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How to create a local RAG-enabled LLM server that provides safe access to your documents

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This tutorial explains how to set up a headless RAG-enabled large language model (LLM) on an Ubuntu server. By the end, you will be able to chat with your LLM running locally on your own infrastructure. Your conversations will not be sent to third-party servers, ensuring that your prompts, responses, and any uploaded files remain private and under your control. A quick word on security Effective network security begins with a strong perimeter defence. One of the most critical steps is configuring a firewall on your router and hosts to explicitly deny all unsolicited inbound traffic from the internet. This “default deny” posture ensures that no internal services are accidentally exposed, creating a controlled environment where all communication is initiated from within your trusted network. A common and potentially dangerous misconception is that Network Address Translation (NAT) alone provides sufficient security. While NAT obscures internal devices, it is a routing mechanism rather...

Life without Parole: Letters from Prison: Joan

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The following letter is by Ky Walsh from prison. He is serving a sentence for the death of John Kudson—the man who murdered his wife, Joan. Joan Walsh was a remarkable woman who founded “Call Joan,” a philanthropic organisation dedicated to helping struggling women escape abuse and build better lives. This correspondence with Anne, who is researching Joan’s life and legacy, offers an intimate portrait of the woman behind the foundation and reveals the depth of loss that drove Ky to his fateful decision. You can read the story of Ky in the e-book “Life Without Parole” available from: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FXRWM7J9 https://www.kobo.com/mt/en/ebook/life-without-parole-6    Dear Anne, It was good to meet you in person, albeit in the less comfortable surroundings of the visitation area. I’m glad you understand why I insist that anyone seeking personal information must pass my validation process. It may appear lengthy or even obstructive, but my intention is simple: I...

XMAS 2025

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  Follow This, That and (Maybe), the Other :

Outage Checking and Image Manipulation (GTL 202511)

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Introduction In this edition of GTL, the first link was inspired by the recent hiccups from AWS and Azure. The other two dive into the wild world of image manipulation and authenticity. You might even want to team up with colleagues and start your own Friday Photo Forensics Club —a playful nod to Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club . Who knew pixels could be so mysterious?  

BNF’s botched upgrade — the final chapter

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BNF Bank spent more than €1 million stabilising services after a troubled core-system upgrade in late March that left customers locked out of accounts, unable to make payments and scrambling for answers. That is the picture painted by CEO David Power in an exclusive Times of Malta interview, six months after the migration went badly wrong. I have covered this story before — examining the technical failures and the bank’s security posture — and this will likely be my final instalment on the affair. My earlier pieces set out the timeline and the phishing fallout; they remain available for readers who want a deeper chronology and the earlier reporting. What the CEO told the paper David Power described the project as “massive”: BNF replaced “every single system in the bank” and switched card providers from Visa to Mastercard on the same weekend. He says the bank tested the new platform for 18 months and ran more than 3,500 tests before go-live, but that on the day of the launch “one of ...

How to Batch Convert Old Blue Iris BVR Files to MP4

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In this HowTo we’re going to demonstrate how to batch-convert Blue Iris BVR files into MP4 . The situation we’ll look at today is one in which you have old BVR files that cannot be placed into your existing production, because Blue Iris has settings that control how old clip files are managed. You can download Blue Iris without activating it. The trial will operate for 15 days, which should provide enough time to do your conversions. A virtual machine is an ideal environment for this task. Go to https://blueirissoftware.com/#download Your BVR files Take note of the number of BVR files and the amount of disk space they require. Configure Blue Iris Launch Blue Iris, go into Settings , and select the Storage tab. Blue Iris has a number of default folders. This how-to will use the Stored folder. Take note of the location associated with this folder (default: C: ). Adjust the size of the storage location so it is larger than the total size of your BVR clips. Uncheck the Limi...