Bypassing YouTube IP block with FreeTube and optimized Tor

Recently, YouTube is messing with user disobedience again. For the sake of that, FreeTube has been updating with fix multiple times. Although FreeTube has fixed the API block done by YouTube, I have to deal with a new IP block from my end as its aftermath. “YouTube has blocked your IP address from watching videos. Please try switching to a different VPN or proxy.” There are many ways to get around this IP block. Because I think switching VPN server is too heavy just for this, I would like to use a proxy. ...

August 26, 2025 · 3 min · Jun

How to Scan, OCR and Share a Book Anonymously

Recently, I have encountered a very rare out-of-print book that I decided to save it for the world with modern technology. Because I don’t have a real scanner, I tested all sorts of scanner android apps that are open source. OpenNoteScanner not working on every phone, auto cropping not working properly, capture fast with postprocessing, high quality result. OpenScan no auto cropping PDF-Doc-Scan auto cropping not working with book at all docus not so good auto cropping, no retouch CleanSCAN no auto cropping OSS-DocumentScanner with functional auto cropping most of the times, has filter and postprocessing but at cost of slow capture, very high quality result It ends up OSS-DocumentScanner is the best of all. To make things easier, I customized the best gamma, contrast and filter as default, based on my lighting and book condition. ...

July 26, 2025 · 2 min · Jun

Dealing with the Enshittification of ProtonVPN's Free Plan (WireGuard+NextDNS)

This post is originally composed on 2024-11-28. I’m updating it for combining NextDNS, since I have started using a new freemium app with nasty ADs in it. ProtonVPN’s free plan doesn’t allow me to configure AD blocking DNS, especially with their official app. But with WireGuard app, this can be trivial. Thank to the original guide on reddit, the newly added part is in the end of this article. As a early adopter of Protonmail, I use their later coming VPN product as well, regularly yet lightly. Although I’m a potential customer but still not paying for any of their plan, for many reasons. ...

May 12, 2025 · 5 min · Jun

Migrating VMs from ESXi to Proxmox VE

There are many reasons why I’m doing this. In the days when Virtual Machine was the thing, VMware Workstation was the go-to option for a Windows host to run VMs. We have to find cracked version for personal use, since there was no VirtualBox neither Hyper-V. Many years ago, when I first decided to have a proper homelab in my household, I went blindly into ESXi just because VMware Workstation has already installed on all of my computers. Although I was pretty like Proxmox during that time, it was considered for not so serious projects. ...

May 2, 2025 · 4 min · Jun

Upgrading/Fixing Cheapskate's AI Server

This is the server I build back in 2023, based on a moded Dell Optiplex 3010 SFF motherboard with i5-2300 and Tesla M40. I wasn’t planning to put an Xeon E3 back then but something happened which changed my mind. After approximately 1.5 years of 24/7 running, my CPU power extension cable melted. This is just like the PCIe to EPS adapter situation last time, so I have to replace it with a heavier gauge (something better than the cheapest like above). ...

February 22, 2025 · 4 min · Jun