Category Archives: content

chat.openai.com – terrarium

Some plants that are suitable for terrariums include:

Mosses (such as sphagnum moss or fern moss)
Ferns (such as Boston fern or bird’s nest fern)
Ivy (such as English ivy or dwarf ivy)
Spider plants
Succulents (such as hens-and-chicks or burro’s tail)
Air plants (such as tillandsia or xerographica)
African violets
Peperomia
Creeping fig
It’s important to keep in mind that terrariums are closed and have a different environment than open ones, so you should choose plants that like a humid and moist environment.

The soil composition for a terrarium should be well-draining and able to hold moisture. You can create your own mix by combining the following materials:

  • Sphagnum moss or peat moss: These materials help to retain moisture and improve drainage.
  • Sand, perlite, or vermiculite: These materials improve drainage and aeration, preventing water from pooling in the soil.
  • Charcoal: This is optional, but it can help to keep the soil clean and free of odors.
  • A small amount of fertilizer: A slow-release fertilizer may be added to the soil to provide essential nutrients to the plants.

A suggested proportion would be 2 parts peat moss, 1 part perlite and 1 part sand, but you can adjust the proportion based on the plants you are growing.

It’s also important to note that you should not use regular potting soil as it may not drain well and could lead to mold or fungal growth in the terrarium.

How to bypass blocked Windows 11 upgrade.

First a disclaimer – don’t do this! (Something about MS withholding security/updates)

Quick regkey hack – Computer\HKEYLOCALMACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\MoSetup

Create a new dword called AllowUpgradesWithUnsupportedTPMOrCPU with a value of 1

This also seems to imply it can be used to bypass the TPM check as well.

HT: https://apple.news/A1PnZHIa7RY2VNgf20tS7GA & https://www.theverge.com/22715331/how-to-install-windows-11-unsupported-cpu-intel-amd-registry-regedit

Moving a self-hosted OpenVPN server to a new server

So the Raspberry pi v4 launched recently, I thought the gigabit ethernet and the ram boost to 1gb (2gb & 4gb also available) would be a good upgrade for my self-hosted OpenVPN server , I had previously seen on the pivpn github issues that moving to a new server can be achieved with just one command!

I installed the Raspbian Buster Lite image and then installed OpenVPN via this command

 curl -L https://install.pivpn.io | bash

Before starting its wise to stop the openvpn server first! (on both servers)

 sudo systemctl openvpn stop

Then to copy the files over

scp -pr openvpn/* root@[ip]:/etc/openvpn/

HT: scp – https://www.computerhope.com/unix/scp.htm

I knew i had a little more work to do, my setup does not benefit from having a fixed IP address, so i have a couple of python scripts running via cron to monitor for a change in the public IP address and then update a DNS record so that my VPN setup still works, so i had some additional tasks around copying over the cron tasks and the python scripts.

I ran the scp command and it immediately failed, ah looks like a permission problem, so i ran it again with ‘sudo’ first – this had some limited success but curl.pem and the easy-rsa/pki files through up some interesting errors, after some googling of those errors the pki files/certificate were set to permission 600, they had to be changed to 644 – also the only real way of copying these files over In the end was by enabling the root account on the raspberry pi (not covered here.)

Exporting and the importing the cron tasks was straightforward.

On the ‘old’ server run this command from the bash command line

sudo crontab -l > cron.bak

then on the new server its (after you have done a remote copy via scp – see above)

 sudo crontab cron.bak

The python scripts were also copied over using scp – i experienced some ownership/permission issues but a quick chmod sorted that out.

I changed the hostname of the new pi to match the old one (sudo raspi-config), and configured the new pi with the old PI ip address.

 sudo nano /etc/dhcpcd.conf

Thinking i was home and dry i attempted a connection via wifi and happy days!, it connected, but then i realised the internet was not accessible – this lead me to needing to do something on the new pi/setup that is not on the old one.

I believe this issue is caused by me running pihole on another Raspbery pi!

this was ultimately fixed by editing the file /etc/rc.local and adding these two lines after fi but before exit 0

/sbin/iptables -P FORWARD ACCEPT
/sbin/iptables --table nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth0 -j MASQUERADE

wifi and bluetooth are not needed and can be disabled by adding two dtoverlay= lines to the config.txt file.

 sudo nano /boot/config.txt

dtoverlay=pi3-disable-wifi
dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt

Good luck if you decide to do the same, in hindsight creating new profiles may have been easier, but i have issued some family openvpn client/profiles that would be difficult to update.

Microsoft 365 Enterprise Admin role-based exam prep: MS-100 Identity & Services

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/learning/on-demand-course-partners.aspx

https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Ignite-Content-2018/Microsoft-365-Enterprise-Admin-role-based-exam-prep-MS-100/m-p/224831#M2549

https://myignite.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/66853?source=speakerdetail#ignite-html-anchor

https://channel9.msdn.com/Events/Ignite/2016/THR2021

PC Caffeine

save this as a vbs – runs until you end via taskman or restart…

set wsc = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
Do
WScript.Sleep (60*1000)
wsc.SendKeys ("{SCROLLLOCK 2}")
Loop

#UKMicrosoft365club 11-Sep-2018, Hilton Bankside.

