Kodi and Jellyfin Intro Skipper

 I wanted to be able to skip the longer intro sequences like you can on many streaming services. In my search, I found a plugin and addon to accomplish the task.

Installation

• Add Intro-Skip Plugin to Jellyfin
• Add the Repository
• Jellyfin Web Interface -> Hamburger menu -> Dashboard
• Click on "Catalog" under Plugins
• Click on the settings wheel at the top
• Click on the "+"
• https://intro-skipper.org/manifest.json
• Install the Addon
• On the Catalog page scroll down to the Intro-Skipper section and install "Intro Skipper"
• Restart Jellyfin to finish the installation
• Add the Jellyskip Addon to Kodi
• Download https://github.com/SgtJalau/service.jellyskip/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
• Copy to Kodi
• adb connect <IP of your Kodi box>
• adb push service.jellyfin-main.zip /sdcard/Download
• Install From zipfile
• Settings -> Addons -> Install from zip file -> Download
• Select service.jellyfin-main.zip

Appendix

Sources

• https://github.com/intro-skipper/intro-skipper/wiki/Installation
• https://github.com/SgtJalau/service.jellyskip/

Reverse Proxy for Jellyfin

 As I wanted to be able to access Jellyfin on the go, I needed to put it behind my reverse proxy.

Jellyfin Changes

Tell Jellyfin that it is behind a proxy so it will ignore the proxy ip and log the correct ip

• https://jellyfin.home.arpa:8920
• hamburger menu -> Networking
• Add the IP of your reverse proxy to "Known Proxies"
• Restart Jellyfin

Reverse Proxy

• Add the below to your NGINX config:

    location = /jellyfin {

        return 301 $scheme://$http_host/jellyfin/ ;

    }

    location /jellyfin/ {

        auth_basic off;

        proxy_pass https://jellyfin.home.arpa:8920/;

        proxy_buffering off;

        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $http_host;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;

    }

    location /jellyfin/socket {

        # Proxy Jellyfin Websockets traffic

        auth_basic off;

        proxy_pass https://jellyfin.home.arpa:8920/socket;

        proxy_http_version 1.1;

        proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;

        proxy_set_header Connection "upgrade";

        # proxy_set_header Host $host;

        proxy_set_header X-Real-IP $remote_addr;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-For $proxy_add_x_forwarded_for;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Proto $scheme;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Protocol $scheme;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Host $http_host;

        proxy_set_header X-Forwarded-Port $server_port;

    }

• Restart NGINX

Appendix

Sources

• https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/advanced/nginx/
• https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/post-install/networking/#known-proxies

Lenovo Yoga 7 2-in-1 14" Touchscreen Laptop Review

 As my child had been getting into video games, we decided to get them a laptop of their own so they wouldn't need to borrow my wife's.

Here were my list of requirements:

• Priced less than $700
• 11-14" Screen
• IPS or OLED
• at least 300 nits
• at least 45% NTSC coverage
• A recent processor with great integrated graphics
• AMD Ryzen 7 7840U with Radeon 780M
• AMD Ryzen 7 8840U with Radeon 780M
• Intel Core Ultra 7 155U
• or newer
• RAM >= 16GB 
• Storage >= 512GB 
• USB C charging
• WiFi 7/6E with 2x2 antennas
• Backlit keyboard (optional)
• USB C charging on both sides (optional)

Best Buy had a sale for the Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 14" Touchscreen Laptop (83DK000AUS / 12IAHP9), which we bought as it met most of my criteria.

• Price: $600
• 14" Screen 300 nits 45% NTSC coverage (~60% sRGB)
• AMD Ryzen 7 8840U with Radeon 780M
• RAM: 16GB
• Storage: 1TB
• USB C charging
• WiFi 6E with 2x2 antennas
• Backlit keyboard
• USB C only on a single side :-(
• Left ports:
• 2 x USB C (one USB4 40Gbps)
• 1 x HDMI 2.1
• 1 x 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack
• Right ports:
• 1 x USB A
• 1 x microSD
• 3.55 lbs
• Charger is a 65W brick style with 3 pin power cord

