My little Raspberry Pi 5 with an old 1tb Hard drive connected to a WiFi extender. It ain't much but I like it.
I used to work in automation as an electrician so I'm all about those coils and curves.
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- 3 yr. ago
I keep everything I do as minimal as possible.
Everything is documented using either
shscripts or markdown style plain text files. If I need anything more than that, I'm over complicating things for my brain.The upside to this approach is that it works anywhere because it's all just text files and it's very tiny in size. I am more interested in making low-power/low-spec things work so less is appropriate.
I used to work in automation within the auto industry. Once I became aware of the damage I was doing by being an enabler, that shit began to eat away at my mental health. I knew I had to make an exit plan when all of my day dreams while working there involved Molotov cocktails.
I don't envy anyone who has to deal with that kind of mental load. Knowing the harm you're causing while wanting the opposite but still needing to survive the next day, week or month.
Thanks, I've learned a lot about Linux focusing on learning POSIX portable scripts. It's been an experience.
I just have two containers. Caddy which handles let's encrypt certificates and Kiwix to host Wikipedia plus about 10 other wikis, ranging from Linux coding to first aid, gardening, and other stuff meant for local self sufficiency.
I also use Caddy as a basic file server. I have a number of self sufficiency books on there, POSIX coding references and all my scripts and notes on Alpine Linux. I also have a static blog site there simply using Caddy as well.
I have a strong focus on minimalism so I don't intend in going crazy with self hosted services. Also I have huge trust issues with so many self hosted projects so making my own projects when possible means less exposure to security vulnerabilities, AI or enablers of Authoritarian powers.
I spent a lot of time making it secure with some added obscurity so only myself and those who I share my site with can feel safe connecting to my server. It's been quite the learning adventure.
Let me know if you have any issues with the motd script. I gather most of the information from /sys/ and /proc/ files so hopefully it's consistent and accurate across other distributions. I've only tested it on Alpine Linux.
For the past couple weeks I've been working on getting a small self hosted server up and running. It's running off a Rasberry Pi 5 + a portable USB 3 hard drive so it's quite small and simple. It runs Alpine Linux and I'm using rootless podman to manage my containers.
I've been writing my own backup system which are all POSIX portable scripts focused around
rsync. One script handles chains of rsync commands based on files. One script handles the number of backups and the current script I'm writing handles stopping and starting containers for before and after a backup.All the scripts are minimal, focus on one specific task and easy to use in scripts. There's lots of focus on making them safe to use with lots of error handling.
After that I need to make a keep alive script because I lose all connectivity to the server sometimes, including ssh. The device isn't frozen, just stops talking for reasons unknown. After that I want to secure my ssh connection with wiregaurd and my server will be secure and low maintenance enough for my liking.
I have my completed scripts up on codeberg.
I'm currently in the process of setting up my home server again but this was basically my setup before. Alpine Linux + SSH + Docker and I kept everything to a minimum.
This time I'm setting up rootless Podman in place of Docker and as of today the switch over is complete.
I'm thinking of trying to use wireguard as a way to secure my ssh port but I'm still trying to learn and figure out if that's possible.
With all the security and trust issues hitting the self-hosting headlines, less and simple is completely fine with me.
Minimizing small acts enables manipulative behaviour.
Since 2020 I've spent a lot of my personal time learning about manipulation and learning how to identity and handle manipulators. I've also spent a lot of my personal time teaching others how to identity and deal with manipulators in their personal lives.
After learning so much about manipulation, it's hard not to see how much manipulation has been normalized in our everyday lives.
Ignoring the small acts means letting a new boundary be normalized. Minimizing those small acts is attempting to ignore them. It is important not to enable and normalize the boundaries that are being pushed.
Authoritarian power and manipulators will not stop pushing boundaries. To them, enough is never enough.
I'm less concerned if it's age verification or if it's an optional field. The issue I feel is that it's pushing boundaries and normalizing new boundaries.
I'm viewing this with a focus on authoritarian power and manipulation. There seems to be far less resistance to change if it's not immediate. That's why small acts such as "making a joke," creating optional fields or reversing laws can be so dangerous. It normalizes a new boundary that can be pushed further. At the very least, it's enabling the behaviour to push new boundaries.
Focusing on the definition of what it's called seems to distract from what's happened, the response to what has happened and what that could mean in the future for large groups of people's personal identity, safety and freedom.
Authoritarian power and manipulation should not be enabled or normalized.
I use Linux Mint DE for steam games which I barely play anymore so this whole Systemd/age-verification mess has next to no effect on me. It's still really interesting to see everything play out in real time.
Speaking strictly as an outsider looking in, I still can't help but feel uncomfortable and slightly worried about what has happened already. People who seek authoritarian powers over others will always start small, even if it's "just a joke." Always pushing boundaries and normalizing new boundaries that are further away from freedom. It's never ending.
Fighting back against people who's only source of creativity or identity is labeling and categorizing other people is fucking exhausting. And they don't even make an effort for their one creative outlet either...
For blogs I found two interesting projects that are super minimal. BashWrite uses only
bashandsedcommands but it seems to be no longer under development.Another bash script that seems to have more development activity is BSSG. This one requires a markdown processor such as
cmarkorpandocbut it's still quite minimal.I love minimalism and writing scripts so these two projects really interest me.
