Strav's blog

It's frustrating to deal with SSH connection issues - particularly when using a private/public key pair which *should* let you log in without a password but doesn't.  I've troubleshot these issues a number of different ways in the past, adding a '-VVV' switch for crazy debugging levels on the client, checking log files on the server, etc.  Recently, I came across a different way of troubleshooting server side which is my new favorite way - running a new copy of sshd on the server in debug mode on a non-standard port.  When the ssh server is run in debug mode, it doesn't daemonize so all messages are displayed on the screen immediately, rather than digging through log files.  Also, running on a non-standard port means you are almost guaranteed to be the only one connecting so you don't have to eliminate other connections to troubleshoot your issue.   Below is the command and a link back to the page that I discovered this from.

/usr/sbin/sshd -d -p 2222

Trying to SSH in to remote computer but still asking for password

Motorized window blinds are definitely a priority on my Home Automation wish list.  Here are some links on the topic.

Motorize and Automate your Blinds for $10! (WiFi)
The Hookup Motorized MQTT Blinds (GitHub)
iblinds: Make Existing Window Blinds Smart
iBlinds Automated blinds for your Smart Home
Automated Blinds for your DIY Project by iBlinds

I have started using Home Assistant for Home Automation.  Here are some of the introductory links that I used to get started.

The Beginner's Guide to Home Assistant - HassIO
Awesome Home Assistant
Getting Started with Home Assistant's new User Interface
Home Automation 2019 - Getting Started
Home Assistant - Group
How to set up Lovelace on Home Assistant
Lovelace YAML Mode
Home Assistant (0.86.2) live demonstration
Floorplan now available as a Lovelace card
Home Assistant Floorplan
How to Draw a Floorplan and get a 3D picture with SweetHome3D
Z-Wave Device Specific Settings
Support for IP IR Bridges
Using IR Remote Controls in your Smart Home - Home Assistant and the Broadlink RM
Difference between scene and script?

Here are some resources for Home Assistant Dashboards

HomeAssitant Dashboard Creation
Smart Home Control Panel - Best looking and most useful component | HA Dashboard

Some additional Home Assistant links

Track your phone battery level

Here are a number of posts about the Arduino esp8266 and MQTT.

ESP8266: Connecting to MQTT broker
How To Use Basic MQTT on Arduino
How to use ArduinoJson with PubSubClient
Callback function and MQTT Arduino client
Strings, bytes, char arrays MQTT arghgh
What is the best MQTT Client for Pub and Sub?

On a related note - this discusses converting byte* to char[]

Is it possible to convert a byte* to char[]?
convert byte array into string

I had a need to be able to transfer some files and didn't want to store them on my server.  I found a cross platform application called sendanywhere which has worked well.  

sendanywhere