Technology Posts

These posts are more tech-oriented. If you’re not particularly a tech enthusiast, have never heard of Linux and don’t really care about the “cloud”, you can safely skip these entries.

  • I am a digital hoarder
    You’ve amassed hundreds, or maybe thousands of (fill in the blank with whatever digital goodie you hoard – e-books, video files, meme photos…etc.). More than … Read more
  • Ohio Linuxfest 2023
    I made it. Friday was good, but I got here late. Time Attended? 9:00  Arduino Meets Raspberry Pi Using O.L.D. Programming Techniques – Cameron Hughes … Read more
  • Nine traits of the veteran Unix admin
    Note: I found this article online and wanted to save it to my Wallabag instance, but it’s frustratingly split into 2 pages and would require … Read more
  • Calibre eBook Viewer – Settings and Stylesheets
    I have fought with Calibre-Server book reader for a long time. The ability to use any web-browser to read my e-books and have it sync my position … Read more
  • One man’s trash is another man’s treasure
    I go out walking every morning. My usual route takes me around my apartment complex and the apartment complex next door. Last Wednesday’s walk was … Read more
  • Everything in a browser
    I made an effort today to do my weekly routine from the Chrome Browser on my Linux Laptop. I had to install it and sign-in and set … Read more
  • SSH Host Verification
    How often have you seen something like this? The temptation to quickly type yes and hit the enter key is great. But do you know why you … Read more
  • Generic Directory Backup Script
    I regularly have directories of files I want to back up in case of disaster. Usually these are files that change often, and I only … Read more
  • Ubuntu Phased Updates
    Q: Ubuntu phased updates Recently, during the normal software upgrade process (i.e., apt upgrade or apt dist-upgrade) I started getting messages like this: What are … Read more
  • Self-hosting LanguageTool
    Summary LanguageTool is a free online proofreading service for English, Spanish, and 20 other languages. Instantly check your text for grammar and style mistakes. It’s … Read more
  • Hardening SSH
    Summary It’s about time I get a standard sshd_config file that doesn’t rely on sane defaults. Disabling Password-based Authentication You should disable password-based authentication altogether. … Read more
  • Beets Config
    If you don’t know already, beets is a command line python program meant to automatically sort music. If you do know already, how have you … Read more
  • Uncomplicated Firewall / Docker Workaround
    To get UFW to work well with Docker, you have to add some rules to the bottom of /etc/ufw/after.rules Adding Rules Then you can add … Read more
  • Linux Terminal Emulators: KiTTY over PuTTY
    Summary Do you work on Linux machines? Do you only have a Windows machine from which to connect? Then you’re probably already using PuTTY. Well, … Read more
  • Fun with wget
    wget multiple files In the above example, -r and -l1 options together enable 1-level deep recursive retrieval, and -A option specifies lists of file name … Read more
  • Doctor Docker (or “How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Tolerate the Container”)
    Backstory: I’ve been either paying for or using 3rd part apps for Read-It-Later (Pocket), Hosted Bookmarks (Raindrop.io) and an RSS Feedreader (Inoreader) for about a … Read more
  • VS Code for Markdown Notes
    My long, winding path to Markdown notes nirvana For years I’ve been looking for a cross-platform markdown editor. There are several good ones out there, … Read more
  • Get off my (digital) lawn
    The year was 1994. I was working apartment maintenance and had a healthy interest in computers. I also had a IBM XT knockoff in my … Read more
  • Ohio Linuxfest 2020 – Nov 06-07 2020 (Virtual)
    Friday 2020-11-06 Day One YouTube Stream Saturday 2020-11-07 Day Two Youtube Stream
  • Ohio Linuxfest 2019 – Nov 02 2019, Columbus, Ohio
    My Schedule 09:00 How Will You Steer Your Open Source Career? Keynote Rikii Endsley 11:00 Delta Ansible: Keeping up With Changes and Deprecations Andrew Cziryak … Read more
  • FretMaster Beta
    In 1998 I wrote the only piece of software I had intended other people to see. I wrote it in Visual Basic 4. It’s a … Read more
  • SELinux is the devil
    I spent two hours troubleshooting strange Apache behavior on a new VM before discovering SELinux was enforcing I always use CentOS in the cloud because … Read more
  • Read My Feed
    Two weeks ago I stopped using TinyTinyRSS as my RSS feed reader. I love having self-hosted apps and the privacy and control they provide, but … Read more
  • Fort Impostor
  • Ohio Linuxfest 2017 – Sep 29-30 2017, Columbus, Ohio
    Attended talks: Command Line Tools, Clif Flynt Keynote: The Battle Over Our Technology, Karen Sandler (robo-lawyer) Lumina Rising: Challenging Desktop Orthodoxy, Ken Moore The ‘Onwards’ … Read more
  • 2017 Cleveland Givecamp
    I made it to Cleveland Givecamp this year after many years of wanting to go but never having the guts. I added this to my … Read more
  • Linux Doesn’t Ask “Are You Sure?”
    Preface: This happened a couple of years back and has completely resolved since. It’s also one of those events that fellow sysadmins might relate to … Read more
  • Earliest Know Record of “The Linux Guy”
    I found what I believe to be the earliest reference of me using Linux on the internet. Via Google Groups, I had posted a question … Read more
  • Nerves of Jello
    Ever have a really bad day? Or a bunch of bad days in a row? Me too. I’ve masked the names to protect the guilty. … Read more
  • Probably the worst day ever
    After it was all over, I knew I was going to have to write about it. I don’t know why. Perhaps I like re-reading my … Read more
  • Programming on a Full Brain
    I like my job. Remember that. “It helps to remind those who think of programming as a “cushy job” that programmer burnout rates are high, … Read more
  • Abort, Retry, Ignore… Nevermore?
    Abort, Retry, Ignore… Nevermore? I installed Linux again. This is like the fourth or fifth time. This time I found a new distribution: Mepis. I … Read more