[Dave Rice]

Don’t forget this is NFS not NTFS.

[Dave Rice]

I take it that’s a USB cable? I’d go the WiFi route, they will have different MAC addresses and will get different IP addresses (if you can make them fixed so much the better).

You will then be able to access the printers Web Config Utility (browser to the IP address) and if necessary give them different network identities too – it’ll just be a text label, may be “printer name”. Windows seems to use those identities to set up it’s printer port, I usually override that with the IP address though, so do that first before getting Windows to find them.

You should then end up with two unique printers and Windows will automatically go to the one that’s available.

EDIT looks like you’ve now resolved it.

[Dave Rice]

I tend to unplug devices I’m not working on. Are there not recovery tools for NFS?

[Dave Rice]

Lovely. I don’t know if you stopped at Melk (Abbey in the Wachau Valley) last time or will this time. But in the main street the Cafe with the red awning and umbrellas is highly recommended. We’ve both eaten and drunk there. If you stop at Krems (opposite bank nearer Vienna) make sure you get the bus into the medieval town. We thought we could walk it, big mistake.

If you’ve been to Vienna you probably know your way around, but I don’t know if you discovered the Summerkino at the Rathaus. The front of the Rathaus has a huge cinema screen, but the main attraction (for us) is the whole gardens and approach are transformed into a world wide eat and drink fest. There’s loads of seating with tables (but it does get popular) and each booth has street food from a different cuisine. Each has a bar but the event is sponsored by the Ottakring brewery so that dominates. Not bad “southern German” style lager but not as good as Munich’s. There are white wine bars too, the locals drink gallons of the stuff. The atmosphere is very laid back with all ages attending and none of the loutish behaviour you’d get here.

Chili cheesekrainer with a proper amount of senf. No stupid plastic packets here.

 

[Dave Rice]

Definitely going to check this out when I get back.

The charity I work with gets daily donations of this kind of stuff from M&S and others, I forget the scheme’s name now. It’s always good grub, even got the Mrs a bunch of flowers from the Mothers Day surplus ?

[Dave Rice]

Yes sorry, I wasn’t decrying your choices, just looking at it from a selfish point of view.

Just got the CHF, very colourful compared to the £ or E. You certainly can’t mix them up.

In 24 hours we’ll be taking off, I can’t wait. Hoping the weather clears up by the time we land as whichever way you approach the views should be fantastic. If not, landing during a thunderstorm could be interesting, done that before and don’t wish to again.

We’ve been places in the last few years where my (dodgy) German can get me through, but not this time. I wish my French was better and my Italian is non existent. I’ve installed Google translate, it may come in handy! But everyone understands “2 beers please” ?

[Dave Rice]

Interesting but personally I don’t want another credit card (would probably be denied now anyway) or change my current account.

It’s amazing what charges some of the other prepaid cards put on, even charging you for keeping a balance on there over X months!

[Dave Rice]

“Although Kerberos might seem like black magic to many systems administrators”

Yep, that’s pretty much how I look at it.

I view DNS in much the same way but had to get down and dirty with it or just accept the DC had to be the DNS server too, which would have stopped my PiHole. Luckily many other people have had the same issue (with MS AD) and I got a clue of what I had to do (redirect any requests for the domain FQDN to the DC) but not an actual How To.

In my career I’ve had a terrible time explaining to customers that what they see advertised (things like roaming) is actually fraught with difficulty and even when set up has to be maintained by a real person and that person will need to be paid! Not least because the very people that advertise it will also be the ones that throw spanners in the works, often with no notice to the little people.

It was bad enough getting in the loop when working for huge Corporates, when you’re out there on your own dealing with small businesses you just can’t be. Even Synology now expect you to pay for the meatier part of training days. Only 2 years ago they were enticing me with a NAS at cost.

[Dave Rice]

I use a FairFX Euro card, you’d need an Everywhere Card.

They are Mastercards so accepted just about everywhere and can be used in an ATM for cash at a reasonable cost. The Eurocard is 75 cents but the everywhere card also adds 1.4%. We tend to take some “starter cash” of the folding and chinking stuff. This year we have E50+ left from previous years which will do nicely.

Off to Venice on Sunday but going via Geneva and then a train trip through the Alps. Due to the late arrival of the flight we’ll be staying a full day in Geneva (2 nights and £££ evening meals) but I shan’t worry about getting more than 100 CHF in notes. If that’s not enough the “out of currency” charge is only 1.75% and the exchange rate is better than a local kiosk . Being surrounded by France it seems lots of the “touristy” places accept Euros and the train is Italian- the Frecciargento “Silver Arrow”.

