Easier easy-rsa

Posted on 2015-December-28 in programming • Tagged with easy-rsa

OpenVPN

If you have ever set up an OpenVPN server, you probably had to fight your way through the certificate generation steps. Something like what is detailed here:

https://openvpn.net/index.php/open-source/documentation/miscellaneous/77-rsa-key-management.html

The official OpenVPN guide refers to easy-rsa, which is a royal pain in …


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OpenWRT on MR3020

Posted on 2015-December-09 in programming • Tagged with diy, mr3020, openwrt

TP-Link MR3020

Situation: you live in a one-room appartment and receive Internet through a single RJ45 plug in the wall. How do you extend it to all devices in the room for the cheapest price?

Objective: provide WiFi connectivity on a dedicated LAN where users can see each other and share files …


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Meet the Guru

Posted on 2015-July-07 in fun

Math formulae

Tonight I met a guru. Not an expert, a real guru: the kind of spiritual guide who has theories, speaks wonders, and has followers. This all started when a friend of mine invited me over to have a quick chat with this phenomenal genius from Canada who has invented methods …


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XML just called

Posted on 2015-January-27 in fun • Tagged with bug, voice, xml

Mean science (cartoon)

Lunch time. I had been waiting outside for my colleagues to show up for close to 10 minutes when they said they were following me. Getting impatient, I wrote an SMS to my office mate containing the single word: MANGER. Interestingly enough, Android does not allow me to set a …


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Je suis Charlie

Posted on 2015-January-14 in thoughts • Tagged with je suis charlie

The Paris events were dreadful. Being assassinated for drawing cartoons is probably the most stupid thing that could ever happen. I am particularly touched by the death of Cabu, a cartoonist who, to me, has been part of the French culture forever. Whenever something of importance happened worldwide, Cabu was …


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Parental control with OpenWRT and OpenDNS

Posted on 2014-December-10 in networking • Tagged with opendns, openwrt, parental control

OpenWRT prompt

The following recipe took me a whole evening to find, so I am documenting it here in hope it could be useful to somebody else.

I recently upgraded my home network to a beefier TP-Link C5 Archer. This little box packs two Wi-Fi access points in 2.4 and 5GHz …


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PC-to-PC 101

Posted on 2014-October-15 in networking • Tagged with ad-hoc network, ipv6, rj45

RJ-45

Got my hands on an old but faithful laptop recently. The thing is a lot faster than my son's desktop, so I thought it would make a nice update for him. First thing I did was upgrade the laptop's disk to an SSD and install Linux Mint. This is now …


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No news today

Posted on 2014-July-29 in thoughts

Sarkozy was president of France during five years from 2007 to 2012. During those five long years, the French media switched to full-Sarkozy mode, as if he was the only newsworthy person on this planet. Most newspapers would not hesitate to put his picture on the front page on a …


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Planes taking off

Posted on 2014-March-20 in fun • Tagged with hannover, planes, taking off

Composite image of planes taking off

Planes taking off in Hannover. Nothing new, but I like this picture.

See also http://twistedsifter.com/2012/02/picture-of-the-day-striking-multiple-exposure-shot-of-takeoffs-at-hannover-aiport/


Insanely Large Machines

Posted on 2013-November-23 in astronomy • Tagged with large telescope, vlt, xkcd

Just saw this xkcd being pointed to by ESO today: xkcd Telescope names.

The Very Large Telescope is a project I was lucky enough to help bring from its infancy to daily operations. In the crowd of engineers who worked on that project, Daniel Enard was considered by most as …


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