what are you doing?

[Norren]

That really sucks, I had actually looked at trying Xenserver again recently, and I think I got a 404 for a link and was thinking that is a bit rubbish, then I remembered the fun times I had before with it, and just decided I can't be bothered with trying it again, I didn't look into it any further. I am not even surprised however, Citrix has always been a bit like that. KVM seems to be the best, although not sure what the best management interface is for it. Proxmox is also quite popular, I have used that and for most part seems good, although it can have issues too.

I might check those out if I get stuck with my Hyper-V setup. XCP-en seems pretty good from what I've messed with it so far, if I understand right it's from the Xen Orchestra guys. It's probably overly optimistic, but I'd love to learn in a few years that Citrix has to discontinue making hypervisor products entirely due to a lack of sales caused by sending all their customers to the FOSS community. It's only main problem thusfar seems to be that you can't get the windows version of Xen Tools 8.2 anymore, so Windows VMs run without proper guest mode tools. They have open source versions of Xen Tools for Linux, but Windows seems low priority for them.

I run Hyper-V on Windows 2012 R2, and although I will move away from Windows once that hits end of support, I do actually quite like Hyper-V, it actually runs FTV/MATV's dev servers. I have a standard license, which allows for the Hyper-V server and for 2 more installs as virtuals, so its a nice way to get 3 Windows servers from a single license. I can run any number of virtual machines, subject to hardware performance. I do not have a domain controller, and not even using active directory, it is just being a graphical OS and Hyper-V host. I have not needed to do any regedits, I just RDP into either the hyper visor or any of the virtual machines.

Are you perhaps running the Hyper-V core, the free one with no Windows GUI? and thus why you need the Hyper-V manager on a different host? If so then yes I consider that not worth the hassle, which is why I purchased Windows 2012 R2 Standard. You can get them fairly cheap on eBay, I have even seen data centre licenses which include unlimited Windows virtuals, I think I have seen them sub $200. Make sure it is a genuine and sealed physical microsoft DVD with oem or such license, not some trial or 'student' license, and certainly not any of the 'keys' or 'digital downloads' as those are just pirate scams. If the seller knows the key, its fake.

Yep, I am running Hyper-V Core. Just talking about my own use, I have a subscription to what used to be called the Microsoft Action Pack Service (I think it's still called MAPS, anyway?), so I can setup a 5 seat Windows Server build if I want, I just haven't. I might setup a Samba DC and try connecting Hyper-V Core to it just to see what happens. For the moment at least, my personal VM needs are pretty tame, and mostly related to dumb experiments like the time I used WSL to replace windows 10 Pro's SMB with Samba, although I am doing prep for setting up an opnsense firewall VM- I want to start getting into multiple vlans as preparation for a long term goal of updating the house into a smarthome. (Ideally I want to keep any smarthome stuff fully isolated from the internet for concerns ranging from privacy to security.)

I am curious to learn Docker/Kubernetes at some point, but low free time and an abundance of projects stand in the way, lol. In the not so distant future, it looks like there'll be a number of decent off the shelf Pi CM4 cluster based home platforms for hobby use, so I am looking forward to maybe dabbling in that if free time and product availability somehow line up. (That said, I only know a vague abstract of what those technologies do, so part of the fun is going to be learning details and finding out ways I can actually use them.)

Well I am sort of cheating, I set it up with just a single phone and new number and it has been running for several months, its had some issues which I had to work out, but It is only a family house phone I am moving so when happy with it I can just port the number over from the landline to the voip. It isn't some huge corp enviroment, although I have worked with those and some have been terrible.

Oh! From context it sounded like it might have been a business migration. Personal ones are way less headache inducing.

All of these are personal projects, even the tech ones. I left work just prior to the pandemic and stayed off when it hit to look after family. I do consider fully remote roles when recruiters call, but I'm not actively seeking a new role at the moment. I want to wait until there is a suitable level of normality / safety, take the family holiday which was cancelled previously, then go back to work. The tech projects I do for my own interests, and it keeps me upto date. The carpentry I do because it needs doing and we are fed up of hireing people who do the absolute bare minimum job and usually do it badly. i have built basic benches in the past for things, and replaced a door frame. I actually find it somewhat relaxing when taking it slow. And I know when it is done, exactly how well it was done, I know where the not so great bits are and the compromises. When we hire someone, we find out how badly it was done usually when it fails epically and I often look at it and go, why? That would have taken 5 minutes to have done that bit properly, and now I have to do all of it again because water got in and it rotted.

