Fix SSH hanging on connection

I recently had an issue where my laptop went into standby mode while I was running some command on my Raspberry Pi over ssh, and whenever I tried to ssh into the Pi again, the session would hang (the terminal would become unresponsive, even to +C, and had to be force closed).
After a lot of research, I managed to find the following command, which allowed me to solve the issue:
ssh user@machine /sbin/ifconfig eth0 mtu 1000
The Pi responded with an error, but that solved the issue.

How to configure Mullvad VPN on a Synology NAS

Since I own a Synology NAS which I set up to user Sonarr and Transmission, I wanted to configure it to use the VPN. I found a few tutorials online, but they were outdated and did not work.

After a quick chat with Mullvad’s tech support, I finally managed to make it work.

Here’s how:

1. Go to: https://mullvad.net/en/account/openvpn-config
2. Input your account number, select Android/ChromeOS as a platform, and a region to use
3. Download the .ovpn configuration file
4. Log in to your Synology DiskStation, go to Control Panel > Network
5. Network Interface > Create > Create VPN profile
6. Select “OpenVPN (via importing a .ovpn file)”
7. ‘Username’ is your account number, ‘Password’ is “m”
8. Import the .ovpn file we modified earlier, leave ‘CA certificate’ empty; click ‘Next’
9. Select all 3 tickboxes in the ‘Advanced settings’ page; click ‘Apply’
10. Right click on the newly created connection, select ‘Connect’

How-to: Setup default audio output Ubuntu (Pulseaudio)

I just added a new how to page: since I’ve been struggling to find a setting that works for my configuration, here’s how I finally managed, in 4 easy steps.

https://desperatenerd.wordpress.com/how-to-setup-default-audio-output-ubuntu-pulseaudio/

Nintendo WaveBird Cleanup and Restoration

Once upon a time, I purchased a not-so-well-preserved WaveBird controller for my GameCube. Today I finally did justice to it.

The poor controller before the treatment: dirt, sweat and generic gunk had accumulated pretty much everywhere on its surface. What was the previous owner thinking?

BMO BOY

Here’s my latest creation: the BMO BOY!

See the page for the completed project

 

See the page for the worklog

 

RIP Bacman forum

Sad news for the modders: probably the best forum has been shut down for good recently.

This was Bacteria’s last message to the forum

I have decided to close the forum today.

The main site http://www.bacman.co.uk/home/ has already been updated to remove links to all but a couple of sections, and later today I will shut the forum permanently and remove its links. I will keep the reference site going for a while however.

Why you ask? Well there are three main reasons:

1) The modding scene is all but gone now, almost all modders I used to “know” on the sites have long since gone and the activity on the forum has been very low for some weeks, often I log on and i’m the only member on it now. One of the reasons for the forum was for the community, however the community have all but now gone; so the time it takes to run a site is less justified. If a site is there to support a community and the community goes, it can’t justify its existence IMO.

2) I love modding however my priorities have changed over the last months, my modding has reduced heavily, I will be going a fair bit of modding in a few months time however when I do it will be at my slower pace. My life is also up for a major change too, moving house soon and far less time for running the site, and intend to take early retirement in a couple of years time or less, so again, change of lifestyle and priorities; less hobby and more holidays.

3) Recent events especially in the compo have left a sour taste in my mouth, pushed me from the “let’s keep it going anyway” to “is it still worth it?” camp. In other words, it is no longer fun or enjoyable for me to run the site, like it was months or years ago, and if it is no longer fun, there is no reason to do it, right? After all, i’m paying for the site, have devoted a considerable amount of time to it and running it, so if it isn’t fun anymore and the site has low attendance there is no reason to continue for the sake of it. I don’t need the hassle or dramas or friction that happened in the compo, it ebbed away my last interest. I had been hinting for weeks in some posts that this could happen, I decided it was the right thing to do, as always i’m true to my word.

So, sorry guys, but it is time to close the site. The quality guides as mentioned are still in the reference guides on the site, and still available, although in a few months time if I can’t migrate the site to a free site then this will close too; I paid for the domain for the next years however no point paying more for the Host, especially for just a reference section that few use.

I always said all forums have their day and all will die at some point, especially with a niche hobby site like a modding site; and it is up to the membership to determine its death as people vote with their feet and comments posted. With that in mind and this post, I would be contradicting myself if I didn’t yield to the inevitable and as such close the site. Just one of those things; “it’s da internetz” as people say.

I am leaving the site open for a few hours so those that still visit the forum can view this message, those that don’t see this message will not be the active members anyway; I would have sent out a mass email however that feature is broken so does not work so posting this thread instead, one of the things that broke when the site was moved over was the mass email feature.

I would like to say a warm and major “thank you” to all of you guys who supported this site over the years (the first Bacteria forum was back in 2009, so 6 years now), it is most appreciated, means a lot to me. Thank you so much for your support. Modding is a great hobby, please enjoy it. I will still be modding and occasionally uploading a new YouTube video however as usual, not frequently; but will make a video when I make a system for sale or myself.

