Notes

Couple of times, I had an orphan Directory in Proxmox. The solution is simply to remove the corresponding file in /etc/systemd/system. See this. Apparently, this also works for orphan Datastores in Proxmox Backup Server.

It’s fairly easy to limit ZFS’s overall memory usage on Proxmox. Add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/zfs.conf to allocate maximum 16 GB. (Here, 16 * 2^30 = 17179869184.) options zfs zfs_arc_max=17179869184 See this.

ZFS makes it so easy to convert striping to mirroring or vice versa: # Assume "foo" already existed and "bar" is new zpool attach spinning-rust /dev/disk/by-id/foo /dev/disk/by-id/bar zpool detach spinning-rust /dev/disk/by-id/bar No need to initialize the drives or anything - just pass the raw disks.

I was recently contemplating on getting a used enterprise server. And, unlike my previous attempts, I made more progress this time in narrowing down what kind of hardware to buy. So, here are some notes from that: Minimum 2U to keep noise down (and even then it’ll likely be noisy enough to keep in an office). 4Us can be expensive. I may need a closed (but ventilated?) rack to keep the noise down. I can buy it after getting the server and running it for a few days. As of today, Dell’s 13th generation line is ~10 years old and 14th is ~5. However, the power usage of the two should be similar unless I put a lot of load onto the machine. 3.5 vs 2.5 inch drive bays. (The former would be better for me.) Each bay will require a caddy, if I were to put a hard drive in it, or a blank. I should be able to use both SATA and SAS hard drives and I think the former would be cheaper. Reach out to eBay sellers directly and ask for quotes/discounts. For now, I am deciding to continue with my existing consumer-grade PC. Maybe the enterprise server will come later.

I wanted to decrease the size of an LXC’s root disk and it seemed complicated for a long time. Eventually, the solution turned out be fairly simple: zfs set refquota=64G fast-zfs-pool/subvol-100-disk-0 # For LXC: pct rescan # Or for VM: qm rescan See: https://forum.proxmox.com/threads/shrinking-zfs-filesystem-for-lxc-ct.40876/ This only works when the disk is stored on ZFS, but that’s already the case for my use case. (ZFS is awesome!)

I wanted to showcase some of our personal photos on an always-on-ish Android tablet at home. Some thoughts from that project: Hardware: ”Digital photo frames“ seem like a good idea but only for less tech-savvy people. Tablet seems most extensible as we can later use it for other purposes too. Apps: Fotoo is a nice app for Android tablets. Samba, local and cloud libraries. Maybe find a way to sync photos to the tablet. “Public” album on Immich. Though, no way to get random images from such an album. Can show slideshow from their app but I’ll need to create a new guest user plus manually start it every time on the tablet. https://www.fully-kiosk.com/, plus it integrates with Home Assistant. Can make the tablet sluggish. Immich public albums don’t have slideshow feature. Wall panel - add on in HA. https://smarthomescene.com/guides/wallpanel-home-assistant-screensaver-for-your-wall-mounted-control-panel/ https://github.com/j-a-n/lovelace-wallpanel There is no get random image from shared album API. Huge benefit is that this is infinitely customizable through HA. For e.g., adding a music control. https://github.com/outadoc/immich-home-assistant

Here are some interesting thoughts I found in the Atomic Habits book. Identity-oriented > action-oriented > goal-based approaches to form habits. Time and location to be part of a new habit: I’ll do X at time Y in location Z. Habit stacking. Design your environment so that good cues are more visible than bad ones. (There were more good ideas but I didn’t note them down.) Good habits that I’d like to create: ...

I used static-auth-secret to setup my Coturn instance. So, as per this, I can run the following to generate credentials: secret=staticAuthSecretHere u=$((`date +%s` + 3600)):test p=$(echo -n $u | openssl dgst -hmac $secret -sha1 -binary | base64) echo -e "username: $u\npassword: $p" Then, test here: icetest. There is also this, but I found the previous better: Trickle ICE: URI format: stun:turn.ketanvijayvargiya.com:5349. A Done at the end means the test succeeded.

I looked (quite a lot, actually) into creating DIY smart speakers but I couldn’t find the right hardware. For both of these, my only remaining hope is a “Raspiaudio ESP Muse Proto”. Snapcast: https://github.com/sle118/squeezelite-esp32#esp32-wrover--i2s-dac - ESP-32 with a cheap digital to analog computer. https://paulusschoutsen.nl/squeezelite-esp32-install/. Or, better https://sle118.github.io/squeezelite-esp32-installer/ More features than the other one. I couldn’t install it on ESP-32s from 2 different brands. ESP Home: Media player here: https://esphome.io/projects/index.html The M5Stack Atom devices look basic and low quality for playing good music.

Ask lawyer: Do they help with creating LLC? Property management: https://www.ziprent.com/seattle-property-management charges flat fees. https://www.mapleleafmgt.com/ - local one from earlier. Apart from plumbing, handyman and appliances (which I’ll anyway order from Costco), what is their value add? Deal with HOA if there is any complaint. For vetting tenants before starting lease, we can use Darshan or Sanjay Lakkad. Tenant screening (but even Zillow makes this easy). Notes from lawyer: What to look for: Notice requirement. If you don’t include some required language (“timeliness”?), then could be bad. Redmond: Rent increase: depending on %age of rent increase, more severe than Washington (WA RLTA?). Washington is the floor. Washington: Termination of tenancy: month-to-month used to be 20 days earlier. Now, need good cause to terminate. Terminating month-to-month is harder now. Best is long term. Incorporated municipal: County doesn’t come into play, such as Seattle. Unincorporated municipality, such as Vashon Island. Rent increase: Seattle: 180 days. If increase is too much and tenants doesn’t have money, you may need to pay 3k to them. Leases: Seattle: “Renter’s handbook”: needs to be given for every new/renewed lease. Disclosure to give out: mold, lead paint etc. During a lease: Repairs to be made etc. - there are deadlines for “severe”, “major appliances” and “everything else”. Security deposits: Seattle has a cap. Plus, need to sign a checklist by both parties upfront. Need justification if you want to withhold after lease expires. Right to re-entry: 24 hours if you are showing to someone else, 48 hours or so otherwise. No matter what, you can’t enter without tenant’s consent. Damages: If anything goes out of code, important to fix it quickly. If house becomes unhabitable for any reason, you may be liable for relocation. Seattle: likely need to be certified by the city. Avoiding eviction is critical: Pretty difficult just about anywhere now. (Almost illegal in Seattle.) Never do it on your own, change the lock etc. Areas: Seattle is hardest.