A firefish with a laptop and phone

Running Two Pi Holes in Tandem

Byrichard
Reading Time: 3 minutes

When walking and listening to the 2.5 Admins I heard about the concept of going from treating servers as pets to treating them as cattle. They discussed the habit of giving servers functional names, rather than emotional ones. The examples were similar to DR-1 for for Disaster Recovery one, prod 1 for production one and related names.
The Pi Hole UI -- The Pi Hole UI

Servers as Cattle, Not Pets

They spoke about the legacy habit of building a server up over a period of years to the modern habit of spinning up instances and containers that can easily be replicated within minutes, independent of hardware. They spoke about the need to take notes and set up an environment once, and then destroy it, and set it up again, and to follow the notes exactly. The concept is that you don’t set something up just once, you set it up over and over, and over again, until you have the work flow perfected, and written down, for repeatability, three years down the line.

Setting up the First Pi Hole

This week I setup a Pi-hole on a Raspberry Pi 3 and I got it to run, connected as the DNS server to block traffic that I did not want. I’m doing this as an experiment, rather than out of a burning desire not to see ads. I do think that blocking Christmas ads would be a good thing but that’s another topic.

Setting Up the Second Pi

I don’t remember how I setup the first pi-hole but I got it working quite easily. I then repeated the process with a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W. I downloaded the latest Ubuntu Server or Lite LTS and then ran sudo apt update and sudo apt full upgrade. I then rebooted the machine and ran the Pi hole update script and within a certain amount of time the second Pi Hole was up and running.

The router that I am using allows me to setup two DNS servers so I have the Pi as one DNS server and the Zero 2W as the second. Traffic can now go through either one with double redundancy. If one device goes down the second one jumps in, and vice versa.

I feel that rebooting the router made both Pi Holes visible to computers. Now I can see the list of queries update as devices make requests and get answers.

My inspiration for

The Raspberry Pi Tutorial

The Pi Hole Instructions

Regex and Tables

Pi Holes come with a default table list that you can update every so often. You can also block specific domains either specifically, or with regular expressions. The advantage of using regular expressions is that instead of having a line for every single URL you can have regular expressions that look for specific patterns. You go from needing three million lines, to a few hundreds, if you’re really efficient. The table that comes as standard had about 141,000 items to block by default.

Blocking Other Content

The stereotypical use for Pi Holes is to block ads but you could block porn, or gaming networks, or video sharing sites such as Tik Tok, or Social media sites and more. You could block Right Wing media sites and more. The niche that I would like is to find a way to block the hideous iOS ads when I’m playing certain games. If I could block iOS game ads I might revert to playing them again.

Modular

There are two choices. You can use your Pi Hole, via your ISP router by telling it to use your Pi Hole as a DNS router, or you can configure your DNS settings on your mobile phone or laptop. If you’re using Tailscale or another solution you can configure your DNS settings to use the Tailscale IP address to use your DNS server remotely via a VPN. This could be a way of saving bandwidth when you’re surfing the web using your data plan., especially when roaming.

And Finally

By using Pi Hole we block unwanted traffic at the DNS level, rather than the browser level. This means that we don’t need to run third party extensions in the browser. We don’t get the “If you want to use this site deactivate ad blockers, and other messages. A few years ago I blocked Twitter and Facebook using the mac’s onboard ip tables but that’s fiddly and you need to remember the name of the file that needs to be changed. With Pi Hole, once it’s setup you use an intuitive web interface. It can be used for ad blocking but it can be used to block games at work, or streaming services and more.

I would consider adding a schedule feature. Imagine that from 1900-2300 you can access netflix, YouTube and other streaming services but that the connection is blocked outside of that window. Pi Hole could have parental controls to stop access to Steam, to Nintendo and other gaming networks. It could also be used to block iOS apps to stop children from spending money on pay to win games.

I don’t know for how long I will have my two Pi Holes running in tandem. Probably until I find a new project that requires a lower spec Pi device.

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Mainstream Fediverse

Mainstream Fediverse

Byrichard

I started writing a post, but felt that it was too negative so I stopped, and now I’m writing this one. I want to explore the way in which Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit are still front and foremost on The Guardian Website, as well as many others.


As I write this Twitter has become x.com. Reddit has had several weeks of protests and Facebook reached over three billion users. The paradox, with Facebook is that it’s the most unpleasant “social network” I know. I find Facebook and Instagram deeply unpleasant to use.


