Thunderbird – crappy low cost booze and email client.

Seems I’m not alone in this fight.  Fsck these fscking open source punks and their ignorance.   Remember Win98 or XP? They had very nice settings for making shit bigger, and that was when 1024×768 reigned. Now with 4fsck’n monitors, fuck you old people and your old eyes!  Lets makes the tiniest fucking fonts you have ever seen.  Not small enough?  Buy a Surface – enjoy 4000×3000 pixel resolution on a goddamn 12″ display you fool.

How to increase font size in latest Thunderbird…?? from Thunderbird

Here is the magic setting to make things usable in tbird.  Search for Config Editor in setting and then search for layout.css.devPixelsPerPx and modify it. 1 = 100% 1.2=120% … you get the idea.

Eat shit punk kids.

Create an Ubuntu Cloud VPS PC on Oracle Cloud using xRDP

This works, I can confirm as of Dec 2022.  The signup process is a bit maddening, as is the way of Oracle, but the service is legit. Does require a CC# to get going, but the service is using the free tier. I have not been charged.

The future is cloud based computing for sure.  Some of us sticks in the mud will still roll our own, but even then you will likely need a cloud based computer.  Might as well get on board.

The Oracle platform offers a few operating systems including Ubuntu.  One would be hard pressed to find a linux distribution with more community support than Ubuntu (which is Debian based), and it is really easy to use for general computing needs while still being a full linux box with direct Internet access. Host your own sites, wp blog or application if you want, or just use it as a access anywhere desktop.  No charge.

Thanks, Larry (Ellison)!

 

‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity | The Guardian

Source: ‘Extinction is on the table’: Jaron Lanier warns of tech’s existential threat to humanity | Technology | The Guardian

Jaron Lanier is spot on.  Give this a read please. For all our sakes.

coming soon

Google Online Security Blog: Google Protects Your Accounts – Even When You No Longer Use Them

Google offers a service to, in effect, tell your loved ones what to do after you die…  They will email those who you designate after your account has been inactive for a preset time period.

Give this significant thought.  Your loved ones will benefit.

Source: Google Online Security Blog: Google Protects Your Accounts – Even When You No Longer Use Them

Install Joomla 3 and GLPI 10 on Ubuntu 22 LTS

Right, so I’m looking to deploy a intranet server, allowing for some modern tools across our departments.  Ubuntu 22 LTS is a fair choice, there have been some complaints regarding the desktop, but I think 22 server is pretty solid.  We are going to be installing LAMP, Joomla and GLPI.

  1. Get yourself a Ubuntu 22 machine going (for me, on VMware 7).
  2. Install LAMP:    $ sudo apt install lamp-server^
  3. Now is a good time to save.
  4. Configure mysql for Joomla:
    $ mysql -u root -p
    > CREATE DATABASE joomla;
    > CREATE USER ‘joomla’@’localhost’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘Password’;
    > GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON joomla.* TO ‘joomla’@’localhost’;
  5. Install Joomla:   letmeGOOGLEthatforyou
    $ wget <insert http link to joomla download>
    $ mkdir /var/www/html/joomla
    $ (tar -xvf / unzip) downloaded_joomla_archive /var/www/html/joomla
    $ sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /var/www/html/joomla/
  6. Create apache joomla.conf file:
    $ sudo (vi / vim / nano) /etc/apache2/sites-available/joomla.conf

    
    <VirtualHost *:80>
    
    ServerAdmin webmaster@domain.com
    
    ServerName domain.com
    ServerAlias www.domain.com
    DocumentRoot /var/www/html/joomla
    
    <Directory /var/www/html/joomla/>
            Options FollowSymlinks
            AllowOverride All
            Require all granted
    </Directory>
    
    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/domain.com_error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/domain.com_access.log combined
    
    </VirtualHost>
    
    
  7. Add the site to apache:
    $ sudo a2ensite joomla.conf
    $ sudo a2enmod rewrite
    $ sudo systemctl restart apache2
  8. Finalize Joomla Installation by visiting the site.
  9. Now is also a good time to save 🙂

Resources:
Joomla 3.10.11: https://downloads.joomla.org/cms/joomla3/3-10-11/Joomla_3-10-11-Stable-Full_Package.zip

Notes:
I spent like 10 minutes typing the same goddamn line into mysql for no good fscking reason… The fscks depreciated the use of “GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES TO ‘user’@’host’ IDENTIFIED BY ‘Password’;“… and couldn’t add a even slightly descriptive error – just some numbers. Eat a line of shitcode, mysql developers. Choke on it too.

Pi Builds

So.Many.

https://hub.balena.io/fleets

Turn your Fortigate into a PiHole (well … kind of)

What? You aren’t using a Fortigate?  Well, never mind then.

 

Source: Turn your Fortigate into a PiHole (well … kind of)

And so went Happy Valley

College Township’s Council just voted to fsck over Happy Valley in a permeant like way.

Forever remember these fine fscks who brought the casinos to Happy Valley.

Source: Council | College Township, PA

Casino opponents urged council in September to send a letter to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board noting opposition in the community to the proposed casino before a public hearing is held to decide on licensing approval, which could come as early as November.

