RUN TCP/IP | Morgan Lucas | Tech Blogging | For hire

 More Zapier work!   Blogger does not have a Zapier integration (being...almost 30 years old wow founded in 1999!!), but there is a work around; Using an RSS feed.   Zapier has an RSS trigger, so it was a few steps to go  "Look at the RSS feed instead."  I can also select the information to show;   If it works, this post should be shared to both my business page and my personal LinkedIn page 

 The Azure version of AWS Systems manager. A lot more finnicky. Most of my Azure resources are pushed through terraform; nice to see the new variety of options here; r  Quick Specs, so we can get down to the Manager: Ubuntu Server 1 Availability Zone (You can now select multiple)  No accelerated networking  Here's what it looks like when we have a compatible VM; Some of them aren't yet compatible with Update Manager; Here is the configuration and schedule setter. And when confirmed, it appears at the bottom of the 'Create a maintenance configuration' screen; Update schedule in Azure Update Manager set! But you have to hit Review + Create below to save it. Under All resources, we can see this; (It says 'BiWeekly' [the name of the configuration], Maintenance Configuration ,Resource Group: Home) But the actual deployment setting failed for some reason. Not to worry, since this exists, lets see if I can put the resource in the group of the deployment schedule. Not t...

   I blanked when an interviewer asked me "Can you describe a three-tier architecture?"   So I decided to solve that problem.  After looking at several infrastructures, I found one to copy  using Terraform -- but the more I looked, the more questions I had.  First up: Why is there an empty public subnet? I first asked people on this post.  Then, I asked Chat GPT (CGPT) and Google Gemini without sharing the code.  Using publicly available and free to use SVGs for AWS diagramming, diagram this infrastructure.   My mindset on AI is this: I do not want to see AI generated images that were trained on unsuspecting and non-consenting people's artwork.  I personally am fine with it in a technical department (Though I think making it consumer - and even business - grade was a mistake). A public set of images for free use? Okay.    Here is the first iteration of the diagram ChatGPT's output;     CGPT didn't initially understand...

Imagine being a consultant; You charge 50$ an hour. You are booked and busy, so you plan to bulk-send invoices at the end of the day.  But you're tired. So you put it off.  You're not paid, and people are waiting in limbo.  An easier way to manage invoices is doing it automatically - but how?  My idea? When the 1 PM meeting on the calendar has concluded at 1:00:01 PM, the calendar triggers your payment processor to send the invoice.  Here is that thought process....  My initial idea was: [Calendar program marks complete]---> AWS Lambda triggers event --> Square Invoice API -- Invoice sent.  The next question was:  APIs or webhooks?  Probably webhooks from calendar to lambda to prevent constant retrieval. Webhooks operate when an event happens.   Followed by: Do we need Lambda? Can we go directly from calendar program to Square invoice API?  That was a yes; and Zapier came in clutch.  Connectivity was easy after ...

 Note; This post is using an older GUI, so while the steps may have minor changes, it no longer looks like this. I've made S3 buckets with Terraform more often than I've used this. I'm posting it anyway.  Have an oldie but a goodie. I'm working on an AWS three-tier architecture project, and it's easier to follow along via updates on the necessary nuisance that is  LinkedIn . Video . As loyal readers know, hosting static websites is not something I am unfamiliar with . Now, I can host it on AWS in another attempt to show what I learn here. It's easy once you've done it a few times. First, go to your AWS Management Console, then to S3. Create a bucket. When you approach the Block Public Access Page (So no one can reach via the internet), uncheck the top box, so people can reach it. The above video looks quite different (@7:42); Manage public permissions with a drop-down menu seems to have changed to this nested checkbox system. Follow the ...

   According to Microsoft ; Power Automate allows you to automate web and desktop applications on your Windows desktop by mimicking the user interface actions like clicks, and keyboard input. You can also combine these actions with predefined support for applications like Excel to help automate repetitive tasks. Not sure if that fits my goal below, but  let's try something simple on Windows 11: Appending a text file with new input. I:  Use a message box to prompt for a name. The name is saved and 'Hello, %name% is saved to a text file.   The flow:      I had made a variable called 'name' to write to. The textbox made its own variable ('UserInput'), so I told step two (Write text to file) to simply output 'Hello %UserInput%  It did save to a text file -- I wish it would open said file automatically upon saving, but a text box is the next best thing. The file updates in real time!   Let's try another: Put a saved file in a particular p...

