Is it great “out of the box”? No, not really. It needs a few tweaks to make it more usable. But that’s personal taste and most people use it without any changes. It’s my “daily driver” operating system, but I also am frequently on my Linux machines.

Official Windows site

• https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/

The post Windows 11 first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

No matter what the issue, your data is at risk when it happens. A good disaster recovery plan will get you back on your feet quickly after something happens.

We can provide a comprehensive evaluation of your current plan, or help you devise one that meets your needs and budget. Reach out today and weâ€ll get things started.

More info…

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The post Can you recover from a disaster? first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

Mattermost is an excellent free alternative to Slack. Setting is up in a container on a Synology server is a fairly easy job and is well covered by Marius Bogdan Lixandru on his blog here:

• https://mariushosting.com/how-to-install-mattermost-on-your-synology-nas/

If you don’t already have it set up, take a moment to get things set up via that tutorial. This guide presumes that you are using that setup.

Verify Mattermost is set up

Once your Mattermost server is set up, use the web interface or the Mattermost client to access your plugin management here:

• https://(address to your Mattermost server)/admin_console/plugins/plugin_management

Under “Upload Plugin:” by default, you will see this message:

Upload is disabled and you cannot add plugins.

Enabling uploaded plugins

Fortunately, it’s easy to get this changed. The container setup that Marius uses, has the files easily locatable for each container, and editable via Synology File Station in your DSM.

1. Log into DSM on the host NAS and open File Station.
2. Navigate to the docker/mattermost/config folder. You should see something like this:
3. Double click config.json to edit this file.
4. Find “EnableUploads” and change it from false to true so that it looks like this:
5. Save the files and exit the editor.

This is all the configuration necessary to enable Plugin Uploads in Mattermost, but the server will need to be restarted in order for the change to work.

Restarting Mattermost

The setup tutorial linked at the beginning of this guide uses Portanier.io to manage containers and stacks. The Portainer.io address is the IP address of your NAS at port 9000. Something like this:

• http://(NAS IP address):9000/#!/2/docker/stacks/mattermost

Navigate there, and login in. You might need to navigate to your “local” instance. In the left column pick Stacks from the menu:

Within Stack you will see any stacks set up including ‘mattermost’:

Click on “mattermost” and the Stack details opens up with a containers section. CLick the checkbox next to “Mattermost” and use the “Restart” button in the header to restart:

After a minute or so, the container will restart and Mattermost will be running. You can verify that Plugin uploads are working by navigating to the Mattermost System Console >> Plugin Management and seeing the “Choose File” button is active in the “Upload Plugin:” section:

Once that’s done, you can upload plugins and expand the functionality of your Mattermost server.

The post Enabling Uploaded Plugins on Mattermost in a Synology Container first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

The post Using tablets as desktop external monitors first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

VS Code also was able to import the custom color scheme I use for editing. This might seem OCD, but having consistent colors adds a real dimension to the code that makes reading it far easier and gives a quick and intuitive understanding at a glance, as opposed to having to parse the code mentally. Good color coding can make or break the experience. VS Code also has a great ecosystem of add-ons and other extensions that replicates and even exceeds what Sublime Text has.

Best of all, VS Code is Microsoft’s gift to the developer community and it’s a free and open source project. Yep, that Microsoft. It’s actually been around for a while, but is gaining traction in all sorts of circles. Even better, VS Code doesn’t care what your underlying OS is. It works equally well on Linux, Windows, and MacOS.

Where to get Visual Studio Code

If you edit any code (not just PHP) give VS Code a whirl.

• Get more info (and download it) at https://code.visualstudio.com/
• Check out the marketplace of extensions.

