Blog on Winston.Milli.ng

Kubernetes: Building the New Cluster

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Sat, 27 Jan 2024 15:21:18 -0600

I am just a little slow at writing blog posts, but you know, thats alright. As I am sure you can tell from the image above, the cluster has been running in the new configuration for a few months at this point and besides some non-hardware specific issues, it has been a good transition. My server rack is a good bit quieter since being able to shut down the old HP server and probably running on a few less watts as well. While I did lose my cluster age counter being over 950 days in the process, the cluster is still the exact same one I started with as each component has been replaced Ship of Theseus style in the process.

Kubernetes: My Cluster Today

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 18:01:53 -0500

Nota Bene: This was written well before it got posted, cluster has been re-built, new post to come.

I am on the verge of retiring some of my current infrastructure that has been serving me well for about four years. My current Kubernetes cluster has been operational on this hardware coming up on three years. It is surprising I have lasted this long before the itch to change something caused me to buy something new… But, before I go into anything about the hardware I have purchased and plans that I have for it, I figured I might as well document the state of my compute world today (at least as far as it pertains to my home Kubernetes cluster).

I Purchased a Pinebook Pro

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Mon, 18 Nov 2019 22:00:00 -0500

I recently pre-purchased a Pinebook Pro; An ARM based, 14" laptop being sold by Pine64 (Pine Microsystems, Inc.) for the low price of $199 USD. This is the second such device released in this form factor by Pine64 who originally became known for their single-board computers which compete with the likes of the Raspberry Pi. The first laptop they produced was the Pinebook which came out in 2017 for only $89 USD in its original form and $99 USD in its current, upgraded form. The original Pinebooks were more of a tinkerer’s laptop and never meant to be a daily driver, but the upgraded specs of this incarnation put it squarely in the ring with mainstream chromebooks and the ilk.

A Replatform and Rename

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 23:22:04 -0400

I neglect my personal websites sometimes, but I don’t think that is a problem unique to myself. If this visit is your first time back here in a while, you may have come from WRMilling.com, W4C.BE, or WinstonMilling.dev (all of which now redirect to different portions of this site). Running specific domains for differing purposes and audiences is not a bad thing, but I don’t think my limited online presence necessitates it. Therefore, my previous resume site, blog, and professional landing page are now all one in Winston.Milli.ng.

Home Theater: Screen Build

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Mon, 20 Aug 2018 20:00:00 +0000

I have a few projects coming up that I hope to start blogging about, but to kick the series off I am going to document an older build (~5 years old). I have always wanted a “proper” home theater with a decent projector, nice screen, and immersive sound. That has, of course, taken a back seat to so many other priorities but I at least I have a screen to show for it.

The Design

I went for something I thought was straight forward: a wood frame and cloth screen. What I ended up with was something that was probably over-engineered/overkill for my use case but something I am happy with either way. It started with a couple drawings in my project notebook with an emphasis on preventing any sagging in the screen over time. The screen had to be supported from the sides due to a double-wide window being located behind the screen.

I decided on a 128" screen early on, mostly because the projector I was looking at supported the size and it looked like it would fill the wall well. All in, it probably cost around $250 to build, including all the extra hardware bits I could probably do without.

Git Workflow Utilities: git-stp and git-wipit

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Wed, 16 Nov 2016 20:00:00 +0000

A while back I created a few git utilities which I am sure are available in other packages but I had the immediate need and boredom to create. Those are git-stp (Git: Stash, Test, Pop) and git-wipit (Git: WIP it good, WIP it real good!).

