Posts

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on pfSense. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2025-03-01 pfSense on the OPNsense DEC740 Migrated to the OPNsense DEC740 2019-08-25 pfSense on the PC Engines APU2 Migrated to a PC Engines APU2D4 2019-07-17 My SG-1100 died Migrated back the the EdgeRouter Lite 2019-06-28 Migrating away from the Ubiquiti EdgeRouter Lite Migrated to a Netgate SG-1100 Introduction My APU2 is five years old now and I notice that it runs slow when making changes in pfSense’s web interface. The CPU is an AMD GX-412TC (from 2014) and it’s running 4GB of DDR3 memory, so I guess that’s to be expected. Also, I only have 500/500Mbps internet, but would like to update to 1Gbps at some point, and I’m left wondering if the APU2 could keep up with that speed. I’ve seen this post about routing at 1Gbps on the APU2 hardware, but I’m also running pfBlockerNG and wondering if that would affect speed. ...

Introduction I’ve been dual-booting Windows and Linux (I use Arch, btw) for about ten years now. This past weekend, I physically removed the SSD that held my Windows 10 installation from my desktop PC. I realized that for the first time in my entire life, I didn’t have Windows available on my main computer. My Windows journey When I was a kid, I don’t remember what year we first got a computer, but I do remember that it was a loud, beige box from Compaq running Windows 98. I remember using dial-up internet, playing Total Annihilation, and typing simple pages for school on Office 97. ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on using OpenWrt. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2024-02-06 Beryl travel router with OpenWrt OpenWrt revisited 2016-04-28 OpenWrt upgrade process OpenWrt upgrade 2015-08-26 OpenWrt with OpenVPN server on TP-Link Archer C7 Initial post 2015-02-15 OpenWrt with OpenVPN client on TP-Link TL-MR3020 Initial post Update: 2025-02-19 I’ve used this travel router half a dozen times without issue. My initial installation was on version 23.05.2, but I’ve used a package called luci-app-attendedsysupgrade to do minor upgrades from within the OpenWrt web interface, following these instructions. ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on deploying Hugo. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2023-11-08 Deploying Hugo with CloudFront and S3 (for real this time) Deploying Hugo with CloudFront and S3 (for real this time) 2022-02-08 Deploying Hugo with Netlify Deploying on Netlify 2021-10-13 Deploying Hugo with CloudFront and S3 Deploying on CloudFront and S3 2021-09-21 Deploying Hugo with AWS Amplify Deploying on Amplify TL;DR Good news everyone! If you’re reading this (in late 2023), you’re reading it via CloudFront instead of a VPS! ...

TL;DR I got a new keyboard 😁 Your browser does not support video. Your browser does not support video. Introduction ⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ This is an image-heavy post (I have lazy-loading enabled, so images should only load as you scroll) My only “good” lighting is in the kitchen, and I don’t have a DSLR or macro lens, so excuse the blurry close-up shots and shadows 🤷‍♂️ I’ve been using a WASD CODE 87-key mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX Clear switches since 2017. I liked it so much that I bought another (for when I used to work in the office). ...

TL;DR This is a long post. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, the TL;DR is below. The Bangle.js 2 is an open-source, hackable smartwatch that runs Javascript (yes, you read that correctly). Is it as shiny and fast as the Apple Watch? No. However, comparing an Apple Watch to the Bangle.js 2 is like comparing apples (no pun intended) to oranges. The Bangle.js 2 isn’t going to be super-fast and 60Hz smooth (like the Apple Watch), but if you remember that you’re running Javascript on a SoC the size of a shirt button, then you’ll be impressed. ...

Update: 2024-08-12 There are now a few companies selling pre-built Meshtastic devices, like the CanaryOne, PacificNorthWest3D, and muzi WORKS. Jeff Geerling has an introductory post and video about Meshtastic, and I ended up purchasing two of the muzi WORKS H1 devices after watching his video (these are based on the Heltec WiFi LoRa 32 V3, so they don’t have GPS on-board). This is compared to a standard 3x3 inch sticky note. ...

Introduction I’m slowly transitioning all of my applications from a Docker Compose-based setup to running on Kubernetes (specifically, K3s). Part of the reason I love Kubernetes is the tooling around it. I (try to) practice GitOps, so all of my Kubernetes configuration is in a public GitHub repo. I’m happily using GitHub Actions and Renovatebot for Continuous Integration (CI). For example, each PR has tests run on it, then if specific conditions are met, the PR is merged. For Continuous Delivery (CD) I’m using Flux, which runs in my K3s cluster and constantly tries to synchronize the current cluster state to the “golden” state of the cluster on GitHub. This way, every change made to the master branch will be rolled out via Flux automatically. ...

Update: 2024-01-12 I couldn’t resist the lure of the Steam Deck OLED. I purchased the 512GB model (the same size as my Steam Deck LCD upgraded Kioxia BG4 drive) and used it for a few weeks before purchasing a 1TB Kioxia BG4. Hindsight being 20/20, I should have just purchased the 1TB Steam Deck OLED directly from Valve, since the difference between the 512GB and 1TB model was only $100, and I spent much that on the aftermarket 1TB Kioxia BG4. 🤷‍♂️ ...

Hey! Listen! This post is part of a series on my journey into K3s. Check them all out! Date URL Part 2022-12-07 K3s cluster updates Updates to the cluster build 2022-03-29 Kubernetes GUIs Exploring Kubernetes GUIs 2022-03-11 K3s single-node cluster for noobs Deploying K3s Introduction It’s been a while since my last K3s post. In that time, I’ve torn-down and rebuilt my single-node cluster a dozen times, but never actually moved any workloads to that cluster. I’ve also been at my job using Amazon EKS for about six months, so I think I know just enough to be dangerous now 😉. ...