Xamarin UI Test Automation Android Setup

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I guess my expectations are a bit high that when I install Visual Studio 2019 to include cross-platform mobile development (Xamarin.Forms) it would properly configure itself. It turns out that when you try and get UI Test Automation working with Xamarin.Forms that is just not the case. Let’s peel this onion. Missing ANDROID_HOME environment variable. … Continue reading Xamarin UI Test Automation Android Setup

Plex Server Setup – Part II: Making a Filesystem

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After the clean install of ubuntu, I only had a 4GB OS partition setup for me. This partition lived on a single physical volume (PV), volume group (VG) and logical volume (LV). These are important concepts to understand Linux filesystem structures. The first step in expanding my storage is to create a separate logical volume … Continue reading Plex Server Setup – Part II: Making a Filesystem

Plex Server Setup – Part I: Resizing OS Volume

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Full disclosure, as someone who’s spent most of his career designing and building software, I don’t often get the opportunity to tackle good old fashioned system administration tasks, especially on Linux. However, since my introduction to PLEX –an open source home media server—I’ve had more opportunities. I’ve recently acquired a new server that I plan … Continue reading Plex Server Setup – Part I: Resizing OS Volume

Building a SmartThings Automation

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I’ve been digging into the SmartThings Automation platform a bit. Admittedly, I’m fumbling around a bit. 😊 According to the definitions in the documentation, I think I want to build a WebHook automation. As per the documentation, one should consider an “when the end-user configures the Automation to monitor an open/close sensor, the Automation subscribes … Continue reading Building a SmartThings Automation

Mocking Service Fabric & Azure Services with Dependency Injection vs. Inversion of Control (IoC)

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In retrospect, in my youth as a software designer I recognize that I often had a preference for the technically elegant. This would sometimes override what was practical from a maintainability standpoint. I was recently asked about the Dependency Injection approach on a project and why we weren’t using an Inversion-of-Control (IoC) Container such as … Continue reading Mocking Service Fabric & Azure Services with Dependency Injection vs. Inversion of Control (IoC)

SmartThings Battery Replacement Cheat Sheet

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I’m a heavy SmartThings user. Sometimes it can be pretty tricky knowing what batteries I need when I get notifications from different sensors telling me that they are running low and need a replacement. Battery Cheat Sheet: SmartThings Multi-Purpose Sensor Doors / Windows / Garage Doors 2450 SmartThings Water Leak Sensor Sinks / Appliances / … Continue reading SmartThings Battery Replacement Cheat Sheet

Planning a Home Automation System using SmartThings

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I recently helped my Aunt and Uncle in California to plan a home automation / home security system using SmartThings and Arlo. In order to get the system setup they needed to make some upgrades to their home network. Their objectives were the following: Add better security to their detached garage Prevent packages from being … Continue reading Planning a Home Automation System using SmartThings