I like the interactive mode of the bc command line calculator because it is ubiquitous, but wanted to augment its functionality a bit to add a couple features I liked from another calculator program. I wanted to make modifications to the text I typed before sent to bc and modify the text it outputted. This can be done on standard POSIX shells with mkfifo, but it took me a good while to figure out how to do this with both input and output and get something working nicely without it freezing or leaving artifacts. So I’m sharing how to do this in a bash script.
Toby's Log page 2
Doing my federal (US) taxes this year, I was finding myself unable to create an account on the Free Fillable Forms site. I kept getting kicked back to the start after filling out and submitting my information. This Reddit thread led me to figure out that it was related to my T-Mobile Home Internet. I turned that off and turned on my phone hotspot and used that to get in. My phone is also T-Mobile, but apparently different enough to not have that issue. Later, I was able to get back in with my Home Internet, so it seems to be just related to something on that initial registration process.
Server upgraded from Ubuntu 20.04 to 22.04
My server was on Ubuntu 20.04, but due to the end-of-life of that LTS version next month, I have upgraded to 22.04. My server is managed with Vagrant / Ansible. My plan had been to do a new local VM on the newer version, get it working properly with Ansible, then set up a new server with it and migrate over. However, since Ubuntu isn’t releasing an official Vagrant box for 24.04 and beyond, I don’t think it makes sense to take that path. I may move over to Debian or look into Vagrant alternatives, but to get this done before EOL, I decided to just try a do-release-upgrade to upgrade the existing server in place.
Starting with Magento / React JS
My cousin expressed interest in learning Magento and React JS. I know neither, but I wrote up some related web development info that might be helpful for him. He would be working on a Windows machine. He also asked about setting up a home file server. Since this all might also be useful to someone else, I’m adding it here:
Here are some notes on web development stuff that you might find useful.
Continue reading post "Starting with Magento / React JS"Low oil
Last Monday, my car’s (Subaru Impreza) low oil light came on while I was driving down the highway. I didn’t know what the light was and nothing sounded wrong so I kept driving. When I got to my parents’, I looked up the symbol and then learned it was probably not a good idea for me to have kept going. Luckily, no harm seems to have been done.
Continue reading post "Low oil"In January, I made another of my cinnamon roll cheesecake’s. I was in a rush and did not let it set in the fridge at all. And it really came out as a gooey circle of glop. The center sunk in and it was hard to serve. Really wouldn’t have been presentable if it weren’t just to my close family. I’ve learned how important that setting is for cheesecake.
However, it was still quite tasty. It was huge for four people, but it did eventually get eaten over a week-long period.
This one had three changes from normal. One, I mixed in most of the cinnamon crumble to the main batter in the mixer. I think this just turned out better and I will probably do it again. Two, I used duck eggs instead of chicken eggs. That was all Whole Foods had in a six pack at the time. They were expensive too, more expensive than the dozen chicken eggs, but I didn’t want to waste any. Three, I didn’t put the frosting on top because I was in such a rush that I didn’t have time to make it.
I’m late to posting this, but I hope y’all had a merry Christmas and new year.
Continue reading post "#4505"RIP Indy
RIP Indy the dog. He was a mostly good dog. He was my former roommate and friend’s. He was wily at times and would sometimes make crazy vocalizations when he saw other dogs, so loud that he scared dogs and people. He loved to play with other dogs when he was young and was very energetic, but became angry with other dogs and lost energy as he got older. He bit me once in the hand, from which I still bear scars. I hadn’t seen him in several years unfortunately. He fell and couldn’t get back up on his hind legs. He no longer had feeling in them and had to be put down. We’ll miss you, Indy.
Happy Thanksgiving. Had a good Thanksgiving with a long visit to cousin Paul’s. I believe this was the first larger family holiday get together at someone’s house since Covid. It was good with lots of delicious food. I ate too much and was feeling it for a little while.
Continue reading post "#4482"In Mac OS Sonoma, browsers now require and the OS will ask for the “Local Network” permission to access local websites. I didn’t know why it was asking and didn’t allow it, but then couldn’t access my sites. I had to go to “System Settings”, the “Privacy & Security” pane, select “Local Network” and turn on for my browser(s) to get access again.
If it matters, my local dev setup uses domains set in /etc/hosts pointing to IPs of VMs run by VirtualBox, managed by Vagrant, set up like web.vm.network 'private_network', ip: '192.168.56.1'.