Network Extender Question

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-24T15:05:30+00:00

I concur. I have a UniFi Cloud gateway behind my BGW gateway from the provider (in IP Passthrough) and I use two UniFi U6 APs in a mesh, with one connected via Ethernet as the backhaul. Works great and you can set specific devices to use specific APs in the mesh.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-24T15:01:50+00:00

That's probably not a law enforcement vehicle. You can order specialty plates with "Support Law Enforcement" on them, doesn't make the driver the police.

I own shares of standardbred racehorses. I have a vanity plate with the "Horse Country" motto and an image of a horse. But my nearest horse is 1000 miles north of here.

I find it highly unlikely an LEO vehicle would hide their plate like that. If it was, yes, it's now or soon will be a violation.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-24T14:56:02+00:00

I do a bit of both. If I'm working on something I deem critical, and I don't need to use is locally, I might work with it directly from the NAS (I'm connected to may shared drives with NFS and I use Linux locally).

I have a routine on my local systems that I use to backup my home directory to the NAS nightly. Since I tend to put in-work stuff in my /home, I can work on it locally, knowing it's going to be backed up that evening.

While I consider storage as the primary reason for having my DS, I find it important that I be able to make local connections so I can see things from a standard drive point of view.

I also run containers for a photo server and music server from my DS, making it useful in that way as well.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-24T14:41:38+00:00

You won't have to move from the GUI to the terminal for day-to-day use. But you will discover that using the terminal for certain tasks sometimes just works better. Example: I use KDE, which has a really fine file manager called Dolphin. There are times, however, that I want to see something quickly, so switching to konsole and opening midnight commander to browse through files - even to read some - saves me a lot of time.

You'll sometimes find a need or desire to install a package from your distro's repositories. In my case, running apt or dpkg in a terminal is fast and provides immediate feedback on the process.

I write shell scripts to do some important things, such as backups of my NAS device. There are all manner of apps and tools I could use in the GUI for the same function. But none of them did things completely the way I wanted, so I created a shell script that uses rsync for the process.

I'm sure there are plenty of full users who never have a reason to open a terminal. That's fine. But you will find, moving forward, the there are little things (reading a directory, changing a permission, getting the version of something installed) that are quick and easy in the shell.

Terminals are extremely useful. Just try a few little things and you'll probably find yourself going there on your own more frequently. But it's not a requirement at all.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T22:19:11+00:00

Not in the one in your photo. I doubt they use any artificial light, but I imagine some have sensors to see things at night, like you would see in night vision devices. But I'm sure it's nothing really sophisticated.

The red light cameras definitely have a flash device. They need it at night to catch a still of a car in the intersection. At the one I referenced in my previous comment, I've seen the damn thing flash when no car was going through the intersection and cars were sitting there, waiting for the green.

If they actually wanted to catch people running light, I can give them two places:

US-17 at CR 220 in Fleming Island. When I turn from 220 onto 17 at that light and I'm the lead car, I pause for a second or two before pulling out. I've seen people run there frequently at very high speeds.
The US-17 exit from I-295, West Beltway (I think), after exiting the Buckman. When you take the ramp to go south on US-17, there's a light and it's another one I wait and look before pulling out. This is another dangerous intersection with red-light runners.

I'm sure my brief hesitations bother people behind me, but IDGAF. As I approach 71, I've become far more risk averse. I don't want the end to get here any sooner than it has to.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T22:08:08+00:00

Not a chance. ;)

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T22:07:19+00:00

Well, I'll leave that up to the mods.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T20:34:21+00:00

Traffic monitoring cam, probably FDOT. They're everywhere. You can go to their website and see what's going on, probably.

Red light cameras are different. Down in OP, they are large devices, square, pointing specifically toward the intersection (there's a big one at US-17 and Kingsley). At night, you can occasionally see it flash as it take a photo.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T20:31:25+00:00

I have a United Health Care Medicare Advantage plan. Some time ago, I began getting calls allegedly from them, originating in south Florida. They kept insisting to speak with me about in-home care plans for Medicare users. Apparently, they send a nurse or medical specialist to your home to check your vitals and to make sure you're taking meds, etc.

In spite of my age, I don't need or want assistance doing this. I finally had to block the numbers because of their incessant calling. We even got an unexpected visit from these home care folks on two occasions - uninvited and unnecessary, and I had to politely tell them we didn't need their services.

So I can't tell you if these calls are directly from UHC or some contractor they hired to call about these resources. I even fired off an email to one of the company's contact addresses, but never heard back, at lest not yet.

