Matt Zaske Online Blog
Setting Up SSH Key Authentication: 2024 Edition
- June 10, 2024
- 3 minutes
- automation, inspiration, security, tech
A recent project I worked on required setting up more SSH key authentication, and seeing as how I'd not written about it for two years since the last iteration, it seems fitting to do another quick primer on setting that up for SSH...the 2024 edition.
Read MoreGetting Started with WSL - A Quick Installation Guide
![Snip of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS in the Microsoft Store.](/sites/default/files/2024-04/wsl-headline.png)
- April 29, 2024
- 4 minutes
- tech
I've been using the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) almost as long as it's been generally available, and I use it for all sorts of things.
Read MoreAutomatically Process and Send Google Form Responses on Submission
![Screen snip of a dynamically generated PDF from Google Form submission](/sites/default/files/2024-03/GeneratedMergedFormPDF.png)
- April 08, 2024
- 8 minutes
- automation, inspiration, tech
I haven't written anything up about Google stuff in a while, and since this topic came up a few times in as many weeks (including from conversations at BrainStorm K20) I figured it's time to share the solution I've used several times.
Read MoreCreating a Differential Sensor In Home Assistant
![Home Assistant Gauge Card indicating a temperature differential](/sites/default/files/2024-03/TempDifferential.png)
- March 25, 2024
- 3 minutes
- automation, home assistant, tech
If you've fiddled enough in Home Assistant over time, you might have encountered the situation in which it is useful to trigger off of, or simply display, a calculated value. There are a few different ways this can be accomplished but this post focuses on creating a specific sensor to do both: be used as a trigger value for automation, and also displayed neatly in a dashboard.
Read MoreBelated Farewell to the Twitter/X API
!["dead Twitter" bird icon: an upside down Twitter bird with an X where the eye would be.](/sites/default/files/2024-02/deadtwitter.png)
This isn't much of a "real" post, and admittedly I needed a filler for this week, but it's been on my list to write about here for a while: Last summer I shut down my three Twitter bots when the Twitter API moved to a ridiculous new access rate structure.
Read MoreExport CM Collection Member Details to CSV
- January 29, 2024
- 3 minutes
- powershell, tech
A script snippet I use all the time (and which gets a lot of search traffic) is something I wrote in 2020 about exporting AD computers to CSV with Powershell.
Read MoreLighting the Dark Days of Winter with Home Assistant
![Screen snip of two settings in Home Assistant for Light state and a script trigger](/sites/default/files/2024-01/fanlightsteppedup.png)
- January 15, 2024
- 7 minutes
- automation, home assistant, inspiration, tech
This fall, right after the time change, I found myself often working intensely enough to suddenly notice "it was dark outside" in the late afternoon. Good for productivity, I suppose; not so much otherwise? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Read MoreReflections on Advent of Code 2023
![Screen snip of a portion of the AoC "map" for 2023](/sites/default/files/2023-12/aoc2023.png)
- January 01, 2024
- 7 minutes
- inspiration, php, tech
I finally gave Advent of Code a shot for 2023! In years past I'd think about/stumble across/remember it a week or two in and automatically 'nope' out of starting. This year, in large part due to the WinAdmins Discord, I was both reminded of it in advance and also had a small community of other folks taking part (and a private leaderboard to watch).
Read MoreOctoPrint Webhook for Filament Change Notifications
- December 11, 2023
- 4 minutes
- 3d printing, automation, home assistant, inspiration, tech
I've been using OctoPrint to handle nearly all of my 3D printing operations since I moved to it a little over a year ago. It's an absolutely wonderful platform and I can't recommend it enough.
Read MoreHotend Thermistor With A Silpat, Revisited
- December 04, 2023
- 3 minutes
- 3d printing, mistakes, tech
I decided to post a quick follow-up to the original fix I'd implemented about ten months ago.
The $1M question was...
Read MoreBack to a Regular Schedule?
