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Tips

Using the SonicWall Connect Tunnel with Firefox on a Chromebook

Yes, you read that correctly. Firefox on a Chromebook! Without tricks. Or at least, not many tricks. Why? When you want to use the SonicWall Connect Tunnel software (from the SMA 1000 Series) on your Chromebook the suggested SonicWall Mobile Connect app does not work properly. I don’t know why, but there is a solution. The solution In one sentence: install the (Java based) SonicWall VPN Connect Tunnel software and… Read More »Using the SonicWall Connect Tunnel with Firefox on a Chromebook

Audacity Tips

This is a public note to myself for working with Audacity; which I don’t do too often, and I want to make sure I don’t forget it. I recently created a 5 hour music project: a DJ radio show. What I need from Audacity is: That’s mostly it. Audacity is a very powerful tool, but also great for just these few things. Tips The biggest challenge when working with different… Read More »Audacity Tips

Floccus is the bookmark manager you have been looking for

Floccus does exactly what you want because Floccus doesn’t break your bookmark management flow. The flow being: adding, changing, removing, moving bookmarks *in* your browser, straight from the bookmark bar and with the shortcuts you already know. Because Floccus is nothing more than a browser extension. How does it work? Floccus is actually not a bookmark manager — because your browser does that already! FLOCCUS IS JUST A SYNC TOOL.… Read More »Floccus is the bookmark manager you have been looking for

Simple jumphost ssh-agent config

You can find many tutorials online on how to use ssh-agent or ssh-ident correctly. This is a short and simple two line fix aimed at a specific use i.e. a single connection to a jumphost. Add this to your .bashrc So now when you type jumphost: And from the jumphost you can ssh connect to anywhere because you forwarded your keys. Possible drawbacks: Drawbacks: This setup works for quick access… Read More »Simple jumphost ssh-agent config

Compact WSL partition and reclaim storage space

Start PowerShell Find where your WSL vhdx file is located. Usually under: C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Local\Package\Linuxdistroflavour\LocalState\ext4.vhdx Start diskpart (from PowerShell or CMD): diskpart.exe Run: select vdisk file=”C:\Users\Jan van den Berg\AppData\Local\Packages\TheDebianProject.DebianGNULinux_76v4gfsz19hv4\LocalState\ext4.vhdx” and next: compact vdisk

I don’t understand terminals, shells and SSH

Confession time: I don’t fully understand how terminals, shells and SSH really work (and my guess is you don’t either). And I don’t mean the cryptography behind SSH. I mean how SSH and the terminal — and the shell for that matter — interact with one another. I recently realized that even though I’ve been daily remotely logging into Linux systems for all of my adult life (and type in… Read More »I don’t understand terminals, shells and SSH

How to get green links on your Mastodon profile with WordPress

The green links on your Mastodon profile indicate that you are the owner of that link i.e. that website. You can achieve this by adding a little line of code to your website (see Link verification). When you have a basic HTML website, adding this piece of code is this trivial. However when your site runs on WordPress, it’s a bit different. I found a tutorial that only works with… Read More »How to get green links on your Mastodon profile with WordPress

WhatsApp should really fix these issues

WhatsApp is my most used app, but its development seems stagnant. Which is not always a bad thing for software, but WhatsApp could really improve some things, especially when those improvements seem trivial. Some wishes could even be classified as bugs: which they should really fix. In no particular order (for iOS). Multi-select on media searchWhen you use the global search (pull down on iOS) and select a category (Photos,… Read More »WhatsApp should really fix these issues

Windows Terminal + Cygwin

[UPDATE July 2022: I switched to using MobaXterm which does the job just fine. I don’t like that it is not free/open but I do like that it comes with an integrated SSH agent, which makes life a lot easier] I had been a happy WSL1 user for many years, but after switching laptops I more or less had to upgrade to WSL2. Which is the same thing but not… Read More »Windows Terminal + Cygwin

Bypassing Hetzner mail port block (port 25/465)

I recently switched my VPS from Linode to Hetzner. I got more CPU, RAM and storage for less money. Pretty good right? However it wasn’t after I migrated that I found out Hetzner blocks all outgoing port 25 and 465 traffic. At least; for the first month for new customers. This means my new server cannot talk SMTP with the rest of the world i.e. my server cannot send mail!… Read More »Bypassing Hetzner mail port block (port 25/465)

Ten 2022 Tool Tips

Here’s a list of software tools I either started using this year or tools I think everyone should be using. Bitwarden The best password manager. Free if you like, or only $10 per year if you want to have a little bit more features or just want to support the project. My advice: pay the $10, Bitwarden is the best bargain for a great password manager and you support development… Read More »Ten 2022 Tool Tips

Migrating a LAMP VPS

I recently switched my LAMP virtual server to a different VPS provider. The LAMP server that is serving you this site. So the migration worked! Here are the steps, for future reference. Mostly for myself, but maybe you — someone who came here from Google — can use this too. This should work on any small to medium sized VPS. Let’s go! Lower your DNS records TTL value When you… Read More »Migrating a LAMP VPS