technomancy made simple
Ubuntu has been getting less usable year by year ever since moving to systemd init. This year, the new papercut is that NetworkManager will violently conflict with and override anything you set in /etc/netplan, unless you manually tell it to bugger off. This is a particular problem on systems that need network bridges (like KVM hosts), since NetworkManager Continue reading Ubuntu 26.04, KVM,…
If you ve ever been as frustrated as I am at Ubuntu s technically, systemd s bog stubborn refusal to use the DNS servers you specify in your network configuration, this is the post for you. I personally think it s Bloody Stupid Johnson levels of dumb to insist on creating a local DNS resolver on every system instead of just Continue reading Configuring systemd-resolved to use custom DNS
It is now Anno Domini 2025, and for some reason, people keep trusting email. That needs to stop. Let s talk about why but first, let s talk about why I m telling you this now. All things happen in cycles, including grifting. And folks, we are at an absolute peak of griftitude right now, similar to the days of snake Continue reading Please STOP trusting email.
As usual, I m self-documenting a project while I work on it. Rustdesk is an open source remote control utility that caught my eye about a year ago; it s cross platform and allows you to self-host your own relay server so that you can connect securely from one machine on a private network to a machine Continue reading Rustdesk Server on Ubuntu 22.04
We ve all noticed that software never seems to get any faster no matter how much faster the hardware gets. This easily-observable fact is usually explained in one of two ways: Software devs are lazy, and refuse to optimize more than they absolutely must Software devs are ambitious, and use all available CPU cycles / IOPS Continue reading Salter s Screwdriver Theory of Latency
The last several machines I ve built and several long-running machines with nothing wrong with them have suddenly started displaying strange errors regarding Microsoft 365. The affected machines can neither register Office365 apps to the entire machine successfully, nor will they accept user logins to the Outlook desktop app. Although you don t get any obvious errors when Outlook Continue reading…
If you re running Windows VMs beneath a Linux KVM host, you ve very likely been plagued by an annoying issue: they start up with the wrong time by several hours, every time they re rebooted, no matter what you do. The issue is that Windows syncs its time with the local hardware clock, and in KVM s case, Continue reading Windows, KVM, and time zones
Recently, I acquired a new client with a massive load of technical debt (in other words: a new client). The facility internet connection appeared to go down for an hour or two every day, typically in the mid-afternoon. Complicating things tremendously, this new client had no insight into its own infrastructure: the former IT person Continue reading Adventures in network repair
I blew several INCREDIBLY frustrating hours trying to troubleshoot issues installing Google Workspace Sync and Microsoft Office 365 on multiple Windows 10 workstations today. Searching for failed to create profile errors when setting up a Google Workspace Sync user for Outlook frequently nets you advice to fire up Windows Credential Manager and delete rogue credentials. Continue reading PSA:…
I recently bought a server which came with Samsung PM1643 SSDs. Trying to install Ubuntu on them didn t work at first try, because the drives had 520 byte sectors instead of 512 byte. Luckily, there s a fix get the drive(s) to a WORKING Ubuntu system, plug them in, and use the sg_format utility to convert the Continue reading 520 byte sectors and Ubuntu