NAB 🇬🇧🇪🇺🔶:marmite:

IT. Foodie and cook. Real ale, Scotch and wine. Caravanner, campervanner, skier, humanist, home automator, volunteer, trustee and DIYer. Leisure vehicle 12v/24v expert. Not missed The Archers in 17 years. Eclectic music tastes (and love Eurovision). Often misunderstood. Usually the architect of my own downfall.

Alt-Avatar: Me (headshot)
Alt-Header: From rear of a narrowboat about to enter a tunnel

Octopus referral (get £50 when you transfer): https://share.octopus.energy/super-shade-568

Public Key

npub15f4qa4kq5usre75rsar03zz76gpczlhal9plsmqzjl5j959smkaqgprst5

NIP-05 Address

[email protected]

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs2y6sw6mq2wgpul2pcw3hc3p0dyqup0m7ljslcdspf06fz6zcdmwspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerfw36x7tnsw43q7kewdd

Publishing to

relay.ditto.pub

Author Public Key

npub15f4qa4kq5usre75rsar03zz76gpczlhal9plsmqzjl5j959smkaqgprst5

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Last Notes

2026-07-07 14:03:38 GMT

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@nprofile…kdr8 better, I think, would be if only joke candidates stood against him. He's going to win, so at least we'd be able to say he was the biggest joke candidate.

2026-06-10 08:58:57 GMT

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@nprofile…2q04 I would be surprised - given how hard @nprofile…yxsa found it, I can't see any MP putting up with the same multiplied by a thousand or more.

2026-05-31 15:39:35 GMT

Hmm. @nprofile…8d0p just updated #Vanadium which, apparently, now won't work unless I grant Google Play Services access to SMSs.... OK. I'll bite... Why does either Vanadium or Play Services need SMS rights?
#grapheneos #googleplayservices #sms
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/669/925/778/302/443/original/362392532b87a4d2.jpg

2026-05-21 20:42:39 GMT

'Ripen at home' mangoes on offer in #Lidl today. We're going to have quite a lot of mango chutney.
69p each and under-ripe is exactly what's needed.
That's Saturday's job anyway.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/614/493/921/182/240/original/7962f0de41be5322.jpg

2026-04-15 16:08:23 GMT

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@nprofile…2q04 no.

2026-03-24 07:48:51 GMT

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@nprofile…2q04 even so...

2026-03-24 07:47:33 GMT

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@nprofile…2q04 Good grief, I'm working up a sweat just thinking about how much that doesn't appeal to me ;-)
Bon journee.

2026-03-21 14:54:23 GMT

Well, that's it, the end of an era. Sid (after Sid James), my toy of the last 16 years is finally up for sale. He's had a good scrub this morning and he's about to be listed. The only problem is that I have absolutely no idea what he's worth - there's nothing like him for sale at the moment. Ah well, start high and see where we go.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/267/729/288/148/033/original/b3876692e79431f7.jpg

2026-02-13 22:09:49 GMT

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@nprofile…8d0p I'm sure this has been covered countless times before, but I can't seem to find a definitive answer... Is there any chance that call recording could be enabled automatically for all calls? I have a number of customers who are still running very old Android versions on their phones because call recording is pretty much a need-to-have for them and I'd love to get them upgraded.

2026-02-09 19:29:43 GMT

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@nprofile…kdr8 Possibly, yes. You can group all your sensors, helpers, automations, templates and scripts in one .yaml so you can keep everything together. See pic for the ones I have.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/116/042/321/034/209/560/original/ca85649e65c69ccc.png

2026-02-09 19:12:48 GMT

Continuing the process of migrating the #homeautomation from #nodered to #homeassistant and becoming more and more impressed by the functionality. The one part I was leaving due to its complexity was the hot water and central heating side of things. Worked out how to use 'packages' to keep everything together and got all the logic sorted. It works. I'm amazed!

2025-12-20 14:04:11 GMT

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@nprofile…cnek I figure he learned a "life's too short to make it about other people. Me. Me. Me." lesson.

2025-11-06 11:30:11 GMT

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@nprofile…x33s I agree, but this is a different point. The tax being discussed today is to help replace the revenue lost on petrol/diesel sales as people transition to EVs. Since fossil fuel taxes are effectively pay-per-mile, I don't think it makes sense to implement anything other than a pay-per-mile charge on EVs to make up for the lost income.

