September 8 2026 Nextcloud, H.265, OPNsense, Linux on Android, FreeCAD

Darren: asked about setting up Nextcloud in order to give a demonstration for a U3A group; David said that he would need a proxy webserver, a proper domain name and an IP number to get Nextcloud to work or Nextcloud hosting. David went on to warn that, when it becomes permanent, Nextcloud makes lots of demands, specifically in relation to the version of PHP. For example, if using Slackbuilds, he would recommend Slackware Stable; he would then need to keep Nextcloud and PHP up-to-date. He could also use the Docker instance in Slackware Stable but, whichever he used, he would also need to ensure router security. VPS is an alternative but Nextcloud hosting is cheaper.

Steve commented that he did not use Docker but Linux containers on Proxmox server.

John: then gave the Birthday presentation.

David commented in relation to the mention of microfortnights that, even though the documentation said microfortnights, they were actually implemented as seconds.

Brian: said that he wasn’t able to get H.265 to run; David commented that a lot of distributions had not included H.265 in ffmeg because of fears about patent trolls. However, most now included the relevant codecs. John noted that Videolan is offering the x265 software library.

Unfortunately, someone had put in a pull request in Home Assistant to revert to H.264 on which nobody had commented!</a>

Steve: reported on his move from pfSense to OPNsense; he had asked ChatGP to give some simple answers and it had generated a Python script to recover all the static data. The config files are different in pfSense and OPNsense but he had been able to use the static data.

On Saturday he had switched over and everything went fine except that Windows couldn’t see the Samba shares because it needs to have an active directory server to see them. So Steve had captured the DHCP conversations using Wireshark.

DHCP has a vendor class identifier for Windows and, as in OPNsense you can set conditional options, he could use the vendor class identifier to set the DNS server to point to the active directory server for Windows machines though, once you configure an active directory server with a domain, you cannot change it. However that was better than pfSense where he had to use the active directory server for everything.

Brian commented that he had used Mac addresses for identification though, in this case, you cannot tell if an IP address is running.

So Steve shared how you could pass DHCP options; a conversation starts with a broadcast message to which the device responds with a broadcast message after which DHCP makes an offer and the device accepts it.

Brian: has his laptop connected to his TV via HDMI but could not initially get the sound on the TV; so, after some experimenting, he developed a script which would turn on the sound on the TV and turn it off. He then added a systemd service to do it automatically.

Picking up his question in March about Linux on Android, he had identified: GrapheneOS only been available on Pixels, Ubuntu Touch available for the Pixel 3A but development by Canonical was terminated in 2017 though community development continued for some time afterwards; PostmarketOS; Sailfish. John commented that he thought Sailfish had died [but later found that it has been revived].

Steve noted that Motorola are bringing out smartphones with GrapheneOS in 2027.

Brian mentioned that the Chinese have developed sodium batteries for storage which prompted John to recall a couple of the afternoon presentations at the Open Source Hardware Camp.

John: said that Martin Lomas had described how he uses his electric car battery to power his home. The electricity he uses to charge the car overnight costs a third of the price. You use camping mode and need a bi-directional charger cable; you also need to be aware of the regulations and make sure the earthing is correct. Because you have to go to the car to switch over, there is a short break in the power supply which needs to be covered by a UPS. He had spent £727 installing all the necessary equipment which he expected to pay off over two years but a family would probably pay it off more quickly.

Jo Hinchcliffe spoke about the improvements to FreeCAD; version 1.0 was released in 2024 with version 1.1 fairly quickly afterwards. These brought significant improvements including workbenches which enable you to integrate other programs; it is going over to calendar versioning; so the next version will be 26.3; you won’t have missed 24 versions!

Brian recommended the UK Home Energy Explained videos.

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