Made some progress on the greenhouse today, but that meant I didn't have time for the new #Linux PC build. Soon, I hope.
Remote
Scott Lowe
@scottslowe@fosstodon.org
mastodon 4.7.3An IT pro focused on cloud, Kubernetes, Linux, containers, & networking. Author, blogger, former podcaster, speaker, Christ-follower practicing love instead of hate. Devoted husband to Crystal Lowe. Helping people at Isovalent/Cisco. Opinions are mine.
0 Followers
0 Following
43 Posts
Joined October 31, 2022
Website:
GitHub:
Twitter:
Another slower day on day 4 of the spring #staycation: finished up the gate work, finished up the caulking in the greenhouse, & covered the outdoor plants in mesh to protect against the wildlife. Later tonight it’s time to upgrade the RAM in the #Linux PC!
Day 2 of my spring #staycation: planted lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, & radish in one garden bed; planted strawberries in another garden bed; put the raised planter boxes in the greenhouse & transplanted things into them (tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, & brussel sprouts); and installed Arch Linux onto the new PC.
Finally—the greenhouse is finished!
The work, however, is not finished. Up next: building cedar planter boxes in the greenhouse, rigging up irrigation/misters, transferring seedlings to the planter boxes, and putting in starter plants (for things that don’t have seedlings).
My wife made great progress on the greenhouse this morning. We should be able to finish things up after work today!
I’m getting ready to start building a new #Linux desktop—picked up the motherboard, CPU, RAM, and GPU today. Nothing crazy or top-of-the-line, but they should be good, solid performers. Case, power supply, & NVMe SSD will arrive on Wednesday.
More work on the greenhouse today; added gravel/rock as a thermal battery to hold heat in the evenings. Also re-worked the misters!
Here's some reading for your weekend!
https://blog.scottlowe.org/2026/05/08/technology-short-take-195/
I've had the opportunity to only briefly use this tool, but what I've seen so far is really useful.
I mentioned that my gate opener motor failed recently. I spoke with the manufacturer (Mighty Mule) and they said, "Sorry, we're not going to replace your motor because you bought it (not installed it) more than 12 months ago." No exceptions, no willingness to work with the customer.
1000% do not recommend. Spend your money elsewhere.
If you're looking for some weekend reading, then give Technology Short Take 194 a look!
https://blog.scottlowe.org/2026/04/03/technology-short-take-193/
Replying to
@returntrip Yeah, I read that it was a known thing, but it is still kind of odd (if you ask me).
Replying to
@jeff_3ix I’m not necessarily a Homebrew fan, although my only experience is on macOS. I’ll take a closer look at Bluefin-Dx, thanks.
I’ve been mulling over the idea of switching to an immutable/container-based #Linux like Bluefin (or similar). However, I really enjoy #ArchLinux and the breadth of up-to-date CLI tools available to me. Maybe I could use #Distrobox to run an Arch-based terminal for day-to-day usage?
Only minor projects for day 6 of my spring #staycation: pressure wash back porch, front porch, and front walkway (see the in-progress photo), clean up in the garage, spray for pests, and do some mowing.
New post! Check out my latest collection of links and articles on data center-related technologies in Technology Short Take 193.
https://blog.scottlowe.org/2026/04/03/technology-short-take-193/
Day 1 of my spring #staycation: helped mow the lawn, trimmed the weeds, finished cleaning up from staining the back porch, hauled off the recycling, and built my new #Linux PC (haven’t yet had time to fire it up).
Oh, I forgot to mention—our apple trees are budding and blooming! They’re still too young to bear fruit, but it’s exciting to see them developing.
Replying to
@Marcus Congrats! If you think this is odd, wait until you have to process being an empty nester (when all your kids move out).
[New Post] Technology Short Take 190 is live! https://blog.scottlowe.org/2026/02/06/technology-short-take-190/
Ha! I fixed the 3rd function diverter valve on my tractor. Take that!
Unfortunately, we were not able to finish the greenhouse today. We found a few things we needed to go back and fix/correct, and had to run to the hardware store for some makeshift braces where the kit didn't provide any. Hopefully tomorrow!
Day 7 of my spring #staycation was focused on yardwork and getting the misters hooked up in the greenhouse. Tomorrow we transition to spring #vacation as we head into the mountains for some alone time.
Uh oh...I'm on #vacation with my wife in the mountains but I think I'm getting sick. That's not good.
Something odd I encountered: setting "privacy.resistFingerprinting" to true in Mozilla Firefox causes it to no longer restore saved window size. (This is on #ArchLinux running GNOME 49 with Wayland.)
Replying to
@ErikBussink I do use LocalSend now, but only for myself. Getting it installed on her Mac is probably a good idea.
Day 5 of the spring #staycation was Easter, so no real work was done. We spent time with family, colored eggs, and had an Easter egg hunt. Good times.
Replying to
@leetaur@social.librem.one Have you written/shared/published anything about how you’re using these tools?
My Network Automagic podcast episode is live! https://networkautomagic.net/podcast/na007/
@unknownuniverse@noc.social I am not sure if you’ll see this, but I can’t access your self-hosted instance to follow you, nor can I access your web site. I don’t know if there is an overly large CIDR range blocked or something else happening, but I thought I should let you know. (Starlink user here—no other options for where I live.)
Replying to
@nixCraft I couldn’t have said it better myself. Seriously, just be a good parent and pay attention!
Replying to
@jorge That’s cool. Any idea when this might make its way into Universal Blue and associated images?
Anyone else seen this, or know of folks using/adopting it?
I just can't seem to get ahead. I fixed the 3rd function diverter valve on my tractor, but now my Gator won't start. Ugh.
I just found out I have to replace the motor on my gate opener. Awesome. (Not really.) Less than 2 months after installation and it’s already busted.
I'm finding some sites with RSS feeds don't render the article (or even a preview, if it isn't a full-content feed) properly. I don't know (yet) if this is an issue with Newsflash (GNOME RSS reader) or the sites themselves.
Day 3 of the spring #staycation was a bit slower. We caulked the panels of the greenhouse, and spent some time beefing up the gate infrastructure.