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Showing posts from November, 2026

Testing and Hosting Traccar for the Teltonika FTxxxx family GPS Tracker!

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After getting the basic SMS alerts working on the Teltonika FTC134, the next step was to test full live tracking. Before setting up my own permanent server, I wanted a quick way to verify that the tracker actually sends TCP telemetry over cellular. Here is how I went from testing on Traccar’s public demo server to deploying a local self-hosted Traccar instance on Proxmox with port forwarding. Initial Test with Traccar Demo Server To verify telemetry without worrying about router rules or local firewall setups, I started with Traccar's public demo platform. Created an account on Demo Server 3 ( demo3.traccar.org / IP: 188.245.151.94 ). Added the FTC134 device inside the web interface using its unique IMEI. Configured the FTC134 tracker via TCT or SMS to point to the demo server: Domain / IP: 188.245.151.94 Port: 5027 (Standard port for Teltonika protocol) Data Protocol: TCP Encryption: None (Note: Teltonika devices use port 5027 on Traccar servers. If you use a diffe...
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Popular posts, last 30 days

Clone the Raspberry boot disk

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Updated 2024-02-20 ! A very nice way to fix a backup is to make a copy, bootable, of the actual SD card You are using on the Raspberry Pi(RPi). This will be done even when the RPi is up and running ! This application can also be used to make a bootable SSD or USB drive !! You clone from the command line so You don't need the standard GUI, Pixel, and the " SD card copier "  function. It is also possible to set up a a scheduled job, cronjob explained later, which for example makes a clone every night at 1 o'clock.
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Installing Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04 on an old MacBook Air(2011)

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 Updated 2026-10-03 ! I have done several posts Blogging about how to keep an old MacBook Air(MBA), mid 2011(A1369), with SSD disk "alive". I have used the fantastic software package OpenCore Legacy patcher to upgrade the Mac to the latest Mac OS.  A while ago i tested Mac OS  Sequoia (15.3), on the mentioned Mac, but I had to admit that it was to much for the 14 year old companion. I really like the Mac and everything works, after a battery change , so it ended up with installing  Ubuntu latest LTS (UOS) ! (Above link is now UOS 26.04 LTS which was installed as an upgrade from 24.04 without any problem) Ubuntu on  Mac Mini (2018) and MacBookAir (2010)  ?
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SeaTalk1 to NMEA 0183 converter, DIY

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Updated 2026-09-10 !  !! Another SW solution is available for RPi 5 here !  using the same HW. Thanks to Thomas, (the guy with the nice marine interface board ) ,  it's now possible  to decode, one way, the SeaTalk1(ST1) sentences in a pretty simple way. You just  use OpenPlotter(OP) and/or SignalK(SK) and an  Optocoupler . The thing that made it, is that Thomas   has released a "how to" and  Python source code , that will read the data from a GPIO pin on the Raspberry Pi, (RPi), and format it so the standard parser in SignalK can translate it to SignalK delta format. It is then  available as NMEA 0183. It's even possible to send the data in to a NMEA 2000 network, with a proper hardware interface. Don't miss Dons bidirectional solution found here ! 
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Raspberry Pi OS Lite with GUI, RDP, VNC, Chromium

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Updated 2025-10-02 ! I like the Raspberry Pi(RPi), with Raspberry Pi OS Lite (no Desktop is included), headless operation, and then adding the software You need. Until now I haven't had a use case where I needed a Desktop but now was time.  Why don't use the Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop ?? In that package there is a lot of software I don't need and I really want to optimize the RPi. I think that the less software You install the happier RPi will be... 😉
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IKEA Bäve dimmer hack II

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Updated 2025-01-10 ! Dimming not dimmable LED, IKEA Bäve, produced before 2019-11 and a new idea for later products ! In former post I used a  Fibaro Z-Wave RGBW controller  but in this post I will use an IKEA original or an external dimmer ?!
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iCloud drive sync, or mount, with a Linux, Ubuntu, device

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Updated 2025-01-23 ! With my project to keep a MacBook Air 2011(MBA) alive , Ubuntu installed, i searched for a solution where my iCloud drive(iCD) was  continuous synced with my MBA. This must work both ways so even a file change made on MBA should be replicated to iCD. rclone now, 2025-01, works with iCloud !! Setup below !! Before "rclone" was working with iCloud I solved my sync between iCD and MBA with Syncthing (ST). Check below. ST doesn't sync with iCloud so the work around here was to use my MacMini, Mac OS, as the "Middle man". It's always on and synced with iCD.
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Home Assistant with VirtualBox or Proxmox or Linux KVM ???

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 Updated 2026-07-05 !  After testing Home Assistant (HA) for a while, I’ve realised it could improve my home automation, despite that I'm mainly using Apple HomeKit. When I tested HA with Node-RED and some other "Add-ons", on a Raspberry Pi 3 (RPi), I found that its resources wasn’t enough. The following setup could be any computer but I recently bought an Apple Mac Mini M4, replacing my 2018 (M18) model, so the M18 was really a great candidate for my HA setup. I have converted to HA running on Proxmox !   😀
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Raspberry Pi watchdog made simple

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Updated 2025-10-15 for Trixie ! The purpose of a watchdog timer(WD) is very well described here but a more practical answer is; If your Raspberry Pi(RPi) "freezes", or hangs, it will automagically reboot within a very short time. This is made with a combination of hardware and software which is all ready available, on the RPi, and just have to be enabled. After some hours Googling and testing these are my findings !
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IVT, Bosch heat pump easy integration, Home Assistant

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Updated 2026-10-17 ! In search of the optimal solution on how to interface our IVT Heat pump,   first try here , I stumbled over   a nice integration   for Home Assistant(HA). A first quick setup is shown at the right. This integration stopped working with HA 2026.3.4, XMPP protocol(IVT),  but with 2026.10 it works again !!! Another solution, for non HA users, could be  this one .
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