I’ve had a mess around with stuff recently. Here’s a summary;
On a server formerly running Microsoft SBS 2015 (or summat) I installed on Software RAIDed a commandline instance of Ubuntu 20.04 server, installed three concurrent versions of Ubuntu desktop and configured to remote in to them from the internet using a web interface called Apache Guacamole. It is off at the moment; it has no SSL on it, so I’m not inclined to leave it turned on. It was the combination of:
- Reading about Apache Guacamole in a random page, so knowing it was possible
- Wanting to have a way of showing potential Linux converts what it is like to use, without them coming to my place of work during Covid.
- Wanting to learn how to install virtual PCs within Windows Server by command-line.
It was probably two months ago, so I’m not entirely sure, but I probably used these instructions for the Guacamole side of things, and this I’m sure is the very detailed and useful guide to installing, configuring and deleting virtual machines with remote desktop displays from the command-line.
I migrated my Nextcloud instance off my server and on to a new Raspberry Pi 4b4GB. The reason was that I had Nextcloud in a Snap. A Snap is a fully packaged app with all its dependencies built in; Since Nextcloud is a webapp, that includes php, Apache webserver and MySQL (or equivalent) and even the Let’s Encrypt cert-bot, for self-renewing, short-term SSL certificates. Same as most websites. Now, if Apache and a Snap with Apache are running on the same server, they can’t be on the same port number. Changing the port number to 44300 (instead of the default 443) means you can’t use the Snap’s built in Let’s Encrypt cert-bot, only the self-signed bot. So any visitors via app or web interface have warning messages or compatibility issues, what with non-default ports and self-signed certificate warnings like YOU HAVE JUST HAD ALL YOUR PASSWORDS HACKED BY VISITING A WEBSITE WITH A SELF-SIGNED CERTIFICATE, YOU IDIOT!!! QUICK, PHONE YOUR BANK BEFORE YOUR ACCOUNT IS EMPTIED!!! Or words almost as ominous, I mean, it’s only a self-signed certificate. I do declare that I am myself, and need no other authority to say that I am who I am or as may be, that I am not who I am, and, or, that I am who I am not, and or, or maybe not, that I am not who I am not.
Got it?
So, Nextcloud is on a Pi with a 2TB HD attached. Not one of my five or six users would know without me telling them that it was under the stairs, on top of the Guacamole server.
My third geek was to install Ubuntu Server 20.10 on a laptop and install just the packages I wanted to, to have a custom build. I installed cinnamon then lightdm, expecting to have a desktop on next boot up, but one didn’t link to the other until I did sudo apt reinstall cinnamon. On boot, I did a sudo apt install firefox thunderbird libreoffice terminator then I tweaked around with a couple of themes. One other tweak was to suppress a tendency for it to pause for a minute at boot to see if the LAN port was going live – useless since it has wireless capability from having the cinnamon desktop installed. It is really tidy, and so I’m inclined to do a similar set up on my guacamole server
Fourth geek – I have wrapped my head around the usage of PGP public and private keys to encrypt emails attachment. You can now send me an encrypted email that only I can read, by using my public key, found at https://digitaltinker.co.uk/digitaltinker.asc
And you’re up to date.