Featured on Undecided with Matt Ferrell
I'm happy I got to help Matt out again for our second apples-to-apples(ish) comparison between our two all-electric, heat pump-ified homes. This one focuses on the source of heat, and it's a follow-up to Matt's popular video from a year ago that compared our solar setups here. I really hope you get a lot out of this one too. Your thoughts, stories, and feedback are always appreciated here. Feel free to drop a comment below, no login required. As a tiny, independent content creator, it's hard to…
After 4 New England Winters Living With Just Heat Pumps
[This article is currently in draft form, revisions will be frequent these first few days.] TinkerTry's 2nd Collab w/ Matt - Geothermal vs Air Source Heat Pump: Which is Worth It? - Undecided with Matt Ferrell, Feb 24 2025 Introduction My wife and I took on the task of converting from gas to electric for our just-purchased "forever home" back in 2022. It was a 32-year-old, 1,856 sq. ft. house in need of a new roof, some remodeling, and major energy-efficiency upgrades including new…
This article summarizes my 2025, both professionally and personally. Please consider leaving a comment with feedback, or just to let me know you're interested in learning more about my installation and configuration of some of these tech items. With a ton of household-renovation-related work to focus on from 2022 to 2024, all but the most critical tech and home automation acquisitions had to be back-burnered. I needed to patiently wait for some spare time, and a budget. With many aging tech…
For those of you unable to attend, here's my full presentation deck with images that link to the corresponding articles and videos! Original article appears below the videos. Video New Haven Mayor Justin Eliker welcomes attendees to NorthEast Electric Vehicle Symposium Claire Coleman, CT Office of Consumer Counsel, a team of SMEs focused on public service regulation Matt Ferrell's panel "The Good, the Bad, the Ugly" of condo & business EV charging installations Marissa Gillett, Chair, Public…
This article summarizes my experience with a podcast, a list of videos, and some stories. Enjoy! Podcast Interested in an AI-generated podcast version of this article? Have a listen here, it's generated by NotebookLM. Freaks me about a bit, how about you? Please feel free to leave your comments about this "podcast" or anything else about this article right at the bottom, no login required! If you don't care to log in to your Google account to hear it, here's a shorter clip below: …
This set of two videos followed by a detailed, technical article is the first-hand information that I had hoped to find when I was trying to find out if it was even possible to go all-electric with solar back here in Connecticut back in 2021. It had become clear we needed to downsize to a one-level "forever" home, but there was no land near us suitable for new construction, and new construction prices were very high. As constructive feedback and questions come in from below the…
I think this interview video will help you get to know Matt better, gaining a better appreciation for just how much dedication and focus he has poured into his content creation business, and the training and experience it took him to get where he is today. Please feel free to leave comments below this article and/or video. We would love to hear what you think! Video TinkerTry YouTube Channel - Feb 01 2024 - Getting to know Matt Ferrell This video and article are not sponsored content. How this…
My video below and this article are not sponsored. In 2022, my wife and I decided to downsize to a nearby house that was built by the same La Cava Construction that crafted over a thousand simple, sturdy homes in Connecticut. We had set a goal to find an efficient "forever home" with fixed monthly costs. Choosing this modest 1,856 sq. ft. one story house in Wethersfield Connecticut worked out well for us, but it wasn't easy. Our story began with our home purchase offer being accepted…
Full Presentation Deck (PDF format) Full Presentation Deck (Google Slides) Here's the Google Doc version of the presentation, complete with animations. Enjoy! Full Video Replay TinkerTry - Sep 9 2023 - All-electric home renovation incentives, windows/insulation/heat pumps/Tesla Solar Roof & Powerwalls Below you'll find the original event description from the original event announcement: Description Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS) Join us for an exciting in-person event, the…
Thank you again Jim, for you being you, and for inviting me again! Including "The Home Tech Podcast" episodes, it's my 18th time on the air with you, with all of them listed below! It's always fun to catch up. I've got a few notes below, just in case you'd like to explore any of these items a little further. We discussed my recent solar experiences, and some of the benefits and challenges when going all-electric in our new-to-us 33-year-old home. We bought the house on Sep 15 2022,…
Live near Connecticut? Come join us, but you need to register here to attend -> bit.ly/NEEVS23 Description Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS) Join us for an exciting in-person event, the Northeast Electric Vehicle Symposium (NEEVS), held at the Hotel Marcel New Haven, Tapestry Collection by Hilton in New Haven, CT, USA. This symposium is a fantastic opportunity to immerse yourself in the world of electric vehicles and network with industry experts. Discover the latest incentives,…
This podcast was recorded on August 2 2023, using Zoom to join the crew. This is my 1st appearance on this podcast! It's always fun to try something new, especially with these super smart IT folks that I've had the honor of meeting at various IT user groups over the years. You can easily subscribe to Gigacast here. As an alternative to the basic player above, you'll have speed controls using the player at right. Warning, I talk pretty fast some times. Even better, use your favorite podcast…
