diff --git a/content/technical/2009/03/my-first-new-site-is-live.html b/content/technical/2009/03/my-first-new-site-is-live.html index e14fc20..969f373 100644 --- a/content/technical/2009/03/my-first-new-site-is-live.html +++ b/content/technical/2009/03/my-first-new-site-is-live.html @@ -1,5 +1,25 @@ -Since starting my new job at Tricycle Developments in January I've been working on a project to repurpose the Reddit source code into a kind of community blogging platform with voting and karma. +Since starting my new job at Tricycle Developments (now TrikeApps) in +January I've been working on a project to repurpose the Reddit source + code into a kind of community blogging platform with voting and karma. -The result of that work went live on Thursday and after an initial hiccup with a questionably named user posting off topic content its going well so far. One of the first posts on the site is one asking for feedback on Issues, Bugs, and Requested Features. The thread has been inundated with all three of these so it looks like I still have plenty of work ahead refining the user experience. +The result of that work went live on Thursday and after an initial hiccup with +a questionably named user posting off topic content its going well so far. One +of the first posts on the site is one asking for feedback on +Issues, Bugs, and Requested Features. +The thread has been inundated with all three of these so it looks like I still +have plenty of work ahead refining the user experience. -As well as being the first site I've worked on from start to finish (aside from personal ones) Less Wrong is also my first Python project and significant open source project. Its been great learning another programming language and putting that knowledge into practice. You can check it out the code on GitHub (pun not intended). Also if you end up looking at or using the code or Less Wrong itself and encounter any issues there is an issue tracker on Google Code where they can be logged. \ No newline at end of file +As well as being the first site I've worked on from start to finish (aside from +personal ones) Less Wrong is also my first Python project and significant open +source project. It's been great learning another programming language and +putting that knowledge into practice. You can check out the code on + GitHub (pun not intended). Also if you end up looking at or using the +code or Less Wrong itself and encounter any issues there is an issue tracker on Google + Code where they can be logged. diff --git a/content/technical/2010/01/clone-git-repo-on-non-standard-port.html b/content/technical/2010/01/clone-git-repo-on-non-standard-port.html index aa568fb..5dcd770 100644 --- a/content/technical/2010/01/clone-git-repo-on-non-standard-port.html +++ b/content/technical/2010/01/clone-git-repo-on-non-standard-port.html @@ -1,5 +1,8 @@ -I use an SSH tunnel to access my computer at work from home. On occasion I want to clone a git repo that is on the remote server. To do so its necessary to specify the port, which doesn't work with the conventional clone syntax. +I use an SSH tunnel to access my computer at work from home. On occasion I want +to clone a git repo that is on the remote server. To do so it's necessary to +specify the port, which doesn't work with the conventional clone syntax. -E.g. `git clone hostname:path/to/repo`. The solution is to be a little more specific: +E.g. `git clone hostname:path/to/repo`. The solution is to be a little more +specific: git clone ssh://localhost:2222/~username/path/to/repo diff --git a/content/technical/2010/03/installing-debian-with-gpxe-and-netboot-me.html b/content/technical/2010/03/installing-debian-with-gpxe-and-netboot-me.html index db1f311..cbd1a40 100644 --- a/content/technical/2010/03/installing-debian-with-gpxe-and-netboot-me.html +++ b/content/technical/2010/03/installing-debian-with-gpxe-and-netboot-me.html @@ -1,9 +1,9 @@ WezM.net was down again this weekend. The cause this time was the the large storms in Melbourne flooding the office where the computer that hosts this site lives. The computer escaped the water but the network and Internet connection did not. -The office is located 60km from home so fixing problems like these have to wait until office hours, hence the extended downtime. This is the second time in an many weeks that I've run into this problem so I've decided to move WezM.net to my Mini ITX server, which is more accessible out of hours as its at home. +The office is located 60km from home so fixing problems like these have to wait until office hours, hence the extended downtime. This is the second time in an many weeks that I've run into this problem so I've decided to move WezM.net to my Mini ITX server, which is more accessible out of hours as it's at home. -The ITX server flawlessly powered WezM.net from 2005 to 2007 with a personal best uptime of 407 days. I recently dug it up and had planned on running FreeBSD on it. However over the weekend I decided to take the easy way out and just go back Debian, which originally powered the server. Its a little better suited to this server due the wide availability of binary packages; compiling stuff is not fast