Making a Machine Yours

I talk a lot about the things I use. I want to focus a little on a different aspect, making the machine comfortable for you.

Why I use the programs I do:
A big part of this is simple because it is what I am used to using. Spending time with a program will get you familiar with it and then any thing else just makes it frustrating even if it does the same thing. A good example for this to me is WinSCP versus Filezilla.

I Have used FileZilla for about 6 years now. I tried using WinSCP but found it wasn't an intuitive transfer so I dropped it. Could I have figured it out, probably it doesnt seem hard to use, it just wasn't what I was used to. That being said will I ever switch from FileZilla? on Windows probably not unless it starts going to crap, however Linux is a different story. I use the native commandline SFTP client.

What else do I do to make a machine my own?
Wallpapers, I am constantly changing my wallpapers on my machines. I tried about 300 images on a windows machine until I realized it was freezing the machine up, now I just use kitty to change the shell background. The Linux box I use has over 2000. I have a script that rotates it every 10 minutes in a cronjob.

Alias are also a great way to make something more homely on a machine. I also use a chrome extension called Stylish because it makes it so I can alter websites to be darker or different in some way that is more fun (Youtube has a Nyan cat loading bar etc).

Little things like that are what add personality to a machine and are what make it more fun to work on that particular machine in general for me.

Synergy

As in the software.
Synergy is a software that will allow you to use a single keyboard and mouse across multiple computers. Essentially it is a virtual KVM.

I have 3 computers that I use at work that I go back and forth constantly with, 2 Linux boxes and a Windows box. Synergy means I don't have to have 3 keyboards.


I stole this image from their website but basically this is what it looks like...



It is available for free on github.

I use the paid version for 2 reasons, 1 it has a secure connection option and 2 I believe in supporting softwares that I find very useful.

https://symless.com/synergy

Security Cameras

Some Back Ground:

Perhaps it was because of my time spent as a life guard watching people but I love watching people, and watching them in awkward situations, and watching what they do when they think no one is looking. Anyway this has lead to a love of watching surveillance videos as well as a paranoia about security (not like I have much worth taking).

The situation:
At work there has been some vandalism...

So we did some reconnaissance via some home made security cameras.

What I did:

ManyThing app

https://manything.com/

It was a quick and easy set up plus the first camera is free! For the convenience I think this is totally worth the prices they have as well.

The camera is blank in the picture due to it being offline. If I remember I will upload another one later with it on.

Are there other ways to do this? Absolutely I have seen many ways of doing this, but this was fairly easy and suited my needs perfectly.

Also due to getting ready for a little one I have recently done the same thing as a way to create a wireless monitor for our kid!

**I need to start adding pictures these get boring if they are just texts....

Cisco ASA VPN Quick Notes

I thought I would do a quick notes section on some of the Cisco VPNs and problems I have seen.

If you use a base set of commands or if you use the wizard almost always the problem is on the other end but its nice to have proof.

Some thing I recommend is to not allow a VPN connection to even be set up until they fill out a form for your end that includes all the details. I will make a basic one and upload it in another post, as well as the basic CLI commands to create one if you aren't using the wizard as it is useful info to have around.

Here are a few commands that will help you debug the tunnel.

Check Phase 1 Tunnel ASA# show crypto isakmp sa detail | b [peer IP add]  Check Phase 2 Tunnel ASA# show crypto ipsec sa peer [peer IP add]  Display the PSK ASA# more system:running-config | b tunnel-group [peer IP add]  Display Uptime, etc. ASA# sh vpn-sessiondb detail l2l | b [peer IP add] ASA# show vpn-sessiondb detail l2l filter name <peer_address>  

Re-establish VPN Connection ASA# clear ipsec sa peer <remote-peer-IP>