I can’t remember a time where I didn’t have issues with syncing apps. They always just seem to stop working and it’s always frustrated me. It feels like to me there’s too much complexity under the hood and it exhausts me when something goes wrong.

As a result I’ve been using rsync commands as a way to sync files and folders. After the initial setup, I haven’t experienced any issues and it’s been consistent and reliable. I even created my own tool which simplifies each rsync command into a file for easier syncing/restoring of my data. I use it to sync between my laptop, android phone using Termux terminal and my two Raspberry Pi’s.

Rsync does have limitations like not being able to do two-way syncing but for my usage I am okay with that. I’m generally backing up data in most cases. Rsync does offer more flexibility since it’s a command line tool so I’m able to create backups of my entire system or sync specific files and folders. I can also set up cron jobs to have syncs performed periodically but I mainly do all my syncing manually because I like to see where all my data is moving.

As long as all my devices have static IP addresses within the network and I don’t mess around with any directory names/locations, everything just works and I’ve had a lot less headaches managing my data and backups. I also have a lot more confidence in my backup/restore process when compared to when I used other syncing programs/apps in the past.

I have a few small services I’ve been hosting on a Raspberry Pi 5 but ever since I saw a list of no JavaScript/CSS/HTML sites, I’ve been interested in hosting some simple pages just for myself. I’ll probably look into something that can create simple pages with markdown because it’s something simple that I’m already comfortable with.

I created my own script/tool using rsync to handle backups and transferring data.

My needs are quite smaller with just a computer and two Raspberry Pi’s but I found rsync to be really useful overall.

My backup strategy is to make a complete backup on the local device (Computer / RPi4 / RPi5) then copy all those backups to a Storage partition on my computer, then make a whole backup from the partition to an externally attached SSD.

The RPi’s both use docker/podman containers so I make sure any persistent data is in mounted directories. I usually stop all containers before performing a backup, especially things with databases.

Everything in the docker containers is either hit or miss when it comes to restoring. The simple docker images restore as it they were untouched and will launch like nothing happened. I have a PieFed instance that must be rebuilt after restoring a backup. Since PieFed’s persistent data is in mount points, everything works perfectly after a fresh build.

I can send a link to my rsync tool if that’s any interest to anyone. I’ve found it super useful for backups and minimizes so much headache for myself when it comes to transferring files between different network connected devices.

Maybe it’s something sightly outside no js/ccs/html but I am curious if there are any super minimal social media sites.

I want to do something locally within my town and it would be nice to host something simple and tiny with my raspberry pi as the server.

I’m assuming bulletin boards are quite minimal in comparison to other types of social media but I’ve never been a fan of how they handle previous replies with those boxed quotes.

I’ve also been nostalgic for irc lately. Everything on the internet these days has become overwhelming. Over the past 1.5 years I’ve been turning to simplicity and it’s a craving I that’s hard to ignore.

Am I numb or am I exhausted? Maybe I’ll find out after another nap.

Politics is just a bunch of old men helicoptering at each other while the rest of us watch, suffer and die.

I started self-hosting as a hobby and while I enjoy it, I was getting frustrated with file transfers between my computer, phone and two raspberry pi’s. Since I was already using rsync, I created a tool for myself to help sort rsync commands into sortable files.

I can now lump together those files into a single command and run several rsync commands in one go.

It’s definitely saved me some sanity by not having to refer to a wall of text full of rsync aliases.

I posted it on codeberg.

It is random code on the internet and it involves file transfers so if anyone uses it, those are the risks unless you care to read the code itself.

I use a lot of commands that either use the --delete option or require remote root access in order to preserve hard links and other attributes.

I didn’t know that was an issue. I was going from my own limited experience with linux.

I already set an option to disable the root requirement at the beginning of the script. Simply changing the value to 0 will disable it and will let rsync display it’s own errors.

What exactly makes it suspect so I know what I’m doing?

I had an interaction once where I thought I used double quotes around a word to imply something obvious related to the posted article. A random person got mad at me and claimed I knew nothing about solidarity.

I felt insulted, they didn’t know my life experiences up to that point. I chose to ignore my feelings and pressed them to teach my why I was so wrong. They eventually disappeared from replies because they had nothing behind that image of righteousness. Rare win but I’ll take it.

If someone put themselves in harms way to punch an authoritarian follower in the face in my defence and also uses slurs I could find offensive to myself, that’s not my enemy. That’s someone awesome who could use a little more education. Later. When the current situation isn’t so wild.

Words are just words. That’s not as effective as punching a fascist in face.

I think I’ve worked in automation long enough to feel super uncomfortable with the idea of a tattoo print machine being anywhere near my body.

Even if I had a kill switch in hand, it still makes me uncomfortable. In general machines don’t care about fleshy bits at all. If something happens, for example a sensor ages and becomes defective, the printer has the potential to cause serious harm.

I probably also hold a bit of bias, I prefer the imperfections of human, hand made art over digitized perfection from machines.

