Average YouTuber: "My mobile carrier is terrible today; I'm only getting 200 Mbps! How am I supposed to survive?"
Me: "Hey, I get 20 Mbps on my phone's hotspot! I can work just fine!"
it
My home desktop - 1 March 2000 - a Pentium 233 MMX.
The OS was Debian Linux - you can see a printed Tux near the keyboard.
No broadband connection, just a 56k modem.
Iomega Zip drive - so I could download stuff at Uni and bring it back home.
One year later, this became my first 24/7 server.
#IT #SysAdmin #Linux #Debian #Throwback #Memories #Vintage #OldPhotos #OldTimes #OldNerd #OldMe #VintageSetup
Edited 177d ago
WordPress on FreeBSD with BastilleBSD: A Secure Alternative to Linux/Docker
Tired of the Linux/Docker “monoculture” for WordPress? This article guides you step-by-step through the secure installation of WordPress on FreeBSD using @BastilleBSD
Discover how jail separation, performance, and the versatility of ZFS offer a more robust and easily manageable environment, far from common vulnerabilities often linked to poorly maintained plugins. Get ready to make your site more secure and reliable.
#BSDJournal #FreeBSD #RunBSD #Wordpress #OwnYourData #Hosting #IT #SysAdmin
Edited 196d ago
Okay, I didn't want to go on about this, but...
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/06/05/when-we-become-cheerleaders-for-our-own-demise/
Ever heard of vibe coding?
It’s when the code looks fine, tests pass, vibes are good - so it goes to production. Even if it’s wide open to SQL injection.
I’ve seen it happen.
AI wrote it. Devs trusted it. Management loved it.
Nobody understood it.
We’re trading skill for speed.
And that’s how we lose our freedom.
Vibe Coding Will Rob Us of Our Freedom: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/06/05/vibe-coding-will-rob-us-of-our-freedom/
EDIT: Given the trends and the comments, I wrote something off the cuff about it: https://my-notes.dragas.net/2025/06/05/when-we-become-cheerleaders-for-our-own-demise/
#ITNotes #ai #coding #data #ownyourdata #programming #IT #SysAdmin
Edited 242d ago
My friends, I'm so excited and happy to introduce a new project: the illumos Cafe!
The positive and constructive spirit of the BSD Cafe, created and maintained by all the friends who participated from day one in building a strong and friendly community, deserves to spread to other operating systems. Because there are other OSes that deserve attention, certainly more than they're getting right now.
Operating systems based on illumos (like SmartOS, OmniOS, Tribblix, OpenIndiana, etc.) are mature, stable, secure, and perfectly usable for a wide range of tasks. ZFS is native, zones are an excellent method for containerization, and bhyve and kvm coexist beautifully - and so much more, too much to list in a single post.
So from today, the illumos Cafe will stand alongside the BSD Cafe in creating a positive, respectful, and growth-oriented (but also relaxing!) environment, starting right here in the Fediverse with a Mastodon instance and a snac one.
I've written an introductory article about the project, including some technical details. I invite everyone interested to read it: https://it-notes.dragas.net/2025/08/18/introducing-the-illumos-cafe/
Choose your table, take a seat and enjoy your time at the illumos Cafe!
#SysAdmin #IT #BSDCafe #illumosCafe #Community #OpenSource #OSS #illumos #SmartOS #OpenIndiana #ZFS #bhyve #kvm #Fediverse #Mastodon #snac #ITNotes
#Hyderabad Delivery Worker Falls Into Drain; Phone Lost, Bike Damaged
I can't shake this out of my head , along with the pain for him , I can't help but see , that he and 10s of 1000s of #gig workers re living their work shift as if they're characters of #videogames risking their lives for real as they rush their bikes on the whims and fake entitlement of overworked #it workers who re in the same poition intellectually and politically and order everything from from #zepto to #zomato in the mindlessly wracked #infrastructure and runined #aqi in name of #develooment propaganda of the current #oligarchy who ve no better lives themselves.
Is this our collective resilience ? Yes.
