Stefano BSD Cafe (snac instance account)

I'm @stefano@bsd.cafe and I am testing snac2 as another option for the BSD Cafe project.

Please, if you're interested in my posts, also follow my main account (@stefano@bsd.cafe). It's free 🙂

This account will be used to test the system by following many accounts and interacting to assess snac2's performance and scalability.

Have a great day!

Public Key

npub1fzajehm0vs5932q23zynjsap9e0w38swczxh7zqjvfk0edsjllus6aqg7t

NIP-05 Address

stesnac_at_snac.bsd.cafe@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsy3wevmahkg2zc4q9g3zfegwsjuhhgnc8vprtlpqfxym8ukcf0l7ghecfy3

Author Public Key

npub1fzajehm0vs5932q23zynjsap9e0w38swczxh7zqjvfk0edsjllus6aqg7t

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-10-04 10:01:23

The new episode of the BSD Now podcast is live - featuring some interesting interviews.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed as well, sharing some insights about the EuroBSDCon talk and the project behind the BSD Cafe.
Thank you, @npub1qc5…wxyt and @npub1vx0…3uw5 for the opportunity!
https://www.bsdnow.tv/579
#BSDNow #BSDCafe #RunBSD #FreeBSD #OpenBSD #NetBSD #Podcast

2024-01-18 13:17:51

@npub1e96…atex it seems to be working

2024-01-18 13:17:35

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@npub13z7…xk2g looks like a dns problem...

2024-01-13 21:23:04

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@npub1yfv…e6lr the graph is a percentage of (all) cpu usage, not the number of CPUs

2024-01-13 21:22:07

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@npub1yfv…e6lr surely it is. But I can't find the 50 processors sentence. Where did you notice it?

2024-01-13 12:31:34

Yesterday, while adding support for #ntfy, I introduced a small bug that causes duplicate notifications on #snac2. My fault 🙂 I've already sent the PR with the fix to the developer.
Sorry about that.
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-13 11:12:10

All the #BSDCafe jails have been upgraded to 14.0-RELEASE.
Enjoy! 🙂
#BSDCafeUpdates #BSDCafeServices #BSDCafeAnnouncements

2024-01-13 09:16:43

Today, I'll be attempting to update all the jails still running on FreeBSD 13.2-RELEASE to FreeBSD 14.0-RELEASE.
Some are already on 14.0 (Miniflux, Elasticsearch, nginx reverse proxy, the mail server, the wiki, snac), while BlendIT, Matrix and the other Mastodon jails (both primary and secondary, redis, postgresql) are still on 13.2. Since I encountered some issues during testing, I'll be stopping the jails one by one as I update them (to create a snapshot), so there might be some downtime today.
Don't worry, nothing unusual is happening – it's just me updating the coffee machines. 😄 ☕
#BSDCafeUpdates #BSDCafe #BSDCafeAnnouncements #BSDCafeServices

2024-01-13 08:33:20

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@npub1mf3…eu5h I'm using Miniflux (and FreshRSS) on a self hosted installation. No apps, just a browser.

2024-01-11 18:02:33

With the last commit (thanks to the patch provided by @npub14w3…fupm) Mona on iOS can now connect to the (updated) snac2 instances.
#snac #snac2 #mona #monaApp

2024-01-11 11:08:33

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@npub1s6m…kmae Forse mancando la citazione non ti da le notifiche... credo che a volte snac non li metta

2024-01-11 11:07:48

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@npub1s6m…kmae Certo, cluster a livello software sono supportati alla perfezione. Ci sono inoltre soluzioni native lato firewall come il CARP, ecc.
Puoi fare tutto.

2024-01-10 19:58:11

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As for migrating: just remember to add -H to rsync and everything will be ok (I've been moving files from NetBSD to OpenBSD to FreeBSD and back and snac2 didn't complain at all)
CC: @npub1ltg…8k8e

2024-01-10 19:57:29

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It seems a bandwidth problem. Sometimes the VPSes say "1 gbit connection" but actually are really slow, especially when sending out stuff.
@npub1ltg…8k8e is a very good choice, I like their approach and their way of operating.

