Monday, March 30, 2015

Wire Management & Pig tails

Wall warts and power strips do not mix!

The problem is power strips can be oriented horizontally or vertically, while wall warts & power cords can be oriented horizontally, vertically or on a 45 degree angle.
There have been some attempts to fix that with rotating and pivoting outlets on the power strips.

Sunday afternoon, I came home to check my mail box for the Amazon prime delivery of pig tails.

It only took three of the fifteen to eliminate the second power strip!

This is a small step in my larger project to add a UPS & neaten up my home network wiring. More to come!

Thursday, January 8, 2015

Updating The 2009 LifeHacker QuadCore Hackintosh to Yosemite

Hi Folks, being house poor, I can not afford to upgrade my desktop hardware. :(

I am still rocking the 2009 GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P freshened up with a USB 3.0 card

I have a prior post on how to upgrade to Mavericks from Snow Leopard.

Do the prep work outlined here by TonyMacx86.com

I am short on some of the boot parameters to get it running & I apologize.

You definitely need:
GraphicsEnabler=Yes, PCIRootUID=1

I have added a ORICO PVU3-5O2U USB3.0 card to my computer, paid $29 at the time

Post install, I was left with no audio & no working USB 3.0 here is the fix:

  • Get the kext Utility from hackintoshosx.com
  • Delete the USB 3.0 kext you may have installed with Multibeast ( TonyMacx86.com post )
  • Install the kext from the above post, but I did it with the kext utility
  • Download & install the two audio Kexts from hackintoshosx.com and install with the kext utility

This will get your Yosemite hackintosh with a GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P motherboard running USB 3.0 & Audio

When you build a hackintosh, you do not get the Apple office suite & iMovie for free, you have to pay for them.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Kudos to SouthWest Airlines!

SouthWest was excellent to me!

I was in Florida for the Independence day weekend with my Wife & Daughter, due to return on Sunday.

I was at my Dad's bedside Sun - Tues, he was in good condition & going to Physical Therapy.

Friday, while I was in Florida, he had three seizures. At one point it looked like he had a stroke.

Southwest changed my flight, from Sunday evening, to Saturday morning for no charge when I explained it was a medical emergency.

I want to thank SouthWest for being excellent to their customers! I wanted to let everyone know about their excellent service!

I want to thank all my friends for their prayers & well wishes through this difficult time.

My Dad is making an excellent recovery! Hershey Medical Center is taking great care of him!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Linux Admin- Chicago, IL

Ref# : 13-01721


Greetings from Adroit!
 
I came across your resume and thought you would be interested in a position with our client.
If you are currently looking for new opportunities, or would like to be considered for future positions, please respond to this email with your updated resume.
 
The position is for Linux Admin at chicago, IL.
 
The Job Description is below:
 Hello,
            I have multiple opening for Linux admin for Chicago, IL location.
JOB Description:
- candidate should be very-very strong in Linux Administraion.
- Good experience with Linux, Aix.

Note: We need H1B Copy if candidate is H1B, EAD Copy if Candidate is EAD, GC copy if Candidate is GC and Any Copy of Age Proof if Candidate is Citizen. Without this information we may not proceed, So guys who are not interested in sharing Necessary docs, Please ignore this email.
 
 
Regards,
Dharam S
 
adroIT Software & Consulting Inc.
24 Emerson Plaza West
Emerson, NJ 07630
(201) 977-2239
dharam@adroitswc.com

Sunday, June 9, 2013

Extending WiFi Part Two

Here is what my USB used to look like.

We had heavy rain on Friday from a tropical storm

I was afraid the water was inside the bag, along with the ear wig

I lucked out, the moisture was only on the outside of the bag.

Here is the antenna & 32 foot USB cable end

I am going to put it into this Gladware conatainer

So lets put a flap door in the side of the container

Lets mark the width

Lets mark the depth

Now cut on 3 sides of the box drawn

Put it all together

* Tape the inside and outside of the cuts, electrical tape for the real professionals out there, you could also use silicone cauking.

Place it in the tree with bunji

Check the signal

Check the speed

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

Extending WiFi

Having a WiFi Router in one building & needing WiFi in another building, what solutions are available?

This and other devices with built in antennas were working, but slow. :(

I tried adding the Yagi to the USB WiFi adapter with no success. :(

Do I need a new WiFi adapter to work with the Yagi?

What about a DD-WRT repeater?

Will a 32 foot USB extension cable work?

Well yes, the 32 foot USB cable and the WiFi adapter, wrapped in a ZipLoc bag stuck on a tree is a winner!

I have not tried the DD-WRT with the Yagi, because of different sized connectors. :(

The DD-WRT boosts the signal, but it does nto have the speed of the adapter on a 32 foot cable close to the house.

I had a small hurdle getting the DD-WRT working as a repeater. I'll add that information after I get the screen shots done.

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

NYC Unix Gig

Req.#: 14955
Job Title: SME,Infrastructure QA/Controls Job Type: Consulting
Duration: 4 months Business: Education/University
Location: New York, NY

Project Description:
Our direct client has an opening for the SME of Infrastructure Quality Assurance/Controls position reporting into the AVP of Internal IT Controls. The position will be responsible for day to day monitoring to ensure that the company's central IT infrastructure operation complies with its policies, procedures, and standards defined for various technology platforms. 

