The Most Popular OctoPrint Plugins (And How to Install Them)

howchoo   (467)

September 22, 2023

18 minutes

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OctoPrint

octoprint • 10 guides

• 
  Add an OctoPrint Touchscreen
• 
  OctoPrint Plugins
• 
  Add an OctoPrint Dark Theme
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  OctoPrint Cameras
• 
  Updating OctoPrint

OctoPrint is an incredibly useful tool for any 3D printer owner. Setting it up is easy, just follow our guide on how to install OctoPrint on Raspberry Pi.

OctoPrint: Control Your 3D Printer Remotely with Raspberry Pi and OctoPi
Untether your printer!

But today we’re taking things a step further. We’re going to add plugins. Why bother tinkering with something that’s already so awesome? Because we can make OctoPrint go above and beyond—print from the office, stream your progress, and much much more!

Installing OctoPrint plugins

If you’ve never installed a plugin for OctoPrint before, don’t worry. The developers made the process super simple.

Just open the settings menu for OctoPrint by clicking the wrench icon in the upper right. On the Plugin Manager screen is a nice big button that says “Get More…”. This screen loads tons of useful plugins. Installing them is as easy as clicking “Install” next to the plugin you want.

Recommended OctoPrint plugins

This guide covers the most popular OctoPrint plugins. I compiled this list using data gathered from top discussions on Reddit, search volume data, and metrics from a few other sources.

1 – Octolapse

What’s it do?

The Octolapse plugin provides a great way to take time lapse footage of your 3D prints. After each layer, it moves the extruder nozzle out of the way and snaps a picture. The final result is a super smooth timelapse video without your nozzle getting in the way!

Octolapse demo

Tips & tricks

The most common issue people have with Octolapse is stringing—when the extruder nozzle leaves a nice filament spaghetti dinner on your plate after moving out of the way for each picture. This thread on reddit outlines some great tips for reducing and preventing Octolapse stringing entirely.

2 – Heater Timeout

What’s it do?

This HeaterTimeout plugin does exactly what it sounds like. Once a pre-set amount of time has passed, Octoprint will turn off the heat to both your printer bed and nozzle. This is useful for safety reasons and as a last step to prevent thermal runaway.

Tips & tricks

You can choose how often the heaters are checked by adjusting the plugin settings. Open the settings menu using the wrench icon in the upper right section of the navigation bar. Scroll down to HeaterTimeout and select it to customize.

3 – Webcam Streamer

What’s it do?

If you want to print something to show the world and have no time to waste, this is the plugin for you. WebcamStreamer lets you stream your print job in real time!

Tips & tricks

You may have better luck with different streaming platforms. Be sure to experiment and test before your stream goes live. The stream server settings can be easily adjusted in the plugin settings.

4 – IFTTT

What’s it do?

If you’re an IFTTT user, get stoked. The IFTTT OctoPrint plugin lets you trigger custom events and set up crazy creative rules involving your 3D printer. Learn more about how IFTTT works, visit the official IFTTT website here.

Tips & tricks

Some cool ideas to get you started: Trigger notifications when printing jobs are complete Turn lights on and off when print jobs are complete Integrate various webhooks Set special events to initiate print jobs

5 – Octoprint Anywhere

2/24/2020: Note—OctoPrint Anywhere is being deprecated and replaced by the developer with a new service called The Spaghetti Detective.

How to Access OctoPrint Remotely With the Spaghetti Detective
Access OctoPrint from anywhere with this OctoPrint Anywhere replacement.

What’s it do?

Can’t wait to come home and print? Why wait?! With OctoPrint Anywhere, you can control your printer on the go from any supporting mobile device. Start jobs, stop them, or just check in to see how that 10 hour print is coming along. Setup is easy and totally worth the effort. OctoPrint Anywhere is 100% free for your first printer — then $5/mo for each printer thereafter.

OctoPrint Anywhere: Access OctoPrint Remotely Over the Internet
Now you can monitor your prints from the coffee shop!

Since your printer connects directly to the OctoPrint Anywhere servers, this is a far more secure option than opening up a direct connection to your network.

Tips & tricks

You can modify the OctoPrint Anywhere settings to reduce video streaming bandwidth usage.

6 – The Spaghetti Detective

What’s it do?

The Spaghetti Detective is the new replacement for OctoPrint Anywhere. It let’s you check on your prints remotely and even keep an eye out for failed prints. If it detects a failed print (producing what looks like spaghetti made of filament), the printer can be programmed to turn off or pause in response.

Tips & Tricks

Visit our guide on how to set up The Spaghetti detective on your OctoPrint server.

How to Access OctoPrint Remotely With the Spaghetti Detective
Access OctoPrint from anywhere with this OctoPrint Anywhere replacement.

7 – Autoscroll

What’s it do?

Octoprint provides a terminal that prints lines of text throughout the 3D printing process. If you want to review the text, it can be a nightmare. Every time a new line is printed, the window scrolls to the very bottom. The Autoscroll plugin gives you a new button to turn that feature OFF—so you can scroll up and stay up!

Tips & tricks

If you don’t see the button after installing, be sure to enable the plugin. You can do this by accessing the main Octoprint settings (wrench icon in the upper right corner) and look for Autoscroll under Plugin Manager.

8 – Bed Level Visualizer

Image Source: OctoPrint

What’s it do?

A level bed is critical to a solid first layer, and your first layer affects the whole print job! Bed Level Visualizer is a really cool tool that makes leveling the printer bed much easier. The tool probes across the bed to produce a color-coded visual aid for leveling accuracy.

Tips & tricks

This plugin doesn’t work for every printer. I highly suggest researching into the plugin before using it. There’s a useful troubleshooting section on the official Bed Level Visualizer GitHub you can visit for help and support.

9 – Gcode Editor

What’s it do?

How many times have you sliced a model just to realize you made one teeny mistake? Instead of reslicing the whole thing, GcodeEditor lets you make gcode file modifications instantly. The plugin adds a small pencil icon next to each file loaded for printing.

Tips & tricks

This is perfect for things like adjusting bed temperature or nozzle temperature for each print. Open up the GcodeEditor and tinker with it to see what adjustments you can set. It’s very useful in a pinch!

10 – Tab Order

What’s it do?

If you’re looking to customize, you need the Tab Order plugin. This tool, as you may have guessed, lets you adjust the order of the OctoPrint tabs. It’s ideal for setting up OctoPrint to match your personal workflow (by moving the tabs you never use to the end, for example).

Tips & tricks

The tool also comes with a few icons that can be set on individual tabs. Check out the Font Awesome icon set and see what you can come up with!

11 – Themeify

What’s it do?

Last up is Themeify, which lets you set OctoPrint themes. You may be wondering why my OctoPrint screenshots look so dark, you can thank Themeify! This plugin lets you make adjustments to the look and feel of OctoPrint, including setting an OctoPrint dark theme.

How to Enable the OctoPrint Dark Theme
Will somebody please think of the eyes!

Tips & tricks

Themeify settings can be manually adjusted under the plugin settings. Access the main OctoPrint settings and look for Themeify on the left under Plugins.

OctoPrint themes

You can select various themes for OctoPrint directly in the Themeify menu item.

12 – Did I miss one?

If you think I missed a must-have OctoPrint plugin, please post in the comments section below and let me know!

For more great OctoPrint plugins, check out the OctoPrint plugin repository.

How to Enable the OctoPrint Dark Theme

howchoo   (467)

September 29, 2023

Raspberry Pi Pico vs Raspberry Pi Zero: Which Do You Need?

howchoo   (467)

September 22, 2023

9 minutes

What you’ll need

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Raspberry Pi Pico x 1

Raspberry Pi Zero x 1

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The Raspberry Pi Pico and Raspberries Pi Zero are miles apart when it comes to specs, form factor, and software support. But at just a $1 difference, you may be considering whether or not your project should be upgraded to use a Raspberry Pi Zero.

