Edmond's random techie stuffs

I discovered two distinctive types of rattling noises coming from the centre Air Vents in my Polestar 2.  First is the interface between the trim and speakers, this could be solved by applying generous amount of vehicle trim tape onto all contacting surfaces, like so. (None of the tape is visible after the trim piece is put back in place, so I went to town with it. And then subsequently I noticed some hollow tapping sound still when going through moderate bumps.  I traced it down to a rubber hose in close contact with the air vent duct leading to the left passenger side of the car.  NOTE: this is a Right-hand-drive (UK) vehicle, I'm not sure if the hose is always on the left, or always on the passenger side. Viewer discretions advised.  To fix this, I had to first remove the glovebox assembly ( this video helped massively, 03:41 to 05:40), then the offending rubber hose is immediately in sight. I padded the hose with some material, wrapped it up with trim tape, then...

I recently bought a Polestar 2 - my very first EV!  This car is such a massive upgrade from my previous tiny car, and technology wise it felt like proper 21st century!  Polestar 2 has Android Automotive built in - meaning native Android OS, Google Maps navigation, YouTube music, you name it.  The car itself has built in internet connectivity, it works through a built in eSim and LTE modem placed on the roof antenna.  The LTE service, for the time being, is free from Polestar, despite the car being 4+ years old, but there are chatters that this free service is coming to an end soon, and it will cost in the region of 10 EUR a month.  I think 10 EUR isn't too bad, considering it offers roaming across most of Europe, so one fee for you to drive all across everywhere.  However, me being a nerd, I think we can do better, for less! If you're looking to do the same, you're in the right place, do read on. Polestar Connected Services Plus vs Connected Services (stan...

My kubernetes based homelab was recently borked by a myriad of issues plaguing the Longhorn release 1.11.0.  https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn/issues/12578 - borked validating webhook https://github.com/longhorn/longhorn/issues/12573 - memory leak Both requires manual bumping Longhorn to a hotfix image.  When bumping the instance-manager, existing volumes still using the old instance-manager will persist until volume is detached.  The official Longhorn document suggested scaling the workload down to achieve that outcome.  Personally I find that suggestion flawed, while I do have ArgoCD which helps reconcile the configuration, I don't want to manually update the deployment count.  Turns out, I can manage the same result through node drain - which forces workload to be moved to a different node.  Granted - I don't have a fool-proof disruption budget set, so some workloads are interrupted; and all of my volumes are RWX. But I'll take this much simpler appro...

I have recently been migrating my docker based workload to a dualstack (IPv4 + IPv6) enabled Kuberntes cluster.  In this cluster I needed a SMTP Relay so that emails can be relayed out through my Google Apps account.  The default deployment of egos-tech/smtp states that The container accepts RELAY_NETWORKS environment variable which MUST start with : e.g :192.168.0.0/24 or :192.168.0.0/24:10.0.0.0/16 . I tried various things getting IPv6 address into the list, and after a large number of trial-and-error, I managed to get it to work with this config: --- apiVersion: v1 kind: ConfigMap metadata:      name: smtp-config      data:           RELAY_NETWORKS: ";10.0.0.0/8;127.0.0.0/8;172.16.0.0/12;192.168.0.0/16;fd00::/8" I believe the first letter in the environment variable actually doesn't need to start with a colon, instead it defines the delimiter. By switching it from a colon to semi-colon, it avoids conflicting wi...

TLDR In a nutshell, this allows you to:  Replace multiple S3 endpoint with a single custom CloudFront domain (e.g., for branding reasons) Use Path-Based behaviour in CloudFront to handle destination bucket (e.g., for app compatibility reasons) Combine the following: CloudFront Presigned URL - an "outer auth" for the request to be let in S3 Presigned Post - an "inner auth" against S3 for to POST request to be processed Design Diagram Points to note:  S3 Presigned Post URL The S3 endpoint generated is discarded The POST field containing signature (S3 Auth), policy, bucket name and key related to the upload is retained CloudFront Signed URL The URL is made up of CloudFront custom domain + Path of each bucket's associated CloudFront behaviour CloudFront signer adds query string to the URI with signatures, expirations, etc The Signed URL forms the outer credentials (CloudFront auth) to access the CloudFront behaviour These two are then combined and sent to the client...

