Aral Balkan @aral@mastodon.ar.al
Cyborg rights activist, developer, designer.
Just watched Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette on Netflix and… just watch it if you get the chance.
Two new posts this morning on my p2p blog:
* Giddy about CSS grid (didn't realise how easy it would be to make a three-column grid out of list items)
* Formatting an ISO 8601 date stamp in Hugo (niche? What means that word?)
Links:
* Old web: https://live.ar.al
* New web: dat://live.ar.al
(Use Beaker Browser https://beakerbrowser.com to browse the peer-to-peer/live/streaming version of the site.)
PS. I LOVE BLOGGING WITH THIS THING! … Uhum!… :) https://mastodon.ar.al/media/126KDW_cYsQNijgashs
Blocker-blocker blocker blocked a block of blocker blockers. A block of blocker blockers blocker-blocker blocker blocked. If blocker-blocker blocker blocked a block of blocker blockers, where’s the block of blocked blocker blockers that blocker-blocker blocker blocked?
https://better.fyi/news/
https://mastodon.ar.al/media/1d3f2uGe7t0whFnTIgU
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 10:48AM So the site now has a DAT short URL and DAT metadata so the hack’s now over. It took about an hour to hack together/deploy.
You can follow the site as it evolves at:
HTTPS: https://live.ar.al
DAT: dat://live.ar.al
(If you use Beaker Browser and turn on live reloading, the changes will stream to you as they happen.) :)
Now I have to get ready for the dentist (yay!) 🎉
https://mastodon.ar.al/media/yJdTpuhVK42JQeUfFlM https://mastodon.ar.al/media/FwBIaGSGARVYiqz83HY https://mastodon.ar.al/media/OZODGrojWdm_30frGSc
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 10:42AM After faffing around with the wrong rsync watcher package (the right one is rsync-watch), I know have live reload working.
So the live blog is ready. Now to give it some nice dat.json metadata and a short name :) https://mastodon.ar.al/media/lUeftRhWXtlY43IoThQ https://mastodon.ar.al/media/B0JOEjMo6Tv91Q2a29k https://mastodon.ar.al/media/dWi_G4Oce3KAT73n22Y
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 10:23AM Installed DAT and followed my own instructions at to set up Dat share as a service.
We now have a DAT address for the live blog that you can pop into Beaker Browser :)
dat://bfb2eeb077826ecee6c1105d419755d5d8e0893d653d3ce39e50aee2c00b7701
w00t! Almost there… :)
(Now need to set up a short name via DAT DNS) :) https://mastodon.ar.al/media/kWdDyZAcdXbX0JsRGrw
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 10:06AM Install latest Node LTS via NVM (Node is a prerequisite for DAT) https://mastodon.ar.al/media/cxAiwyO774SsiGIGER8
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 10:04AM First update via rsync! w00t! :) https://mastodon.ar.al/media/O_HPWXfgsIAZPexiuMc https://mastodon.ar.al/media/XzIkjsQBdvhert01uE4
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 9:57AM Set up rsync daemon https://mastodon.ar.al/media/yLYhqFXSi_xH8xTQA14
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 9:50AM We have a static placeholder page over SSL thanks to Let’s Encrypt:
https://live.ar.al https://mastodon.ar.al/media/Y2Nk2S9lO6kDiGx-pPE
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 9:38 Setup nginx server block https://mastodon.ar.al/media/vtIongyLAyo9eyIO_4s
#p2pLiveBlogHack 9:30AM ssh into the new box and install a web server, set up the firewall, etc., apt update && apt upgrade && apt install nginx etc. https://mastodon.ar.al/media/oAJf1qQEORGDTSZtGVA
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 9:24AM Step 2: Create a DNS entry for the subdomain. https://mastodon.ar.al/media/ZoiqzcTMFBP1no85Q6U
#p2pwebLiveBlogHack 9:20AM Step 1: set up a new VPS at CloudScale.
Using the smallest instance they have. I shouldn’t really need anything more. 🤞
Better Blocker’s HTTP Archive (HAR) collection now available over DAT
Our evolving collection of HAR files from our web crawls in search of trackers is now available over DAT for researchers and anyone else who’s interested under Creative Commons ShareAlike license:
DAT link:
dat://2f063e531e6352f0326b8e0f076d74fc6fd694d77d4d5dafeb77659847214247
Please do let me know how you get on if you have a play with it. https://mastodon.ar.al/media/6fJB_6ySkSXbffot2J4
Quite in love with my new Pride band. 🏳️🌈 https://mastodon.ar.al/media/bqn9dbX282H0Yb1c4Vc
Switching to Linux
I want to feel good about the tool I use everyday and I want it to reflect what I stand for so I just ordered a Tuxedo InfinityBook Pro (https://www.tuxedocomputers.com/en/Linux-Hardware/Linux-Notebooks/10-14-inch/TUXEDO-InfinityBook-Pro-13-v3-133-matte-Full-HD-or-QHD-IPS-aluminium-case-up-to-Intel-Core-i7-Quad-Core-up-to-32GB-RAM-up-to-two-HDD/SSD-up-to-12h-battery-Typ-C-Thunderbolt-etc.tuxedo) from @tuxedocomputers & they kindly agreed to preinstall Pop!_OS 18.04 for me (thank you, Vinzenz, you rock!)
I maxed it out with an i7 4-core CPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB Samsung Pro SSD & a QHD+ screen that I plan to run at 200% HiDPI.
This will be my main dev machine going forward. Can’t wait! :) https://mastodon.ar.al/media/1uMEIMJwnL3akninfBE
Don’t worry folks, the revolution’s in good hands.
https://mastodon.ar.al/media/-qTaUITuQu_3z_p0-34 https://mastodon.ar.al/media/zcO6wZg8kc21fec_4eQ
Just asked Dell Ireland on Twitter to please explain to me why the exact same XPS 13 computer costs €630 more when it ships with Ubuntu – a free and open source operating system – than when it does with Windows 10.
https://twitter.com/aral/status/1005484980087197696
(I can only imagine it’s a typo and will be fixed. Otherwise, there are lots and lots of questions to be asked.)
Playing with Pop!_OS 18.04 LTS on my MacBook in VMWare and I'm in love.
This is a developer's dream operating system. System76 have crafted – standing on the shoulders of Gnome Shell, Ubuntu, and countless others – a more minimalist experience than Apple. It’s delightful. Huge respect!