Ashley Firth
Network Engineer, Amateur Photographer, Electronic Hobbyist, Transport Nerd
My Hobbies
DIY / Repair
I like to get hands-on and repair things myself. Here me and my partner had my car apart to repair the broken washer fluid reservoir that has a leak.
I have also modified the internal light with addressable LEDs powered by an Arduino, So I can have pretty patterns or a nice purple when the doors are opened.
I do photography in my spare time. Here is a sample of some of my photos. I like doing landscapes & sunsets the most.
My Networking Expereance
My Servers
I have been getting my home server setup running which has been helping me develop my general & more specialist IT skills as well as learn technologies such as Doker & Hyper Visors.
The process of building the servers and the network has helped me learn how to install a full network from scratch & what goes into every part of the process, from how to plan it properly, to the design & its maintenance.
The servers I have are, (in order top down)
24 Port TPlink Switch
DELL R220
HP Proliant
DELL R710
DELL R710
DELL R720
Some Services On my servers I am running:
Unraid
Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04
Windows 10, server 2019
Nginx Websites
Hosted Servers For Friends & Clients
Extra Activities
A fun weekend out camping riding small electric & petrol motorbikes around in a field environment. The electric motorbike was homemade by a friend a few days before his birthday.
Testing my partners homemade arcade I modified & installed a Raspberry PI to work alongside the original arcade board. Required wiring up a second button matrix to an existing one as well as some clever configuration of a KVM switch.
This Museum Is NOT Obsolete
Look Mum No Computer (Sam)
The owner of the museum who also runs a YouTube channel about music & custom instruments. He is the guy me & my partner volunteer for. I do & a whole range of tasks from helping with customers & to keeping an eye on operations.
The Strowger UAX13 Telephone Exchange
I help out with the maintenance & running of the telephone exchange. As the equipment is old & mechanical it requires quite a bit of maintenance to keep it operational, especially as it was not stored in the best of conditions over the decades before it was reinstated to functionality.
The Commodore Pet Running BASIC
As well as helping with the repairing of equipment I have also been learning MIDI & interfacing with the custom-restored organ project that took up the old workshop room. This project has also been teaching me the basics of learning how to play music.
An IBM 5160 Being Repaired
The museum has a small selection of vintage computers running mostly music software & a few games. My partner & I work on fixing these machines which can be quite a challenge to diagnose & repair tech that is 40-odd years old.
East Anglia Transport Museum
I had been a volunteer at The East Anglia Transport Museum for 5 years doing a variety of roles to support the successful operation of the museum.
An overview positions I have done while volunteering.
General Assistant
Event Assistant / refreshment
Café tills / genrall asistent
Trolleybuss conducter
Tram conductor
Train Gard
Carpark attendant
IT Assistant
Matinence asistent
My voluntary role encompassed a variety of roles and tasks to support the successful operation of the museum.
During the winter maintenance season, my main duties were around the IT infrastructure, which included server maintenance and rebuilding computers and components. This also included laying new cabling such as fibre lines, network runs, setting up new Wi-Fi access points and workstations.
During the operational season, I work in a customer-facing role within the Café, including handling payments, and as a Conductor on the vintage trolleybuses. I assist with ongoing maintenance on the vehicles and support the team during special events.
