Category Archives: Network

Recording FM radio with RetroPie

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Note: This works on just about any Linux install. I just wanted the excuse to set up a RetroPie.

Installing and Configuring RetroPie

RetroPie recommends at least a Pi 3. I went with a Pi 4 8GB in order to future proof my setup. Since I plan on leaving it constantly on and hooked up to my home theater I wanted a passively cooled case. The Flirc Pi 4 case fit my needs and looks good as well. Installing the Pi in the case was easy and straightforward. Attach the thermal pad, place the Pi in the case and screw it together. That’s it.

Installing RetroPie is just as easy. Download the RetroPie image, extract it and install it onto a MicroSD card. By default the pi runs samba which allows you to copy your roms over the network to the pi. This is great for ease of use but I don’t want to have to worry about losing my roms if the MicroSD card fails. Instead we’ll be serving the roms over the network.

I originally configured my rom share on my TrueNAS (formerly FreeNAS) server for NFS. That way I could set it to read only with mapall permissions for easy connection. However, NFS doesn’t use a set port and I have my home theater firewalled off because it’s connected via Powerline. NFS can be configured to run on a specific port but that has to happen per client and it’s much easier to just switch to SMB.

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DNS Security and Adblock with OPNSense, Part 2

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ADBLOCKING

Now that we’ve secured our DNS, we can move on to improving the quality of our experience on the internet by configuring DNS ad blocking. With the 20.7 version of OPNSense it’s quite easy. Simply go to Services -> Unbound DNS -> Blacklist. Click Enable and select one or more items from the DNSBL drop down. Or if you prefer, paste the URLs of your preferred list in the URLs field. I prefer the Stephen Black list as it is composed of multiple lists and is also the default list for the Pi Hole. Click Save and you’re done.

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DNS Security and Adblock with OPNSense, Part 1

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If you’re not familiar with DNS, you can think of it as the contact list in your phone. You don’t remember anyone’s phone numbers. You just know their name and have the number stored in their contact entry. DNS is similar in that you just need to know the domain of a website and your computer will lookup the IP address of the site. Here is a primer that goes into a bit more detail.

With OPNSense, you can run a DNS resolver called Unbound. This will validate and cache DNS queries for your local network. It can improve your network performance but it’s usually not noticeable as your browser and other software generally have their own DNS cache. The real benefit of Unbound is that we can modify the DNS for the entire network to provide more security, privacy, and piece of mind.

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