today's howtos
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SSH based comment system
In 2015 I read an article (hn discussion) that was using SSH as a sort-of 2fa for websites where you needed to SSH into a server, which gave you a link with a token that allowed you to sign into the site.
I wondered if I could make a comment system for this blog using SSH.
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Why is DNS still hard to learn?
I write a lot about technologies that I found hard to learn about. A while back my friend Sumana asked me an interesting question – why are these things so hard to learn about? Why do they seem so mysterious?
For example, take DNS. We’ve been using DNS since the 80s (for more than 35 years!). It’s used in every website on the internet. And it’s pretty stable – in a lot of ways, it works the exact same way it did 30 years ago.
But it took me YEARS to figure out how to confidently debug DNS issues, and I’ve seen a lot of other programmers struggle with debugging DNS problems as well. So what’s going on?
Here are a couple of thoughts about why learning to troubleshoot DNS problems is hard.
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A Beginner’s Guide To Dual Booting Windows And RHEL
Windows and Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) are two of the most popular operating systems in the world. Windows is known for its ease of use and compatibility with a wide range of software, while RHEL is known for its stability and security. If you're looking for a way to get the best of both worlds, dual booting Windows and RHEL is a great option.
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How to run graphical Linux applications in Windows [Ed: Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is an attack on GNU/Linux. Do not use it. Instead, dual boot, use a virtual machine, or just get rid of Windows. WSL is meant to prevent people from doing so.]
Windows is by far the most popular operating system in the world – but for developers and power users, it's often helpful to be able to switch to a Linux environment. In the past, this meant dual-booting or installing your chosen distribution in a virtual machine. But since 2016 there's been a better way: the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) is an optional OS component that provides a fully working, officially supported Linux environment right inside Windows.
The major limitation of WSL, when it was first introduced, was that it was a text-only interface. You could run scripts and command-line programs, but graphical applications were off the menu. That's no longer the case. All desktop editions of Windows 10 and 11 now support WSLg – an updated version of WSL, where the "g" stands for GUI. It enables you to run graphical Linux applications directly on the Windows desktop, with minimal configuration. It's a huge boon for anyone who works across multiple platforms, or who just wants to try out applications and tools that aren't available for Windows.
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How to use Google Bard from the Linux terminal
To use Google Bard in your Linux terminal, you must install a few things. First, you’ll need to install the Google Bard API. You need this API to interact with Google Bard. To install the Bard API, start by opening up a terminal window.
Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, it’s time to install the Google Bard API with the pip install command.
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How to install Google Earth Pro on a Chromebook
Earlier this morning, I received an email question from a reader, asking how to install Google Earth Pro on a Chromebook. Yes, there is a web version as well as Google Earth for Android that runs on ChromeOS. But the most fully featured version is Google Earth Pro for desktops. And since there’s a version for Linux, you can easily install Google Earth Pro on a Chromebook.