A geek recap of 2023 so far

 well, its now been three years since i quit my IT job and became my moms care giver.  most of my days are filled with daily routines; helping mom showering in am, making breakfast, cleaning, making lunch and dinner, taking her to appointments, playing cards/doing puzzles, making sure the farm doesnt fall apart. however as a geek at heart i still have been keeping up with tech and trends and working on my own projects.  here is what ive been up to lately in tech.

Optimizing and tweaking my Plex server

I have been using Plex for over 8 years for my own personal media server.  Last year and this year I finally decided to really tweak and customize my setup.  Installed Docker on my NAS and then finaly setup Plex Meta Manager (PMM) to create dynamic collections that are pulled from IMDB, TheTVDB and TMDB.  I also have PMM setup so it will add an IMDB or TMDB score to the posters and also add 4K overlays to any of my 4K HDR media.

This year i also setup ErsatzTV and connected it to my Plex.  ErsatzTV lets one create a cable tv like EPG of ones media and then can be setup in Plex as a TV Tuner.  I created several retro cartoon channels and other ones and love watching it when im at my condo and dont know what i want to watch.

Rethinking of Remote Access / Management of my condo network/nas/computers

Finally decided to setup an OpenVPN server and access to my condo network from the farm.  Also have locked down the router firewalls too.  Also configured NAS to auto power on everyday in case i have any power outages and the UPS kicks on and NAS shutdown and also configured my remote desktop to autopower on after power loss too.

Messing with Android / Surface Duo

Found a great deal on a new Surface Duo android phone on woot for $300 for the 256GB version.  Def like the form factor and ability to use two apps at once on each screen.  Sadly microsoft support for said Duo just expired in Sept 2023 so we'll see what i end up doing with it. I may try to put Windows 11 on it once that project gets to a bit more stable point.  Def nice to see how android works but doesnt seem like i am missing much being on iOS 17.

Rethinking of Home Automation setup at condo

I have had my condo setup with Hue and Wemo lights for 10 years now and had my first two bulbs finally die.  I also have been using Amazon Alexa devices to control said lights.   However I am in the process of removing Alexa from my setup since I plan to drop amazon prime soon and really am getting annoyed with all of the ads on my echo devices now.  

Whats my plan?  I have decided to add a Homepod Mini to run as my Homekit server and then use Apple Home to control lights.  I also plan to replace my old Wemo Light Switch (not homekit compatible) with a new Wemo Light Switch with Thread.  I prob will keep my Amazon Show devices but plan to only have it show just my photos and weather and calendars.  If apple ever releases a smart display i would prob look to replace with one of them.  Guess we'll see how Homekit works since its been four years since i last tried.  If anything, I will have two ecosystems to choose between to access my home automation devices.

Other geek / gaming things

I have been using my good ole GPD Pocket 3 i7 as my daily driver and love this little device. I almost sold it to get a GPD Win Mini but am glad i didnt.  Keyboard on the Pocket 3 is so good for being a 8" device (writing this post on it).  

My old 2015 Macbook Air 11" i7 is still going strong! Plan to keep it forever since i have a nice 2TB ssd in it now and its another backup of my photo library and icloud drive data.  May get a new battery next spring since i am over 800 charge cycles on this one.

Still am rocking my iPhone 11 Pro which is at 94% battery health.  Not bad for a nearly 4 year old phone, may be time to upgrade next year but depends on what the iPhone 16 offers.  Will i go back to android? prob not, just am not a fan of google anymore and their data usage practices, etc

Future projects?  I will def need to start looking into replacing my NAS drives but that will be an expensive project, currently have 5 x 10TB in my main and 2 x 8TB in my backup.  I def will need to start getting back up to speed on enterprise tech and software for when this phase of my life concludes in next few years.

Things im excited for in tech? honestly not much. Messed with ChatGPT and OpenAI and meh. Windows 11 is a mess and so much worse than Windows 10, Foldables are cool but not worth the costs, VR/AR is slowly moving forward but nothing spectacular or ground breaking.  

And that is it, this is my Sept 2023 recap.  Heres to a decent rest of 2023 and hopefully a good 2024!

