Wondering where all of the posts have been? Well...
As of the end of 2025, I have moved to a new house.
So, I will be starting new projects, for many areas of the new house.
New home network, new lab. New electrical projects. New shop projects.
And, a massive new solar project.
So, December of 2025, I moved to a new home.
And, of course, that means moving my entire network, lab, everything.
So, for Project Ram, I am starting to dive into more electrical related projects. As connectors are an essential part to making something maintainable- I really felt I needed to upgrade the connectors I was using.
For my last major automotive project, Because, Racecar, you may, or may not have noticed the molex connectors I used in my Dash Fabrication Project.
While- they did work, they are not at all suitable, not to mention.... lack of water resistance, vibration resistance, etc...
So- this week, I decided to pick up a relatively cheap kit for Deutsch DT connectors and give them a try. These are a commonly used automotive connector, with locking pins, vibration resistance, and water resistance.
Problem: I have a handful of Mikrotik RouterOS based devices, and I would like a source-controlled versioning solution.
Solution: A simple bash script, with a cron job.
This post, provides a script, which allows automated backups of mikrotik configuration over ssh, from a linux host.
So, recently I decided to acquire a new Lenovo P520, which will be for running Unraid. Before, My unraid ran as a VM on my r730XD.
Now- it is bare metal on the P520, with a MD1200 disk shelf for its 3.5" HDDs.
One of my goals, I wanted to transition some of my VMs to leverage ZFS storage, hosted on this box.
This post goes through the steps of configuring Proxmox to leverage ZFS over iSCSI, hosted on Unraid.
This, is a short post containing knowledge I gathered on the various generations of Dodge Ram trucks w/Cummins Turbo Diesels.
This is part 4 of the Project Ram Series
For about a week straight, I have been hammering out various projects for this truck to improve reliability, performance, etc.
Two days ago, I finished my modifications for the AFC and fueling, which should drastically boost the horsepower.
Today's project is to advance the timing about 4 degrees from stock, fix the killer dowel pin, and ensure all of the timing case bolts are properly torqued with loc-tite.
This is part 3 of the Project Ram Series
Not even a week after bringing this truck home, I had already started the process of upgrading it.
Immediately after installing gauges to monitor the vitals, I started modifying the P-Pump to boost the horsepower up quite a bit.
This is the 2nd part of the Project Ram Series
If you plan on modifying a diesel, the single most important modification you can do... is to have proper gauges.
If you add adding fuel, your EGTs will increase. If your EGTs go too high, your engine dies.
If your lift pump cannot keep up, you will have a ton of issues dialing in your pump. A fuel pressure gauge monitors this.
If your turbo is not working, You will either make no power, or you will have EGTs through the roof.
For me- the three metrics I need to know are Boost, EGTs, and Fuel Pressure.
This, post introduces my newest automotive project.
Project Ram.
No... we aren't building a truck to shamelessly roll coal. Rather....
This, will be a truck, intended to be used as a truck. It will be beefed up a bit, and won't be slow. And, it will be able to haul a 15,000 gooseneck as well.
I am not building a show truck. Just a dead simple, reliable, multi-purpose truck.
I use git for source control when writing these posts. Eventually- my local editor ends up with 50 branches which have already been merged into origin/main, and I end up needing to manually go through and remove the old branches.
This, is a VERY short post, detailing how to create a git alias to automatically prune branches, which have been merged, or deleted on your remote.
If- you don't need steps on how to create the alias, then here is the command:
!git fetch -p && git branch -vv | awk '/: gone]/{print $1}' | xargs git branch -D
Otherwise, keep reading.
This- is the tale of hood-cat. The cat who decided to break into my house, assert dominance over my cat, pee on my chair, and make himself at home.
In Part 1, I built a solid steel shop table from plate and angle-iron.
This- was the end result. A simple, solid table.
Well, Today, I added a few... changes to this table. I added wheels, and solid tool mounts.
Want to learn about how a computer works?
Not- at a high level....
But, at a very, very low level, where you literally build a functional computer from transistors.
If so- this is a list of resources which I have found extremely handy for myself.
Also, because ADHD.... there is also a list of automation centric games, channels involving lasers, plasma, etc.
This year, I automated a cheap KVM switch by disassembling it, and installing a micro controller inside of it running ESPHome.
That was intended to be a preface to my next project. Fully automating my office / desk.
Well, the time has come to share the end result.
Introducing... KVM Assistant.
This post outlines how to accomplish the following activities:
This post centralizes data for configuration of Mellanox ConnectX Series NIC (Tested with CX3, and CX4)
This is part two, of a three post series.
I picked up a PiKVM a few months back. I finally got to use it earlier this week when Comparing Link Speed to Power Consumption.
But- it only works for a single PC. I need a solution for all four SFFs/Micros in my rack.
So... I picked up a cheap Display Port KVM for 70$, and hacked it to be controllable via Home Assistant.
Will changing the link speed of your current NIC, affect Power Consumption?
For me- I have 100G NICs in my SFFs. I don't need the full throughput.
So- will reducing the link speed, impact power consumption?
For this post- I will benchmark and determine the impact.