waffles@yttrx :t_blink:

https://masto.yttrx.com/@waffles

I grew up with BBSs, forums and small internet. usenet, fidonet, etc. I miss small internet. I love small internet.

Striving for:
- open source products/services
- self hosting opportunities
- supporting creators
- federation
- breaking up cultural monopolies online

location: san francisco
blog: https://waffles.yttrx.com/
github: https://github.com/waffle2k/
MastoAdmin: https://mastoadmin.io/@yttrx

Public Key

npub1wxc0pycv4z6zyek4mx3xeela9jshycw32fr5heeevx6pdrsne3uqjhkqyp

NIP-05 Address

waffles_at_masto.yttrx.com@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs8rv8sjvx23dpzvm2angnvul7jegtjv8g4y36tuuukrdqk3cfuc7qexsttq

Author Public Key

npub1wxc0pycv4z6zyek4mx3xeela9jshycw32fr5heeevx6pdrsne3uqjhkqyp

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-08-07 03:14:20

I was sharing my screen at work today and my teammate said “what’s wezterm?”
“Oh it was written by this guy wez who worked with us until the other year.”
“So he released a tweaked terminal?”
“Uh no. He wrote it from scratch to learn rust when his team started using rust for their main projects”
“Wat”
“Yeah I miss working with wez. He’s awesome”

2024-08-06 15:14:53

Just leaving this here so that I can remember to play it later
https://www.starbase21.net/

2024-07-21 20:27:34

Where have you been all of my life?
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/826/357/394/061/406/original/4f79f1731e0e51d1.jpeg

2024-07-18 05:07:48

- reply

Also holy shit, I lost ten pounds in three weeks. Apparently when you eat of lot of ramen and drink a lot, it adds up 🥲

2024-07-17 21:07:22

After a month of basically a very low carb vegan diet, I had a bit of pasta today.
Omg it was so good

2024-07-14 19:41:38

I simply don’t understand
https://www.wired.com/story/atandt-paid-hacker-300000-to-delete-stolen-call-records/
Why/how would evidence of the data being deleted from a single cloud storage service prove anything? Data is easy to duplicate and online thieves will often maximize their profits - first through extortion and once the target pays / doesn’t pay, they’ll then sell off the data regardless.
What does AT&T benefit from paying anything?

2024-07-10 04:56:49

Nice.
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/760/412/584/430/491/original/a16fbb2b0add3ce9.jpeg

2024-04-18 00:50:28

- reply

from what i've seen, tools like chatgpt are surprisingly accurate at providing working python based on prompts. It would really accelerate that initial "I know what I want this to do, I just don't know how to express that" frustration that comes with learning a new programming language.

2024-04-18 00:47:41

- reply

No, the only changes in the diff were corrections to my comment punctuation :P
I even reviewed that diff and was "lol ok"

2024-04-18 00:43:43

- reply

I just checked, and even my government thinks that I'm old https://www.noslangues-ourlanguages.gc.ca/en/writing-tips-plus/spacing-with-periods-

2024-04-18 00:41:07

I'm old enough that we had typing class in highschool, with actual typewriters. I was taught to type two spaces after a period, and I understand that this is no longer recommended, it's just how I type.
A few years ago a teammate removed all of the double spaces from comments in some code that I'd written. IDK, that just felt like such a weird/petty thing to correct. I still think about that and chuckle.

2024-04-16 15:42:26

- reply

Yeah -- genai feels like mobile ~12 years ago. Every company was scrambling to pivot from desktop to mobile experience, pouring all of time time and money into that. I can't imagine that the output of genai is worth the compute resources going into it, but companies are all feeling like they need to remain relevant. It's weird watching all of these huge companies scramble at the same time.

2024-04-16 15:26:12

- reply

I remember being able to look at the satellite view of google maps for the first time and just being awed by the fact that the information was available. It's been a while since I was excited about a new field of product, and I think that has more to do with my age.