#UKMicrosoft365club 11-Sep-2018, Hilton Bankside.

Missed last one, previously attended 14-Mar club meet up

9.59am – Starts with a Video [Heathrow, Samit Saini]

Levente introduction, Powerpoint overlay with real-time captioning.

Next up Kerri Hollis

  • Share your experiences via the hash tag #UKMicrosoft365club
  • Don’t forget about External Yammer group
  • Agenda (below)

Agenda

Nick Cottrell [Mitie facilities management group]

Mitie facilities management (starts with a video)

  • Planning and delivery
  • Pilots, Workshops, trading, transformation and lift and shift
  • Had 112 servers
  • Used sharegate
  • Design
    • information architect
  • Governance
  • Self help site
  • Templates
    • GDPR added to templates
  • Migration

Mitie – Communications

Communications (see above)

  • Super user network
  • Migration s two approaches
  • MS fast track and sharegate
  • Private files, team files, archived files, other

Lessons learned

  • review and analyse your servers early
  • Review communications channels
  • Use the fast track service
  • Prepare but don’t over prepare
  • Upgrade the network in advance

Adoption

  • 700+ spo sites
  • 700+ super users
  • Good bad case studies (see below pciture)

Good bad case studies

Next up, Dan Fernandez Cao & Katie Gifford using the Microsoft whiteboard app.

⁃ Dan and Katie go on the road to demonstrate the new Surface go and collaborate via the whiteboard app

Roland Beverley from BP

West Nile Delta (WND)

Emails (10 tips)

  • Emails (10 tips – see above)
  • Turn off email notifications

  • Chasing people
    • Use planner as the sole action tracker
    • Meet a real need
    • Led by the team
    • Senior sponsorship
    • Prioritise the journey not the findings
    • Fixed timescale
    • Can now good each other to account (even senior leadership)
    • Ended with Q&A

Kerri up next

  • Yammer is 10 years old
  • How to use and new features
  • Digital transformation is about employee empowerment

Live events demo

Live events

Yammer live events using teams (in preview)

live events with Microsoft 365

Break for lunch.

Richard halbert, teams Engineering

  • Staff hub is moving into teams
  • Have a look at powershell (more available via powershell than the GUI)
  • Staff hub becomes teams, staff hub closes (to setup) next year

Linda Parkinson-Hardman [Dorset county council]

  • Business change engagement officer
    • Creating a culture of influence by building a culture of influence
  • Channel shift // transformation
  • What we really want if for them to create their own transformation we cannot do this for them

Groups

⁃ Picture missing on Personas, will see if i can add from the shared slide deck.

⁃ Picture missing on plans?, will see if i ca add/update from the shared slide deck.

Beth Hughes on top 10 change points (See my previous blog-posts for Beth content!)

Lev closed the club meeting.

o365 offical blog and product improvements (via uservoice.com

A good blog/site for details on the monthly youtube video – https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/o365guy/

But also this article has the specific product suggestion pages

Topic Link
Access https://access.uservoice.com
Bookings https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/314907-microsoft-bookings
Business Center https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/600793-office-365-business-center
Excel https://excel.uservoice.com
Flow https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Flow-Feedback/ct-p/Feedback
Forms https://microsoftforms.uservoice.com
Connections https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/600610-microsoft-connections
Invoicing https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/600781-microsoft-invoicing
Listings https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/600778-microsoft-listings
Mix https://officemix.uservoice.com/
MyAnalytics https://myanalytics.uservoice.com/
Office 365 https://office365.uservoice.com
Office 365 Groups https://office365.uservoice.com/forums/286611-office-365-groups
OneDrive https://onedrive.uservoice.com
OneNote https://onenote.uservoice.com
Outlook https://outlook.uservoice.com
Planner https://planner.uservoice.com
Power BI https://ideas.powerbi.com/forums/265200-power-bi-ideas
PowerApps https://powerusers.microsoft.com/t5/Product-Feedback/ct-p/PA-feedback
PowerPoint https://powerpoint.uservoice.com
Project https://microsoftproject.uservoice.com
SharePoint https://sharepoint.uservoice.com
StaffHub https://staffhub.uservoice.com
Skype for Business https://www.skypefeedback.com
Stream https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/Microsoft-Stream-Ideas/idb-p/StreamIdeas
Sway https://sway.uservoice.com
Teams https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public
To-Do https://todo.uservoice.com/
Visio https://visio.uservoice.com
Word https://word.uservoice.com
Yammer https://yammer.uservoice.com

UK Microsoft 365 club – 14Mar2018

#UKMicrosoft365club14Mar2018 @ etc.venues – Westminster Bridge – County Hall

[Last event i attended was in September 2017]

Host Levente Nagy/Microsoft

Reminder from Levente – If you do not have access to the dedicated Yammer group, email ukreg@microsoft.com

Before we started Brett encouraged us to download a couple of apps to be introduced after lunch

Levente started with digital transformation 

⁃ Covering trends in the workplace, worker styles and employees moving from routine to creativity

⁃ Microsoft 365 – unlocks creativity, built for teamwork, integrated for simplicity and intelligent security.

