I'm a very happy tailwind plus customer, I paid for their expertise on crafting good templates and best practices. Bit sad that they aren't going to add more but it was inevitable with AI cutting their lunch.
So I’ve just set up my home server with Ubuntu server, installed docker with one line and I’m off to the races. What’s different/ exactly the value prop of this? You mention maintenance, of what exactly? Is your server a slimmed down version to run on less powerful hardware? Genuinely curious as I’m new to setting up a home server so seeing how this would benefit me.
I do the same thing. Being immutable is supposed to be great for updates. New image version and if there's a problem you can boot back to the last version no problem.
But functionally, like you I find Ubuntu server fine. I run apt update and upgrade a couple times a year and its local only with tailscale access.
I find these immutable OS's really nice on laptop or desktop. The home directory is the only thing that can be written to so the OS is supposed to be more stable and can't break easily
My workstation is where I work, fiddle with things, experiment. It 's a workbench in the context of software development. So I need to be able to modify and configure everything, install things, uninstall them again. A can't use a workbench wrapped in cellophane.
I want my server stable and fixed. I don't care about the OS, I don't want to configure it, update it, and otherwise maintain it. It's just a platform to run the Docker Engine and my containers.
I assumes you've visited the Lightwhale website and at least read the headlines:
"No maintenance headaches.
Just boot and focus on what matters!"
and the first section, including:
"Lightwhale lowers the entry barrier, removes tedious administration tasks, and opens a friction-free path to productivity"
But maybe you dismissed as being empty buzzwords, or didn't quite believe it, so you want an explanation. That's perfectly okay, allow me to elaborate:
So, if you've already gone though the process of partitioning, installing, and configuring a general purpose operating system, and then ran that "one line" that added the docker repository, installed docker, docker-compose, and buildx, and presumably also added yourself to the docker user group, then I'd say you've got a head start compared to a clean, bare-metal box. True, you're now off to the races.
Of course, all this work and time invested in your system comes with a tax called maintenance.
Everything you just installed is live. And now your job is to keep everything safe and sound. Not just the files in $HOME and /etc/, but also /usr/bin/docker, /usr/bin/bash, /lib/libc.so, and even /usr/bin/[. But that's just the rootfs. You also have to groom your boot partition. Even the partition table and MBR. I know, your installer and package manager handles that for you. But nevertheless, all this is writable and either imposes an attack surface, is at risk of daily butter fingers breaking things, or lives on a filesystem that may introduce silent bitrot or on a media that can fail. But that's not the end of it.
If do a good job, your server will live a long and happy life. And eventually, you get to experience something remarkable: It dies. I'm not talking about the hardware suffering a fatal crash, no; I'm taking about Canonical deciding that your version of Ubuntu is now suddenly going into End Of Life. You now have choices to make: Should you upgrade and leave your system at the mercy of the numerous upgrade scripts? Should you reinstall to get a clean slate, repeat everything mentioned above, and try to migrate your data configuration, containers, volumes, etc? Or maybe just leave the OS there dead; afterall, you're only interested in your docker containers and they're unaffected, so that seems like a valid path. Except every time you log in, it's like stepping over a dead body in the doorway, and that doesn't feel quite right.
Of course, if you find these administration tasks fun and interesting that's perfectly okay. And honestly, I can absolutely relate to that, because I've been doing it as a hobby since forever, and I enjoyed myself. Until I reached a point where the installer and maintenance didn't interest me as much as just running the software.
Now, look back at my taglines above, and I hope you can see how Lightwhale can benefit you in setting up a home server:
If you want less tedious administration and maintenance,
but instead like a friction-free path to just boot and run your software,
then Lightwhale is worth a try.
Deserved? If their product said, ensure that you have the 3,2,1 method then you could claim that. You pay for a backup, OP and everyone is rightly pretty mad about it.
> My inbox is so much cleaner now, and I patiently await the newsletters I’ve signed up for like a gleeful child waiting for the postman.
The author didn’t go into detail here - but has anyone got a good system to achieve this? Or Is it a specific feature within Proton? I’ve just got mainly the one email and I’ve wanted to change to a better way for ages.
I use gmail, and I've managed to get about halfway there.