There are a few factors to consider before you choose a board. At the end of the day, we recommend buying both boards because you’re guaranteed to find a cool project for them both here at Howchoo. But here’s a full breakdown of the two to help you decide which will work best for your current project.

1 – What is the Raspberry Pi Pico?

The Raspberry Pi Pico is the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s first official microcontroller. It uses the new RP2040 chip. This is a small board capable of handling light applications, programmable using MicroPython and C.

It does not support a full OS but it is ideal for controlling simple modules and multiple servos. It has 16 PWM channels and accepts up to 5V of power.

To learn more about the Raspberry Pi Pico, check out our complete introduction to Pico.

Raspberry Pi Pico: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started
Small board, massive potential!

2 – What is the Raspberry Pi Zero?

The Raspberry Pi Zero is a full-blown single-board computer (SBC). It can run Raspberry Pi OS and even has HDMI output. This board isn’t as small as the Pico but it has everything you would expect out of an SBC.

It also has GPIO pins that can be used to interact with modules and sensors like the Pico but also has a full suite of features that provide room for more complex creations.

3 – Analyze your Project Needs

Before you decide on a board, you should lay out all of your project needs. Understanding what your hardware and software demands are will help find the most optimal board. Here are a few questions to consider when selecting a board:

• What kind of modules and sensors do you need?
• How many sensors or modules does your design call for?
• Do you need to use Linux-based applications to make it work?
• Can the project function with a simple Python script?

In general, you’ll find the Pico is ideal for simple tasks and basic hardware control. The Zero provides more software and storage space, making it capable of a full, Linux desktop environment.

Check out our complete list of Raspberry Pi projects to give you a sense of what you can do with a Raspberry Pi.

Raspberry Pi Projects
Find amazing Pi projects for any skill level!

4 – Raspberry Pi Pico vs Raspberry Pi Zero

It’s easy to compare the boards because of their prices but spec-wise they provide two totally different experiences. The Pico is hands down the best choice for simple, script-based projects like controlling matrix displays or a series of servos. The Raspberry Pi Zero is great for small-scale computing needs that don’t require the USB and Ethernet support of a normal Raspberry Pi Module.

There are some tasks both boards are capable of handling but in those cases, the Pi Zero is often overkill for the project needs. If your intended project is temporary, consider what other things you may want to create in the future. The Pi Zero is a flexible board worth having if you want to use things like HDMI support or a desktop interface while the Pico is valuable for tinkerers and robot designers who tend to control servos and the like more regularly.

We still recommend grabbing both boards if you can. They’re both fun little gadgets and work great together!

How to Run a Minecraft Server on the Raspberry Pi

howchoo   (467)

December 7, 2023

How to Make Any Printer Wireless with a Raspberry Pi

howchoo   (467)

September 22, 2023

10 minutes

What you’ll need

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Raspberry Pi Zero W x 1

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With a Raspberry Pi and a free afternoon, you can make any printer a wireless network printer. You don’t even need a full-sized Pi model—this project will work easily with the Raspberry Pi Zero W.

We’ll be using CUPS to create a print server that can be managed with a web interface on the network. CUPS provides plenty of features like print job management, job cancellations, and the ability to adjust printer settings from your browser window.

1 – Install Raspberry Pi OS

This project is built on Raspberry Pi OS. Unless you plan on using a monitor or screen, you can get away with using the light version.

If you haven’t already, go ahead and install Raspberry Pi OS onto a microSD card. You will need access to the internet. Visit our guides on how to enable SSH and how to set up WiFi on a headless Raspberry Pi for help setting this up.

How to Set up WiFi on Your Raspberry Pi Without a Monitor (Headless)
No monitor, keyboard, or mouse? No problem.

How to Enable SSH on Raspberry Pi OS Without a Screen
The SSH protocol is disabled by default.

2 – Install CUPS

It’s important to update Raspberry Pi OS before installing CUPS. If you’ve never done this before, check out our guide on how to update Raspberry Pi OS. You will need to access the Pi via SSH using a terminal.

How to Install Raspberry Pi OS on Your Raspberry Pi
Get the new official Raspberry Pi OS on your Pi.

Once the Pi has been updated, run the following command to install CUPS.

$ sudo apt-get install cups

3 – Set up the Printer

Connect your printer to the Raspberry Pi. The cable you need for this step may differ depending on the type of printer you’re connecting and what model of Pi you’re using.

In my case, I’m using a Canon MX922 and a Raspberry Pi Zero W. The Canon is connecting to the Pi Zero with a USB B to Micro USB setup. I had to use a USB A to Micro USB adapter. Again, your needs may not match what I’m using for this step.

When the printer is connected, turn it on.

4 – Start CUPS for the first time

Add your Raspberry Pi username to the CUPS system to create a profile. Replace pi with your username.

sudo usermod -aG lpadmin pi

Now we can start the CUPS software on the Raspberry Pi. In a terminal window, run the following command.

sudo /etc/init.d/cups start

5 – Set permissions

Permissions are necessary to access the web interface from any computer. Run the following command to apply the appropriate permission level and restart the application.

$ sudo cupsctl --remote-any
$ sudo /etc/init.d/cups restart

6 – Access CUPS

As an optional step, you can take this opportunity to set a static IP address on the Raspberry Pi.

How to Configure a Static IP Address on the Raspberry Pi
Making things a little less dynamic.

Access the CUPS web interface using either the hostname or IP address for the Raspberry Pi. Paste this address into your browser, replacing [YOUR_PI] with the IP or hostname.

https://[YOUR_PI]:631/admin

7 – Add a printer

When the web interface loads, go to the Administration tab and choose Add Printer.

Choose your printer from the list. Set a name, description, and location for your printer. The name field can’t have any spaces, slashes, or pound signs. You can use this screen to choose whether or not the device is shareable on the network. Click Continue.

Select a PPD for your printer model from the list or upload one from your machine. When a PPD file has been specified, click Add Printer. It should now appear under the Printers tab.

8 – Manage your printer

To manage your printer, select it under the Printers tab. Use the Jobs section to show a list of completed jobs or currently queued print jobs.

In the upper left are a couple of drop-down menus. The left menu has maintenance features like test pages and print job management. The right menu has administrative options like adding user permissions or removing the printer entirely. You can also use the Administration menu to change the default print settings for the printer under Set Default Options.

Great job! You’ve created a Raspberry Pi-powered print server. You should be able to discover and connect to printers on this Pi server like any other wireless printer.

How to Run a Minecraft Server on the Raspberry Pi

howchoo   (467)

December 7, 2023

How to Adjust the Volume on Your AirPods & AirPods Pro

howchoo   (467)

September 21, 2023

6 minutes

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Apple AirPods Pro x 1

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  Adjust AirPods Pro Volume
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  Skip Songs on AirPods Pro

Adjusting the volume of your Apple AirPods on the fly is essential when you don’t have time to adjust the volume within the individual streaming service, such as Spotify or Apple Music.

Can you change the volume on AirPods?

Yes. Absolutely.

Unfortunately, however, there is no button on the AirPods or AirPods Pro that allows you to change the volume using just the earbuds themselves. (You use the button on the AirPods Pro to skip songs, answer phone calls, and pause music. The volume must be changed via the device to which your AirPods are connected.

There is a way to change the volume without having to touch anything, however! We’ll introduce you to that method, and show you the other ways that will allow you to easily adjust the volume of your AirPods and AirPods Pro.