The post Visual Studio Code first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

Unfortunately, one of the things that changed was the behavior of the command prompt, and I don’t think the new version is an improvement. The regular user prompt stayed the same:

But the root prompt changed. Actually, it didn’t. In older versions, when you did something like sudo into the root account, you got a prompt like this:

In Linux Mint 19, the root prompt remains the same green color. This isn’t the end of the world and everything works fine. Despite that, I always found the red prompt to be an excellent visual indicator of the elevated privileges that the root user has. It prevents me from just issuing commands that might be problematic, or doing something that I actually want to use my chris account for.

Switching the prompt back

The good news is that it’s really easy to get the older 18-style prompt. Simply edit ~/,bashrc (except that comma should be a period, but WordPress is giving me fits if I leave the actual file name in — same thing below) and change these lines:

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
   PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}[33[01;32m]u@h[33[00m]:[33[01;34m]w[33[
00m]$ '
else
   PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}u@h:w$ '
fi

to

if [ "$color_prompt" = yes ]; then
   if [[ ${EUID} == 0 ]] ; then
      PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}[33[01;31m]h[33[01;34m] W $[33[00m] '
   else
      PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}[33[01;32m]u@h[33[00m] [33[01;34m]w $[33[00m] '
   fi
else
   PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}u@h w $ '
fi

Save the file and run source ~/,bashrc to reset your terminal.

The post Get the red root prompt back in Linux Mint 19 & Newer first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

Synology DS718+

Please note that this story is from 2018, but is still accurate, even if it refers to a fairly old product. Soon after writing this, I had my DS718+ replaced with a DS918+ that has caching that works as it should. That was recently replaced (and made a secondary NAS) with a phenomenal DS1821+.

The Synology DS718+ is one of Synology's flagship models and it's an excellent NAS with high-end features. One of those features is the ability to add SSD caching. After experimenting with rolling my own Synology NAS, I decided to pick one up to replace the DS215j I had outgrown.

Being a 2-bay NAS, my intention was to buy two identically-sized drives (4TB in this case) and put them in a RAID configuration that allows for hardware redundancy. This is how my DS215j is set up and it works great. My "zero-bytes lost" data retention policy is intact and will remain that way.

Since SSDs are a lot faster than mechanical hard drives, having one for caching should improve throughput on the NAS considerably. I planned to add an SSD as well. Unfortunately, the best way to describe SSD caching on the DS718+ is "useless".

SSD caching is there, but good luck getting it

I will be clear about one thing: the ability to use an SSD as a cache does exist and is a legitimate feature of this NAS.

The issue is that order to use it, you need to use up one of the two drive bays. Another option is to purchase a Synology expansion box that costs $500 to expand your $400 NAS. More than doubling the investment doesn't make sense to me, nor does halving the capacity of my NAS and eliminating the ability to have a redundant array.

Nowhere on Synology's site (at least as of today) is there any indication of this severe limitation. There is no asterisk next to the feature on the list, nor anything pointing to its crippled nature.

Asking didn't help

I reached out to Synology chat, tech support, and a regional sales manager. I was told by each that "yeah, that's pretty much it: use a drive bay or do without it". They did try to deflect my concerns by trying to talk about use cases in case the SSD caching wouldn't really offer any speed benefits. I'm sure there's some legitimacy to that point, but it doesn't take away form the fact that it's really a non-feature, and one of the reasons I purchased this model.

As a friend pointed out:

Could you imagine if Intel says a chip supports caching, but you will lose half the cores in your chip, or if it will reduce on-chip memory by half if you use that caching?

I even posted that in one of my messages to Synology tech support and they ignored it. I guess advertising a feature that's not really usable is how they prefer to do things. Again, a simple asterisk would have helped clarify the limits of this feature. That asterisk would have saved everyone a lot of grief.

A possible workaround that doesn't work

The DS718+ does have an eSATA connector, which is how the $500 expansion box attaches. You can attach other drive enclosures, but there are serious limitations, including the inability to use them for SSD caching.