I have neglected to spend as much time over the last couple of years with my wife as she deserves, that will change now.

I guess you could say, modders over the years have left the scene, the only difference is when they leave they leave, now it is my turn, the forum goes too. Sorry guys. It has been great to be part of the modding scene but time moves on, priorities change, nothing is forever.

Here’s the whole forum at the time of the shutdown.
I managed to download it thanks to an OSX software called SiteSucker (http://www.sitesucker.us/mac/mac.html).

https://mega.co.nz/#!6Io0UTRB!A0suhOBwaJqa6dmj42sQsZXV1LoFq_-w1A8Ex73hW4U
(Since the archive is > 1 GB, you’re going to need Mega’s extension for Firefox).

HTPC issues

I’ve built the HTPC (it was a pain in the ass, but we’ll talk about that in the future).

The “real Rock’n’rolla” of FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU is the Ubuntu/Linux support for the Intel HD4000.
After 2 days of cursing, I have now set up a working desktop (with MATE :/), I still have no audio during video playback on xbmc (but there’s audio anywhere else – even in xbmc’s menus!) and h.264 decoding is choppy as hell (video stuttering even scrolling a web page in firefox)…

New HTPC build log

I am going to build a new HTPC for my family.

My current setup is this:

Aspire Revo R3600
[CPU] Intel Atom 230 (1.6GHz, 1 core, 2 threads, 512KB L2 cache)
[RAM] 2GB DDR2 667MHz
[GPU] integrated 9400M (512MB shared memory)
[HDD1] Hitachi HTS543216L9A (internal 2.5″ – 160GB, 5400rpm)
[HDD2] Western Digital WD20EARS (external – 2TB, 3.5″)

It runs 24/7 with Ubuntu 12.04 (x86) and Gnome 3 (fallback mode).

I use it for web browsing from the couch, XBMC (for thousands of movies and TV shows), eMule, Vuze and it shares its contents with all the other PCs via SMB.

Since it’s been serving the whole family for more than 2 years (bought off eBay, used for 150€), it deserves a peaceful retirement 🙂

The next build will have these goals: smoothness, silence, low power consumption, XBMC and linux compliance.

At the moment I am just waiting for the new pieces to arrive 🙂

[CASE] Silverstone Grandia GD-06 (HTPC case, mATX, 4 x 3.5″ + 2 x 2.5″ HDD slots)

[PSU] Seasonic X-400 fanless (400W – 80+ Gold certified)

[CPU] Intel Core i5-3570K (3.4-3.8GHz, 4 cores, 4 threads, 6MB cache)

[GPU] Intel HD4000 (integrated)
[M/B] Gigabyte GA-Z77MX-D3H (chipset Z77, mATX, 2 x SATA3, 4 x SATA2)

[RAM] DDR3 1600hz PC12800 4GB AMD Entertainment Edition Patriot CL9 1.5V
[HDD1] Toshiba MK1637GSX (160GB, 2.5″) <- Old
[HDD2] Western Digital WD20EARS (2TB, 3.5″) <- Old
[HDD3] Western Digital WD30EZRX (3TB, 3.5″)

This is going to be mostly driven by the same SW as before.

Future improvements:

• swap the 2.5″ drive for an SSD
• pop in a BD player/writer
• add a second 3TB drive
• swap the integrated fans (Noctua?)
• better CPU cooler (?)

I know this is an overkill config for an HTPC but:

• I want it to be very efficient: no discrete VGA would be so efficient
• I want it to be snappy: the old Atom is ok for HD videos, but it is super slow for everything else and playing a Flash video has become a pain in the ass
• I want it to have a huge storage: 2 years of moderate downloading, mostly SD movies, have filled a 2TB drive…

Cool site for retrogamers-retrocollectors

Source: http://xkcd.com/835/

Vacation 17-25/08

This helmet is surely Aerodynamic

The guy has some spare time and an insane passion for Daft Punk, too!

Take a look at his blog

Google likes Rube Goldberg, too

MISSION ALL OVER!

I just finished Metal Slug X for PlayStation, which I recently bought at GameStop.

Very funny game indeed, even if played at the lamest difficulty.

I had forgotten the weird aliens in the final mission 🙂

My PC modding experiences

I’ve added a new page which will hopefully be updated soon with my PC modding experiences

Right now there’s only the first part of my first creation: the “PC-in-a-box”.

So… take a look here!

Ubuntu 9.04 on Sony VAIO Z

DISCLAIMER:

I know this stuff is old (Ubuntu 10.04 is coming soon) and probably you can find better guides online.

I just wanted to upload here some content from my old site .

FYI, I am not currently using the VAIO, but I’d like to suggest you some resources if you want to successfully install linux on your classy laptop:

• https://launchpad.net/~sony-vaio-z-series
• http://0xc0dedbad.com/blog/2010/01/30/dual-boot-linux-and-windows-7-on-sony-vaio-z/
• http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=325616

Hello world!

Hello everyone, this is my blog.

Here you will find something about me and my projects.

Enjoy!

Luca