![Gif of a "retro" television powering up to a white screen/noise.](/sites/default/files/2023-11/giphy-downsized%5B1%5D.gif)
Man, it's embarrassing to see that I haven't published anything really technical (beyond my MMS Miami Beach recap) since the end of July...and before that anything on a regular schedule since April! Despite my best intentions, some aspects of life got complicated.
Read MoreMMS Miami Beach Recap
![Rudy (at left) and Matt take a quick picture from the speakers' angle of the "Big Room" at MMS Miami Beach as we begin our 8 a.m. session.](/sites/default/files/2023-11/Wednesday-Attendees.jpg)
- November 13, 2023
- 5 minutes
- inspiration, tech
I had the great honor and pleasure of being a speaker at MMS Miami Beach Edition at the end of October. It was the first speaking event I've had since 2019, largely due to the pandemic, and the experience was marvelous! The entire team behind MMS is outstanding, and their attention to detail really makes a difference in the experience both for attendees and speakers.
The Overall Experience
The speaker attire this edition was pretty rad: lots of flamingo gear!
Read MoreEnabling Pi-hole DNS Across Multiple VLANs
![Screenshot of the "Top Clients" dashboard box of the Pi-hole admin interface, showing six clients with their local dns addresses and activity.](/sites/default/files/2023-07/topclients.png)
- July 31, 2023
- 4 minutes
- automation, inspiration, tech
I recently (and finally) upgraded my home network to a UniFi system after years of consideration and an incorrect assumption it would cost a small fortune to enact. My existing "core" router was reaching the end of its normal life, though, and I wanted a real mesh network with better outdoor coverage instead of using the range extender during the "not winter" months and connecting to a different SSID.
Read MoreTurn off the fan already! Tales of an automation modification
![Snip of details when creating a Home Assistant helper entity for a timer object.](/sites/default/files/2023-07/bathroom-fan-max-timer.png)
- July 10, 2023
- 5 minutes
- automation, home assistant, inspiration, tech
It's been a couple months since my last post, and while I had some things in the queue I have lacked time to finish them out due to MMS in early May, being involved in a community theatre production that just wrapped up a couple weeks ago, and for random reasons building a chicken coop of all things. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Here's to a return of more regular posts, assuming I have adequate time to write and revise them!
Read MoreAddressing Firmware Updates for Dell Latitude 54X0 in a Task Sequence
![Screenshot of a child task sequence for updating firmware in Full OS mode, with a Run PowerShell Script step highlighted with package and script information.](/sites/default/files/2023-04/ChildTaskSequence_0.jpg)
- April 24, 2023
- 8 minutes
- automation, inspiration, mistakes, powershell, security, tech
For about two years we fought with getting firmware (BIOS) updates to install on our Dell Latitude 54X0 models during their build/rebuild using a MEMCM task sequence. No matter what random trick I tried or thing I read, I just couldn't get the update executable to successfully apply the update in our primary build/refresh task sequence. Our techs (self included) would have to apply the update manually after devices were [re]built.
Read MoreSemi-Automatically Offering Dell BIOS/Firmware Updates
![Photo of Dell firmware update in progress instructing a user not to power down the system and showing a progress bar with basic status information.](/sites/default/files/2023-04/DellFirmwareUpdateInProgress.jpg)
- April 10, 2023
- 9 minutes
- automation, inspiration, powershell, security, tech
Several years ago I implemented a mechanism in our primary [re]build [Configuration Manager/MEMCM/SCCM] task sequence to address upgrades of our fleet's firmware (BIOS). On the whole, the process has worked very well and definitely helped keep things updated.
Read MoreCreating a Reference Sensor Template in Home Assistant
![Snip of a Home Assistant Dashboard item identifying two sensor states: one for bathroom humidity at a level of 44.6% and another for bathroom humidity target at level 49.0%.](/sites/default/files/2023-03/fan-headline.png)
- March 27, 2023
- 10 minutes
- automation, home assistant, inspiration, tech
It's been a while since I wrote about any Home Assistant stuff so I figured this was as a good time to write about something I'm super happy with: custom/reference sensor templates!