I earned my AWS Solutions Architect Certification in Feb 2026 (🎊) but Like Smash Mouth said, "So much to do...so much to see."  I've used Lambdas that, when an object was uploaded to a bucket, sent a notification to Eventbridge, and then sent me a text and email via SNS. Now, thanks to the free project on Adrian Cantrill's GitHub , I'm going to make a small image processing eventflow. (Emoji use is for fun; Everything here written by a human being.)  What's Happening: Images uploaded to an S3 bucket are made into 5 thumbnail variations thanks to the power of Lambdas and inserted into an output bucket.   Business Use case; If you want to get quick thumbnails.  Maybe this can be scaled out to do file conversion, like .txt to .pdf.  Materials: 2 S3 buckets - one for input, one for processed output. Lambda An image!  Step 1: Bucket Creation  🪣 I made one bucket (runtcpip-source, for images to go in) and copied the settings from it to make the second...

 Hugo is both a delightful movie from 2011 and a flexible, fast, open source static website builder. I'm no stranger to static websites, so I'm giving it a try!    -> You will need git installed.    Steps. 1. Install Powershell 2. Use Hugo 3. Using a Domain 4.Publishing a Hugo Site (GitHub Pages)     Installing Powershell Powershell is not the same as Windows Powershell. I'm using WinGet , the Windows Package Manager. It's a tool that does everything you do in a GUI for Windows Clients, but in the command line.  WinGet also installs Hugo.   Using Hugo All of this work is in Powershell.  `hugo new site quickstart`  The command makes a new folder called quickstart while populating it with the Hugo things we need.  `git init`  Initializes git.   ` git submodule add https://github.com/theNewDynamic/gohugo-theme-ananke.git themes/ananke ` It clones the repo into the quickstart directory.  `echo "theme = 'anank...

 Possibly the longest post title ever on this blog.   I grew up with the internet. It was easy to be fooled back then. Nigerian Princes. Chain Letters. Bonsai Cats (do not look that up).  It's - arguably - easier now. Entities are trying to sell you something, get you to buy into crypto, NFTs, or AI, or make you believe something that furthers their interests.  Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online by  Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg walk through how old techniques fall short of the new internet.   (Many of these entries are slight alterations from my LinkedIn posts on the subject while reading. This is not a review, just some thoughts.)  -----   Caulfield and Wineburg introduce the SIFT method;   Stop  Investigate the Source  Find Other Coverage  Trace the Claim to the Original Context I particularly like how, early in the book, 'Stop' is accompanied by ask...

   This project was sunset / cancelled / not finished in your business jargon of choice, but I thought the notes were valuable.   Why would you want to dump your memory? To check for malicious programs running, digital forensics, stuff like that. What do you use to dump memory? I tried DumpIt and [program     name], as well as NotMyFault (Which is a Windows-sanctioned program), but you can do it with tools already installed on Windows. There's probably multiple ways to do it, but here are some instructions that are, yes, involved. Your own risk and all that. DumpIt and the unremembered program crashed my PC without creating a .mem file, but NotMyFault...also crashed, but it did create the file! So I will be using the semi-built-in Windows tools for this purpose. It's at this point where I learn that Memory Dumping is a serious step, and isn't recommended except as a last resort. I will leave the information below that clarifies the Windows SDK Instruct...

Let's get this out of the way; My biggest issue with AI writing apps is they strip away the tone and character of writing. Imagine two people send you an email. They both include the phrase "Let's connect and align on this". Out of context, how would you identify who said that?  As opposed to "Let's meet for a working lunch (So we're both still paid on the clock) and go over paperwork," or "See me at 2 PM to revisit the project". Companies could save a lot of time and money on "team-building events" if the vice grip of professionalism in written communication was locked in the basement. You can be professional and authentic without being inappropriate - or you can be the same as everybody else.  But meanwhile, we have many tools to help proofread your writing - Something I don't mind AI doing. Steer ( Product Hunt ) is described as ''a native macOS utility that allows users to quickly fix and iterate their writing in a...

