migrating more blogs!

categories.list.md

@@ -9,3 +9,4 @@ A list of categories used in the blog
 | IOT          | anything to do with IOT                                  |
 | Homelab      | anything to do with my homelab (including smart home...) |
 | Development  | anything to do with regular development                  |
+| exploits     | blogs about exploits and bugs in open-source software    |

content/posts/2014/a-status-update/a-status-update.md

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+---
+title: "A status update"
+date: "2014-11-16"
+template: "post"
+category: "blog"
+tags:
+  - "life"
+  - "school"
+description: ""
+disqusId: "10"
+---
+
+## School
+
+In my last blog post I mentioned that I was busy with schoolwork (and all related matters like friends & gaming). That all changed yesterday, I decided not to game as much anymore and focus on something exciting again. I have no idea what kind of exciting thing I'm going to focus myself on, but most likely it will be either Arduino or Raspberry PI (cluster / solo).
+
+Some more great news! We were able to collect 15 points (out of 60 in a year) during this first semester. And I got them all. The most difficult test for me was of course the Dutch language test. Which I barely passed. One of the other "harder" tests was a subject called "UML", and as some of you might know... I hate, most of, UML.
+
+A new semester has started this week and we've already had a taste of what is to come. Sadly what is to come isn't all that Linux friendly. They have opted to use MsSQL instead of the (much better) MySQL(MariaDB) / PostgeSQL. This means that I, and another classmate, have to install virtualbox with Windows on our laptops. Shouldn't be a big problem should it? Well no it shouldn't. But me trying to be smart resulted in me downloading a "stripped down / light" version of Windows. (as if there is such a thing ! ha!) After setting up Windows, and installing office (since we'll be using Access (another YUK!) I tried installing MsSQL. Turns out however that one of the stripped features was powershell, and for some inexplicable reason MsSQL will **not** install without powershell. To make matters worse Microsoft decided that they wouldn't offer an install package through the website anymore since powershell is built-in in the newer versions of Windows. So I had to resort to giving up almost 30GB of hard drive space just to install MsSQL.... (and I will probably end up using MySQL anyways)
+
+## Numix-icon-theme-square
+
+Last night a friend of mine tried installing the Numix square theme, something that usually doesn't require my help. Last night however my friend did need some help because the theme just would **NOT** install correctly. (kept throwing a GPG key error) So after trying to install an older package (which I did not know he removed from his system) I finally decided to google the matter. Turns out the "Square" theme's actually cost money (who knew?). Turns out that Antergos Linux has some sort of a license to use them but general Linux does not.
+
+That is why the team behind Numix has requested the package to be removed from the aur. And their request was granted. (as it should have been). Last night however we didn't have the tools handy to be able to make a purchase of the Icon theme, so I sent him my version and he installed that instead. I will however buy a license from them today, since I use the icon theme on pretty much all my machines.
+
+## Arduino sneak peak.
+
+I acquired some new toys for the arduino, two of them being the "Adafruit mini 8x8 LED matrix". To use them I had to install 2 libraries, and with those came "Example sketches". One of those example sketches was a "Robotic eye", naturally with me having 2 new toys I decided to create a little "face" (just eyes) with the prebuilt sketches. Anyways I thought that looked cool so I made a video of it which you can watch below:
+
+<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7WeG88fOVbA" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>

content/posts/2014/me-my-blog-and-projects/me-my-blog-and-projects.md

@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+title: "Me, my blog, and projects."
+date: "2014-11-16"
+template: "post"
+category: "blog"
+tags:
+  - "life"
+description: "A little update blog"
+disqusId: "9"
+---
+
+## The blog
+
+So, I've already gone past my weekly schedule. Which tends to happen every time... I'm not giving up on the blog though ! I've just been far too busy. Busy with what you ask? well.... college.
+Now surely the first period shouldn't be that hard for someone who can code reasonably well already You'd be right in thinking that, but.. that's not the only part of college, college also means new friends. New friends mean gaming. So yeah I've been gaming a bunch. Sorry.
+
+## Projects
+
+For now I'm putting off some of the projects I had originally planned. I simply can't find the time to write detailed blog posts on them and I don't want to disappoint you guys with half-baked posts.
+
+I did start a new "project", meaning I ordered 2 of the most beautiful computers on the planet. Yes, I bought 2 iMac G4's . Even though I don't like Mac os, or the designs Apple is currently pushing out, I do really like these older Mac's. I've ordered 2 of them from the internet, the seller is currently looking for a box to send them both in since they are pretty big and heavy. I can only wait and hope they will arrive in good condition.
+
+So I hope you guys appreciate this little update and can forgive my absence. Have a nice day!