Read MoreGoing Dual Camera with OctoPrint
- March 13, 2023
- 6 minutes
- 3d printing, automation, inspiration, tech
Almost as soon as I started using OctoPrint, I also set up an old webcam to let me remotely "see" things since I keep the printer in the basement. That whole process was an adventure, because I don't use a Raspberry Pi for OctoPrint like most folks; I have an old Intel NUC (also used as a local dev server) running Ubuntu on which I installed OctoPrint.
Read MoreCreating a Practical and Automatic Server and Data Backup Solution
- February 27, 2023
- 8 minutes
- automation, inspiration, personal, tech
If you had disk/storage failure (on any of your important devices/things/places), would you be "up the creek?"
For many folks, the answer to that question is "absolutely."
Read MoreUpgrading All The Things to Ubuntu 22.04
- February 13, 2023
- 5 minutes
- inspiration, mistakes, php, security, tech
One of my "winter break" projects this year was to get all of my disparate Ubuntu server instances upgraded and into parity. Last year I wrote about my adventure moving WSL Ubuntu from 18.04 to 20.04, which happened before 22.04 was officially released.
Read MoreMister Thermistor, Fixed With a Silpat
![Screenshot of OctoPrint's temperature graph illustrating a consistent hotend and heated bed temperature with only minor +/- 0.5 degree variations over the course of the previous 30 minutes.](/sites/default/files/2023-01/octoprint-temperature.png)
- January 30, 2023
- 8 minutes
- 3d printing, inspiration, mistakes, personal, tech
I got hooked into 3D printing late last summer. A problem that cropped up after the first couple months of tinkering and relatively error-less printing was an issue with thermal runaway. Something I could correct for short periods of time, but never make totally go away...
Read MorePowershell String Manipulation - A One-Liner
- January 16, 2023
- 4 minutes
- inspiration, personal, powershell, tech
See also: asking a friend for help can save oodles of time and effort.
Around Thanksgiving 2022, an friend of mine asked to talk through a problem he thought might be solvable with Powershell, but he'd been stuck on the design. Naturally, I agreed to help out if/where I could and it provided an opportunity to chat via Zoom which I am not one to turn down.
Read MoreSmart Independent Control of a Ceiling Fan & Light with Shelly 1L
![Home Assistant dashboard (dark mode) illustration for independent control of office fan and office lights, with office fan in "off" state and office lights in "on" state.](/sites/default/files/2022-10/OfficeFanLights_0.png)
- October 24, 2022
- 6 minutes
- automation, home assistant, inspiration, personal, tech
As I've noted before, my 1940's-era house has its own quirks with regard to smart home automation in large part due to 1940's wiring standards.
Read MoreSmart Control of a 1940's Three-Way Switch with Shelly 1L
![Snip of Home Assistant dashboard card for Stairwell/Stair Lights with status data](/sites/default/files/2022-09/StairwellLights.png)
- September 26, 2022
- 8 minutes
- automation, home assistant, inspiration, personal, tech
Once I settled on jumping into home automation and Home Assistant (HA), the first "practical" thing I wanted to address was the issue of lights being left on at random throughout the house.
Read MoreJumping into Home Assistant: The Installation (and Hiccup) Process
![Screenshot of Home Assistant Initialization/Setup Screen at the user account creation step](/sites/default/files/2022-09/hastart.png)
- September 12, 2022
- 6 minutes
- automation, home assistant, inspiration, personal, tech
About a month ago, I took the plunge.
After considering it for a long time and hearing about some cool stuff folks were doing with home automation, I decided it was time to start my own dabbling adventure. A warning to folks: home automation is a little bit like owning horses. There can be a bunch of expense in the process for little obvious reward.
Read More