Mar - 19th
The Slow Web?
Posted at 9:46 am | Filed Under blog, words
This blog post regarding the “Slow Web” struck a chord with me. It’s from 2014 (and I think I modeled my WordPress template after this site!), The notion of a Slow Web as a more mindful web reminded me of how the web used to be — instead of rapid dopamine hits of half-truths. The […]
Nov - 8th
Writing with LLMs
Posted at 8:47 am | Filed Under ai, words, writing
I listened to a podcast where an author spoke about using agentic AI to make a writing “team”. He had beta reader/critics responding from specific perspectives, another grammar LLM, and an editor LLM – he’d pass drafts back and forth between them like they were people as part of the process. I have a couple […]
Nov - 2nd
Thinkpad homelab upgrades
Posted at 10:35 am | Filed Under homelab, journal, words
You can spend a lot of money building a homelab that competes with small office networks. Or, you can do what I did and build a network of cast-off, unwanted hardware. A thrift-store Synology NAS, “parts-only” Thinkpad laptop with a cracked screen and broken keyboard, and a $5 goodwill router, flashed with OpenWRT forms the […]
Aug - 31st
Living With Proxmox
Posted at 10:29 am | Filed Under homalab, words
My Proxmox VE 9.0 upgrade went smoothly, I ran the following command from a shell: apt update; apt upgrade;pve8to9 Then, updated my /etc/apt/sources.list to point to “Trixie” repositories, then ran: apt dist-upgrade to run the upgrade process. Admittedly, I’m not running Ceph or Proxmox Backup server, it’s definitely worth checking out the update documentation at […]
Aug - 15th
Proxmox 9.0 released
Posted at 10:32 am | Filed Under journal, words
Proxmox VE 9.0 is out, and it brings a solid set of updates. Built on Debian 13 “Trixie” with Linux kernel 6.14.8, it improves hardware support and overall performance. Core Updates The virtualization stack includes: QEMU 10.0.2 for better VM performance LXC 6.0.4 for improved container stability ZFS 2.3.3 with RAID-Z expansion Ceph Squid 19.2.3 […]
Jan - 30th
Thinkpad Homelab Upgrades
Posted at 6:46 am | Filed Under blog, images, words
You can spend a lot of money building a homelab that competes with small office networks. Or, you can do what I did and build a network of cast-off, unwanted hardware. A thrift-store Synology NAS, “parts-only” Thinkpad laptop with a cracked screen and broken keyboard, and a $5 goodwill router, flashed with OpenWRT forms the […]
Dec - 23rd
Proxmox Datacenter Manager: Centralized Management for Proxmox VE
Posted at 12:24 am | Filed Under blog, words
Proxmox Server Solutions announced the first Alpha release of Proxmox Datacenter Manager, an open-source server management software designed to provide a unified overview of all nodes and clusters in Proxmox VE environments. This new tool aims to simplify the management of virtualized environments by offering a modern user interface and centralized control. Key Features of […]
Nov - 24th
RIP tteck, creator of Proxmox Helper Scripts
Posted at 4:31 pm | Filed Under blog, words
tteck’s Proxmox Helper Scripts are what helped me dig more deeply into Proxmox; they automate upgrades and made it simple to try out homelab apps from a shell scripts. Sorry to hear that he was in failing health, but the time I read the post below, he had already passed away. It looks like there’s […]
Nov - 24th
Proxmox VE 8.3 released
Posted at 4:27 pm | Filed Under blog, words
Proxmox VE 8.3 has been released, and it was a painless upgrade from version 8.2. The new version includes: Support for Ceph Reef and Ceph Squid Tighter integration of the SDN stack with the firewall New webhook notification target New view type “Tag View” for the resource tree New change detection modes for speeding up […]
Aug - 3rd
New Outlook – not ready for Prime Time?