content/posts/2014/pi-cluster-5-expanding-the-cluster/pi-cluster-5-expanding-the-cluster.md

@@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
+---
+title: "Raspberry pi cluster step 5: Expanding the cluster"
+date: "2014-09-19"
+template: "post"
+category: "Homelab"
+tags:
+  - "raspberry"
+  - "cluster"
+  - "pi"
+description: "Today's blog post will be about expanding the cluster with more nodes."
+disqusId: "6"
+---
+
+In today's post we'll have a look at expanding the cluster with more nodes! We will have a look at how to clone them and how we can set up a universal login using ssh keys.
+
+Windows users can use the "read" option of the previously installed `win32imager` to create an img.
+
+## Linux
+
+Insert the tested and configured SD card and use lsblk to find out on which /dev/ the SD card resides. Now use dd to make an img of your Raspberry pi master node (note! this can be used as a backup too) with the following command:
+
+```bash
+sudo dd if=/path/to/sd/card of=/home/`whoami`/raspy.img
+```
+
+After running that command you will have an image of the configured Raspberry pi in your home folder. You will now have to write this image to all SD cards.
+
+After writing all the images to the SD cards you have to change the hostname on all "copies". To do this put the SD card into one of the pi's, let it boot , and log in. Then give it the following command:
+
+```bash
+sudo raspi-config
+```
+
+Next, you'll have to change the ip on each of the nodes by changing the "address" line after executing the following command:
+
+```bash
+sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces
+```
+
+After setting up all 4 pi's and plugging it all in you should see all 4 led's light up on the pi's. If this is not the case you might've forgotten to change either the ip address or the hostname. (which will lead to a conflict resulting in one of them not having internet access). Mine now looks like this (note the dramatic night picture taken at 10 past 12 am):
+
+![picture of 4 Raspberry pi's stacked on a network switch serving as a cluster](./media/pidark_full.JPG "It's not quite RGB but it's beautiful!")
+
+## Logging in to the nodes with ssh keys
+
+To make working with the cluster **a lot** easier we will use ssh keys to login in place of the old password. We are going to generate the master node's key first, to do this enter the following command.
+
+```bash
+ssh-keygen -t rsa  -C "pi@raspberrypi0"
+```
+
+You'll be asked where you want to save the key, the default directory is usually fine. After that you will be asked to enter a passphrase. (the passphrase is optional but also recommended in a production environment) After generating the key a "randomart" image will appear. After generating the key you want to execute the following command:
+
+```bash
+cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub | ssh pi@192.168.1.8 "mkdir .ssh;cat >> .ssh/authorized_keys"
+```
+
+Keep in mind you might have to change the ip address in the previous command. After executing this command for the 2nd node, repeat for the third,fourth,fifth, etc., etc. nodes.
+
+After we have copied the key to all nodes we have to edit the previously created machine file (on master) to include all the ip addresses of the other pi's. To do this type in the following command:
+
+```bash
+nano mpi_scripts/machinefile
+```
+
+Simply add all the other pi's ip addresses to the file (each on a new line).
+
+## Testing!
+
+Now that we've added the pi's ip's to the machinefile we can use them from our master node. To test this we can run the following command:
+
+```bash
+mpiexec -f mpi_scripts/machinefile -n 4 hostname
+```
+
+This should give you 4 hostnames. If it does you've set it all up correctly! We can even try and run some C code with them by running the next command:
+
+```bash
+mpiexec -f mpi_scripts/machinefile -n 4 ~/mpich_build/examples/cpi
+```
+
+![a picture showing that a clustered pi is actually slower at calculating pi...](./media/piresults.png "Is that correct? O.o")
+
+If you have a look at the screenshot above you'll see that the cluster as a whole (4 pi's) actually take longer to calulcate pi than a single node would. This is to be expected with something that runs this quickly. The cluster has to communicate with each of the pi's, which results in a tiny little bit of network overhead. In the case of calculating pi this network overhead turns out to be greater than the time it takes to calculate pi to 15 digits.
+
+Now that we have a complete (working) cluster we are all set to start using it! But first, here's a video of me power cycling the cluster:
+
+<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/lm1oeS1uzY8" allowfullscreen="" width="420" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>