Good thinking on the sabbatical. People seriously underestimate the degree of contagions the IT team has to deal with. (Keyboards need to be easier to sanitize. ) It's good that it's letting you go at personal projects and get some physical stuff done. There's something just deeply satisfying about fixing things that stay fixed and don't need to be rebooted every few days.

 

[Maiku_Ando]

Looks like I killed the thread with my long waffle post, sorry everyone
Anyway, back on topic, the VOIP migration is finally done, the building that needed sanding and painting has had the back wall done (that was the area in most need of attention), we can't do more as out of wood stain and sander pads. Now I'm flicking between working on FTV's front page update and restoring a retro pc.

 

[Norren]

Nah, that going unanswered was all me. I had a reply half finished to it that was full of things like "I need to finish working on X..." and just kept going "... I'm just gonna go do that and post about it afterwards" and... yeah, too many different directions.

I would like to pick your brain about which distro is best to use for a baremetal KVM hypervisor, a cursory google left me somewhat confused as I was expecting it to be an actual distro of its own. I can't seem to get my new desktop to play nice with Hyper-V Manager at all, and I just don't feel like it's worth the time it's taking to figure out anymore. Maybe another thread for that, I need some help re-learning Linux in general.

I finally beat FF3! I first played the game back in the early days of NESticle, but holy crap, I have had the worst luck with savegames from power hiccups erasing cart saves to emulator glitches nuking .srm files to my Galaxy S2's battery doubling in thickness and bricking my phone 2 days before they patched in cloud saves for FF3 (DS) Android. The Pixel Remaster was the thing that finally got me over the hump- looking forward to when the modding community releases restoration hacks for those remakes. So much excitement for having finally gotten to see the ending of that game, finally. Maybe next I'll actually beat my Famicom cart.

 

[monsta666]

I wouldn't worry about your posts guys. Sometimes a little thread drift and wackiness is what we need. To me though it was like you two were speaking in Greek. I would say be careful with the covid stuff. I think I may have caught it a couple of weeks back but fortunately since I was fully vaccinated it was not too bad although I did feel like crap for one week.

I am currently polishing off my Kobayashi Maid S review. I have done one pass through it but will grab a snack then look at it again before posting it on the wiki section of FTV.

 

[Maiku_Ando]

Nah, that going unanswered was all me. I had a reply half finished to it that was full of things like "I need to finish working on X..." and just kept going "... I'm just gonna go do that and post about it afterwards" and... yeah, too many different directions.

I get that sometimes, although with me the worst part is I'll read a post or message, even emails and think about my reply, not actually write one but because I thought it through, I think I've done a reply. Sometimes it could be months later and I'll be thinking why hasn't the other person replied ? Or I'll just stumble across it again and think 'I'm sure I replied to that, but where is it?' lol So er yea if anyone is currently waiting a reply to something you sent me and it has been a while, feel free to chase me on it lol.

I would like to pick your brain about which distro is best to use for a baremetal KVM hypervisor, a cursory google left me somewhat confused as I was expecting it to be an actual distro of its own. I can't seem to get my new desktop to play nice with Hyper-V Manager at all, and I just don't feel like it's worth the time it's taking to figure out anymore. Maybe another thread for that, I need some help re-learning Linux in general.

I don't really know for a KVM distro, Proxmox would be an option, I have not used it a huge amount, only briefly at work. In terms of distros in general I use Debian stable for everything now, gaming desktop, laptop and servers. I used to use Ubuntu LTS for servers for a good number of years, and before that Debian again. When Daft was running FTV, we shared several servers over the years which I think all ran Centos. It was funny actually, some people were like "Don't mention MATV on here! How dare you!" And I'd be thinking, we have been sharing the server for years, it's not like we're in competition lol. At work I have used a lot of Centos, RHEL, Debian and Ubuntu. You could try Debian and the open sourced version of Linode manager, I have been meaning to try it but it is not overly clear how to set it up, I think they kinda got cold feet after realising they were giving away the very thing that makes them unique.
Feel free to make a tech thread or section somewhere, I am quite happy for FTV's forums to spread to other subjects. If people want more areas created, that's not a problem at all.

