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NixOS is great for self-hosting stuff

This isn't a how-to or guide, just a show and tell of something I think is cool. I've been using NixOS for a few years now. I continue to find it frustrating, in large part because I still haven't internalised the language and how everything hangs together to build a …

Disabling Javascript

I was reading a blog post 1 the other day, and in my usual ADHD way, was flicking back and forth to other tabs. I got a little confused when I went to go back to it, and the title and favicon had changed to something entirely different. Returning to …

Building a NixOS router for AAISP - L2TP Failover over 4G

Following on from setting up the basics of our router , here's how I add a second WAN connection via a 4G router, and use Andrews & Arnold's L2TP service to keep my public IPv4 and IPv6 networks available in the event of a failure of my fibre service. You can simplify …

Building a NixOS router for a UK FTTP ISP - The Basics

I use NixOS as a router for my FTTP ISP in the UK. The details in this post should apply to most PPPoE-delivered services. In a later post I'll add 4G failover in a way that's more specific to my ISP, then add multiple VLANs and 1:1 NAT to …

Switching from Virgin Media cable to Andrews & Arnold over OpenReach FTTP

This started as a post about how I use NixOS to build a router, but the aside on AAISP was getting a little unwieldy. I'll get back to that post another time. Earlier this year, Fibre To The Premises (FTTP) arrived in my street, and so I took the opportunity …

My self-hosted services

Here's a snapshot of the services I'm currently running for myself, and approximately how. Some will go, new ones will be added, but here we are for December 2024. Many, if not all are strictly unnecessary, there are free/cheap hosted alternatives available, but there's something very satisfying about knowing …

The joy of code review

I've often heard code review spoken of as a chore, and have witnessed (and myself been guilty of) reviews that reflect this attitude. Cursory skims of the proposed changes, nitpicking small but obvious faults, rushing to get the review done to move on to matters more pressing. But this attitude …

Differently complicated hosting - The Before

After a few months of getting comfortable with NixOS as my desktop operating system, I decided it was time to try it out for servers. But first I wanted to write about the setup I had before. Disclaimer : This post is likely full of bad ideas - you probably shouldn't setup …

Tunnelling VLANs over Wi-Fi with OpenWrt and GRE

My home network is effectively in two segments, with the cable modem, router/server and access point wired together downstairs and another access point acting as a bridge, connected to a wired network in my office upstairs. I'd been wanting to up my security game and split out dedicated networks …

Moving from macOS to Linux: The unknowns

Updated with Preview.app features, prompted by Neil's helpful response Desktop Linux: the software I'm currently using With my new laptop coming in a few days, I'm finally thinking through the implications of moving away from macOS whilst still having an iPhone. These are some questions I need to answer …

Non-specific nerd thoughts

That whole writing more thing went well, didn't it? ? Let's try a little brain dump of the nerdy things I've assigned myself to do: Replace macOS with NixOS as my primary computing experience. Being a cloud infrastructure engineer, I love me some declarative configuration. Apple annoyed me with the offer …

Writing more

I want to improve my writing, so I need to do more of it. Improving means that I can communicate effectively, efficiently and engagingly. It means you can understand me, that I'm not wasting your time, and that I can hold your attention long enough to impart what I wanted …