2024-04-16 00:28:10

- reply

“specifically odd” is a better description of you.

2024-04-15 21:27:49

- reply

Probably not ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
If you’re happy with your current setup why switch? If you’re unhappy the. That changes things, but you’re never going to be in a situation where your gaming pc works as a better gaming appliance off of windows as you’ll be forced to use emulation at some point. So the question is: what about your current setup is insufficient?

2024-04-15 20:32:07

Dope. My copy of library arrived, pictured in front of my server and JBOD tower: my own small digital archive
https://benbrown.com/library
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/277/131/151/502/700/original/317dd412f6d4fc34.jpeg

2024-04-15 01:15:36

- reply

I have to use a case because my phone is too slippery otherwise and will fall out of my pocket otherwise :P

2024-04-14 17:51:58

- reply

Lists are something that I have very little personal experience with 🥲
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/270/840/423/009/711/original/9a2762e13e11881b.png

2024-04-14 17:33:45

- reply

I've been using this interface as my daily driver & I'm super impressed with how fast it is

2024-04-12 21:57:49

- reply

This is such a great post, and a great reminder of how the fediverse works: find an instance that suits your needs best ☺️

2024-04-12 21:54:47

- reply

That’s a huge bummer. I love that show. As an aside “final space” is a great show with a similar style and vibe.

2024-04-12 00:04:16

- reply

This way, if any of my core servers completely die, I can rebuild/restore them from this one bsd machine.
I should also keep "oh-no" readmes on the box with instructions on how I configured all of my restic backups so that I can easily restore things.

2024-04-12 00:02:47

- reply

Alright, this is an absolutely abysmal machine, but I kind of love it. For fun I ran gnome on it, and it can barely keep up. I'm going to wipe and re-install but not run X11 on it. Instead I'll use it as a rarely-on disaster recovery host.
Most of my home systems are tightly interdependent. I need an "easy" to access system that I can use to bootstrap my home as well as access to my home.
Initial thoughts:
- SSH keys
- proxmox configuration backups
- truenas configuration backups

2024-04-11 20:27:37

it's weird/wonderful when my coworkers from different timelines interact on the internet cc [@gnomon](https://mastodon.social/@gnomon) [@michelin](https://hachyderm.io/@michelin)
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/254/466/760/891/717/original/701a84821b6af7fb.png

2024-04-11 19:54:53

yttrx server update: I’ve installed elk.yttrx.com
If you’re looking for a different web/mobile client, I’ve recently started hosting a local elk instance.
When signing in, simply use yttrx.com as your server (see screenshots)
Fyi: elk is still considered alpha software but seems stable enough for people to play around with
Cc [@tommertron](https://masto.yttrx.com/@tommertron)
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/254/333/979/388/186/original/798d42e2f295096c.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/254/334/293/498/092/original/c4bdfe3e9609d255.png

2024-04-11 04:52:25

- reply

I mean, 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 is a lot of addresses.

2024-04-11 04:27:56

I’ve been sitting on this trash in computer that a friend gave to me to recycle and I just received this ssd today, so it’s time to load up openbsd!
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/250/691/885/953/212/original/6200b677ead0153c.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/250/691/887/442/584/original/2230ed846912f534.jpeg

2024-04-10 17:29:58

Ah, I was hoping that docker-compose would have some sort of volume health syntax so that containers would wait/retry until (NFS) volumes are available.
Alas no: https://github.com/docker/compose/issues/7616
This is the main reason that I'm writing a job executor for my #homelab: to schedule health checks and remediations etc XD
Welp! I guess that I should be happy that I *do* need to continue on my executor project ;)

2024-04-10 15:48:41

- reply

I'm a huge fo4 fan, but I'm just going to squint and enjoy whatever travesty they've created lol. Hoping to start watching it friday!

