Tech – Marked Up

Zoo & Book Up

Wow. That was harder than Cassandra and I still haven’t started on Pulsar. A few notes: ZooKeeper needs persistent volumes. BookKeeper expects some metadata to be there. If you don’t persist it, you end up with race conditions when they start (as each one tries to bootstrap the metadata). Get the right image from dockerhub.Continue reading “Zoo & Book Up”

Distributed Systems & Failure

I have a three node Cassandra cluster running. It’s three containers on one virtual machine. Pulsar is next. I decided on a new virtual machine from the same base image the Cassandra one started from. That way, it’s free of any “Cassandra pollution”. And I have been taking notes, so I know what I didContinue reading “Distributed Systems & Failure”

Cassandra Up

I’ve always thought “Cassandra” was a particularly ill-omened name, so I went with the picture, not the logo. Subtitle: How did I function before the Internet? It was a bit painful, but I did it. A three node Cassandra cluster configured in docker-compose inside a CentOS VM running on Windows 10. The volume configuration isContinue reading “Cassandra Up”

Too Much Music

Years ago, The Laird ripped all of our CDs to a NAS. Then we rearranged the computers and I never got around to getting the NAS hooked up. After the move, I did, although it took more effort than expected: I had lost the power supply, but Chris’s found one for me. It’s running anContinue reading “Too Much Music”

VR Up

The old computer had no USB-C port and didn’t have the gumption to do VR, anyway. I’ve got both Oculus and Steam up and running. The USB-C cable that comes with the Oculus is WAY too short. I’ll look for one when I go looking for mono-to-RCA cables and a UPS at Chris’s (support localContinue reading “VR Up”

First Linux VM

Hyper-V does not work with Windows 10 Home. One needs the Pro edition, for which Microsoft conveniently supplies an upgrade button. Oh, you need $100, too. I was more worried about the fact that I only have the installation image that came with the computer as backup than the $100. Virtual Box was suggested asContinue reading “First Linux VM”

New Computer

It’s back! The RMA process was painless and quick, although there was round-trip shipping involved. Congratulations to CyberPowerPC for that. The new monitor, which has been sitting unpowered, just teasing me: I had dual monitors. The white block in the middle is the full-screen size of one of them. I had thought 1920×1080 was aContinue reading “New Computer”

Splicing LED Strips

I ordered yet another set of these. This time Bluetooth LED Lights Strips 32.8ft with APP Control, Music Sync Waterproof Flexible RGB Color Changing LED Strips Lights for Bedroom Room,LED Neon Tap. I knew I didn’t want Bluetooth, but that is much cheaper than WiFi and I really wanted the “waterproof” strips to splice intoContinue reading “Splicing LED Strips”

LED Strips

There must be a “all you need to know” guide out there somewhere. Heck, even Rule 34 postings might be helpful at this point. The biggest problem is that none of this stuff seems to have names or product standards. It’s all just word-salad badly translated from Chinese. I ordered two different products, on purpose,Continue reading “LED Strips”

Size Matters

But so do resolution and aspect ratio. My new monitor arrived, but it doesn’t work well with my old, sad (DVI) computer. This works great: The left monitor is generally RDPed into my work machine, which is sort-of visible behind the Amazon page. The right monitor is for internetty things. This computer is aging; asideContinue reading “Size Matters”