Show Notes #603: The Weekender CXXXVI

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Spin the Random Topic Wheel (Segment 1)

  • How do you deal with QRN?

This Weekend in Hedonism (Segment 2)

  • Cheryl's Recipe Corner
  • Bourbon Brown Sugar Cheesecake with Pecan Crust and Butterscotch Bourbon Sauce
  • Description
    • Because of my having Celiac Disease, our food life has changed drastically... and I really needed a great dessert recipe for Thanksgiving.  We both love cheesecake, and I went on the hunt for a recipe of a cheesecake we had in the past.  And this recipe won, hands down. Obviously we went with a pecan crust to avoid all Gluten... but I think it made the perfect crust for the cheesecake!
  • Ingredients (Crust)
    • 3 tablespoons salted butter
    • 2-1/4 cups pecan meal or coarsely ground pecans
    • 3 tablespoons light brown sugar or granulated sugar
  • Ingredients (Filling)
    • 3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, softened
    • 4 large eggs
    • 3 tbsp Bourbon
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
    • Ingredients (Topping)
    • 16 oz container of sour cream
    • 2 tbsp packed dark brown sugar
    • 1 tsp vanilla
    • 1 tsp Bourbon
  • Ingredients (Sauce)
    • 1-1/2 cups sugar
    • 1/2 cup water
    • 1/2 cup Bourbon
    • 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
  • Directions (Crust)
    • Preheat oven to 350F. Microwave the butter in a large microwave safe bowl on HIGH for 35 seconds or until it melts. Stir in the pecans and sugar, stirring until coated with the butter. Press the pecan mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate, using your fingers or the bottom of a measuring cup or drinking glass. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Baking the crust helps make the crust firm and not crumble when sliced. Let cool completely. Make your own coarsely ground pecans: Place 2-3/4 cups pecan pieces or halves in a food processor and pulse until pecans are coarsely ground. Be careful not to make pecan butter! To Freeze: Cover the pecan crust in the pie plate with aluminum foil or inside a large resealable plastic bag and freeze up to 3 months. Great for planning ahead for the holidays. Butter can also be melted in a small saucepan on the stovetop on medium-low.
  • Directions (Filling)
    • In a bowl with an electric mixer beat cream cheese until fluffy and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at low speed until just combined. Beat in bourbon, vanilla, and brown sugar until just combined. Pour filling into crust and put springform pan in a baking pan. Bake cake in middle of oven for 35 minutes. Leaving oven on, transfer cake in springform pan to a rack and let stand 5 minutes. (Center of cake will set as it cools.)
  • Directions (Topping)
    • In a bowl stir together sour cream, brown sugar, and vanilla. Drop spoonfuls of topping around edge of cake and spread gently over center, smoothing evenly. Bake cake in baking pan in middle of oven 10 minutes and cool completely in springform pan on rack. Chill cake, covered, at least 8 hours and up to 4 days. Run a thin knife around inside edge of pan and remove side of pan. Transfer cake to a serving plate and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.
  • Directions (Sauce)
    • In a dry 3-quart heavy kettle cook sugar over moderately low heat, stirring slowly with a fork (to help sugar melt evenly), until melted and pale golden. Cook caramel, without stirring, swirling kettle, until deep golden. Remove kettle from heat and carefully add water and bourbon down side of kettle (mixture will bubble and steam). Simmer mixture, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Stir in butter until incorporated and cool sauce to warm. Note: Butterscotch bourbon sauce may be made 1 week ahead and chilled covered. Reheat sauce to warm before serving. Drizzle on cheesecake and place a pecan half on each piece as garnish.
  • Cheryl's Mixed Drink Corner
  • Maple Bourbon Smash
  • Description
    • A drink with tastes tied to autumn in the US.
  • Ingredients
    • 2 ounces bourbon
    • 1 ounce maple syrup
    • 1 ounce lemon juice
    • Lemon twist for garnish
  • Directions
    • In a cocktail shaker filled with ice, pour the bourbon, maple syrup, and lemon juice. Stir the mixture until thoroughly chilled and well combined. Strain the drink into a double old-fashioned glass with a large ice cube. Garnish with a lemon twist for a touch of citrusy aroma. Serve immediately and enjoy the smooth, sweet, and citrusy flavors of this Maple-Bourbon Smash.
  • Russ's Drink Corner
  • Edradour 10 Single Malt Scotch Whisky
  • Description
    • The ten year old Edradour is handmade and one of the last Single Malt Whiskies from a traditional farm distillery still in production today. The methods of production remain virtually unchanged in the last 150 years and are only just capable of commercial quantities. Indeed Edradour Distillery makes as much whisky in a year as most distilleries produce in a week. A rare pleasure for a fortunate few. Aged 100% in Oloroso Sherry casks. Chill filtered at 43% ABV.
  • Details
    • Mashbill: 100% malted barley
    • Region: Highland
    • Proof: 86 (43% ABV)
    • Color: Light amber
    • Nose: Dried fruits, sherry, almonds, butterscotch
    • Taste: Spiced fruit cake, simple syrup, honey, almonds, toffee
    • Finish: Oak, honey, subtle red fruit, hints of baking spices
    • Price: $70 (750ml)
    • Rating: 95
  • Bill's Whatever Corner
  • 2025 Kirkland Signature Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout Vintage Ale
    • (AI Summary) The 2025 Kirkland Signature Bourbon Barrel-Aged Imperial Stout is a limited-release beer crafted by Deschutes Brewery for Costco, aged for about nine months in bourbon barrels. It features notes of dark chocolate, roasted coffee, vanilla, and bourbon, with a warming finish. The beer has an ABV of around 12% and is considered a smooth, complex sipper, though some reviews suggest the barrel character could be more pronounced. 
    • Flavor profile
      • Aroma: Bourbon, vanilla, dark chocolate, coffee, and oak notes.
      • Taste: Dark chocolate, roasted coffee, and bourbon, with hints of vanilla and toffee. Some reviews note notes of black licorice and tobacco.
      • Finish: A warming, smooth finish with a hint of bitterness and oak tannins. 
    • Technical details
      • Brewery: Deschutes Brewery
      • Aging: Aged in bourbon barrels for approximately nine months.
      • ABV: Approximately 12%
      • Style: Imperial Stout, though some reviews note it may lean more towards a strong ale 