2025-11-06 11:13:40 GMT

Thinking about the suggestion of raising #tax on #EVs. There's certainly justification for pay-per-mile charges, but I can't for the life of me think of a way of charging that is fair and not open to abuse.
You can't ask people to meter their home charging.
You can't trust the odometer reading on the car.
You can't trust EV owners to report mileage truthfully.
You can't trust mileage data supplied by the car itself (even if all cars magically provided it).
Am I missing something?

2025-10-08 19:05:02 GMT

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@nprofile…pqg2 the Victron BMV-700 Battery Monitor is your friend. From what you've said, it's likely ideal. Plus if you want to expand your monitoring, it's got a ve.direct port which will plug into a Cerbo or Raspberry Pi running VenusOS at a later date.

2025-10-07 16:05:49 GMT

Not that we said this was going to happen. Oh no.
https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/online-security/discord-users-suffers-the-first-high-profile-age-verification-hack-and-its-unlikely-to-be-the-last
#osa

2025-08-18 14:12:22 GMT

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@nprofile…x759 @nprofile…32kp
Just snagged a P81 for £6.70 delivered. I don't think I need type C and the (slightly) bigger screen and (slightly) larger battery are more useful to me, I think. Feature set looks the same(ish) but less ROM. I figure if I find the P80 is what I needed, then I can probably find somebody who wants the P81, so it won't wasted.
I wasn't going to buy one at all - reliance on their app isn't appealing - never heard of GadgetBridge until you mentioned it, so thought I'd give it a go.

2025-08-08 13:27:04 GMT

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@nprofile…c8nq @nprofile…va03 if you reduce the amount of yeast to around 10%, you can leave the dough out of the fridge overnight. Flavour++
(also has the advantage that the gluten comes out without needing to knead it)

2025-08-06 11:11:10 GMT

Interesting post on the safety issues with the #why2025 badge: https://wiki.why2025.org/Badge/Fire_hazard
I've long argued that complex badges are exactly what nerdfests don't need. My experience is that the badge design team want to play with the latest and greatest and what they end up producing is nearly always broken in some way. More annoyingly, though, is that the badges are never, ever well documented.
What you end up with is a badge only a small proportion of the attendees will ever be able to use...

2025-07-15 16:29:19 GMT

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@nprofile…28h9 For what it's worth, I've had more coherent and reasoned responses from a Lorum Ipsum generator than my local MP.

2025-07-10 12:36:31 GMT

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@nprofile…28h9 My 'shed'. Air-con going full blast.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/114/828/955/480/273/601/original/d516e87ac8ee68a3.png

2025-06-03 15:03:24 GMT

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@nprofile…k2mh
1. Economy - Yellow
2. Energy - Red
3. Environment - Green
4. Health - Blue
5. Society - Cyan
6. Transport - Black
No idea why, they just seem right to me!

2025-04-02 13:00:08 GMT

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@nprofile…28h9 Is that a stationary cupboard, a stationary stationery cupboard or a mobile stationery cupboard?

2025-04-02 11:24:21 GMT

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@nprofile…28h9 That's a tad rash, isn't it?

2025-03-29 21:40:44 GMT

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@nprofile…xlhv Same phone, same problem. I bought a new USB socket for the phone, performed surgery and it was all great again. Until I dropped the phone and completely smashed it!

2025-03-17 22:29:53 GMT

Can anybody recommend a set-top-box I can run a #Jellyfin client on?
Ideally it would start/boot up into a Jellyfin client.
Ideally it would support HDMI-CEC.
Ideally it would have enough grunt to be able to play direct rather than require the server to transcode.
It definitely must not be made by Apple.

2025-03-11 16:47:42 GMT

Recommendations please...
We use @nprofile…sszg for domain registration and DNS, but need to set up a domain/DNS that's completely independent of existing systems.
So apart from @nprofile…sszg, is there a UK based domain registrar that will host DNS you'd recommend?