No council members expressed support for such a letter but asked township solicitor Louis Glantz to weigh in with an opinion on the ramifications of doing so. On Thursday night, after more than 90 minutes of discussion and public comment, council declined to send the letter or to forward correspondence received by the township since the state’s public comment period for the casino license closed in June, which is available in its entirety on the township web site.

College Township chose not to opt out as a casino host site when given the opportunity to do so in late 2017 and council conditionally approved a land development plan for the casino at the former Macy’s property at the mall in 2021. Neither of those decisions can now be rescinded and SC Gaming OpCo — the entity led by Ira Lubert that is developing the $123 million category 4 “mini casino” in partnership with Bally’s — has already spent about $20 million predicated on the approvals, Glantz wrote.

https://www.statecollege.com/citing-potential-for-a-costly-lawsuit-college-township-council-declines-to-interfere-with-nittany-mall-casino-licensing/

and just to further add, FSCK the goddamn lawyers who allow statements like “spent about $20 million predicated on the approvals” to enter into the records. How about some facts you hack?! Another one in the pocket of BiG cASSino. Fuck this god forsaken pit.

TBFME

So I had a bunch of resources on the old site regarding The Battle for Middle Earth. Perhaps the greatest RPG ever… certainly the best LOTR RPG ever. 😉

Going over the old stuff, it was mostly dealing with Daemon Tools, .iso’s and such… the wayback machine has a good capture of that info here.

Since then, there are some new projects to bring life back to this great game.

https://bfmereforged.org/

Continue reading TBFME

Projects | Robert Oostenveld’s blog

Last time I was here (in 2016), Robert was working with temperature sensors and such… He has really stepped up his game!

Source: Projects | Robert Oostenveld’s blog

Remote Desktop Connection Manager

Source: Remote Desktop Connection Manager – Windows Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn

Last link was to a dead page on MS’s site.  This time I’ll grab the page (and the file, let me know if you need it).

RDCMan manages multiple remote desktop connections. It is useful for managing server labs where you need regular access to each machine such as automated checkin systems and data centers.

Continue reading Remote Desktop Connection Manager

Hosting your own email server

I’ve been thinking about providing internal email to all of my erp system users.

Running this task on our Intranet site seems a no-brainer, however there are options:

https://www.hmailserver.com/

https://mailinabox.email/

SQL to identify the Informix users involved in sessions with lock contention

Source: SQL to identify the users involved in sessions with lock contention

Problem

This article provides sample SQL that can be used to diagnose users involved in lock contention issues.

Continue reading SQL to identify the Informix users involved in sessions with lock contention

TimeStretch Audio Player

Online Audio Tool

Source: TimeStretch Audio Player – 29a.ch

Swaks – Swiss Army Knife for SMTP

A great tool for the email administrator in all of us.

Source: Swaks – Swiss Army Knife for SMTP

petrockblock.com – New Fun Stuff for Technics Enthusiasts

This site was dug from Brainless’s ashes and it’s not only still up and running, but still has great stuff!

Source: petrockblock.com – New Fun Stuff for Technics Enthusiasts

101 Free Hyper-V Management Tools, Scripts and Resources

This is a great collection of tools for Hyper-V. It has been a while, but I think many of these are still working. This is a reprint of altaro’s site.

Free Hyper-V Management Tools

This is a collection of utilities intended to make Hyper-V management easier. The criteria to be included here are that the tools must be free, full-featured (no trials), and must not be locked away behind any spam or telemarketing walls. Continue reading 101 Free Hyper-V Management Tools, Scripts and Resources

Finding the Master Browser

Larger workgroups can be a chore. For example, finding the Master Browser…

Here is a batch/script for finding the Master Browser on your workgroup.

TITLE Browse Master Finder
Color 18
cls
@ECHO OFF
ECHO This script is property of Mike. This script is to discover Browse Master. 
ECHO. 
ECHO.  
for /f "delims=\= " %%C in ('net view ^| find "\\"') do @echo -Checking %%C && @nbtstat -a %%C | find "MSBROWSE"
pause

Disable the Master Browser
Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10 / Server 2008, 2008 R2, 2012, 2016:

  1. Open the registry editor.
  2. Browse to HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters.
  3. Edit the key MaintainServerList to read FALSE

Windows XP / Server 2003:

  1. Open the registry editor.
  2. Browse to HKey_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Browser\Parameters.
  3. Edit the key IsDomainMaster to read FALSE and the key MaintainServerList to read NO
  4. On the server computer, the value for IsDomainMaster should be TRUE and for MaintainServerList should be YES.
    Reboot all machines, bringing up the server computer (now the Master Browser) first.
    Microsoft states that it could take as long as 48 minutes for the Master Browser to recognize new computers. However, on a network where broadcasts and network traffic are within normal parameters, the time should be about half of that, or 24 minutes.

NIRSoft has a nice utility that can be useful as well. NetBScanner

Chinese Harvard student decides ‘not to learn English anymore’

Seriously, why the fsck would anyone care?!  Maybe you should learn the language of the land you are visiting, or not be pissed that you have trouble communicating.

Regardless, in this case, a possible solution may be for the person to go the fsck home where everyone speaks her language and she won’t feel isolated.

I wonder what experience I would have attending a top Chinese school without learning Chinese beforehand?

Source: Chinese Harvard student decides ‘not to learn English anymore’