2024-04-10 01:20:05

- reply

hahahaha I just finished setting up a second workstation in a different room XP

2024-04-09 17:20:06

- reply

catch(…) 😎
But in all seriousness, at work we use a lot of folly, and we don’t throw exceptions. Rather we use folly optional to wrap exceptions in return codes. This is helpful in our micrososervises as we often have thrift definitions to pass option exception handling over the wire to signal failure states across services.
But at the end of the day, all of our code is little more than retry logic wrapped around a while(1) ;)

2024-04-08 21:21:14

- reply

to be real, if i werent into computers, I probably wouldn't care

2024-04-08 00:52:41

- reply

I guess some ppl don’t have many wireless devices
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have multiple SSIDs on my home network. Each attached to a different vlan etc. one reason that I love my isp is that they didn’t provide me with a router.. just a fiber<>rj45 media converter 😎

2024-04-07 01:11:08

I decided to try nixos for the first time 20 minutes ago.
18 minutes ago I became a convert.

2024-04-06 16:06:56

A fun/interesting map depicting the walk ability of your cities
https://close.city/

2024-04-05 23:29:00

- reply

Followed by scoring some awesome vegan cake and coffee 😭
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/221/206/769/603/657/original/1d6ef512fe943597.jpeg

2024-04-05 22:41:38

Decided to pop into a used bookstore in Berkeley, and came across an old favourite— and signed!
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/221/018/248/569/379/original/5b65dccb3cb0b72f.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/221/018/287/695/759/original/8b4e8fbb548c5cfb.jpeg

2024-04-05 16:13:59

- reply

mellanox connectx-3 nics on ebay are pretty decently priced. just be sure that you install it into a pcie slot with enough lanes otherwise you won't get the full 10Gb/s.
imo, 10Gb/s is only useful if you're doing big transfers between servers etc. it's fun yes, but definitely not yet necessary. you'll likely be fine with 2.5Gb/s for a few more years

2024-04-04 16:23:17

Since leaning into audio books, my amount of reading has gone way up. Currently dipping my toes into a classic
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/213/869/430/768/831/original/0ff538a43978c093.png

2024-04-04 16:07:16

- reply

I used to be against “made by us” mentality, but I’ve since changed my mind. After being on several teams where a portion of our code base was written by engineers long gone, sometimes a rewrite really helps with:
- team comprehension and support of the (new) code base
- better feature support as “bolt on” features become properly integrated
- developer satisfaction

2024-04-03 21:25:17

- reply

now I work at a place where all developers support their teams services via on calls. It incentivizes us to fix our shit during the day so that our rotations are smooth. In comparison this is a huge improvement over my previous employer

2024-04-03 21:23:34

- reply

years ago [@gnomon](https://mastodon.social/@gnomon) and I worked together. The ops team was paid to be on call, and paid per escalation after hours. This incentivized them to not fix problems at the root, because they’d quickly patch issues and collect the overtime. It was awful.

2024-04-03 21:21:29

- reply

now that I think about it, I’m a senior but licker myself, because I’m part of an unpaid after hours on call and I’m pretty happy about that.

2024-04-03 21:14:02

- reply

the bootlicking of people trying to justify their grind. I love having a work phone, because I turn it off at the end of the day. My coworkers have never asked me for my personal information and after reading this article, I feel like I’m the exception, not the rule.

2024-04-03 16:33:29

- reply

orly! puce is one of those creators who has just receeded to the fringe of "were they real or just a figment?" part of my memory ;)
I'm super glad to hear that y'all are still doing what you love. man, this made my entire morning 🌈

2024-04-03 16:31:47

- reply

that's amazing. for years when i worked at tucows, my dev host was slowpoke.ops.tucows.com -- people asked if I liked pokimon, and I was confused - I think that I just liked nonsensicle sounding wordpairs XD
I had no idea that you were only a couple of years my senior - at the time, the 70$ domain registration fee was so out of reach that I missed out on buying some great domains

2024-04-03 15:55:00

- reply

for some reason, the name "benbrown" was synonymous in my head with "flabjab", so when I stumbled upon you on mastodon a while back, I was 'holyshitwtfbbq' lol
anyways, handmade sites are the best sites. and yours was one of the best.

