anojh@vancouver:~/writing$ ls -lt
Writing
Notes from the homelab. Write-ups on the tech I run at home and the projects I build around it.
Jul 31, 2026 · 8 min read · Open Source
A Backup You Can't Open: Eight Years of the Synology Cloud Sync Decryption Tool
A client backed up to a Synology NAS with Cloud Sync encryption, on macOS, where Synology ships no decryption tool. What started as one client's problem is now 136 stars, 36…
Jul 30, 2026 · 13 min read · Homelab
The Import That Succeeded: Rebuilding Emby Playback History for Tracearr
Tracearr can't read Emby's Playback Reporting data directly, so the path runs through Jellystat, and every hop quietly dropped something. Five problems later: 980 plays with IPs,…
Jul 29, 2026 · 5 min read · 3D Printing
One Millimetre of Plastic: Fixing FR2865 on the Creality K2 Plus
Every print that pulled from more than one CFS spool failed with FR2865, usually after the part was already finished. Nothing was jammed. The filament cutter was leaving a whisker…
Jul 28, 2026 · 9 min read · Homelab
Roku-Proofing a Media Library: One Tdarr Flow for HEVC, Subtitles and Disk Space
Some files in my Emby library simply would not play on Roku, and the cause wasn't the video at all. It was three subtitle track flags. Here's the Tdarr flow that fixes them…
Jul 27, 2026 · 12 min read · Projects
Chasing Centre Seats: Building a 70mm IMAX Seat Watcher for The Odyssey
Every 70mm IMAX showtime for Nolan's The Odyssey was sold out at both theatres near me. But seats get released constantly, so I captured Cineplex's own network traffic, turned a…
Jul 26, 2026 · 7 min read · Homelab
Locked Out by a 2016 Certificate: Supermicro IPMI KVM After the May 2026 Expiry
A power outage, a VPN, and a TLS certificate generated in 2016 that expired at 09:44 GMT on May 17, 2026, taking the KVM console with it on a whole generation of Supermicro…