Agenda 

First up was Dinesh from BAT, responsible for IT in E.M.E.A.

⁃ (About us)

⁃ Worked with Marketing (message) and introduced self-serve (empowering users)…

⁃ Every user upgraded themselves

⁃ Driving user adoption 

⁃ Includes “top 5 productivity hacks” (think tips, trips and traps)

⁃ Perfect role for Graduates, right skills, excellent all round experience.

⁃ “Users have gone crazy for PowerBI”

⁃ Gamification- could add “badges” to profiles etc 

⁃ Microsoft stream has been useful

⁃ Success – bill of materials 

⁃ Session ended with a Q&A

10.46 – Beth MD (Behavioral Architect)

⁃ Beth offered some clarity that sharepoint (used to share) onedrive (used for own)

⁃ Some troublesome facts 

  • Behavior change is discretionary
  • it’s not about I.t.
  • Adoption takes time!

11.15 – National Grid (Susan Shaw and Ian Balfour)

– meet National Grid 

⁃ Started with a vision statement, drove conversation about how to use these new tools

⁃ Project sponsored by CIDO…

⁃ 24 new office 365 champions identified to drive change (220+) engaged in workshop – build adoption change network

⁃ where do you see the greatest challenge for introducing new ways of working…

⁃ 4 key behavioral changes 

⁃ Linked adoption to the business excellence/ efficiency teams to help drive business take up.

⁃ (Ian Business change person)

⁃ 6 sigma (downtime) what is lean? MUDA

⁃ So what…

⁃ Lessons learned

⁃ Exploit, adoption, no silver bullet, not possible without top down

⁃ Does not end – evergreen

⁃ 11.20 – Q&A

⁃ 11.30 – Microsoft 365 demo

⁃ (Including capability update & demos)

⁃ <Dan> demonstrated a day in the life of Megan – who had accidentally deleted some files…

⁃ Onedrive – self-serve file restore

⁃ Spam – Microsoft global security…

⁃ 12.00 – Astra Zeneca and teams

⁃ Rachel Calthorpe – IT Apprenticeship

⁃ Collaboration team

⁃ Simplification theme

⁃ Business drivers

⁃ – lots of emails cc’d

⁃ Documents/files and tools all over the place

⁃ Mobile – something reliable, secure and quick to use – connecting the right people instantly.

⁃ Leveraging Microsoft fastrack service

⁃ If it’s in teams – will respond there and not via email, all need to be in it…

Product manager for teams – Kerri Hollis

⁃ We just won and award .. new features (enterprise connect – watch on demand later) 

⁃ Enterprise voice for the cloud 

⁃ Customer success kit…

⁃ Resources…

13.30 – accessibility in Microsoft365 with Brett Johnson brettjo@ms.com – TSD, Accessibility in Modern workplace

⁃ Soundscape, seeing AI

⁃ Accessibility 

⁃ Introduction to Windows 10 contrast controls 

⁃ – Win +<CTRL>+C

⁃ PowerPoint inserting pictures, shows design ideas and provides <alt text>

⁃ MS Word, settings, proofing, gramma

⁃ View menu then “learning tools”

⁃ Onenote, learning tools – add-in

⁃ Translate

⁃ Demo followed where we used the translator app which processed showed in real-time a translation into the language of your choice.

14.00 – engie

⁃ Jonathan and Brian (business customers, knowledge management)

⁃ Critical success factors 

⁃ Executive support & charter 

⁃ Knowledge managers and adoption champions (more technical)

⁃ Success stories (idea to use drone in chimney assessments, asset h/w spare parts, executive realization)

⁃ Individual recognition and reward drives behavior change.

⁃ Specific Yammer o365 support groups for each Microsoft application/production – mainly supported by business users and not I.T.

⁃ Lessons learned 

⁃ When & what to use 

⁃ CSF 

⁃ 14.12 – Q&A

15.00 – M.O.J. (⁃ Peter Hanney – lead EUCS architect)

⁃ Focus on the how

⁃ 4 strategic priorities (see slide…)

⁃ End User Computing Solutions = ppa- personal productivity apps

⁃ Cookie cutter approach

⁃ Comms message, general awareness communication, branded message

⁃ Multiple comms channels

⁃ – posters

⁃ – Emails

⁃ – Message of the day

⁃ – Film, intranet, hunts and tips, user guides

⁃ – Tech bars and demos

⁃ Then came the discussion with “security”

⁃ “Microsoft deliver for maximum adoption and not necessarily for maximum security”

Ends with Q&A

Some final closing slides