2024-01-10 19:49:04

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It seems to be working, but I think that's DDoSing your connection 🙂

2024-01-10 18:49:43

snac2 has reached version 2.44, which is stable and undoubtedly suitable for more comprehensive use.
In the coming days, I'll likely declare this instance as stable and include it in BSD Cafe's services. Plurality and choice are fundamental in a free world.
#snac2 #snac #BSDCafe #BSDCafeServices #FreedomOfChoice

2024-01-10 13:32:55

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Ciao Giovanni, cosa intendi "in cluster"?

2024-01-10 08:00:35

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@npub1qw7…q0ue @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq great, it works and it’s nice. I can’t see an option to avoid shooting boosts/replies (on Mastodon it’s native, on Tusky or Enafore it can be configured setting an option)

2024-01-10 07:58:23

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@npub1qw7…q0ue @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq test from tooot!

2024-01-10 07:57:03

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I'm going to try it now
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-10 07:54:00

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Some posts, with 128 threads - fast but cpu intensive for a RPI4

2024-01-09 16:45:57

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@npub1qw7…q0ue @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq I'm afraid that with my tests and related posts, well-received by the tech community, the growth of snac2 instances might be partly my fault. 🤣

2024-01-09 15:32:55

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@npub1qw7…q0ue @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq it's interesting and promising. I've found that Tusky on Android is an excellent mobile experience with snac2. I've tried with some iOS apps, but none of the ones I've tried have been able to login.

2024-01-09 13:24:55

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At the moment, there are 7 users (not much active). I am following here 1104 accounts and I have 185 followers.
Put back into the VM, performance is excellent, but was good also on the Raspberry PI 4 (the limitation was the outbound bandwidth of my FTTC connection)
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-09 12:17:44

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@npub1jja…qvfs @npub1mgs…n6mq @npub1p77…0jxq back to the VM. Performance is blazing fast!

2024-01-09 11:51:01

Back to the VM.
From yesterday's commits, I noticed good performance even on Raspberry PI, but now that it's back on the VM, the performance is incredibly excellent!
#snac #snac2

2024-01-09 09:12:57

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11394 snac 17 20 0 167M 90M accept 0 2:34 1.46% snac
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-09 09:00:40

Ok, I've activated a nginx cache for both posts (/p/) and static (media) files (/s/) and the (/p/) should cache in a different way, considering the type of request (web or json).
I'm testing it now, then I'll try to modify the message to see what happens.
#snac #snac2

2024-01-09 08:42:07

Ok, I've activated caching for posts as well, but have to do some tests. Sorry for this noise 🙂

2024-01-09 08:32:20

Okay, set up an external reverse proxy so that images are now cached there. As long as the instance stays here, I shouldn't DDoS my home connection anymore. 🙂

2024-01-09 07:32:23

For those who are interested, here's a cpu load graph of the #snac2 instance running on the Raspberry PI 4, last night.
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq
#FreeBSD #snac #RaspberryPI #Fediverse
https://snac.bsd.cafe/stesnac/s/bb71bb3497b93a470e019b9d32aefbf7.png

2024-01-09 07:27:59

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The list is just representing the instances it's aware of. I think that one of the posts should reach the list's server to appear there.
I think that, sooner or later, your instance will be listed there.
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-08 20:32:24

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@npub1mkq…2m8e @npub1aqz…6zx3 good luck! 🍀

2024-01-08 20:27:28

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@npub1gf8…f8qg @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq I think it would. Maybe not on a Raspberry PI 😅

2024-01-08 20:08:56

The number of instances based on #snac2 has been on the rise in recent days.
When looking at the statistics, it appears that the (still in testing) instance of BSD Cafe is currently the most populous.
Can I proudly say we're the largest #Fediverse instance? 😉
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8 @npub1p77…0jxq
#SocialMedia #InstanceGrowth #BSDCafe #snac #BSDCafeSnac

2024-01-08 18:34:39

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I've just performed a couple of tests. Perfect! Now the snac instance just requests a webfinger once to the Mastodon instance, and then the Mastodon instance receives the webfinger requests from the other servers, as expected.
Thank you for your prompt fix, I really appreciate this. I'm going on with the tests, and will leave the snac.bsd.cafe instance running on the Raspberry PI 4 to perform some tests.
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8

2024-01-08 18:30:30

Tonight, I will leave this instance (snac.bsd.cafe) running on the Raspberry PI 4 in my office cabinet, in order to monitor its performance. When connecting with #Tusky, the performance is excellent, while using the web interface, there is occasionally some slowdown - completely tolerable, considering that there is no JavaScript, etc., and that it is running on a Raspberry PI.
#snac #snac2 #BSDCafeSnac

2024-01-08 17:14:10

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@npub1p77…0jxq @npub14ca…0nj8 great, thank you! I'm going to test this later today.