I’m the same here. I don’t know enough or care to know enough about systemd. I simply enjoy the minimalism of Alpine.

The downside is that I have to learn a bit more to make it work how I want but as a hobby I enjoy it.

When I first started with linux, Mint with systemd just worked for my laptop. For the people who are less computer literate, that should be good enough. They don’t want to worry about how to make their computer work, they just wanna do basic computer things without hassle.

I quite my electrical apprenticeship. I didn’t hate women enough. I didn’t hate queer people enough. I didn’t hate the younger people enough. I didn’t hate myself enough. I hated authority too much. I hated social norms too much. I cared about my health too much. But worst of all… Like on the level of genocide bad… I rode a bike to work.

Ah yeah, I’ve heard of Proxmox but have never looked into it. From my experiences, HA is quite flexible so some questions are never that simple. Still worth all the effort though :)

How do you have HA set up? For example I currently have a Raspberry Pi 4 and installed a HomeAssistant Docker image.

Since I’m not using HA addons, I’m free to use any Docker image that supports Raspberry Pi’s ARM architecture. I use a simple file server which is more than enough for my needs.

If you’re using an HA setup where that’s not possible, someone else may be able to suggest an HA addon that would fit your needs.

For the past month I’ve been writing a script to simplify transferring files and folders between my devices at home. All I have to do is change one feature, test it and it will be complete.

I’ve tried writing code before but never finished any project so this will be a nice accomplishment.

I’m thinking of putting it up on Codeberg to share. Maybe someone else might find my code/script useful. Even if it’s just one other person who uses, it would be nice knowing my work made their life a little less tedious.

Financial advice from old men who should spend more time minding their own business and less time giving advice when it was never asked.

If I listened to them, I’d end up a miserable old man giving advice that no one asked to hear.

I was born in Canada and was essentially raised Canadian. Both my bio parents were born in Guyana. Go back in history and their relatives were from India. My stepdad is from a Scottish background.

In Canada I lived in a city with a noticeable Indian and Pakistani population. People there assume I am Indian.

When I travelled Europe, everyone assumed I was African, French or French Canadian. I can’t speak French. In Germany, people assumed I was German or Muslim. I know being Muslim isn’t a nationality but the Turkish people in Berlin would greet me all the time. While I was in Australia, I was just treated like I was exotic… Yeah… And in Cuba, people thought I was Cuban. Luckily I had a pasty white, Spanish speaking Californian guy with me for a short time to speak to the locals.

It’s such a trip what people assume about me. Even more trippy with the amount of people who thought I was a local when I was abroad in Europe, especially in Germany where I only had a year with a work/travel visa.

Even though I have no pride in being Canadian, that’s what I am. That’s the culture I was born in and raised up as. The people who ask “Where are you from? No, where are you really from?” Tend to be closed minded people who I actively avoid.

I spent so much of my life breaking cycles before I ever knew I was breaking cycles. Before I had the understanding and the words to describe my reactions to this world, the only thing I really knew was that other people made me feel bad and I didn’t want to make other people feel the same way I did.

So much of my behaviour came out of defiance. However my acts of defiance are subtle. When someone maee me feel bad or told me I can’t do something, I’ll spend my time trying to figure out why I felt so bad or why they didn’t want me to do something by doing it anyways (within reason). I never came back to fight them or prove a point. I used that knowledge or experience to quietly defy them more in the future. I used that knowledge or experience to be kinder to other people that came into my life.

When my family chose to ignore me, I defied that behaviour by acticely listening to everyone else. When my family chose to make me feel judged and guilty, I defied that behaviour by allowing people to be themselves without explanantion. When my family chose to only view me as a stereotype, I defied that behaviour by allowing people the time to show me who they were without labels. When my family chose not to take the time to understand me, I defied that behaviour to make sure other people felt understood.

For all the pain from all the trauma I experienced, I know I’ve been able to turn that into something that made other people feel accepted and whole. It was always unexpected when those people showed appreciation for me. Even some of the people that showed appreciation for me were completely unexpected.

When it’s my turn to die, I will at least be able to die at peace with myself knowing that others felt safe to be themselves around me and that they deeply appreciated that. Being kind when so many people around me are so unkind takes too much energy. But I won’t stop, that defiant part of my brain won’t let me.

I hate digital clutter and regularly clear out old data I don’t want anymore. My browser is set to clear everything when I close it. If I find something useful, I bookmark it. Once in a while I’ll sort out any unsorted saved bookmarks and make a backup of the cleaned up list.

I’m also similar in real life though. I’m quite minimal and prefer only to have what is useful or meaningful to me.

My digital life and personal life are very similar.

This seems to over simplify the complex feelings I have in both those situations and does not quite fully resonate with me. I can sit with this and over analyze it but I choose not to because there isn’t much need to for me.

I don’t always need an explanation for why I am enjoying living in the moment, what’s important is that I am living in the moment. Those are the memories that are truly important to me because I get to enjoy them for myself later on my own time.