Recent content on The Ginger Sysadmin Blog
Local West Michigan Technology Groups 
 
 
 West Michigan Linux Users Group 
 
 
 FREE 
 Primarily Linux and open source focused 
 Meets in Jenison at Georgetown Public Library 
 Register by emailing president@wmlug.org 
 and ask to be added to the mailing list 
 
 
 
 Grand Rapids Python Users Group 
 
 
 FREE 
 Python…
While I do believe AI (referring to LLMs as that is what everyone means 99% of the time when they say “AI” now) has some use in the world, I consider myself an AI Vegetarian 
; meaning I do not attempt to use AI in everything I do. For example, this blog is 100% written by me (a human) without the use of AI. In a world where LinkedIn is now flooded with AI generated garbage 
,…
Below is a list of resources I have found helpful for the various nonprofits I interact with. Everything has a free tier unless otherwise noted. 
 Email / Marketing 
 
 beehiiv Newsletter - Mailchimp alternative 

 
 Free up to 2,500 subscribers in a single list 
 Unlimited email sends 
 WYSIWYG editor 
 
 
 Google Workspace for Nonprofits 

…
Maybe License Your SQL Servers 
 If you are reading this, you are a developer who installed SQL Server Evaluation and the 180 day window expired, OR, someone setup SQL Server with Evaluation Edition, used it in production (“we will license it later”), and then some other unsuspecting admin (me) was fairly alarmed when they did a routine service restart and SQL failed to start…
As I have predicted for years now, the decision to stop native support for SMS/Phone 2FA in Entra has come. 
 https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/authentication/concept-sms-voice-retirement 
 
 They market it as security, it is 100% a financial cost cutting move, but sure…you can say it was security. 
 Should executives be using SMS 2FA? No. Do plant workers…
This blog is written as participant follow up material to my BarCampGR 2026 talk 1 
 About Actual Budget 
 Actual Budget 2 is a free open source budgeting software that supports all operating systems, including mobile (requires sync server). 
 Unlike other commercial budget software, Actual can be run completely locally, free, forever. There is no vendor lock in and your finance data…
Browser Extension Allowlist 
 When attempting to implement browser extension lockdown 1 (ie. only allowing authorized browser extensions to be installed), I came across some hidden extensions that needed to be allowed. Shortly after implementing a browser extension allowlist in Edge through Group Policy, users started calling and asking why the Teams/Outlook/Copilot sidebar 2 in Edge suddenly…
I spent a fair amount of time reading articles by both Yubikey and others that attempted to explain this process but I always hit a roadblock. I finally found an excellent article by Luiz Costa 1 that worked perfectly. 
 I am referencing Luiz’s article here as both a reminder for myself and to drive further traffic to it as it does an excellent job explaining this process, especially…
The Issue 
 Despite read only = no being set on a Samba share in /etc/samba/smb.conf , iOS shows a “Read-Only” flag with a crossed out pencil icon on any folder in the share when I access it from my Apple iPhone. 
 
 I previously used TrueNAS Samba shares and this was never an issue so I went to the Googles and found out why.
One of my recent projects was setting up Immich for a local FIRST Robotics team. For the past 10 years, they have used 2 Western Digital USB 3.0 HDDs to save all photos and videos for their business subteam. While I was shocked the 2 USB HDDs had survived 10 years of teenagers (nice job WD), it was time for something a bit newer. 
 Enter Immich 
, a “self-hosted photo and video…
Symptoms 
 As of March 2026 (time of writing), a bug has existed in GNOME for a few years that causes the display to go black after 30 seconds of inactivity (not suspended or locked, just goes dark). This behavior has been consistent when using OpenSUSE Leap 15.x and 16.x connected to an external display. When resuming from sleep, the screen will go black after just 30 seconds of inactivity…
I am a Systems Administrator living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. 
 Graduate of Grand Valley State University. 
 Volunteer Work 
 
 Organizer - Barcamp - Annual Unconference 
 
 Mentor - That ONE Team - FIRST Robotics Team 
 
 Event Volunteer - Creston Neighborhood Association 
 
 
 Community Groups 
 
 WMLUG 
 
 GRPUG 
 
 
…
The following are links to projects and tools I use, and other things I find generally helpful. 
 Apps I Run 
 
 Immich - Project Supporter 
 
 Actual Budget Finances - Project Supporter 
 
 Karakeep - RIP Pocket 
 
 Mealie Recipe Management 
 
 CommaFeed RSS Reader 
 
 Pi-hole - Ad Blocking DNS Server 
 
 OPNsense - Router/Firewall 
…