content/posts/2014/shellshock-why-you-shouldnt-get-your-panties-in-a-bunch/shellshock-why-you-shouldnt-get-your-panties-in-a-bunch.md

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+---
+title: "Shellshock and why you shouldn't get your panties in a bunch."
+date: "2014-09-27:23:00"
+template: "post"
+category: "exploits"
+tags:
+  - "exploits"
+  - "vulnerabilities"
+  - "bash"
+  - "bug"
+description: "In today's blog I share my opinion on shellshock and why I think you shouldn't get your panties in a bunch! hah!"
+disqusId: "8"
+---
+
+On September 24 2014, A Bash vulnerability, known as "Shellshock" was disclosed. This "bug" allows an attacker to run code on your machine, which is bad, very bad.
+
+<figure class="float-right" style="width: 420px">
+	<img src="/media/hackzors.png" alt="terminal with shellshock exploit">
+</figure>
+
+Now then, what exactly is "Shellshock". Shellshock is a "bug" (or vulnerability) that can be used to remotely run code on someone's machine by altering an environment variable. The real danger however lies in programs that can alter these variables without requiring root. Thus enabling anyone with access to your computer to run commands.
+Imagine someone attacking you twice, the first time they'll create a user and the second time they'll set a password for the user. After that they can just log in to your system and destroy the entire thing, or worse still, monitor your every move.
+Some examples of the services which can alter environment variables without root privileges are:
+
+- OpenSSH (which 90% of all Linux distros use)\*
+- DHCP clients
+- Apache servers with CGI scripts
+
+## When are you vulnerable?
+
+This seems to be a point many news sites forget about. When exactly are you vulnerable and how worried should you be. The thing is, in order for you to be vulnerable you'd have to have one of two things:
+
+- A server which is open to the world (web,vps, etc.)
+- An intruder in your network.
+
+Most people won't have either one of those things. And to be fair, if you can't trust the people on your own network you've got far bigger problems than "Shellshock". Unless of course you're using a whole lot of "free-wifi" services, in which case you really don't know who is on the network.
+
+I'd imagine the number of people having a "server" , or simply a computer which is accessible from outside your home network is way higher. So if you are one of those people, please patch your bash to avoid any trouble. ( I too like to have an easy way to log into my server from anywhere (work / family / vacation) and thus I would be vulnerable.)
+
+## How to test whether you're vulnerable
+
+Testing whether you're vulnerable is quite easy. You can just use this "attack" on yourself with an "echo" command (which won't cause any harm). If it works, you're vulnerable. If it doesn't you're not.
+Here's how to construct a test command:
+
+```bash
+env x='() { :;}; echo vulnerable' bash -c 'echo hello'
+```
+
+If you're **not** vulnerable you'll get:
+
+```bash
+bash: warning: x: ignoring function definition attempt bash: error importing function definition for `x' hello
+```
+
+You might also simply get "hello".
+If you **are** vulnerable however you'll get:
+
+```bash
+vulnerable hello
+```
+
+## How to patch your system
+
+By now most distributions have updated their repo to include the patched version of bash. If that is the case you can simply do a regular update:
+
+### Ubuntu / re-spins
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
+```
+
+### Arch / re-spins
+
+```bash
+sudo pacman -Syu
+```
+
+If however you're using a mac you'll have to do it by hand. Since Apple hasn't yet released an update nor commented on the matter. Instructions for a mac can be found [here](http://mac-how-to.wonderhowto.com/how-to/every-mac-is-vulnerable-shellshock-bash-exploit-heres-patch-os-x-0157606/).
+
+## In summary
+
+So should you worry? Yes and no. If your computer (/server) is exposed to an outside network you should absolutely worry. If it's not however you are relatively safe. Still, patching is a simple and fast process, so just patch it and get on with your life !
+
+## Documentation
+
+For those of you who like to research this "Shellshock" vulnerability some more, here are 2 entries in the NVD: [CVE-2014-6271](http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2014-6271) & [CVE-2014-7169](http://web.nvd.nist.gov/view/vuln/detail?vulnId=CVE-2014-7169).
+
+If you want to see Shellshock in action I recommend watching the following video from Quidsup:
+
+<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/UllSNdgGLbo" allowfullscreen="" width="560" height="235" frameborder="0"></iframe>