     The Xfinity app showed usage of the past 3 months: We used less than 40% each month, for about $80 USD a month.   No thanks! That cuts into the movie budget! Before we save some money (about $15/mo), let's test how T-Mobile Internet unlimited data works for 2 weeks.    There are 15 devices for this test; Smart TVs: 4 Laptops: 4 Printer: 1 Smart Home Speakers: 3 Game Consoles: 1 Phones: 1 (There are other phones in the home but they stick with data) Other: 1 Total : 15  I made tables for 3 entries a day across 3 days to test the Xfinity service we have. Here's one;   Xfinity is pretty speedy - Download times are between 227 - 236 Mbps, Latency between 24.5 - 25.5, Jitter between 5 - 6.68, and 0 packet loss.  Let's quickly define the terms in the table;    Date/Time - The date and time of the data gathered. Download (Mpbs) - How fast your network gets data. Upload (Mbps) - How fast your network uploads data. Latency ...

 You can become a digital archivist!    If you visit a museum or national park, take photos of displays, written information, plaques that may come under contention later. If there are signs about not photographing art or exhibits, respect that  - stick to the words.  Back these up to a cloud service, or physical media that does not connect to the internet. Take clear photos.   Use archive websites to find pages removed from the current internet. The Wayback Machine is popular, and GovWayBack focuses on missing pages from government sites.   Libraries do sell old and worn copies of books; Buy some. Hold onto those with information that may come under contention. Take photos - scan them if possible. Look for online file compression tools to zip multiple files into a compressed folder. What about Google Drive?  There are concerns that "certain" files may be deleted or removed. Simply put, I wouldn't trust them to not remove a pdf upload of "Letters ...

  I keep...not being able to enter the PostGRES database via terminal when it's running in a Docker image.  So I scuppered my work, redownloaded the image, took clearer notes with commands and examples on how prompts should appear, and got inside, taking all of 10 minutes. It's like entering a multi-layered vault.  If you're starting a Docker container through the terminal, it is case-sensitive. docker exec -it RUNTCPIP-DBRep /bin/bash is different than docker exec -it RUNTCPIP-DBREP /bin/bash     Downloading Open Datasets Two Ways For Test Data Heard of Kaggle? Now you have. The first way: I took this dataset (free to use) and downloaded it to the Linux system in the container.  I updated packages with apt-get -y and installed curl -(  apt-get -y install curl). (Keep in mind you will likely have to change the path Kaggle gives. I used a period [.] and ended up putting it in a directory I could only reach via an odd song and dance of entering and exiti...

   Perplexity AI, according to BuiltIn , is an AI-powered search engine - and it's now valued at 1 8$Billion dollars, with a B. I had it on my phone for research testing - something I do between contracts for money - and simply kept it all this time. With it making a resurgence, I can show you if it's viable for every day use cases.  I did not use it to generate "art" or writing.  Screen Reading and Photo Identification. I have used Perplexity to read Chinese characters on my screen, asking to point out the radicals, tone, and meaning of unfamiliar characters. There are minor differences between what Perplexity answers with and what Duolingo and DuChinese deal with, but I know enough Chinese* to figure out the difference - though a recent study calls the accuracy into question. For instance, below I've asked it what the radical is in  水 (shui, water)      [alt: The character in your image is  水 , which is the Chinese character for "wate...

  For a company that sells our data (If the product is free, the product is me...and you), LinkedIn offers Premium,.  One can send 5 messages for $40 USD with Premium...or use hunter.io , finding email addresses of people at companies for free. There are issues with that, but I have a free trial!  LinkedIn put forth effort to make the cost worthwhile, so let's see if the options are worth it.   How Much of LinkedIn's Revenue is Premium? I couldn't tell, but COO Daniel Shapero says in 2024, it was a 1.7$ Billion dollar business . He raves about how Premium users like the AI Writing Suggestions tool - but hold that thought.  (On the payment page, it says "Why do we need your card for a free trial? To provide a seamless subscription experience!" It's so you forget to cancel the trial. To be fair, they do say they'll warn you 3 days before it expires, but we know what it's really about.)   LinkedIn Learning  One part of LinkedIn I genuinely enjoy are the...