Month: August 2015

Tutorial: Using VMWare ESXi and PFsense as a network firewall/router

[vSphere](http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/341025702) In most networks, you will have dedicated hardware to function as your “edge” (firewall/router). This is typically for the best, but there are always cases where you can’t put out that dedicated hardware. Sometimes it’s for cost reasons and sometimes it’s for complexity. In my particular case, I was installing an ESXi server in…

Hardware

Tutorial: PoC Telegram Bot running in AWS Lambda

2015-08-28 11_39_40-Telegram AWS Lambda Bot My favorite “SMS Alternative” app is Telegram Messenger. It’s simple, easy to use, has decent encryption (from what I understand), is very multi-platform, and has a lot of fun features. It is my sole method of communicating with some people and was recently used for a 15 person group text…

AWS

ESXi 6.0 has a fickle installer

[vSphere](http://www.deviantart.com/morelikethis/artists/341025702) This week I picked up a project that got put down last month, to install ESXi on one of my psuedo-servers. This particular machine runs an ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS motherboard with an Intel Xeon processor. Normally, installing ESXi shouldn’t be that hard, unless your hardware isn’t on the HCL, in which case it can…

Hardware

A Pinterest success story

pinterest-logo For those of us who aren’t super crafty types, when one mentions “Pinterest” typically the mind jumps to “Pinterest Fails“. You can Google that and find hundreds of websites dedicated to the very topic. However today we’re discussing the opposite, Pinterest success stories, or more specifically one success story. This particular story centers around…

Read More “A Pinterest success story” »

DIY

Electricity as a shower (Understanding Volts and Amps)

shower Normally electricity and water don’t mix, however today we’re just talking analogies. When working with electronics, it’s very common to see questions along the lines of “My project requires X volts, is it okay to use Y power source” or “My Raspberry Pi requires 1 amp, will a 2 amp power supply burn it…

Hardware

Cars have cup holders. Why not cellphone holders?

cupholder For a lot of people in America, a car is a facet of everyday life. It’s generally not something a lot of people spend their time thinking about in more abstract concepts. Sure, one might think about that annoying squeak or if they have to get gas, but not much more. However, I live…

Cellphones