2022

118 posts

Mastodon server: email

· linux, software

Always a hassle to get mail delivery to work.

Had a similar problem with a VoIP (Nexmo SMS/call forwarding) tool that just refused to work using local mail servers without a valid cert. Gave up and started using Mailgun. 

Long story short: use something like Mailgun or another provider.

Using localhost SMTP server support seems to be limited if you don't have working certs. The documentation is also lacking as to what does what. Didn't figure out how to have it ignore SSL.

Feed2Toot

· linux, software, virtualisation

Started looking into a service to auto-post from this blog onto my Mastodon feed. Feed2Toot fit the bill perfectly.

I wanted to run the whole thing from a Docker container, though, so I'll quickly write a how-to.

This whole thing runs from a Raspberry Pi, as root. No k8s or k3s for me. The path I use is /root/git/feed2toot/, so be sure to modify that to whatever you're using.

Ikea Tradfri with Philips Hue

· hardware, networking, software

Recently visited Ikea and had to get a Christmas star-light like I used to have during my childhood.

Star-light with Tradfri, Philips Hue in the table lamp, and a Kasa smartplug powered Ikea LED light. Oh and Taro in the corner.

Most of my (non-track) light at home is smart using either a TP-Link Kasa smartplug or Philips Hue (and I want to avoid adding more brands, more apps, and more shit). However, Philips Hue is quite $$$ and not always all that easy to get in Singapore (shady retailers, limited stock, not many options).

The pandemic is over: kill the QR menu

· software

The QR-code menu—which you access by scanning a black-and-white square with your smartphone—has taken off ever since. It may dominate going forward. But I hope not, because I detest those digital menus. Never mind dying peacefully in my sleep; I want to go out while sitting in a restaurant on my 100th birthday, an aperitif in my left hand and a paper menu in my right. And as eager as I’ll be for heaven if I’m lucky enough to stand on its threshold, I want one last downward glance at a paramedic prying the menu from my fist. In that better future, where old-school menus endure, I’ll go to my urn happy that coming generations will still begin meals meeting one another’s eyes across a table instead of staring at a screen.