The Slow Pivot Away From Corporate Social Media


The goal is not to speak about the social media giants, because plenty of people can do that. What I want to consider, is the lack of attention that is being given to Lemmy, Kbin, Firefish, Mastodon and the Fediverse in general. There is now a fediverse of social networks that we can use to share news, and life.


I don’t see any “share with Pixelfed” or share on “peertube”. I don’t even really see “share via the wordpress community.


By now I would have expected the Guardian, New York Times, Le Monde and other papers to start sharing their news stories and articles via the Fediverse, especially since making a website fediverse friendly is relatively easy, especially if you’re on a self-hosted wordpress blog. Within minutes a wordpress blog can be a fediverse server, if not sooner.


Professional Social Media


If I was working in Professional Social Media I would already have pivoted towards streamlining fediverse participation. With the fediverse a website, or instance, can be fully integrated within the fediverse, making it easier to engage, rather than more difficult. No need for people to sign in, to sign up, or even to browse away from their mastodon feed. Everything is integrated.


You can reply to a fediverse blog post, as a reply, and it’s seamless. There is no barrier to interaction, as we had with older social media websites.


No Navigating Away – No Threads


With the fediverse you can write posts of any length. You can microblog, if you wish, or you can write a dissertation. Both are native, so need to navigate from one website to another, and because character limits don’t exist, if you’re on the right instances, then there is no need for threads.


Threads and the Network Defect


Threads was launched and picked up 100 million users, but they were soon angry that they couldn’t cancel their accounts without destroying their Instagram accounts, but they also found that by not being able to see their followers with ease, the new site/app had little to no value, so 70 million left. It might have been quick to grow but due to design flaws it was also quick to lose users.


FB hasn’t learned


I left FB and IG because the sense of community was lost. The reason people fled Twitter too, is because of the disintegration of the communitiies that they wanted to be a part of. I said that Threads would not be of interest, and as we see, within a week it had lost its appeal.


Not Just Conversations


The fediverse is not just a way for people to chat with each other. It’s a way of sharing entire articles, blog posts, videos, photos and more.


Blog posts, articles and photos are more than that. They are the start of a conversation. If people comment then that content becomes more visible because it bubbles back to the surface again.


New Opportunities


in 2006 and 2007 Twitter was limited by the bandwidth that we had on mobile phones, wifi and home connections. In 2023 the environment is mature. Live video whilst walking, sharing of photos from anywhere, and more, have become common place. The Fediverse is already, video, text, audio, photos, articles, blogs and more.


The Fediverse as Portal


The concept of web portals is an old one, and one of the oldest ones still around is Yahoo. If used properly then the Fediverse can be seen as a portal, for communities to join together and communicate. The Guardian, New york Times and others should take advantage of the opportunities that the Fediverse provides people with.

Reviewing EcmaScript 6

Reviewing EcmaScript 6

Byrichard

Recently I have spent time focusing on JavaScript and EcmaScript to make sure that I understand it. By now it is over a year ago since I felt that I wanted to study Angular but felt that I didn’t have enough knowledge to resolve the challenges so I decided to return to basics. My return to basics involved a number of courses and books but it also led me to study this Linkedin Learning Pathway. It is easy to study, get a certiciate and move on, especially for extroverts or outgoing people who find interacting with people easy.


If I know people then I do find it easy. In other scenarios I struggle. I am working to ensure that if and when I say that I have certain skills, that I have those skills. I want to understand what I am doing and why.


A while ago I managed to get my instagram feed from Instagram JSON files to Wordpress via a number of steps and this felt good but I felt that I did not fully understand what I had done. Since then I have studied JSON, JS and other related technologies so I should be able to accomplish the same task more easily, and with fewer tools. I have to decide whether I want to import this data into wordpress or whether I want to run it outside of the CMS.


Such a project will encourage me to conceptualise and then realise my goal, without the skeleton of a course behind it to provide me with guidance. I want this to be a self driven project. It will indicate my progress. When I decide to take the plunge I should find the task easy.


I always find new things to learn, during this pandemic, and these new things keep me occupied and distracted from the eternal return that are these days.