LEGO on my Laptop: A Neat Way to Organize Peripherals

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Sun, 28 Feb 2016 15:00:00 +0000

I was recently inspired by a reddit post where they used LEGO on the back of a Surface Pro 3 to help organize their peripherals while on the go. Since my primary machine is now a laptop and I am near a LEGO store I figured I would give it a shot. I used a green baseplate and whatever flat brick material I could find and created this monster:

Raspberry Pi 2 + rTorrent/ruTorrent + NGINX/PHP-FPM = Awesome

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Sun, 10 Jan 2016 20:00:00 +0000

Every time I go to rebuild a home server of any type I always forget which guides I used in the past and what steps I had to take to get any software running. Now most of what I need is easy to setup but some things take a few more steps. One guide I am always looking for is a mostly from scratch install of rTorrent with ruTorrent on NGINX with PHP-FPM. Since I never seem to find one that meets my specific case I decided it was time for me to write the guide I needed.

In this guide I will be building on top of a base install of ArchLinux ARM on a Raspberry Pi 2. If you have any questions about the steps below, please feel free to comment!

humans.txt

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Mon, 07 Dec 2015 21:21:16 +0000

I am sure I am about 4 years behind the curve on this one, but I recently came across the neat concept of ‘humans.txt’. The basics of the concept is a extra file which is not intrusive to the code or experience of the site. It is located at the root, just like the much used ‘robots.txt’, but lists the authorship, how to contact them, where to look for their work, thanks to those who helped, and even the technologies used to build the site.

Outings in New York City: The Fourth

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 17:00:00 +0000

So, I just realized it has been over a month since my last post but it never seems like that much time has past every time I think about it. I figured another few shots from our time outside the apartment might be in order, so here we go with a few pictures from The Rambling, a single section from Central Park. These were taken a few weeks ago and feature an amazing little rock climbing dog we met as well as a few good shots of the nature to be found in Central park.

Also, be on the look-out for a new post coming up from our visit to Arthur Ashe Stadium during the US Open. As always, feel free to share this post and if you would like to let me know what you think or request larger versions of the images you can email me.

Outings in New York City: The Third

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 22:30:00 +0000

Sometimes you take a picture which you just absolutley love, and this is one of them for me. Though I can’t take all the credit for it as Haley had to tell me to re-take it from this particular angle. The best part of this image is that it was just the beginning of our day! For the third installment of Outings in New York City we have the Egypt installment at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I think I have a couple of good shots in the bunch and if you would like a larger copy of any or want to give me a few notes, feel free to email me. Starting this out with my favorite, a shot from the 23rd Street subway platform on the way to the MET:

Outings in New York City: The Second

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 20:00:00 +0000

About two weekends ago Haley and I took a trip out to the Brooklyn bridge and actually remembered to bring the camera so we have a few more pictures for the world. We took a subway down to City Hall in NYC and walked from the Manhattan side over to the Brooklyn side, taking the time to get a few good shots from under the bridge. Just like last time, if you like them then feel free to share this post or comment here and email me if you would like larger copies. Enjoy!

Outings in New York City: The First

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Sun, 26 Jul 2015 17:30:00 +0000

Haley and I have occationally been heading out and making use of the camera we bought before our trip to New York but I have not taken the opportunity to post any of them yet. So, over the next couple of days I am hoping to get at least a couple of the more decent images off the SD card and posted on here. The images I am sharing today are of the U.S. Women’s Soccer team’s ticker tape parade after their amazing win against Japan in the World Cup. To see more of the shots from the parade just click the “Read More” link below this first image. If you like them, please feel free to share this post or comment here and email me if you would like larger copies. Enjoy!

Another Stab at a Personal Logo

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 22:30:00 +0000

I decided to take another stab at the logo design for my resume site and I think this one came out pretty nicely. Not much more to say about it except to show it. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Off to New York City!

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 21:35:00 +0000

In the coming week I will be leaving the Greater Atlanta Metro area for the confines of a one bedroom apartment in the middle of Manhattan. This is a voluntary move for an opportunity offered to me through my work for The Home Depot. I will be pairing with a company during my time in NYC to build my skill-set on the Extreme Programming front. The current plan places me up north for around a 22 week stint and I am extremely excited to be going.