Compared to my wife's Lenovo Yoga 2-in-1 16" Touchscreen Laptop (82QG0001US / 16IAP7) which we bought in 2022:

• Price: $600
• 16" Screen 400 nits 72% NTSC coverage (100% sRGB)
• Intel Core i5-1240P
• RAM: 8GB
• Storage: 256GB
• USB C charging
• WiFi 6E with 2x2 antennas
• Backlit keyboard
• USB C only on a single side :-(
• Left ports:
• 2 x USB C (thunderbolt)
• 1 x USB A
• 1 x HDMI 2.0
• 1 x SD card reader
• Right ports:
• 1 x USB A
• 1 x 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack
• 4.37 lbs
• Charger is a 65W wall-wort style with 2 folding pins

My thoughts:

• The laptop feels sturdy and premium
• While the screen is not for color accurate work, or as good as my wife's, it looks plenty good to my eyes when not looking side-by-side
• The memory and storage should be sufficient for many years to come
• GPU should be about 2x more performant than my wife's, which should be plenty to play the types of games that my child likes
• The included 65W charger works well. Unfortunately, the laptop charges extremely slowly on our existing 45W chargers.

Child acceptance factor, in general they like it except:

• it is too heavy (would prefer a ligher 11")
• sometimes when starting screen share on Zoom, Zoom will stop responding

Appendix

Sources:

• https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-7-2-in-1-14-2k-touchscreen-laptop-amd-ryzen-7-8840hs-with-16gb-memory-1-tb-ssd-artic-grey/6571366.p?skuId=6571366
• https://psref.lenovo.com/Detail/Yoga_7_2_in_1_14AHP9?M=83DK000AUS
• https://psref.lenovo.com/Detail/Yoga/Yoga_7_16IAP7?M=82QG0001US

Other Reviews:

• https://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-780M-iGPU-analysis-AMD-s-new-RDNA-3-GPU-takes-on-its-competitors.714019.0.html
• https://www.rtings.com/laptop/reviews/lenovo/yoga-7-2-in-1-14-2024
• https://www.cnet.com/tech/computing/best-lenovo-laptop/

Ensuring USB DVD order

As my USB dvd drives were being detected into a seemingly random order, I wanted to be able to control what device each was being assigned.

Adding udev rules

• Find serials to add
• sudo udevadm info /dev/sr0 | grep ID_SERIAL_SHORT
• sudo udevadm info /dev/sr1 | grep ID_SERIAL_SHORT
• sudo udevadm info /dev/sr2 | grep ID_SERIAL_SHORT
• Create /etc/udev/rules.d/99-dvd.rules

ACTION="add", KERNEL="sr[0-9]", ENV{ID_SERIAL_SHORT}="first drive serial", SYMLINK+="dvd0"

ACTION="add", KERNEL="sr[0-9]", ENV{ID_SERIAL_SHORT}="second drive serial", SYMLINK+="dvd1"

ACTION="add", KERNEL="sr[0-9]", ENV{ID_SERIAL_SHORT}="third drive serial", SYMLINK+="dvd2"

• Reboot or force rerunning the rules
• sudo udevadm control --reload
• sudo udevadm trigger
• However, this did not work
• Edit /etc/udev/rules.d/99-dvd.rules and remove the ACTION

KERNEL="sr[0-9]", ENV{ID_SERIAL_SHORT}="first drive serial", SYMLINK+="dvd0"

KERNEL="sr[0-9]", ENV{ID_SERIAL_SHORT}="second drive serial", SYMLINK+="dvd1"

KERNEL="sr[0-9]", ENV{ID_SERIAL_SHORT}="third drive serial", SYMLINK+="dvd2"

• Reboot or force rerunning the rules
• sudo udevadm control --reload
• sudo udevadm trigger

Outcome

Success, it now creates the /dev/dvd* in a consistent order. Unfortunately, Handbrake still tries to use the /dev/sr* labels.

Appendix

Sources

• https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions/comments/1ci1nsj/fixed_identity_location_for_multiple_optical/
• https://reactivated.net/writing_udev_rules.html#basic
• https://dev.to/enbis/how-udev-rules-can-help-us-to-recognize-a-usb-to-serial-device-over-dev-tty-interface-pbk

Recursively Mount ZFS datasets

In order to simplify mounting and unmounting my encrypted volumes, I wanted some scripts.

