Ducky One 2 Horizon Mechanical Keyboard and Linux

📅 January 29, 2021
It’s time for a new keyboard!

As good as the Logitech G513 might be with its Romero switches, RGB lettering, and low profile, metal design, the key caps have worn to the point of making typing an unpleasant and unreliable process.

Seeking an upgrade, I looked at a popular line of mechanical keyboards by a company called Ducky and settled on the Ducky One 2 Horizon with Cherry MX Silent Black switches.

Wow, what a keyboard!

Here are my thoughts using this sturdy, plastic wonder of typing fun and aesthetic delight.

SanDisk 256G Ultra Fit and Linux

📅 January 2, 2021
Are you looking for an itty-bitty USB 3 flash drive that is compatible with Linux and lost easily?

Does the SanDisk Ultra Fit work with Linux, and, if so, what is its performance like?

I had the chance to test this out, and here are my results.

My Adventure with 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Linux

📅 January 13, 2021
“Will 10 gigabit Ethernet work with a desktop Linux distribution?”

Curious to find out how well 10 gigabit Ethernet will work with a desktop version of Linux, I embarked on an experiment to see what hardware is required, how well it connects, and how well it performs with Linux Mint 20.

My experiment was met with a resounding success, and everything proceeded better than I expected! In fact, it was easy. However, the world of 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) contains differences not found in the 1 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) world. From hardware to software, there is learning required to make it all work. 10GBase-SR. SFP+. 10GSFP+Cu. Transceivers. DAC. Jumbo frames. These are terms you will not find on the side of a box in the electronics department of your local store. We are dealing with a different puzzle, so the pieces are different.

Here is my journey into this exciting world by setting up a very simple 10GbE network using Linux utilizing 10GBase-SR fiber optics and SFP+ DAC cable to hook systems together.

Intel NUC, Linux, Pi-Hole, and NAS – Part 8: LibreNMS and SNMP

📅 January 2, 2021
With the NUC project up and running fine with FTP, SSH, Emby, and Pi-Hole, why not expand its capabilities by turning it into a network monitoring station (NMS) as well?

Have you heard of SNMP? It stands for Simple Network Management Protocol, and it is a handy way to monitor network devices. SNMP is one of those seemingly dry, stuffy network technologies everyday users will likely never encounter or know about, but once you have had the chance to see it in action for yourself, you will think, “Oh, wow! This is cool!” and wonder how you managed to live without it.

Whether you have experience using SNMP or not, it is a great learning experience that has real use and worth becoming familiar with.

This article will show how to install an NMS called LibreNMS on the NUC running Xubuntu 19.10 in order to monitor port traffic on a network switch using graphs in a web page that we can call up from anywhere on the local network. We can even monitor Pi-Hole statistics using SNMP!

Ready? Let’s have fun!