Synology NAS software on non-Synology hardware

I am the proud owner of a Synology DS1512+. She’s getting old but she’s still one of my more sensible purchases. The hardware quality and ease-of-use of the Synology Disk Manager (DSM) still pleases me every day.

I need my NAS to be operational. I use it for all my important stuff but I also have the “urge” to develop my own tools for it. I need a platform to develop software on, without the risk of losing any of my data.

Recently I found XPEnology. Is it a Synology DSM clone? No. It IS the original Synology DSM, without alterations. You just need something to boot it with; a bootloader. Is it legal???? I’m not sure. And when in doubt, go for safe; consider it illegal.

In retrospect, setting-up a XPEnology NAS is surprisingly easy. But for most tutorials you need a Windows computer (windows-only software is used). But on a Mac, you don’t need (most of this) 3rd party software. You have a Mac! A Mac comes with tools, but what tool to use and how?

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Out with the old, in with the new — Switching from built-in software to one awesome piece of engineering: Local (by Flywheel)

A multitude of recent developments have aided me to make a choice. Some of them are

  • Apple going for thinner, lighter instead of stronger performance, and
  • Microsoft integrating Bash into Windows 10 with WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

While the new Macbook Pro is quite a feet of engineering, it is hardly “Pro”. Surely intel graphics are enough for typing letters and calculating spreadsheets, it’s not Pro. A 16GB memory limit (which with the compression tech used is like 24GB for any other OS) is great for battery life, but it’s not “Pro”. The keyboard is ultra thin and has good tactile feedback, but the keys need a firm press, and travel almost nothing. Great for thinning the device, but again, not “Pro”. For the same amount of money you can buy a portable powerhouse like the Asus ROG G752vy (seen in my post about this). This one has other issues, but at least it has got awesome graphics (nVidia 980), max 64 GB RAM and a “normal” laptop keyboard.

(Yeah, I know, I KNOW, I don’t need ‘awesome graphics’ for web development, but I like to game also, and to be honest; my favorite IDE – phpStorm – DOES prefer a sturdy GPU. Don’t know why, but it runs so much better on a discrete GPU than it does on intel Graphics)

Reasons to stay with macOS are rapidly diminishing, and reasons to start using Windows again are gaining support. Since the Windows 10 Anniversary Update, Windows offers Bash and all goodness that comes with Ubuntu linux, right at your fingertips. Well, not ALL goodness, but most of it.

Continue reading “Out with the old, in with the new — Switching from built-in software to one awesome piece of engineering: Local (by Flywheel)”

Adding more purpose to your iMac 27″, use it as monitor for any HDMI device, like your xbox, PS4, media player, set top box, etc. etc. etc.

Just a quick note for those wondering;

YES YOU CAN! Use a 27″ iMac in Target Display Mode with a non-Apple device on the other end of the cable!

The 27″ iMac (last sold in 2010) can be used as DisplayPort monitor. This is important!; the 24″ iMacs that came after the 27″ also have a Target Display Mode, but they require a ThunderBolt connection, as opposed to a Mini-DisplayPort connection.

(Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592) Continue reading “Adding more purpose to your iMac 27″, use it as monitor for any HDMI device, like your xbox, PS4, media player, set top box, etc. etc. etc.”

Hey Siri, what do I need to do to get my development environment working again after upgrading to macOS Sierra?

Hello, macOS Sierra!

macOS… that name… so… long… ago…

It has been, what?, 11 years? 12? … System 9, that was the last OS to be called macOS. The name change does not change anything regarding the update cycle, although on one of my macs, the upgrade went horrifically bad! I ended up rebooting in Recovery mode and installing macOS from there.

For getting the development enviroment back up, not much to be done!

Apache could not find the default server certificates in

/private/etc/apache2/server.crt
so after correcting those paths in
/etc/apache2/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
and restarting Apache, all’s well!

Shell commandsudo nano /etc/apache2/extra/httpd-ssl.conf
Shell commandsudo apachectl restart

As always; feel free to comment or ask questions :)

Thinking about buying Asus ROG Gaming laptop? Great choice, but keep this in mind!

Recently I fell off the wagon; I wanted more gaming and Apple only wanted more thinness and more quietness. (And more money, but who doesn’t).
So I got myself an Asus ROG G752VY-GC174T. Awesome laptop, I got to say, but… Continue reading “Thinking about buying Asus ROG Gaming laptop? Great choice, but keep this in mind!”

Bye Bye Yosemite – Hello El Capitan! — another post-upgrade fixing session

In the series “How to fix your development environment after an upgrade” ( referring to this and this post ) I present you;

“Fix your development environment after upgrade to El Capitan”

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Duplicate Network Name, IP-Address already in use, slow DNS resolution, erratic Bonjour discovery, Dead-slow Safari 8, one simple solution

Update: as announced and expected, Apple has replaced DiscoveryD with mDNSResponder in 10.10.4. For those of you running 10.0.4, this article no longer applies. In case you’re stuck on 10.10.0, .1, .2 or .3, read on :)

A long long title, but accurately descriptive :P Poor English? Perhaps, but it does say what is to be said;

If you have experienced one of the following issues, then you should read on;

  • Your computer’s name is already in use, your computer has been renamed to iMac (2)
  • Your IP address is already in use (even when you’re the only one at home)
  • Opening a website in Safari takes “forever”
  • You cannot find your (other) computer on the network (even though you’re sure it’s turned on)

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USB 3.0 on Macbook Pro 2011

Lucky enough to have a Macbook Pro 17″ with an ExpressCard/34 slot? Then you’re not lucky enough to have built-in USB 3.0. We can fix that! You need to spend about 10 to 15 USD. Interested? Read on! It took me months just to find this post which gave me a 10 minute solution.

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Certified Secure – Certification for Security Awareness and more!

I too have been captured by “the need to get certified”. Certified Secure offers training and exams and ultimately certificates. SQL-injections, Path-traversal, Cross-Site Scripting, Cross-Server Request Forgery etc. etc. It’s a lot to learn and for me – being a developer – and for you – assuming you are one too, reading my blog – it is a necessity!

Continue reading “Certified Secure – Certification for Security Awareness and more!”