2021: a two year update, the closing of a geek era for this early adopter

 well, its been about two years since i've last posted. time for an update and a possible good bye as an early adopter, geek. in the last two years, i've slowed down on the tech realm in regards to purchasing, having the latest and greatest. imo, the geek world got pretty boring in 2019 and 2020 and finally in 2021 is starting to get exciting again. 

streaming platforms are becoming more and more like the thing they were suppose to fix (and did initially when it was just a few providers, ie early Hulu and Netflix days) but are becoming, each person having their own platform and in turn consumers needing to buy several packages to get all content.  we again will prob start seeing more people head the black flag route due to convenience of having all content locally/remotely with a NAS connected to the internet. i've been running Plex on my NAS devices and love curating my libraries and having ability to stream my family videos or browse my photos in a good 10foot layout on a tv, phone, laptop, tablet.  Still blows my mind that i have over 30TB of storage these days.

my gaming time has become less and less lately too as i age or this current timeframe. for the last year and half i'm my mom's primary care giver with my sister giving me a 3-4 day break every 20 days. so far things have been going good until last month when my mom broke her hip.  the last 25+ days i've been living on a couch at the hospital or now in a recliner in the nursing home.  yea, its a wild world i tell ya but its worth it. my sister and i are running a pretty good united front and mom is happy / comfortable. her dementia is pretty bad in regards to short term memory but her long term memory appears to be deent, holding up.

but back to gaming, got a PS5 on launch week from Walmart so yay! continues my console launch purchase streak. lets see..  wii, , psp, pspgo, ps vita, 3ds, switch, ps4, ps4pro, ps5.

so lately my geek time for most things is more limited to a few hours of web at night and few mins here and there. 

however, i have fallen in love with a new computer maker, GPD. I backed their IndieGogo for a GPD Win Max (2020 version, initial) and was pretty impressed by what you could do for gaming on it, mainly emulating. The built in gamepad was very well done too. however i realized that i hadn't really used it much since i was usually playing my ps5 remotely with remote play and my old 2015 macbook air i7 11" (which i'm typing this post on and still love!! still gets updates too and put in a 2TB ssd)

i sold my Win Max a few months ago so i could offset the cost on my latest backing, the GPD Pocket 3. its like a UMPC of the old days but with some major power and ports of the modern era. it has a module for changing out ports from a kvm module to a serial port to another usb-a 3.2.  this little beast has wifi6e, bt4, hdmi 2.0, touchscreen, 16gb ddr4, upradeable ssd (got a 2TB pci-e 3.0 waiting to be installed) and a core i7 1195G7.  Its an 8 inch touchscreen convertible. hoping to get it by early jan 2022.

mobile phone-wise, just rocking my iphone 11pro but do plan to upgrade in 2022 depending on specs, mainly camera tech. haven't really gone back to android since i've purged most of my google stuff minus youtube and gmail as a backup email account.

don't have any tablets anymore either, i always buy them and then realize i never use them since prefer my macbook air, i wish apple would release a new 11" laptop again, i'd buy an air just like my 2015 with upgraded internals anyday.

also bought a new car, sold my 2013 Mini Cooper S Coupe (R58) and got a new custom ordered 2020 Mini Cooper JCW Countryman ALL4. Its one hell of a fun mini SUV. fits four adults easily / comfortably and has 300hp, 158mph top speed and decent cornering.  a nice interior finish since its basically a bmw with a mini skin setup.  got about 26,000 miles on him and enjoyed them all.

and thats about all for now. peace out and good luck to 2022 and it being a better year for everyone. eff covid, oh yea. that happened and is still too. peace out.

2019 geek recap: more console mods, mainstream trends....

dang.. been a while since i've posted a real geek post about what i'm doing personally..

2019 for me was more about learning things beyond the geek realms and into metaphysics/quantum entanglement. this year was mainly me trying to get a mental grasp on the basics of quantum entanglement and how it all works or supposedly does thereotically.. ;) oof.. right??

actually, i'd say 2018 - 2019 to now present has been me digging more into this. why? well.. lets be honest, the current geek tech world is pretty boring.. corporate america and overall boring corporate has put profits over innovations.. we are seeing 1999 all over again. and 2008 in the real estate realms... we are at bubble times.. imo.. ;)

the worst mobile phones as of late are decent if not even good.  AR still has yet to find its hardware tech to show what it really can do (yea, i've been saying this since 2006.. check my blogs..)

VR is finally starting to gain traction but we are still not at 4K VR resolution for mainstream users/consoles.. once someone can do a full 4K VR setup under $1K.. they win VR imo.  cough. sony is very very close.. ps5... ;)

Personal items i've done this last year:

