today's howtos

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 12, 2022

• Tuning is hard

  Before the year 1500 or so, Western Europeans mainly tuned their instruments in three-limit just intonation, which they called Pythagorean tuning. (Don’t be fooled by the name; this system was in use in Mesopotamia centuries before the Greeks described it.) Three-limit just intonation is based on the first three harmonics of a vibrating string. Western Europeans really like the pitch ratios produced by these harmonics, as do people from many other cultures (though not all of them). In this post, I will explain why Europeans liked three-limit just intonation, why they nevertheless eventually abandoned it, and what came after.

• Day 12: max() trickery

  It’s time to get me up to speed with modern CSS. There’s so much new in CSS that I know too little about. To change that I’ve started #100DaysOfMoreOrLessModernCSS. Why more or less modern CSS? Because some topics will be about cutting-edge features, while other stuff has been around for quite a while already, but I just have little to no experience with it.

• A kiosk computer running OpenBSD

  Let's have fun doing OpenBSD kiosks! As explained in a recent article, a kiosk is a computer dedicated to display things or to be used interactively without being able to escape the current program.

  I modified the script surf-display which run the web browser surf in full screen and run various commands to sanitize the environment to prevent users to escape surf to make it compatible with OpenBSD.

• Migrating a Mastodon Account

  The Mastodon instance I’ve been using, mastodon.technology, is shutting down in a few months, so I’ve migrated my Mastodon account to a new server. I wanted to share the steps I went through in case the details are helpful to anyone, especially others migrating off that instance–especially a warning about when you lose access to your old account. I don’t know if these are the best steps to follow, but they worked for me.

• Ideas for using Ansible local facts

  I was asked today whether I’ve a list of ideas for using Ansible’s local facts, and my answer was, sadly, ‘no’. I thought I’d start one with the help of my Ansible followers.

• Simpler Linux self-hosting with tmux and bubblewrap

  Let's say you want to self-host a Gemini capsule and a weblog. Maybe you'll use a Raspberry Pi or VPS server. Typically, you'd install (or get a pre-installed) operating system, like Debian/Ubuntu. You might then apt install a webserver like nginx, and pip3 install a Gemini server like JetForce.

• Update Ubuntu using Apt - Cron - Anto ./ Online

  There are several methods to update Ubuntu. These methods include package updates via the desktop, the unattended upgrade script, and good old Apt. As the title suggests, this post explores the last option using Cron.

• How To Install ZesleCP Control Panel Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

  In this guide, we will show you how to install ZesleCP on Ubuntu systems.

  Zesle is a graphical web-based web hosting control panel designed to make administration of websites easier. Zesle is often called DA for short. It is a lightweight and fully-featured Web Hosting Control Panel.

  Zesle runs on any system with at least the following specifications: Processor: 500 MHz Memory: 1 GB (2 GB is preferred), with at least 2 GB of swap memory HDD Space: minimal 2 GB free space (after the Linux install)

• How To Install Thunderbird Mail on Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 LTS

  In this guide, we will install Thunderbird Mail on Ubuntu systems.

  Mozilla Thunderbird is a free and open-source cross-platform email client, personal information manager, news client, RSS and chat client developed by the Mozilla Foundation and operated by subsidiary MZLA Technologies Corporation. The project strategy was originally modeled after that of Mozilla’s Firefox web browser.

• How to Run Cron Jobs Every 5, 10, or 15 Minutes

  Cron jobs are an essential part of any Linux system. They allow administrators to schedule tasks to run at specified intervals, making it easy to automate repetitive or time-consuming tasks. Cron jobs can be scheduled to run by minute, hour, day of the month, month, day of the week, or any combination of these. This makes them very versatile and makes it possible to fine-tune the execution of tasks. For example, a cron job could be used to send out a daily report email or to back up a database every week. Cron jobs are extremely powerful and can make managing a Linux system much more manageable.

  The most commonly used cron schedules are every 5, 10, or 15 minutes; each has its advantages and disadvantages. For example, running a cron job every 5 minutes means the task will be completed more often and uses more resources. On the other hand, running a cron job every 15 minutes means that the task will be completed less often but uses fewer resources. Ultimately, the best schedule for a cron job depends on the specific task that needs to be completed.