I finally beat FF3! I first played the game back in the early days of NESticle, but holy crap, I have had the worst luck with savegames from power hiccups erasing cart saves to emulator glitches nuking .srm files to my Galaxy S2's battery doubling in thickness and bricking my phone 2 days before they patched in cloud saves for FF3 (DS) Android. The Pixel Remaster was the thing that finally got me over the hump- looking forward to when the modding community releases restoration hacks for those remakes. So much excitement for having finally gotten to see the ending of that game, finally. Maybe next I'll actually beat my Famicom cart.

I'd suggest you get a UPS, they are not that expensive, I have several at home. Unlucky with the battery, that's a constant problem with lithium batteries in everything now.

I wouldn't worry about your posts guys. Sometimes a little thread drift and wackiness is what we need. To me though it was like you two were speaking in Greek. I would say be careful with the covid stuff. I think I may have caught it a couple of weeks back but fortunately since I was fully vaccinated it was not too bad although I did feel like crap for one week.

I am currently polishing off my Kobayashi Maid S review. I have done one pass through it but will grab a snack then look at it again before posting it on the wiki section of FTV.

Thanks, and lol, yea sometimes I can get carried away when talking about tech stuff. Glad you got through covid, I have had the vaccine as well but still keeping away from everyone just in case.

 

[Norren]

I'm getting my new drawing screen setup. (an XP-Pen 24".) It's no Cintiq, but so far the art's been pretty fun to work on! Some things I like my Surface better for, but it's so nice to not need to switch back and forth between another computer to do basic digital art. Trying to figure out a more ergonomic setup, but so far, so good!

I get that sometimes, although with me the worst part is I'll read a post or message, even emails and think about my reply, not actually write one but because I thought it through, I think I've done a reply. Sometimes it could be months later and I'll be thinking why hasn't the other person replied ? Or I'll just stumble across it again and think 'I'm sure I replied to that, but where is it?' lol So er yea if anyone is currently waiting a reply to something you sent me and it has been a while, feel free to chase me on it lol.

I think this is just a career hazard us tech types suffer caused by constant work interruptions.

I don't really know for a KVM distro, Proxmox would be an option, I have not used it a huge amount, only briefly at work. In terms of distros in general I use Debian stable for everything now, gaming desktop, laptop and servers.

Debian's what I was leaning towards, I've been bouncing around between Debian Distros as my Live USB of choice for a while now.

Feel free to make a tech thread or section somewhere, I am quite happy for FTV's forums to spread to other subjects. If people want more areas created, that's not a problem at all.

I made a Linux thread in General here, since I'm thinking pretty hard about trying to figure out a good way to switch back to it again on my desktop, too. I'll be dabbling in Live USB mode for a bit to see what sort of results I get out of it first since I have so much Windows software I'll need to get running. (Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop, Office, etc.) At least VS Code has native linux ports now!

I'd suggest you get a UPS, they are not that expensive, I have several at home. Unlucky with the battery, that's a constant problem with lithium batteries in everything now.

Aye, the power incident I mentioned was back in my teenage days, in the intervening decades I've slowly and steadily flooded the house with UPS units. Makes power outages irritating for entirely different reasons. (Echoing choruses of "Doooooot-doot-doot-doot" with no synchronization whatsoever. ) One of these days I want to get a whole house battery bank setup just to minimize the pain of that. Especially since the new house has more blinky power than where I used to live. (Actually, where I used to live, a storm washed out some powerlines and after they were replaced, the only power outages we ever had were really just scheduled maintenance outages... kind of weird in hindsight.)

 

[ImTakes]

I would say be careful with the covid stuff. I think I may have caught it a couple of weeks back but fortunately since I was fully vaccinated it was not too bad although I did feel like crap for one week.

Wow! It best be you continue to remain vigilant especially given your delicate nature. Seriously, glad you are better and may you continue to remain so.
Your reviews/commentary of specific animes you watch are a hit and miss with me but do for the most part make for entertaining reading. I would venture to say you have also greatly helped revive this old forum and am sure Maiko appreciates that.
Keep up the great contributions of witty reviews monsta-san!
Hasta luego!

 

[Norren]

Yay! Another familiar face has floated through! Long time no see, ImTakes! Hopefully everything has been well on that end of the keyboard!

 

[monsta666]

Wow! It best be you continue to remain vigilant especially given your delicate nature. Seriously, glad you are better and may you continue to remain so.