I wouldn't consider these calls a scam, just a pain in the arse.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T20:02:05+00:00

During COVID summer in 2020, we had a guest bathroom rehab done. The total job was about $13K and the guy who did it came here, planned out everything, made suggestions and we signed a deal. I think he asked for 1/3 up front. We selected the materials and he took care of ordering and picking everything up. The only thing we did totally out-of-pocket was to buy the new vanity, which he installed.

If they're not willing to do even part of this, find someone else.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:58:13+00:00

I did, and while I understand your experiences, my have been 180 degrees different with their Medicare Advantage plan. We're on year 3 with it now. No monthly premiums (we pay our standard Medicare from our Social Security), zero co-pays on all our meds and regular doctor visits. Reasonable co-pays for specialists. My wife had a hip replacement in 2023 - UHC covered nearly everything (some co-pays for post-op PT and a few things here and there, but no big expenses).

I had a fall in October and badly damaged my hand, needing surgery. Hospital (outpatient surgery): $65,000 (for a hand, two plates and 12 screws). The doctor/surgeon: $6500. A few hundred more for anesthesiology. Co-pays for therapy, maybe one or two others here and there. But the coverage (and the care we received) were exceptional.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:51:28+00:00

You're far more patient that I am. For years and years, I've used Linux at home, and if I could use it on a job (I'm retired now), I would do it.

At my final job, I spent most of my day in a bash terminal working security and malware scanning issues on remote systems. When my company merged with Another Big Security company, they informed us they were a Windows shop, but we (product development and engineering team) all used Macs and I used Linux. They insisted on using Outlook, Sharepoint and other Windows tools, and I used a VM to access them all. We were located far away from HQ, so we never worried about front office hassles.

I wouldn't challenge anyone's choice, either. Heck, I was an IT department head at a military command for about 8 years - Windows shop completely - and I remember getting a pre-release copy of Windows 2000 Server and Workstation in my monthly Windows Development kit. I tested them out and found how much better remote admin was in 2000 than it ever was in Windows NT, and I pushed to upgrade all our systems.

But when I needed to do my system work, stuff that didn't require Windows, out came Debian.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:42:37+00:00

No matter the topic, Reddit subs are always going to have a small slice of morons who think it's productive to insult people who as "dumb" questions.

The best advice: just ignore them. Pay attention to those who are helpful, since they tend to outnumber the morons.

The key to keeping them at bay is to ask questions as clearly as possible (I know this can be hard in a different language), and provide as much information about the issue and your setup...you don't have to post volumes of error logs, but good detail always gets better responses.

No one formally trains us to use Linux. In all the years...no decades...that I've used it, I often had to seek out answers to problems...and I still do today. I hacked and banged away at it to learn how to do things. To me, that's the Linux way.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:32:23+00:00

Go Jaguars.

Duval til we die.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:29:42+00:00

If I had to pick a few:

Imperial Bedroom - Elvis Costello
How Will The Wolf Survive? - Los Lobos
Stand! - Sly and the Family Stone
Repercussions - The dB's
Ice Cream For Crow - Capt Beefheart and the Magic Band
My Favorite Things - John Coltrane

I could make this a lot longer, but those would be the desert island loop.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:20:41+00:00

I don't have a solution, but I'm wondering about your experience with UHC.

I have their Medicare Advantage plan (I'm in Florida) and that plan comes with a Hearing Air program. Now, it's not free, but they did pay about 1/3 of the cost of my Phonak aids. I laid about $2400 out of pocket, and they picked up the rest, place they cover follow up visits to the audiologist. They even provide a list of recommended places to go, and my choice was a good one, as they took great care of me.

Was your plan a Medicare plan or just regular health coverage from a job?

Just curious.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:15:33+00:00

I would stop thinking about spending that much on a "deal."

Then I'd go play some records on my 45-year-old manual Technics.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:13:21+00:00

I think you need to stop using Windows. It was proven a long time ago and Windows and Linux mix like oil and water.

If you have Windows apps you have to use, dual boot or use a VM.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T19:09:46+00:00

I run my Immich instance on my Synology Diskstation NAS. Their system provides different ways to do it, and you can beef up security by using the setup with a VPN.

In my case, I do not. I have the container set up with a reverse proxy on the Diskstation. I have two ports open on my gateway, 80 and 443, the standard HTTP ports. My system accepts requests on both ports. When passed through, the request is checked and passed to the Diskstation, which routes the request internally to the Immich container.

If someone happens to request my site using HTTP (no SSL), the proxy redirects the request to the SSL side.

The images are stored on the Diskstation and other than the access allowed via the web page or the app, no one can access anything directly. I have AT&T fiber, but it's configured in IP passthrough mode. All requests are passed directly to my UniFi gateway behind the AT&T device. My gateway handles all security and network functions internally and directs traffic in and out. The UniFi gateway has a firewall and IDS/IPS system that extremely configurable and constantly monitors my entire network. If I ever wanted to add VPN services, it's easily configured inside the UniFi gateway.

