Author: Steve Wilson

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Alexa Calling and DropIn

Amazon have launched the mobile calling integration and home intercom functions in the UK today with the latest version of the App.

As the echos and dots are shared around the house, I will need to work on creating profiles for the girls so they don’t receive my phone call on their bedroom dots, and likewise, once they are set up I am not bombarded with their calls and messages.   As I am on cable, and don’t need a phone line, this almost certainly sounds the death knell for the land line.

However the most useful feature I am sure is the slightly spooky in a privacy sense, Drop In mode.    You can “Drop In on The Study” and create an almost instant connection with that room,  and bellow at the kids that their tea is ready, or come and lay the table…. but they will need to make sure they know how to “hang up” a drop in connection if they don’t want Dad listening to them babble away any more than he needs to.

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Lumina Desktop update fixed

Lumina Desktop Trying to update Lumina via the ports to the latest 1.3.0 didn’t play nicely with portmaster.  Kept complaining about a circular reference with the Lumina Archiver.

It seems the Meta port now needs to be deleted before the Lumina-Core port can be updated, but that is not mention in UPDATING.  But a quick SUDO PKG DELETE LUMINA seemed to do the trick and I was then able to build the new Lumina-Core from the dedicated port directory.

I have yet to check if I now need to install all the other new Lumina ports, but Chromium works fine which is all I am normally using it for.

On the plus side I also notices that MATE-SESSIONS was also no longer installed and MATE had ceased firing up from STARTX, but installing that port again has restored MATE to full working order as well.

 

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Freebsd 11.1

Successfully completed an in-place upgrade of Freebsd 11.0 to the 11.1 release using the simple FREEBSD-UPDATE command and a couple of reboots as required to update the kernel and then the installed package libraries.

No new features that I can make use of, as its running on legacy hardware, but least it means another year of security patches.

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Fixed

Two power cuts in quick succession last week borked the database server so although up and running, corruptions to the backend probably prevented much content being server.   A quick bit of googling and forcing a rebuild of the DB engine looks to have everything back up and running.

It was also a timely reminded to renew the LetsEncrypt SSL Certificate so we are good until December again.   Renewal process worked flawlessly once I had stopped Apache so its could bind onto port 443 to do the actual renewal.

 

 

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Echo Multi-room

Its finally arrived, the ability to pair or group multiple Echo’s and Dots into a mesh network, so I can stream the same song upstairs, downstairs or into the girls rooms on command.
Little test planned for tomorrow at 6:45am, get Alexa to stream Misirlou into the Girls rooms in syncro…

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Summer

Not much happening on the server other than routine patching and fixing the mail server so it now talks nicely to my ISP so that the nightly update reports are fired out properly.

Updating DRI drivers appears to have broken the MATE desktop, but Lumina is still working find, so suspect some library conflict to resolve when the long nights are back.

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Amazon Echo

Been messing with the Amazon Echos and Dots in the house, trying to make the most of them.  I already have 4 smart plugs that let me control background lighting and front and back garden lights that come on and off on schedule and on demand by invoking Alexa.   Amazon Music has long been my streaming service of choice as available on a number of platforms (PC, Android, iOS, even on my Blackberry thru the Android compatibility mode).

Intercom mode has supposedly been launched  which would let me call the kids down to tea without bellowing up the stairs, but doesn’t look like it landed on UK shores yet.  It was only recently launched in the US.  (Our Merrycan friends can also make telephone calls by pairing with their mobile as glorified hands-free setup), which also doesn’t work here.

A key  missing feature for me is lack of support for kids profiles.   Amazon Household allows another Adult member to share content for books via Kindle, but seemingly not multiple accounts for calendar or even Music.   This means I can’t link the kids calendar to their Office365 accounts for their own personal schedule.  Musically they are linked to my music library which is no bad thing, but as they get older sure they will want to create playlists of their own, and I won’t Playlist recommendations based on their listening habits.

Finally the main feature though I would like to see is Mesh-Audio so the all the Echos, or a sub-set can play the same track at the same time.  Supposedly coming when they join up with Sonos.

 

 

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Busy weekend

As the weather has not been so hot, I’ve spent a few hours updating and installing various packages on the server.

Firstly free certificates from LetsEncrypt has allowed me to provide a secure login with trusted certificates. Self signed certs in the past where fine as provided encryption, but Chrome and IE still warned users as not signed by a official Certificate Authority.

The Transmisson Daemon for Torrents has been re-installed. Mainly for access to complete iso files for new Distro’s but obviously other benefits as well.

Finally MiniDLNA server (aka ReadyMedia) allows downloaded media to be quickly and easily shared across the home network,