Does it show our collective consciousness ? No .
Our mindless #consumerism s led us to severe #energycrisis and severely wracked work life balance , where we ve pawned our will and natural lives for the sake of survival and intolerance for others.
We re in serious need of better #civicsense driven demand of a #policyreform
Edited 171d ago
This one beats them all and it’s going to make me laugh until tonight:
“I’ve been assigned to carry out a penetration test on a server you manage. The test will be performed from the outside, since the perimeter security needs to be assessed. In order to perform the test, I therefore ask you to disable any firewall, protection, blacklist. If any of these are in place, the server might not be reachable and could prevent the assessment.”
I had to read it three times just to make sure I’d understood it properly.
So, another day, another leak of 70000 people's government IDs, from Discord this time.
It seems to me that websites shouldn't be *allowed* to collect personal information unless it is absolutely necessary (an address so that they can delver a package). But we instead seem to be moving in the opposite direction with Governments around the world demanding that various websites collect ID for age verification. This is bad.
https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/10/discord-says-hackers-stole-government-ids-of-70000-users/
RE: https://mastodon.bsd.cafe/@gumnos/115551343732704834
This is a great post.
It's not "against" something - it just explains why Tim prefers to use the BSDs.
Just got back from the local @mikrotik distributor with a load of "toys" for a new job for a client.
The next few days are going to be fun!
Employee of a client calls me, absolutely furious. She has just arrived at the office and her laptop will not connect to the wifi. Clearly this network is broken. I suggest a couple of tests, like checking whether the network shows up (it does not) and trying a cable connection (nothing happens). So I timidly suggest checking whether there is actually power in the office, since there is construction going on. Boom. No power. She then asks me where the switch is to turn it back on. I have no idea, of course. Their electrical system is not exactly my responsibility. She snaps at me, asks why they even pay me, and hangs up with enough force that I can almost feel it.
I grin, although slightly annoyed. Luckily the people who work with her are nothing like that.
Half an hour later she calls again, apologizing deeply for how she treated me. She tells me she had a very rough night and even shares the details. Nearly thirty minutes on the phone, venting. Out of respect I will not retell anything, but she really should have stayed home today. She deserved it. She just did not want to tell her managers because she feared they would think she only wanted a longer weekend after yesterday’s holiday.
But her managers are not fools, and they immediately sent her home to rest and take care of her loved ones.
Too often honest people like her pay the price for those who act sly or arrogant. It is not fair, but the smart ones can tell the difference. Not always, but quite often.
I write technical articles on my blog.
AIs show up in large numbers to read them, crawl them, learn from them.
Time passes. I publish a new post.
And right on schedule, someone comments:
"This was clearly written by an AI".
Which is fascinating, really.
I write.
Machines read.
I keep writing.
Then humans accuse me of being the machine.
At this point I am not sure if the problem is that AI sounds too human,
or that humans have forgotten what a human who actually studies sounds like.
Either way, I will keep writing.
Worst case scenario, the AIs will enjoy it.
Best case scenario, one day a human will too.
The Virtue of Finished Things
An email asking if my software was abandoned made me realize how the ideal of completeness has disappeared from our lives. In an era of mandatory updates and disposable goods, I reflect on the value of boring software - the kind that is finished, reliable, and simply does its job.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/01/06/the-virtue-of-finished-things/
#MyNotes #World #Reflections #IT #Life #Blogging
An email asking if my software was abandoned made me realize how the ideal of completeness has disappeared from our lives. In an era of mandatory updates and disposable goods, I reflect on the value of boring software - the kind that is finished, reliable, and simply does its job.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/01/06/the-virtue-of-finished-things/
#MyNotes #World #Reflections #IT #Life #Blogging
Edited 27d ago
The Virtue of Finished Things
An email asking if my software was abandoned made me realize how the ideal of completeness has disappeared from our lives. In an era of mandatory updates and disposable goods, I reflect on the value of boring software - the kind that is finished, reliable, and simply does its job.
https://my-notes.dragas.net/2026/01/06/the-virtue-of-finished-things/