1 – Adjust volume with Siri

Using Siri is the no-hands solution to changing the volume of your AirPods on the fly. This is great for when your exercising, doing chores, running, or otherwise don’t have access to your phone or device—and really need to change the volume of your AirPods.

*By default, Siri is active on your iPhone. If you decided to turn off Siri for some reason, then you’ll need to reactivate Siri. The guide below will walk you through that.

How to Turn Siri Off (and On) on Your iPhone
You say “Hello, Siri.” We say, “Goodbye, Siri.”

1. With your AirPods connected, say “Hey, Siri.”
2. Then, if you want to lower the volume, say “Lower the volume.” If you want to raise the volume, say “Raise the volume.”

You can adjust minutely by saying things like “Lower the volume a little” or “Raise the volume a lot.”

Siri will automatically change the volume of your AirPods.

2 – Adjust volume within an app

Most apps, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Apple Music, Pandora, etc., include a way to change the volume within the app itself. Changing the volume in the app will change the volume of your AirPods or AirPods Pro.

3 – Adjust volume on your device

Using the device’s volume control, whether it’s a phone or computer, will change the output volume of your AirPods and AirPods Pro. We’ll show you how to do it on both your Mac and iPhone.

Change AirPods volume via Mac

• With your AirPods connected to your Mac, click the little headphone symbol in your Mac’s menu bar. (If you don’t see the headphone symbol, look for an audio symbol.)
• Drag the slider to adjust the volume of your AirPods.

Change AirPods volume on your iPhone

• With your AirPods connected to your iPhone, simply use the button on the left side of your iPhone to turn the volume up and down.

How to Enable the “Popping” Sound When Adjusting the Volume on Your Mac

howchoo   (467)

December 13, 2023

The Rarest Spawns in Minecraft

howchoo   (467)

September 21, 2023

37 minutes

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Many video games have rare finds or Easter eggs hidden within them. Minecraft is no different! Minecraft is known for its blocky style and endless possibilities, which is why finding rare or special aspects of it are so impressive. With countless combinations of blocks, aesthetics, and styles, we can all agree that Minecraft’s hidden gems are worth the search. While some games rank their item rarity, Minecraft unfortunately doesn’t have a clear system. Which is why we’ve done the work for you with this list of the rarest spawns in Minecraft!

This list is a compilation of not just rare mobs, but structures, biomes, and resources that aren’t easy to find in the game. These all naturally spawn in the world and don’t require any commands, cheats, or modifications to the game itself. The following was sorted based on information from the developers and gameplay experience. Some of the factors that decided the ranking were: spawn frequency, lack of ease to acquire or find it, and quantity of the blocks.

25 – Pillager Outpost

Rarity: Uncommon

Pillager outposts are a set of structures inhabited by pillagers. Both regular pillagers and pillager captains, totally eight, spawn continuously around the watchtower structure. Other structures that may spawn are cages (some with an iron golem inside), a pile of logs, target scarecrows, and tents.

How do I find a pillager outpost?

Outposts are rarer than villages, but less rare than woodland mansions. They can generate in any village-generating biome, such as plains, savanna, or taiga biomes. Pillager outposts won’t spawn close to, or within, villages. Only pillagers and passive mobs will spawn within a pillager outpost spawn area. Players can pacify an outpost by removing all grass or sand blocks surrounding the outpost, and by properly lighting the area as they normally would to prevent enemy mob spawns.

In the 1.18 update, pillager outposts will be able to generate in mountain grove, snowy slopes, lofty peaks, snow capped peaks, and stony peaks.

24 – Giant Tree Taiga

Rarity: Uncommon

The giant tree taiga encompasses four different variants: giant tree taiga, giant tree taiga hills, giant spruce taiga, and giant spruce taiga hills. Rather than aligning with a colder climate of the normal taiga biome, these four biomes are more like a colder counterpart of the jungle biomes. They are usually generated so that they border dark forests, taigas, and sometimes snowy biomes. Rather than grass blocks, the giant taigas have podzol and coarse dirt. Spruce trees are much larger in these biomes as well. Forest rocks, a structure made of mossy cobblestone, generate in all four variants.

In the upcoming 1.18 update, the following changes will be made:

• Giant tree taiga will be named old growth pine taiga
• Giant spruce taiga will be named old growth spruce taiga
• The giant tree taiga hills and giant spruce taiga hills biomes have been removed.

23 – Gravelly Mountains

Rarity: Uncommon

There are two variations of this biome: gravelly mountains+ and windswept gravelly hills (as of 1.18). Both biomes feature gravel that replaces most grass blocks and fewer trees. Digging upwards in this biome is hazardous, as top layers of gravel can drop and suffocate the player. Both gravelly mountains+ and windswept gravelly hills can be found near mountain biomes or as a border between desert and snowy biomes.

22 – Brown Panda

Rarity: Uncommon

The panda is a rare neutral mob. Pandas can spawn with seven different personalities, the brown panda being the rarest of them all. The brown panda has no difference in personality actions, but have brown and white fur and a frowning face.

How do I find a brown panda?

Pandas will only spawn in groups of 1-2 within the jungle biomes. They spawn with a randomized personality, normal being the most common. You can try and breed pandas to spawn the brown variant, but note that pandas are the only animal in Minecraft to have extra breeding conditions. There must be at least eight bamboo blocks within a five-block radius of both pandas.

Each panda has hidden values, called genes, which determine what personality the panda offspring will have. Weak and brown personalities are recessive traits, which means in order to have a brown offspring, both panda parents must either be brown or weak personalities. There is also a 3% chance for each gene of the baby panda to mutate, and a 12.5% chance of that for the mutated gene to be the brown variant.

21 – Eroded Badlands

Rarity: Rare

The eroded badlands features formations of hoodoos, narrow spires made of terracotta. This biome is meant to resemble the Bryce Canyon in Utah, USA. Eroded badlands is present in 40% of the badlands biomes. Exposed mineshafts will naturally spawn in this biome as well.

20 – Ice Spikes

Rarity: Rare

The ice spikes biome features many packed ice spikes across a snowy landscape. All grass blocks are replaced with snow, and glaciers of packed ice generate instead of lakes. There are two sizes of spikes in this biome: a short, wide spike, and a tall, thin spike. While no buildings or trees generate in the ice spikes biome, polar bears, rabbits, and strays will spawn. The terrain of ice spikes is more erratic and taller than that of the snowy mountains.

19 – Shattered Savanna Plateau

Rarity: Rare

The shattered savanna plateau is similar to the shattered savanna (as of 1.18 known as Windswept Savanna), except it has less dangerous heights and does not have any large lakes. The shattered savanna plateau features steep mountains, cliffs, and overhangs. You can find shattered savanna plateaus near the savanna and windswept savanna biomes.

As of the latest snapshot, the shattered savanna plateau biome will be removed in 1.18.

18 – Jungle Temple

Rarity: Rare, 75% chance

Jungle temples, also known as jungle pyramids, are structures made of cobblestone, mossy cobblestone, and vines. They have three floors, including a puzzle and tripwire traps.

How do I find a jungle temple?

Jungle pyramids only generate in the jungle, bamboo jungle (JE only), and their hill variants. There is a 25% chance a jungle biome will generate without a pyramid. The jungle hills and bamboo jungle hills biomes will be removed in the 1.18 update.

17 – Swamp Hills

Rarity: Rare

The swamp hills variant is a hilly terrain that rises up between the flat marshes of the swamp biome. Some parts of the swamp hills biome sometimes have gravel floor instead of dirt. Swamp huts don’t generate in this biome (except in Bedrock Edition), nor do slimes. Swamps are usually generated beside other lush biomes, such as forests or plains.

As of the latest snapshot, the swamp hills biome will be removed in 1.18.

