go of #
Enter following: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 * 0 #
The Phone should start up and grab the latest config from your Callmanager

To just Reboot a Cisco IP Phone do following:

[CCNA] Cisco Networking Academy Material Error

Sun, 05 Sep 2010 10:37:43 +0000

If you open CCNA Material in the Internet Explorer, it does always Popup the Error that it doesn’t want to execute these Scripts as they might be dangerous. You can click that away and work with the Course Materials - but it just tends to go on to ones’ nerves. So to disable that: Internet Explorer, Extras, Internet Options, Advanced. Look for Security and enable “Execution of Interactive Content within Files on local Computer” and “Execution of Interactive Content within CDs on local Computer”.

[WinXP] Remove Recyle Bin from Desktop

Wed, 11 Aug 2010 14:11:24 +0000

Open regedit
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Desktop\NameSpace
Remove {645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}

Integreate KonBoot in UBCD 5.02

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 06:21:59 +0000

Konboot

ubcd\menus\grub4dos\others.lst

title Kon-Boot V1.1\n Boot into any OS without admin account password!  
map --mem /ubcd/images/konboot.img.gz (fd0)  
map (hd1) (hd0)  
map (hd0) (hd1)  
map --hook  
rootnoverify (fd0)  
chainloader +1

ubcd\menus\syslinux\others.cfg

LABEL -  
MENU LABEL Kon-Boot V1.1  
TEXT HELP  
Boot into any OS without admin account password!  
ENDTEXT  
LINUX /boot/syslinux/memdisk  
INITRD /ubcd/images/konboot.img.gz

PXE Boot UBCD 5.02

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 07:26:36 +0000

EDIT: Reuploaded the PXE Package

What you need:

tftpd32 ( http://tftpd32.jounin.net/ )
UBCD 5.02 ( http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ )
PXE Package ( https://mega.nz/#!4uxXyTCL!XrFyhuW5TnkdAomdtEWKZ-pbZnMXaiy0FjT_7mgcf1I )

We do start with the file preparations:

Preparing UBCD
Unzip the ISO to an folder, lets choose C:\ubcd
Unzip the PXE Package to C:\ubcd, so that pxelinux.0, memdisk, menu.c32 and the pxelinux.cfg Folder are within the root Folder of the ubcd
Setup up the tftpd32
Easy as hell. Download, unzip.
For example C:\tftpd32
And now to the config.

But first basics tftp config:

[WinXP] Wipe GPT HDD on Win XP

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 12:50:47 +0000

start cmd
diskpart
list disk
select disk [DISKNUMBER]
clean

Webconverger - Build your own Internetcafé

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:18:32 +0000

Install Debian
Add following lines to /etc/apt/sources.list :
deb http://live.debian.net/ sid-snapshots main contrib non-free deb-src http://live.debian.net/ sid-snapshots main contrib non-free
apt-get install live-helper git git-core svn sudo
mkdir /home/webconverger
cd /home/webconverger
git clone git://git.debian.org/git/debian-live/config-webc.git
modify /home/webconverger/config-webc/webconverger/auto/config
( i.e. change
homepage=http://portal.webconverger.com to the one you want,
add Kioskrest every 10 Minutes after last use:
kioskresetstation=10
change bootlogo
change website to the one you want and add an bg.png to the account,
otherwise add noxbg to the boot to make the background blank )
cd /home/webconverger/config-webc/webconverger
lh config
lh build
/home/webconverger/config-webc/webconverger/binary-hybrid.iso

Clean to rebuild:

[ATA186] How to Factory Reset / Update Firmware

Tue, 22 Jun 2010 06:50:37 +0000

Factoryreset:

Take phone off the hook
Press ATA Button
Dial 322873738# ( FACTRESET#)
Press * and again *
Hang up

IP Adress:

Take phone off the hook
Press ATA Button
Dial 80#

Version:
IP Adress:

Take phone off the hook
Press ATA Button
Dial 123#

Update:

Get Update Package
Run ata186us -any -d1 FirmwareFilename.zup
Take phone off the hook
Press ATA Button
Dial the Textstring the Program gives out ( i.e. 100#10*120*12*92*8000# -> 100#IP*in*Oct*et*Port# )
You’re done

Settings:
http://ipaddress/dev

[Player 3.0] VMware Player Network Config

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:46:16 +0000

To configure network you need the “Virtual Network Editor” Tool. It IS integrated within the Installer - but isn’t unpacked (sadly). To get the vmnetcfg.exe you need to do following: Launch the installer with /e parameter: VMware-player-3.0.0-197124.exe /e .\extract. With this command, the complete install gets “unzipped” into the “extract” folder. Within this folder you will find the network.cab. And in this file, you find the vmnetcfg.exe. Copy it to the Program Files\VMware\VMware Player Folder. Run the Program as Administrator.

[WinXP] Correct Error 39 (No CD-Rom found, Driver Corrupt or missing)

Fri, 14 May 2010 12:19:33 +0000

Run regedit
Look in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E965-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} for

UpperFilters LowerFilters UpperFilters.bak LowerFilters.bak

Delete them and reboot

[Win7] How To Move Skype from Taskbar to Systemtray

Thu, 01 Apr 2010 16:54:40 +0000

As from the new Version on, Skype does not minimize to Taskbar in Windows 7 anymore. It does stay within the Systemtray and the Taskbar. To solve that, just change the Programm Compability Mode for Skype to Windows Viste, Service Pack 2.

[ESXi 3.5] ESXi 3.5 Update 5 Install CD with oem.tgz + ssh,ftp,rsync and wget (made easy)!

Tue, 30 Mar 2010 14:41:53 +0000

Hello,

It has been a while since I was really doing something new with VMWare, but as I had the need to install some new Servers, I also was looking for better ways on integrating oem.tgz and other features. For that, I stumbled upon an very cool and useful Linux Build Script for ESXi, made by the User Varazir. After this How To you’re going to hold an ISO Installer with SSH, FTP, RSYNC, WGET and the Community Unified Driver Pack 1.1.0 oem.tgz in your Hands. Or an USB Stick with the same features - as Live Boot or Installer. Your choice.

Windows XP Network Sharing Problems

Fri, 19 Mar 2010 12:31:17 +0000

1.) Install the Network Sharing by install a new Network and Activate Filesharing

2.) Enable the Guest Account

3.) Local Securitysettings, Local, Userrights, Deny Access from Network to following Users: Remove “Guest” from that Tab

4.) Use the Advanced File Sharing. Its more powerful.

[iPAQ] Building Serial Console for iPAQ 3600 to Access Cisco Equipment

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 10:50:30 +0000

After I got the iPAQ 3660 working again, I wanted to use it as Serial Console to Work on the Cisco Equipment “on the road”. To achieve that, we need two or three things:

1.) An special connector Cable to attach the Serial Console of the iPAQ with an RS232 Connector / the Cisco Rollover Cable 2.) An Terminal Software. I did choose vxHpcPlus for that ( http://www.cam.com/vxhpcplus.html ) 3.) Something that makes it possible to use Landscape Mode so that you can read the Console Output more easily: NYDITOT Virtual Display, Version 5.02 ( http://www.nyditot.com/Products.asp )

[pRoToTyPe] iGPS-M Pro USB to Serial

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:22:42 +0000

As I wanted an better GPS Mouse for the pRoToTyPe, I did buy an iGPS M Pro USB Mouse ( http://www.transystem.com.tw/products/index_detail.php?mcat_no=2&cat_no=32&pno=10&ver=en ). I was certain that I could resolder it to Serial and use it on the Fonera Router. And thats how I did it: I did open up the Case, which was very easy, just unsnap it. You will find an socket were 4 wires do run out: Black (GND), Red (5V+), White (USB Data) and Green (USB Data) - I did cut these Wires and soldered them to an 8 Wire Cable. From the other 4 left Wires I did use only two: Under the Metal Shielding of the Mouse you will find an TX and an RX Solder Point - these are RS232 Connection Points. I did just pry open a bit of the shielding to run two wires into it, soldered it onto the points and did close the casing again. On the other end of the cable, I did solder on an RS232 Connector, Female. I did use the pRoToTyPe scheme with Phantom Power for that. Additionally, I did wire up Power and Ground a second Time to an USB Connector as well as the USB Datalines. So I have one RS232 Socket and one USB Connector and can use the Mouse for both occasions.

