Author Archives: john

What’s Next In 3D Printing?

Posted on February 12, 2020 by john | 10 views

In a lot of ways, the last few years have seen 3D printing “going mainstream,” so to speak. People are no longer astonished by the sheer capabilities of the technology, and we’re getting more accustomed to seeing stories about one … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Tech | Tagged | Leave a comment

Network utilities for Windows

Posted on January 30, 2020 by john | 12 views

Intro Today I came across a simple but useful tool which runs on Windows systems that will help determine if a remote host is listening on a particular port. I wanted to share that information. The details PortQry is attractive … Continue reading →

Posted in Linux, Network Technologies | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Monitoring by Zabbix: a working document

Posted on January 16, 2020 by john | 16 views

Intro I panned Zabbix in this post: DIY monitoring. But I have compelling reasons to revisit it. I have to say it has matured, but there remain some very frustrating things about it, especially when compared with SiteScope (now owned … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Network Technologies | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Consumer tech: Samsung touchscreen not responsive

Posted on December 26, 2019 by john | 13 views

Intro This may be really obvious to some, but I did not realize until recently that you can adjust the touch screen sensitivity on a Samsung smartphone. Who knew? Why it matters I have a family member with a glass … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumer Tech | Leave a comment

Getting GNU screen to work on Windows 10 for a productive terminal multiplex environment

Posted on December 19, 2019 by john | 41 views

Intro My jump server is getting old and they’re threatening to cut it off. A jump server is a server from which you launch CLI terminal sessions into your linux servers. Since my laptop has firewall access to all the … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Linux | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Azure Cloud: can you swap public IP addresses on two VMs?

Posted on December 16, 2019 by john | 11 views

Intro I am just beginning to use Microsoft’s Azure cloud environment. Although I am inclined to be a fan of AWS, I haven’t looked at AWS networking for awhile, and the last time I did something I felt totally lost … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The IT Detective Agency: the case of the Is it the firewall? or routing? or switch? or layer 2?

Posted on November 21, 2019 by john | 15 views

Intro This is yet another tale of things in the IT world often do not turn out the way it seems at first blush. Or possibly a tale of just when you think you’ve seen it all after decades in … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Network Technologies | Tagged | Leave a comment

The IT Detective Agency: WebEx and the case of the mysterious reset

Posted on November 20, 2019 by john | 14 views

Intro A company known to me was a contented user of WebEx until they noticed a strange behaviour: their calls were losing quality or even dropped exactly after one hour. No one, most especially the vendor of WebEx, had the … Continue reading →

Posted in Admin, Network Technologies | Tagged | Leave a comment

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

Posted on November 6, 2019 by john | 16 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 →

Posted in Admin | Tagged | Leave a comment

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

Posted on November 2, 2019 by john | 18 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 →

Posted in Network Technologies, Web Site Technologies | Tagged | Leave a comment