content/posts/2014/using-the-cluster-for-home-automation/using-the-cluster-for-home-automation.md

@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+---
+title: "The pi cluster, home automation & kickstarter monitoring"
+date: "2014-09-27"
+template: "post"
+category: "Homelab"
+tags:
+  - "python"
+  - "raspberry"
+  - "pi"
+  - "home automation"
+description: "Today's blog is about home automation."
+disqusId: "7"
+---
+
+Some of you might be wondering "why doesn't he write more blogs about the cluster?" and I wouldn't blame you. I have a pretty good reason for not blogging about the pi cluster (even though I promised sample code). That reason is "home automation". As some of you might know I'm big into home automation, and have done quite a bit already. But it's always fun to try something different!
+
+I usually use single or double relay boards which you can control with an arduino or a Raspberry pi. This time however I ordered an 8 relay board instead of a double relay board. I got the board from China at a store called "Sainsmart", here's the link to the exact board I got: [http://www.sainsmart.com/8-channel-dc-5v-relay-module-for-arduino-pic-arm-dsp-avr-msp430-ttl-logic.html](http://www.sainsmart.com/8-channel-dc-5v-relay-module-for-arduino-pic-arm-dsp-avr-msp430-ttl-logic.html)
+
+So what does that have to do with the cluster you ask? Well, I used to have a Raspberry pi to experiment with.... But I used that in the cluster to save some money. (here I was, thinking to be smart!) So I had to "disassemble"(taking the top off) the cluster to connect the relay board. In the next blog-post I'll have a couple of pictures showing off the relay board and the pi cluster.
+
+## I donated a pi!
+
+While talking on IRC with a friend[(Robbie Ferguson)](http://baldnerd.com) of mine I discovered that he had never used a Raspberry pi before. And to make matters worse he told me he had lost interest in them now. When I asked why he never got one he told me the following:
+
+> When they were new I couldn't get one here in Canada, and now it's been so long that I've lost interest.
+
+While discussing the fact he jokingly told me, if you'll send me one I'll try it out. A small problem arose though, me sending a pi to Canada would cost way more than actually buying one over there. So we decided that I'd just send him the money and he would order his own. I can't wait to see what he does with it.
+If you guys are interested in seeing what he does with it too you can check out [Category5.tv](http://www.category5.tv/)
+
+What Robbie doesn't know is that I wanted to do something for the show / him anyways. I was originally planning on just donating $20, but giving him the joy that comes from owning a Raspberry pi seemed like a way better plan! Besides, he's been working really really hard on the new Studio D so he deserves some fun!
+
+## Kickstarter monitoring
+
+I have once more decided to back a certain Kickstarter campaign and find myself checking the website **a lot**. I plan to change this by creating a little script (don't know which language yet) that will check it for me and report back. More info about this project to come.