More specifically, the responsibilities are as follows:
Ensure ongoing monitoring for adherence to Standard Operating Environment procedures for Operating Systems, Middleware, Web Infrastructure and Databases.
Review and provide input into the design of Standard Operating Environment procedures.
Function as a source of knowledge on IT infrastructure and IT infrastructure quality assurance standards; build relationships with internal teams and external providers.
Foster progressive improvement IT infrastructure Standard Operating Environments in conjunction with quality assurance best practices.
Facilitate improvement of the IT infrastructure Change Management and Configuration methodology.
Regularly perform reviews of Change and Configuration Management processes for IT infrastructure components to validate compliance. Document non-compliance and escalate as appropriate.
Periodically perform reviews of provisioning and deprovisioning of privileged user ids.
Keep current with security trends in the IT infrastructure area (through the Security Team and other methods) and identify steps needed in order to stay current.
Ensure that core infrastructure components have fundamental documentation (architecture diagrams, configuration specifics, design documents etc.).
Ensure that key roles are documented for each infrastructure service area and that the segregation of roles is in place.
Review efforts to remediate access to sensitive data within the IT infrastructure.
Ensure that each IT Infrastructure area is in compliance with established standards.
Assist the infrastructure team with audit preparation and support, conduct pre-audits.
Ensure that estimation/resource utilization methodology is in place for all infrastructure components and that it is consistent across different infrastructure areas within company.
Work with appropriate counterparts to assist with planning for and implementation of agreed ITIL processes.

Minimum qualifications:

5+ years of IT infrastructure management experience. 
10+ years of hands on IT infrastructure experience 
Excellent communication and relationship management skills. 
Expert ability to analyze and interpret technical data. 
Experience with complex systems integration. 
Experience working with a culturally diverse team. 

Preferred qualifications:

In depth knowledge of Operating Systems (e.g. Linux, Solaris), Middleware (e.g. Tomcat, Apache, Web Logic), Databases (e.g. Oracle, Sybase) 
Demonstrated IT architecture experience
Demonstrated IT Infrastructure quality assurance experience
ITIL experience.

Required Skills:
5 years of IT Infrastructure management experience,
10+ years of hands on IT infrastructure experience,
Excellent communication & relationship mgmt skills,
Expert ability to analyze and interpret tech. data,
Experience with complex systems integration,
Experience working with a culturally diverse team.

Optional Skills:
Demonstrated IT Architecture experience,
Demonstrated IT Infrastructure Quality Assurance,
ITIL experience,
Knowledge of Operating Systems- Linux, Solaris,
Knowledge of Middleware- Tomcat, Apache, Web Logic,
Knowledge of Databases- Oracle, Sybase
Please remember that you can earn up to a $1500.00 referral fee for every I.T. professional you refer and that we place with one of our clients. Be sure to check our web site www.designstrategy.com for a complete list of our current consulting and permanent opportunities.

Thanks,
888 425 2404 ext 4313

Tony Dalmau
Office: 908-709-9800 x4313
Email: tonyd@designstrategy.com

Exceptional People, Innovative Solutions

Monday, March 25, 2013

Need a 4TB Drive? For $139 External?

This is in the BUY BUY BUY category!

Inexpensive USB 3.0 Drive

This is a logical next review after Is an expensive Thunderbolt drive worth it?

The $139 2 TB USB 3.0 Portable drive (MacBook Pro styled)

When I bought the "Expensive Thunderbolt drive" I looked for some reviews to validate my choice. All the reviews were good, none did a speed comparison between thunderbolt & USB 3.0

I compared speed & found that I paid double for a drive that had a thunderbolt connector, that gave no speed benefit

The $139 2 TB USB 3.0 Portable drive (MacBook Pro styled)

Compared to

With a lesser speed showing

The bottom line, if you have a MAC laptop, need some extra storage, get this!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Spammed by LinkedIn? We fix that NOW!

I am currently between contracts, so I worked on my LinkedIn Profile

It imported all my gmail contacts, good right? NFW!!!

No I am getting mad spam!

This is ruining my signal to noise ratio on my e-mail!

The answer I was hoping to opt out at the bottom of the e-mail. NO! :(

Opt out from their settings? Maybe not either!

I tried this: Here's How To Get Rid Of All Those Annoying Emails LinkedIn Sends You

I want some e-mails, but not to opt out of all of them, so lets DIY!

In the top right of your gmail page... ...click settings

Select Filters

Create New

Add this search criteria: from:(connections@linkedin.com) See what has been up to

Select actions like move to trash

Click continue and you are done!

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Hacking the Belkin F5D7230-4




Problem: I have a new contracting assignment, new shared living space, want to have my pogo plug and other wired ethernet devices connected to the net.

Constraint: I do not want to run wires.

Solution: Flash the firmware with an image from www.dd-wrt.com

There is a lot of information on the site for the Belkin routers. Here is their instructions: http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/TFTP_Flashing_a_Belkin_F5D7230

What worked for me was using Win7 on my netbook and starting the TFTP as soon as releasing the reset button.

Screen Shots: