Posts from San Francisco, CA
MIB2 Composition Media Hacking
- 04 January 2022
My US 2019 Golf Alltrack SE came with the MIB2 Composition Media infotainment system made by Delphi running QNX 6.5.0 (with firmware MST2_US_VW_P0890D release 0890). This unit has CarPlay/Android Auto but lacks navigation or maps of its own (though it has GPS). Lucky for me, it’s possible to gain root access to the unit.
MIB2 Developer Mode
- 02 January 2022
My Alltrack came with an MIB2 Composition Media infotainment system. These are the steps I took to enable development mode and get some information about it. Enabling development mode also lets me take screenshots by holding down the Media button for 3 seconds and have them saved to the SD card. You’ll need an OBD11/OBDeleven or VCDS.
Euro Tail Lights
- 23 December 2021
I’ve always preferred amber turn signals over flashing brake lights in my vehicles. My 2010 JSW had them but my 2019 Alltrack lacked the amber turn signals.
Install Windows 11 on an Intel Mac
- 11 December 2021
This guide lays out the steps I take to install Windows 11 on my Intel-based Apple computers using a custom ISO. This allows me to bypass the current TPM 2.0 requirement, since at this time Boot Camp does not provide TPM 2.0 to Windows.
T-Mobile Franklin T9 Hacking
- 11 November 2021
My goal for this project is to have an LTE hotspot in my car that shuts off automatically when I get home to avoid wasting data. I’m using it with Google Fi.
EcoHitch Install
- 25 October 2021
I decided to go with the EcoHitch x7315. Installing was straight forward, but it ended up taking my entire Sunday to complete. Overall I’m very happy with how it turned out.
Monoprice Maker Select v2
- 21 October 2021
I bought my first 3D printer from Amazon in 2018 for $300. It’s on the cheaper end but there’s a large community behind it.
Rear Dashcam Pair
- 08 September 2021
Installed a second pair of cameras to get a better view out of the rear of my car for read-end crashes as well as another IR camera pointed towards the front of the car. This way I have a sort of 360 view from both inside-pointing cameras. Like the front camera I also bought a tamper-proof case for the rear one. Similarly I also use BlackVue batteries to keep the camera powered overnight.
P3 Vent Gauge
- 22 August 2021
Installed this to have a boost gauge in my air vent: P3 V3 OBD2 - VW Mk7 / Mk7.5 Gauge (2014-2020)
Fire Extinguisher
- 20 June 2021
Bought a rechargeable 2.5 lb fire extinguisher from Amazon: Amerex Dry Chemical Fire Extinguisher B417T
Custom Fabricated Rack 2020
- 06 June 2020
Having my equipment hidden in a TV cabinet was all fine and well but after a while I got the server rack itch. So during the pandemic I learned Fusion 360 and made my own custom 10u rack posts. It turned out nicer than I expected! 3D models are available here: Robpol86/TV-Cabinet-Rack-Posts
Front Dashcam Pair
- 21 February 2020
I installed a BlackVue dashcam along with multiple batteries to get about 2 days of recording time while my vehicle is parked. I live in San Francisco and while my car is parked overnight in a garage, I occasionally park my car in the street and after a year nobody has broken in to steal the camera.
Under-Seat Drawer
- 09 February 2020
Just like my old TDI I wanted the OEM drawer under the driver seat to store things. Unlike my old TDI there is no passenger seat drawer available for the Alltrack. While installing, I also lined the drawer and the dash cubby that came with the car with felt so things wouldn’t rattle. I’m using foil to eventually trace out the curve
Trashcan
- 27 January 2020
Bought this from Amazon: display4top Auto Car Trash Can Bin Waste Container
Desk Photo 2018
- 14 January 2018
New apartment to cut down on my commute and new computer to take advantage of my 10 GbE home network and server. Upgraded from a Mac Pro to the new iMac Pro! 10 core Xeon + 4 TiB SSD + 128 GiB RAM - $3,000 employee discount = still a lot of money.
TV Cabinet Rack 2017
- 12 July 2017
I replaced my super cool Dell rack recently with a more normal-looking setup in my living room. After countless weeks looking for the right TV cabinet I finally found one deep enough to house a couple of 2U rackmount cases and a rackmount switch. It turned out nicer than I had expected! Don’t ask me how much all this cost.
Raspberry Pi LUKS Root Encryption
- 12 February 2017
In this short guide I’ll go over how I implemented full disk encryption using LUKS on my Raspberry Pi’s root file system without needing a second Linux computer to run commands on. All you need is your Raspberry Pi running Raspbian and a USB flash drive.
Desk Photos 2017
- 14 January 2017
I’ve decided to get rid of my rack cabinet in my living room, so I started by moving my Mac Pro onto my desk and running ethernet cables through the wall. Also with my larger IKEA bed I had to rotate my desk 90 degrees to make everything fit.
Postfix and Gmail Forwarding
- 18 December 2016
You may be familiar with the local mail spool on your Linux system. Often error messages from failed cron jobs are sent there. However this isn’t much use if the server goes down or loses network connectivity. It would be nice to have it send those emails out to an external email inbox instead. That way you can be notified when disks fail in a RAID array or when applications/services fail or produce errors.
Raspberry Pi on Project Fi
- 03 December 2016
This guide will go over how to get a Raspberry Pi (or really any Linux system) on Google’s Project Fi cellular service. If you already use Project Fi as your main cellphone service provider then you can use their data only SIM cards to get your Raspberry Pi online for relatively cheap depending on your use case.
Dell Rack 2016
- 17 September 2016
My server rack cabinet at home. Built my own router and zip tied a keystone panel so pulling out my rack doesn’t involve disconnecting my speaker wire. Listen to https://youtu.be/WPDZoOKX8ag to hear how much noise this puts out (not really that much). For pix of the underside look at last year’s gallery.
Desk Photos 2016
- 01 June 2016
Right before I moved desks for the 6th time in 1.5 years. I lost my nice window desk, oh well.
Bareos Tape Backup on a 124T
- 23 August 2015
I use Bareos (a fork of Bacula) to backup my data at home from a Linux computer to tape. Backing up to tape is a lot more convenient that backing up to DVD-R/BD-R, though it’s probably debatable when compared to backing up to an external hard drive. But having a tape autoloader is so cool!
Setting Up a Home Root CA
- 11 August 2015
Tired of getting those SSL error pages when accessing your router’s admin interface? Sick of having to click three times to get to your IPMI web interface? Have I got a guide for you!
Desk Photo 2015: Work @ Uber
- 24 July 2015
I really like standing desks and luckily Uber provides this contraption. Everyone seems to have one.
Dell Rack 2015
- 13 July 2015
My server rack cabinet at home. Removed everything from it, cleaned and dusted it, and installed only the things I’m using.
Desk Photos 2014
- 25 April 2014
Got back to having a standing desk. I stole this rolling desk since they moved us to a really cramped area and damned if I’m giving up one of my monitors.
Wireless Charging Car Dock
- 16 November 2013
So I was tired of having to hold my phone while plugging in a microusb cable after I’ve docked it in my car. I couldn’t find very many car docks out there with wireless charging, and I read that Nokia’s wireless charging car dock didn’t work very well on the Nexus 5.
Dell Rack 2013
- 25 October 2013
Taken after finally re-wiring it and setting it up after moving to San Francisco. I only took one photo of it :(
Desk Photos 2013
- 05 July 2013
I took this picture shortly before leaving Symantec. The office kept shrinking, people leaving but nobody being hired. I managed to get a nice window cubicle for a few months in the end.
Jetta SportWagen TDI
- 03 July 2010
Sometime in September 2009, I set my eyes on a Jetta SportWagen TDI as my next car (I was then driving a 2000 F-150). On April 30th 2010 I finally committed to the vehicle and put down a deposit. On June 30th, I received my new car, special ordered the way I wanted it.