Full PS Vita and PSTV softmods/hacks w/SD2Vita implementations
3DS XL still soft modded, hacked
Wii U, soft modded and hacked
PSP Go, still soft modded
GBA, rebought w/upgraded backlit LCD, flashcart vs modding since you can't hehe)
PS3, legit original
PS4 Pro, legit original
PSVR v1.1, legit; 2nd gen revision; wanted headphone holders and thought breakout would solve my HDMI-CEC probs or lack of using..
ECU hacked 2013 MINI Cooper via NCSExpert
Reloaded Win 3.1/NT, Win95b, Win98SE,WinVista, WinXP,WIn7,Win8.1,Win10 for work projects
Raspberry Pi setups: OSMC w/retropie add-in
Complete 30+TB NAS upgrades

for 2020.. i just want LED wallpaper that i can use as active wallpaper or pure custom input layouts (ie 5 different screen sizes i can choose layout on wall and different video sources to each or ability to choose which one mirrors them.. also.. color e-ink when off would be a total bonus!! then use e-ink to set wallpaper when no video is being played..  of course.. i still want ability to use whole wall as a screen/monitor too)

me.. out for now.. also.. have a 2020 MINI JCW Countryman enroute as i type. OMG!! can't wait for clyde.. am gonna miss my current bonnie... ;)

Programmatically associating .mht and .mhtml files to notepad vs Internet Explorer 11

Yes, you can do this easily by creating a text file, renaming w/a mht and mhtml extension and then right clicking the file and choosing "Open With" and then choose Notepad and check the "Always open with"

However, if you have to manage over 300 workstations, doing this manually is impossible and in turn we need a programmatic way to do this. I believe I found a proper way to do this on Windows 10 however IE11 is still an option but notepad is selected by default the first time you try opening a .mht or .mhtml file.

Here is the process / thinking below.

I am running my tests on Windows 10 Enterprise Edition (1809 builds) with patches up to March 2019.

1. First, I clear out the HKCU keys for mht and mhtml files.  Remove these entries:

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.mhtml

Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FileExts\.mht

2. After clearing the keys, i then just use the built in ASSOC and FTYPE commands to force the associations.  You will have to run the batch file (if you script it) or run command prompt as an administrator!

Then run these commands:

assoc .mht=
assoc .mhtml=
assoc .mht=txtfile
assoc .mhtml=txtfile
ftype mhtmlfile=%SystemRoot%\system32\NOTEPAD.EXE %1

3. Finally, we will just need to restart explorer.  You can go the taskill route and then call explorer again to relaunch it, ie:

taskkill /F /IM explorer.exe
explorer.exe

Hopefully that helps the other sysadmins out there.

Referencing exploits via AskWoody:

https://www.askwoody.com/2019/that-internet-explorer-xxe-zero-day-poking-through-to-edge/

https://www.zdnet.com/article/internet-explorer-zero-day-lets-hackers-steal-files-from-windows-pcs

Apple: Give us the Mac Mini WE WANT, not what you think we want!

Apple... I just wish you would make the Mac Mini us Mac Mini hardcores want.  Notice my header pic.. this is 2018.. i have opted to run a late 2012 Mac Mini Core i5 vs upgrading to a newer Mac Mini.. why?? Because the late 2012 Mac Mini was the last Mac you could actually really upgrade on your own.  I can replace DDR3 RAM, add two 2.5" based drives (SSD, HDD). 

All this talk of a possible Mac Mini upgrade just has me bracing for major disappointment like we have seen the last 6 years.  we don't care about soldered on RAM and actually loathe that idea.  Both as a consumer and a person who cares about the environment; your soldered on, non-upgrade-able hardware is great for business but HORRIBLE for the Earth.  STOP IT!! BE BETTER!

OSMC and the new NESPI Case with safe shutdown and getting it working with a script and service! Verified!!

Yea, i'm a sucker for the Raspberry Pi3 these days and using them as mini media servers and retro gaming consoles. I had originally gotten the NesPi case that had both power and reset buttons but the buttons were hard power offs/resets vs an os initiated reboot/shutdown.  Hard powering off/resetting a raspberry pi running can correct the sdcard and basically make it not boot and require one to do the full re-install.

Enter the new NESPi case by RetroFlag (amazon link, i do not make anything on these! https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BRHDVTN )

Plex Media Server - Moving your setup to a new system (same OS to OS, Win to MacOS)

Plex Media Server is a MUST HAVE software suite/service for any media junkie.  Plex is a media server that can aggregate info about your media from imdb/tvdb/plex's own metadata services and create a very nice interface to access and play said media. I'm not going to go into what plex is or why you should be using.  

So here's how you can move your library from either Win7 to Win10 (did this already once w/these notes), Win10 to Win10 (also did this with these notes) and hopefully Win10 to MacOS High Sierra (doing this right now as i write this).

How to claim your LCC (litecoin cash) after the 10:1 hardfork with a Ledger Nano S

Per my reddit post:

Here is my full method to claim our LCC for us Ledger users who had their LTC on their NANO S when the hardfork happened. I have confirmed this just tonight.