A Walk Between Moments of Rainfall
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A Walk Between Moments of Rainfall

Byrichard

Today I woke early, shopped, studied German, read the news and then studied WordPress Child themes. It rained on and off, and I took a break from studying to go for a walk and I stayed dry almost the entire time. I carried a Sea to Summit three litre bag with me, in case I needed to keep the phone etc dry. For a moment I thought it would start raining but it didn’t so I stayed dry.


The walk was short, just one hour, as the conditions are not ideal for walking. The views weren’t good and the probability of being caught in the rain was high. I also wanted to walk a route where I did not soak myself and my shoes. On the route I walked, cars were unable to bully me like they do on other routes.


The course I am studying now is WordPress Building Child Themes and so far I find the course interesting. I have only gone so far as to create a child theme and ensure that it works. That’s when I took a break for the daily walk. I enjoy studying JavaScript, Angular and other ideas but there is a lot to learn, so I thought that by returning to WordPress. I could focus on learning how to use functions, and understand concepts individually, and then return to Angular, JavaScript and more. I want to step my learning. I don’t want to simply finish a course. I want to understand a concept first, and then finish the course.


I still have a lot to learn about CSS but at least this is a technology where I understand the ideas, even if I have not played with all of the tools, or learned of plenty of solutions yet. That is the point of step learning. You learn, get comfortable, and move on. I can also learn what I learn now, to move my entire website into a CMS with different sections having a different look. I have aspirations, and they will force me to learn how to implement them in WordPress.


I will spend more time studying, now.

Of AirPods – useful and simple

Byrichard

What do you have to say about AirPods? I see them as useful and simple. I have tried earphones, headphones, and Bluetooth variants. With some earphones, I found that they hurt my ears. With others, I found that they slipped out too easily. With yet more, I found that the noise cancellation feature was unpleasant. All in all, AirPods are still the earphones that I prefer.


Earphones and headphones are curious, because we may keep them with us every day for weeks, months or even years. Eventually, they break. The most common problem that I had with earphones is that the solder from the speaker in the earpiece to the cord would detach. Another problem, with headphones, was that the soft fabric would wear out and break.


With work headphones, I found that the leather/plastic part that rests on ears gets warm and unpleasant after hours of wear. My favourite headphones were Koss headphones. They folded into a little egg. One day I was opening them before a shoot and they snapped and I was sad. They were the best headphones I ever owned. They were also the most expensive. They were given.


As I slipped from cassette players to minidisc and CD players to iPods, Symbian devices, android devices and iPhones I have usually used the earphones that came with the device and i never bothered to put the plastic fabric on the earpieces.


Recently the left ear on my AirPods died and so for a few days I tried the various earphones I have, to see if one would be an apt replacement. I lost the habit of hearing the noise of the cable that runs from the earphones to the device it’s plugged into. I could hear it rubbing against my collar, against my sweater and against the coats I’ve been wearing. I don’t know whether that was an issue a few years ago. I don’t know whether it’s because the earphones are relatively old or whether I’m more demanding.


Replacing AirPods


Replacing AirPods is not as easy as switching from a wired charging case to a wireless one. Apple’s website makes buying new charging cases a matter of a few seconds.


The journey to replace AirPods is more complicated. To replace AirPods you have three options. The chat window, a phone call, or going to the shop in person. The chat experience was bad. The first time I tried I got disconnected because it took me too long to find the serial number.


In the second case, the experience was bad because I gave the serial number and a description of the problem but the person or bot kept asking questions as if my simple sentence had not answered the question. “My AirPods are at least two years old and the left ear has stopped working” . “Ok, can we do a diagnostic test?”


When you’re a geek, and when you’ve tried pairing the AirPods, and you’ve tried following their suggestions to resolve the problem before joining the chat it’s frustrating. It’s also frustrating because AirPods are 75 CHF per ear so you’re speaking about 150 CHF to replace something that costs 169 CHF to buy new if I remember correctly.


Due to the current health situation, and due to having to schedule a meeting with a genius I decided that going to the Apple store to resolve this issue was not worth the time.


Buying a New Pair


As I browsed various online stores I saw that Mediamarkt had new pairs for 129 CHF instead of 159 CHF. For 179 CHF I could have upgraded to wireless charging. I didn’t go for this option because I hardly ever use wireless charging. The charging case needs to be charged every few days so wireless charging is uninteresting. I use wireless charging for the phone infrequently.