2025-02-23 15:16:48 GMT

Now that is a cheap PC - and more than capable of a large chunk of home lab type stuff.
https://aoostar.com/products/aoostar-n1-pro-intel-twin-lake-n150-mini-pc-with?variant=49937885921578
I've been really impressed with my Aoostar kit and have just ordered one of these to have a play with - ultimately it'l replace the 7th gen i7 in the campervan, but I also want to see how well it works as a Jellyfin server.
#justahappycustomer

2025-02-05 13:26:10 GMT

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@nprofile…x759
Sterling work, but... Good grief. I mean... Good grief.
If I were Alice and my blog was a labour of love, jumping through these ridiculous hoops would fast make the relationship turn sour. I'd cancel my hosting rather than go through all that (even assuming I could come to the same conclusions as you without having to pay £££s for legal advice).
And then there's the risk of fines/imprisonment/whatever.
Utterly utterly ridiculous.

2025-01-13 11:37:12 GMT

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@nprofile…x759 I think we're thinking alike. I think.
Your assessment makes perfect sense to me and seems to (in my very inexpert eyes) attempt to meet the letter of the law.
But... my discomfort is that I don't think it addresses the spirit of the law (hence my suggesting that I'm not sure there's a difference between a single-user and multi-user instances and that the law can't just be about users) and that Ofcom will argue that federated servers should all be treated as multi-user.

2025-01-13 11:06:27 GMT

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@nprofile…x759 Interesting and sounds entirely reasonable, but....
I can't help but feel a little uncomfortable with it. The point of the legislation is (as I understand it) to protect against on-line harms and I'm pretty sure that a single-user instance doesn't do this. I mean, surely it's not all about the user, is it? For example, members of a hypothetical abuse gang may be the users, but the people suffering harm may well not be.

2025-01-06 11:46:02 GMT

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@nprofile…x759 Thank you for this. FYI the URL for Jellyfin Howto is broken (but easy to work out what to do to make it work).

2024-12-22 20:36:55 GMT

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@nprofile…x759 if not, feel free to send some my way...

2024-12-11 12:21:13 GMT

Christmas present help please...
The Boy started getting into Dungeons and Dragons in the last year at sixth form and has found a good group of people at university. I'd like to buy him something D&D related he'd appreciate, but I know nothing about it.
Does anybody have any ideas? Links and recommendations appreciated. Ideally from first hand experience.
#dungeonsanddragons #dandd #christmas

2024-12-06 12:22:54 GMT

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@nprofile…093s
I know it's not going to help with humidity, but I have given up with DHT11 and DHT22 modules - they were all over the place. Building them outside the case (and away from the miniscule amount of heat created by the power supply and microcontroller) helped considerably, but where I don't need humidity, switching to DS18B20 was a good move - much more reliable, consistent and accurate.
Where I want temperature *and* humidity, the little Tuya Zigbee sensors are great.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/605/838/448/751/954/original/eab3b0d215cb4656.jpg

2024-12-02 11:31:40 GMT

Does anybody have a recommendation for a cheap Android STB that I can run Jellyfin on? Ideally:
1 - Supports CEC so I can use just one remote
2 - Is reasonably trustworthy (so no £10 generic boxes)

2024-11-23 09:39:24 GMT

Any chance of a hand with this Christmas themed quiz? Please? We're stuck.
Sorry for the lack of Alt text - lots to type and fat thumbs on my mobile.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/113/531/601/643/685/631/original/bf1ed11a2b11d58e.jpg

2024-10-30 14:56:24 GMT

Right. New PC has arrived and #LinuxMint installed. Time to unplug this Windows 10 box and see how I go with 100% open source in the office...

2024-09-04 07:50:00 GMT

I knew Facebook was good for something - a chance comment in one of the groups I browse every now and again pointed me at something I've been looking for for years - OBDII<-->MQTT. Fantastic. Ordered. Now just six months to wait for it. https://www.crowdsupply.com/meatpi-electronics/wican-pro
#homeautomation #vanautomation #mqtt #obd2

2024-08-31 18:54:49 GMT

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@npub198t…hasj blimey, that couldn't have been easier. Installed and working.

2024-08-30 21:30:38 GMT

Needed - Wordpress designer/builder for ad-hoc work.
If you are or you know somebody who can build a Wordpress site, have good graphics/design skills, can invoice and take payment in GBP, we want to hear from you!
Initially we need a static site replicating in Wordpress so the end user can edit/add to it. Once this is done, we may need additional work tweaking/updating other sites.
Sites will all be hosted by us.
Please boost!