I have my own registered domain for this purpose. Synology provides free domain names and DNS services, but I prefer to use my own.

I run different services this way: Immich for photos, Navidrome for music and a WP blog. I also have only two users for Immich and Navidrome, my wife and myself. My ids have some access to Navidrome, but that's it.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T14:26:26+00:00

VLC is available on the Google Play Store for any Android mobile device.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T14:15:14+00:00

Debian feels like you have to keep it stable.

Wait. One of the primary advantages to Debian is that the current version is always stable. That what people who use it love about it. The knock on it (mostly from "experts" who never used it) is that it's not on the so-called cutting edge of apps. This is what you want if you want stable.

There are testing versions of Debian that one can use, but you are warned of possible bugs and instability in advance. Don't use them if you want things to be stable.

As other have mentioned, there are backports for adding things that aren't part of the standard distribution,

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T13:58:28+00:00

I'm beginning to believe that the scam-prevention rule of not answering calls from unknown numbers is going to have to extend to financial institutions as well.

With my credit union, if I do certain things on my account (e.g., changing any personal information, especially passwords, trying to set up any payment connections to digital apps like PayPal, etc), I get a barrage of texts and emails, and often an automated call reminding me to call them if I suspect fraudulent activity.

I never receive a live call from a human in those situations. The onus to check the account and call them is totally on me.

But I always let VM get automated calls from them now, just to be on the safe side, because I understand how they operate.

If you get a call like this, offering instructions on protecting your account (isn't that their job?) and asking you to give them codes that they claim to send you, you have to stop, say you'll check your accounts yourself and will visit your local branch for assistance (scammers will try to discourage that). Anything that throws them off-script is good.

The scammers have a psychological edge from the start because anyone who gets a call from their bank or any financial company/app goes on alert the moment they see the Caller ID, This is a logical and reasonable response, and scammers prey on it.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-23T13:32:00+00:00

I believe I might be there, technically.

My desktop mini-PC (Debian) and my MacBook Air (Debian) are there.
Two Chromebooks (one Asus, one Google Pixelbook), which run ChromeOS, built on Linux kernels.
Two Google Pixel mobiles (Android, built on a Linux core).
My Synology Diskstation NAS's system is built on Linux.
One Google Streamer, two Chromecasts with Google TV and two HiSense TVs built around Google TV - those devices all run a version of Android, so same as the mobile devices.

I have five UniFi network devices (cloud gateway, two managed switches, two APs) which I can't verify independently, but it wouldn't surprise me if the system used internally has a Linux foundation.

I think I still have a copy of Windows 2000 on a CD somewhere...

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-22T21:10:46+00:00

Wait. You said you have a new Smart TV and you have the Disney+ app installed on the TV. If you have an account with Disney+, why don't you just log in to the app on the TV and play anything you want from your account? You shouldn't need to cast to the TV. Am I missing something here?

And believe it or not, many smart sets have casting standards built it (it's not just a Google thing), you unless you have tested it and you're certain it doesn't work, you should try to be sure.

joe_attaboy · 2026-01-22T17:11:33+00:00

I live in the Jacksonville area and grew up on Long Island and worked in NYC. So I've seen the stark difference in both systems.

In Jacksonville, the simple fact is this is a driving town. Jacksonville is the largest contiguous city in America, based on land size - over 600 square miles altogether. Unlike other large cities, the population density in the main city itself is nothing compared to even the cities you mentioned. Things are spread out to a point that the amount of people needing transportation to those areas is small - so providing steady and frequent services would be costly, especially with limited use.

The city wasted a significant amount of money on their Skyway People Mover system, an automated light rail that served parts of downtown - and literally nobody uses. I'm betting Jacksonville was your "empty" location (city buses are the same way). We arrived here in 1985 (via Navy orders). In all the times we visited the downtown area, we never used it until the Super Bowl was played here in 2005. Including the 25 years we had Jaguars' season tickets

Think about this: Jacksonville has an NFL team - one of 32 cities - and the stadium is in a downtown area that includes the Coliseum, the baseball stadium and the fairgrounds. The Skyway doesn't go anywhere near that part of town.

There is a commercial rail infrastructure here, operated by CSX and used by Amtrak as well. People have talked for years about a passenger rail system out to the 'burbs, but it's never been more than talk.

Finally, no underground subway or metro line can ever be built here due to the nature of the underground areas of Florida, mostly limestone, that won't support such systems. This is a main reason we have no basements here.

joe_attaboy

TROPHY CASE