content/posts/2015/making-things/making-things.md

@@ -0,0 +1,66 @@
+---
+title: "Making things"
+date: "2015-10-17"
+template: "post"
+category: "IOT"
+tags:
+  - "maker"
+  - "making"
+  - "han"
+  - "raspberry"
+description: 'The creation process of a Raspberry PI based "game console" and its controllers'
+disqusId: "14"
+---
+
+Even though this week has been extremely busy I wanted to bring you guys a little blog because the things I've been doing are truly wicked.
+
+## Special assignment
+
+Let's start with the boring, non maker, stuff. Around 1 pm I received a frantic phone call and a couple of messages from different people about "something". When I finally got around to dealing with them I discovered something truly awesome.
+
+As some of you know, next semester I will be working on a (school issued) project. This usually involves a group of 4-5 students working on a single big task for about 8 weeks. This time however it will be slightly different, me and 4 other students have been asked to work on a different project than all the other students. Turns out we have been recommended by our teachers and this company, of which we do not know the name yet, has decided to give it a go.
+
+We do not yet know what this special assignment will entail but one thing we know for sure. WE ARE EXCITED ABOUT IT !
+
+## Maker thingies !
+
+Even though I love software development, deep down I am also still a maker. And a maker likes to "make" things (go figure...), so when I got asked to do a project involving a Raspberry Pi I couldn't refuse. Even though I had no idea what exactly the project was going to entail I enlisted anyways.
+
+Soon after I had my first meeting with the team and the supervisor, and before long the goal of the project became clear. We were responsible for designing a workshop involving the Raspberry Pi for kids between the age of 12 and 18 years(middle school basically). One of the things we have to do is compare the Raspberry Pi to several other educational boards. This is especially important because schools don't tend to get anywhere near sufficient resources to even teach programming / IT related stuff, let alone spend their money on fun stuff like a Raspberry pi.
+
+So we came up with "pong". We are going to create simple controllers (based on potentiometers) and some kind of Raspberry Pi hat to which we can connect them. Besides pong we also speculated about creating our own Raspberry Pi image. I quickly pointed out however that maintaining an image shouldn't be high on our priority lists and that we might have to think about a different way to solve this problem. What we eventually decided upon was an "Install" script which can be run by either the teacher or some kind of maintainer which will install all dependencies and some example sketches.
+
+## The code
+
+Throughout the entire project we will be using a [github repo](https://github.com/Mastermindzh/han4pi) to sync changes. One of the benefits of a github repo, apart from the actual git stuff, is that we automatically share all our code / designs. This means that anyone who is interested can either reproduce or follow along with us.
+
+## Enough talking, show us something!
+
+Well alright then, we've got a couple of things "ready" to show others. The first of which are the design schematics of our controllers and our "hubs".
+
+![example of wiring diagram](./media/fritzing_example.png "fritzing wiring diagram of the controller")
+
+We quickly decided upon changing the hub design to a more elegant "hat" (hat being a board you can attach to the Raspberry Pi, not the fedora kind). A render of one such hats can be found below.
+
+![rendering of the raspberry pi hat](./media/Front_thumb.png "render of the raspberry pi hat")
+
+We also started working on the controllers. The final design will be compromised of a few "boxes" between which telephone wires run to connect them together. My fantastic soldering / glueing job on the inner workings of a controller and the laser cutted wooden box can be found below.
+
+![back](./media/back.jpg "Back of the controller")
+![bottom](./media/bottom.jpg "bottom of the controller")
+![controller_pot](./media/controller_pot.jpg "potentiometer used inside the controller")
+![front](./media/Front_thumb.png "The front of the controller with the logo")
+![inside](./media/inside.jpg "the inside of an assembled controller")
+![left_side](./media/left_side.jpg "The left side of the controller")
+![right_side](./media/right_side.jpg "The right side of the controller")
+![top](./media/top.jpg "The top of the controller")
+
+## The laser cutting process
+
+For those interested in the laser cutting process I have also prepared a video:
+
+<div class="video-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/OO6UDl8CU4s?wmode=transparent" width="320" height="180"></iframe></div>
+
+## The end
+
+Well that's all for today folks, I'll keep you updated!

content/posts/2015/new-look-new-comments-new-everything/new-look-new-comments-new-everything.md

