Technical

Technical blog items

Technical

Network Testing from the Terminal: A Guide to Speedtest-cli

When troubleshooting a sluggish internet connection or configuring a remote server, opening a web browser to run a speed test isn’t always an option. For headless Linux servers, remote SSH sessions, or users who simply prefer the efficiency of the command line, speedtest-cli is an indispensable utility. Here is a comprehensive breakdown of how to install, use, and get the… Continue reading Network Testing from the Terminal: A Guide to Speedtest-cli

Technical

Architecting a Bulletproof Home Lab DNS Stack: Pi-hole v6, DJB dnscache, and tinydns on Fedora Linux

Here is a comprehensive, production-ready technical blog post detailing the exact architecture, challenges, and step-by-step solutions we implemented to make this complex stack work. Introduction Building a robust, privacy-first home network infrastructure often leads to mixing modern ad-blocking utilities with legendary, hyper-secure routing daemons. In this post, we walk through how to deploy Pi-hole v6 alongside a legacy Daniel J.… Continue reading Architecting a Bulletproof Home Lab DNS Stack: Pi-hole v6, DJB dnscache, and tinydns on Fedora Linux

Technical

SmokePing on Linux: The Best Way to Monitor Network Latency

Brief If you’ve ever wondered why your internet feels slow even though a speed test looks fine, the culprit is often latency or packet loss rather than bandwidth. This is where SmokePing shines. It’s one of the most effective tools for continuously monitoring network performance and producing beautiful graphs that make problems easy to spot. Whether you’re a home lab… Continue reading SmokePing on Linux: The Best Way to Monitor Network Latency

Technical

Fixing Eaton UPS Disconnections on Fedora (NUT v2.8.5+)

The Problem If your Eaton UPS randomly disconnects, throws “Data stale” errors, or crashes with a segmentation fault on modern Fedora releases, you are not alone. This issue stems from a combination of aggressive Linux kernel power management, changes in Network UPS Tools (NUT) v2.8.5, and permission conflicts with Fedora’s automated management services. Here is a comprehensive guide to understanding… Continue reading Fixing Eaton UPS Disconnections on Fedora (NUT v2.8.5+)

Linux, Software, Technical

How to Run ASSP As A Systemd Service With Systemctl

Running the Anti-Spam SMTP Proxy (ASSP) reliably on a modern Linux server requires a proper service manager. By default, ASSP needs to start as root to bind to privileged mail ports (like port 25), after which it forks and spawns its main worker processes under a non-privileged user like nobody. Using a custom systemd service file allows Linux to seamlessly… Continue reading How to Run ASSP As A Systemd Service With Systemctl

Linux, Software, Technical

Why Tailscale + Firewalld Is My Ultimate Remote Access Stack

Setting up secure remote access usually feels like a balancing act between security and sheer frustration. For a long time, my server setup relied on Fail2ban throwing up dynamic walls via traditional iptables. It worked, but it was messy, cluttered, and stopping the service felt like waiting for water to boil as thousands of rules were torn down one by… Continue reading Why Tailscale + Firewalld Is My Ultimate Remote Access Stack

Linux, Technical

I Finally Dropped My Custom 1996 iptables Firewall Script—And Why It Was Time

Thirty years. That is how long my home network routing infrastructure relied on a monolithic shell script I wrote back in 1996. I crafted it back in the golden era of early Linux packet filtering, packed it with raw configuration lines, and tweaked it over decades as a hobby project to survive moving from ipfwadm to ipchains, and eventually to… Continue reading I Finally Dropped My Custom 1996 iptables Firewall Script—And Why It Was Time

Technical

ASSP mod_inst.pl Error After Upgrading Fedora 42 to 43

I recently upgraded my system from Fedora 42 to Fedora 43 after Fedora 42 reached end-of-life. When I started ASSP, I received errors indicating that the required Perl modules were incorrect or missing, so I decided to run mod_inst.pl again to reinstall the necessary modules. I downloaded the latest mod_inst.pl from the ASSP website and ran it, but it immediately… Continue reading ASSP mod_inst.pl Error After Upgrading Fedora 42 to 43

Artificial Intelligence, Technical

Unlocking Hermes: A Guide to Setting Up the API Gateway

The Hermes AI Agent is an incredibly powerful tool right in your terminal, capable of running commands, reading files, and interacting with your local machine. But what if you want to access its power from outside theterminal? What if you could programmatically send tasks to your agent? This is where a core, and sometimes overlooked, feature comes into play: the… Continue reading Unlocking Hermes: A Guide to Setting Up the API Gateway

Technical

Why I fired Dropbox: How Nextcloud is saving me hundreds every year

For years, I was a loyal Dropbox subscriber. It was the “gold standard” for syncing files, and like most people, I just accepted the monthly fee as a necessary “tech tax.” But as my storage needs grew, so did the bill. When I hit my storage limit and was prompted to upgrade to a more expensive professional tier, I finally… Continue reading Why I fired Dropbox: How Nextcloud is saving me hundreds every year