A Man Called Ove – Book and Film Review

02. April 2019 · Write a comment · Categories: Books, Films · Tags: ,
A Man Called Ove

A Man Called Ove: The life-affirming bestseller that will brighten your day

I can’t remember how I came across this book – maybe the book club at work or some random link, but I really enjoyed this book – it was very easy to read yet conveyed quite a good story of the turnaround of a “classic old grumpy man” to someone who has a bigger heart than it first appears, but still he doesn’t suffer fools easily. Quite a few sarcastic moments and it does a good job of stirring up emotions without going too deeply.

Afterwards I watched the film in Swedish with English subtitles, and it was good, a very different filming style to most mainstream films, but I felt it was a bit rushed and didn’t explain in half as much detail about the main character Ove.

Overall I’ll still stick with book first, then film, if you don’t have time, just watch the film! Book: 8/10

Bouldering Near High Wycombe / Buckinghamshire

14. March 2019 · Write a comment · Categories: Sport · Tags: ,

Following my recent discovery of a new hobby (bouldering) I have been looking for places in or near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. It seems we are central to a few places, and handily a few are close to my commute to/from London. For a total beginner, shoe hire was essential, so I have included these prices where possible:

Bourne End Junior Sports Centre – Climbing Wall

The most local to High Wycombe and unfortunately it isn’t very well detailed on their website, but they are responsive by email/phone- I have not visited yet but hope to do so in the coming weeks. 🙂

Open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday – 18.30 to 21.00

Call Pete on 01628 528110 or email Office@bejsc.co.uk

£5 entry

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Transitioning to Azure from Traditional Infrastructure

08. November 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Azure, Cloud, Computers · Tags: , ,

Since I posted this post (Transitioning to AWS), I completed the Udemy course, did plenty of hands on and proof of concepts to enable me to learn, I soon after discovered Azure. This was totally by chance – I went to a Cloud Meetup group in London where both AWS & Azure solutions were discussed, and curiosity got the better of me. I started by using the free credits by Microsoft on the trial account (which are only valid for 1 month), but immediately I was hooked. I was creating Virtual Networks, Network Security Groups, VMs, Load Balancers, reading how to create hybrid clouds, how to migrate from on premise servers to Azure using Azure Site Recovery, and how to automate deployment with ARM templates. Instantly this felt much more mature and a better rounded solution than AWS. Microsoft really has come a long way since Azure was first launched.

So this lead me to investigate the certification route, and I have decided to take the following exams:

70-533 – Implementing Microsoft Azure Infrastructure Solutions – Exam Link – Book (Released Feb 2018)

70-534 – Architecting Microsoft Azure Solutions – Exam Link – Book (Released April 2018)

So with new books not due to be released for a few months, we can only assume the exams will be going through a refresh – I will guess by removing or reducing the amount on the Classic Portal and focusing on the new Azure Portal.

 

So what am I currently doing with Azure other than labbing? Well I’ve moved my production servers to it already, I am working with a local charity to move some ageing Windows and Linux servers hosted in their office and in a DC to design a solution and migrate to Azure, and I am working with a small MSP to help them satisfy an Azure migration requirement/opportunity with a customer, and enjoying it.

Metropolitan Line Delay Journey Diary

30. October 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Travel · Tags: , , ,

Every day I take the metropolitan line from Chalfont and Latimer to Moorgate starting from about 7 to 8 am. Here is a quick diary of delays I have experienced.

Remember if your journey is delayed for more than 15 minutes you are entitled to a full journey refund -login to TFL and follow the Service Delay Refund link.

Note – only delays on the journeys which have affected me are listed:

Friday 27th October

Train: 07.41

Delay: 20 minutes

Refunded: yes

Signal failure around Wembley area. Train terminated at Harrow. Next running train terminated at Wembley. Took Jubilee line to Finchley road, changed back to Metropolitan line

Huawei Honor 9 Double Tap to Wake – Not Working Yes

21. August 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Android · Tags: , ,

I’m quite liking my Huawei Honor 9, and even EMUI 5.1 (see review here), but one thing I am really missing from my Oneplus One is the double tap to wake. That was such an awesome feature which soon became prevalent on many other handsets, so imagine my dismay, shock and horror when I couldn’t find the option on the Honor 9 / EMUI 5.1. Seeing as I was routed I quickly tried the steps detailed here (adding a line to build.prop and changing a line in /system/emui/base/hw_easywakeupmotion_config.xml files), but no joy yet  – it seems that the option isn’t exposed through the GUI unfortunately :/

Huawei Honor 9 Review UK

15. August 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Mobile Phones · Tags: , , ,

So my trusty Oneplus One has finally given up the ghost after 3 years of uninterrupted service. The battery started to lose charge, requiring charging about 3 times a day if I dared had the screen on, and then the charge port decided to work intermittently,, meaning I think I sweated this asset enough and it was time to upgrade.