[iPAQ] Upgrading HP iPAQ 3660 from CE 3.0/Pocket PC 2000 to Pocket PC 2002

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 04:46:55 +0000

As the 3600 Series came out in 2000, it was one of the top notch Personal Digital Assistants and became very widely known through Business Class Users and Geeks. The only downside to this nice product was the big price tag which could go to nearly 1000 bucks. Now, after 10 Years, you got these machines for really less money and so the second named user class (Geeks, Nerds, etc - call it as you want) can accquire and use the now considered outdated Hardware. The 3660 does come with an 206 MhZ Arm (v4, SA1100) Processor, 16 MB Rom and 64 MB Ram (which are seperated dynamically into 32 MB “real” Ram and 32 MB “Flash” to save Work and Programs in). The Display takes it to an Resolution of 320x240 and does show 4096 Colours. For Connection, the 3660 does use and IRDA Port aswell as an Sync Port which can be used over USB and Serial Connection through the Cradle or an Adaptor Cable. As Expansion Slot “Sleeves” were aviable. They could contain 1 or 2 CF Card Slots or one PCMCIA Slot. Both with Battery so they extended the Running Time on the iPAQ a lot. To Upgrade the whole thing to the “not meant to be installed” Pocket PC 2002 install but than Shutdown Active Sync on your Windows PC. Attach the iPAQ to the Cradle and the get Following Software from the Compaq Site ( ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/):

Windows 7 God Mode

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 17:19:48 +0000

Just create an Folder and call it GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

I think you’ll be surprised what to find…

Rooting CUCM7 & Giving BASH instead of the restricted CLI

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 13:03:55 +0000

Boot with gparted
cd /tmp
mkdir test
mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/test
chroot /dev/test /bin/bash
Change:

/etc/passwd:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/sbin/nologin  
admin:x:591:503::/home/admin:/usr/local/platform/bin/cliscript.sh

to:

root:x:0:0:root:/root:/bin/bash  
admin:x:591:503::/home/admin:/bin/bash

/etc/shadow

root:!!:14657:0:99999:7:::

to:

root:$1$D2ISXWJF$urnCHPxcF20BUWWwvTZfX0:14657:0:99999:7:::

/etc/sudoers
add the Line for admin under the user privilege specification so that it looks like this:

# User privilege specification  
root    ALL=(ALL) ALL  
admin   ALL=(ALL) ALL

exit
cd /tmp
umount /tmp/test
umount /dev/sda1
reboot
login with admin and your password, you are in the bash shell, not in the cisco cli anymore
enter sudo su and your login password and you become root

[pRoToTyPe] LaFonera OpenWRT/Kismet/GPS/SD-Mod

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:26:54 +0000

So, here is the Documentation of the Project that I have been working on the past Months. I called it “Prototype” for no other reason as not having another name ^^’. But actually its just an plain and simple Kismet Server running on an LaFonera 2100 and using GPS for Positing and Time aswell as an SD Card for the Log Files. So… there were many things to do on that project, so that thing will get quite a bit longer and get some pics.

Iptables Basic Introduction

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:36:01 +0000

Iptables are the Firewall of many Unix based Systems. Its quite easy to install and more easy to manage than most ppl would think of. Lately I became the SysAdmin of an Linux based Root Server and wanted to secure it as much as possible. So I went for my first exercise with Iptables and found that they are quite to manage as long as you know some important things.

[Jasager] Fon/Fon+ Newbie Guide to Installlation of Jasager 1.0 Firmware

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:58:56 +0000

Pre Info:
This guide has been made with an Fon+ (2201), but should work with any other
Fonera Classic as well. Only limitation is that I have Problems with my
Jasager in Terms of SSIDs, there seems to be a Problem which hasn’t been
addressed by Digininja, but the Rest should work.
(Problem described here: http://hak5.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=13883 )

This guide should be quite useful and has been written by using guides and
stuff from this Forum, I just wrote it together and added my own experiances.
Maybe that will turn out as a good starting point and help some newbies.

XModem Flash Recovery of new c3560, c3560e, c3750, c3750e, etc...

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:47:32 +0000

Right at the moment I’m sitting in one of our wireclosets, watching an c3750 (hopefully) recovering its mind to its old function and behavior - through an XModem transfer of its current IOS. Because of an power failure on our campus the unit actually “bricked” - the flash system became corrupted and the unit did end up in the ROMMON Mode “switch:”.

Thats pretty bad - but not as bad as we couldn’t fix it.

Cisco AP1231 Autonomous LWAPP to Auto Downgrade

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:45:14 +0000

Downgrading an LWAPP Cisco Access Point which was used with this Wirless Controll System can be very time consuming. Can. Doesn’t need to. Cisco did some nice stuff to make life easier: An auto “downgrade” function. To use this you need to get following:

Tftpd32 Server or similar tftp Server
An autonomous IOS File for your Access Point (i.e. for the 1231 the file c1200-k9w7-tar.123-8.JEC.tar)

Setup your tftpserver and give it an ip out of the range 10.0.0.2 - 10.0.0.30 with the Subnetmask 255.0.0.0
Copy the IOS File to the tftpserver root, mostly called tftpboot in Linux
Rename the file from - for example c1200-k9w7-tar.123-8.JEC.tar to c1200-k9w7-tar.default
Plug in the Ethernet Port on your Access Point (direct Connection from PC to AP needs an Crossover Cable!), connect the AP also to the serial console if you want.
Press and hold the “Mode” Button on the AP and plug in power.
Wait until the orange blinking middle led turns solid red (ca. 30 sec) and then release the “Mode” Button
The AP will start downloading the firmware and reflash itself. DO NOT TURN IT OFF OR KILL THE CONNECTION!

[Asterisk] Part 2: Installation, Configuration of an Askozia PBX and getting it working with Snom 360

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 09:06:22 +0000

Download and burn the latest 1.0 Release as PC Live ISO (www.askozia.com,i.e. pbx-cdrom-1.0.3.iso, 30 MB)
Insert and boot from in your target PC
( You could now already use this as live running Askozia Version - but we’re going to install it onto the HDD )
Just choose option “Install to Harddrive”, choose the HDD you want to install onto and accept the questions, warning that your Data will be erased.
Reboot and remove the CD from the drive.
Choose Option 2 and set IP, Subnet (default 24), Gateway, DNS, choose wheter you want to go back to http or use ssl encrytpted https
Go to your PC and enter http://ipoftheaskoziapbx or https://ipoftheaskoziapbx depending on your reacion to the last installation step.
The default login data is admin, askozia
Go to the General Setup, change Username, Password and other Settings you would like and save.
Go to Voicemail, enter an E-Mail Account (username, pw, email, smtp server) you would like to use for the Voice Mail feature. Save the configuration and enter your own E-Mail Adress in “Test E-Mail” and press E-Mail Me - if that does work, you got Voicemail working.
Go to Interfaces, change the Interface settings to your like and add ISDN or Analog Interface if you got such.
Now your basic installation is done, go to reboot and restart your system.

Create an Sip Account and connect Snom 360

[Asterisk] Part 1: Basics and Choosing the right OS

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:31:36 +0000

Finally the time has come for our first VoIP or Voice over IP Project. The final goal of this project shall be to integrate an Software Asterisk VoIP System into an already existing PBX / ISDN Enviroment, allowing Users on Analog and ISDN Phones to recieve and send VoIP Calls by using the Asterisk Gateway - and vice versa. An good starting point is the most famous open source Voice PBX, called Asterisk. Asterisk is aviable in many flavors and colors: As commandline on little OpenWRT enabled Routers to an Highpowered Cluster Solution running ten thousands of phones at the same time - beeing managable via an nice looking Webinterface and Batch Files.