16 – Ocean Monument

Rarity: Rare, 1 per 32×32 chunk area

Ocean monuments are underwater structures inhabited by guardians and elder guardians. Constructed by variants of the prismarine blocks and lit by sea lanterns, they’re the only place where sponges can be found. Water generates within the monument as part of the structure. Monuments are also the largest structure that doesn’t contain a loot chest.

How do I find an ocean monument?

Ocean monuments spawn in two locations. The first is a deep ocean biome variant within a 16 block square. The second is within an aquatic biome, such as a frozen ocean, within a 29 block square radius. Ocean monuments always contain three elder guardians, but don’t always generate sponge rooms.

15 – Geode

Rarity: Rare, 1.89% chance

A geode is an underground structure containing smooth basalt, calcite, and amethyst blocks/items. An amethyst geode consists of three layers:

• Outer layer of smooth basalt
• Middle layer of calcite
• Hollow layer of amethyst and budding amethyst blocks

How do I find a geode?

Amethyst geodes spawn in any Overworld biome between Y-coordinates 0 to 70 or -64 to 30. There is a 95% chance of a geode generating with a crack that exposes its inside. However, caves, aquifers, and canyons cannot cut into geodes. They can also override caverns and mineshafts.

14 – Mushroom Fields

Rarity: Rare

One of the most famous and rarest biomes in Minecraft, the mushroom fields biome consist of both flat landscape and steep hills. They have a surface layer of mycelium above grass blocks. Brown and red mushrooms cover this biome that is usually generated as an island (or set of islands). Besides swamps and dark forests, it’s the only other biome that spawns huge mushrooms naturally. Mushroom fields are also the only biome where mooshrooms naturally spawn. Because only mooshrooms and bats naturally spawn in this biome, mineshafts, caves, and other dark areas are generally safe.

13 – Fossil

Rarity: Rare, 1.56% chance

The fossil is a skeletal structure that is composed of bone blocks, coal ore, or diamond ore. This is not to be confused with the Nether fossils that spawn in soul sand valleys. There are four variants: pure-bone block fossil, incomplete fossil, coal ore fossil, and diamond ore fossil. Each have their own characteristics and spawn generation.

How do I find a fossil?

Fossils spawn underground in the Overworld biomes of deserts, swamps, and their variants. There is a 1/64 chance for a chunk to generate a fossil in a variant of a skull or spine. Fossils generate between the Y-coordinates of 40 to 49.

12 – Skeleton Horse

Rarity: Rare, 0.75-2.25% depending on difficulty

A skeleton horse is an undead variant of the horse mob. They can be ridden as any other horse and are one of the fastest means of transportation in Minecraft. They can jump up to five blocks heights and be ridden in water of any depth.

How do I find a skeleton horse?

There are two ways to find a skeleton horse. They naturally spawn either by chance (which varies depending on world difficulty) or by lightning striking the ground during a thunderstorm. Players cannot force a skeleton horse to spawn with a trident enchanted with Channeling.

11 – Igloo

Rarity: Rare

Igloos are naturally generated structures made primarily out of snow blocks. An igloo has a carpeted interior containing a bed, furnace, and crafting table. In 50% of spawned igloos, there’s a trapdoor which leads to a basement. Within the basement is a brewing stand, cauldron, chest, and two cages with a villager and zombie villager.

How do I find an igloo?

Igloos only spawn in the snowy tundra, snowy taiga, and snow slopes biomes. They’re identifiable by their round shape and ice block windows.

10 – Witch Hut

Rarity: Rare

Also known as swamp huts, witch huts are small square buildings made of spruce and oak wood. Inside a swamp hut, a witch and black cat will spawn. There is also an empty cauldron (JE only), a crafting table, and a red mushroom inside a flower pot.

How do I find a witch hut?

Huts will only spawn in the swamp biome. In Bedrock Edition, they can spawn in the swamp hills. At times vines and mushrooms may spawn in front or within the witch hut, respectively.

9 – Pink Sheep

Rarity: Rare, 0.164% chance

Sheep are a common passive mob that supplies wool and mutton. While most sheep are white, there is a chance for the rare pink sheep to spawn naturally.

How do I find a pink sheep?

While you can die a sheep’s wool any color, there’s a 0.164% chance of a pink sheep to spawn naturally in the world. Sheep spawn on any grass block with at least two block spaces above them.

8 – Blue Axolotl

Rarity: Very Rare, 0.083% chance

The axolotl is a passive aquatic mob that attacks most other underwater mobs, except dolphins, turtles, and other axolotls. They are passive toward players and can be attached to leads. They also give Regeneration I for 5 seconds in a fight, up to a duration of 2 minutes‌ (JE only), and remove Mining Fatigue when a player kills a mob that is in combat with an axolotl. If an axolotl takes damage underwater, it may play dead, dropping to the ground for 10 seconds while gaining Regeneration I. On land, axolotls move toward the nearest water source because they die outside of water after 5 minutes.

How do I find an axolotl?

In 1.17, axolotls spawn below sea level (Y=63), in total darkness, and where there is an Overworld base stone (stone, deepslate, andesite, etc.) less than five blocks below. In 1.18, axolotls spawn underwater in the lush caves biomes and when there is a clay block less than five blocks below. There is a 0.083% chance of a blue axolotl resulting from breeding, making it the rarest color mutation of the mob.

7 – Snowy Taiga Mountains

Rarity: Extremely Rare

Similar to the taiga mountains, the snowy taiga mountains reach high elevations with steeper terrains than the snowy taiga hills. No structures or buildings generate here, but you can find tall spruce trees, sweet berry bushes, and it has the same mobs as its snowy taigas counterpart.

As of the latest snapshot, the snowy taiga mountains biome will be removed in 1.18.

6 – Modified Badlands Plateau

Rarity: Extremely Rare

The modified badlands plateau features smaller plateaus and harsher terrain than the Badlands Plateau. This biome mimics large plateaus that have weathered more over time. There is about a 20% chance of this biome generating beside a badlands biome. There is a 98% chance of this biome having the eroded badlands bordering its edges.

As of the latest snapshot, the modified badlands plateau biome will be removed in 1.18.

5 – Ancient Debris

Rarity: Extremely Rare

Ancient debris is a rare ore that is the main source of netherite scraps. It has a high blast resistance, making it immune to most explosions and non-flammable.

How do I find ancient debris?

Generating only in the Nether, ancient debris spawns in groups of 1-3, and only up to two groups per chunk. It can only be mined by a diamond pickaxe or better. It is most commonly found in y-levels 13-17 and can replace netherrack, basalt, and blackstone.

4 – Woodland Mansion

Rarity: Extremely Rare

The woodland mansion is a large, three floor, structure where vindicators and evokers spawn. It’s one of the few places where a totem of undying can be obtained, aside from raids. The layout of rooms is randomly generated, meaning each woodland mansion is unique. Some rooms have sealed entrances, while secret rooms have no entrance at all. Below is a list of the secret rooms possible:

• “X” room (common)
• spider room
• fake end portal room
• obsidian room
• birch pillar room
• clean chest room
• lava room (rarest)
• attic room

How do I find a woodland mansion?

The woodland mansion is the rarest generated structure in Minecraft so finding it is time-consuming. Mansions will only spawn in the dark forest and dark forest hills. They usually generate thousands of blocks from the spawn point. Woodland mansions can be located with woodland explorer maps, which are obtained from cartographer villagers.

3 – Brown Mooshroom

Rarity: Extremely Rare

A brown mooshroom is a brown variant of the regular mooshroom. As the name implies, they are cows covered in mushrooms. When fed a small flower, the brown mooshroom can be milked for a suspicious stew related to that small flower. The mooshroom returns to producing mushroom stew until fed another small flower. Each suspicious stew will have a different effect depending on the flower used. For example, the wither rose will produce a stew with wither effect, while the cornflower will give a jump boosting stew.

