Gilly B. Tech

If you're like me and have attempted to back up your Synology NAS to a friend's server for an additional offsite backup, you may have encountered some challenges in the process. However, connecting the two is actually quite straightforward once you understand the steps involved.

Firstly, ensure that the rsync package is installed on your Linux server. Check if rsyncd is running by default, if it is then stop it. This is often disabled by default the case on Ubuntu/Debian distros.

Next, create a rsyncd.conf file in your home directory with the necessary rsyncd settings. Below is an example configuration:

aki@backup-rsync:~$ cat ~/rsyncd.conf

[syno]
	comment = backup repo
	path = /home/aki/backups
	use chroot = no
	max connections = 10
	lock file = /var/lock/rsyncd
	charset = utf-8
	read only = no
	list = yes
	timeout = 600
	refuse options = checksum dry-run
	dont compress = *.gz *.tgz *.zip *.z *.rpm *.deb *.iso *.bz2 *.tbz

In the Synology Hyper Backup application, select “File Server” as the destination type, then choose “rsync”. Provide your server name and credentials. Ensure that transfer encryption is enabled and set the port to 22 for rsync over SSH. The directory should be pre-populated with “syno” based on the rsyncd.conf settings.

Once these steps are completed, finalize your backup job in Hyper Backup, specifying the folders or files you wish to back up to the Linux server.

Congratulations! You have successfully set up your Linux server for Synology Rsync backup, enhancing the security and redundancy of your data.

The only step here is to modify the GRUB configuration file to the turn screen off after a timeout. This file, located at /etc/default/grub on most Debian and Ubuntu-based distros, contains the kernel parameters that your system uses during startup.

To change your laptop's behaviour, you'll want to add the parameter consoleblank=20 to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line. The consoleblank parameter sets a timeout for the console screen to turn off when there's no activity. Setting it to 20 seconds ensures the screen powers down quickly when not in use, thus conserving energy.

Editing GRUB Configuration

$ sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Find the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line and modify it as follows:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="consoleblank=20"

Save the file and exit.

Once you've made the necessary changes to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX line, you need to update the GRUB configuration to apply the changes to your system. This can be done by running the following command in your terminal:

$ sudo update-grub

This command updates the GRUB bootloader with your new configuration, enabling the console screen timeout we've set to take effect on next boot.

Most important step !

And guess what... REBOOT !

In conclusion, repurposing your old laptop as a Proxmox server is a sustainable and cost-effective way to harness its power. However, power savings are a crucial consideration, especially if the laptop screen remains active if you're running it in a off-grid setup like I do, when energy must be saved for cloudy days.

By default, Proxmox PVE hosts cannot be backed up using Veeam Backup & Replication; you'll need to install the Veeam Agent to enable this capability. This guide will walk you through the process of installing the Veeam Agent on your Proxmox host.

Since Proxmox is based on the Debian 12 “Bookworm” distribution, you can install the Veeam Agent in a manner similar to any other Debian host.

The Veeam Agent packages can be found on the public Veeam repository.

Follow these steps to install the Veeam Agent on your Proxmox host:

# Install necessary dependencies (sudo and kernel headers)
apt-get install pve-headers sudo

# Download the Veeam Agent package
wget https://repository.veeam.com/backup/linux/agent/dpkg/debian/public/pool/veeam/v/veeam-nosnap/veeam-nosnap_6.0.3.1221_amd64.deb

# Install the Veeam Agent package
dpkg -i veeam-nosnap_6.0.3.1221_amd64.deb

Once the installation is complete, proceed to add a user for Veeam Backup & Replication, grant them sudo privileges, and start enjoying the benefits of using Veeam to back up your Proxmox host.

Here's a quick & deprecated way of installing kwindem GuiMods on your Victron ccgx or cerbo. The official way is called blind install and is documented in the repository but not verbose enough if anything goes wrong.

Prerequisite : SSH Access

SetupHelper is the first brick of the ecosystem allowing to update and manage package from the menus.

# Install SetupHelper
wget -qO - https://github.com/kwindrem/SetupHelper/archive/latest.tar.gz | tar -xzf - -C /data
mv /data/SetupHelper-latest /data/SetupHelper
/data/SetupHelper/setup

If setup completed without error carry on with GuiMods the exact same way.

# Install GuiMods
wget -qO -  https://github.com/kwindrem/GuiMods/archive/refs/tags/latest.tar.gz | tar -xzf - -C /data
mv /data/GuiMods-latest/ /data/GuiMods
/data/GuiMods/setup

A reboot might be needed afterwards, but the setup script should be taking care of it for you, if not ....

reboot

If you're running HASS on an unsupported system à-la Ubuntu like me, you might have a random error complaining that system isn't healthy because supervisor is unprivileged.

I've found two way of solving it :

sudo systemctl restart hassio-supervisor.service

or .... rebooting.

Good luck.

Install prerequisites ( as per official docs ) :

pip3 install --upgrade pytap2
pip3 install --upgrade meshtastic

Get started from scratch by factory reseting and setting radio to EU_868 band. My unit has no screen so I choose a non default PIN for pairing, if you have a screen you can keep random pin.

meshtastic --factory-reset 
meshtastic --set lora.region EU_868 --set bluetooth.enabled true  --set bluetooth.fixed_pin 121012
meshtastic --set device.role ROUTER_CLIENT --set device.debug_log_enabled true
meshtastic --set lora.tx_power 0 #Max

Choose a nice name and a 4 letters ID for your node.

meshtastic --set-owner 'NodeZero' --set-owner-short  'DAD0'

Channel config, to be done only on your first node.

meshtastic --ch-add admin
meshtastic --ch-add familly --ch-set psk random --ch-set uplink_enabled true --ch-index 2

You might be like me, after all those years being happy on KNX you decided to add some non-KNX lights to the home and can't turn them off with your magic bedside “All-Off” button.

Read more...

If you need to use arduino framework instead of ESP-idf you need to add specific board type for the firmware to compile.

esp32:
  board: lolin_s2_mini
  variant: ESP32S2
  framework:
    type: arduino
    version: 2.0.3
    platform_version: 5.0.0

Then you should be able to use it with the web flasher. If not working try erasing flash first, and NOT rebooting the unit after. It's also important to drive Pin 0 low for programming, there's a dedicated button for that.

pip install --upgrade esptool
esptool.py --chip esp32-s2  --port /dev/cu.usbmodem01 erase_flash

Hope it will save you a bit of frustration, took me way too long to figure out !