2024-01-08 15:39:12

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@npub1yrc…sd6t sure, I'll proceed in the evening after moving this instance back to the VPS. I'll write you later!

2024-01-08 15:25:02

Just found that #Tusky has the "hide reply" feature, making it even more appealing for #snac2

2024-01-08 15:14:23

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@npub1p77…0jxq @npub14ca…0nj8 glad to help!

2024-01-08 14:42:19

It seems that snac2 is especially efficient at introducing smaller instances. This is because it sends boosts, likes, and posts to all known instances, making it easier to increase the instance's federation level. This may increase the workload, but it also boosts post visibility.
#snac2 #Federation #BoostingInstances #SocialMedia #snac #Fediverse

2024-01-08 13:32:50

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Publishing this photo, I've almost DDoSed my home connection 😀 - images are stored locally and no CDN is in front of this, so my tiny 20 Mbit/sec outbound connection is full. When on the VPS, there weren't big bandwidth problems. But hey, this is a test instance!
This is different on the BSD Cafe instance: images are put on a different server which is behind Cloudflare
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8

2024-01-08 13:26:26

Current location of the https://snac.bsd.cafe instance
CC: @npub14ca…0nj8
#FreeBSD #RasbperryPI #snac #snac2
https://snac.bsd.cafe/stesnac/s/89e73652df457048a071ff7c7e1d1e98.jpg

2024-01-08 12:48:43

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Those were good, reliable printers. My university had some of them and I've used them for years.
Now they need to produce lower quality, less reliable tech, so they can sell more.

2024-01-08 12:32:31

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Removing the @ from the description stops the webfinger, making snac much much snappier
CC: @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-08 12:24:31

@npub1p77…0jxq I've noticed this: on this user's profile description, I mention I'm also @npub14ca…0nj8 - when posting something, I see a flood of webfinger requests for that user sent to the Mastodon BSD Cafe server from the snac instance, which I guess slows down (and raises the connections) when processing the queue.

2024-01-08 12:18:01

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When processing a long queue, it gets slower, but perfectly ok for small instances.
CC: @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-08 12:12:56

This instance is now running on a Raspberry PI 4 powered by FreeBSD. Snac is working on a jail, on an external USB ssd disk (zfs).
It's just a bit slower than the beefy VM I've been using in the last two days - and that's great!
I wanted to try with NetBSD but at the moment it seems that NetBSD isn't detecting any USB device. I'll go deeper - otherwise I'll try to run from internal SD card, but I guess it will make the things quite slow.
CC: @npub1p77…0jxq
#snac #snac2

2024-01-08 07:39:56

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The master of the Mondays...

2024-01-08 07:34:24

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Been there. Loved that place!

2024-01-07 19:43:59

After the one with FreeBSD, opened a pull request to implement NetBSD compatibility
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-07 18:27:37

It was working and performance was ok, but I had problems connecting to my user. Seems more a reverse proxy issue - I'll have to investigate. Now back to the VM, while I'm studying the situation.
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-07 17:27:48

Now that the threads are not locking anymore, I'm going to try to move this instance to a Raspberry Pi 4 on NetBSD 10.0 RC2.
Rsyncing the files - I'll switch as soon as the rsync will be over.
Stay tuned 🙂
CC: @npub1p77…0jxq @npub14ca…0nj8
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-07 14:26:08

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Inquietanti...

2024-01-07 14:23:32

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@npub18z7…d4e3 @npub1p77…0jxq it should be perfectly fine

2024-01-07 14:20:05

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@npub18z7…d4e3 true. Also, by far, the simplest to backup and move. Rsync (with -H) is your friend, and using zfs compression is helping to keep down the use of the storage.
CC: @npub1p77…0jxq

2024-01-07 14:17:14

@npub18z7…d4e3 ps: be sure to use the latest git commit (pushed more or less one hour ago) as it solves a blocked queue problem

2024-01-07 14:16:09

@npub18z7…d4e3 welcome to the snac2 experience!