How do I find a brown mooshroom?

Brown mooshrooms will not spawn naturally. They are created under a very specific set of circumstances. When a red mooshroom is struck by lightning, they are transformed into a brown mooshroom. Mooshrooms only spawn in the rare mushroom fields biome. Breeding two red mooshrooms has a 0.097% chance of spawning a brown baby variant. While breeding a red and brown mooshroom together has a 50% chance of spawning a brown baby variant.

2 – Modified Jungle Edge

Rarity: Extremely Rare

The modified jungle edge generates in strict conditions. When a jungle biome and swamp hills biome border each other, the modified jungle edge generates to act as a transition. Considering how rare the jungle and swamp hills biomes are rare, this makes the modified jungle edge biome the rarest in the game, so far. The largest length that the modified jungle edge will generate in is a few hundred blocks, sometimes generating as low as ten blocks in length.

Ocelots, parrots, and pandas may spawn in this biome, though no structures or buildings will generate. For perspective, the mushroom fields biome covers around 0.056% of the Overworld, while the modified jungle edge only covers about 0.00027%.

As of the latest snapshot, the modified jungle edge biome will be removed in 1.18.

1 – Emerald Ore

Rarity: Extremely Rare

The emerald ore is a mineral block that drops emeralds or itself when mined with an iron pickaxe (or better). Deepslate emerald ore is a variant that can be found in deepslate and tuff blobs.

How do I find emerald ore?

Emerald ore only spawns in mountains biomes and can replace stone, tuff, and deepslate. In 1.17 and earlier game versions, emerald ore is most commonly found between Y-levels 5-29. In the 1.18 update, emerald ore will still only spawn in mountains biomes, however will commonly appear between Y-levels -16-320.

Top 10 Enchantments in Minecraft

howchoo   (467)

March 25, 2024

A Fan’s Guide to the Best Star Trek Fan Films

howchoo   (467)

September 21, 2023

25 minutes

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DIY

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Movies

movies • 2 guides

Pop Culture

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Star Trek

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When it comes to Do-It-Yourself projects, the ultimate expression has to be fan films. The amount of work required to pull off a fan film, from the construction of sets and costumes, to the writing, to the lighting, the camerawork, the acting, the direction, the sound design, the scoring… it’s a fabulously massive undertaking that requires an insane range of skills to even comprehend, let alone pull off with flare.

Star Trek has long encouraged a range of intrepid explorers in the field, however. Fans from all backgrounds and walks of life have come together over the decades to share their love of the magic underlying this incredible setting, trying to share what they themselves love most about Roddenberry’s incredible vision for a socialist future where all people work for the betterment of society as a whole, and their own self-growth, rather than the accumulation of profit.

So, sit back and engage your senses as you travel through time and space on some kind of star “trek” in a bold exploration of the imagination and the power of art.

1 – Digital Ghost (2000)

Digital Ghost is a German-made Star Trek fan-film set within the Star Trek: Generations timeline. The story involves two Enterprise-E crewmembers who are sent on a mission to test Starfleet’s new fully-autonomous starship design, and who soon discover that all may not be as it seems.

There aren’t magnificent sets in this one, but the CGI is surprisingly good, especially when you remember that this was made back in 2000. But, what stands out for me most with this film, is how well-acted it is. The CGI makes it all come alive, and there are some very clever moments in there, but what makes it engaging to watch is the interactions between the two visiting crewmembers and the experimental ship’s computer.

2 – Star Trek: Of Gods and Men (2007-2008)

There can absolutely be no better example of an incredible Star Trek fan-film experience than one which uses actual members of the original series cast!. Walter Keong and Nichelle Nichols star in this superb 3-part drama (finally combined into one feature film), and directed by Tim Russ (Tuvok in Voyager).

The story, the acting, the sets, and the CGI all positively glow in this one. The care, dedication, fun, and love of Star Trek is so plainly visible in every aspect of this film that it easily outshines most of the modern Trek material created by big studios.

3 – Star Trek: Axanar (2014)

Here we come to the biggest name on this list, because it was a landmark film in the evil of corporate Hollywood and the further eroding of artistic power in the world. Axanar was an incredible production, providing a powerhouse script, production value far beyond anything seen before, and a huge cast of veteran Star Trek actors (Richard Hatch, J. G. Hertzler, Kate Vernon, Gary Graham, Michael Hogan, and Tony Todd).

The film is a 22-minute documentary-style experience recounting the events of the Battle of Axanar, which was briefly mentioned in the original Star Trek series episode Whom Gods Destroy, and depicted in Axanar as a decisive military engagement between the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire.

The incredible feature film that had been planned for release was killed by the subsequent CBS/Paramount lawsuit, but this gem remains behind.

The film was so good, so popular, and raised such a huge budget on Kickstarter, that CBS and Paramount sued its creators in an attempt to destroy fans’ ability to produce similar work ever again. Sadly, they succeeded.

The resultant lawsuit ended with CBS/Paramount drawing up a restrictive list of rules that all future fan films would need to follow: “be no more than 15 minutes long and have no stories longer than two installments (for a total of 30 minutes); play on YouTube without commercials; and all participants are required to be amateurs who have never worked on Star Trek or another licensee of CBS or Paramount Pictures.”

This effectively killed off all Star Trek fan projects, forcing other planned productions like Star Trek: Renegades to quite literally go renegade and remove all references to Star Trek from their production.

It’s a truly sad example of how dismally copyright laws function in the world today, offering little protection to real creators while allowing mega-corps to demand ever-greater control over all the artistic projects that make it into the public eye.

4 – Star Trek: Renegades (2015)

Something is folding time and space around entire planets, cutting them off from the galaxy. Admiral Pavel Checkov (played by Walter Koenig) enlists the aid of Section 31 chief Tuvok (played by Tim Russ) in an effort to enlist an extra-Starfleet operation to discover the cause, a crew of misfits, even criminals, who can do what Starfleet can not.

Directed by Tim Russ, this was intended as a pilot episode for a new Star Trek series. When the pilot was rejected, a series was planned, but was later scrapped due to the disastrous move by CBS/Paramount to restrict the creative ability of fan productions. Renegades would then go on to live as its own science fiction production, removing all references to Star Trek to escape studio censorship.

A Fan’s Guide to the Top Science Fiction TV Series
From one fan to another: the best sci-fi shows of all time.

5 – Star Trek: Horizon (2016)

In a time prior to the United Federation of Planets, a young coalition of worlds led by Earth battle the Romulan Star Empire for their very survival.

This was another masterful little fan production, falling someplace between grand productions like Axanar and Of Gods and Men, and more amateur productions, and offering a first-class homage to the Star Trek universe.

While the planned sequel was annulled by CBS/Paramount due to their ridiculous feud with the Axanar production, we at least have the full feature film original to enjoy.

6 – Chance Encounter – A Star Trek Fan Film

A gentle and heart-warming science fiction love story, with all original characters, set within the Star Trek universe.

The Most Underrated Science Fiction Films of the 1970s
1970s scifi films included some of the greatest ever made, but also some unsung gems.

Quite possibly the sweetest little fan film in existence, the team behind this film would later go on to create The Holy Core, another Star Trek fan film that went even farther in the creation of something superb.

I absolutely love the writing of this one, as well as the acting. The special effects aren’t as sharp and polished as other productions, but I found that this doesn’t really matter much given how superb the rest of it is, and how much range of special effects through the many decades of Trek there is anyway!

I spent the entire film immersed, enjoying it as much as I’ve ever enjoyed another Star Trek experience, and I think you will as well.