Recursively Mount

#!/usr/bin/env sh

dataset=$1

zfs load-key "${dataset}"
zfs list -rH -o name "${dataset}"  | xargs -L 1 zfs mount

Unmount and unload key

#!/usr/bin/env sh

dataset=$1

zfs unmount "${dataset}"

zfs unload-key "${dataset}"

Usage

# mount example

sh mount.sh storage/encrypted
Passphrase:

# unmount example
sh unmount.sh storage/encrypted

Appendix

Sources

•  https://serverfault.com/questions/450818/recursively-mounting-zfs-filesystems

ASUS ROG Charger Dock

In order to simplify connecting my chromebook to my tv, I wanted a small dock. As Best Buy has been running sales on the ASUS ROG Charger Dock for $30, I decided to snag it.

Pros

• Price when on sale
• Size (about the size of a deck of cards cut in half, but twice as thick)
• 65 Watt charging capability
• Ports:
• USB-C to laptop
• USB-A
• HDMI
• Comes with a braided USB-C cable
• Charges chromebook and outputs to tv with a single laptop connection

Cons

• Limited ports (no ethernet or downstream USB-C)
• HDMI 2.0 limits output to 4K 60Hz

Other Thoughts

• USB-C cord was packaged with sharp bends that may lead to longevity issues

Firmware

Mine came with firmware B41 and I updated it to B59 (version 1.4.1)

Appendix

Links:

• Product: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/asus-rog-65w-charger-dock-supports-hdmi-2-0-with-usb-type-a-and-usb-type-c-for-rog-ally-black/6542054.p?skuId=6542054
• Firmware: https://rog.asus.com/us/power-protection-gadgets/chargers-and-adapters/rog-gaming-charger-dock/helpdesk_bios/

Replacing drives in ZFS take two

As it had been ~3 years since the last storage upgrade and there was only about 20% free space remaining, I wanted to take advantage of Black Friday prices. From WD.com, I grabbed 2 x 16TB Red Pro drives with a 5 year warranty.

Verify the drives

• smartctl short tests
• smartctl -t short /dev/sdX
• smartctl -t short /dev/sdY
• check smartctl test status after ~5 minutes
• smartctl -a /dev/sdX
• smartctl -a /dev/sdY
• badblocks
• Does 4 iterations of a write followed by a read. For my 16TB drives, each step took ~24 hours for a total of around 8 days.
• nohup badblocks -wsv -b 4096 /dev/sdX >16TB_serial_1.log 2>&1 &
• nohup badblocks -wsv -b 4096 /dev/sdY >16TB_serial_2.log 2>&1 &
• The logs will continue to grow as it runs. Mine got to 5.3MiB each for my 16TB drives after ~8 days
• Create script to check status of verification
• echo "" > newline.log
• echo "cat 16TB_serial_1.log newline.log 16TB_serial_2.log newline.log" > status.sh
• sh status.sh

Add the drives to the mirror

• Attach the drives
• zpool attach [POOLNAME] [EXISTING_DRIVE] [NEW_DRIVE_1]
• zpool attach [POOLNAME] [EXISTING_DRIVE] [NEW_DRIVE_2]
• Resilver both drives at once
• resolves: (awaiting resilver) on [NEW_DRIVE_2]
• zpool resilver [POOLNAME]
• Check on resilver
• zpool status [POOLNAME]
• resilver in progress since Wed Dec 18 17:37:48 2024
• I had 4.35TiB to resilver with an estimated runtime of around 7 hours, it ~7 hours and 45 minutes

Remove the old drives

I am planning on waiting at least 11 days to ensure the new drives are functioning as expected, but this is the step to remove them.

• zpool detach [POOLNAME] [DISKNAME]

Expand the storage

• zpool set autoexpand=on storage
• reboot
• zpool online -e storage [NEW_DRIVE_1]

Appendix

Sources

• https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Badblocks
• https://www.reddit.com/r/zfs/comments/10zu5r6/zfs_and_resilvering_multiple_drives_at_once/