January 2021

While this is usually a trivial task it took me about an hour to get my permissions correct to get this to work. Here are the steps that finally let me get things working:

Open the sshd_conf by entering:

sudo vim /etc/ssh/sshd_conf

Then edit as follows:

RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes
AuthorizedKeysFile  .ssh/authorized_keys

Then go to your command line and change some file permissions.

#change {username to your login}
CHOWN the users directory to {username}:users
CHMOD user home directory to 755
CHMOD your .ssh directory to 700
CHMOD your authorized_keys file to 644

If you’re not sure about those files you will need to create and copy your public key to those directories. To do that just google “creating ssh key” then save your id_rsa.pub to the authorized key file below in .ssh/authorized_keys.

Restart your SSHD service via the web admin page (see below).

You can take my ramblings about Big Tech a number of ways but ultimately it’s about decentralization. Don’t put all all your eggs in one basket. Diversify your portfolio. Own your own path. Explore alternatives. Grow.

So if you’re a cord-cutter and want to get rid of YouTube.TV or Cable. Check this out. https://www.suppose.tv/. It will let you select your channels and show you the best options available for you to pick.

Today I canceled the following:

• Apple Developer Program Renewal – My app “Thors Hammer” will go away, but I can do this via a website, if you recall I had huge problem getting this app “approved” anyway.
• Amazon Music Unlimited – Might replace with Spotify.
• Microsoft Game Pass – Will just buy games now.
• YouTube.TV – Pending – Will substitute with Sling Blue & Maybe ESPN from Disney+ after the NCAA National Football Championship

Other Google services seem to be the easiest ones to cancel… Stay tuned for future updates.

A bunch of Echoes will now sit in this bag until which time I’m confident these recordings are not shared with Facebook, Instagram, Advertisers… I’ve had too many things happen recently mentioning a company only to see ads an hour or so later….

I’ve not done much on my “blog” in the past several years. With FaceBook, Twitter & Instagram it’s been too easy to just post there, but given the censorship and potential Anti-Trust lawsuits I thought it best to get back to owning my own content and start blogging again.

So things to look forward to:

• No More Images/Video on Facebook or Instagram. They will be post here about CNC, 3D Printing, Making In General and of course my Chevelle project.
• No More Micro-Blogging on Twitter, though I’ll still keep my @scottpreston handle incase things normalize.
• Articles on how to “disconnect” from Big Tech. My first will be to consolidate my cloud storage, maybe move everything to DropBox or OneDrive since Microsoft seems the least bad of the 3 (Apple, Google, Amazon). Secondly it will be disconnecting from Gmail, maybe moving to Outlook or just continuing to roll my own via another hosting provider.

All The Best!