TinkerTry YouTube Channel, July 26 2023 - Thoughts on Mohegan Sun [Tribal Land] opening soon for Tesla direct-sales deliveries in Connecticut NEW! Dec 20 2023 - TinkerTry YouTube Channel - Tesla Electric Vehicle Showroom at Mohegan Sun - Speeches at Grand Opening, Dec. 20 2023 It sure has been a long wait for Tesla EV car delivery to be possible right here in Connecticut, an issue that the EV Club of Connecticut has been trying to help address for over a decade! There have been so many years of…
On Saturday, May 6 the EV Club of Connecticut held an EV meetup in conjunction with Tesla Owners - Connecticut. An open house of the amazing Hotel Marcel was also held that same day, with quite the array of EVs on display for the public to see, including Westport's new Tesla Model Y. It was recently purchased after the huge monetary savings from their (now 2.5-year-old) Model 3 became very apparent. Officer Charles Sampson kindly gave us quite the exterior and interior tour, sharing many…
Dear TinkerTry Readers: Today May 8 2023 is my very first day at Pure Storage! As a "Systems Engineer - Commercial", it's a return to a role that's more similar to what I was doing at VMware than at Dell, but with an even greater focus on customers right here in Connecticut and the rest of New England, reporting to Chandler Bassett, and working with Jay Gallagher. It also turns out that several of the folks I'll be working closely with also live right here in the Greater Hartford…
I met Sandy and Cory in late 2021, and to my surprise reaching out to their team actually worked out, after a bit of back-and-forth negotiating the details. It's a Zoom event, and if this sounds like it's something you'd enjoy, please pre-register, read onward for all the details! Enjoy learning about the tech behind EVs? Don’t miss this special event where the @teardowntitan himself, Sandy Munro, will be joined by Munro & Associates President @CorySteuben on a very special EV Club of C…
Feel free to share this article TinkerTry.com/lowerbill with your friends and family. Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post or video. I do not have any financial affiliation with utility companies, and I don't make any commissions from you using the electric rate shopping link featured in this article and video. This information is accurate as of the time of publication, but actual rates will vary widely over time, in the thirty states that allow you to choose the provider of your…
Disclosure: I hold no stock and never held stock in any of the companies mentioned on the podcast or in this article. It sure didn't take long for Tesla to deploy this Magic Dock retrofit solution after the Biden administration's recent announcement: Biden-Harris Administration Announces New Standards and Major Progress for a Made-in-America National Network of Electric Vehicle Chargers Feb 15 2023 Tesla, for the first time, will open a portion of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination C…
This podcast was recorded on Thursday February 23 2023, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew Show notes below. This is my 11th appearance on this fun and informative podcast! You can easily subscribe to Tech Breakfast here. You can play this fresh episode in the embedded player: As an alternative to the players above, you'll have speed controls using the player at right. Even better, use your favorite podcast app, such as Overcast which lets you keep your hands on the wheel and…
Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post or video. Both are intended to highlight the benefits of SPAN by featuring a SPAN representative's technical presentation, two of Connecticut's SPAN customers, and an electrician who installed them. Presentation (PDF) Presentation (Google Slides) Here's the Google Doc version of the presentation, complete with animations. Enjoy! PDF Here's the PDF of the presentation, enjoy! Video TinkerTry - January 17 2023 - EV Club of Connecticut's smart electrical…
This podcast was recorded on Tuesday November 15 2022, using Telegram for Windows to join the TBP crew Show notes below. This is my 10th appearance on this fun and informative podcast! You can easily subscribe to Tech Breakfast here. You can play this fresh episode in the embedded player: Making dreams take flight Nov 16 2022 by Stella Katsipoutis-Varkanis at news.lafayette.edu At the 2022 Lafayette vs. Lehigh football game Nov. 19, the 158th meeting of college football’s most-played r…
This article has replaced my previous IA article, now that the same exact IA bits to download have been deemed worthy of the GA designation, as VMware proudly announced that vSphere 8 is now GA on Nov 8 2022, updating the same release notes accordingly. Ad Contents To get started with your lab testing, jump to the appropriate download section: If you have a free My VMware account If you're currently a vExpert If you're currently a VMUG Advantage EVALExperience subscriber If you're seeking the…
Official Passive House certification takes at least full year of operation and monitoring to become official, but it's a pretty safe bet that Hotel Marcel will meet that goal. Read onward and watch the video to learn how! Thirty-three-year-career Architect and Developer Bruce Becker was the President of the EV Club of Connecticut for many years, and we are both part of the small leadership team that met up at his just-barely-opened technological marvel called the Hotel Marcel back in June of…
This article has been replaced with this one, now that the same exact IA bits to download have been deemed worthy of the GA designation, as VMware proudly announced that vSphere 8 is now GA on Nov 8 2022 and updated the release notes. Ad Contents To get started with your lab testing, jump to the appropriate download section: If you have a free My VMware account If you're currently a vExpert If you're currently a VMUG Advantage EVALExperience subscriber If you're seeking the Free Hypervisor…
TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here. Full-time IT Professional, occasional consultant.
Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2025, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.