Segment 3 (Announcements & Feedback)

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Segment 4 (New Subscribers, New Supporters & Live Participants)

  • Discord
    • Charlotte
  • Live Chat
    • Steve, KA7HVT
    • Mike, K6GTE
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LHS Episode #602: Invasion of the Freedom Snatchers

Hello and welcome to the 602nd installment of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this short topics episode, the hosts discuss intercepting "secure" satellite traffic, an Australian band plan audit, the future of Arduino, a hack on Xubuntu, new features in DXLook and much more. Thanks for listening and have a great week.

73 de The LHS Crew

Show Notes #602: Invasion of the Freedom Snatchers

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Segment 2 (Amateur Radio)

  • Data transmitted via satellite may not be as secure as previously thought

Segment 3 (Open Source)

  • Postmortem of the Xubuntu Download Site Hack

Segment 4 (Linux in the Ham Shack)

Segment 5 (Announcements & Feedback)

  • Please Help Support the Show
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    • Paypal
    • Merch
    • YouTube!

Segment 6 (New Subscribers, New Supporters & Live Participants)

  • Free Patreons
    • Zach Winchester
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    • N3PPH Bob
    • Tim
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    • Phil - VK6DEV
  • Bluesky
    • VA3WEB
  • Mailing List
    • Jerry Weiss
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    • Darren, VK6EK
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LHS Episode #601: Automated Certificates Deep Dive

Hello and welcome to Episode 601 of Linux in the Ham Shack. In this episode, the hosts discuss the RFC2136 for remote, authenticated DNS updates and how it can be used to automate an SSL certificate infrastructure with Let's Encrypt. We hope you enjoy this episode and have a great week coming up!

73 de The LHS Crew

Show Notes #601: Automated Certificates Deep Dive

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Segment 1 (Deep Dive)

  • RFC 2136 Certificate Management
  • Topics
    • RFC 2136 defines the Domain Name System (DNS) Dynamic Update protocol, which allows authorized clients to remotely update DNS records on a managed server. This protocol is a standardized method for Dynamic DNS (DDNS), enabling things like automatic updates when a client's IP address changes. Many applications, such as BIND and Windows Server DNS, support RFC 2136, and it is frequently used for integrations with systems like DHCP or to automate services like TLS certificate validation with DNS challenges.
    • DNS
    • Configuring dynamic updates
    • Creating an update key with tsig-keygen
    • Including the key in named configuration
    • Allowing key-based zone updates
    • Certbot
    • Packages for rfc2136 support
    • certbot, python3-certbot, python3-certbot-dns-rfc2136
    • Automation (My Solution)
    • git (clone letsencrypt store)
    • Use SSH URI with ssh key authentication
    • Scripts (cron or systemd timer)
    • Replicate certificate store via git on servers that require it
    • Link certificates to store location
    • Restart services periodically (once weekly in my case)
    • Special Cases
    • VMware ESXi
    • Install keys in /etc/ssh/keys-${user}/authorized_keys
    • Script to push certs in ~${user} which pushes to /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.crt and /etc/vmware/ssl/rui.key and runs "/etc/init.d/hostd restart"
    • Proxmox VE
    • Put dns update key from DNS step above on Proxmox VE server in /usr/local/share/nsupdate.key
    • Configure Datacenter->ACME for use with ACME service.
    • Configure ${hostname}->Certificates to use ACME service with nsupdate plugin
    • Proxmox VE will automatically update and restart UI

Segment 2 (Announcements & Feedback)

  • Comment on Episode #597 from Mike, KG4VDK
    • Hey crew! Congrats on your 600th episode! I am very thankful you took the time to try out arcOS, and talk about it in depth in episode #597!  While listening to the episode, I won't lie, I was trying to telepathically (and retroactively) send an "RTFM" hint to help get over some of the hurdles that seemed to pop up. 🙂 Since Bill mentioned it a few times in #597, and again in #598, I'd like to address the topic of icons: arcOS is designed to be a tool used by different types of operators. Some of those operators may be brand new to amateur radio, Linux, or both. The simplified icon set for amateur radio software serves two purposes. First, the icons present a more coherent visual experience. Even within a family of applications (like FL-digi/amp/msg or the VARA modems), many of the factory icons are less than helpful in identifying the represented application. Beyond that issue, some of the included applications just don't have icons (ARDOP, Paracon, Pat). When trying to decide how to handle these two scenarios, I chose simplicity and legibility. If a user finds the supplied icons offensive, they can easily change them to something that suits their taste us[ing] a user module. I'll attach a few screenshots that show the differences, as well as a user module that sets the icons to "factory" (README included in the archive). Feel free to reach out with any other feedback you may have, especially if you stick with it for a while. 73 de KG4VDK, Mike.
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