Author Archives: john

What I’m Working on Now: building my own 3D printer

Posted on November 6, 2019 by john | 4 views

Intro Because someone else on the team had a good experience with it, and so i can exchange notes and get some tips form them, I went ahead and ordered the Anet A8 3D printer + an extra roll of … Continue reading →

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The IT Detective Agency: the case of Failed to convert character

Posted on November 2, 2019 by john | 3 views

Intro A user of a web form noticed any password that includes an accented character is rejected. He came to use as the operator of the web application firewall for a fix. More details The web server was behind an … Continue reading →

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How to POST with curl

Posted on October 7, 2019 by john | 11 views

Intro For the hard-core curl fans I find these examples useful. Example 1 Posting in-line form data, e.g., to an api: $ curl ‐d 'hi there' https://drjohns.com/api/example Well, that might work, but I normally add more switches. Example 2 $ … Continue reading →

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No Internet, secure WiFi status message in Windows 10

Posted on September 16, 2019 by john | 18 views

Intro Finding out how Windows decides if there is an Internet connection or not can be a challenge often posed by trying to do an Internet search comprised or words that are common and therefore used in many other contexts. … Continue reading →

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Raspberry Pi Recovery Mode or interrupting the boot process

Posted on August 26, 2019 by john | 29 views

Intro If you installed Raspbian from the NOOBS distribution as I do, then you may occasionally “blow up” your installation as I just have! You have an out, sort of, short of re-imaging the disk, though about with the same … Continue reading →

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apache as reverse proxy under SLES

Posted on August 13, 2019 by john | 35 views

IntroJust got my SLES 12 SP4 server. That’s a type of commercial Linux I needed to set up a secure reverse proxy in a hurry. There’s a lot of suggestions out there. I share what worked for me. The version … Continue reading →

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Solution to NPR puzzle using Raspberry Pi

Posted on August 11, 2019 by john | 18 views

Intro Take a common five-letter word. If you add an “e” to the end you’ll get a common six-letter word. or add an ‘e” after the second letter to get a different six-letter word, or an “e” after the fourth … Continue reading →

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Raspberry Pi photo frame using your pictures on your Google Drive

Posted on August 6, 2019 by john | 50 views

Intro All my spouse’s digital photo frames are either broken or nearly broken – probably she got them from garage sales. Regardless, they spend 99% of the the time black. Now, since I had bought that Raspberry Pi PiDisplay awhile … Continue reading →

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F5 Big-IP: When your virtual server does not present your chain certificate

Posted on July 9, 2019 by john | 29 views

Intro While I was on vacation someone replaced a certificate which had expired on the F5 Big-IP load balancer. Maybe they were not quite as careful as I would like to hope I would have been. In any case, shortly … Continue reading →

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Can you go from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 in O’Hare without going through the security lines again?

Posted on June 24, 2019 by john | 23 views

Yes. Yes, at least if you walk. Not sure about other transportation options. Count on about 13 minutes for the walk. Not sure why this information is so hard to find… Sometimes you land at one terminal and have to … Continue reading →

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