Thanks for the concern but I am fine now, at least Covid wise from that bout. There was some work based drama based on the delays in testing positive but that is another story for another day. Suffice to say that incident is a lesson in remaining vigilant as a person who tests negative today may test positive tomorrow! Got to ask the extra question about follow up tests!

Your reviews/commentary of specific animes you watch are a hit and miss with me but do for the most part make for entertaining reading. I would venture to say you have also greatly helped revive this old forum and am sure Maiko appreciates that.
Keep up the great contributions of witty reviews monsta-san!
Hasta luego!

Thanks again, the summer season has been rather poor but you may like Sonny Boy. It did not hit the mark for me but the series does go off the beaten path when telling its story. Hmm maybe I am too dumb to get it but to me it seemed like the show was more style over substance as the commentaries made were touched but never revisited. As a result lots of stuff was left hanging as the writer didn't bother to tie anything up and left it to the viewers imagination to fill in the gaps. Some people call this deep but to me that is lazy writing. Could be your thing though. It is trippy experience

I am currently looking at watching Mieruko-chan as I see episode two just came out today. It is Gogo anime time!

 

[Maiku_Ando]

Figured I should write something in here as it is looking a bit neglected. Recently I have got myself back into code again, and that means working on site related items. It is hard going as it is so out of date, but it is certainly making me think. I have also closed the wordpress blogs, and made myself a new blog right in the main site, there is also one for the old j-zine too, although it needs a lot more work. Check out my new blog for the longer version of what I have written here, link in the signature, or via the Blogs menu item.

In terms of anime, Girls Und Panzer has been a huge part of what I have been watching, I re-watched a bit of the TV series, I think it was from episode 8, simply because I happened across it and got watching it. I then went on a bit of a mission to watch everything that followed, the OVAs, Der Film and Das Final. I was on a search for more Maho so then read the Erika manga by the same author. Oh and I just got two boxes of anime bluerays. Maybe I should take a photo of that.

 

[Norren]

Life on my end of things has been a bit of a rollercoaster as of late.

Some drama happened in my D&D group three months ago and it drove me to make a big push to get the Tabletop RPG/Rules system for my JRPG ready for an ahead of schedule, unplanned, playtest of the system. I don't want to get too far into the drama itself, since it involves a member of the group getting into some deep trouble over a financial dispute that is continuing to spiral so insanely out of control that I cannot actually talk about it without potentially causing his lawyer problems. I've been acting as almost daily moral support to him for three months now and it's just... draining to the degree I can't even fathom how he's managing day to day- for me it mostly shuts off when we finish talking, for him it's 24/7.

The rest of my playgroup is pretty supporting of the playtest and has been helping with the crunch- As far as we all knew the friend would be forced to step away for a while and we would need an alternate game to play until his return, hence rushing to get things ready, but that turns out to have been mostly unnecessary. (although everyone is enjoying our playtests, so I am relatively happy about that.) I hit burn out weeks ago, but I'm getting things done still, so... yay.

Beyond that, I've been struggling with health as usual. I need to get my shoulder fixed since I tore my rotator cuff, had some misadventures with getting it diagnosed and next month I have to drive back to where I used to live to see the doc there since the doctor I got referred to here is just... not with it. Been over 60 days and I still haven't had my MRIs reviewed with me, only reason I know the problem is I read the radiology report.

Other than that... I've been getting some art done despite the arm, and have been lining up a lot of tutorials for trying to learn Grease Pencil in Blender. I also got myself a Steam Deck and have been getting it ready for my road trip. I'm planning to take this weekend off and just bingewatch anime. Got a lot of stuff to catch up on... I'll post that in the What are you watching thread, tho'.

 

[monsta666]

Currently playing Trails of Reverie. Well not sure playing is the right word more like watching one of the many daydreams which is basically a let segment showing some minor side stories for the various cast members in the game. Also on the FTV Discord server which I just found a few moments ago.

Got to also mention that I watched the Gunners first game in the Champions League in six years! Has it been that long since they were last Champions League? Where did those six years go?! Oh boy do I feel old. Well at least they won 4-nil! Whoop whoop!

 

[Kid-Wolf]

Still alive, and working full time at a job that I sometimes feel like I need to move out of, but have no idea what other place to work full time at for the moment.