April | 2021 | Rambling Nerd with a Plan

Namecheap Shared Hosting

Free Dynamic DNS with domain (Namecheap has a free Windows client. Use zoneclient for Linux)
Email (IMAP): usese Maildir (for those who need migration)
Contacts: CardDav (use DavX5 adapter on Android)
Calendar: CalDav (use DavX5 adapter on Android)
Notes/Tasks: NextCloud (can sync with NextCloud’s built-in CalDav server)
Blog: WordPress
And of course, your own website!

VPS Hosting

NextCloud has File-On-Demand (like OneDrive) called Virtual File System (VFS)
YunoHost: easy to use modular self-hosting
UBOS Linux: distro for self-hosting. Even works for Raspberry Pi
Awesome-Selfhosted: has many free web services packages

Phone (Android only)

De-google your phone with microG Project
Play store: F-droid (Bonus: many open source apps that are paid apps on Google store offer the full version for free on F-droid to encourage you to move away from Google Play), Yalp Store

Research

restoreprivacy.com
Rob Braxman Tech (He knows about the nasty dictators like the Chinese Communist Party. Don’t think you are safe in America. The reach of the Chinese Communist Party Mafia, formerly known as the Chinese SOVIET Republic) is beyond our imagination.

Alternatives to Big Tech respecting privacy (for now)

Search (Google): DuckDuckGo
Browser (Chrome): Brave
Email (Gmail): see above (self-host) or ProtonMail (zero knowledge encryption)
Cloud (Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, etc): see above (self-host) or use zero-knowledge encryption
Text/Chat (Whatsapp, Line): Signal App
Calling: Telegram has better voice quality than signal, but sometimes it has weird behavior on certain phones. Telegram does not have zero-knowledge proof, so it’s up to Pavel Durov (he’s usually good at not bending to totalitarians).

Alternatives to Big Tech that refuses to censor and manipulate users (for now)

Video (Youtube): Odysee (LBRY), Rumble
Facebook: MeWe
Twitter: Gab, Safechat, CloutHub has a crappy search feature, Parler now has PC bots patrolling and misfiring

Zero-knowledge encryption means the server have no access to the info you put in there as they are all encrypted and protected by a password which only you have (preferably use zero-knowledge proof so the owner of the server do not have any master keys to see your data: you lost the key and the data is practically gone forever)

I tucked away my PC a little away from my workstation desk and the power switch is located at an inconvenient location. I tried to keep the wiring minimal so I’d rather not wire a dedicated ATX power switch onto my desk.

Unfortunately my motherboard does not support turn on by USB keyboard, and I’m not ready to upgrade because I am using it to test PCI data acquisition cards and it’s the fastest one that has 4 PCI slots and they are hard to find nowadays.

I found a $2.5 wireless module on eBay that claims to switch LED lamps which works on the standard 433Mhz channel and it replicates momentary switch pattern and can operate on 5V (My motherboard is new enough to have 5Vsb from onboard USB header).

Note that there’s a schematic picture which switched the colorings of the input and output pairs.
The actual wiring color is correct.

Initially I was tempted to get the built-in relay version, but I was worried about the current draw from 5Vsb and those are 12V relays., not to mention the footprint is much bigger (the one above is 22.5mmx 11mm x 8mm).

I thought I can figure out with some sort of BJT switch instead of using a relay that has a much bigger current draw requirement, but I realized it’s a pain in the ass because the output is ‘floating’ differential. The OUT- does not tie to the power ground (it’ll short out the unit when I tried to. That’s why I added quotes to ‘floating’ because it’s only relative to OUT+). I also measured OUT+ which is +5V with respect to power ground.

I tried to power a LED and it only works if current flows from OUT+ to OUT- so it’s really sinking current from source power to do that, and it’s unidirectional.

I’d just take a gamble and hook up with a 5V NO relay that I have around. Turned out it actuates with the 5Vsb from the USB header. I glued the relay to the back of the PCB and hook up a flyback/snubber diode (reverse biased) across the relay coil so the back EMF won’t fry my motherboard.

Image 111 - Remote Control Round Transmitter 433MHz RF Wireless DC 9V 12V 24V 10 Controller — The transmitter switch costs $3.65, which is more expensive than the receiver board.
It comes with 12V battery which is typical with 433Mhz door bells.

The transmitter switch costs $3.65, which is more expensive than the receiver board.
It comes with 12V battery which is typical with 433Mhz door bells.

Seems like the transmitter-receiver pair is on momentary switch mode by default, so no addition configuration is needed other than pressing the learn button and immediately press the transmitter button to pair.

I wired a jumper extension cable (male – female) to the relay output from the middle as a by-pass since I’d like to keep the original power switch’s functionality (so it’s basically OR-ing between hardwired switch and the wireless remote 433Mhz switch)