Discard (TRIM) with KVM Virtual Machines... in 2020!

While checking out some logs and google search analytics, I found that my post about Discard (TRIM) with KVM Virtual Machines has been referenced far more than I expected it to be. I decided to take this opportitnity to fact-check and correct that article. ...

2020-03-09 · Chris Irwin

Fedora Encrypted Root With Automatic Key Unlocking

Fedora’s installer will happily set up an encrypted install with root-on-lvm-on-luks (/boot is still unencrypted. Secure Boot might be handy here still). This is supported and works out of the box. However, while I’m present when I reboot this machine, it is also headless (no keyboard or monitor), so typing a passphrase at boot is problematic. But no problem, you can have up-to ten key slots for a LUKS partition, right? And you can use a keyfile for one of those slots, right? So it should just be a matter of updating the crypttab, right? ...

2020-03-07 · Chris Irwin

Migrate From Ikiwiki to Hugo

I recently decided to migrate this blog from IkiWiki to Hugo. I was expecting an ardous ordeal, but the entire task turned out to be fairly short painless. ...

2020-03-05 · Chris Irwin

Windows 10 Bootable USB from ISO on Linux

Getting updated Windows media is certainly easier than it used to be. Back in the day, you’d have to slipstream updates into your installation media. It was a pain, and prone to cause problems (mainly because you could slipstream other things in there, too). Microsoft has seen the light and provides ISO downloads of the current version of Windows (Note: This is not a “free” Windows license – you still need to pay for that, or install on a machine which has been previously licensed). ...

2019-01-05 · Chris Irwin

DDPai M6 Plus Dashcam Review

I’ve spent the better part of one and a half years with the DDPai M6 Plus. I bought it based on the positive Techmoan review. tl;dr: I’m somewhat disappointed in the device. Something simpler like an A119S is a much better buy. Some background on me and dashcams I had a Mini 0805 in my last car, and have two Mini 0805’s (front+rear) in my second car (I just had the two cameras, and moved the front one into whichever vehicle I was driving). I was actually quite happy with the cameras, despite some complaints online (overheat, soft/blurry video, etc). ...

2018-02-11 · Chris Irwin

Push It To the Limit #3

If you’re considering trying out autocross, I say go for it. I’m very new, and have found people at the two events I’ve attended (WOSCA #1, and PITL #3) to be friendly and extremely helpful. Additionally, you can do it with your own car. You don’t need some sort of special race-spec track beast. Both events have also had loaner helmets available (although I spent $200 and bought my own helmet meeting the appropriate standards). ...

2017-06-24 · Chris Irwin

Highlight Reel

Goal I want to combine a few clips together, with a 5-seconds of intro text on each one. Create overlay text in GIMP I created some overlay text in gimp, then exported to png files. An example (Note the transparancy, and drop shadow): Trim clips to length Using the methods I’ve described in previous ffmpeg posts, I trimmed the clips, ensuring that there is at least five seconds of lead-in on each clip for the text. ...

2017-04-18 · Chris Irwin

ZigZag Volvo

While driving through New York on my way to the Watkins Glen 2017 opening weekend, I encountered a nut in a Volvo zig-zagging through highway traffic. I decided use ffmpeg yet again (I’m starting to wonder if OpenShot would actually bring anything to the table at this point, besides crashing) Plan I want a video with the rear camera until the Volvo passes, then the front camera after. I want to use the front audio for the whole video. ...

2017-04-17 · Chris Irwin

ffmpeg part three - No more Boogaloos to give

Just like the first two times, I’m assembling my Watkins Glen 2017 track footage with ffmpeg. However, I encountered a small issue I didn’t last year, plus I decided to change things up a bit with codecs, and audio selection. ffmpeg requires protocol whitelist now I’m using pretty much the same concatenation command as last year (filenames are a bit different): $ for f in Front-*MOV; do echo file "$f"; done | ffmpeg -f concat -i - -c copy Front.MOV The error I got from ffmpeg looked like: ...

2017-04-17 · Chris Irwin

Using Metadoctor on HP/Palm WebOS Devices

My Devices I decided to update the 3/4 of my Palm WebOS devices. The Pre (not pictured) and Pre2 (middle) were my primary, daily-driver phones for over two years, from September 2009 through to spring 2012, when I acquired a Galaxy Nexus and made the jump to Android. The Pre3 (right) I also picked up on eBay. It came in box, with all accessories, and a spare battery. ...

2016-09-15 · Chris Irwin