The Upside


I decided to replace my iPhone SE because the battery was beginning to weaken and the screen touch interface was not as responsive as it used to be. With the AirPods, I have once again used a device until it was at the end of its useful life. If buying new AirPods was as simple as buying a charging case I would have kept the right ear and charging case. I have broken the habit of buying something new just because I wanted to try something new.

Mobile Phone Games

Mobile Phone Games

Byrichard

Our mobile phones are almost always near us, or on us. The only time we don’t have our phone with us is when we’re scuba diving, driving, unless we count Waze as a game. When I am home alone I usually don’t play mobile phone games because I’m distracted by other things. 


One of the flaws with plenty of games today is that they are pay to win, or pay to play. I don’t like this model. I also don’t like games that require you to follow instructions, rather than play and experiment. I want to play, not follow instructions. 


Games I Still Play


Fitness App Games


Garmin, Strava, Pacer and other apps do provide us with gaming when we walk, run, cycle or more. They count our steps, our distance, our climbing and more. I am currently walking the Appalachian Trail via Garmin, walking the Coffee trail on Pacer and more. I am also competing for step counts with others. Some games require you to be physically active to progress. Others require you to sit still and stare at a phone.


Ingress


Ingress is a game that I played for a while. I travelled to Paris, to Florence, to Fribourg and other places specifically to play the game with other people. It was a great way to meet unenergetic geeks and to explore geographic space. It’s similar to geocaching, but with virtual portals that are monuments, bridges and more. That data was then used for Pokemon Go and other games. 


Ingress requires a lot of walking, or driving. I found that it is quite fun to play while cycling. You can get to distant portals more quickly than walking, but without the carbon footprint of using the car, which is another reason I slowed down the playing. 


The key factor that got me to play far less is time. From a certain level upwards, especially if you live in the countryside it goes from taking days or weeks to level up, to months. If you live in town then it’s easy to make progress, but if you’re in a rural setting then you get stuck on a level for months or years, as I have. 


TrainStation2


At first I didn’t like TrainStation2 because I expect to play a game for the time that I am free for. I don’t like to wait for hours in between actions. You can speed up the game by paying to win, but the flaw in this approach is that you can spend thousands and never be satisfied. That’s how Clash of Clans made a fortune. 


What I like about this is that if you want you can play for 30 seconds, once an hour or less, so you don’t accidentally lose hours a day on the game. 


Clash of Clans


Clash of Clans is another game that I played with passion for years, but eventually stopped playing. The problem with these games is that they are good, when you have a few minutes free at regular intervals, for example when you’re commuting, or stuck in an office waiting for a file to render, or some other task. If you have no moments of waiting then these games are less relevant. 


Hay Day


I have played Hay Day for years but on and off. I used to play a lot but eventually it became more complex and took more time to achieve anything so I stopped playing. 


Asphalt 8


Asphalt 8 is a game that I played for hours at a time for weeks or even months. I logged plenty of hours in the game and it expanded as I progressed. Eventually I played tiles, but it’s still a great game. Cars are intuitive to control and with time and practice you do make progress. 


Rise of Kingdoms


Rise of Kingdoms is an acceptable game that you can play throughout the day when you have some free time. It is a game that requires an investment of weeks or months to progress and although they encourage you to pay to speed things up you don’t need to. 


Games I don’t play anymore


Boom Beach and Clash Royale


I installed it, played a few times, but never engaged fully. 


Pokemon Go


This game is crap. It’s built off of Ingress, but re-skinned for a different set of users. It’s crap because when you throw poke balls it fails more often than succeeds, so you end up frustrated. Worse than that, it encourages you to spend money because the code was written in a flawed manner. 


Cooking Madness


I started by really enjoying this game, until I got to a certain level, and then the game stopped being fun. It stopped being fun because levels require you to use diamonds to get extra time, or to get cooking aids. This wouldn’t be so bad, if not for the fact that after a certain amount of playing those are earned by completing levels, or paying. They say that games are pay to win. This one becomes pay to play. At one point you get blocked and you can no longer progress, without spending 3 CHF, more than once. 


It’s when I saw that I had to pay more than once that I removed the game. I come from the time when we payed to own, not to play. 


Conclusion


I like mobile phone games that can be played in short bursts. I don’t like mobile phone games that are pay to win. I play games when I am in between two activities, rather than all the time. I can go for months without playing much. It depends on how free I am to get on with things. I expect that I will forget about mobile phones games now, for a while.

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