Snom 360 Update and Password Reset

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 08:24:39 +0000

WARNING, this is ONLY for Users on an Snom 360 with Firmware Revision 6.X.
If you got an different Revision the steps could be different.
Check out the Snom Wiki in that case ( http://wiki.snom.com/Firmware ).
Basically we just do reflash the Firmware with the same Revision again to erase data and passwords and unlock the Phone.
Than we do an automatic update to the latest release.

Download the latest Snom 360 Firmware from the Snom Website for your Revision ( http://wiki.snom.com/Firmware/V6/Latest_Release )
Download tftpd32 or an similar tftp Server
Rename the Firmware to snom360.bin and upload it to the root Directory of the tftp Server
Plug in the Network Port and Power to the Snom
As the message “To Update by TFTP: Press Any Key” appears, press any key on the phone
Enter valid IP Data for the Phone. Always press Next. I.e. the IP, the Subnet, the Gateway, DNS and the IP of your tfp Server.
As you’re finished, it will ask for this again and again, press Check Mark right beside the big X Button. The tfp Download will start. Don’t unplug the phone during the Firmware Update. The Phone will automatically reboot after the flash is done.
After this flash we have reset all data - including the passwords, so we now can press the Help Button on the phone and get the ip adress of the phone, connect to it by using an HTML Browser. But before you access the website, you need to enter the Administrative mode of the phone, otherwise you won’t be able to set any setting or update the phone. So press the Settings Button and press “Administrative Mode” - password is 0000 on default. Press Check Mark to accept. Now access the Website.
To update to version 7 Firmware (the latest Firmware, experimental) you need to go to the Advanced Tab, scroll down to Update. Set the Update Policy to “Update automatically” and the Setting URL to “http://provisioning.snom.com/update6to7/update_once.php". Press Save and Reboot, Accept with Yes. The Phone will Reboot.
After the reboot, the phone will access the internet and check automatically for an update, download it and start flashing. It will reboot serval times, don’t power it off until its done. It should take something like 10 Minutes or more, depending on your Internet connection. If it doesn’t reboot anymore and does show the normal menu for longer than half an minute you can consider it ok.
You can now create Identitys (Profiles) for your Sip / VoIP Accounts and reregister them via the Webinterface.

[EEE901/1000] Use Windows XP Bluetooth-Stack on Asus 901/1000

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:26:44 +0000

Deactivate Bluetooth in the Asus-Tray-Utility
Open C:\WINDOWS\INF\BTH.INF with the Editor.
Look for:

[Manufacturer]  
%Microsoft%=Microsoft  
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1  
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1

Now add “Asus=ASUS, NT.5.1”. It should look like this:

[Manufacturer]  
%Microsoft%=Microsoft  
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1  
Asus=ASUS, NT.5.1  
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1

Now look for “[Zeevo.NT.5.1]”. It should look like this:

[Zeevo.NT.5.1]  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0126  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0133

Beneath it, add following:

[Asus.NT.5.1]  
Asus BT-253=                        BthUsb, USB\VID_0B05&PID_B700

Result:

[Zeevo.NT.5.1]  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0126  
Zeevo Bluetooth Solution=                        BthUsb, USB\Vid_0b7a&Pid_07d0&Rev_0133  
[Asus.NT.5.1]  
Asus BT-253=                        BthUsb, USB\VID_0B05&PID_B700

Save and leave the editor
Now it depends wheter you did install the Widcomm Software or wheter you start with an fresh Win XP Installation

With Widcomm-Software:

Windows 2000 / XP Password Special

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 09:37:03 +0000

So, you logged out of Windows and need to get your password back? Thats for what this little collection is for.

Lets say you need to “crack” an Windows 2000 / XP Password. For i.e. login data. Then you should go for Ophcrack: http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

If you just want to login into Windows 2000 / XP / Linux etc. without using or cracking the password with admin rights, go for konboot: http://www.piotrbania.com/all/kon-boot/

Quick'n Dirty Moodle Learning Platform Setup

Fri, 22 Jan 2010 07:34:57 +0000

Download and Install TurnKey LAMP (Vmware Appliance)
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/redir.php?url=http%3A%2F%2Fswitch.dl.sourceforge.net%2Fproject%2Fturnkeylinux%2Fturnkey-lamp%2F2009.10-hardy-x86%2Fturnkey-lamp-2009.10-hardy-x86.zip

go to http://IP

go to Webmin (https://IP:12321)

change root pw  
change root pw in mysql  
create mysql table utf8-unicode "moodle"  
mkdir /var/moodledata  
chown nobody /var/moodledata  
chmod 777 /var/moodledata

root@lamp:/var# apt-get update  
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install wget  
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install php5-gd  
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install php5-curl  
root@lamp:/var# apt-get install php5-xmlrpc

cd /var/www  
wget http://download.moodle.org/download.php/direct/stable19/moodle-weekly-19.zip  
unzip moodle-weekly-19.zip

Access http://ip/moodle

(create config.php in /var/www/moodle)

change pwd,
user admin, pw admin

[ESXi 3.5] Dell Optiplex G620 ESXi 3.5 U5 & Problems with Ubuntu 9.10 and Vmware Tools

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:19:46 +0000

So, we happend to get an new ESXi 3.5 Server, using an Dell Optiplex G620 for that.

To install ESXi 3.5 U5 onto that Desktop Machine, you NEED to upgrade to Bios A11 and Shutdown CPU Limit ID - and do the Install in SATA Normal Mode (not Compability!). You also need to use the Tipps to install to an IDE Drive (so changing TYPE_IDE to TYPE_ISCSI in the TargetFilter.py) - than it will work flawlessly… (As long as you get the Bios updated, we had the “orignial” A01 Bios and it refused to use an Boot CD for the Update (did load but then always did disable Keyboard - you couldn’t enter anything…). We solved the Problem by using an REAL Floppy Disk… Yeah, was hard to get one. That worked! Ah and by the way, the ESXi install did load then, but the Keyboard got Stuck again - we plugged in an USB Keyboard and that one worked, the PS2 didn’t wanted to.. well, it always an Adventure setting up ESXi on non-listed Hardware - especially with Dell Bios ;-)…

Remote Desktop with XDMCP on Ubuntu 9.10

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:46:54 +0000

To access the unsecured(!) Remote Desktop of an Ubuntu 9.10 installation, you need following:

First, install the openssh-server:

sudo apt-get install openssh-server

Then, you need to enable the XDMCP Server.

That became a bit tricky on that Installation, as the “Point ’n Click” enabling has been removed.

Dunno why. So, thats how it works. First we copy over the “empty” custom.conf for gdm:

sudo cp /usr/share/doc/gdm/examples/custom.conf /etc/gdm/

Then we edit it:

sudo vi /etc/gdm/custom.conf

It should look like this in the end:

SSH Tunneling

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 12:30:44 +0000

One of the most important things by working in “dangerous” Networking Enviroments is protection.

And by that I don’t mean the usual (and important!) Anti Virus, Anti Malware and Firewall Software, but Traffic Tunneling, meaning VPN or SSH.

SSH is the secure equivalent to the good old (and Plaintext transmitted) Telnet. And its also more powerful: Its use is not limited to remote Control, but can also provide an secured Datatunnel through which all your Traffic to your Remote Location (i.e. an Mysql Database, Web- or Mailserver or the Web itself) is tunneld - and encrypted. Giving therefore little to no chance to “Wiresharkes” and other Cable Tappers or Span Users.