This recipe it based on Hairy Biker's recipe (rip Dave) published on the BBC website . I adapted it for my own kitchen setup and ingredients that I have access to: M&S Canadian Very Strong White Bread Flour Bosch Standmixer (MUMS6ZM00G) Bosch Oven (HMG7764B1B) I am writing this recipe here so that it's easier for myself to follow. --- --- Time Required Total preparation: 60 minutes Total proofing: 105 minutes Baking: 35 minutes --- Ingredients List Yudane 30g strong white flour 60g milk , whole 60g water Dough - first pass 325g strong white flour 55g granulated sugar 7g instant yeast 6g salt 15g condensed milk Dough - second pass (Yudane) 120g milk , whole 1 egg , beaten Dough - third pass 55g butter , unsalted, softened Brushing before baking 1 egg , beaten 15g milk , whole --- Method Step 1 - Make Yudane Add the following ingredients into a saucepan: 30g strong white flour 60g milk , whole 60g water Set hob to 90°C and constantly stir until content reaches 65°C or con...

Good on Anker for shipping the product in recyclable packaging. Specs listed on the back of the box. Comes with a C8 power cable of reasonable quality, though I do wonder how long the rubbery texture would last before it turn into some sort of gooey mess.  The charger itself.  Specs printed on the bottom of the device.  Note that it comes with some decent sized rubber feet.  A hidden power LED lights up when plugged in - I really like this, gives a premium feel to the product! Port C1 Capabilities - 105 Watts Port C2 Capabilities - 65W Port C3 Capabilities - 19.98W Port C3 Capabilities - 19.98W Port C4 Capabilities - 19.98W Size comparison to the old Anker Charger It tapers a bit more than the older model, but it's definitely thicker than the older model.  It also weights a bit more - I'd say it's 50% chonkier by feel.  I'm pleased to see that the new charger still fits in my Bellroy Tech Kit (standard sized one).  Bit more of a snug fit than before th...

So glad something else managed to top the chart.  Also putting the phrase here, maybe it will catch on.

This is not going to be a full test report of sorts, but a quick note for those in similar boat, YMMV, pinch of salt, blah.  I've seen too many people on the internet saying CCR2004 (the SFP+ version) will do a shit job at routing traffic between ports, but never any supporting evidence, so I thought I share my own experience.  In my homelab I have a relative basic setup, with something like 10 IPv4 Firewall rules, 2 NAT rules, 1 bridge with VLANs. Routing performance on IPv4 I'm able to get something like 8Gbps consistent going between bridge ports. I seem to get a somewhat better performance on IPv6 maybe due to less firewall / NAT rules, something like 9Gbps.  Obviously if you have crap ton of rules like operating a MSP this will be miles different, but for basic setup I think this is a relatively good number for what this device can offer.  Happy home labbing! 

It's British winter, it's wet and cold.  Don't suppose anyone sane would be riding their bike out during this weather.  Needless to say, I stored my bike on the wall and didn't touch it for a long while.  I expected my VanMoof S3 electric assisted bicycle to be drained of battery when I take it back out. No biggie, I thought to myself, just plug it in, charge, and off we go again.  Nope. No no no. Nope, it doesn't work like that with the pretty face S3.  If you were unlucky like me and allowed your VanMoof battery to fully drain, your bike might never charge and becomes a super dumb single gear heavy two wheeled paper weight.  This is the second time my bike died of this cause, last time I sent it back to VanMoof to be fixed. They applied some firmeware update which was supposed to have fixed this issue.  Yet it reoccurred! So I did some digging to see what is actually going on. Based on my diagnosis, this is what happened: 1. VanMoof S3 has 2 internal...

 Virgin Media in the UK currently offers a "Gig1" service that offers ~1.2Gbps down and 50Mbps up.  While the topic of mediocre upload speed is valid, that is a discussion for another time.  While the interface on the HFC interface offers 1.2Gbps downlink bandwidth, the Hub 4 modem itself offers only 4 x 1GbE interfaces, essentially limiting the usable downlink throughput to GbE (in practice ~940Mbps).  This bloc post covers an undocumented feature, which allows aggregation of multiple GbE ports on the Hub 4, and create a WAN connection that is capable of >GbE speed.  WARNING: While the bonding is stable with this firmware on Hub 4, the Round Robin (and alb as well) seem to fail for no reason every now and then. This does not seem to be ready for production use.  Date tested: 2021-01-31 ISP Modem:                              Model:         ...

Found this while packet sniffing my Google Home Hub. It might become useful for someone setting up stats screen or what not. Flip Clock Dark Flip Clock Light Analog Clock Dark Analog Clock Light Word Clock Dark Word Clock Light

My swift has developed an annoying rattle coming from the passenger side door. I could hear it even radio turned all the way up, and it was very annoying whenever I'm driving over slightly uneven roads. After some extensive investigation, I've realised this is due to a pair of wires hitting against the plastic trim on the door. The fix is fairly simple, remove the plastic door cover , and apply some dampening material to the plastic panel. In my case I used some kitchen towel and attached it to the door with masking tape. Easy fix and it worked like a charm.