Almost every newsletter I get, I'm happy to see, even if I won't have the time to read 95% of them. I get close to no spam (I'd maybe get 1 spam mail every 2-3 weeks).
Just unsubscribe from everything you don't want, use a separate account for services that generate a lot of receipts/notifications, and block as soon as you stop caring about a particular sender. It's doable, just be diligent and be willing to spend some time curating what's allowed to go in.
Lately I have had the cursed vision as I'm building a new IoT product. I have to learn _so_ much, so I have stopped using claude code. I find directly altering my code too hands off.
Instead I still use claude in the browser mainly for high level thinking/architecture > generating small chunks of code > copying pasta-ing it over. I always make sure I'm reading said library/code docs as well and asking claude to clarify anything I'm unsure of. This is akin to when I started development using stackoverflow just 10x productive. And I still feel like I'm learning along the way.
I wouldn't call that cursed but useful tooling usage. Had the same scenario where I wanted to work on a tool for a project written in Go, of which I know next to nothing. Claude code was able to spit out 100's line of code that worked and I (almost) understood and could explain what was happening where and why, but I had no chance of debugging or extending it on my own.
I've limited myself to only use Claude's webchat to do almost exactly as you've mentioned except creating snippets, it can only explain or debug code I enter. I prompt it to link relevant sources for solutions I seek. Plus it assists me subdivide, prioritise and plan my project in chunks so I don't get lost.
It has saved me a lot of time this way while still enjoying working on a project
Yeah it actually is beautiful, because we get the brainstorming ideas so that ,sometimes we lack the experience in coding to get that idea to be converted into a powerful working application ,we need the artificial intelligence so that ,we can always enjoy the process , only if we are loving the work we are doing ,I mean there is a lot of difference between blind pasting and completing a work ,just my opinion of what I have been through
Interesting how you write the code first then put it into claude. What's the reason there?
I guess that is where I find the most benefit is not writing out the syntax, even though I could I just can't be bothered. I often start with the snippet then refactor to the style of code I like. For code I don't know that well like c++ I like to get a snippet so I can then research into those functions that is used and go from there.
Mostly because I learn the best by doing, reiterating and then expanding, especially with programming. Essentialy, building a form of context or mindmap if you will.
When I was testing Typescript/React I followed the docs and some guides and got thrown in the deep end, I could follow and understand the steps but not reproduce or adapt them because the (or my) scope was limited, also, libraries; so many libraries used..
By starting with a HelloWorld and expanding it step by step, going back and forth. Using forums/blogs to see available functions or similar oss projects for what I wanted to do, then use the docs to read about the used functions.
Kagi already helped save me a lot of time by reducing spam posts and using language shebangs etc. With Claude I either give a snippet that I cannot translate or am stuck on, like you do, or I'll prompt something like: 'describe steps used to get from input=.. to output=.. in go, this/that needs to be done/transformed, do not output actual code'.
I guess the main thing is that I want to be engaged in my personal/hobby projects and think about the problem and solution and not just copy/paste because that takes the fun away (in case of work, if it makes me more productive I'll take it. Just need to remember I'm the one who is responsible). It's like buying a pre-assembled puzzle.
I'm almost like you, I just download what I want to watch. But instead of going through network files - I have Plex Media Server on my M1 Macbook Air. Plex looks at the downloads folder, indexes it into a nice viewing experience that I use Plex app on the TV to connect to my local Plex server. It's a very seamless experience.
The Will of the Many. An epic high fantasy adventure. I’m just about to finish the second book in the series - The Strength of the Few. I haven’t gasped this many times reading a book in while.
Same here! I’m on the final 200 pages. It’s going to painful waiting so long for the third in the series. I went straight from book 1 to 2 with no wait thankfully.
My parents literally just gave my daughter the alphabet puzzle for Christmas that was linked in the article as a terrible clean up vs play-time. I might send them this link!
These are fantastic! I've done similar and seen some positive outcomes at work. As the one usually sending meetings - I have been leaning heavily on asynchronous first (teams chat) then if needed we hop into a focused meeting with a clear agenda. It's been liberating to see the reactions that other people like this too instead of another meeting. More often than not we never needed the meeting.