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+---
+title: "New look, new comments, new everything!"
+date: "2015-06-16"
+template: "post"
+category: "blog"
+tags:
+  - "new"
+  - "website"
+  - "webdev"
+description: "In this blog post I describe my plans for the upcoming vacation."
+disqusId: "11"
+---
+
+## Separating the personal stuff
+
+First off, it's been a while.... I know. ☺
+
+I'm trying to separate [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl) and myself, yet keep them together somehow. I have removed almost all personal content from [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl) and am currently busy moving it to this "personal website". The end goal is to have them completely separate apart from the "software" tab. Software that I want to reveal to the public (more so than some scripts I use myself) will still be uploaded to [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl) and more personal projects (like [CSVtoDatabase](https://github.com/Mastermindzh/Scripts/blob/master/java/CSVtoDatabase.java)) on my [github](https://github.com/Mastermindzh/).
+
+In order to "keep the sites together" I have given this site the exact same look as [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl) except for the colours. I have also made a little system that allows users to switch the website's language. Everything apart from the blog will be Multilingual. Doing all these upgrades however also means upgrading Disqus, which meant losing all my comments. While sad, I feel like it had to be done.
+
+## Replacing the "about me" page on [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl)
+
+I will be replacing the about me page on [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl) with a "Linux software review" (LSR for short) section. LSR will consist of short video's (in Dutch) promoting Linux software.
+
+## Another maker project
+
+I am currently gathering materials and setting up the software for another cool maker project. It is going to include both the arduino and the raspberry pi. But that is pretty much all the information I want to disclose right now.
+
+## School
+
+I have only 2 days of school left this year, (and maybe a ceremony) which means an increase in productivity (hopefully). There are a couple of things I want to do before school starts again:
+
+- Lose 20+ pounds
+- Finish separating my websites
+- Clean all my servers (both soft and hardware)
+- Finish my portfolio (in both Dutch and English)
+- Get started with LSR
+- Write at least 5 new tutorials on [mi-soft.nl](http://mi-soft.nl)
+- Write at least 2 new blogs. (not counting this one)
+
+Let's hope I can get all my planned projects done and then some.