Unbrick Royaltek RGM 2000 "Bluemouse" GPS Mouse

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 17:17:44 +0000

Hi there, I was working on an Serial GPS Mouse, Type Royaltek RGM 2000, also called “Blue Mouse”, which became famous for beeing deployed with an Medion GPS Kit Years ago. Its an really cool looking Mouse (Serial/Usb depending on the properitary Connector you attach), powered by an Y-Cable with 5 Pins, powered by an quite old SiRF 2 Chipset. I did solder my own Data and Poweradaptor, which worked great. But as I wanted to be “up-to-date”, I searched the Web for some more recent Firmware, stumbled upon some, flashed - and killed the Mouse .’’… (wrong Firmware for wrong Mouse… Couldn’t set it anymore to SiRF to Flash it or ANYTHING! )…

Repair Mac G4 Powersupply

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:27:03 +0000

Most old G4s PowerPCs have Problems with the Elkos of their Powersupply.
If you’re a bit into Soldering, you can quite easily exchange these and get it working again.
Sadly, it didn’t work out for me, maybe something different wrong…

BUT - for the sake of helping you out, I made a Picture with the Specs of the Elkos that normally “fail”.
Red are the ones which actually were really dead as I measured the old ones (i.e. the 25V 100microF had only 68microF left),
Green were the ones that “still worked” / were in quite good condition.

Mac OS X Install Problems

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:55:04 +0000

Last time I wanted to install Mac OS X Leopard on an Mac and had the problem of an DVD that was always reported as “defect” - It could boot but not install.
So, I came around an quite easy solution:
Installing Mac OS X Tiger - and then Updating!
Seemed that my DVD is somehow only scratched where the “Complete Reinstall” Files are.

Ah, and by the way:
I had for ages the Problem of Warcraft 3 etc which didn’t wanted to run under Mac OS X (both Tiger and Leopard) in the latest Version.
It always crashed as I choose “Option” in Game.
Solution is quite easy:
Go to ~/Library/Preferences and erase the com.blizzard.WarcraftIII.24 and Warcraft III Preferences Files.
Thats it!

UnStuck CD and the Blessing called Firewire Mode

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:41:49 +0000

Hi there.
So know that I started to life in the more recent Mac World (through an donated G4, thanks a lot! ^.^), I also feel the need to get a bit more to grips with this little fella.
The most basic stuff I did need in recent time:

Eject CD / DVD if “stuck”:

Through Open Firmware
Press ALT + Apple + O + F after the beep as you turned the Mac on.
A white command line will apear. Enter eject cd and press enter.
You can do this again to close the drive.
( And mac-boot if you want to boot or shutdown )
Through Comamnd Line \ Terminal
drutil list shows the installed CD Drives.
drutil eject NUMBER does eject the CD from the numbered drive.

Firefox and Thunderbird Addons Special

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:58:27 +0000

Some little Special about my most beloved and used Addons for Firefox and Thunderbird!

Firefox:

Adblock:
Adblock is one of the most well known and widely used tools. It does what it says: Blocking Ads, Popups and such.

Bugmenot:
Bugmenot is an integration of the Website www.bugmenot.com into the Firefox.
Bugmenot is an service on which you can add own login data to Forums and Websites which everyone else can use to login.
So, you don’t need to register on every website to gain access.

TPlink Switch Vlan Notes

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 12:55:04 +0000

Just some quick private notes…

Tag Vlan Global
Port 7 GVD 2
Port 8 1

Vlan 1
all Drop
8 Add

Vlan 2
Port 7 Drop
Port 8 Add

Backup Data, Website and Mysql

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 06:58:50 +0000

Well, If it comes down to a simple Homenetwork - and a PC crash, normal situation is following: You’re mostly dead in the water.
Why?
Because most ppl don’t backup their data on a regular basis or do it wrong.
Actually, there are 3 kinds of pepole:
a) The person who doesn’t backup
b) The person who thinks does a backup - but does it wrong
c) The person who does a backup and stops after a while because he is too lazy… and experiences a crash…

[Eee901] Create an Backtrack 3 Eee901 Usb Stick

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:53:21 +0000

There are dozend Situations in which Backtrack 3 comes in handy.
Backtrack 3 is an special Linux Suite of Security Auditing Tools which allow i.e. WEP Cracking, Network Security Checking, Sniffing, and so on.
To make this nice Suite a bit more portable, we will put it onto an Usb Stick and customize it with Eee901 Drivers, persistent Changes and Nessus 4!

Download:
Backtrack 3 USB Version: http://www.remote-exploit.org/backtrack_download.html
unetbootin Windows: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net
Partiton Tool, like partedmagic: http://partedmagic.com
Eee901 Pack: 901_net_gfx.lzm (you’ll find it in google)
Nessus 4.0.2: http://www.nessus.org/download/
( We need the 4.0.2 as Nessus-4.0.2-linux-generic32.tar.gz and the Graphical Linux Interface for nessusd NessusClient-4.0.2-es4.i386.rpm )
And you should help yourself to an free personal key under http://www.nessus.org/plugins/?view=register-info

[XP/Vista/7/Server2k3/8] x86? x64? What am I, and how many?

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:20:15 +0000

To check wheter which version of Windows is installed on that shiny little x64 box with 64 Processors and 4 TB of RAM, you should start the msinfo32 and watch for “Systemtype”: and x86 is clearly an 32 bit Windows Installation, while an x64 or ia64 means that you’re running on 64 bit.

[Vista] How To Disable Network Auto Tuning and fix Connectivity Problems

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:14:38 +0000

Autotuning dynamically changes the TCP Window Size - which often causes errors as loss of network connectivity, firewall problems, and so on.

To show the status of this autotuning, you should check it with admin rights under cmd with this command: netsh interface tcp show global To disable use: netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled To reenable use: netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal

Another important thing concerning wireless problems - you should install Service Pack 2, as it does contain an bunch of hotfixes and other important stuff.

Toshiba Satellite P300D-211 (PSPDCE-02KOOWGR) Wireless Problems

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:08:11 +0000

The Satellite \ Satellite Pro P300 \ P300D Series suffers from Problems with Wireless Connectivity.
To solve these problems you need to upgrade to at least Bios Version 3.00 (recent is 3.10).
For XP and Vista64, that should already fix it.
For Vista32, you need to upgrade the Wireless Lan Drivers as well.
But I would recommend upgrading it also on x64 Systems.

(disabling autotuning for networking and installing sp2 should help as well!)

[XP] Solve Stop Error 7B on Windows XP Setup

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 06:07:37 +0000

If you get an Stop Error 7B / Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) on Windows XP Setup (for example Win Xp 32bit Professional) on an up-to-date machine, you should try changing the SATA Controller Mode from AHCI to IDE / ATA in BIOS. That should do the trick.

Reset Password on Linux

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:55:52 +0000

Boot with Knoppix
mount /dev/sda1 /mnt
vi /etc/shaodw
i
kill the string between the first and second :…
for example: user:$1$pM8HYEMB$Cx0yiRM4pj2Ty4lFBWuy4.:12038:0:99999:7::: becomes:
user::12038:0:99999:7:::
ESC :w Enter
cd /
umount /mnt
reboot
login with user and just press enter on password.
enter passwd and change the password.
you’re done!

c3560 Cheat

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:14:20 +0000

Hostname:

hostname test

Image Upgrade:

del /r /f flash:c3560-ipbase-mz.122-35.SE5  
copy tftp://192.168.2.1/images/c3560-ipbasek9-mz.122-46.SE.bin flash:

del - File
rm - Folder

Boot with other Image:

boot system c3560-advipservicesk9-mz.122-46.SE.bin

Portfast (on dhcpd Problems):

spanning-tree portfast

Switchport with Vlan 10:

interface FastEthernet0/1  
switchport access vlan 10  
switchport mode access  
description nativ  
macro description NATIV  
spanning-tree portfast

Description Vlan 10:

vlan 10 name testvlan

Trunkport:

interface GigabitEthernet0/1  
switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q  
switchport mode trunk  
ip dhcp snooping trust

DHCP Snooping:
Global Activate:

ip dhcp snooping vlan 1-4094  
no ip dhcp snooping information option  
ip dhcp snooping

Allow DHCP on Port:

c3560 Routing with Advanced IP Services

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:01:59 +0000

Problem: You got serval networks, you got an c3560 but no Router.
Solution: Get an c65e VSS
Following Problem: Insufficient Money, Power, Space,….
Solution: Get your c3560 to route these Networks with an Advanced IP Services Firmware
YOU DO NEED AN “advipservices” FIRMWARE ON YOUR c3560!

