Posts

Microsoft regularly asks me to renew my Azure certifications. To do that, I have to answer multiple choice questions about specific Azure services. In most cases an AI/LLM would answer those questions better than I would. In real projects, I look up details when I need them — networking quirks, Azure Container Instances behavior, subnet rules. But certification expect you to memorize these things, even though day‑to‑day work rarely requires it. ...

I watched DHH’s demo of the Once deployment tool and where he vibe coded a demo app, and I figured I should try to do the same. Three hours and roughly twenty prompts later, I had a publicly available web app up and running. It is written in ASP.NET, has database access, schema migrations, zero-downtime updates, social login and a semi-generic system for reporting. It works – and I didn’t write or modify a single line of code myself. The AI/LLM coding capabilities impressed me. I could have built the same thing without AI, but it would have taken far longer. ...

I often find that you need to use a product for a while before you understand its “true purpose.” Reading about it only gets you so far. The real use case tends to reveal itself after some time in the real world. This is my experices with FIDO2 security keys. What a FIDO2 security key actually is Before buying my first keys — a YubiKey and a Google Titan — I hadn’t done much research. I just knew that some of the “cool kids” used them to protect their accounts. ...

There are many ways to host web applications. You can run them it in the cluod or on-premises, using everything from “copy some PHP files into a folder” to full container orchestration on Kubernetes — and everything in between. My Requirements I optimize for deployments with: Zero downtime — users shouldn’t get kicked out during updates. This means the application must be stateless, with all state stored externally. (Also useful when I inevitably get millions of users 😊) Proper HTTPS Low operating cost Fast and easy to updates Your requirements may be different, but mine are tuned for a homelab software developer who deploys often to a professional‑looking “test environment.” Updates should be simple, quick, and not disrupt anyone using the app. ...

After more than a decade of running Synology NAS devices in my home, I’m making a significant change to my setup. This post explores why and what I am will be doing. Why Have a NAS? I’ve had multiple Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices in my home over the last 15 years - Synology boxes for more than 10 years. A NAS can serve many needs like: It can replace OneDrive, DropBox, iCloud, Google Drive. It can host your media Automatic backups of computers Depending on the NAS, the more capable Synology supports lots of applications for domain management, office work, and run Docker containers. It can provide disks to other machines using iSCSI and more that I have not explored. ...

It started when I bought a new IKEA smart device that supports Matter over Threads. Getting this up and running with my Home Assistant running on a Proxmox server should be easy, right? That was the original idea. I ended up doing the following. Buy new anteanna for Threads and try to access it from a VM on Proxmox. I should probably upgrade Proxmox 8 to 9 before adding the anthenna? I should do a backup of all VMs on Proxmox (I am very glad I did this) Start upgrade - it fails. It does not boot - probably caused by a combination of secure boot and unsigned drivers that the proxmox installer warned me about. I don’t try to troubleshoot - I reinstall Proxmox 9 from scratch. This is actually a good thing, I got a few more settings proxmox settings right this time (better disk/filesystem) Move the Proxtmox server - if I clean up the server, why not improve its location as well. Restore VMs - this works very well. Add antenna, try to pair the IKEA device - It fails Current status Does the IKEA device work - Not yet ...

Smart Home stuff is complex. This is a few things I learned the hard way. Grouping devices and group names There are two types of smart devices. There are things like Alexa, Siri or Google Home that talk to humans. And there are things/apps/services that controls devices, like Hue, Netatmo and Roborock. Almost all of them can manage groups of devices. You want to the human facing devices to own groups with simple easy names. ...

No,it is not to isolate malicious devices! It is because you have lots of “old” device that does not handle and will not connect to your main combined WiFi 5/6 network. You need a 2.4 Ghz network. I have only managed to get a stable connection to Raspbery Pi Zero on the 2.4 Ghz only network.

Exploring deployment options for a web app with a focus on cost, speed, and learning.

I use GitHub Copilot (Pro) and Google Gemini CLI1. Do coding assistants help me develop faster, improve code, or cause other effects? Disclaimer: The way we use AI assisted development will continue to evolve and these are my thoughts and experiences with coding assistants as of November 2025. I expect to look back on this post and feel embarrassed - but that’s part of the journey. I use AI coding assistants in different ways, each with its own impact. ...