"Samuel von Brukenthal" National School
2014 - 2018 Middle School
2018 - 2022 Highschool
In middle school I studied in German.
In highschool I studied Mathematics and Informatics (in German). Here in the Informatics class I was tasked to create a simple website in HTML, then in PHP, but my ambition got the best of me and I also implemented CSS, leading to the creation of My first actual website.
Cluj-Napoca Technical University (UTCN)
Electronics, Telecommunications and Information Technology (ETTI)
Oct 2022 - present
In the first year at this school and I can only say good things about it. I learned about electronics in a circuit (just some basic stuff: about resistors, high- and low-pass filters), I learned more about programming (C++ with C syntax and Python from an optional course) and how to easily speak with people.
Languages I know
C/C++
I learned to programm pure C++ in highschool and continued using it in college with C syntax. I also learned to program in C for the Arduino platform on my own around 2018.
Python
I joined an optional Python course in fall of 2022 and got a diploma by demonstrating my abilities by creating an application. This app uses a config file and scrapes a website for search parameters in the config file and saves the title and price of listings to a list, sorts them and displays them by ascending price.
Spoken/Written languages
English - you can evaluate my knowledge by reading this website
German - studied as native language and earned the DSD2 certificate (C1 - Writing, C1 - Reading, C1 - Listening, B2 - Speaking)
Romanian - I was born and live in Romania and speak Romanian on a daily basis.
Electronics
Since I joined middle school, I had taken a class in Electronics. I learned to design circuits, to solder and to work with electricity.
2014 - 2016 and 2018
The alarm circuit I made on top of the schematics.
Arduino/ESP32
I have made different projects using Arduino Nanos and Pro Minis, ESP32s and STM32 as the microcontroller (μc) and temperature sensors (DS18B20, DHT22), relay boards, light interruption sensors, MOSFETs and 12v LEDs, neopixels, i2c displays, RTC clocks, microSD card slots, SPI displays, servo motors, stepper motor controllers and more that I can't remember.
Projects:
- Bicycle brake, blinker system
- I2C, SPI Modules (Display, RTC, CAN-Bus, ...)
- Neopixel Controller, 12v RGBW strip controller (with NMOS)
- Self-leveling Spoon (Hackathon) - Working
- E-Throttle "repeater" for cruise control - In Development/Waitin on Parts
Raspberry Pi
The first thing I did when I received a Raspberry Pi 3 for Christmas, I installed Raspbian and played around on the Linux desktop.
Projects:
- NodeRED Dashboard (temp sensors, relays, etc)
- Outside Thermometer (temp logging to server) - In Use
- OpenVPN Server
- Car Media System - In Development + In Use
Linux Experience since 2019
Daily use ~1y (2020) - Ubuntu, popOS, EndeavourOS
On top of the countless hours I have played with Raspberry Pis, I installed Linux on my laptop out of necessity. But that turned into passion and I installed it onto my PC as well.
My laptop is an old Sony Vaio and I had to install Linux just to keep it cool and quiet. With all the backround power usage, Windwos kept the fan always running (at an audible level). I knew Linux had none of the bloatware that Windows has and I tried various flavours of Linux. I decided to use PopOS! for a while and half a year later, after I installed too many resource-intensive apps, I upgraded to Ubuntu 22.0 a week after it was launched.
Shortly after I installed Linux on my laptop, I also set up dual boot on my PC, because I liked Linux, but I needed Windows. Not every app I used could be emulated through Wine
. I settled on EndeavourOS to learn a different distro. Ubuntu (and popOS!) are built on the Debian
branch of Linux, while EndeavourOS is built on ArchLinux
. There are different commands to install apps, update them and the core functionality is built for different users.
Sadly, my laptop was too old for college and my PC was too bulky. And I need Windows apps for school so I (temporarily) have traded my PC for my brother's laptop.
