• 1 Post
  • 80 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
cake
Cake day: June 14th, 2023

help-circle
  • Honestly even most Excel users would be fine transitioning to LibreOffice Calc. I was very impressed with how most of my spreadsheets just worked on recent Calc versions. Formulas and charts were mostly all fine. Even pivot tables worked. I had one formula that had to be changed (it was specific to Excel, but there was an equivalent option in Calc), and one external data pull that I had to figure out. That was across 4 pretty involved spreadsheets.

    The main problem will be users who are so ingrained with the specifics of navigation that they can’t easily adapt to a new menu system. The same happened when Microsoft changed from the old toolbars to the ribbon. And that will be an issue across all the apps.


  • For DIY consider a setup that supports ECC RAM to help prevent corruption. Any good server motherboard should do.

    Unraid is pretty easy to get going on. That’s probably the direction I would take in your situation.

    Also, if you’re not doing 3-2-1 backup now might be a good time to consider an off-site backup plan. That 4-bay Synology at a friend’s house with a VPN path would be an option for critical data. You could give them some partitioned space on there and on your new NAS to compensate for the power usage. Setup Borg or Restic and it’ll be encrypted on the remote NAS, and benefit from incremental and dedupe to minimize bandwidth usage.






  • Ah, got it. That plan should be great. You can segment your own wired+WiFi network with that hardware, and even do Wireguard from the hAP ax2 to get whole-network egress via an outside VPN service at a good data rate, if you want.

    The other devices you might consider as the router are the GL-iNet Slate series. They will be slower as a VPN router, but they’re pretty small and light. They come with a skinned OpenWRT, but in most cases you can install a build of the unmodified OS if you want.



  • That isn’t what I would choose for your situation. CRS3xx switches are fast at switching (layer 1 & 2), but not as a NAT router, which you probably need.

    Better to pick something from the Mikrotik Ethernet Routers range, assuming you don’t want your personal LAN to have WiFi. The L009 or basic RB5009 are both good options in the same price range. Choosing depends on your upstream connection speed. Both are fanless.

    Or pick a Home/Office Wireless device if you are permitted to have your own WiFi access point. The hAP ax2 is small, affordable and performs well at 1Gbps. If your upstream connection is 1Gpbs this is probably what I would choose even if you don’t want WiFi as long as this is enough ports. Just turn off its WiFi radios to use it wired-only. If you have a 2.5Gbps upstream port then hAP ax3 is a better choice.

    All the Mikrotik choices will require some learning if you want anything beyond a basic router configuration. But once you get it like you want it they are very solid and reliable.

    OpenWRT and OPNSense are easier to jump into without a lot of effort, so if you don’t want a networking hobby I would use one of them. Pick up pre installed device if you want it easy. Or get a mini PC with a few network ports and install the OS yourself to get more power for the money.







  • If you have trouble with the soaking, black beans do very well with a “quick soak”.

    1. Cover them with water about twice the depth of the beans. Add about 1 teaspoon (~5 ml or 5-7 g) salt.

    2. Bring to a boil and keep it boiling for 2 minutes. Then cover and turn off the burner/hob. Let soak for 1-2 hours.

    3. Add any extra seasonings now (but nothing acidic). Then bring back to a boil and then simmer until soft. Adjust seasoning and you’re done.

    They should take much less time than cooking from dry. How long will depend on the beans. Older beans can take much longer, but most should be soft in 1 hour or so.