Project Manager of my All-Electric Home Retrofit
Easily update VMware ESXi at TinkerTry.com/easy-update-to-latest-esxi
Source - Below paragraphs generated by this comprehensive Perplexity Deep Research report that includes information from 43 sources including Wikipedia - Enshittification:
Why This Exemplifies Enshittification
- Initial Value: VMware initially built goodwill by offering reliable, feature-rich virtualization products and VMUG Advantage, which provided significant value to users.
- Business User Phase: Broadcom prioritized enterprise/hyperscaler customers, extracting more revenue from them while degrading the experience for smaller users (perpetual license elimination, steep subscription costs, discontinued free products).
- Shareholder Phase: The rapid transition to subscriptions and price increases align with maximizing short-term shareholder value, potentially at the long-term expense of the platform's broader ecosystem.
...
The VMware situation perfectly illustrates what one industry observer described as "the classic case of enshittification—where a platform degrades in value to the user to extract maximum value for the shareholder". Even if Broadcom were to reverse course, "the trust is gone" and "the threat of future audits and contract changes remains".
Jan 04, 2026 at 3:12 AM UTC
TinkerTry's 2025 Home Tech Refresh
"This is a simple test of TinkerTry.com new improved handling of Disqus, and it uses the new API and lazy and deferred loading wherever possible. Disqus comments have returned to the sidebar area of al..."
Nov 18, 2025 at 4:29 AM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"so on an existing installation is not possible to update it? i couldnt even figure out how to create the tokens lol i dont have that option i think on the dashboard..."
Nov 18, 2025 at 4:24 AM UTC
Download all the VMware vSphere 5.5 pieces to get your home lab started
"I cannot do that. I run a legit site, and I have no special access to the code anyway since I don’t work for Broadcom."
Nov 18, 2025 at 4:23 AM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"It is quite frustrating. While I managed to get the free ESXi 8U3e hypervisor installed (new install only) with a license that doesn’t expire, you still need a token to even patch it the easy way: h..."
Nov 16, 2025 at 8:44 PM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"i m trying to find the way to generate the tokens etc but i m confused with broadcom....i think its about the time to start migrating to different platform...."
Jul 29, 2025 at 6:08 PM UTC
Download all the VMware vSphere 5.5 pieces to get your home lab started
"Hello, I need help with the vCenter installer. Could you make it available in some drive so I can download it? I have the license and need to activate it to work in an old environment."
Jul 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM UTC
Download all the VMware vSphere 5.5 pieces to get your home lab started
"Olá preciso de ajuda com o instalador do vCenter, poderiam me disponibiliar em algum drive para que eu possa fazer o download? Eu possuo a licença e preciso ativar para trabalhar em um antigo ambien..."
Jul 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM UTC
How to resolve “This virtual machine appears to be in use” error in VMware Workstation
"Still works, using VMware 17.6.3"
Jun 11, 2025 at 7:51 PM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"I sourced the update zip from a third-party website and ran the following commands. The update seem to have gone fine. I suggest verifying the checksum of the file if you go down that route, as an ext..."
Jun 05, 2025 at 4:57 PM UTC
TinkerTry Supermicro SuperServer Bundles - powerful and efficient virtualization home labs
"I have not, as I moved homes and got rid of everything old, and I tend to avoid eBay stuff partly for support and energy use reasons. It’s amazing that I’m still running both of my SuperServers t..."
Jun 05, 2025 at 8:19 AM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"Yes. It can be downloaded from the Broadcom site. It is under Free Downloads and comes with a Free license integrated in the ISO. https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/free-downloads"
Jun 05, 2025 at 2:56 AM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"I admit I haven't looked into that, but I appreciate you dropping that idea my way here on TinkerTry! I'm doing much of the same soul searching and tech solution searching that many others are likely ..."
Jun 04, 2025 at 8:41 PM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"Is there a way to upgrade with the full ISO without overwriting the currently installed license? It wouldn't be a total loss if we could somehow mount the ISO and use a command like below to upg..."
May 28, 2025 at 11:33 AM UTC
TinkerTry Supermicro SuperServer Bundles - powerful and efficient virtualization home labs
"This was such an insightful look back at the impressive legacy of these Supermicro Xeon D bundles! It's remarkable how these compact yet powerful systems served the homelab community so well for ..."
May 26, 2025 at 5:10 AM UTC
How to easily update your VMware ESXi Hypervisor to the latest version with one ESXCLI command
"Which are the others, if it is not a secret? I am also looking for alternatives."
May 26, 2025 at 1:50 AM UTC
How to resolve “This virtual machine appears to be in use” error in VMware Workstation
"Glad you found my article, thank you for the feedback, sure seems like they should have fixed this long ago!"
Allan Tygert
Feb 02, 2026 at 6:44 PM UTC
USB Image Tool for Windows easily backs up and restores your complete VMware ESXi hypervisor on USB or SD drives, a simp
"Thank you for the backup process. I followed the video and everything worked as expected. I was wondering if you could share some information on the tool you use to have a VNC-like connection to you..."