Viewing profile — johnvaluk

The older Intel-based Dell XPS 13 machines have the same footprint as some 11 inch Chromebooks. Some models have thermal quirks that cause a shutdown, which is easily addressed by …

There are a lot of old Chromebooks with only 2GB of RAM soldered to the motherboard. Other than that, they're surprisingly capable machines after you flash them with MrChromebox fi…

Is it possible to override shellcheck? It's a valuable tool that I use all the time, but it reports many false positives. It's not unusual for junior developers to introduce bugs i…

And a CLI you can use interactively or for automation (once you get the quoting right).

Like any documentation system, its success depends on its audience. As an administrator, I wish MediaWiki had a built-in updater (bonus points if it could be automated).

Can you describe the fix?

This isn't fair. Researchers put an extraordinary burden on administration in an academic institution. Research by its very nature is cutting edge and is always testing limits. "I …

Yes, your local agent can be accessed on the destination host by any other user with the necessary privileges (including your own account -- a root compromise is not required). Thi…

SSHFS provides enormous value precisely because it doesn't rely on configuring a file server or elevated privileges. It's convenient, secure and performs well. The ability to creat…

This is a nice guide. In my experience, it isn't necessary to configure ChromeOS by logging into a Google account after enabling Developer Mode, if you simply want to ditch ChromeO…

Great novel. It's a shame the author never gave it a title. /s

I started refusing local anaesthetic for dental procedures when I was teenager. I discovered the pain of the procedure itself (such as drilling a cavity) was the same, but I was sp…

It would be nice to see the MacOS-specific commands in a separate table (or somehow marked as such).

The discourse UI is horrible. Adding insult to injury, it checks browser versions and breaks for anything it deems unworthy. Why would a text forum care about which browser is used…

I call them firemen who put out their own fires. Also annoying are the managers who suddenly champion mission continuity without wondering why operations have been free of disrupti…

Whenever someone wishes for a film adaptation of Blood Meridian, I recommend The Proposition. I'll be amazed if any Blood Meridian movie is as good.

I just canceled one of my ISPs because there was no way for me to adjust my plan online unless I selected an upgrade. The agents I chatted with were misleading and the website was …

You can also hold down the Option key when booting to select bootable partitions or external devices. Different models may require extra steps to enable this, but I've never needed…

I run NixOS on several old Chromebooks with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB drives. It's doable if you stay on top of garbage collection. YMMV depending on your use case.

Note that some firmware upgrades will only be applied if MacOS is booted from the internal drive (NVME support was added this way to some models). I leave MacOS on the machine for …

As a touch typist, I can usually adapt quickly to variations in the bottom row (Ctrl, Fn, Alt, super key). But I find it impossible to use a keyboard with undersized, asymmetrical …

For a feature that isn't enabled by default, "just use Nix Flakes" hardly qualifies as best practice or even commonplace. I've used Nix/NixOS for years and still don't have a use c…

Why does CSS animation consume so much CPU? I've been trying to use it in my own projects, but the fans kick in even with a single simple continuous animation. Unfortunately, this …

Don't overlook the benefits. Use them to your favor. Go for a walk. Did you see an interesting bird, insect, or plant? Take a picture or commit to memory and try to identify it whe…

Common Table Expression (the WITH clause).