What did you do today?

[danlb]

Yesterday was a typical COVID day. We sit comfortably watching TV while cruising the web, play games on our gadgets, etc. Garage is over 90 degrees.

Suddenly The Tivo complains that it can't find a TV channel. The Lemmings game can't load on my phone and the lights don't come on when I walk into the kitchen. The last straw is that the "my fitness pal" app is not working and we are ready for lunch.

So I spent the afternoon reverse engineering my network and firewall to get it to work when tethered to my cell phone. Did I mention Verizon's data service sucks big time in the 3 block area surrounding my house? 2 bars signal and huge percentage of dropped packets. Yeah, so I had to undo my cell phone tether and go to fallback network 2, which is an ancient aDSL link. It's amazing how well a 1.5 Mbps down/300K up connection will work when you are not doing video.

Now I have to document all the changes and settings so that I can recover quicker when the cable company finishes the fiber install.

Dan

[mattthemuppet]

Garage is over 90 degrees? You lucky bugger! I think mine's at 100 right now - I lose a couple of pounds water weight everytime I step in there..

[DennisCA]

I was referring to all the bending over and skinning the bark with a draw knife.

Bend with your legs, back straight, it helps.

I plasma cut some stock last night for my 2x72 grinder build.


The cat helped clean the gutters


I got my bottle of oxygen, getting closer to having an oxy-propane cutting setup now too, I make a hook and used some rope to keep it attached to the wall after I took the photo. Some day I might get an acetylene cylinder too. Making a cart for the oxy-propane setup is a project I want to embark on as well.

[RB211]

I passed my Boeing 777 type ride!

[danlb]

I passed my Boeing 777 type ride!

Congrats! All that studying paid off.

[Cenedd]

RB211 Congrats. Good to know there's at least one competent person up there!

danlb Probably fewer people on that old aDSL link these days so less contention to deal with. I remember when we were reveling in how fast a 64kbps link was! Well, actually I remember (but don't tell anyone!) having to solder my own non-standard RS232 cable (computer port wasn't wired correctly) and connect to 14,400bps modem....and then travel somewhere to download the required software to get connected. Ah, the bad old days!

[RB211]

Thanks, maybe I'll get some time between work at home to play in the shop some more.

[Butcher]

Forecast 114* today and tomorrow, hiding in the AC.

[Bruno Mueller]

I worked a little bit in the workshop again today.
This one was the result of it.

[140mower]

I worked a little bit in the workshop again today.
This one was the result of it.

Very nice....... I think we're going to enjoy having you around, although, you are making me look like a bit of an under-achiever......

[danlb]

This morning I woke early. This made it a prime time to do network reconfiguration without inconveniencing my wife since she was sleeping. Yesterday I decided to upgrade my firewall box (Cisco RV042) to the latest firmware. After all, I'd received an email stating that there were several dozen security problems that were addressed. Imagine my surprise to find this morning that the latest Cisco firmware would not load even though the model is still supported. It seems that they don't support early versions of that model. Sigh.

Fortunately I'm a belt AND suspenders kind of guy, so the mail and web servers on that firewall were all configured for minimal services and intrusion detection. Using internet port scanners I confirmed that even without the firewall those systems were not abnormally vulnerable. Now all I have to do is decide whether I want to buy yet another commercial firewall that won't be supported or roll my own again. Decisions decisions.

Cenedd: I still have my crimping pliers and spare parts for making RS232 and V.35 cables. I guess we are becoming old fogies. Have not needed them in a decade.

Dan

P.S. If you use any of the Linksys / Cisco firewall devices it's a great time to make sure that they are working right and updated.

[DennisCA]

Worked on making my own cant hook. Might have to work on the hook shape a little yet. The very tip is welded on carbon steel, rest is 10mm mild steel.



Also transplanted some old fashioned rose bushes growing wild on an abandoned rural property next to my parents place. They have a strong scent when in bloom.

[nickel-city-fab]

This morning I woke early. This made it a prime time to do network reconfiguration without inconveniencing my wife since she was sleeping.

P.S. If you use any of the Linksys / Cisco firewall devices it's a great time to make sure that they are working right and updated.

I started using Linux back in 1997 on the desktop (slackware, then RH) Nowadays using FreeBSD.
Good firewalls in either one. On Linux I used a helper app called "psad" which meant the firewall could detect port scans and respond actively, including counterattacking, or just simply blackholing silently.

[Cenedd]

danlb I've been crimping more in the way of fan pins, ATX pins and other computer wiring more these days. Largely in an ego-massaging attempt at tidyness and showiness.
The small business range by Cisco is unfortunately not in the same league as their mainstream stuff. You may be better to look at second hand Cisco kit on eBay. It's a balance between cheap enough but fast enough for your line but you can often pick stuff up quite cheaply and it still be more functional and flexible that their small business kit. I'm currently running a 3825 as my main router, firewall and lab phone system. The alternative would be as nickel-city-fab suggested and use a Linux box as a firewall/router - something like pfSense (although I've not played with that yet).

Used up my get-out-of-jail-free card today and lucked out. My wife's car key remote buttons had fallen to bits. Ordered her a new shell and quickly discovered there were two types - one that is designed to come apart (key blade and PCB needs to be swapped over) and one that is welded into one solid lump. Never mind, a Dremel with a PVC cutting wheel will do it. Nope, noxious fumes and red hot plastic. Eventually got it open but found I'd lopped off the top of the PCB where it extended higher than I'd thought. Tested it and nope. Looked into replacements and it wasn't looking good. Checked out pics of the PCB and it was only the indicator LED on the part and a thick outer trace (ground, shield or antenna, I'm not sure) round the edge on the underside. Don't need the LED, what are the chances of it working if I just solder a wire to bridge that cut track? Like I said, I lucked out

[danlb]

Thanks for mentioning psad and pfSense. I should probably set up a standard build to replace my home brew security utilities and psad may just fill the bill. Not to get off topic too far, but while I'd like to pick up commercial Cisco box for these uses, the last time I was Cisco certified the PIX was still their hot firewall product. That was a long time ago. We certified it for Y2K.

Dan