7 – What We Left Behind (2019)

Ira Steven Behr announced a new Deep Space Nine project in 2017, eighteen years after the series finale, What You Leave Behind, aired. Bearing the same title, this would be an immersive documentary journey into the creation of, and life of, the last great Star Trek series to air on TV.

The documentary is wonderfully potent, drawing back the cats and crew for an in-depth and sometimes harrowing discussion of the show’s making, with stars Alexander Siddig, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Michael Dorn, Nana Visitor, Rene Auberjonois, and Terry Farrell all appearing to speak about their experience making the show.

DS9 was really transformational, managing to bridge all that had come before, with a deeper level of internal exploration than had been seen in Star Trek. Of course, there were downsides as well.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a premise completely ripped off of J. Michael Straczynski’s Babylon 5 series, which he had pitched unsuccessfully to Paramount some time before DS9 was put into production. Everything from the premise, to even at least one character’s name, was pulled from B5 without even a hint of shame.

And yet, however terrible that sin is, the seed of Straczynski’s initial vision, and the hard work of the amazing cast and crew of DS9, ended up providing Star Trek with its own brilliant jewel, something that offered a new type of show that kicks harder than previous iterations while maintaining the optimism, pacing, and theatric reverence that all embodies true Trek.

8 – The Holy Core – A Star Trek Fan Production (2019)

A thoughtful and exciting adventure set in the TNG era of the “Star Trek” universe, featuring all original characters. The crew of a Federation starship assist the deeply religious Vitans to restore their polluted atmosphere after centuries of war. Events soon take an unexpected turn, however, and the crew must rely on their courage and principles to prevent disaster…

I love this one for the use of real sets, the style, the lighting… it’s a love-letter to everything great about TNG, and manages to be both exciting and reflective in its story and construction. Proof that, while Paramount/CBS gutted fans’ ability to create work of Axanar level production value, fans will continue to showcase their passion for the source material.

Seriously though, this production uses full sets, and in an age where fan productions frequently rely on less-expensive green screen replacements, the use of real physical sets shows. It makes The Holy Core something unique and very special.

9 – Interlude: A Star Trek Fan Production (Axanar Continuity)

While not officially endorsed by the Axanar team, this little film dives into some of the Axanar continuity and envisions a short scene from one of the crucial battles of that timeline, as the new Klingon D7 cruisers are fielded for the first time.

It has a high-production feeling to it, though perhaps not quite as immerse as the original Axanar was. Still, a work of art, soul, and beauty, and I’m honestly just so impressed with all the great work that went into making this.

10 – Doomsday: A Star Trek Fan Production (2022)

Tales from The Neutral Zone in association with Avalon Universe presents “DOOMSDAY,” the third Star Trek Fan Film from Neutral Zone Studios in Kingsland, GA Based on the original story by Norman Sprinrad, music by Sol Kaplan, and visual effects by Samuel Cockings, “DOOMSDAY” is an exciting Star Trek adventure!

This feels like TOS and is just frankly incredible, offering up a brief vision of the original series’ brilliance with modern styling.

How to Make Whiskey Simple Syrup

howchoo   (467)

November 20, 2023

When N64 Games Won’t Save: How to Change Your Nintendo 64 Cartridge Battery

howchoo   (467)

September 21, 2023

7 minutes

What you’ll need

Interests

Soldering Iron x 1

Solder sucker x 1

Security screwdriver, 3.8mm x 1

Screwdriver, Phillips x 1

Solder x 1

N64 game replacement battery x 1

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Nintendo

nintendo • 13 guides

Retrogaming

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It’s Friday night. You just invited a friend over so that you could destroy him in Super Mash Bros. You give him the N64 controller with the loose joystick (of course), turn on the game, and your favorite character, Ness, is nowhere to be found.

This is probably because your N64 cartridge battery died long ago and your unlockable characters have gone away.

Why won’t my N64 game save?

Most N64 cartridges store save data in SRAM, or Static RAM, kept alive by a small battery. This was a much cheaper alternative to the flash memory that was much more expensive back when the N64 was being sold.

In this guide, I’ll show you how to replace the battery in your cartridge in about 10 minutes so that you can start saving once again.

List of N64 games that use a battery

• 1080º Snowboarding
• F-Zero X
• Harvest Moon 64
• Major League Baseball featuring Ken Griffey Jr.
• Mario Golf
• New Tetris, The
• Ogre Battle 64: Person of Lordly Caliber
• Resident Evil 2
• Super Smash Bros.
• The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
• WCW/NWO Revenge
• WWF: Wrestlemania 2000
• and Others

Watch the video, or continue below

I made a video tutorial that will walk you through the process. Or, if you prefer, you can continue reading the text and photo-based version of this guide below!

1 – Nintendo 64 replacement battery

For the replacement battery you’ll need a CR2032 battery with pre-soldered tabs. This is the direct replacement for your old N64 cartridge battery. This is the battery I used and it came with a 3.8mm security screwdriver, which you’ll need later.

Unless you have a pulse spot welder laying around, don’t solder anything directly to the battery.

2 – Open the N64 cartridge

As always, Nintendo loves to try and keep us out of their hardware. You’ll need a 3.8mm security screwdriver to open the cartridge. Use it to remove the two screws on the back and open the case.

3 – Remove the RF shield

Use a small Phillips screwdriver to remove the electromagnetic shielding.

4 – Locate the battery

The battery is located on the same side of the cartridge as the microchips.

My battery is from 1998! That’s over 20 years old.

5 – Desolder the battery tabs

Locate the two large tabs on the other side of the board protruding from the battery. Heat each up with your soldering iron and use your solder sucker to desolder them.

6 – Solder the new battery

Your replacement battery has one wide tab and one narrow tab. This makes orientation easier as the battery is not reversible. Solder the new battery in place.

7 – Reassemble everything

As always, assembly is the reverse of disassembly. You’re ready to play!

Now, let’s tackle that loose N64 joystick.

How to Fix or Replace Your Nintendo 64 Controller’s Joystick (And Why It Broke)
Spoiler: Mario Party did it. Mostly.

RetroPie scrapers: what they are and how to use them

howchoo   (467)

September 29, 2023

How to Set Up a Raspberry Pi Network Monitor

howchoo   (467)

September 21, 2023

47 minutes

What you’ll need

Interests

Raspberry Pi x 1

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Networking

networking • 8 guides

Raspberry Pi

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Laptops, smartphones, tablets, even lightbulbs—an endless number of devices now have the ability to connect to your local network and the wider internet. Keeping an eye on network-capable devices is important, especially if you’re worried about network security or you’re trying to troubleshoot bandwidth issues.

This is where a network monitor can prove useful. There are a few ways to do this, but if you want to keep an eye on the devices and data traveling over your network 24/7, then you may want to set up a network monitor using a Raspberry Pi single-board computer.

Running in the background, your Raspberry Pi will log network traffic and performance, allowing you to troubleshoot or monitor certain issues. If you want to set up a Raspberry Pi network monitor, here’s what you’ll need to do.

1 – Creating a Raspberry Pi network monitor using NEMS

For this project, we’ll be using Nagios, which is an industry-standard, open-source monitoring tool for Windows and Linux PCs and servers. Specifically, we’ll be using NEMS (Nagios Enterprise Monitoring Server), a version of Nagios that you can use on the Raspberry Pi as a replacement for Raspberry Pi OS.

Nagios (on NEMS) has a range of features that make it the ideal option for network monitoring, as we’ll explain further. To run NEMS, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4. Older Raspberry Pi’s may work with some features disabled, but the NEMS development team recommends the newest Pi models for best performance.

To install NEMS on a Raspberry Pi, you’ll also need a microSD card with a minimum size of 16GB, with 32GB preferred.

A keyboard, mouse, and monitor are all unnecessary, as you’ll be able to access NEMS over SSH or by using a dashboard interface that you can access from your web browser.

