This was originally published on Medium on May 7, 2016. archiving here as no longer pushing on Medium.

So I’ve been programming in Python on and off for what must be close to 15 years now. However until the start of this year it’s all been odd side projects for useful tools outside of work. Now I’m writing Python automation code for the StackStorm platform as a increasingly large part of my day job. Some of this is for private packs, but thankfully quite a lot is for Open Source packs in st2contrib.

First post in ages, last weekend we visited the National Museum of Scotland and I took the camera (and used it) for once.

Power

So my blog now has a new domain name, gravatar and header image and after a trip down south to see Hadrian’s Wall for the first time. In the coming weeks I’m hoping to start posting some new content! This may end up not being the case, but well stranger things have happened!

This was originally published on Medium on May 22, 2016. archiving here as no longer pushing on Medium.

So I think my Python is improving for sure. In the last couple of weeks I’ve used new style objects, properties, and setters to create objects to hold Orion node data. In short, applying what I read at the start of the year in Fluent Python.

However, more importantly I feel up to the challenge of addressing the lack of support for turning on SSL verification, and using Request-Mock for unit testing with the orionsdk module. So I’ve started on the PR and more importantly I’ll be turning some of the examples into unit tests and adding some more of both.

So installing Ubuntu onto an 2006 Mac Mini (macmini1,1) is really hard, mainly down the bugs in EFI preventing booting of USB sticks or CD’s that are available for download from Ubuntu and this Mini not 64 bit CPU but 32 bit!

So things to remember:

• This mac mini is x32 and not an x64 CPU! So do download the right image!
• Install rEFInd (this is really important)
• Follow these instructions to create an USB stick.

So I now have StackStorm installing, which is taking some time on almost decade old system. Later I do plan to do an re-install with the server (instead of desktop version), but at least wireless works out the box, which it did not do last time I tried in 2003 with linux and wireless.

So I’ve been using Apple’s Aperture photo management and editing application since just after I got an SLR in 2007. So it was with great sadness I learned last year that it would be going away and replaced with Photos (along with iPhoto).

So I need to find another photo management & editing product or just give in and use the new Photos for everything. Which I don’t really want to do as I very much like the power of Aperture to make the most of photos shoot in RAW.

Today on Twitter I noticed that fryguy_pa posted the following yesterday.

The @sergeantclip worked nice. Was glad to finally use them. — Jeff (@fryguy_pa) January 24, 2015

This is the Sergeant Clip which looks like something really useful for the networking tool bag. In fact I’m going to order both a 6 and 12 port versions tonight.

Update 2020-11-11: Yes it did look useful, but by this point I had moved on from Networking and never used it in anger until it went in a clear out post moving last month.

I was half way towards completing CCNP Security when they announced the retirement of the current exams and I did not have the enough time to complete study for SECURE prior to the last day to test. Given that old exam passes expire after 3 years and my ASA Security specialist certification expires after only 2 years, I have to pass the remaining 2 new exams before Nov 2015 and no later than Jan 2016 to keep a Cisco security certification without having to to sit further 2 exams.

For most of the last 6 years, I’ve either not been allowed physical access to our hardware in the DC (a long story from my previous job) or I’ve been working in the same Data Centre as my desk, with no remote locations. So the need to have the tools of my trade with me while doing work based travelling has been very limited (or non-existent).

However last year the company I work for was acquired, and now I’m finding myself in the position that I’m travelling more and need to work in other DC’s while out & about.

Been a long time since I posted anything on this blog, should really take more photos and publish more. This is one of the photos I took almost a year ago in Portmeirion and only just got round to uploading to Flickr. However it has replaced this photo in one of the frames in the lounge.

Buddleia Flowers by Jon Middleton, on Flickr

A great photo taken with the OlloClip attached to my iPhone, it really is producing great photos. Thanks to a colleague to introducing me to its wonders.

Edinburgh Zoo McMeerkats by Jon Middleton, on Flickr