To quote my tech support adviser:

You can use external eSATA drives for storage but not caching but we can't guarantee compatibility with every eSATA enclosure. Only single bay enclosures are supported and you need to provide the enclosure power separately. These do not act like internal storage and thus cannot be used as storage for all packages and features on the NAS. Rather, the storage appears as another shared folder. The same limitations apply for USB drives as well.

So some minor expansion without the $500 box is possible, but there's no way it's going to work for caching.

It works well in another model

The next model up in Synology's roster is the 4-bay DS918+. It has the same processor as the DS718+ but has more system RAM (4GB vs 2GB). Aside from that and the extra bays, there are two M.2 NVMe slots that can be used to hold SSDs, which in turn can be used for caching. The DS918+ costs around $150 more than the DS718+ and it's a good proposition since it actually supports DDS caches in a meaningful way. It can bust the budget for home users, though.

I did ask Synology for a courtesy upgrade and was rather brusquely told that my request was "unreasonable". I also was told that I "needed to work it out with my reseller". Interestingly, most Synology units contain a "do not contact your seller with problems, call Synology" message in the box. I guess that changed.

My reseller in this case is Amazon. After explaining to Amazon that Synology represents the DS718+ as having a feature that is unusable in nearly every reasonable use case, we came to an arrangement that satisfies me. I now feel like I'm getting the features I paid for.

I still like Synology, but am disappointed

Synology is a good company and they make excellent products. They just blew it with the implementation of SSD caching and the way it's represented on the DS718+. That the DS918+ gets it so right shows that they know how to do it. Synology simply made some poor engineering and marketing decisions. In the end, I'm happy with the outcome, but that was Amazon's excellent customer service, not Synology's.

As I explained to Synology:

In the end I am disappointed with Synology's response and general attitude, but will continue to be a customer. I will go into future purchases with open eyes and a different expectation, however.

And I will. I hope when it's time to purchase my next Synology NAS, they have clear information about not only its capabilities but its limitations.

The post Synology’s DS718+ SSD caching is crippled first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

My Synology DS215j is a great little machine, and has been chugging along without issue for nearly 3 years. Being one of the least-expensive Synology NAS units, itâ€s also one of the least capable. Itâ€s slow (but not sluggish), has limited memory, and some of the software available to bigger and badder units is not installable on the lesser units. None of this is an issue per se. Itâ€s actually expected given the cost of entry.

Synology DS215j

Even with its limitations, at around $179 (in 2015) for a 2-bay NAS, Synology’s budget NASes a great deal for the home. The newer DS218j is similarly-priced and has upgraded specs. It’s worth a look if you need basic features. My needs have recently outgrown what my basic NAS can provide.

I am a relentless tinkerer and I remembered seeing that Synologyâ€s DSM OS is based on Linux and parts of it are open source. This means that, at least in theory, itâ€s freely available to put on whatever hardware I want.

When is a Synology not a Synology?

There is a project called XPEnology that is a port of DSM that you can run on lots of different bits of PC hardware. XPEnology doesnâ€t seem to have a definitive site but two that have good and current info are:

• https://xpenology.club/
• https://xpenology.com/forum/

XPEnology.club even has some good advice:

For reliable operation of the DSM, you should buy the original product from the manufacturer!

If you are not yet familiar with Synology devices, itâ€s time to buy one!

If youâ€re new to Synology or just having a home or small business NAS this is perfect advice. Buy one. Do not make your own. Read no further.

That said, I do want to share my experience setting up an old PC and some spare hard drives to run DSM. Itâ€s a fun exercise, but at the risk of spoliers early on, itâ€s not really worth the time or effort.

Where I started

I had a spare Dell Optiplex 780 lying around that I bought used a couple of years ago. Itâ€s old. Like Core 2 Duo old. Despite its age, itâ€s a solid machine. I have a 120GB SSD installed and 8GB of memory, which I expanded to 16GB (its max) using some other leftover hardware. There are 3 SATA ports on the motherboard, but only 2 SATA power connectors, which presented a problem later on. Overall, itâ€s a decent basic machine and perfect for this experiment.