How to Connect to a Raspberry Pi Remotely via SSH
The preferred (and most common) method of connecting to your Pi to run commands.

2 – How to install NEMS on a Raspberry Pi

Before you can use NEMS, you’ll need to first flash a microSD card (16GB and above in size) with the latest NEMS image, which you can download from the NEMS website.

You can then flash the image to your Raspberry Pi using the Raspberry Pi Imager, a tool created by the official Raspberry Pi Foundation for installing new operating systems. The Raspberry Pi Imager works on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and can be downloaded from the Raspberry Pi Foundation website.

How to Use Raspberry Pi Imager
New official Raspberry Pi imaging software.

1. Open the Raspberry Pi Imager tool to begin, then click the Choose OS button.

2. In the Operating System selection menu, press the Use custom option. You’ll need to find and select your NEMS image file (in the IMG file format).
3. With the NEMS image file selected, click Choose SD Card to select your microSD card.
4. Once you’re ready to write the image to your SD card, press the Write button. This will take a bit of time to complete.

If the image is written to your microSD card successfully, remove it from your PC and return it to your Raspberry Pi. You’ll now be ready to begin setting up and using NEMS.

3 – Signing in to NEMS on a Raspberry Pi

During setup, it’s best to connect your Raspberry Pi running NEMS to your local network using a wired ethernet connection. If that isn’t possible, you’ll need to set up Wi-Fi on your Raspberry Pi by adding a wpa_supplicant.conf file to the boot partition on your microSD card, but this may not work effectively.

You’ll also need to know the local IP address for your Raspberry Pi when you first boot it. You can find this from your local router’s DHCP list, or by using apps like Fing or nmap to scan your local network.

How to Find Your Raspberry Pi’s IP Address

To set up NEMS, power up your Raspberry Pi with your microSD card inserted. Once your Pi is set up, access NEMS from your web browser by typing http://ip-address, replacing ip-address with the IP address for your Raspberry Pi.

Alternatively, you can visit your NEMS web portal at http://nems.local instead. This may or may not work, depending on how your network is currently configured.

You can also follow these instructions by making an SSH connection to your Pi, using the default username and password (nemsadmin for both).

If you decide to use the web interface, you’ll see the Not Initialized screen. Click the open a browser-based terminal session link to open the web-based terminal.

Web browsers like Google Chrome will sometimes block this page due to a slight mismatch with the security certificate issued for NEMS, and you’ll need to bypass this. If you’re using Chrome and you get this error, press the Advanced button, then type thisisunsafe on your keyboard.

Don’t worry—this is safe to do! You can regenerate your SSL certificates at a later stage to overcome this problem once your Raspberry Pi has been correctly configured.

Once the portal loads, sign in using the default username and password (nemsadmin) to access the NEMS admin portal (named Cockpit).

4 – Configuring NEMS on a Raspberry Pi

Once you’ve signed in, type sudo nems-init at the web terminal, accessible from the Terminal section. This will begin the initial configuration.

You’ll first need to select your geographical area from the configuration menu using your keyboard arrow keys. Once you’ve selected an option, hit the tab key on your keyboard to select OK, then hit enter to proceed.

Select your nearest city from the next list, hitting enter (or tab and enter) to confirm. You’ll then need to follow a similar process for determining your locale, which is used to set certain keyboard and language settings.

Find your preferred language (or languages) in the list (eg. en_US.UTF-8). Once your chosen languages are selected, hit tab and enter on your keyboard to proceed. You’ll then need to confirm the default locale from the next menu—use your arrow keys to select your preferred locale, then hit enter (or tab and enter) to confirm.

Your locale settings will be applied at this point, which may take a little bit of time to complete. Once the configuration is complete, you’ll move to the next stage of the setup process.

You’ll need to choose a new username and password to use with NEMS next. Type a username into the terminal, then hit enter to confirm. For security reasons, we’d avoid common usernames like admin or root here.

Repeat the process by providing a secure password for your new user account, which you’ll need to type twice to confirm. If the password is accepted, provide an email address at the next stage, which NEMS will try to use to send you urgent notifications while you’re not actively monitoring the Nagios portal, although this may require further configuration to work.

The NEMS initialization script will set up your new account at this stage, applying the correct user privileges and generating secure SSH certificates for remote connections.

You’ll need to sign-out once NEMS confirms the process is complete, as the initial nemsadmin user account you were using will have been disabled.

To do this, press the menu in the top-right and click Log Out. This will return you to the portal authentication page, where you can sign in using your new username and password to make further changes to your NEMS configuration and view performance logs for your Raspberry Pi.

If you encounter any problems, restart your Raspberry Pi to fully load any changes you’ve made to your NEMS configuration.

5 – Available NEMS dashboards for network and system monitoring

You’ll be able to view installed Nagios network plugins and dashboards from the NEMS web portal, accessible at https://nems.local or https://ip-address (replacing ip-address with your Pi’s IP address).

Other plugins you wish to install may come with their own instructions and prerequisite packages, so be sure to check the manpages and documentation for these packages first.

By default, NEMS includes some useful web dashboards and tools for you to use, including:

• NEMS Adagios, a configurable web dashboard for your Nagios services (accessible at https://nems.local/adagios/status)
• Nagios Core, the original and configurable Nagios web dashboard (accessible at https://nems.local/nagios/)
• NEMS Mobile, a basic mobile UI for viewing Nagios data from mobile devices (accessible at https://nems.local/mobile)
• NEMS TV Dashboard, a dashboard for Nagios data for display on a large monitor or TV (accessible at https://nems.local/tv/)
• NEMS Tactical Overview, an emergency dashboard that will display urgent problems with any of your Nagios monitored devices or services (accessible at https://nems.local/nagiostv/)
• Monitorix, a lightweight network and system monitoring dashboard (accessible at https://nems.local/monitorix/)
• Cockpit, the NEMS web admin portal with web terminal and other tools and statistics available (accessible at https://nems.local:9090/)
• RPi-Monitor, a dashboard to monitor your Raspberry Pi system resources (accessible at http://nems.local:8888/)
• Monit, a dashboard to monitor whether services such as Nagios, Samba, Monitorix and others are working or not (accessible at https://nems.local:2812/)

You can access these services from the Reporting and System menus on the NEMS web portal, which you can access at https://nems.local/ or https://ip-address (replacing ip-address with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address),

6 – Using SNMP for general network monitoring with Cacti

The Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) is used to share information between network-capable devices on a local network. You can use this protocol on a Raspberry Pi to gain an overview of your network for basic network monitoring.

To do this, you’ll need to use RRDTool and Cacti. RRDTool is used for logging real-time data using SNMP, while Cacti presents it in a dashboard you can use alongside other NEMS dashboards. This will only work with routers that support SNMP, so be sure to check this first.

You’ll need to open the web terminal at https://nems.local:9090/system/terminal or https://ip-address:9090/system/terminal (replacing ip-address with the Raspberry Pi IP address) to begin the download, configuration and installation process.

You can also do this over an SSH connection if you’d prefer.

7 – Downloading and configuring Cacti

To install the necessary packages, type the following in the open terminal window, typing Y to confirm:

sudo apt install -y snmp php-snmp rrdtool librrds-perl

You’ll need to restart your web server (Apache) and database (MariaDB) services to ensure RRDTool loads, as well as add timezone information to your database. Type the following at the terminal to do this, using the password nagiosadmin:

mysql_tzinfo_to_sql /usr/share/zoneinfo | mysql -u root -p mysql
sudo systemctl restart mariadb
sudo systemctl restart apache2

You’ll need to create a new database for Cacti to use. First, sign in to the MariaDB terminal using the username root and password nagiosadmin:

sudo mysql -u root -p

Once you’re signed in, type the following into the terminal window to create your new database:

create database cacti;
GRANT ALL ON cacti.* TO cactiuser@localhost IDENTIFIED BY 'cactipass';
flush privileges;
exit

It’s advisable to replace the default pass listed here (cactipass) with a more secure alternative.

