I was curious to study the behaviour of the Proof-of-Work protocol in block-chains. The essence of POW is the use of a nonce as part of the payload being signed. In order to do this, I decided to test it out with a simple signing test program. The signature algorithm chosen uses a 512-bit RSA key with a SHA-224 hash. A stronger hash algorithm would just take longer but it wouldn’t really deviate too much from the characteristics. The example...
Read moreWireshark is a free and open source packet analyser. It is used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education. This is not a well advertised feature but it is possible to use Wireshark to monitor the traffic on a third machine. This may come in handy when one is interested to study a remote system under monitoring. So, it is possible for machine C to analyse the traffic between machines A and B, without having to...
Read moreWe’re trying to increase IPv6 adoption by migrating things. However, slow IPv6 routes don’t help. We tested things using Vultr’s network as they had servers is 15 countries. These are an abbreviated sample of the results. LONDON HOST: vm1359261.vultr.com Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev 1. ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 6. 2001:e68:5083:6d93:7555:c0a5:2945:cbd9 10.0% 10 269.5 269.6 269.2 269.9 0.2 PARIS HOST: vm1359265.vultr.com Loss% Snt Last Avg Best Wrst StDev 1. ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0...
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While there are a lot of examples that describe how to set up a LVM cache on an SSD for a HDD backed storage, they mostly fail to describe an additional step needed to preserve the cache across a reboot on a Ubuntu system. The culprit is that the drivers needed to enable the LVM cache are not built into the kernel, nor available in the initrd. Therefore, these drivers need to be added to the initrd. Additionally, some cache Read more
On 1st September, I presented my current progress to Dr. Shawn, showing the current look of the Sayembara website, as well as its mobile layout. He commented that since there were now real life photos at the bottom of the website, it ruins the harmony of it all. So, he suggested that I should replace the cartoon-like graphics with real photos. Just for the sake of comparison, he added that I could do two different pages, one that consists of Read more
On 24th August, Dr. Shawn and I had our weekly meeting. I showed him my current progress working on the homepage of the Sayembara website, which was 50% finished. He told me that my progress was okay, but reminded that I should also ensure that it also looks good on tablets and phones, as most people access websites using those devices nowadays. Therefore, I made that as my primary task this week. Thankfully, WordPress has some built-in features that allows Read more
My week 5 main task is to create edit and preview templates for email and comment. Previously, comment and email templates were stored as HTML attachments, but there was no way in the UI for users to edit the html , or to preview the result template after the backend turned the edited html into a pdf. My approach was to add two reusable dialogs in the Settings page: EditDialog and PreviewDialog, and wire them to their respective buttons on the Settings page, Read more
This week, I mainly focused on creating the settings layout and exploring a new feature for previewing comment slips and email templates. Creating the Settings Layout This week, I finished creating a settings layout that brings various configuration options together in one place. This makes it easier for administrators to find and update the system settings they need. Insights from the Template Preview Issue At the same time, I picked up a ticket from the project’s GitHub Issues page and Read more
Weekly Review On 17th August, I showcased my progress on the mockup to Dr. Shawn during our weekly meeting. He mentioned that it was already satisfactory, and that I should start working on the WordPress website. After the meeting, I started by uploading almost all the graphics I’ve edited onto WordPress. Since I had to double-check the quality of the clip art I edited, and to ensure they were the recommended size, it took me a bit of time since Read more
This week, I continued working on the Rank Judge and Rank Emcee modules, focusing on polishing the features and fixing remaining issues before raising an updated PR to Dr. Shawn for review and feedback. I also continued investigating the logo issue, which is still unresolved. I spent time comparing and debugging the changes to identify the actual cause rather than assuming the problem based only on the error message. Although my internship is getting closer to the end, I am Read more
Feature Improvements As we moved into Week 3, we continued resolving issues and improving features in the repository. One improvement involved updating the mark band for each event. Previously, the mark band could not be edited through the event edit form. To solve this, we created a <Box> component containing three <NumberInput> fields, allowing administrators to edit the gold, silver, and bronze marks for each event. We also improved how participant progress for each event is displayed on the dashboard. Read more
Weekly Review On 10th August, I had an online meeting with Dr. Shawn regarding the progress of my mockup website. He suggested that I should simplify further the information regarding the system’s flowchart on the main page to highlight the core message that we want to showcase to the potential visitors. He pointed out that I could make it so that when a user clicks on a button underneath each section of a flowchart, it should take them to a Read more
Customising the Default Layout and Fixing the Overflow Issue This week, I continued working on the React Admin issue assigned by Dr Shawn which is default layout customisation by creating a new copyright information button and displaying database information at the bottom-left corner of the side menu. After I submitted my pull request, Dr Shawn highlighted an overflow issue with the database URL display, and I spent most of my time this week working on resolving it. However, it turned Read more
Simplicity is Key On 3rd August, Dr. Shawn reviewed the first two mock pages for Sayembara’s website that I made during the first week of my internship. We have decided, however, that we minimize the amount of information-dumping that exists on the original website, and instead highlight on what the investors would possibly need from us with only a few words and attention-grabbing graphics. Dr. Shawn suggested I should highlight three things—a flowchart of what the system does, the legitimacy Read more