Assumption:
On f0/1 PC with 134.96.10.2 -> We want the Gateway to be 134.96.10.1
On f0/8 PC with 192.168.2.2 -> We want the Gateway to be 192.168.2.1

SCP with Plain Password

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:33:58 +0000

My altered Version:

Call it with ./scp_bkp.sh User Password BKPPath ServerIP

#!/usr/bin/expect -f
set USER [lrange $argv 0 0]
set PW [lrange $argv 1 1]
set BKPPath [lrange $argv 2 2]
set IP [lrange $argv 3 3]
# 1 User, 2 PW, 3 BkpPath, 4 IP
# trick to pass in command-line args to spawn
#eval spawn scp $argv
eval spawn scp $USER@$IP:/bootbank/state.tgz $BKPPath
expect "password: $"
send "$PW\n"
# wait for regular shell prompt before quitting
# probably a better way using 'wait'
expect "$ $"

Orginally taken from: http://tiebing.blogspot.com/2009/01/scp-with-automatic-password-input.html

[VMWare] How to shrink Virtual Harddrives?

Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:03:59 +0000

You want to shrink an too big harddrive on your VM?
Ok, lets go:

1.) Create an Harddrive in your VM which does have the desired size as second Drive
2.) Boot the VM with an Parted Magic ISO (http://partedmagic.com)
3.) Choose GParted and size your existing Harddrive down so that it will fit into the new Drive
4.) Choose Clonezilla, start for Local Disk, Local Disk to Local Disk, choose your old Disk as Source and the new as Destitination and Expert Modus.
4b.) Don’t change anything in Expert, just klick through and accept the new MBR and Co.
5.) After thats done, you’re done! Shut down, remove the first Harddrive (just remove from VM, NOT ERASE FROM ESXi!) and select the “new” Drive and set it to the SCSI Path the old one was (0:0:0) or so - fire it up! It should boot.

Parted Magic

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 14:02:22 +0000

My tool of the week!
http://partedmagic.com/

Its an Live Linux with all you need to work on HDDs! For example gparted and clonezilla!
And theres even an PXE Boot Image! How cool is that?!?!

5 Stars +!!!

Linux Tar and Zip

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 07:47:48 +0000

Untar tar.gz

tar -xvzf filename

Tar tar.gz

tar -pczf filename folder/

Untar tar.bz2

tar -xvjf filename

Unzip

unzip filename

[ESXi 3.5] Output Bootup / Working Logs to Serial Connections

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 19:32:16 +0000

Very cool feature which you can enable by using the Viclient.

Go to

Configuration,  
Advanced Settings,  
VMKernel,  
Boot,  
VMkernel.Boot.serialPort

There you can set your wanted Serial Port.
0 means “no Output”, 1 “Com1”, 2 “Com2”, etc…

Just enter you wanted Serial Port, Ok, Close, Shutdown the Server, hook up to the Serial Port with an Console Cable, get your Console open (115200er Speed, you can change that aswell!) and boot up the Server… Tada! Ok, thats only the log for Bootup!

[ESXi 3.5] PXE Boot to working ESXi 3.5 Hypervisor

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 14:25:20 +0000

Need:

ESXi 3.5 Iso File
http://www.accessdata.com/downloads/current_releases/imager/Imager%20Lite%202.6.1.zip to open Iso and extract Files
7zip, WinRar, or whatever to unzip Files (7zip Recommended)
http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX

ESXi 3.5 Extract:
1.) Extract the install.tgz from \CDROM\Sessions 1\Track 01\CDROM.
Its the Rock Ridge (RR in Isobuster) Session. Do NOT choose the one from the ISO / Boot part!

2.) Unzip the install.tgz.

3.) Extract the VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_4-153875.i386.dd.bz2 from the path install\usr\lib\vmware\installer to an directory of your choice.

[ESXi 3.5] oem.tgz and the power behind it

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 13:41:09 +0000

So, I’m going to write a quick info about ESXis most famous oem.tgz.
The oem.tgz is an file supplied by two sources:
a) the “install” oem.tgz which does sit in the root of your install medium (like pxe tftpboot, or cdrom root)
this is ONLY used DURING the installation
b) the “installed” oem.tgz which does sit in the file install.tgz
this file gets copied during the installation and is therefore active AFTER the installation.
detailed path is in
usr\lib\vmware\installer\Core\VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_4-153875.i386.dd.bz2 unziped to VMware-VMvisor-big-3.5.0_Update_4-153875.i386.dd and there in Partition 5 the oem.tgz
(AccessData FTK Imager Lite to access)

[ESXi 3.5] PXE Boot to Install

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 11:47:24 +0000

Easy as Cake:
Copy these files from the install CD:
BINMOD.TGZ, CIM.TGZ, IENVIRON.TGZ, LICENSE.TGZ, MBOOT.C32, MENU.C32, OEM.TGZ and VMKERNEL.GZ into your tftpboot Directory.

Insert the normal needed pxelinux.0 File, as well as the pxelinux.cfg Folder which contains following File called “default”:

default menu.c32
menu title PXE Boot VMware ESXi
timeout 100
label ESXi3.5U4 Install
kernel mboot.c32
append vmkernel.gz --- binmod.tgz --- ienviron.tgz --- cim.tgz --- oem.tgz --- license.tgz --- install.tgz
ipappend 2
label Hard
menu label Boot from local drive
localboot 0

Have fun!

[ESXi 3.5+] Enable SSH and Telnet

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 22:38:15 +0000

At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.
Enter unsupported in the console and then press Enter. You will not see the text you type in.
If you typed in unsupported correctly, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt. Enter the password for the root login.
You should then see the prompt of ~ #. Edit the file inetd.conf (enter the command vi /etc/inetd.conf).
Find the lines that begins with #ssh and remove the #. Then save the file. If you’re new to using vi, then move the cursor down to #ssh line and then press the Insert key. Move the cursor over one space and then hit backspace to delete the #. Then press ESC and type in :wq to save the file and exit vi. If you make a mistake, you can press the ESC key and then type it :q! to quit vi without saving the file. Note: there are two lines for SSH with ESXi 4.0 now - one for regular IP and the other for IPv6. You should
Once you’ve closed the vi editor, you can either restart the host or restart the inetd process. To restart inetd run ps | grep inetd to determine the process ID for the inetd process. The output of the command will be something like 1299 1299 busybox inetd, and the process ID is 1299. Then run kill -HUP (kill -HUP 1299 in this example) and you’ll then be able to access the host via SSH.

FreeNAS on ESXi

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:44:30 +0000

If creating an FreeNAS VM, choose Windows Vista (32bit) as VM Machine, as it will use the Intel E1000 NIC which does give you about double network performance.
DON’T FORGET TO CHANGE BACK VM TYPE TO LINUX (32bit) BEFORE POWERING ON!!!!

Taken from: http://www.network0.org/2008/11/18/on-freenas-and-esx-performance/

[SRSS 4.2] How to enable SoftClient on Sunray Server 4.2?

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:30:59 +0000

Download:
SoftClient: http://wikis.sun.com/display/SRS5/Home#tab:SRS-5-Documentation

Configuration:
Point a web browser at the Sun Ray server. http://:1660. You will then need to provide the administrative credentials to log into the site. Once into the site you need take the following steps:

Click on the Advanced Tab
Click on the Systems Policy Sub Tab
Check the Software Client Access check box
Click on Save

Restart the Server - Click on the servers tab

tick the checkbox in front of your server name
click on cold restart

The system will go through a dialog about the server restarting.

[SRSS 4.2] How to install Sun Ray Windows Connector 2.2 on Solaris 10?