Once you’ve created your new database user (cactiuser), you’ll need to give it access to the MySQL timezone table. To do this, type the following at the terminal:

sudo mysql -u root -p
GRANT SELECT ON mysql.time_zone_name TO cactiuser@localhost;
flush privileges;
exit

With the database for Cacti ready, you can finally install the Cacti dashboard. To do this, type the following into the terminal to update your database, download and extract Cacti, and load the configuration into your new Cacti database:

sudo mysql_upgrade -u root -p
sudo service mysqld restart
cd /tmp
wget https://www.cacti.net/downloads/cacti-latest.tar.gz 
tar -zxvf cacti-latest.tar.gz
sudo mv cacti-1* /opt/cacti
sudo mysql -u root -p cacti < /opt/cacti/cacti.sql

You’ll need to update the Cacti config to use the correct username and password by typing sudo nano /opt/cacti/include/config.php to edit the file, adding your new username and password to the $database_username and $database_password sections.

Press Ctrl+O and Ctrl+X to save and exit. Cacti will need to be told to update on a regular basis, which you can do using crontab. The following steps will set Cacti to update every 5 minutes, but you can change this if you would prefer:

sudo nano /etc/cron.d/cacti
*/5 * * * * www-data php /opt/cacti/poller.php > /dev/null 2>&1

Press Ctrl+O and Ctrl+X to save and exit the file. You’ll next need to update your Apache web server configuration, so open the configuration file with sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/cacti.conf at the terminal and adding the following:

Alias /cacti /opt/cacti

  
      Options +FollowSymLinks
      AllowOverride None
      = 2.3>
      Require all granted
      
      

Once this is added, press Ctrl+X and Ctrl+O to save and exit. Finally, you can enable your configuration for Cacti, restart Apache and create a log file for Cacti (useful for troubleshooting) by typing the following:

sudo a2ensite cacti
sudo systemctl restart apache2
sudo touch /opt/cacti/log/cacti.log
sudo chown -R www-data:www-data /opt/cacti/

If these steps complete successfully, you’re now ready to begin installing Cacti.

8 – Installing Cacti

You should now be able to access Cacti by opening your web browser and accessing the installation dashboard at https://nems.local/cacti or https://ip-address/cacti (replacing ip-address with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address).

Sign in using the username admin and password admin to begin the installation.

Cacti will ask you to change the default password. Type the existing password and a new password, then press Save to confirm.

You’ll be required to accept the license agreement next. Press the Accept GPL License Agreement checkbox, then select a theme and language from the available drop-down menus.

Once you’re ready, click Begin to proceed.

Cacti will check that the required PHP and MYSQL modules and databases are ready to use. If there are any warnings or errors, these will be listed here, and you may have to fix these before you can proceed.

If there are no errors (or only minor warnings), click Next to move to the next stage. You’ll want to leave the Installation Type as New Primary Server, then click Next.

Cacti will perform another check to confirm that it has permissions to write to your microSD card. Assuming no problems, click Next to proceed.

You’ll also be asked to confirm that critical binary locations are correct. These should all be correct with a green tick to confirm next to each option, so click Next to move to the next stage.

Cacti uses whitelist protection for security, which you can activate using the instructions shown at the next stage. This isn’t strictly necessary, however, so click the I have read this statement checkbox, then click Next.

The default settings at the next stage should be fine to leave, but you can change how often Cacti polls your network for data here. Make sure that the IP address range listed under Network Range matches the IP range on your local network before clicking Next.

Cacti uses default templates to pool data from various different types of devices. It’s recommended to leave all of the templates at the Template Setup stage enabled, then click Next.

Cacti will also check whether your database is compliant and safe to write to. Check this page for warnings (and correct any that appear accordingly), then click Next.

Finally, click the Confirm Installation checkbox, then click Install to begin the installation.

The installation will take a little bit of time to complete. Once it’s done, you can access your network data by clicking the Get Started button at the bottom of the page.

Using SNMP, you can test your network to automatically detect new devices. You can find these under the Automation > Discovered Devices menu, with further configuration available for your network testing under Automation > Networks.

From here, you can add these as saved devices, which will appear under the Management > Devices menu.

Cacti is extremely customizable, allowing you to create your own graphs, reports, and monitoring logs. You may wish to extend and configure it further, depending on your own network and requirements.

You can find out more about how to do this from the extensive Cacti documentation pages.

9 – Installing additional network monitoring plugins for Nagios (optional)

Nagios is a platform that can be extensively configured and adapted to suit your own needs. You may wish to install additional plugins for further network monitoring from sites such as the Nagios Exchange or the Monitoring Plugins project.

The Monitoring Plugins project offers a set of around 50 network monitoring plugins that you can use to log data and import into other dashboards.

If you want to install the plugins from the Monitoring Plugins project, access the NEMS admin portal (Cockpit) by opening https://nems.local:9090/system/terminal or https://ip-address:9090/system/terminal (replacing ip-address with your Raspberry Pi’s IP address) and signing in using the username and password you created earlier. You can also do this using an SSH connection to your Pi.

At the terminal window, type the following to download, compile, and install the plugins:

cd /tmp
wget https://www.monitoring-plugins.org/download/monitoring-plugins-2.2.tar.gz
gzip -dc monitoring-plugins-2.2.tar.gz | tar -xf -
cd monitoring-plugins-2.2
./configure
sudo make
sudo make install

You can replace the tar.gz URL and further references to the file with the latest version, available for download at the Monitoring Plugins project download page. If the Stable release fails to compile or install, repeat the steps using the Development Snapshot release instead.

This will take some time to complete. Once completed, type sudo reboot to reboot your Raspberry Pi and reload your Nagios configuration to support the new plugins.

You can find out more about each individual plugin, including how to execute them and integrate them into your Nagios logging and graphing dashboards, at the Monitoring Plugins project documentation pages.

10 – Updating SSL certificates for NEMS web portal (optional)

If you’re having trouble with SSL certificate errors in your web browser when you connect to the NEMS portal, you’ll need to regenerate your certificates to solve the problem.

To do this, open a secure SSH connection to your Raspberry Pi or access the web terminal for NEMS at https://nems.local:9090/system/terminal or https://ip-address:9090/system/terminal, replacing ip-address with the IP address for your Raspberry Pi.

At the remote SSH or web terminal, type sudo nems-cert to regenerate your certificates. The process will complete automatically, and should stop any errors from occurring.

If the errors do reappear at any stage, repeat these steps to solve the problem.

11 – Next steps after basic NEMS configuration

Once you’ve completed basic configuration for NEMS, you’ll probably want to install the Nagios monitoring agent to be able to monitor certain network devices more closely. You can then add and configure these in the Adagios dashboard.

If you’re only looking for more basic and automatic network monitoring, then Cacti should suit your needs. If Cacti is set up correctly, it will continue to poll your network for new devices at regular interviews, which you can then add to specific Cacti graphs and logs for regular monitoring.

If you have resources to spare, you could also think about using Nagios alongside other projects on your Raspberry Pi. At its core, NEMS is simply a lightweight version of Debian Linux, so you should be able to install other packages to create a 24/7 server for your network without too much of an impact on performance.

For instance, NEMS has Samba installed by default, so you could think about creating a very simple file share for your devices. If you’re creating a Raspberry Pi NAS drive, however, you’ll probably want to use a separate Raspberry Pi to ensure adequate system resources are available.