1. Before you do anything, move all coins/altcoins off of your Leger Nano S. You will pay gas no matter what you do but imo its worth it if you get more than 10 LCC out of it. I moved my ETC and ECR20 coins to a single MEW paper wallet. I used a single paper wallet due to ETH needed for gas and then being able to recover said ETH, use less ETH to move all altcoins (i had ICX, TRX, LTC, ETH and XRP).
2. For XRP i used an exchange as a temp holding place since i have a ton of XRP and well i can afford a few XRPs to keep it safe. Binance is one place.
3. LTC, i moved all of it to the LiteCoin Core Wallet for now. Be sure to encrypt and then encrypt said backup too. blah blah.. keep privatekey safe like with any paper wallet or wallet.. ;)
4. Once i moved all coins from my Ledger Nano S to paper wallets or exchanges, i then used the tool recommended: https://github.com/iancoleman/bip39
5. I then disabled all network access and ran the .html file locally. Main thing with this .html file is to set the BIP to 24 words, enter words in and then scroll to bottom that has all paths, addresses, public key, private keys.

you can use the 2nd field (address) to check if it is the LTC account/address. use the litecoinca.sh site to do this! enter the address (2nd field in web page at bottom list) into site and if you see LCC amounts, this private key is what we need later

1. Once i copied all of the keys at the bottom into a text file offline, i then went back online. My plan is to fully recreate my Legder Nano S by entering in wrong PIN to force it to reset. i did this the first time i received my Ledger Nano S.
2. I then opened up my LiteCoinCash Core Wallet and made sure it was synced. After it fully synced, go to File > Import Private Key. For the private key, i used the private key associated w/the public key i checked for LCC.
3. LiteCoinCash Wallet will then do a resync which will take 10-30mins. Once it was done, my LCC wallet now shows over 50+ LCC. Wallet is encrypted and offline until we get a Ledger LCC app (hopefully!!)
4. At this point, i plan to now reset my ledger nano s 3 times (ie set up and enter in pin wrong) and then will resetup properly as a new wallet and will move crypto back in the next month or so. i may leave my ETH/tokens in paper wallet form since well.. no more wasted ETH...

I hoped this helped out my fellow LTC #HODLERS to get some free money or $LCC... ;)

CryptoCurrency and getting into - my quick intro

So how does one get into cryptocurrency and markets? in the USA your a bit limited. The biggest mainstream exchanges are Coinbase and Binance (links are refferal links as a FYI for me!)

https://www.coinbase.com/join/530cad473b1246be7500023d
https://www.binance.com/?ref=13090080

Binance: Accepts only BTC, ETH to buy altcoins. You can buy most of the top ten coins here including Ripple (XRP), Verge (XVG) and Tron (TRX). Also you can get monero, dash, doge and others.HOWEVER, new user registration for Binance is suspended ATM due to the surge of new users. Hopefully they will reopen new user registrations.

Coinbase: You can buy BTC, BCH, LTC, ETH. You can use a bank account or credit/debit card. Credit card/debit card transactions are instant and crypto is available nearly instantly where as bank account purchases take 7 days to be available.

If i want to buy say ripple or verge, here is what i have to do:

1. buy ETH on coinbase.
2. transfer ETH to binance (there is a fee to do this!!! damn you fees!!!)
3. once transferred to binance, buy said crypto/altcoin w/ ETH or BTC.
4. either keep crypto on the currency or move it to a mobile, paper or hardware wallet.

Common Terms being used in the crypto world:

FUD: Fear, uncertainty and doubt.
FOMO: Fear of missing out
HODL: Hold on for deal life
MOON: hoping crypto takes off and hits the moon for prices!
Pump and Dump: when whale investors hype up a coin they have invested highly in to drive prices and newbs to purchase and then selling at high point to then bring the price of crypto down. XVG is a recent example but i believe the FUD around was created by the FOMO people and Whales looking to make easy money.


Long term holding: learn about how to store your currency!! you are literally your own bank. you can use paper wallets, digital wallets, hardware wallets. READ UP ON THESE ASAP; exchanges can be hacked; remember Mt Gox and the millions of BTC lost??

Taxes: OMG, this part is what will really suck. we basically have lost the like for like classifications of crypto trading and in turn have to keep records on price paid on coinbase, costs to move to binance and any possible profits/loss of ETH/BTC while crypto transfers and then the capital gains on when we cash out or sell said crypto for another... so yea!! keep records!!!

Disclaimer: this could all burst and we lose it all (very unlikely but not out of the question) so use only money you can afford to lose.

So hopefully helps you all get started. Finally, use your common sense and don't fall for the hype or FOMO. this market rises and falls... it makes millionaires in a seconds and bankrupts others in minutes. here's to us all making it big and finding out moon. ;)