After doing some online reasearch about installing DSM on non-Synology hardware, it appears the easier route is to virtualize DSM as a guest OS rather than having it run a on “bare metal”. This just simply means I will need a virtual machine manager. I dubbed the project “FrankeNAS”.

I chose Linux Mint as the host OS since Iâ€m familiar with it and itâ€s free to install. And I went to my virtual machine manager of choice: VirtualBox.

Getting my Proof of Concept

PLEASE NOTE: The instructions here are how I got my “proof of concept” set up. Many of these practices are bad security and would be dangerous for a machine that I plan to use live. That wasnâ€t the intention here. I merely wanted to get things working. If I decided this was going to be set up for “production” use, I would start over and use more secure settings.

Here are the steps I took to get things going:

• Boot machine into BIOS
  • Verify all hardware happy and recognized
  • Verify virtualzation enabled (this is critical to get 64-bit support for the guest OS)
• Install host OS (Linux Mint 18.3 64-bit)
  • Set up frankenas user as administrator
  • Set up frankenas user to auto log in (very bad idea if you want good security)
• Install latest version of VirtualBox

At this point, I verified the machine boots into the desktop correctly and everything appears to be running fine with a stable and updated host OS.

• Set up a new virtual machine according to the instructions here: https://xpenology.club/install-dsm-6-1-on-virtualbox/
  • I used 2 CPUs and 10GB of memory (this leaves 6GB for the host OS, which is more than enough)
  • NOTE: The virtual machine actually needs BRIDGED networking, not NAT as those instructions say
• Boot the virtual machine
  • Wait approximately 3-4 minutes for it to fully boot
  • Visit http://find.synology.com and follow the Instructions
    • This “finds” the machine on your local network
    • Once found, follow the instructions to install DSM
  • Once DSM is installed, boot the virtual machine.
    • Note the IP address of the Virtual machine and go to http://[ipaddress]:5001
  • Using the web interface to DSM, play around and install a few applications
  • Attempt to log into my Synology account

And this is where the major issue with running Synology’s DSM on your own hardware cropped up.

How Synology locks it down

I couldnâ€t log into my Synology account from the FrankeNAS. I just kept getting a bunch of generic errors. So I poked using Google around and found out the main issue is that Synology requires the MAC address of the network card(s) and a valid serial number, which are tied together, in order to log into your account.  This is part of the Synology hardware.

This approach makes a lot of sense and I applaud Synology for having some protection in place to make sure things are running on genuine Synology hardware. But it gets in the way of people like me experimentally hacking things together.

I did some more research and there are ways around this. But these sneaky ways to fake out Synology also involved editing very low level files in a boot loader in a virtual machine, trying to find a “valid” serial number / MAC address combo and a few other things that frankly seemed like a lot of work. I even had an idea that you could purchase an older used Synology as a donor, and use the Serial Number and MAC address from it but didn’t try that.

Ultimately, I decided to just see what the machine was capable of without logging into my account. you can do quite a bit, in fact.

Itâ€s not really that bad

Any NAS is going to need storage (AKA hard drives). I originally had no larger hard drives installed on the FrankeNAS hardware. I had 3 2TB hard drives of various vintages lying around. Due the lack of SATA connectors (I had three, but one is in use already) and the lack of power rails (I had two for SATA, but one was already in use) with some cobbling, I was only able to get two of the 2TB hard drives working. This was enough to set up a RAID 1 to mirror them. After configuring VirtualBox to hand over full control of the hard drives to the guest OS, things were working pretty smoothly. The FrankeNAS now had 2TB of storage.

As alluded to earlier, not being able to log into my Synology account limited some of the features of the Synology NAS (and the DSM OS) like being able to set up a “QuickConnect” ID and a few other things. Surprisingly, pretty much everything else worked. The major stuff like cloud syncing, the various “Station” apps, file sharing on my local network, reports, Drive, etc. all worked fine. The Core 2 Duo is no speed demon, but it was running circles around my old NAS.