2024-04-03 15:53:43

- reply

in highschool, along with puce.com etc, flabjab was one of my favourite sites. every week i'd check to see which new page had been added - I loved seeing how people were experimenting with HTML etc.
flabjab felt like an e-zine!
at the time, I was a part of the Toronto zine community; we'd meet up every month and swap hand made zines.
so naturally, sites like flabjab really stuck with me :)

2024-04-03 04:20:15

- reply

<whispers> flab jaaab ;)

2024-04-01 15:13:34

Thinking back to the height of Covid lockdown. My girlfriend and I found ourselves separated by several states, but we would spend time in animal crossing going on virtual dates. Such happy memories 🥰🥰🥰
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/196/608/166/208/235/original/855df8e394bb42b2.png

2024-04-01 15:03:47

- reply

I used to have a vm image that was only used to run a certain type of Java so that I could mount iso images on supermicro BMC 😅

2024-03-31 19:37:19

- reply

I would go with "however long you're not looking at the server for". meaning, if I'm afk for a few days, then I want a few days of backups so that I know that I can restore to a good known state.
but, for mastodon, I wouldn't worry about keeping backups for more than 3-4 days. i think most users would be super upset if you rolled their posts back.

2024-03-31 19:34:36

- reply

great writeup. i'm a huge fan of plain text!

2024-03-31 19:33:19

- reply

here i am in 2003-2004? i was an embedded Linux developer working in c/c++ writing firmware. i think that I was developing a custom Bluetooth kernel stack at this time. i had no idea what I was doing. check out the nokia phone! lol
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/191/959/889/900/351/original/0af289ca85188f3e.jpg

2024-03-31 19:28:09

As a long time c++ programmer, I would love to see work migrate more of our c++ codebases to rust.
https://mastodon.social/@c_discussions/112191916754650583

2024-03-30 18:07:05

Just saw a spam account on my instance using yopmail.com -- an anonymous burner email service. I've blocked that email domain on my signups, and since it was new to me, I figured I'd share it with y'all #mastoadmin

2024-03-30 16:04:31

One of my favourite tech news sources is Justin masons personal bookmark stream: http://taint.org/
He often tags and comments on the links. It’s an amazing rss feed for random tech and algorithm news.

2024-03-30 03:27:08

- reply

removing your teeth seems overkill but you do you

2024-03-30 00:45:44

- reply

roommates can be very problematic 🙃

2024-03-29 20:35:35

I've just gone over my recent invoices and captured the costs of running a small server like ours: https://home.yttrx.com/~waffles/yttrx/2024/03/29/yttrx-cost-breakdown.html

2024-03-29 16:23:51

- reply

oh nice! it's always good to try things out and see whats what :D
too often I get stuck using what I know, rather than playing with alternatives for the sake of curiosity

2024-03-29 15:09:36

- reply

I wish that I still had some disks. Instead I’ll be populating new disks called “stuff” to be left for future me to worry about

2024-03-29 15:08:50

- reply

thankfully at work, all of our (engineering) work is done either through chrome, or on our development servers at the datacentre. No code was ever compiled on my laptop. But… having to deal with pulse audio issues during meetings was a real pain point lol

2024-03-29 15:05:39

- reply

partially. The recent news caused by the license change made a lot of people think about alternatives, and I happened to browse a few of them from my feed. Reading up on dragonfly made me want to give it a try (perf, simplicity and replication) so I gave it a shot to see how well things would work with a redis-like replacement.

2024-03-29 03:18:15

- reply

https://www.dragonflydb.io/blog/migrating-from-a-redis-cluster-to-a-dragonfly-on-a-single-node appears to have some good info on doing a proper migration

2024-03-29 03:16:11

- reply

yes, but I didn't really do a migration. I simply turned all of the sidekick services off, and then swapped out redis for dragonfly. This means that whatever was in the queue before is now gone, but I have a pretty small server so I doubt that there was much in terms of retries against remote servers that were offline etc.