content/posts/2015/raspberry-pi-screen/raspberry-pi-screen.md

@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+---
+title: 'I got a new thing !!!! ~ Raspberry pi 7" official touchscreen'
+date: "2015-09-25"
+template: "post"
+category: "IOT"
+tags:
+  - "maker"
+  - "making"
+  - "han"
+  - "raspberry"
+  - "touchscreen"
+description: "A look at the new official raspberry pi touchscreen"
+disqusId: "13"
+---
+
+Hey guys, as some of you know I was really, and I mean **really**, excited when they announced the official raspberry pi screen. Now why is that might you ask? Everything the raspberry pi people have released so far has been really solid. The boards, the sd cards, the wifi-dongle, all of them work absolutely fantastic! So as soon as I saw that the official screen was available for pre-order in the UK I ordered myself one and started waiting.
+
+## What's in the box?
+
+First up is the box itself:
+
+![picture of the official Raspberry Pi 7" touchscreen display](./media/box.jpg 'picture of the official Raspberry Pi 7" touchscreen display')
+
+The box resembles the original packaging from a standalone raspberry pi which is a nice little touch. The picture on the box does not however resemble the pi screen at all which I personally kinda like but it could possibly be seen as false advertisement.
+
+As soon as I opened the box I found a little booklet which contained some health and safety regulations. I have not taken a picture of the booklet because.... well it's a booklet....
+
+Lifting the first bit of red foam reveals yet another piece of red foam in which several electronic bits are embedded. I did take a picture this time:
+
+![a picture of the box the screen is in. It has red foam with the components packed neatly inside](./media/pcb.jpg "neatly packed pcb and accessories")
+
+From top left to bottom right we've got:
+
+1. 4 silver stand-offs
+2. The logic board for both touch and display
+3. Flat ribbon cable to connect the logic board to the pi
+4. 4 cables to (optionally) connect the pi to the logic board. (more on this later)
+
+After carefully extracting all the components I yanked out the red foam and found what I was really looking for. The official pi screen nicely protected in bubble wrap (the **only** way a display should be packaged).
+
+![[picture of the screen in bubble wrap]](./media/screen.jpg "finally! A screen.")
+
+After emptying the box I laid out all the pieces and checked whether my set was complete. (it was) In the picture below you'll see all the contents of the original raspberry pi 7" touchscreen laying next to a raspberry pi B v2\. Looking good so far !
+
+![a picture of all the components layed out on a mat](./media/layedout.jpg "all components inside the box")
+
+Assembly was easy and straightforward. The only thing I struggled with was the stand-offs. The stand-offs connect the board directly to the metal back of the screen, something which would fry an ordinary pc motherboard. Instead of monkeying around (like usual) I decided to seek guidance and googled a bit. Being one of the early adopters comes at a price though. There was hardly any information on the screen, let alone assembly instructions. I'm sure that by the time I upload this post there is plenty of information about this particular subject but in case you are interested. Yes. You **do** screw the pi directly into the back of the screen with the included standoff screws.
+
+## My case
+
+I bought my pi at Pimoroni and I ordered the case/stand there as well. The exact case I ordered is [here](https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-7-touchscreen-display-frame). The case is a laser cut layer based case. This means the individual parts of the case are actually flimsy but all bolted together it forms a nice solid block. After applying the case to my screen it looked like this:
+
+!["picture of the previously described case"](./media/backcase.jpg "fully assembled and ready to hold the screen!")
+
+As you can see there is plenty of room for the logic board and the flat cable is dangling freely. One fun thing to note are those plastic screws (which over tighten and break easily, hence why they included a spare screw).
+
+## Attaching the pi
+
+The pi itself is connected to the logic board by screwing it onto the stand-offs. Quick tip: connect both ribbon cables before you connect the pi! After attaching the pi I ended up with the following result:
+
+!["A picture of the pi bolted to the screen assembly"](./media/backpi.jpg "don't mind the wires!")
+
+The red and black cables provide power (and ground) to the pi from the logic board. This means that you can power the entire thing (pi + screen) with a single micro USB cable. Neat for those that don't have a spare micro USB cable. You could also connect the pi with an ordinary micro USB cable to the logic board since it has a USB port. Connecting the pi separately might be required to use some high power GPIO peripherals.
+
+## Booting it up
+
+The moment had arrived, I plugged the pi into a battery pack (creating a makeshift tablet-like device) and waited. First boot wasn't all that promising... Touch didn't work and I had an annoying little square in the top right. This was however not my first rodeo with a pi and I quickly worked out that the little square indicates insufficient input power. I did a quick update and after rebooting touch worked wonders! The only thing my makeshift tablet test was missing was some sort of input method for the keyboard. For this I used a program called "matchbox", which was available in the default repository. After playing around with touch for a bit I switched to a solid 2 amp power supply and the little, coloured square disappeared, as suspected.
+
+## That's nice and all... But we want a video...
+
+Of course I prepared a little video, wouldn't be a showcase if I hadn't now would it. So here goes:
+
+<div class="video-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tSR9aql7HCY?wmode=transparent" width="560" height="235"></iframe></div>
+
+## In closing
+
+So, conclusion time. I really like the pi screen, I have been using it for a while now (hence the delayed release of this blog.) and it hasn't failed me yet. The screen is solid and bright enough for my use case and the touch works wonders. The price point is a little high (88 euro's) but I suspect the price to go down quite a bit when it becomes available in stores in the Netherlands. That's it for today's blog and I'll see you all later !