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:27:22 +0000

Download
Sun Ray Windows Connector (SRWC) 2.2 http://wikis.sun.com/display/SRS5/Home#tab:SRS-5-Documentation
Patches for SRWC2.2 http://www.sun-rays.org/srss.html#patches

Preparation:
Create a group of the connector proxy to run as

# groupadd utsrwc

Installation:

1.) Got root?

su

2.) Extract the software:

# unzip srwc_2.2_solaris.zip

3.) Run the installer

# ./srwc_2.2/installer  
Accept the license  
Enter the name of the group we just created - utsrwc

4.) Run the automatic configuration script

# /opt/SUNWuttsc/sbin/uttscadm -c

5.) Restart the Sun Ray Server Software

# /opt/SUNWut/sbin/utrestart -c

Note: Now is when we would apply patches. Since this a new release there are not any yet.

[SRSS 4.2] How to install Sunray Server 4.2 on Solaris 10?

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:18:54 +0000

Download
Sun Ray Server Software (SRSS) 4.2 http://wikis.sun.com/display/SRS5/Home#tab:SRS-5-Documentation Patches for SRSS4.2 http://www.sun-rays.org/srss.html#patches

Preparation:

Solaris Version: SRSS 4.2 requires Solaris 05/09 (u7) verify you have the correct version.
#cat /etc/release
Solaris 10 5/09 s10x_u7wos_08 X86
Copyright 2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Use is subject to license terms.
Assembled 30 March 2009

Installation:

1.) Got root?
su

2.) Extract the software:

# unzip srss_4.2_solaris.zip

3.) Install Java (SRSS 4.2 needs java 1.6 or higher.)C
Check your java version with the following command:

[SRSS 4.1+] How to use different Kiosk Sessions for different tokens

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:03:19 +0000

Create kiosk session configuration
In SRCC Web Interface
Back it up

# cd # Make sure your are in a reasonable directory to store your configurations  
# PATH=${PATH}:/opt/SUNWut/sbin # Save yourself (and me) some typing  
# utkiosk -e session -s > UserSession.conf

If you have configured applications, also save the application list to a file:

# utkiosk -e session -a > UserSessionApps.list

Store your kiosk session configuration in the Sun Ray data store.
Use a name that starts with a capital letter - all-lowercase names are reserved.

If you don’t need an application list, you can simply upload your UserSession.conf file like this:

# utkiosk -i UserSession -f UserSession.conf

If you did create an application list, the command looks like this:

# utkiosk -i UserSession -f UserSession.conf -A UserSessionApps.list

Configure individual tokens to use this kiosk session configuration.
Here is how to configure one of this configurations to a selected, registred (!) Token OR DTU.

How to register:

# utuser -a "CleverCard.0123456789,localhost,0,John Doe,"

Now you can assign the UserSession configuration to the token:

# utkioskoverride -r CleverCard.0123456789 -s kiosk -c UserSession

Note: This will enable Kiosk Mode for this token, even if it isn’t enabled globally.

[ SRSS 4.1+] How to use SunRay USB Ports on Solaris 10?

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 09:55:46 +0000

Download this: http://blogs.sun.com/danielc/resource/usbdrived

chmod +x  
./usbdrived install

Using it with Windows Connector:
The Argument is: -r disk:USBDRVS=$HOME/USBDRVS 192.168.1.1 - where you should replace the IP Adress with your Terminal Server

Notes:

After adding a Drive, it can take up nearly a Minute until it comes “online”!
The SunRay 1 use USB 1.1 - so that thing is quite slowly!

Troubleshooting:

Can you see usbdrived running in your Solaris session? (ps -ef | grep usbdrived)
Can you see a file called “Attaching USB Drives to your Sun Ray README.txt” on your Solaris desktop?
Did you install it properly? If so, can you see and what permissions does this have:
/usr/dt/config/Xsession.d/1350.usbdrived (It should be executable by everybody, something like rwxr-xr-x)
When you plug in a USB drive, does it mount in /tmp/SUNWut/mnt/<username> under Solaris?
Under Windows, can you see in “My Computer” a Network drive (In “Others”) called “USBDRVS” and is there a file within that explains usage?
Have you hit refresh in file manager when looking at your USBDRVS mount?
Most important and useful of all: Do any mounts show up if on a Solaris Sun Ray session you issue: /opt/SUNWut/bin/utdiskadm -l

Taken from: http://blogs.sun.com/danielc/entry/a_usb_drive_daemon_for1

Solaris 10

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 10:28:57 +0000

To add a user in Solaris 10:

useradd -c ‘Full Name’ -d /export/home/username -m -s /bin/bash username

(to add an admin user, add -g staff in there)

Then add a password for the user:

passwd username

Under Solaris, there is no sudo.
Use su to become superuser.

Linux Networking

Sun, 26 Jul 2009 08:36:11 +0000

Configure NIC:

ifconfig -a eth0 192.168.1.132 netmask 255.255.255.128  
route add default gw 192.168.1.129

Set NIC down / up:

ifconfig eth0 down  
ifconfig eth0 up

Restart Networking:

/etc/init.d/networking restart

Install SunRay Server Software 4.1 on Ubuntu JeOS Server 9.04 i386 (running under ESXi 4.0)

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:47:51 +0000

Hi Guys,

this Guide did cost me a lot of nerves and time, but its finally complete!
The most of this stuff is ripped from this nearly perfect guide.
But problem is, I did had some difficulties setting it up and got into serious troubles about dhcp (not working), dpkg (screwed up totaly) and other nasty things.
In the end I did this installation about 4 times, but now its working, and guess what? I did do complete notes! And I’m going to share these with you! ^^.

How to set automatic login on Windows XP / Server 2003?

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:20:39 +0000

Open up Start, Run (or press Windows Button on your Keyboard + R) and enter control userpasswords2
Hit Enter.
Unset the Option “User need to enter username and password” and apply that.
Enter the username and password you want your pc to “log you in” onto every boot.

Using Cisco Vlans and Trunks on VMWare ESXi 3.5/4

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:17:40 +0000

Hello there,

are you one of these ppl using ESXi on a small server/pc under your desk to evaluate / develop software?
Are you one of these fitting the whole ESXi World into one machine, one one IDE / SATA drive and without any other VMWare Administrative Instances as your Vi\Vsphere Client? Are you one of these ppl that does not have one real 10 Gig Interface for each VM Machine into its server - but do desperatly need to connect an real pc to just one VM? No problem! Here we go! All we need is an Switch with vlan Trunking. I used an Cisco c3560-poe8 for this, as it is my main work switch.

PXE Boot Bart PE

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 07:21:55 +0000

As I have been using PXE now for the last days, I wanted to build myself up some nice PXE Images to load from the Network. And the one thing I wanted for sure, was an Bart PE PXE Boot. So I searched the Net, found two really good guides ( Guide 1, Guide 2 ) and I am going to rewrite these Guides now here to set you up with an 100% working tutorial on “How to PXE Boot Bart PE”.

nrg2iso

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 21:55:59 +0000

This simple Delphi Program does “convert” Nero .nrg Files into the standard .iso format.
Its Freeware - and more than that, also OpenSource!

http://roland-illig.de/lang.delphi.nrg2iso.html

Low Level Format of an USB HDD and more

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 06:38:27 +0000

I came up with the website http://hddguru.com/ and found it to be very useful.
It does not only hold software like an Windows HDD Low Level Formating Tool or an Special Patched DOS Boot Disk, but also an big file database containing even more Software, Firmware Upgrades, Infos and a lot more!

MozBackup and RocketDock

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:06:52 +0000

Two really useful pieces of programming code:

MozBackup does Backup your Thunderbird, Firefox, etc Installations (even with commandline parameters (use it with rsync!!!)) under windows.
http://mozbackup.jasnapaka.com/

Rocketdock is one of these new stylish docking bars as known from MacOS X. Together with the addon “Stack Docklet”, this thing is REALLY useful to get your shortcuts organized and handy under windows (2000, xp, vista, 7)! ^.^
http://rocketdock.com/

Enjoy and have a great day,

PXE Boot Disks

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 18:43:21 +0000

If you want to PXE Boot, but your NIC is too old or your bios doesn’t support it,
try these:

http://rom-o-matic.net/

It the automatic website image builder for the http://www.etherboot.org Project.

