I still use Dia Diagram Editor for most things. I just wish it was still being updated.

I honestly don’t understand why so many people use Chrome when there are so many options!

I like it, it shows someone put some effort into it!

I have a list of of interesting characters, but sticking to pure “fantasy or folklore” I will go with Aasimar.

Crazy idea, but if you can’t get the bandwidth to support a media server like Jellyfin or Emby where you live, what about placing a server at a trusted relatives or friends house that does have access to high bandwidth? You might need/want to help offset a better internet plan for them though. You could then setup a VPN connection to be able to manage the server remotely and sync files and media to it. You could even use it for off site backup.

For me it is Youtube, Lemmy, Verity or Mastodon. Sometimes it is Hacker News or Slashdot.

When I start a personal project I create a readme file that has a ToDo section and a Change Log section. Anything I think of that I might want to do I put under ToDo, break it into small chunks and prioritize it. When a task is completed under the ToDo section, I move it to the Change Log section. Easy to maintain, track progress, and documents both a Road Map and Changes all in one place. It also has a section for references to shared assets that need attribution. Actually to keep it simple the same document usually also has an about section, an installation section, and a usage section.

Fun fact, in a pinch the sink can be used as a urinal.

I back up everything. I use Stablebit Drivepool with duplication for all of my source code, media, photos, documents, music, books, laptop backups, etc. I back that up periodically to a Drobo DAS and 8 Bay USB enclosure setup under Drivepool. I also have off site backup (working on a new NAS which will be accessed over a VPN). I don’t want to spend the time worrying about loosing anything I have put time and effort into. Been there and done that. Drives are relatively inexpensive but can fail without warning.

I bought both Plex and Emby. I started with Plex but had some technical issues related to my machine having multiple IP addresses so I switched to Emby. I tried Jellyfin before switching to Emby but it wasn’t as capable as Plex or Emby (at least at the time) and I wanted something with some commercial support behind it. I have been pretty satisfied with Emby, but do wish it would get requested features added in a much more timely manner.

After looking at other’s lists I think I am missing a good document server. Emby isn’t the best music and photo server so I could look at improving that, but it has been good enough for those purposes that I haven’t felt like going to the trouble of installing anything else.

• Aster: Multiseat software for Windows allows several users to work on the same PC.
• LaunchBox: Frontend for DOSBox, modern PC games and emulated console platforms.
• Blue Iris: Video security and webcam software
• Calibre: E-Book management and server
• Emby: Server for videos, music, audio books, and photos.
• Firewalla: VPN server, internet monitor and control
• Foundary Virtual Tabletop: Online role-playing game server.
• Grafana: Dashboard interface
• Hubitat: Home automation
• Hyper-V Manager: Tool that allows users to manage Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines (VMs)
• InfluxDB: Real-time database server.
• IotaWatt: Open WiFi electric power monitor
• Microsoft SQL Server: Database Server
• Octoprint: Web interface for 3D printers.
• PCem: Emulator for various old 8086 through Pentium PCs.
• SmartSync Pro: File sync program
• SnapRaid: Backup program for disk arrays.
• Stablebit DrivePool/Scanner: Disk pooling, file duplication, protection, disk surface scanner, and disk health monitoring
• Steam Link: Access and play steam games remotely

I thought I was the only one thinking that, not even sure why Daneel popped in my head when the question was asked, but it did.

My ad blocker was working so well I didn’t even realize I had it installed and blocking ads on YouTube. I don’t mind watching a few ads as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.

If I had to speculate and GUESS, based on information I know now and if I give the CTO the benefit of the doubt and assume he was competent (contrary to what I saw), I would say they were having trouble canceling the contract with the third party consulting firm we were hired through. I also think they might have been quietly moving their operations out of state to another infrastructure originally belonging to another company they bought or merged with that had their own IT team and wanted us kept out of the loop. Hiring us might have been a way to reduce our compensation and get us under an NDA regarding the move. When hiring us failed they were able to re-negotiate the terms of the contract with the consulting firm for half of what it was. Again, just a guess.

I was able to find a few 10" rack items, but the selection is very limited and the prices are about the same as for 19" accessories. I would replace the three patch panels with a low profile 10" 3u open wall mount rack if I found a setup at a reasonable price.

Thank you. One of the reasons I cleaned it up is BECAUSE the “cable guy” was coming by, seriously. I was paying for Gigabit fiber but only getting 100-200 megabits down. In the past I had gotten over 900, but I would constantly have times where I was getting very slow speeds. I would swap routers and it would help for a short period of time and then speeds would drop again. So I decided to purchase the Firewalla and move the Fiber drop right next to it and the office router (before the fiber drop was in the garage and the router was in the basement). This way everything to test the WAN is right next to each other. This and a network driver update fixed my problems. The hard part now is finding a reliable server to test speeds against. I just checked and it shows I was getting 58 Mb/s down this morning :(

Coming from DD-Wrt I like it well enough. I needed something to let me control Internet access to all the devices my son uses. I was also having trouble getting full Gigabit Wan speeds with my previous two routers so I wanted to upgrade to something more premium that did one thing really well. I like that it separated my wifi access points from the WAN device. The only real problem I have had with it is enabling encrypted DNS WITH blocking rules. I belive this is fixed now but when I first got it, if I enabled encrypted DNS lookup, it would fail to block some sites it was supposed to be blocking. My other complaint would be that it is too mobile app dependent. There is a web interface but it isn’t as full featured as it should be and it requires you to periodically log into the mobile app to give you access to the web interface. It is definitely a mobile first experience.

One thing I really like about it is that I can fail over to a cellular network through my phone if my fiber goes down. This has come in very handy a couple of times.

This is great advice and had I thought/known this I might have chosen another backer material. I just used what I had laying around. Elsewhere I installed cement backer board for this very reason. I just didn’t think about this equipment or the wiring being of concern. I will look into the Intumescent coatings.

Thanks. Up until recently the only thing here to protect was the Netgear router. This space gets pretty hot so I didn’t want to put a battery in with it. There is a whole house EG4 18Kpv with batteries being installed that will help protect the equipment though.

Your guess is spot on. The patch panels only serve the office and “serverroom” though. The server room then distributes to another patch panel in a different attic and all the other rooms.