Sly Gryphon @sgryphon@qoto.org

It begins! Waiting in the queue for PAX Australia.

Was able to update my Lenovo Thunderbolt 4 Workstation Dock firmware via their Windows tool running in VMWare on my Ubuntu Linux machine by redirecting all the devices. Unfortunately the new firmware didn't fix my video problem with monitors not waking from sleep.

DriveThruRPG is having a sale on for #SavageWorlds #rpg products (digital versions), including the main Savage Worlds Adventure Edition for $5.99 #ttrpg https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/261539/Savage-Worlds-Adventure-Edition?src=hottest_filtered&filters=0_0_0_0_0_1000048

Rented a #Polestar2 while interstate for the weekend -- #EV worked out cheaper than a similar petrol vehicle as charging was free; to compare you would need to add the cost of petrol to the vehicle rental.

#PRINCE2 : #Iterative ? Yes (manage by stages). #Agile ? Not necessarily. Waterfall ? No, unless it is a small, single stage, single work package project.

@edumerco @penpot I found simply using the UI widgets in black & white with a handwritten font style worked well enough to give a sketchy style. The lines were still straight, but the simple change in font gave the right feel.

It also introduced me to the term "PowerPoint Architect" for architects that don't ever write actual code https://accidentaltechnologist.com/software-architecture/architects-who-don%E2%80%99t-write-code-are-%E2%80%9Cpowerpoint-architects%E2%80%9D/

I found #C4model when my son suggested I used #Mermaid instead of #PlantUML. Mermaid doesn't do deployment diagrams and C4 is experimental but it led me to discover C4-PlantUML https://github.com/plantuml-stdlib/C4-PlantUML and Azure-PlantUML

I'm very happy I just discovered #C4model. Lightweight architecture diagrams (less than #UML) but still with defined meanings (and labels) for the boxes and lines. https://c4model.com/

#Dragino N95S32B #nb-iot review, with all the good (and not-so-good) features of this deployment-ready weather-resistant #iot device for NB-IoT LPWAN networks (such as #Telstra) https://purple.telstra.com/blog/nb-iot-device-review---unboxing-the-dragino-n95s31b

#Azure Public #IPv6 offerings are now free! With the cost of IPv4 now over USD 50, going to #IPv6-only makes commercial sense. Note this is not MS being generous; IPv6 addresses are essentially free -- I calculated a cost of 1/4000th of 1 US cent for my entire home allocation (256 subnets of 16 quadrilllion addresses each) https://sgryphon.gamertheory.net/2022/03/27/running-an-ipv6-only-host-redux/

Microsoft announcement: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates/azure-public-ipv6-offerings-are-free-as-of-july-31/

I just published a new #IoT blog article on #PowerShell scripted deployment of a secure #MQTT server to #azure with #IPv6 support, using #Certbot certificates, on the #TelstraPurple blog: https://purple.telstra.com/blog/deploying-a-secure-mqtt-test-server-on-azure-with-ipv6

Gamer family. When your son says he's going to the D&D masquerade ball at uni, and then your daughter pops in and says "Dad, I need a Player's Handbook", and your wife is asking when the next game is...

I've finished off my blog post series on #OpenTelemetry with #dotnet, on the #TelstraPurple blog, and how OTel is now built into the core of .NET. It includes a brief nod to Azure #iot Hub now having built in support for Trace Context.

Here is part 2 - https://purple.telstra.com/blog/instrumenting--net-with-opentelemetry

The full code is also up on Github: https://github.com/sgryphon/dotnet-distributed-tracing-examples

Yay! I passed the renewal for my #Azure #IoT Speciality. The content was mostly about the new #DigitalTwins features, which is the area I work in at #TelstraPurple, so it was not too hard (provided you know the material :-)

Looking for an update/replacement of an old version of Balsamiq for wireframe design and just came across @penpot which looks really promising, although I'd really like a sketchy / hand drawn style for lo-fi designs.

@Casinoslcohol what city / location are you in. Many places have local groups. You can also play online.