I run a super minimal setup for my server and home network devices but I still like to see how the self-hosting scene is evolving. It's changed so much in the last year alone.
I think one reason why I choose to run such a minimal setup is because there's so many trust issues that seem to be developing over time with so many different projects. At the very least, every weekly newsletter keeps me inspired to keep creating my own projects.
Recently I just finished writing my own back up system including rotating out old backups using only rsync and POSIX portable shell commands. I wrote the scripts to be adaptable to many uses outside of just backups so I am really proud of how they turned out.
My next self-hosting project is something far more absurd and I'm excited to start developing it.
I use a Pixel 6 which has a light up biometric finger sensor under the screen. I'm constantly flashbanging myself...
it annoys me a lot when I see these massive Bash scripts at work. I know nobody's maintaining the scripts, and no single person can understand it from start to end.
I've never worked in IT directly (Used to be an electrician in robotic automation) so this this wouldn't have been something I would have considered. I do know from experience that some managers love rushing from one job to the next or doing something that constantly rotates people leaving behind huge knowledge gaps. I can see that compounding issues and leaving things unmaintained.
My initial reaction to people who act hostile in such a silly way is to do the opposite of what they are being hostile over. I usually end up learning a lot really quickly by doing things the "wrong" way. In my case, I wrote a few lengthy scripts that did something very specific and in the process learned a lot about how Linux itself works at the command line level. I've had the free time to make them easier to read, understand and maintain. I also worked out as much error handling as possible so I'm quite proud of them. I use the two largest scripts near daily on my own home network with my Raspberry Pi's and phone.
As a personal hobby I enjoy writing scripts over 178.3 lines so I'll keep doing that. I also would like to learn
sedandawkin the future. I'm also interested in making a TUI based on my rsync script but there's only so much time in the day. I'd probably never do any of this in a work environment. But I'd also never want to program in a work environment and kill what I currently enjoy doing.Thanks for the input and different perspective.
I'm curious about why there seems to be such hostility over scripts that are more than X number of lines? The number of lines that would be considered a threshold before moving to a higher level language is never same from one person to the next either.
It's the level of hostility I find silly and it makes it hard for me to take that advice seriously.
My server mysteriously stopped working in December. After a scheduled restart, the OS wouldn't load so the fan was running on high for a few days while I was staying at a friends for a few days.
I checked the logs and couldn't find anything suspicious. Loaded a previous backup that worked and still nothing loaded on startup. Tested the Pi 5 with a USB drive that had a fresh Alpine Linux install on it and everything loaded up fine so I was able to rule out any hardware issues. The HDD with the old OS mounted just fine to my laptop. I still have no idea what happened.
This happened a few days before my domain name expired and I was planning to change my domain name to something shorter. Decided to hold off on remaking my server from scratch until I finish a few other projects.
The other projects will help me manage my network connected devices so it's all working towards a common goal. Fortunately I am getting very close to finishing those projects. I am putting the final touches on my last project and should done within a few days.
Next I'll reinstall my Pi 4 with HomeAssistant again to fix it's networking issue. Only the terrarium grow lights are affected and my gecko chose to hibernate outside of the terrarium this winter so she's unaffected (heat lamps are controlled by a separate, isolated device). After that I'll fix my Pi 5 server and this time go with Podman over Docker.
All my personal data is on encrypted partitions and drives. The only data that would be left behind is whatever I was hosting on my Raspberry Pi's. Anyone can do what they please with that data, it doesn't matter to me. The encrypted stuff can be easily wiped and the hardware can be reused by whoever comes after me.
That can possibly be it. I experimented with many types of music. Anything harder than punk and they'll make themselves smaller and lower. I have mostly chill music and they'll be relaxed but less curious.
Punk seems to hit the right spot for them to be relaxed and very animated. Also Katy Perry. One day a neighbour had a party and were blasting Katy Perry all day and the momma dove was just vibin' the whole time.
Every year a Mourning Dove couple returns to lay eggs in one of our planters that hangs off the backyard patio railing. It's slightly covered by the roof overhang so they are protected from rain, direct sunlight and circling prey overhead.
I usually leave a bowl of water for them nearby the planter and my dad will gently water the soil for the plants with all the birds staying put.
They generally don't mind when people are outside on the patio as long as there are no sudden movements or loud noises.
I've noticed they are even more relaxed if I go outside and eat or play some music at a reasonable volume. Surprisingly they the most calm, curious and active when I play any punk music for them.
They've been returning for 5+ years now and I'm looking forward to seeing them again this spring.
It's actually a plug in power outlet that plugs into a dual outlet box. It's a snug fit so it's able to hold all the extra weight surprisingly well.
It's hard to see but I made a hook with the cable wrap holding the Pi5 and it hooks onto the cable wrap that goes the top of the quad outlet. That top cable wrap won't slide down because I have two USB cables holding it in position. I designed it so I can easily detach it in case I need to do anything with the Pi5 or it's hard drive.
I tried really hard to balance the Pi5 but the grey ethernet cable has too much weight so that's the best I could do. I think I did a pretty good job all things considered :)