Wolfy Computing

01/03/2026

I was monitoring the server's firewall output today, and I kinda wanna get Snorby and Snort set up again. I used to have full-on intrusion detection going, but when I upgraded that machine, it broke Snorby, and I never got around to fixing it.

Setting things up on FreeBSD is always a fun challenge because, FreeBSD is really a developer's OS. It's not very user-friendly and it has very strict permissions. That makes it an awesome choice for the security-conscious individual, but there's often extra configuration involved.

Snorby is a frontend application for Snort. Snorby let you check and analyze your Snort events and alerts from a web browser.

03/21/2025

My mother bought an LG TV that has got a remote desktop client built in to the OS. It took me two hours to get it to connect. At first, I thought it might have been a connection issue because the TV was telling me "make sure the computer is on." I messed around with IP settings for a while. I had the TV and the computer addresses set manually, but ultimately used the router with DHCP reservations.

I messed around with the firewall settings for a while because I wasn't sure how the app on the TV connected to RDP. In the PC world, RDP only needs to have port 3389 open on TCP to work. I eventually attempted connecting to the computer using my laptop and it quickly became apparent that the problem was not with the connection, but with authentication.

My mother had told me there was a password set up on her account even though the computer always logged on automatically. A Windows machine logging on automatically is usually an indication that there isn't a password on the account. Sure enough, further investigation revealed that there was no password on the account. Set up a password and the TV connected with no problems.

Now she has to choose a wireless keyboard and mouse to hook up to the television. I suggested the Logitech MK540 because it's a full size keyboard and mouse combination without a lot of frills. However, she is so hung up on things like function keys and the actual size of the keyboard, that she makes choosing a keyboard seem almost as difficult as the former problem.

03/25/2024

I've been having problems with the network adapters on my PCs running at only 100Mbps lately. At first, I though it might have been a problem with my laptop's ethernet adapter because it would have the same problem on both PCs. I reinstalled the device with different drivers to no avail. Manually changing the speed/duplex did not help either.

I plugged it in to a hub and the speed auto-negotiated to 1Gbps, so I started looking at my desktop PC using the same approach. Still had the same problem. When I plugged it in to the hub it would only ran at 100Mbps, so I switched cables and that brought the speed up to 1Gbps. Indeed, upon close inspection of the crossover cable I made a year or so ago, I could see that I did not get the wires pushed all the way in to the plug.

06/11/2023

PPYPWR is officially offline and probably will be for a while to save money. Look at this sad computer network! This junk modem has been causing problems with streaming services and web apps since I plugged directly in to it and turned the other functions back on. That decade old Dell has never faltered doing routing and (very strict) firewalling for four subnets and a VPN.

01/09/2023

Finally got a dark photo of it.

09/03/2022

With the fan speeding enabled on the board this thing is so whisper quiet I can hear the drives.

09/03/2022

I forgot how pretty this thing used to be. The last photo is from 2005.

09/03/2022

There's a story behind these fans. I had originally purchased 3 from Newegg, but the seller only had two. I got a refund and ordered this one from someone on Ebay in Hawaii. It looks like it's spent time in someone's basement, but it's perfectly functional. I also bought the last five 80mm rainbow fans on the internet for scalper prices of $25 each. They're single speed, unlike these.

08/25/2022

And boy what a difference!

08/25/2022

At the behest of the person I reside with I was moved to drastically reduce the amount of decibels this computer produces.