Blog

🌱 Introduction: The Journey So Far This project started with me setting up a Hugo blog using the PaperMod theme, developed on a Linux environment and deployed via Cloudflare Pages. I then moved to WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) for better flexibility but ran into high I/O issues with VS Code when working across the Windows (/mnt/c/) and WSL filesystems. To resolve this, I moved all project files fully into the WSL-native Linux filesystem. ...

How many mistakes have you made in life? Countless, right? Here’s one mistake we all tend to make as new writers. We use AI tools to replace our own voice. Medium A million thanks to Medium.com, which lays down the rules for us new writers. It gives us an ad-free platform on which we write and share our stories—all while paying us to do so. We often feel that these rules about using AI tools are working against us because Medium asks us to disclose it in our story if we do. ...

I’d heard so many times about this thing called writer’s block — where a writer begins to write, and someone asks them, “How many words have you written?” and they reply, “Seven.” Long pause. Or “Eleven.” Another pause. For me, it was “Five.” Makes me laugh now. I’m a new writer, trying to make something out of this new venture called writing. Writing doesn’t seem so hard—until you actually sit down and try to write. ...

Backing up your emails is essential, especially when using IMAP-based email services like Microsoft 365 (M365) and Zoho Mail. Since M365 does not provide access to emails once your subscription ends, and Zoho Mail may have similar restrictions, MBOX backups are a reliable way to store and access your emails offline. This guide covers: Why MBOX is the best backup option How to manually back up MBOX files in Thunderbird How to restore MBOX backups Automating and securing your backups Why Use MBOX for Email Backups? MBOX is a universal email storage format supported by Thunderbird and many other email clients. Here’s why it’s useful: ...

If you’ve installed Ubuntu alongside Windows in a dual-boot setup and find that your system always boots into Windows, or you want to set Ubuntu as the default, this guide will help you fix it using bcdedit in Windows. Issue: Ubuntu Not Showing in Boot Menu After installing Ubuntu, some systems boot directly into Windows without showing the GRUB menu. This happens because Windows Boot Manager takes priority over Ubuntu in the UEFI boot order. ...

In this guide, I will walk through the steps to set up a dedicated VM-only network (VMLAN) using pfSense as the router on Proxmox. This setup allows VMs to have their own subnet while being managed by pfSense for DHCP, firewall rules, and potential VLAN segmentation in the future. Network Setup Overview Current Network Configuration: ISP Router: 172.16.0.1 Proxmox Host: 172.16.0.5 pfSense VM (WAN Interface - DHCP on ISP Network) WAN: 172.16.0.x (Assigned via DHCP by ISP Router) LAN: 10.0.0.1/24 Wireless AP: 10.0.0.2 Range Extender: 10.0.0.3 **Devices (Phones, Laptops) Connected to LAN via WiFi` What We Will Add: VMLAN (Virtual Machine Network) Subnet: 10.0.1.0/24 pfSense Gateway: 10.0.1.1 Managed by pfSense DHCP Server Enabled Proxmox VM Bridge: vmbr1 This setup allows for isolation of virtual machines while maintaining control over their network access. ...

I have a Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny that serves as my starter homelab machine. It’s compact but decently powered with: 2 NICs with 5 ports 1TB SSD 16GB DDR5 RAM I initially installed Proxmox VE (PVE) using ZFS as the file system by selecting RAID0, thinking its features like snapshots and data integrity would be beneficial. However, I soon realized it was a big mistake. ZFS is incredibly RAM-hungry, and with only 16GB of RAM, my homelab couldn’t handle many VMs and services running simultaneously. ...

In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk through the steps to set up an Ubuntu Server VM, configure networking with pfSense, and install Docker and Portainer for container management. We’ll also highlight issues encountered during the setup process and how they were resolved. 1. Creating the VM in Proxmox VM Configuration: General: Name: docker OS: ISO Image: Select Ubuntu Server ISO System: Machine: Q35 BIOS: UEFI Add EFI Disk: Checked EFI Storage: local-lvm Pre-Enroll Keys: Unchecked QEMU Agent: Checked SCSI Controller: VirtIO SCSI Single Disks: ...

Just like with Proxmox VE, I prefer a fresh installation and configuration of Proxmox Backup Server (PBS) for a clean and consistent setup. While I would back it up if possible, PBS requires that the machine be either stopped or suspended for backup, meaning it may not be able to back itself up. However, I’ve heard that one could have another instance of PBS to back up the first. Given this, documenting the entire process ensures reproducibility, security, and stability for each installation. ...

I recently fixed my GitHub Pages workflow for the Chirpy Jekyll Theme after encountering a build failure. This issue was caused by the deprecation of actions/upload-artifact v3, which GitHub announced w.e.f. January 30, 2025. 1. Updated Action Versions To stay up to date, I updated my actions to the latest versions: actions/checkout@v4 actions/configure-pages@v4 actions/upload-pages-artifact@v3 2. Fixed htmlproofer Command The htmlproofer command needed an update due to the removal of the --ignore-urls option. Here’s the fixed command: ...