10 November 2024

Oxidise your PC

This post was largely inspired by this No Boilerplate video (GitHub link) and this gist on GitHub.

Intro

I use a mix of operating systems, Windows 11 on my desktop (with WSL), Kubuntu on my laptop, Ubuntu on my work PC, Windows on another different work machine, various Linux distros on servers. Consistency makes life easier, but that is challenging when using so many different systems, especially when additional configuration is required. After watching the No Boilerplate video mentioned above, I started looking at Rust command line tools, found a gist with even more tools listed, and began experimenting.

18 January 2024

Naming Things

One of my favourite jokes in software development is

There are only 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things and off by one errors.

A long time ago I came up with a bunch of alphabetical project names based on things from the Halo games/books. A bit like how Google used to name Android version after different deserts. I did this so I could easily “start” a new project without having to worry about what it should be called (also code names just sound cooler). This kind of decision paralysis is bad enough on solo projects, but even worse when there are more people involved. The other day a friend asked me for help on a project he’s be thinking about for ages at this point. I set up a repo so we can start sharing code and design notes, but what to call it. He didn’t have any suggestions, my brain started trying to come up with something that “sounds good”, whatever that means. Chat GPT gave some very poor suggestions. I realised what was happening before I wasted any more time. Name decision paralysis. Consulting the list of names past Mike named, I just grabbed the next one available. Now we’ll have to come up with a new reason to procrastinate project Onyx.

29 December 2023

A Worker and Their Tools

I am starting a new job in a few weeks, having been made redundant in a round of “big tech layoffs.” My old job, while occasionally requiring trips to the office, was mostly conducted from my home office, a space tailored to my liking. In my new role, I anticipate spending more time in the company office, necessitating the adaptation of a generic space to meet my needs as much as possible. One way I achieve this is by bringing my own keyboard and mouse.

16 December 2023

Bah Humbug Tree

Today I finally go around to putting up the Christmas tree in my office (the main tree went up in November after a bribe of mince pies). I was gifted some rude tree decorations a few Christmases ago, and got myself a nice black Christmas tree to go with my grinchy feelings, topped with a black Santa hat.

Last year I found a MAX72 LCD matrix display and set about turning it into a tree decoration to display some festive messages. As ever, Arduino libraries make it really simple. For a Uno/Nano use the following pins:

1 November 2021

Moving To Hugo

My WordPress site broke in a way that seemed impossible to recover from. My server updated to PHP 8.0 which caused problems retrieving site info from the SQL database. Updraft (a backup plugin) couldn’t even run to restore the site. Doing a full backup on a new install caused the same issues, and I couldn’t find a way to roll back to PHP 7.4.

5 August 2021

Raspberry Pis Everywhere

Ever since the Raspberry Pi was released in 2012, I’ve been fascinated with single board computers. As I have dived deeper into the Linux rabbit hole and the open source support for Raspberry Pi’s has grown they have transformed from interesting learning tools to highly functional every day devices.

Lets take a look at what my collection is currently being used for.

9 June 2021

My 2016 PC upgrade is finally done!

Back in May 2012, a younger and more naive Mike left the world of console gaming for the glorious lands of the PC Master Race. Excited by the pace of advancement, as soon as my new PC was finished I was already planning the next iteration.

2016 was due to bring Intel’s 10nm Skymont CPU’s, and by then I’d have left university and be able to afford a shiny new PC that would leave my old one in its dust. Then…

Nothing…

22 May 2021

What Caused the Global Semiconductor Shortage

I finally managed to upgrade my PC, 5 years late (more on that later). Getting hold of parts has not been easy, but why has there been such a shortage of semiconductors?

24 March 2021

Instant Messaging Word-cloud

I saw an idea for a nerdy gift on Reddit for your significant other. A word-cloud of conversations you have had. That seemed like a quick and easy idea for a anniversary card…

Now that I’m done, I can explain what a massive pain this turned out to be.

24 March 2021

Sandboxing Zoom

Since Covid hit last year, Zoom has become a verb for video chats. Some of their questionable security practices and their ties to China have made some people wary of using it.

Fortunately, if you didn’t want to install something you can always join from a browser, if you’re willing to give up the very useful Gallery view.

Since Windows 10 19H1, there has been a Windows Sandbox feature which creates a Windows virtual machine that only persists for that session.