I let it run a few days, transferred various files onto it. I didn’t move over to it (it’s not production ready) but was playing around, installing some of the packages forbidden to the DS215j, and really enjoying the speedier access to the DSM desktop, speedier loading, and a generally better experience.

Donâ€t trust old hardware

This was an experiment done on a budget of around zero dollars using leftover hardware. As such, no real reliability was expected. And sure enough, after a few days, one of the hard drives (which is close to 8 years old) started throwing errors. It was still working, but the FrankeNAS was detecting errors and popping up all sorts of warnings.

I did some quick math and knew that anything I decided to do for real would need new hard drives (Synology or FrankeNAS) but I would still need a main server. Even something relatively small but capable enough to run a NAS would cost $200 – $300 and take several hours to get set up, secured and running only the bare minimum of things. This is when I decided it was a fun experiment, but the price of a newer faster NAS (around $400 for a really nice one) wasnâ€t punitive considering that it would work well right away, not require hours of additional tinkering, and not be a cobbled-together bunch of hardware and software with no support.

Synology DS718+

Get new hardware

I opted for a Synology DS718+, which is one of their flagship “plus” models. This thingâ€s got a 4-core Celeron and can handle up to 6GB of memory. Even though itâ€s only got two drive bays (expandable to seven) itâ€s stout as is, even if the SSD caching is effectively useless. Given that 4TB drives hover just under $100 on sale, this was a fairly inexpensive upgrade. Having 4TB of redundant storage and a dedicated server for under $600 is a helluva deal.

Another nice bonus is the form factor. The FrankeNAS is a large machine and would needed external drives on it, whereas the DS718+ is about the size of a medium loaf of bread. The FrankeNAS also would use a lot more power than the DS718+.

In the long run it was a better value proposition to have the real thing.

The post Rolling your own Synology NAS first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

My smart phones have always been Android-based. Since Android phones are produced by multiple vendors (iOS only runs on Apple phones) Android phones and tablets tend to have more advanced features earlier than Apple phones. Competition is a good thing. Of course, it isn’t perfect. Apple’s tighter control can add to stability. But for me, having more features (both hardware and software) is worth the occasional (rare, frankly) minor glitch.

Along with my phone, I also have an Android tablet and am quite happy with it. It was half the price of a comparable iPad and had better hardware specs. Since my phone is also made by the same manufacturer, they work very well together.

Oh and Android integrates nicely with Linux (since it is roughly based on the Linux kernel).

There’s nothing wrong with iOS, but it doesn’t work for me. It really is personal choice, and Android is my choice. Try both and pick the one you like.

Where to get information about Android

• Official site: https://www.android.com/

The post Android first appeared on Chris Mospaw.

My setup at home is relatively simple: I have a music folder (either on a local hard drive or on my NAS) that I want my player to access. I generally like to shuffle the entire library and skip over tracks that I’m not on the mood to hear.

Great Features

Clementine is based on Amarok 1.4, and has a straightforward user interface. It connects nicely to my library no matter how it’s attached, and even has a “Dynamic Mode” smart playlist feature that works in a way that makes me happy to use it. There are also a lot of online service integrations, but I haven’t really dived into those since I’ve got enough local files.

Clementine also offers an Android remote control app so I can control my music from my phone or tablet. This is nice when all my desktop is doing is playing music. I can change things without waking it and firing up 3 monitors.

There are prettier and fancier music players out there for all operating systems, but if you’re looking for simplicity along with a variety of features Clementine is hard to beat.

• Official Web Site: https://www.clementine-player.org/
• Downloads (Linux, Windows, OS X, source code and even Raspberry Pi): https://www.clementine-player.org/downloads

The post Clementine first appeared on Chris Mospaw.