BTW: To load the dsk disk images to a floppy disk under windows, use rawrite! 😉

Windows XP: Convert FAT32 to NTFS

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 15:54:13 +0000

convert c: /fs:ntfs

PC doesn't boot (Black Screen of Death)

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:54:59 +0000

Normal things that go wrong and you should check up on a “total black” screen:

Try to reset via reseting power
Are the fans running?
Is the power supply working (exchange)?
Is the ram connected (replug, exchange)?
Is the cpu ok (exchange)?
Is the graphics card working (replug, exchange)?
Is the mainboard directly screwed to the frame (shortcircuted)?
Is the mainboard screwed with too much pressure (cracks)?
Unplug LEDs, Front USB etc. (maybe shortcircuted)
CMOS Reset
Try to plug out and remove everything not needed to show your some bios messages (even Harddrive and Cdrom)
What about the internal speaker? Got some nice post beeps? (Check out manual of the vendor!)

PXE Boot Acronis True Image Home 11

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:22:24 +0000

Files needed:
- smartdrv.exe
- TFTPD Server
- pxelinux.0
- memdisk
Download and unzip TFTD Server, create Folder “root”.
Start TFTP Server
Settings:

- Server Interface: Choose the right NIC
- DHCP Server:
Start Pool: 192.168.2.40
Size of pool: 4
Boot File: pxelinux.0
WINS/DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
Default Router: 192.168.2.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
->> Press Save
- Under "Seetings"  
Base Directory to the created "root" Folder  
TFTP Security "None"  
PXE Compatibility  
->> Press OK

Copy memdisk, pxelinux.0 and smartdrv.exe to the root Folder
Also copy kernel.dat and ramdisk.dat from the Acronis Resuce Disc into the root Folder
create pxelinux.cfg Folder within root
create File with Name “default” (no .txt or such!) with following stuff inside:

LABEL acronis
KERNEL kernel.dat
APPEND initrd=ramdisk.dat vga=791 ramdisk_size=32768 acpi=off quiet noapic

Connect the Laptop to the Network, choose PXE / NIC as Bootmedia in the BIOS.
Let that thing boot to PXE and enter acronis at the boot: prompt
Have fun!

Orginal taken from: http://www.networkcomputing.de/aus-dem-testlabor-linux-pxe-server-fuer-restore-mit-true-image-bereitstellen/seite/2/?no_cache=1

Remove Files on Windows that "just doesn't want to be removed"

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:09:35 +0000

If you can’t remove a file on Windows, its mostly because of the usage of a too long filename, invalid characters and such.
To solve that there are many tools like unlockers and such which doesn’t solve the problem because they doesn’t solve the sympthoms:
The filenames.

So if you step into that kind of problem, open up and commandline and cd to the folder with the “bad” file or file.

PXE Install of Windows (without Floppy, without CDRom)

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:03:40 +0000

Files needed:
- smartdrv.exe
- TFTPD Server
- pxelinux.0
- memdisk
Download and unzip TFTD Server, create Folder “root”.
Start TFTP Server
Settings:

- Server Interface: Choose the right NIC
- DHCP Server:
Start Pool: 192.168.2.40
Size of pool: 4
Boot File: pxelinux.0
WINS/DNS Server: 192.168.2.1
Default Router: 192.168.2.1
Mask: 255.255.255.0
->> Press Save
- Under "Seetings"
Base Directory to the created "root" Folder
TFTP Security "None"
PXE Compatibility
->> Press OK

Copy memdisk, menu.c32, pxelinux.0, bartdisk.IMA to the root Folder
create pxelinux.cfg Folder within root
create File with Name “default” (no .txt or such!) with following stuff inside:

DEFAULT menu.c32
TIMEOUT 300
ALLOWOPTIONS 0
PROMPT 0
MENU TITLE PXE Boot System
LABEL BartBoot
MENU LABEL ^Bart Network Disk
kernel memdisk
append initrd=bartdisk.IMA
LABEL BootNormal
MENU LABEL ^Boot Normal
LOCALBOOT  0

Create an SMB Share in an Folder of your Choice. I took the Folder D:\PXE and did share that as pxe
Create Subfolder for every Windows Version you want to share. I created the subfolder tabxpsp3
Copy the i386 Folder from the Windows CD to that Folder
Do also copy the smartdrv.exe into the i386 in your pxe/subfolder/i386
Start tftpd
Connect the Laptop to the Network, choose PXE / NIC as Bootmedia in the BIOS.
Let that thing boot to PXE and go through everything with just default settings.
Fidsk: Delete All, than Create Primary Partition with all Space (minus 1000 MB), create extended Partition with the space left - and logical Partition in that
Reboot
This time, only accept normal default settings until an “Idetification Settings” comes up. Fill out and enable lmhosts option
In the empty pad enter IP Adress of your SMB Server TAB Name of the Server. For example: 192.168.2.39 ATOM, and press ALT+X to save and leave
Format: format c: and format d:
net use x: \atom\pxe
cd tabxpsp3\i386
smartdrv
winnt (/T D:)

Orginal taken from: http://www.lockstockmods.net/2008/04/26/easy-way-to-pxe-boot-windows/

Astaro Security Gateway v7 Factory Reset

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:42:15 +0000

Access to SSH or console with root passwords:

/etc/init.d/factoryreset reset

No Access to SSH or root passwords are lost:

Connect a keyboard and monitor to the system.
Wait for boot prompt
Enter:

boot: default factoryreset

After that you can go to your during the installation definied IP like: https://192.168.0.1

Alternativ:

Boot on the ASG from a Knoppix CD
Login as root
Mount the root partition of the ASG with: mount –t ext3 /dev/sda7 /mnt
Go to the config on the ASG: cd /mnt/etc/wfe/conf/; vim setting
Change reset_pwd = 0 to reset_pwd = 1
Save
Run cd /; umount /mnt; reboot
Access the install IP

Astaro Security Gateway c't Version

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:40:37 +0000

Free Home User License with 25 IPs!

http://www.astaro.de/unsere_produkte/produktueberblick/landing_pages/ct_special#license

ESXi 3.5 on Dell Optiplex 745

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:07:54 +0000

Exchange oem.tgz on root of ESXi 3.5 Install CD with new oem.tgz
Install with CD with OEM Community Version or IC8 oem.tgz (SATA on Normal Mode)
Boot from Knoppix 5.1, copy OEM.tz onto hda5 / Hypervisor Partition (SATA on Legacy Mode)
Boot, works!

Hints:

Use UltraISO und BurnISO to modificiate / burn the stock ISO
http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/customize_oem_tgz.php

Brother MFC-8840D Web Access

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:42:11 +0000

for an admin account ->
The default username for the 9840CDW is admin
The default username for the 9840CDW is access

for a user account ->
The default username for the 9840CDW is user
The default username for the 9840CDW is access

Shrink VMware Image Files on Linux Appliances

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:35:19 +0000

Works only with dynamic HDDs!

Backup!
Remove old / unused Packages
Remove downloaded Packages: sudo apt-get clean, Remove only old downloaded Packages: sudo apt-get autoclean
“ZeroOut” unused Space: cat /dev/zero > zero.dat ; sync ; sleep 1 ; sync ; rm zero.dat
Under GUI: “sudo vmware-toolbox” and use shrink on “/”
Under VIClient: Defrag

Create a virtual machine from an ISO with VMWare Player

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:27:16 +0000

copyed from another Blog:

Posted on December 28, 2008 in: how to, software, tools|Jump To Comments

Yeah, you heard me no CD/DVD burning in here. VMWare player lacks the ability to create new virtual machines by it self, this problem can be overcomed by using third party solutions or a blank virtual machine. However one small feature found on VMWare Workstation still missing which is the ability to install the operating system from ISO without having to burn in it into a CD/DVD first. Mostly it’s about reducing recordable media waste.

sudo File

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:26:02 +0000

sudo visudo /etc/sudoers

yourUsername ALL=(ALL) ALL

Get Ethernetcard working again in Linux under ESXi

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:25:10 +0000

After installing Ubuntu Server on Vmware ESXi, I couldn’t find a NIC:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Reconfiguring network interfaces…

eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device  
SIOCSIFADDR: No such device  
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device  
SIOCSIFNETMASK: No such device  
SIOCSIFBRDADDR: No such device  
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device  
eth0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device  
Failed to bring up eth0.