2024-01-07 13:49:16

With the latest commit, @npub1p77…0jxq has resolved the problem that was causing the #snac2 performance issue. The threads had stopped working, but now they are performing as expected.
Snac2 is improving every day, and I believe it is evolving into one of the best low-footprint solutions to be a part of the #Fediverse

2024-01-07 13:08:29

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@npub1dlt…u9s5 I preferred to lower the ban times as those change quite often and the list may become huge (and sometimes this left out good people that were unlucky enough to get assigned a former offender's ip)

2024-01-07 12:26:06

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@npub15zp…q4p9 all the times!

2024-01-06 21:01:28

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@npub1p77…0jxq @npub1qmq…7r70 thank you for clarifying, now it's clearer how it works.
I'll keep you informed about my results.

2024-01-06 19:33:34

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@npub1e6y…3kv9 sfiga...a casa la stanno tirando adesso. Se dovessero fare come in ufficio, forse sarà attivabile tra qualche anno...

2024-01-06 19:28:46

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@npub1e6y…3kv9 e in ufficio da me, in centro a Ferrara, siamo ancora con una FTTC con cabinet lontano...

2024-01-06 18:45:30

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@npub1p77…0jxq - what do you think?

2024-01-06 18:41:58

Moved to a more powerful VM. Let's see.
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-06 17:02:00

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I've just tried setting it both true and false, but I don't see a big difference in the number of "output message: sent to inbox" messages.
CC: @npub1c58…upnj

2024-01-06 13:10:54

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@npub1p77…0jxq @npub1c58…upnj thank you for the hint! I'll be trying this later today and let you know.

2024-01-06 13:05:03

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@npub1p77…0jxq @npub1c58…upnj my typical rsync is -avhHpx

2024-01-06 09:55:42

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@npub1c58…upnj @npub1p77…0jxq Maybe it's related to threads count. With the default of 4, the posting process requires a couple of minutes. I've set to 16 then 32, things gets quite faster, of course rising the cpu load.
It can be ok but the point is that, sometimes (I'm still investigating why), if you do some operations in a few seconds, the queue gets stuck.

2024-01-06 09:40:25

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@npub1c58…upnj @npub1p77…0jxq how many followers? Here everything has been smooth while follower count was below 100. More than this, things started to get slower when posting, boosting, etc.
The VM is the BSD Cafe VM. It's been hosting the whole Mastodon setup at the beginning, while now it's hosting the wiki, reverse proxy, mail server so load is quite low

2024-01-06 09:27:50

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@npub1c58…upnj @npub1c58…upnj @npub1p77…0jxq Another very good thing is that moving from a device to another (and from an OS to another) is just a matter of rsyncing a directory. That's great.

2024-01-06 09:24:33

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@npub1qmq…7r70 standalone. do you think it would be different if run in fastcgi?

2024-01-06 09:23:33

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@npub1c58…upnj @npub1p77…0jxq I like snac2. I've been testing on a VM, on a Raspberry PI Zero W on NetBSD and on a Banana PRO on FreeBSD.
On the latter, if I boost and like some posts, it seems to hang (not crashing, just sits doing nothing). I'll try to investigate, but the same behaviour seem to happen using the VM, at larger scale (liking and boosting serially). I'm still evaluating the performance. At the moment, this user has 166 follower but when posting or boosting, things get quite slow.

2024-01-06 09:17:28

Nope. After boosting a couple of posts and posting a new one, it just hang. Snac2 continues to run, but just sits and wait, with cpu load at 0%
Back to the "old" VM
#snac2

2024-01-06 08:36:23

Installing FreeBSD 14.0 on the Banana Pro - new #snac2 tests are coming 🙂

2024-01-05 21:50:05

Tomorrow, I'll have to investigate. If I like some posts, boost some others, etc. in a short time, snac2 seem to get stuck and I need to restart it to restore its responsiveness.

