Homelab - XCP-ng

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have started to play around with things tied to the idea of "homelab" setups.  I am not going to go into detail on what equipment I have, you can check out my other post here ( https://bigboystoys13.blogspot.com/2024/08/my-homelab-equipment.html ) for more information.

One of the cool things about the HP Envy desktop computer that I am using is that you can easily "hide" certain drives via the BIOS.  This makes it to do testing where you want to ensure certain drives can't be impacted.  I decided to setup XCP-ng on my machine, while keeping the Windows OS and Proxmox available.  My earlier post has details on my Proxmox setup.

Here is my approach (my HP Envy has 5 internal drives right now):

• For Windows, I have a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD.
• For Proxmox, I have a 3TB HDD.
• For XCP-ng, I have 256GB SSD.

Using the BIOS ability to hide certain internal (SATA) drives, I can basically hide the drives not being used.  So when I want to use XCP-ng, I hide the other drives.  While I can't easily swap between the systems (like you can a dual boot setup) it helps ensure I don't mess up one environment while using the another.

I actually tried XCP-ng first (before I decided to start making blog posts about the homelab stuff), then tried Proxmox.  While I am starting to like Proxmox, I decided to give XCP-ng another try.

Out of the box, Proxmox was easier.  You just install and can hit the server directly via a web link.  With TCP-ng you have to install a virtual machine that will act as configuration interface.  I do like that you can find a Windows client for XCP-ng, which I don't think exists for Proxmox.

Once I setup XCP-ng, I setup a VM for an Ubuntu workstation which was pretty easy to do.  After that, I made sure the host itself wasn't using the GPU card and then configured the Ubuntu host to use the GPU card.  I also configured USB passthrough for the keyboard and mouse ( https://docs.xcp-ng.org/compute/#passing-through-keyboards-and-mice has useful info ).

So think of it this way:

• I power up my computer.
• XCP-ng loads
• Ubuntu VM auto-starts
• Ubuntu loads up on the local computer

So basically I would be Ubuntu as a desktop OS, but it is running on XCP-ng which could also have other virtual systems running on it.  Unfortunately I couldn't get Ubuntu working on this setup, and I gave up on trying.  For now I am going to focus on Proxmox.

Pixel 8 Pro vs Pixel 9 Pro - My thoughts

When the Pixel 9 series details came out, I started to read up on the differences on the Pixel 8 Pro and Pixel 9 series, I didn't see enough changes to make me feel like I needed to upgrade.  Don't get me wrong, the Pixel 9 is impressive, but I wanted to be practical and try to stick with doing an upgrade on a two year cycle (my last upgrade was Pixel 6 Pro to Pixel 8 Pro).

I actually had a spare Pixel 8 Pro that I was looking to sell, and decided to trade it in for a Pixel 9 Pro.  I figured it would allow me (and a few family members) to try out the 9 Pro.  If no one liked it, then I could just sell it.  If everyone liked it, then hopefully I'll be allowed to keep it!

So to jump right into it here are the main differences I have noticed between the Pixel 8 Pro (P8P) and Pixel 9 Pro (P9P):

Screen size

The screen is smaller, going from 6.7" (P8P) to 6.3" (P9P).  However in day to day use, it really didn't matter that much.  The smaller screen wasn't an issue, and if I am doing something that really needs a big screen I have other devices.

Battery life.  

This is where I really noticed a difference.  The first week I got it, I fully charged it Wednesday night and other than putting it back on charge for like 10 minutes ( to apply an update) I didn't charge it again and the phone still had life on Friday.  I have the "AccuBattery Pro" app on both of my phones, and here are the full battery estimates (keep in mind the P9P data is just based on a few days):

Device: Pixel 8 Pro // Pixel 9 Pro

Screen on: 15h 54m // 19h 53m

Screen off: 63h 41m// 5d 13h

Combined used: 27h 42m // 42h 48m

So this is definitely an area of improvement, and this alone makes me tempted to keep using the Pixel 9 Pro as my daily driver.

Call Notes

So the Pixel 9 Pro has a "Call notes" feature.  I tested it one time, and here are some key takeaways:

• It does let the other party know the call is being recorded.
• It gives a pretty impressive summary of the call.
• It gives a full transcript with the actual call recording.

I could see this feature being very useful when you take calls, but of course some people will not like having the call recorded.

Bottom line: At first I wasn't going to upgrade but based on the great deals I ended up getting a Pixel 9 Pro XL!

Ledger on Pixel 9 Pro

I recently got a Pixel 9 Pro XL.  I tried to connect my Ledger device ( a Nano S Plus ) to my Pixel, but the screen (on the Ledger) did not turn on.  At first, I assumed that the cable wasn't fully inserted (some cases cause issues) so I removed the case, and then tried another cable.  Nothing worked, so I grabbed my Chromebook Duet to verify the Ledger actually still worked (it did).