Today I use Linux when managing my website, or when using a Raspberry Pi, but tomorrow, I might buy myself a laptop and not install windows :)
TrueNAS - NAS, VM
My father's old workstation died and he got a new one. I decided I wanted to repair it and create a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server. I replaced the motherboard, got a few HDDs and I was off to the races. I tried out Kemp(FreeLoadBalancer), TrueNAS Core, TrueNAS Scale and UnRaid. Because I wanted to keep the cost down and I liked to tinker, I chose TrueNAS. I learned the basics on the Core version and upgraded to Scale. I created a Pool with 2 mirrored HDDs and a cache SSD and shared it locally using the SMB service so any machine in my household can access it, both Windows and Linux, assuming the user knows the login credentials.
This website (or rather the previous version) was on that TrueNAS server as a VM. But I also had a Raspberry Pi that read the outside temperature, saved it in a local database and showed the current temperature and a graph of past temperatures on a web page. That page was accesible only on the same network. Thanks to this video I learned about load balancers and that you can access different web servers with a single hostname.
The VMs I set up were both running Ubuntu Server. The first one had LAMP installed with SFTP configured and the second one had HAProxy installed. I configured multiple servers in HAProxy, all accessed through port 443, for which I created firewall rules in my router's configuration.
I had to take the server offline due to the power usage, but my website lives on... In the cloud.
Software
LAMP
- Teddysun's Github repository has to be the easiest way to install everything you need to run a website
HAProxy
- When I hosted this website on my own server, I used HAProxy as a reverse proxy to access different local devices through my FQDN and a single open port on my router.
Cloud
AWS
- I hosted this website in Amazon's cloud for 1 year. Or until the free year for the t2.micro plan ran out.
- I (again) created an Ubuntu machine, this time in the cloud, and configured a new Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to fit my needs. (I also tried RHEL and OpenSUSE, but LAMP did not install).
Hetzner
- I currently use Hetzner as the home of my website because it is simple to use with a robust set of features.
Cloudflare
- Speaking of this website, I chose to use Cloudflare manage the traffic to my website because it is one of the best options and because it is free (for my needs). They are also the FQDN providers for my TLDs
CAD Design, slicing parts for 3D printing
I learned to use SolidWorks more than 5 years ago on my dad's work computer and I transitioned to blender for an artistic view (and because I could play with it on my computer) and later I found out that a friend that printed 3d parts for fun and for a robot since he was part of the robotics team was using Fusion360. I started using it when I needed a piece of trim for my car and got used to the mechanics of the different software.
I occasionally design parts in Fusion360 for fun or out of necessity and I started learning Altium for circuit design.
Honorable Mentions
Soldering
If it's not a USB-C female connector or smaller, I can solder it with the tools I currently own.
With a cheap spot welder from AliExpress, I can weld battery tabs (and have recently welded nickel strips to the license plate light holder)
CAT5e/CAT6 cabling
I learned how to create custom length ethernet cables when I was troubleshooting the internet speed we were getting. I looked on the website of our ISP (internet service provider) and they were not providing plans for speeds less than gigabit with fiber. With an internet speed test we were getting 100mbit speeds. There was a combined fault of bad cabling and misconfiguration from the ISP.
Computer/Laptop disassembly, repair and rebuild
When I was in middle school, I watched my father build his new computer and that sparked my interest in technology.
The next Christmas, both me and my brother received a computer and we had to build it. I remember the computer parts were placed like a treasure hunt. We found the CPU on a branch of the Christmas tree and a post-it note with a clue to the next component was stuck to it. After we finished building it, we began the installation of Windows and left for family dinner at our grandparents.
Latest developments:
Added Graphs (temperature, fuel price)
Added a login system for me (admin) and clients/users
VirtualHouse and InventoryManagement progress
Photography showcase (clients can add text, choose the cover image and hide images)
Server migration from AWS to Hetzner
Currently working on:
Cluj-Napoca Formula Student electrical team
Inventory Management for the Formula Student team
Raspberry Pi Sound System for my car (Arduino for throttle modulated cruise control)
Possibly adding a mail server for myself
VirtualHouse.ro development