2024-08-30 10:38:27 GMT

Finally admitted to myself that I made a mistake buying my last phone - a Doogee V30T. The battery life is fantastic (4 days), but everything else sucks - camera quality is poor, calls regularly drop at 2m5s duration, screen sensitivity is weird - scrolling jumpy, pinching does weird things, fingerprint reader doesn't work half the time. Had it a year and not sure I can put up with it for much longer. For the first time I'm looking at an iPhone.....

2024-07-14 19:55:43 GMT

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@npub198t…hasj that's got to be a piss-take account.... Hasn't it?

2024-07-13 19:36:30 GMT

After recommendations for Android games - something escape-room or puzzle ish (I liked The Room and its sequels). Absolutely no ads and no in-app purchases - I'd rather pay for the game and then be able to play it without nagging.

2024-06-16 14:36:25 GMT

Campervan update. Flooring.
Before and after.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/626/797/704/611/721/original/a93e7532db8ea43b.jpg
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/626/796/280/919/975/original/f8847bbf258aa9bf.jpg

2024-06-14 07:59:02 GMT

Campervan update:
Next job is to fit these (rear suspension airbags) - in theory a one hour quick install.
Then the ikea kitchen arrives next Thursday but before that I have to cut and fit the shower walls from furniture board. That's the bit I'm putting off - one mis-cut and wave bye-bye to a £200 sheet 😮.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/613/897/920/795/789/original/4d6d6fc545b50343.jpg

2024-06-12 16:41:47 GMT

Camper conversion update - shower walls templated, foot of bed templated and both ready to be properly cut from furniture board.
And then the ceiling.
Not too shabby considering I had no tools and no idea what scribing was when I started.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/112/604/631/378/306/385/original/b948941b06b6ae56.jpg

2024-06-05 10:01:16 GMT

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@npub198t…hasj Sorry. That wasn't my intention. I misinterpreted your toot and thought "He's in the same situation I was some years back. Here's what worked for me".

2024-04-10 17:25:58 GMT

A quick favour if anybody can help - I volunteer with a charity, Clothing Coventry (https://clothingcoventry.org/). They've just taken on a full-time administrator who needs a computer. I have a PC, keyboard and mouse, but I'm short of a monitor.
So.... Does anybody happen to have a monitor they don't need any more and they're happy to post to Coventry? Ideally 16:9 1080p minimum?
Your help would be very much appreciated.

2024-04-08 17:40:21 GMT

Aaaaargh. Have I mentioned before how much I hate #docker? Running paperless and wanting to consume .docx documents, it seems the only way is to install Tika (can do from bare metal bit it's a pain in the backside) and Gotenberg (docker only).
I don't hate many things, but there's a special place in hell for docker.

2024-03-19 20:09:03 GMT

Finally got around to working out how to install #Nextcloud (on a Debian VM under Proxmox behind a Caddy reverse proxy). Had to pull info from here, there and everywhere as there doesn't seem to be any straightforward documentation, but if anybody's interested, here it is:
https://debau.ch/2024/03/install-nextcloud-behind-caddy-without-docker
@npub16rd…3v3k @npub18kv…6pnx

2024-03-04 19:02:38 GMT

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@npub198t…hasj two routers for everybody at a Mikrotik conference many years ago.

2024-02-04 21:29:56 GMT

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@npub1yyt…t6x9 At least they can't stop you skipping the ads (yet).

2023-10-24 03:42:45 GMT

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@npub1e2p…aqmc I admin a holiday group on FB. They removed a post about travelling to Javea because it broke their cybersecurity policy too.

2023-09-04 18:45:12 GMT

The Boy's school have just sent the attached. Can't say I'm best pleased about this.
https://mastodon.me.uk/system/media_attachments/files/111/008/351/702/367/007/original/f0330dad4fd2492a.jpg

2023-07-15 15:37:07 GMT

Being paid £££s (well, pppps) to use electricity tomorrow and we have nothing to use it on - the car is already at full charge and it's too hot to turn heating on.

2023-05-26 07:23:44 GMT

Does anybody know of any cheap, second user document scanners that work with Linux? Have just discovered https://docs.paperless-ngx.com and thought it worth putting a scanner next to the letterbox so
open envelope --> put letter in scanner --> press 'go' --> digital letter appears in paperless --> put paper in recycling
Even better if the scanner somehow supports users so scans can go straight into the right account.
Plenty of cheap Fujitsu Fi series on ebay, but they don't seem to have Linux drivers.