The Oneplus 5 was just out so this made it on to the short list, as well as the outgoing Oneplus 3T. I considered other various offerings around the similar price mark, and while I would have liked to have 128GB on board, I’d consider expandable storage as an option too. I like to carry a lot of films and music around for the train journeys which don’t offer much signal, or at least of a good enough signal to stream.

The price of the 128GB Oneplus 5 was eye watering, it sure has increased from the initial budget launch of the Oneplus 1 to now the mid range of smart phone, so this opens up to other contenders as well. More »

Buy Monero XMR in GBP

18. July 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Computers · Tags: , , , , , , ,

I’m quite new to cryptocurrencies, but understand the high level theory, and have never had any need to buy any of the now famous Bitcoins for any reason, however recently I have tried to purchase some Monero (XMR) but wanted to pay in GBP. This has proved more challenging than I first thought it would be! Quite a few exchanges will convert Bitcoin to to XMR, but I couldn’t really find any that would take a direct payment in GBP and convert to XMR, especially at a reasonable rate. So I had to buy Bitcoin in GBP, then convert to XMR. Here is the route I took: More »

E46 Android Head Unit – Joying JY-BL121N2 5.1.1

09. March 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Android, Cars · Tags: , ,

After my last Erisin ES9746A Android head unit died whilst performing a hardware mod to improve the rather poor sound quality I hung on and waited for one of the new Intel Sofia 4 core based units – the first to release with an OEM E46 look was Joying, with their JY-BL12N2 model.

I have collected some useful links for this and other Intel based units below, mostly from XDA.  Note these are not MTCB/MTCD units, despite the threads residing under thoes sections!

 

E46 JY-BL121N2 General Queries – also includes info on the reverse / gearbox switch

Large general thread on Intel units – New Joying Android 5.1.1 2GB Units available very soon !

Steering wheel key customization – V3 (NO KILL) – stop processes killing on hibernate and key reassigning

General Roll Up / tips and tricks thread

Joying Feb 22nd 2017 Update – info on the latest update

 

Overall I am happy with this unit – it is lightening fast compared to my old dual core MTCB, the screen is much higher resolution and importantly the on board DSP is way better than the previous MTCB!  I have rooted, installed Viper4Android to tweak the sound further, and plan to add a reverse cam and DAB USB receiver next.

Useful Juniper Junos Commands

16. February 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Networking · Tags: , ,

Working with Configuration

Show previous configs :

show configuration | compare rollback ?

Compare current to previous version (in edit):

show | compare

Compare two previous versions:

show system rollback 17 compare 16

Show uncommitted changes:

show | compare

Perform rollback:

rollback <number | resuce>

Move a policy:

root@siteA# insert security policies from-zone <zone> to-zone <zone> policy <policy-name> before policy <policy-name>
root@siteA# insert security policies from-zone <zone> to-zone <zone> policy <policy-name> after policy <policy-name>

WebGL not working on Chrome, VMware SVGA and Server 2016

13. February 2017 · Write a comment · Categories: Computers · Tags: , ,

I was trying to use a website in Chrome which used WebGL through an RDP session to a Virtual Server 2016 (VMware) but was hitting an error about WebGL disabled.

There are various posts on the Google product forums but I couldn’t find the definitive fix there, although they pointed me in the right direction, in Chrome:

chrome://settings

  • Make sure use Hardware Acceleration is enabled

chrome://flags

  • Override software rendering list Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android
    Overrides the built-in software rendering list and enables GPU-acceleration on unsupported system configurations.  – set to ENABLED
  • Accelerated 2D canvas Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android
    Enables the use of the GPU to perform 2d canvas rendering instead of using software rendering.  – set to ENABLED
  • WebGL Draft Extensions Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android
    Enabling this option allows web applications to access the WebGL Extensions that are still in draft status.
  • WebGL Draft Extensions Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android
    Enabling this option allows web applications to access the WebGL Extensions that are still in draft status.  – set to ENABLED (if required)
  • WebGL 2.0 Mac, Windows, Linux, Chrome OS, Android
    Allow web applications to access WebGL 2.0.  – set to ENABLED

Restart Chrome and…bingo – it seems nobody enabled the top option, to override the GPU blacklist

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