2024-03-29 02:45:21

I've decided to ditch redis and am using dragonfly instead on the #yttrx mastodon server. Currently rebuilding some feeds.
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/176/677/278/913/956/original/f935b1f480c68ba0.png

2024-03-28 22:08:55

Heading home early. Important delivery waiting for me
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/175/592/778/096/111/original/42e75b383e49931c.png

2024-03-28 21:33:51

- reply

the newer ones look pretty good!

2024-03-28 20:55:34

- reply

I’ve since switched to using a MacBook. For years I used vim as my primary ide at work, but works integration with vscode has gotten so good that by using vim you’re leaving so many efficiency and productivity bumps on the table.
Vim is still my go to for personal projects, but when it comes to writing c++ at work, vscode is just so nice.
Keeping vscode working on arch was a huge pita. Hence my migration to apple

2024-03-28 20:46:14

I’ve been a corpo scum swe at a FAANG company for a decade. I used to run arch Linux for years on my only work laptop. There was a vibrant community of engineers who worked on keeping our devices compliant, while also giving us the tool we wanted to use most.
We had an oncall called “shit Linux users”. As a member of the rotation you’d keep an up to date usb key to pacstrap a work device and if someone borked their laptop, they’d page you and you’d sit with them for emotional support 😅

2024-03-28 20:40:46

- reply

for years I ran arch as my only device at $dayjob
I’d update dot files based on my oncall status that would prevent me from updating the system while I was oncall 😅

2024-03-28 20:33:09

- reply

rtx4080 for scale (I had to remove one of the fans to access the memory, but the fan is resting on the side of the heatsink. That thing is massive)
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/175/215/708/690/487/original/0854cd011f7f5d60.png

2024-03-28 17:22:36

- reply

ahhhh makes sense. I hear ya. My big Chungus of a cooler looks ridiculous hanging like that, but it…. Seems stable?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2024-03-28 17:21:02

- reply

I pay for 4-5 friends & family members cloud subscriptions. Whenever they mention that they don’t feel like paying for backups, I ask them to subscribe using my credit card so that they won’t get burned. Every month a flurry of Apple and google purchases pop up on my transactions and I get to feel smugly gratified 😅

2024-03-28 15:45:59

- reply

From there, I replicate my nas's archive volume to a secondary nas at home. It's sole job is to boot up at 23:55 every day and receive my main nas's archive volumes.
Then once per week, it syncs to an encrypted dataset in Germany via rclone.
Hopefully if anything happens to either of my online accounts, or anything happens to my physical devices, I'm covered and I can recover my multitudes of stupid memories.
I appreciate that this is overkill, but I'm fortunate enough to be able to do it.

2024-03-28 15:43:37

If you love your data, back it up (twice)
I have a long history of using google photos, and while the export story isn't perfect, I continue to upload my photos there, but also download them every three months via https://takeout.google.com/
I'm currently using ios as my primary mobile device, and am using https://github.com/icloud-photos-downloader/icloud_photos_downloader via docker to continuously backup my icloud collection to my local nas.

2024-03-28 15:33:37

- reply

giving strong [@benbrown](https://hackers.town/@benbrown) #library vibes
I can’t wait to check it out after work today!

2024-03-28 15:09:44

- reply

Got it wired up last night.
- freshrss installed in a docker container on a VM on my home server
- wired it to a public network endpoint via traefik and tunnels
- account and auth setup
- feedly exported and imported
- free to use iOS app installed that supports freshrss’s API
It feels great!

2024-03-28 02:29:42

- reply

are you trying to keep the clutter down? I run a giant heatsink on mine, and the only downside is space: I have to remove the fans from it when I mess with the ram, but thankfully I don’t do that all that often.

