User Blogs

QGIS is an open source Geographic Information System (GIS) application which can handle most data formats, and is highly extensible with an included plugin installer. It is tolerably durable and extremely capable, and is able to produce basically any sort of map you would like. It runs on most everything and will cost you nothing. It also has a server which can be run in tandem or standalone, or in a container, and which can also serve a web client directly.

One of the coolest features of ZFS is that you can create snapshots of filesystems before making changes, and revert them later if those changes cause problems. This is great for major updates, especially involving experimental software. If you had your whole system on a single filesystem this would be very easy, but you probably don't, especially if you are using ZFS. Luckily, it is pretty simple to make and destroy these snapshots.

I run Devuan Linux, because I don't like systemd and I do like Debian. I have root on ZFS, which is a great way to protect your data but also comes with challenges. I wanted to install Linux 6.14 because I want NTSYNC support, but the latest release of OpenZFS for Linux does not support Kernel 6.14. However, the master branch of ZFS does support it, and has for a while now, so I decided to build ZFS myself so that I could upgrade my kernel.

nvidia-smi -pl `nvidia-smi --query-gpu=power.max_limit --format=csv,noheader,nounits`

This runs nvidia-smi to get the maximum power level for the GPU as a number alone, then runs it again and sets the power level to that number. This will work as long as you have only one nvidia GPU in your system. Otherwise take a look at the -i option information in nvidia-smi --help.

I got a Redragon Devarajas as an entry hotswap mech keyboard, with the red switches to try to keep things quiet. It's based on an eVision PCB, and the red switches I got it with (Which are Redragon branded) are a close match to Outemu Red. But they don't really make it that quiet despite being linear, because there's no damping in the switch. There is a foam mat under the PCB, but it doesn't do much at all. Long story short, I put in Outemu Silent Peach V1 switches and now it actually is quiet, and easier on the fingers.