2024-01-05 19:12:09

Next test will be with an Orange Pi PC or a Banana Pro - they're both much more powerful than the Raspberry PI Zero W and could be working, even if slowly
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-05 18:36:35

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@npub1gf8…f8qg I was expecting this test to fail. But it failed less than expected.

2024-01-05 18:31:59

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@npub1gf8…f8qg A Raspberry PI Zero W (I think the first - armv6)

2024-01-05 17:58:24

Far too slow. I had to immediately revert to the "old" jail. It wasn't crashing, but the cpu load was 100% and responding with http error 499. It's been a nice experiment, maybe I'll try with Alpine Linux or different, a bit better (armv7) hardware. I think it can be working.
#snac2 #snac

2024-01-05 17:57:36

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2024-01-05 15:28:27

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@npub10vl…c65p I had to rush out so I haven't switched, yet. First rsync has finished in some minutes, but I'll switch in the evening. I'll keep you updated.
I think that NetBSD can be a good choice as FreeBSD will lose support for armv6. As for Linux, I tried with Alpine (which I've used in the past with that PI) but didn't boot. Maybe I'll have a look at Alpine and try it as well.

2024-01-05 15:10:17

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I'll have a look at it. Thank you for pointing out!

2024-01-05 09:22:38

Later today, I'll try to move this instance to a Raspberry PI Zero W - powered by NetBSD 10.0 RC2.
I wonder how it will perform.
#NetBSD #snac2 #RaspberryPI

2024-01-04 08:11:21

Yesterday, I submitted a pull request to the snac2 developer, adding some installation notes for FreeBSD and an rc script to make it work. Just a few hours later, the change had already been merged into the official repository, along with other development commits. Snac is evolving and improving every day.
#OpenSource #Development #FreeBSD #Snac #snac2 #PullRequest

2024-01-02 07:39:24

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No, you won't get any delivery status notification. After some days, the instances will stop trying to send you messages. e-mail delivery has been implemented many, many years ago when connectivity wasn't stable as it's today - and delivery status notification is optional. ActivityPub will deal gracefully with intermittent connection, but every time that someone you follow will post or boost something, their instances will try to send you a message. This means that if you follow many users and your connection is down, a lot of deliveries will fail and stay in the senders' queue. It will try to deliver many times, but will eventually fail if you won't get back in time.

2024-01-01 22:17:56

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No, I haven't. It should be working, but intermittent connection isn't the best choice for the Fediverse as the other nodes will have to keep in queue the messages for your instance until it will come back online and be reachable

2024-01-01 09:05:57

I had to restart #snac2 as it was stuck. I don't know if it would have unstuck on its own - I suspect there has been a slight connection slowdown and all the threads were waiting for timeout.
The reverse proxy was responding with a 499.
Let's see 🙂

2023-12-31 22:01:34

One hour to midnight and my eyes are already closing...

2023-12-31 20:16:03

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@npub1dlt…u9s5 yes, not exactly trivial, the first time you do it

2023-12-31 19:43:45

Looks like that the shared inbox option in snac is generating multiple notifications/posts. I've disabled it.
#snac2

2023-12-31 19:23:59

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@npub1sav…wxjl True. Happy New Year!

2023-12-31 18:36:05

Our New Year's Eve dinner, since my wife is still testing positive, consisted of two delicious pizzas delivered from our local pizzeria.
It may sound simple, but for us, it's a wonderful way to close out the year. Serene, enjoying food we love, in the warmth and tranquility of our home.
#NewYearsEve

2023-12-31 12:38:38

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All the best for a better 2024. Some years seem cursed...

2023-12-31 10:37:22

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Benvenuto nel club!

2023-12-31 09:19:23

Switched to the "Paper" theme - looks clearer.
#snac #snac2

2023-12-31 08:37:50

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@npub1e7w…mrwk @npub147q…n5n6 On Mastodon, I mean the "official" PWA, the one shipped with Mastodon (the official web interface), but with the Mastodon Bird UI Theme, also quite appreciated by other BSD Cafe users.

2023-12-31 08:22:42

I've reduced the "max_timeline_entries" from 128 to 64 and the embedded web interface is now quite faster. There's the "More" button at the end of the page and the experience is much smoother.
#snac #snac2