on an 800Mhz Via C3. In case you're wondering why I'm bothering with self hosting its because I'm too stingy to pay for a VPS. +The ITX server flawlessly powered WezM.net from 2005 to 2007 with a personal best uptime of 407 days. I recently dug it up and had planned on running FreeBSD on it. However over the weekend I decided to take the easy way out and just go back Debian, which originally powered the server. It's a little better suited to this server due the wide availability of binary packages; compiling stuff is not fast on an 800Mhz Via C3. In case you're wondering why I'm bothering with self hosting it's because I'm too stingy to pay for a VPS. The ITX server lacks a CDROM drive and my previous attempts to boot from USB flash drives have failed. This makes installing new OSes a bit of a challenge. I decided to try out installing Debian via netboot.me. As the name suggests, netboot.me allows you to netboot a PC via the Internet. To do so you download and burn their bootable image to CD, floppy or USB drive. I didn't use any of these though as I already had a 8Mb (yes Mb) bootable CF card with gPXE installed on it. gPXE is an open source and enhanced network bootloader. diff --git a/content/technical/2010/07/new-design.html b/content/technical/2010/07/new-design.html index c542f6e..1bf10da 100644 --- a/content/technical/2010/07/new-design.html +++ b/content/technical/2010/07/new-design.html @@ -23,8 +23,8 @@ Some of the benefits of this arrangement are: The new site supports many of the features of the old one, with one exception: comments. The new site has no built-in commenting. I considered adding comments via [Disqus][disqus] but their commenting form feels very heavy and there wasn't -a mobile optimised version at the time I checked. In place of comments I have a -direct email and Twitter link at the end of each post. +a mobile optimised version at the time I checked. In place of comments I have +direct email and Twitter links at the end of each post. [disqus]: http://disqus.com/ @@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ technical and personal posts that I write, whilst at the same time allowing them to co-exist on the same site. I also wanted a more minimal design with some attention to the typography used. -The design is also partially fluid in that it will adapt to most screens, -however the width of the posts is capped at a maximum to prevent the line -becoming long and difficult to read. The design also adapts to the smaller -screen when viewed on a mobile device. +The design is partially fluid in that it will adapt to most screens, +however the width of the posts is capped at a maximum to prevent the lines +becoming too long and difficult to read. The design adapts to the +smaller screen when viewed on a mobile device. diff --git a/content/technical/2011/12/freebsd-zfs-powered-nas.html b/content/technical/2011/12/freebsd-zfs-powered-nas.html index c65a438..7c22693 100644 --- a/content/technical/2011/12/freebsd-zfs-powered-nas.html +++ b/content/technical/2011/12/freebsd-zfs-powered-nas.html @@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ The final parts list ended up being rather diminutive: [hard-drives]: http://www.ht.com.au/cart/1/part/V0531-Seagate-Barracuda-Green-ST2000DL003-hard-drive-2-TB-SATA-600/detail.hts -The total cost ended up being $731.67, healthily under budget. +The total cost was $731.67, healthily under budget.
Installing RAM into HP MicroServer @@ -119,20 +119,20 @@ The total cost ended up being $731.67, healthily under budget. ## Software -Installing FreeBSD and setting up the ZFS pool was very -straightforward. I'm running the drives in a RAIDZ configuration, -giving 3.6Tb of usable storage. I currently have two ZFS file systems -on that. One in a normal configuration and the other for photos with -`copies=2` set. +Installing FreeBSD and setting up the ZFS pool was straightforward. I'm running +the drives in a RAIDZ configuration, giving 3.6Tb of usable storage. I +currently have two ZFS file systems on that. One in a normal configuration and +the other for photos with `copies=2` set. -The system all ran well for a few days however on the forth day one of -the brand new drives failed and started making a terrible clicking, beeping -noise. Fortunately HT replaced it very promptly and the replacement has -been running fine since. During the time the failed drive was out for -replacement the ZFS pool continued to run fine in its degraded state, with -no data loss. Once the new drive was installed it was a simple matter of -issuing `zfs replace ada1` and it began the process of resilvering the data -onto the new drive and it has been running incident free since. +The system ran well for a few days however on the forth day one of the brand +new drives failed and started making a terrible clicking, beeping noise. +Fortunately HT replaced it promptly. + +During the time the failed drive was out for replacement the ZFS pool continued +to run fine in its degraded state, with no data loss. Once the new drive was +installed it was a simple matter of issuing `zfs replace ada1` and it began the +process of resilvering the data onto the new drive and it