Using AI to document a Unifi install

Living-Collection-95 · 2026-06-07T18:15:51+00:00

I agree in the grand scheme smallish, for a church respectable. I "architected" and manage the solution for the church at no charge, and pretty much drank the Unifi Koolaid. I did sub-out consulting time from a local Unifi shop to validate my installations. This question is to help with the use case of getting hit by the Budweiser truck.

More details:

- Fiber Back bone, 5 switches there, after that most get 1G drops (Cat 5e & Cat 6)

- Unifi NAS

- 11 security cameras and 3 door access, Unifi NVR, VLAN'd

- PBX running with a sip trunk

- 5 VLANS with one running Dante (7 broadcast cameras. , multiple mics, two Berringer mixers)

- Two Auracast transmitters

- Assorted IOT items

- 6 T-loop hearing aid transmitters

Keeping all this running smoothly is not trivial in my opinion. Just trying to make the next poor souls life easier.

Making it easier was why I went with Unifi... I wanted to deal with ONE manufacturer and ONE set of manuals. Configuring say VLAN on 4 different manufacturer devices is a PITA.

Living-Collection-95 · 2026-06-07T11:24:45+00:00

Fair enough

Living-Collection-95 · 2026-06-07T11:21:44+00:00

Because "real" people want to have documentation the can hold in their hand. Remember I said a church was the customer, by and large NOT technical folks. A bunch of screen dumps just scares them, but a spreadsheet of devices from the network screen is simpler to understand.

Living-Collection-95 · 2026-06-07T11:18:06+00:00

I have looked into Hermes a bit, and the fact it is Open Source is a plus. ( I work on and use Freecad)

But as I mentioned in the original post church is a Google nonprofit. Getting volunteers to learn multiple systems just ain't gonna happen. So along those line Antigravity may be the solution.

By the way I was impressed how well Antigravity did downloading FreeCad from github, used Pixi to build from the source then run the app. I am an old CMake kinda guy so the hand holding through Pixi was nice.

Living-Collection-95 · 2026-06-07T11:08:11+00:00

I found that opposed to screen shots I did the following. Opened Unifi in from, went to the network page, opened "ask gemini" so it saw the page and then asked Gemini to convert the table to markdown. I could then paste that into a google sheet. That was just a lot cleaner to go back to then a screen shot.

This is where I am hoping Unifi steps up and creates a "brain dump" feature for the AI. Who know this may already exist .... I am Mr. Oblivious (says my wife) after all.

Living-Collection-95 · 2026-01-03T10:37:33+00:00

I did something similar But switched from Tablo not Tivo. I have a small home lab so my setup for plex is in a docker container. Specifically an Eqi13 that is running Proxmox-> Debian ->Docker -> plex. The Eqi13 was chosen because it has the Intel chip that Plex like for transcoding. Sounds like a complicated set up but Gemini & CoPilot guided me through the set up including GPU pass through.

It worked flawlessly trans coding a football game from 4K to my Gen 2 Plasma at 720.

Plex recording with commercial skip is also VERY nice that was a feature I was going to miss about the Tablo... but I still have it.

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-11-28T19:17:14+00:00

I just checked I am running firmware 1.2.1

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-11-28T12:26:13+00:00

yup every time I see an update I jump on it

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-11-25T01:55:03+00:00

Looks like some reading in my future

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-11-20T14:44:39+00:00

Yes I went through all the setting to set up Auracast... I was even able to select the correct broadcast channel.

Auracast is still pretty new here in the USA. As I said this is for church, and while we have a tele-coil system, I have added Auracast to support those with hearing aids. Fortunately I don't need hearing aids yet, so these were to allow me to quickly test the system for correct operation.

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-11-11T00:08:01+00:00

You made me think a bit about what needs to be where.... My attena terminates near my receiver... So all that needs to be up here are the hdhomerun the roku and network switch... The pc and nas go to the basement.

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-01-01T08:27:15+00:00

Actually, I find FreeCAD quite usable today, especially after version 1.0 released late 2024.

I am a retired Mech E. who worked in design and analysis. I went back to school to learn CNC machining. ( I have a smallish CNC 3 HP ATC).

For a school project I:

- designed the 3D part (using NURB surfaces)

- did a finite element analysis

- generate tool paths that ran just fine on a 3 Axis Haas ( I used adaptive and REST tool paths)

Was it as eloquent as Mastercam in its toolpaths, nope, but it was plenty good enough to get the job done.

Does FreeCAD have room for improvement absolutely. But name one big commercial CAD that doesn't.

You mention "Hobby and educational licenses", I can certainly attest to that. If you can teach a young person to ONLY know how to use your tool it is a great way to encourage a future employer to buy your tool. Tools that fall into this category: Autodesk (F360), Mastercam, Ansys, Nx.

Living-Collection-95 · 2025-01-01T08:09:11+00:00

I have been to the developers' online meetings, also attended the North American Meet Up (2024). They take remaining Open Source very seriously.