This article is going to be based on my setup: DrayTek Vigor 130 DSL Modem in PPPoE Bridge mode (OpenReach VDSL2+ connection) MikroTik RB3011UiAS-RM (Connected to S-RJ01 SFP module) On top of the PPPoE session, DrayTek Vigor 130 has a built in DHCP serer which serves IP address to clients connected to LAN1.  Default IP: 192.168.2.1 Subnet: 192.168.2.0/24 This subnet is LAN only, however with access to this subnet you can then view the line status on the DrayTek Vigor modem. When directly connected to a computer you are able to access the DrayTek status page at http://192.168.2.1/. This allows you to get your VDSL Line Stats. With some modems you might need to manually add a route of 192.168.2.0/24 to the interface that is connected to the modem. To achieve this when the DrayTek Vigor 130 is connected to a MikroTik router with a live PPPoE session, do the following: Under IP , add a new  DHCP client on the interface connected to the Vigor 130 m...

Fix: try uninstalling updates for Google Play Services, then update again. Maybe also remove all data associated with Google Play Services.

If your electric window suddenly stopped working, chances are it's not mechanical and there's an easy fix to this.  Note: I did this on my Vauxhall Corsa, but it should apply to other Vauxhall / Opel vehicles such as the Astra or Zafira.  Symptoms :  Car window will not open with either driver's control, passenger control, or remote control (key). Fuses to the electric windows are not blown.  The cause : This is purely my speculation. The window panes on these Vauxhall are controlled by vehicle's ECU. If something has caused the ECU to forget the actual "position" of the window pane, it probably goes into safe mode and not operate the window motor.  The Fix :  To fix this issue, you will need to perform an ECU reset. This is done by disconnecting the negative battery connector from the car battery for approximately 1 minute. Impact :  Resetting the ECU will:  cause the trip odometer to reset to 0....

I am not 100% positive on this interpretation, however it seemed to coincide with the time I received this device, so that might be it! (1) Turn off phone. (2) Hold VOLUME DOWN while powering on device (3) Press VOLUME UP / DOWN until it reads "Barcode" (4) Press Lock button (5) Read the "Date" row, note it's in MM-DD-YYYY format To get out: (6) Press any VOLUME key (7) Use VOLUME UP / DOWN keys to select "Start" (8) Press Lock button I pre-ordered my International Nexus 6 from Google, the device says 12-09-2014 (9th Dec 2014), and I received my phone on the 19th December 2014. Hope this helps!

**Please note this trick probably only works with O2 Pay monthly customers** **Other customers on O2 Payg / MVNO won't benefit from this trick** If you're on O2 or GiffGaff with a decent mobile device, you might notice sometimes webpages rendered on mobile data looks a bit off / pixelated, especially when the images are being zoomed in. Or sometimes the background gradient colours looked really off.  This is likely caused by the image compression proxy that O2 deployed between you and the internet. I have not done an extensive test on this subject, but .jpg and .png files are notoriously heavily compressed when they're being sent through the mobile network.  To test if the page quality is affected by the O2 image compression, there are few things you can do: (1) Find a NON-HTTPS site with .jpg images, online albums like imgur should do. (2) CLEAR CACHE of browser, this might involve wiping all app data. Alternatively you can use Chrome inc...

I was messing with the Android lock screen earlier, and in the process I changed my lock screen from my old pattern to a new PIN, and I managed to forget it straight after I have locked the screen. Cue five minutes of panic, ten minutes of pointless brute forcing back into the phone with no luck. However I have found a solution! If you have your Android device enrolled with Android Device Manager, you can go to the following page (https://www.google.com/android/devicemanager?u=0), and all you need to do is to LOCK the device, which will then give you an option to set a new PIN, voilà! Granted, the device will need to be connected to the internet (WiFi or cellular) for this trick to work, and if it's not showing up in ADM, well, better luck next time! Ed

Symptom: (1) Able to see printer when in same subnet, after selected printer, all options and the Print button is greyed out. (2) When manually adding printer in Settings, got error "Unable to communicate with this printer." Solution: Make sure default SNMP Community is enabled, if you have that removed, see below. Community Name 1: (ticked) Community Name: public Access Permission: (ticked) Read Access    (not ticked) Write Access If Samsung is to rely on SNMP, it should either say in the application or on the printer settings page, or to offer an option to use alternative SNMP settings. It's been a year before I figured this out. I'm slow, I know.