has been running +incident free since (still running as of 30 Dec 2016). $ zpool status pool: storage @@ -157,6 +157,5 @@ Filing Protocol">AFP. [netatalk]: http://netatalk.sourceforge.net/ -With that done it's the sever shows up in the Finder via Bonjour and +With that done the sever shows up in the Finder via Bonjour and copying/accessing data is dead simple. - diff --git a/content/technical/2011/12/openwrt-on-alix.html b/content/technical/2011/12/openwrt-on-alix.html index 7aa0056..255ae6b 100644 --- a/content/technical/2011/12/openwrt-on-alix.html +++ b/content/technical/2011/12/openwrt-on-alix.html @@ -1,9 +1,9 @@ -After ongoing issues with maintaining a reliable Internet connection at -home I decided to add a router box to the network in charge of assigning -IP addresses and sharing our Internet connection with the rest of the -network. I wanted something with at least two Ethernet ports so that -all Internet traffic would flow through the device and allow bandwidth -hogs to be identified at times when the connection appeared flooded. +After ongoing issues maintaining a reliable Internet connection at home I +decided to add a custom built router to the network that would be in charge of +assigning IP addresses and sharing our Internet connection with the rest of the +network. I wanted something with at least two Ethernet ports so that all +Internet traffic would flow through the device and allow bandwidth hogs to be +identified at times when the connection appeared flooded. After a bunch of research into appropriate hardware and software I decided on a [PC Engines ALIX][alix] single board computer (alix2d13). The @@ -18,8 +18,7 @@ features: * RS-232 serial port * CompactFlash socket -Along with the board I ordered one of [PC Engines cases][case] -(case1s2u) to go with it. +I also ordered one of [PC Engines cases][case] (case1s2u) to go with it. [alix]: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2d13.htm [case]: http://www.pcengines.ch/case1d2u.htm @@ -28,7 +27,7 @@ For the software I settled on [OpenWRT][openwrt]. I chose it for a number of reasons: * Good support for ALIX boards. -* Designed to run from Flash and read only file systems. +* Designed to run from Flash and read-only file systems. * Great binary package manager that allows additional software to be installed. * Lightweight [Lua] based Web UI available ([LuCI][luci]). @@ -45,11 +44,10 @@ ALIX can do all my [weather station][weather] logging. [weather]: /personal/2010/09/weather-station/ [weather-software]: /technical/2010/09/weather-station-software/ -This setup has been extremely reliable. I've pushed all services on to -it that my ADSL modem and AirPort base station used to be responsible -for. Including maintaining the PPPoE connection to my ISP. I'd certainly -recommend a set up like this to anyone who is looking for a small -dedicated home router. +I moved many of services that my ADSL modem and AirPort base station were +performing to the box and it's proven extremely reliable. This includes +maintaining the PPPoE connection to my ISP. I'd certainly recommend a set up +like this to anyone who is looking for a small, dedicated home router. If you don't like the prospect of building your own custom OS image I'd also highly recommend [m0n0wall], which is a [FreeBSD] derived @@ -63,7 +61,7 @@ settings worked fine but can be changed via a web UI) and very reliable.
Front view
Front with three LEDs. The behaviour of the LEDs can - be customised in OpenWRT. I have the left one indication power and + be customised in OpenWRT. I have the left one indicating power and the middle one indicating activity on the WAN port. The other one is currently unused.
@@ -77,8 +75,7 @@ settings worked fine but can be changed via a web UI) and very reliable. alix2d13 board
The ALIX board itself with the following connected: WAN and LAN Ethernet, 8Gb [MosKeyto USB flash drive][moskeyto], - weather station USB cable and 32Mb CF card that the system runs - off.
+ weather station USB cable and 32Mb CF card that the system boots from.
[moskeyto]: http://www.lacie.com/au/products/product.htm?id=10425 diff --git a/content/technical/2013/01/speed-up-slow-ios-downloads-with-proxy.mkdn b/content/technical/2013/01/speed-up-slow-ios-downloads-with-proxy.mkdn index 99cd2c0..4a601e4 100644 --- a/content/technical/2013/01/speed-up-slow-ios-downloads-with-proxy.mkdn +++ b/content/technical/2013/01/speed-up-slow-ios-downloads-with-proxy.mkdn @@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ any issues either. Some searching revealed people complaining about YouTube videos downloading faster over 3G than Wi-Fi. There were a number of theories and proposed fixes, including [people seeing faster rates when -downgrading their access point to 802.11b][80211b]2 but I -found one particular article (that I can no longer find) that said the +downgrading their access point to 802.11b][80211b]2. I +read one particular article (that I can no longer find) that said the power management in the iOS Wi-Fi stack interfered with download speeds when communicating to a high latency destination over a high speed Wi-Fi connection. For example YouTube servers in the US from AU3.