content/posts/2015/what-ive-been-doing/what-ive-been-doing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+---
+title: "What I've been doing"
+date: "2015-09-11"
+template: "post"
+category: "blog"
+tags:
+  - life
+description: "A brief update of what I've been up to lately "
+disqusId: "12"
+---
+
+## My goals....
+
+Last blog we talked about a couple of goals I set for myself. As usual, not all of these have been completed. But instead of focusing on the ones I didn't complete I'll focus on the ones I did.
+
+### Finish separating my websites
+
+I'm almost done with this goal. The content has been separated but the new portfolio isn't up yet. I hope to be uploading the new portfolio at the same time as this blog but I can't be sure of that. I can start uploading the portfolio as soon as I have finished updating a couple of "projects" under the school category. After that the portfolio will be filled with recent work and fully functional. (and quite possibly even pretty).
+
+### Clean all my servers (both soft and hardware)
+
+I went above and beyond on this one. I even cleaned my regular pc (soft + hard) and my laptop (soft only). Cleaning my regular (dev) pc wasn't by choice however. A lightning strike wiped out some electrical stuff and one of the things that got fried was my motherboard. While replacing my motherboard I decided to clean the entire pc since it was open already. After installing a new motherboard I had thought I would have to reinstall Windows. This however was not the case! Windows 8 and Windows 10 both successfully booted after changing my motherboard! This is the first time I have seen any Windows version do that and I was happy to see they've improved. I still decided to wipe the system however and replace the ssd Windows was on. A couple of days later I also wiped the linux sdd and replaced that with my old Windows ssd (which was purchased later and thus much faster).
+
+As far as servers go.... I have cleaned them too ! Not only have I cleaned all my servers I have also cleaned up both my Dropbox and my Google Drive folders.
+
+### Finish my portfolio
+
+I kinda made this goal.... kinda. Hear me out on this one ! When I wrote my last blog post I had an idea in mind for the portfolio. There was already a sorting mechanism in place and things didn't look half bad either. However.... I decided to change things around and use a different sorting mechanism (mixitup) and also revamped the look of the portfolio. /images/videos are now the first thing you'll get to see and they will be as wide as the page itself. (some videos , like app showcases, will have black borders though). Directly beneath the media content is the customer and designer information and below that you'll find a short detailed summary for each aspect of the project. So I decided to chalk this one up as a success because I've done more work than I had originally anticipated :).
+
+### The other goals
+
+Only a few of the goals I had set I haven't reached. I have given up on losing weight and because of the extra portfolio work I didn't really start LSR either. 5 new tutorials is a detable goal. I haven't exactly written 5 tutorials but I have done some work on mi-soft.nl (and still wrote 2 tutorials). And 1 blogpost.... well I'm trying !
+
+## Losing some of my stuff!
+
+As I mentioned before I have lost some of my hardware to a lightning strike. I didn't just lose my motherboard however. I also lost my microphone (blue snowball), my keyboard (razer blackwidow), my xbox controller receiver, 8gb's of ram and some random usb peripherals. Some of the stuff was insured and thus I have gotten some money for it. However I did not simply want to replace the lost stuff, I wanted to upgrade too.
+
+I upgraded my keyboard to a ducky shine with black cherry mx switches. I have to say I'm still getting used to the linear-ness of the switches but so far so good. The big upgrade however is my recording setup. I went from having a single blue snowball to a blue yeti with shock mount, pop filter and boom arm. Initial tests prove to be very promising and there is a definite upgrade in sound quality. Aside from sounding a bit better it looks A LOT better. It almost look's pro! Here, have a look:
+
+![picture of the new blue yeti on a mic arm](./media/mic1.jpg "Looking spiffy!")
+![picture of the new blue yeti on a mic arm](./media/mic2.jpg "Don't mind the mess, it's the mic we're looking at")
+
+## Youtube channel split + new intros and outros
+
+Mi-Soft.nl and Rick van Lieshout are now 2 separate Youtube channels. Mi-Soft.nl will only be used to host tutorials. Nothing else. My personal channel (Rick van Lieshout) will host all other things.
+
+I have designed a new outro for all of the Mi-Soft.nl video's. I made the outro with "Camtasia studio" and "Gimp". The outro can be found here:
+
+<div class="video-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mysCUZzfeC4?wmode=transparent" width="320" height="180"></iframe></div>
+
+I also bought some intro's from Flixpress. Both of these can be found here:
+
+<div class="video-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AZZ86IPX9QQ?wmode=transparent" width="320" height="180"></iframe></div>
+
+<div class="video-container"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WT5EC6UKoHQ?wmode=transparent" width="320" height="180"></iframe></div>