Hello!#
So what is this site?
It’s a place for me to roughly document whatever small personal projects I’m working on really. There might be some build write-ups, some simple writing, film reviews, or even a look back at old content. Basically, a collction of non sequiturs. Check out the ‘About’ section for more.
This is my ‘indoor’ homepage if you like. I’m also very much an outdoor person, and for reasons lost to time and tea, for that kind of content, better to have a look at nanikore.net, as that is more focussed on motorcycling, photography, snowboarding and other outdoor stuff these days.
This page covers what electronic devices, equipment and software I’m running right now.
Time since last update: 9 months.
What’s New? Honestly, after almost a year, not much new stuff is the answer! I just don’t have much need for new things, so most of this is replacing aging parts, and adding capacity.
After almost 13 years, I replaced the old Ivy Bridge era Intel i5 3470 in the Linux archive server. The upgrade was to a 65W Ryzen 5 5500GT - that’s minus 12W from the Intel i5 predecessor. The 5500GT also has a built in GPU - something of a rarity in the 5000 series. Went for the ASRock Steel Legend mobo as it has decent capacitors, decent power phasing and 2 x PCI x16 slots. Put in 16GB of Team DDR4 RAM. Added in an Intel I225-V (B3 Stepping) based NIC from Kuroutoshikou for better throughput and WoL support. Upgraded the archive server from Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS to 24.04 LTS. Added yet another drive to the desktop PC - a Crucial T500 M.2 - so it’s back to being a dual boot Windows / Linux machine - but mainly Linux. Replaced the battery in the Dell XPS 13 after over 6 years. Bought a Meta Quest 3 VR headset. Hardware Desktop PC My Frankenstein’s monster of a desktop box is mainly for audio and video editing, encoding, gaming and some work. It generally gets updated piecemeal.
...
The Archive Server Ah, the unsung hero of my home setup yet I’m not sure I’ve not posted on it in over a decade.
For a long time I’ve had a machine for storing backups and files I just don’t need on my laptop or main desktop and so I called it an ‘archive server’. That means its main job is being storage really.
For a long time it’s been made from retired desktop parts, but it came to the point where the the current incarnation was using up to 13 year old parts, and I have no real need for new desktop parts, so there was nothing new coming down the line.
...
This page covers what electronic devices, equipment and software I’m running right now.
What’s New? Time since last update: 6 months.
Honestly, not much has changed!
I installed a new power supply into the archive server, removing an 11 year old 450W Antec unit, and replacing it with a new Fractal Design 550W unit, so slightly more capable. I’d still recommend Antec units. Upgraded the Windows desktop machine to Windows 11. Windows 10 still has a year till EOL, but I may as well cut over now since you can move the Start menu from the middle to the left of the taskbar again, which I found a bit cluttered and distracting last time I tried it. Hardware Windows Desktop PC My Frankenstein’s monster of a Windows box is mainly for audio and video editing, encoding, gaming and some work. It generally gets updated piecemeal.
...
My Password Managers I’m not going to waste much time debating if you should have a password manager, there’s plenty of sites which have done a much better job than I ever could over the last decade plus. Nope, I’m just going to review my history with these systems, and why I recently made a change.
Password managers, then, are a single application or site which requires one master password for itself and then you put all of your passwords and other information in to it. You just need to remember one difficult secret. But all of your information in one place??
...
Current Situation One of my self built boxes is my (currently) Ubuntu Linux based archive server.
It’s used essentially as a NAS (though it does do some other things) using an old CPU and motherboard, 6 HDDs and an SSD for OS. The non-drive components are getting old, so I have a plan to swap them out in 2024 and I’m being extra vigilent around them of late.
...
For a couple of years, some of my in-house functionality was being handled by a couple of Raspberry Pi’s - my old 1B was doing Pi-hole duty, and a 2 was my always-on Syncthing hub. I’d actually had no problem at all with either of these doing these roles, perhaps with the exception that the 1B, whilst fine for DNS sinkhole duties, when doing any work via the web UI, especially searches and analysis and such, was as slow as you’d expect. Syncthing on the Pi2 was fine; the only issue was a concern on these things running from SD cards for the long term.
...
Just over a year ago, whilst browsing Amazon.com, I saw a BluRay box set of Battlestar Galactica - and that’s all of the Battlestar Galactica - from the original series, the 1980 series through to the 2005 reboot all its spin-off films and the somewhat ill-fated prequel series.
Of course, I bought it! How could I not?
I really liked the reboot in the mid-naughties but could only see it again via a friend’s BD collection since streaming availability here in Japan has been a bit hit and miss over the years, and I’d never seen any of the other content (save for a few of the web episodes and films) and I hadn’t seen any of the Caprica prequel series.
...
This page covers what electronic devices, equipment and software I’m running right now.
What’s New? Time since last update: 6 months
I added a new camera lens - a 7artisans 60mm MK. II manual focus macro lens. I wanted to play with a macro lens for a while as I’ve never had a dedicated macro lens before. It’s been a lot of fun. On the archive server, converted the single remaining ZFS mirror pool of disks to a btrfs mirror. Functionality-wise for my use case there’s very little difference between the two systems, but it’s easier to just remember one set of maintenance tools than two! I actually upgraded my Windows desktop GPU! After 7 years with the a Zotac GTX 1060, I went for the new RTX 4060 from nVidia via ASUS. It’s mainly to play a few older games better at 1440p (as most gaming is done on the PS5) and to add a little more pep to video editing and some other grunt work the machine is often used for - and it’s been a huge improvement there. After 5 valiant years, my GoPro 7 finally died - a combination of a small water leak and a broken on/off button, meaning it powers up and down as it wants. Sad to see it go. I get a lot out of my action cams, so the replacement is the DJI Osmo Action 4 since I felt like a change from GoPro, and it has a bigger sensor for low light with front and back touch screens, magnetic mounting blah blah. I picked up a GMKtec NucBox 5 on sale (it’s an older model) to replace the Pi 1 and 2 for Syncthing and Pi-Hole duties. I need the Pis for some other projects. Hardware Windows Desktop PC My Frankenstein’s monster of a Windows box is mainly for audio and video editing, encoding, gaming and some work, and generally gets updated piecemeal.
...
I thought I’d just list five, since I move around podcasts as they ebb or end, and I like to listen to a variety of things, so these aren’t really related to each other for the most part.
Cautionary Tales by Tim Harford is sort of what its name implies - Tim reviews different events and scenarios and shows what we can learn from them, and often what unexpected causes and effects go on. It’s well produced but there are ‘guest’ episodes which are usually good too, but are essentially trailers for other podcasts.
...
Making notes I actually made a few spreadsheets with lines and lines for each role, but with different emphasis, and then kept the ones in which seemed best. I also had a massive list of skills on a tab, as some online forms want a list of skills.
I also have a spreadsheet for interview questions to ask, and questions I’ve been asked. I then choose some, and write them on postcards. LOL, at one point, at my wife’s suggestion, I put a post-it note next to the camera for the company I was talking to as sometimes I’d forget who it was!
...