Reading List
The most recent articles from a list of feeds I subscribe to.
My First Impressions of Nix
Nix is a tool for configuring software environments according to source files. I’ve been hearing more and more about Nix on Hacker News and Twitter. The idea of it appeals to me, so I’ve been tinkering with it over the past few weeks.
My history with infrastructure as code
Ten years ago, I discovered Salt, a tool that allows you to define a computer system’s configuration in source code. I loved the idea of a git repo that defined what services were installed on my computers and VMs. I could blow away the computer, re-run the configuration tool, and get it back to the same state.
TinyPilot: Month 35
New here?
Hi, I’m Michael. I’m a software developer and the founder of TinyPilot, an independent computer hardware company. I started the company in 2020, and it now earns $60-80k/month in revenue and employs seven other people.
Every month, I publish a retrospective like this one to share how things are going with my business and my professional life overall.
Highlights
- I frantically tried to come up with $250k for a large expense.
- I evaluate how a contract manufacturer will change my finances.
- Outsourcing to a 3PL vendor is less expensive than I expected.
Goal grades
At the start of each month, I declare what I’d like to accomplish. Here’s how I did against those goals:
Takeaways from Cory Zue's May 2023 Livecoding Session
Takeaways from Cory Zue's May 2023 Livecoding Session
My friend Cory Zue has been publishing his live coding sessions, so I decided to watch one and record my notes.
My background vs. Cory’s
I’ve read a lot of Cory’s blog. We’re both Python developers, but he specializes in Django, whereas I’ve always worked with thinner frameworks like Flask. I have no experience with Django, but I’m comfortable in Python.
Deploying Syncthing on a Fly.io Cloud Server
I recently discovered Syncthing, an open-source tool for syncing files across multiple machines.
Setting up Syncthing on my personal devices was easy, but I went on an interesting journey deploying it to a cloud server.
Why run Syncthing in the cloud?
Syncthing synchronizes files peer to peer. That means that at least two of my devices have to be online and running Syncthing simultaneously to stay in sync. If I change a file on my desktop, shut it down, and then take my laptop with me on a work trip, my laptop won’t pick up the changes I made on my desktop.