Posted at 3:17 am | Filed Under blog, words
I’ve been fighting with and against the “New” Microsoft Outlook, as I’ve written about. My biggest issue revolves around the replacement of Outlook’s Tasks functionality with Microsoft ToDo. I use Tasks heavily, sorting by category and using dates to prioritize daily lists. My email and meeting workflow ties closely to OneNote and Outlook – and […]
Jun - 20th
State of the Home Office, 2024
Posted at 9:31 pm | Filed Under blog, words
I’ve worked out of my home since 2020. My home office has evolved and has become a place where I enjoy working. With a little effort, you can improve any home office environment with some of the tips I’ve discovered.
May - 11th
Homelab Maintenance
Posted at 4:27 pm | Filed Under blog, words
I work out of my home office full-time. I spend a lot of time here, and so I’m used to the way things look – and sound. I was on a video call this week when something felt off. I took off my headphones and heard it. clunk. clunk. One of the drives in my […]
Apr - 24th
Proxmox VE 8.2 released!
Posted at 8:27 pm | Filed Under blog, words
With all of the changes at Broadcom affecting smaller customers, it’s great to see Proxmox adding the ability to migrate directly from VMWare. While VMWare is a best-of-breed hypervisor, many customers use a fraction of VMWare features – and tools like Proxmox VE can provide an effective hypervisor with commercial support and a great feature […]
Apr - 15th
25 Years…
Posted at 7:55 am | Filed Under blog, words
I realized that my blog and this domain (kataan.org) are 25 years old today! I started a project to move the older items from a text archive (downloaded from blogger, remember them?) into my WordPress database. I hadn’t realized that with blogger, I used it like Twitter as a microblog – there are some […]
Nov - 10th
List of new and missing features in the “New” Outlook
Posted at 7:32 am | Filed Under blog, words
I found a good list of of new and missing features in the “New” Outlook; I’ve been swapping back and forth between the two at work and have been concerned about the features and workflows that have been part of Outlook from the beginning are being dropped. One example is Microsoft ToDo replacing the Tasks […]
Nov - 1st
Windows 11 to support RAR, tar, gz and other compression formats
Posted at 1:50 pm | Filed Under blog, words
Windows support for compression standards like RAR, tar and gz has been lacking. RAR, for example, was released in 1993, for example, while we ran Windows 3.1 with Lotus 1-2-3 and WordPerfect for Windows. Buried in a blog post by Windows chief Panos Panay discussing AI and cloud-based improvements to Windows in a blog post […]
Oct - 30th
Implementing VLANs in OpenWRT: Enhancing Network Security and Efficiency
Posted at 1:56 pm | Filed Under blog, words
OpenWRT is a powerful open-source firmware replacement for many home “appliance” routers that gives you enterprise router features out of home network appliances. One key feature it offers is the ability to implement Virtual LANs (VLANs), which allow you to segment your network into distinct virtual networks. I will guide you through the process of […]
Oct - 30th
WRT54G to WRT1900ACS: Empowering Networks with OpenWRT
Posted at 3:42 am | Filed Under blog, words
What’s a WRT1900ACS? The WRT1900ACS is a capable router from several years ago that are dirt cheap on the used market and have a ton of features that I like. With an alternative OS like OpenWRT or DD-WRT, you unlock new features that compare to a proper router. I started running home networks on a […]
Jul - 3rd
A great tiny homelab server – with multiple expansion options!
Posted at 4:23 pm | Filed Under blog, words
I’ve been looking for low-power, small footprint homelab servers; servethehome.com’s YouTube channel has a great comparison of “tinyminimicro” servers – ultra-small form factor (USFF) desktops that make great mini servers. I’ve run into problems with USFF servers only supporting 16GB of memory – it’s why I paid less for a desktop form factor server that […]
Jun - 27th
Outlook opens emails next to weblinks in Microsoft Edge
Posted at 4:43 pm | Filed Under blog, words
I noticed this support article; first, Microsoft put up ads in the Start Menu, then offer to change your default browser. If you run Microsoft Edge as your default and change the browser, you get a “Are you sure” prompt you don’t get with any other browser. Now, for your convenience, Outlook defaults to Edge. […]
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