Problem is that the ethernet MAC addresses are cached.

Install Vmware Tools on Linux

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:21:25 +0000

Under Debian necessary:

apt-get install autoconf automake make psmisc gcc  
apt-get install linux-headers-`uname -r` build-essential

Short:

tar -xzvf VMwareTools-######.tar.gz  
cd vmware-tools-distrib  
./vmware-install.pl  
vmware-tools-config.pl

Long:

Viclient, Connect to VM  
Menu "VM/Install VMware Tools"  
Tools are mounted to Cdrom  
mkdir /mnt/cdrom  
mount /dev/cdrom /mnt/cdrom  
cd /mnt/cdrom  
tar zxvf VMware-Tools-xxxxxx.tar.gz -C /opt/  
cd /opt/vmware-tools-distrib  
./vmware-install.pl

3Com Switches 1100, 3300 Factory Reset

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:17:03 +0000

COM port, 9600/8/N/1/N
Web Or telnet to that address, hit [enter] once or twice to get the login prompt.
Default logins to try are admin/(no password) or security/security. One of those 2 should bring up the management menu.
reset factory defaults, type SYSTEM[enter] then type INITIALIZE[enter].

c3560 DHCP Snooping

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 13:15:29 +0000

Global Activate:

ip dhcp snooping vlan 1-4094
no ip dhcp snooping information option
ip dhcp snooping

Allow DHCP on Port:

ip dhcp snooping trust

Using Spanningtree can cause Problems with DHCP, use portfast on Userside Ports, but NEVER on Trunk!

sed and awk Commandlist

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:59:41 +0000

sed -e :a -e 's/<[^>]*>//g;/</n;//ba'

(Entfernt Html)

sed -e s/Stop.*$//

(Löscht Alles Nach Stop)

sed q

(Ausgabe Erste Zeile)

sed 's/[ \t]*$//'

Lösche Unsichtbare Zeichen (Leerzeichen, Tabulatoren) Vom Ende Aller Zeilen

sed 's/^[ \t]\*//;s/[ \t]\*$//'

Lösche Unsichtbare Zeichen Sowohl Am Anfang Als Auch Am Ende Jeder Zeile

sed '1d'

(Lösche Erste Zeile)

sed '$d'

(Lösche Letzte Zeile)

head -n -5

(löscht 5 letzten Zeilen)

sed 'n;n;s/\n/ /g'

(Fügt Drei Zeilen Die Untereinander Stehen Zusammen, Mit Leerzeichen)

sed '/pics[/]pix.gif/s/^/notRepl:

(fügt notRepl direkt an Anfang der Zeile hinzu wenn pic/pix.gif enthalten ist in der Zeile)

Eisfair Configuration

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:55:36 +0000

Service List to Install \ Configure:

Inet Service: SSH Port
Certs Service: -
Apache2 Webserver: Web Port, Log Settings
MySQL Server: Mysql Port, Log Settings, Network Enable, Cache Sizes
Squid proxy: Cache off
Minicom Service: -
LPRng: -
Samba: Create Users and Configure Shares and Network
Dyndns: Configure DynDns Services
MINI_HTTPD: Port, SSL, Special Configuration
Netdate Service: Configure NTP Server
teamspeak: Configure superadmin, admin
streamripper: -
RSYNC: Configure Backup Shares and User
Power Button: -

Eisfair von ESXi auf CF

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:31:48 +0000

ESXi Export für Workstation / Player
Erweitere Template mit VMXBuilder um IDE Festplatte, size minimum the SCSI HDD
(Vorsicht, IDE:0:0!, CD Laufwerk auf IDE:0:1 setzen!)
Booted VM mit “Ultimate Boot CD”, starte Tool “g4u” V1.17
Kopiere SCSI Disk auf IDE Disk
Editiere Template: Entferne SCSI HDD
Boote mit “Ultimate Boot CD”, DamnSmall Linux
mount /dev/hda2
sudo vi /etc/fstab: /dev/sda1 und /dev/sda2 auf /dev/hda1 und /dev/hda2 ändern
umount
boot

Bootloader

/etc/lilo.conf

Netfinity 8500R "DragonMother" (23.08.2008)

Sun, 24 Aug 2008 14:32:58 +0000

DragonMother is the latest addition to my little PC farm.

Its an IBM Netfinity 8500R X-Series Server.

At the moment it contains 2 Pentium III Xeon 700 Mhz Processors and 2 GB of 100 Mhz ECC Sdram.

Additionally it makes use of an IBM ServeRaid (SCSI) and an Fastrak Promise Ultra 100 (IDE) Controller to support multiple Harddisk Drives and an 3Com 10/100 XT Fast Ethernet Card.

It is powered by 3 redundant, hotplugable Power Supply Units - but acutally I use only one ( I don’t need redundance at the moment, so I only use one for less power consumption).

Blutdrache 01 Version 1.0 (26.11.2005)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:15:16 +0000

One year after the Hilfsdrache Project, I wanted to build an new server.

While an traineeship at an IT Systems firm, I got an 19’’ Inch Rackpiece with (about 3 HE) - so I wanted to use that as “Case” for that project.

That server here should be different from the Hilfsdrache in serval points.

First, it should run an specialized linux distribution called “Eisfair” (www.eisfair.org) - which had been created to work as secure and easily configurable server system.

Hilfsdrache 01 Version 1.2 (18.07.2004)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:37:28 +0000

On 18.07.2004, the third Version of the Hilfsdrache was finalized.

The CPU Cooler was replaced through an selfbuild Watercooling System.

The coolant radiator used was from an Ford or Opel Automobile. The other parts were an small 12 Volt pump, and selfbuild copper water cooling unit for the CPU, and an water tank (made out of an plastic tube with cover).

To get an better airflow through the main 120 mm fan, the back of the Server got 2 coverplates with holes and - for better optic - an lighted perspex plate like the one I made in large for the mousepad.

Hilfsdrache 01 Version 1.1 (24.05.2004)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:58:01 +0000

Over 5 Months later, I did update the Design.

The Server worked flawlessly so far, but there was space for some additions.

First I did mod the MiniATX Powersupply and build in an Switch to put the Powersupply Fan into 12 Volt (Fast and Loud) or 7 Volt (Slow and Silent - but enough throughput) Mode. From that on, the server was a LOT more silent.

Also, the HDD Cage connection to the ground of the Case was damped by screwing it through a thumbsize layer of rubber. That helped.

Hilfsdrache 01 Version 1 (31.12.2003)

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:33:25 +0000

Hilfsdrache01 should be my first standalone server for Lan Partys and such.

As for that reason, I decided to do a bit more than “only” build up the pc and get it running: I tried to built the pc into an big attache case. The benefits were clearly: An easily transportable pc with an solid and small case.

Because I didn’t have much space, I used MiniATX components for this project.

The Dragon Mousepad

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 21:09:08 +0000

So, in 2003 / 04 I weren’t only working on the “Hilfsdrache”, but also on an special Mousepad.

That Mousepad was created out of perspex, an aluminium rail and serval ultra-bright blue leds and an usb connector.

To really make that pad special and “one of a kind”, I created an carving with an Dremel Multitool into the upper one of the two perspex layers.

The light of the leds is shining directly into the uper layer and is broken on the positions, where the material is carved.