The real fun starts early next week when Haley, Maggie (the dog), and I grab a rental car and hit the road for the 14 hour drive. We will be making it a two day trek up the east coast, arriving in New York in the early afternoon. It was absolute hell trying to find a hotel which worked with the internal reservation system and would accept pets without a $100-$250 non-refundable pet fee. This could have all been avoided if any airline would accept Boston Terriers in the cabin, but apparently “snub” nosed dogs are no longer allowed. Oh well, it will make for a great adventure getting up there.

Civilization V Audio Issues on Chromebook

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Sat, 06 Jun 2015 11:00:00 +0000

So, I recently purchased an Acer C720 Chromebook for use during my upcoming trip to the big apple as it was cheap and fit the bill for everything I really need a laptop. But, being who I am I had to try and do more with it. The laptop itself is the C720-3404 which comes with an Intel Core i3-4005U processor, 4GB ram, and a 32GB SSD. This is really more than powerful enough for a lot of different application (including some games) and is especially nice since I got it for <$300 USD. The only thing I had to do to get gaming was to use Crouton to install a chrooted install of linux side by side with Chrome OS. Install steam, grab some games, and I am ready to go.

Raspberry Pi Laptop Version 2

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Fri, 15 May 2015 20:00:00 +0000

Some time after the first iteration of the Raspberry Pi Laptop, the Raspberry Pi Foundation suddenly released the Raspberry Pi 2, a backwards compatible quad-core upgrade to the original Raspberry Pi. I knew, just by the specs alone, I had to get one and use it as part of my lapdock setup. I believed it would solve all the issues I had with the original RPi model B. See below for the final build and read on for how it came together.

Raspberry Pi Laptop: Version 1

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Mon, 04 May 2015 20:00:00 +0000

Somewhere around four years ago I had an unfortunate accident with my old HP 510 laptop which resulted in a thumb going through the LCD screen. This left me without a laptop, which was not too bad as I still had a perfectly fine desktop and an iPad. The only problem with this setup is that the desktop isn’t really portable and the iPad leaves a little to be desired in applications and multitasking. I did try sporadically for a while to get by with the iPad alone, following in the footsteps of people like Mark O’Connor, but it really just didn’t work well for me.

I had it in my head for a while during this time to try to do something interesting with the Raspberry Pi as all I had previously done was make it into another media center. I thought a laptop built around it would be great, but really didn’t find any good and cheap ways to achieve it. That was until I found the Lapdock series of netbook-like devices normally powered by smartphones. The lucky part to me is that the lapdock was a commercial flop leaving a lot of stock in the secondary market for cheap. I found a couple examples of people successfully using them with the RPi and figured, why not. I started doing some research and built the parts list for my own build.

A New Look for My Poker II

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Fri, 10 Apr 2015 21:37:15 +0000

In the past six or so months I have been getting more into Mechanical Keyboards and high-quality peripherals. I figure since I am using a keyboard all day I might as well put a little money into one of the biggest tools for my livelyhood. That was when I purchased the Vortex (or KBC, iKBC, and many other brand names) Poker II. It is a 60% keyboard, lacking dedicated function keys, numpad, and arrow key opting for those options being under a function layer. This provides a lot of functionality in a very small package. Along with functionality, the mechanical keyboard world offers a lot of customization if you are willing to do the work or pay the prices. Recently I paid such a price to put a little flair and upgrade on my keyboard. Withough further adeu:

Brand New Site

Winston@Milli.ng (Winston R. Milling) — Sun, 08 Mar 2015 20:22:47 +0000

Update (2019): This post was kept mostly because I didn’t want to delete any posts, but the site has since moved to Winston.Milli.ng so this is less relevant now.

Hello and welcome to my new site, W4C dot BE (blog title style shamelessly stolen from WIL WHEATON dot NET). This site has been created with the idea that it will harbor my thoughts, ramblings, projects, and maybe even my music. It was created using the Hexo static blog generator and is therefore the first project to be mentioned here as I created the theme mostly from scratch for this site