At work, we have some Lexmark x364 and Lexmark x544 MFDs, along with Xerox 7125’s. We use these around the business to scan documents directly to email.

Recently our hosted exchange parter (Fasthosts.co.uk) announced that they are turning off CRAM-MD5 connections, in favour of SSL/TLS. Unfortunately, our Lexmarks being slightly older have no option for SSL connections to email, and the Xerox simply didn’t seem to work no matter what options I tried.

After being grumpy for a couple of days because I couldn’t work out what I was going to do, I stumbled upon a piece of software called stunnel, which acts as a TLS proxy.

You will need to install it on an ‘always on’ device, such as a file server, then you point your non TLS device to that server, it then does the negotiation and sends the traffic on to the email server.

The default config comes setup for GMail, which also doesn’t accept non secure connections, so it just needed a little tweaking for our server, this is the main section that needs changing:

From:
[gmail-smtp]
client = yes
accept = 127.0.0.1:25
connect = smtp.gmail.com:465
verify = 2
CAfile = ca-certs.pem
checkHost = smtp.gmail.com
OCSPaia = yes

To this

[fasthosts-smtp]
client = yes
accept = my servers internal ip:25
connect = smtp.fasthosts.co.uk:465
verify = 2
CAfile = ca-certs.pem
checkHost = smtp.gmail.com
OCSPaia = yes

Once you have changed that, save the file and reload the config.

Then point your scanners SMTP setting to your stunnel servers IP using port 25. Add your email address and password in the settings on the scanner, as that is used for authentication to the server. Save the settings, and start scanning.

From the testing I have carried out, it appears to not have any impact of the speed of the emails being sent. They are still waiting in my inbox by the time I get back from the scanner!

If anyone is struggling setting this up, please comment below and I will see what I can do!

Slow drivers really get my goat!

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to fine people that don’t achieve the speed limit? Like the person I followed home tonight; 32 in a 50 is not acceptable.

If you can’t drive in the dark, don’t, get off the road!

</rant>

In my defense, if companies just did what they said they would, I would not be grumpy!

This moan is about Carpetright in Cheltenham, at the Gallagher retail park.

We selected our carpet fairly quickly, and arranged for a chap to come and measure up our stairs and landing to get a proper quote. That part of the process was smooth. We were happy with the quote, and decided to proceed (Although we were pressured slightly to accept the quote before the ‘sale’ ended). A date was booked for the 29th June (today!).

We were contact last week to say their fitter was actually on holiday on the 29th, so we would need to re-book. We were not happy with that, as it had already been booked for over a week. Fortunately, the store manager was able to call in a favor, and had another contractor who could fit it on the 29th at 10am. Excellent!

Well it is now 12 o’clock on the 29th…and we still have bare stairs. We have spoken to the store, they have been unable to contact the fitter. So what do we do now? I have a good mind to go in on Monday, kick up a stink, and get my money back.

Update: They have confirmed it isn’t happening today. They have re-booked us for next Saturday, oh goody!

Next moan might be later today. We are going to Dunelm to exchange a faulty item. Can’t wait!

Back in the day, me and a few of my mates used to play this on frequent visits to burger king in Mr Jobsons XR3i convertible!

It brings back many happy memories, so I thought I would share it with any ‘old skool ravers’ out there.

Here is the audio if you fancy a listen! DJ Dougal – New Year 96

I have started to look in to one of the new products that Coopers supply, Full Auction, and the fact that it doesnt score very highly in SEO scores.

From what I can see, it is due to the lack of relevant meta tags…and links in from other sites.

Full Auction is a motor trade auction site helping dealers to dispose of trade in vehicles to used car traders.

I have bagged myself a very nice Golf 2.0 GT Mk5, picking it up on Wednesday . The best part….Sainsbury’s didn’t charge me anything to change the policy to the new car.

Here she is:

In my last job, I was fortunate enough to get a company car…I start a new job on Monday, so had to give that back and find my own car to buy.

I finally decided on a 54 plate Toyota Celica, mainly because the engines are bomb proof. I was due to pick that up yesterday, so I rang the garage in the morning to confirm everything was OK, only to be told the engine had blown up. No compression on Cylinders 1 and 4.

Here she is:

So now I have told the garage that I dont want the car…even of they can repair it; Mainly because, even if they repair it, I wont know what other damage it has caused.

So, I am off hunting for a new car today….before I start my new job TOMORROW!