I’ve used it all over the low countries, Austria and Germany, including ATMs and ticket terminals; never had an issue. I’ve used it on-board the ÖBB trains too, one of which was actually Czech so charged in Crowns but automatically converted to Euro at no cost (in a lot of Europe the longer cross country train routes are joint efforts, hence our Italian train – it could easily have been Swiss).

It’s all run from an app (or a browser) and topping up is a doddle as you link a bank account to it. The online balance updates  pretty quickly too, 5 or 10 minutes was my usual experience. It’s also pretty quick updating in the other direction when you spend. I’ve never felt like I wasn’t in control.

You can have linked cards “Family and Friends” so SWMBO can have her own which makes sense in lots of ways. We’ve done that this year. If the card goes AWOL you can use the app or a phone call to block the card and get things sorted.

When I first got mine it was the best deal at Money Supermarket. As we’re going outside the Euro this year I had a look and believe it still is. If you decide to get one I can send you a referral code for a tenner off. You get yours instantly, I have to wait for a top up (probably won’t be long from what I’ve seen of Venice).

PS I’ve only done a 3 hour “cruise” of the Danube – an ÖBB Wachau Valley day trip – and fully intend to do more. In which direction are you going?

[Dave Rice]

There must have been a whiff of litigation in the air. There’s just been an update that changes the application name to “Directory Server for Windows Domain”. The description also makes it very clear it’s the Samba project.

[Dave Rice]

In the days of running a WISP, we used to drive around with a mag aerial on the car to check our coverage. The number of open networks was amazing.

[Dave Rice]

Just tested a Huwei E3372 USB dongle in a Draytek 2760N (their entry level £120 job, now superseded by the 2762) with a Three sim.

Performance was as expected, the same as when plugged into my PC. Router sat with an exterior wall between it and the mast, 30 down 20 up. I set up a Branch to HQ IPSec VPN, the typical scenario you would see in a small business. Absolutely flies along.

[Dave Rice]

Unfortunately I see the Zipato attitude displayed by most “white van man” installers and the OEMs they use. They don’t have an IT background and are used to plugging proprietary kit into various cables and doing some basic set up – think Sky. You can bet any Technomate kit’s password will still be 0000. Some of the smaller companies can be as bad as the boss probably had a white van at some time.

They don’t understand the concept of security whatsoever and view it as a PITA. They will use third party apps to provide remote viewing to the (cheap) generic kit they install.

That’s why there’s a code of conduct being put together very much like that of California. Hikvision are involved and for the last 4 or 5 years a camera or NVR cannot be used until activated and a strong password created. You can get a password reset but have to prove ownership or a good reason why you are doing it. That needs a relationship with one of the 3 top suppliers. If you do a physical factory reset you have to go through activation again.

Even on OEM training courses I’ve seen a lax attitude to networking issues like bandwidth. The local IT guy is seen as an obstacle not someone who you need a working relationship with. This is improving though as some of the “old hands” from the analogue days move on.

As with Zipato, the attitude of the OEMs will be key to sorting this as most installers don’t give a monkeys even if they’re aware of any implications. The same is true of Home owners doing some DIY, which is increasingly the case.

[Dave Rice]

The local police were fine, but they bussed in nutters from the Met in later years. The locals coppers used to warn us about coming up against them.

It all culminated in the Battle of the Beanfield in 1985 using tactics honed in the miners strike. Thankfully I wasn’t involved in that.

[Dave Rice]

Sorry, yes I didn’t mean to say Maggie was the cause of punk. More it was another interesting thing going on at the time with Ben Elton, Spitting Image, etc doing the Maggie piss taking and public marches and events for CND (Glastonbury being the big one) and the anti-nazi league etc. We used to have chartered trains going to London from Bristol.

You just don’t seem to see that sort of thing nowadays and festivals are much better organised and monetised. I don’t think the week long anarchy of Stonehenge would be possible any more.

[Dave Rice]

That was the point of punk, your parents were liking the music you were listening to. Something had to be done. Plus there was the old Maggie Thatcher, CND and anti-nazi league stuff going on. Stonehenge and the other free festivals. It’s all a bit boring now compared to then and expensive!

I did see the Cure back in the day but saw more of Robert Smith playing for Souixsie and the Banshees.

[Dave Rice]

Having got Samba’s reverse engineered Active Directory working on a Synology Server I may look at doing the same with a Pi.

However just getting AD going from an admin point of view is a PITA and Synology have done all the heavy lifting by installing it and working out the dependencies. May be one for the dark winter nights.

[Dave Rice]

Exactly.

[Dave Rice]

The Cure were fantastic. I’m looking into going next time as a volunteer.

[Dave Rice]

As long as you’re happy with what you’re doing John, that’s all the counts. They all go about achieving the same thing, it really is same horse different jockey.

[Author]

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