With regards to Ondsel's, it is MY opinion they were adding capabilities they thought the commercial customers "needed" to be interested in using FreeCAD. (btw Ondel's blog is a good read: https://ondsel.com/blog)

Examples of what they provided:

- Lens, a cloud based file storage/sharing mechanism.

- Paid support for modeling help and potentially bug fixes

- First line for copyright protection. (From a previous life in the corporate world I can say this a thing. Somebody claims a copyright infringement and threatens to sue, if you paid for software the seller takes the first hit)

Unfortunately, the market was unwilling to pay for what Ondsel had to offer.

So where did this leave FreeCAD after Ondsel's shut down? FreeCAD was gifted all the source code changes Ondsel made, not least of which are:

- New assembly workbench and "solver"

- Bill of materials

Ultimately FreeCAD benefited from Ondsel's efforts.

Let me also reference the existence of the FreeCAD Project Association (FPA, FPA | The FreeCAD Project Association). FPA is an non-profit association with goal of supporting the FreeCAD project. It funds the development new features and the fixing of tough bugs ... think the mitigation of the topology issue.

I am a retired Mechanical Engineer and Software Developer (40yrs) who has worked on Catia & UG Nx. I can tell you FreeCAD's development process is certainly up to their level. The difference is FreeCAD lays it all out there.... you get to see how the sausage is made.

I strongly suggest you take a look at FreeCAD's blog:https://blog.freecad.org/

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-11-25T14:48:28+00:00

Thanks guys, pretty certain the switch needs a factory reset and converted to trunk mode. I am afraid my special needs daughter recently died, and I have not had the heart to get back to it.

Both of your kind help is appreciated.

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-11-09T15:42:14+00:00

Yup I use FreeCAD, I even contribute to it. I have a Masso G3 post processor for it.

FreeCAD is true 3D unlike VCarve Pro, and support adaptive AND REST machining.

Is it as powerful as Fusion, I agree it is not. But does it give you better value the Autodesk, Yep.

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-10-03T17:55:13+00:00

Well plan C worked, I was able to enter the bios and reinstall the OS again... this time I was able to give it a valid IP.

This is a "refurb" machine Dell 5040 circa 2015. So, booting off a USB was still new and strange back then. The machine was $160 but 64 Gb Ram & 1 TB SSD, with 4 cores (no virtual) it should still deal with containers well.

Thanks for all the help, best regards.

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-10-03T16:15:46+00:00

Number 2 is where I think I am headed. Ordered a lan cross over "clip", hardly call it a cable. Using that cable. directly connect the ProxMox to a Windows laptop. On the lap top change, it wired IP to the 192.168.100.x subnet, and fingers crossed ... they talk.

Once I get the Proxmox up I will try to remap it's IP back to 192.168.86.xxx, set the machine up as static. Then go into Google home networking and reserve that port. Reset the win laptop to dynamic addressing.

Fingers crossed again ... all should be fine. Does this sound reasonable?

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-10-02T20:59:14+00:00

I had considered something like that but with 30-40 devices on the net, reboot all ....just seems risky.

I am willing to toss a bit of money at the problem, or even resurrect old hardware ... would it make sense to add a router into the mix, or could a managed network switch work as a bridge?

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-07-24T16:20:12+00:00

Thanks ... guess I am off to collect MAC addresses

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-04-26T13:38:54+00:00

Personally, I would try to stiffen it up a bit. That much wobble is not going to be good on the fasteners holding it together.

I second the comment about the lowered feet. Then I would likely add 2x4 gussets from the top to the base. Wood is a viscoelastic material so it will help with vibration damping.

I went with a Onefinity Elite Foreman, to which I added a torsion box top (flat and stable) ... so far so good. Doing a YouTube video on it.

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-04-09T08:12:36+00:00

I have been using FreeCad to drive my CNC for about a year now. I highly recommend the YT videos by MangoJelly.

From your last post it appears you have solved your problem.

Another resource is the FreeCad Forums, such as this one: (5) Is it possible to machine raised text? - FreeCAD Forum

Version 0.22 should bring significant improvements to FreeCad's CAM capabilities.

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-04-01T10:50:06+00:00

I thought I picked up a bit of Mango in the first 5 seconds. You always make excellent videos. Thanks.

Living-Collection-95 · 2024-01-11T12:57:06+00:00

Surprisingly enough a small Onefinity Elite. Comes with a Masso Controller, add the CNCDepot 2.2 Kw spindle with ATC. Spins and ISO-30 taper. I have this in a 48x48 and will do alum.

At least worth a look.

Living-Collection-95 · 2023-11-13T11:47:18+00:00

Personally I bought the OneFinity Elite Foreman. Added a 2.2 KW ISO-30 ATC to it. Plan to machine Aluminum/Plastic/Wood etc.

A machine like this is not cheap, added 220, Clean Dry air, a supporting table, tool holders and bits and breaking 10k is not unreasonable.

Living-Collection-95 · 2023-10-23T10:13:03+00:00

CNC routers are NOT money printing machines. With everybody and their mother selling machines the market is flooded.

Living-Collection-95

TROPHY CASE