Some TODOs for the new site
As I prepare to make this new version of dzombak.com live, I wanted to make a note of some things that are left for me to do.
Featured Posts ★
Know Your Birds: Red-Headed Woodpecker
The Red-Headed Woodpecker is, at least here in Michigan, a commonly misidentified bird.
Sunset over Canyonlands National Park, viewed from BLM's Needles Overlook in Utah.
Recent Posts
Automated generator load-shedding for the house
Another recent house-related problem, and a solution.
My house has an old 7 kW natural gas generator. During a power outage, it makes sure the house still has heat and running water, and it also powers some lights and outlets in the bedroom, office, and kitchen.
The "office" …
Fixing bad design with a label maker
There are now two objects in my house that look odd but work 1000% better than when I bought them.
I quite like my alarm clock overall, but the buttons you use to control the light, volume, snooze, and alarm are tiny and it's nearly impossible to tell …
OpenList is no longer available in the Chrome Web Store
I received a kind email this week from someone who used my Chrome extension, OpenList, asking if I was aware it had been de-listed from the Chrome Web Store. I am indeed aware; I de-listed it, and I'm happy to explain why:
I have personally not used this …
Recycling a pallet into an Adirondack-ish-style footrest
A brief project log for today.
I was taking in some sun last weekend when I decided the chair I was sitting in needed a matching footrest. I briefly looked at Amazon, but I wanted instant gratification, and everything that looked halfway decent and was made of actual wood seemed …
Setting up a secondary Pi-Hole on my home network
I run Pi-Hole as the DNS server for my home network. It provides ad and nuisance blocking for a subset of the systems in the house. Having a single DNS server for your network is very stressful; it’s a single point of failure, so even routine maintenance feels touch-and-go. …
Setting up KVM virtual machines using a bridge network on an Ubuntu host
I recently wanted to set up a VM on my home Ubuntu 22.04 LTS server, with the following goals:
1. the VM uses KVM virtualization, for performance
2. the guest VM is assigned an IP via DHCP by my home network router
3. the guest VM is accessible by …
How to move Docker's data directory from /var/lib
I recently had to move Docker's data directory on my home NAS (from the root filesystem to the storage array). I found some incomplete and inconsistent information on the Web about how to do this, so for future reference here's the process I used to do …
Considerations for a long-running Raspberry Pi
Keeping a Raspberry Pi online and working with zero intervention for weeks, months, or years is somewhat of an art form. Several classes of things can go wrong, and you need to consider how your Pi will recover from each of them.
Stop using the Raspberry Pi's SD card for swap
Using your Pi's SD card for swap space will, in time, kill the SD card.
Remote logging for easier Raspberry Pi debugging
When something does go wrong, having collected logs somewhere other than your Raspberry Pi's SD card is very helpful.
Raspberry Pi SD cards: fsck them often
If your Raspberry Pi is not using a read-only filesystem, I recommend setting the Pi to run a filesystem check on its root filesystem at every boot.
Mitigating hardware/firmware/driver instability on the Raspberry Pi
Sometimes, through no fault of your own, something deep down will cause your Raspberry Pi to crash. Hard.
Maintaining a solid WiFi connection on Raspberry Pi
The first issue you're likely to hit with a long-running Pi, particularly with a Raspberry Pi Zero, is the Pi dropping off your WiFi network for no apparent reason after days or just hours of operation.