So far my testing narrowed the issue down to my Pixel 9 Pro XL.  I actually had access to a Pixel 9 Pro (not XL), and I did a quick test to confirm that it does work on a Pixel 9 Pro.

So bottom line, Ledger (Nano S Plus) with Android 14 (as of 10/1/2024) does not work with Pixel 9 Pro XL, but does work with the Pixel 9 Pro.  It could just be my device, but I saw other people post so I plan to see if I can confirm if they are using a 9 Pro XL.

As a short term fix, if you use a USB-C hub (and connect your Ledger to the hub) it works.  Hopefully someone stumbles across this post so they save the headache of trying to figure out what is wrong.  Also I plan to try to reach Google and open up a bug report.

Update: I submitted a feature request hopefully that works.  Please use the +1 vote option if you have the same issue:

Update 2: Well the issuetracker entry was basically closed, that isn't the right place to submit for Pixel issues.

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/370708405

Homelab - Proxmox Setup

As I mentioned in my prior post, I have started to play around with things tied to the idea of "homelab" setups.  I am not going to go into detail on what equipment I have, you can check out my other post here ( https://bigboystoys13.blogspot.com/2024/08/my-homelab-equipment.html ) for more information.

One of the cool things about the HP Envy desktop computer that I am using is that you can easily "hide" certain drives via the BIOS.  This makes it to do testing where you want to ensure certain drives can't be impacted.  I decided to setup Proxmox on my machine, while keeping the Windows OS available.

Here is my approach (my HP Envy had 4 internal drives right now):

• For Windows, I have a 256GB SSD and 1TB HDD.
• For Proxmox, I have a 256GB SSD and 3TB HDD.

Using the BIOS ability to hide certain internal (SATA) drives, I can basically hide the drives not being used.  So when I want to use Proxmox, I hide the two drives tied to Windows.  While I can't easily swap between the two systems (like you can a dual boot setup) it helps ensure I don't mess up one environment while using the other.

I am not going to go into details on how I setup Proxmox since there are plenty of guides out there, but I will share a few high level points that I felt would be useful:

• It is very easy to install Proxmox, but make sure you still read over the documentation.  On the install page instructions, it links to ( https://pve.proxmox.com/pve-docs/chapter-sysadmin.html ) which has good info.
• Configure your updates: If you are using the free setup, you should go into updates > repositories to disable the two enterprise options and enable the "no-subscription" option.
• If you plan to setup a cluster, you should do that before adding VMs.  I don't remember the exact issue, but I know I ran into some situation where I couldn't setup a cluster because one of the hosts already had VMs on it.
• Keep notes on configuration in case you need to set things up again.
• Check out https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/ which has scripts to make it really easy to setup different capabilities (mainly containers).

My homelab - Equipment

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received some of the items listed below for free, sometimes in exchange for a review.  I will note those items by putting *see disclosure* on the same row.  I was not required to write a positive review and I do not rate products higher than they should have been. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's requirements.

It has been a while since I made a blog post.  Recently I decided to start playing around with computers a little more again, reading up on how people are doing their own “homelabs” to experiment and learn.  I don’t plan to do anything big or crazy, but I figured I’d document what I am doing on my blog.

For my first post, I am just going to layout the hardware I am using.  I figure if I write future posts, I can just mention this post if anyone wants to see the specific hardware I am using.  I am just mentioning the main/relevant items, not every single piece of gear and I will update as needed if I get new gear.

Equipment as of 8/30/2024:

• HP Envy (desktop computer)
• Computer Specs
• Intel i7-4790 @ 3.6 Ghz
• NVidia GeForce GTX 745
• 32GB RAM
• Internal storage
• Micron 256GB SSD
• SanDisk 256GB SSD
• Seagate 3TB HDD
• Toshiba 1TB HDD
• SanDisk 16GB SSD built-in to the motherboard, works as cache for the HDD as long as you have the right software.
• Connected items
• Inateck FD2002 USB 3.0 dual SATA HDD docking station (my review) *see disclosure*
• Useful for swapping drives out easily.
• Fujitsu Lifebook E546 (laptop computer)
• Specs
• Intel i5-6200U @ 2.4 Ghz
• 16GB RAM
• Plextor 128GB SSD
• Raspberry Pi 4
• Specs
• 4GB RAM
• Argon ONE V2 Case (my review) *see disclosure*
• Inateck FE2005 USB 3.0 enclosure (my review) *see disclosure* 
• Misc equipment
• Cudy 8-port 10/100/1000 Mbps Ethernet switch
• GL-iNet Marble (GL-B3000)
• GL-iNet Mango (GL-MT3000N-V2) qty 2