2024-03-28 02:26:50

I think I’m going to setup a self hosted rss service and (finally) migrate my 20 years of rss feeds out of Feedly (which I haven’t used for years)
Shoutout to Aaron Schwartz for helping to make rss a thing 🫶
https://vis.social/@infobeautiful/112100784223896818

2024-03-27 23:59:51

- reply

one factor is it’s easier to recruit ppl given Washington’s income tax. A second is the fact that Microsoft and Amazon have always been there, so it becomes easier for newer companies to recruit from them if the employees don’t have to go through the hassle of relocation.

2024-03-27 23:43:00

We spent the night bar hopping before hopping home.
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/170/296/812/948/634/original/2edd09f59db4a273.mp4

2024-03-27 22:07:28

- reply

at my last job I wrote a vm provisioning system called “Conan the deployer”

2024-03-27 00:42:11

- reply

“own”. I’m going to cry so hard if/when steam goes out of business and all of those titles become unavailable 😭

2024-03-25 01:13:24

- reply

the Grammarly keyboard also feels so error prone, which is very funny given gramarlys entire reason for existing 😅

2024-03-24 15:47:15

- reply

I mean, if these are the 2x2 rollerskates, then if I were really great, I’d also be flexing 😅

2024-03-24 06:45:25

- reply

#alkalinetrio was great in #seattle
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/149/305/226/820/533/original/c5f985bae571d113.mp4

2024-03-24 06:42:20

- reply

https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/149/298/804/603/027/original/9c343bbfc16728fb.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/149/298/809/102/358/original/8a5d1a9301c2737a.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/149/298/843/490/957/original/38dee83832184e22.jpeg

2024-03-24 03:14:36

- reply

We’re still waiting for the headline act to take the stage, but it’s so much fun sipping drinks with my best friend while we wait
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/148/478/990/598/140/original/b87bc37fbde7c3c2.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/148/479/006/404/744/original/abcb3ed127b45a68.jpeg
https://files.yttrx.com/media_attachments/files/112/148/478/992/844/298/original/8173da736d430ae0.jpeg

2024-03-24 03:08:44

It’s been two years, but I’m back at the same venue, seeing alkaline trio once again, with the same girl who made me smile so much that first time.

2024-03-23 15:20:43

- reply

you really nailed it with the uncanny ability to melt into the background. It wasn’t a device that always needed your attention. Instead it was there when you did need it.

2024-03-23 15:19:49

- reply

a keyboard! I never really considered that, but that’s so helpful.
I carry around a very light Magic Keyboard for my iPhone. I don’t use it often, but whenever I need to ssh into server or compose longer emails, it’s so amazing. I love being able to convert mobile devices into mini computers as needed.
I’m also glad to hear that you also had a palm pilot!

2024-03-22 19:38:08

- reply

of course! We have a rule at work: one change, one diff
If you’re trying to squeeze multiple changes into a single diff, that gets rejected until you split it up. This tends to deal with the long meandering diffs :)

2024-03-22 19:36:41

- reply

that looks dope as hell. 😋

2024-03-22 19:34:02

- reply

ppl should be splitting their diffs!
I’ll often ask ppl at work to break their diffs into multiple diffs if the changes are > ~150 LOC

2024-03-22 16:39:21

I spent a few sleepless nights this week finally writing ansible playbooks for all of my personal servers. In the past I could rely on my memory to quickly rebuild any of my systems, but now after a few months I’m “what arcane lore is this” as I’m trying to find third party wifi drivers etc

2024-03-22 16:35:51

I’ve owned a lot of devices in my lifetime but the one I think most about is the Palm Pilot. I remember syncing my email to it in the morning and replying (offline) during breaks at school. Man, that device felt like the future
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PalmPilot

2024-03-22 16:08:49

- reply

only corpo scum wear sleeves.

2024-03-21 15:16:56

- reply

lol sorry but no. it's this: https://www.samsung.com/us/televisions-home-theater/home-theater/sound-bars/hw-s800b-3-1-2ch-soundbar-w-wireless-dolby-atmos-dts-x-2022-hw-s800b-za/