{ "attachments": [ "0f60f4fa36c6.jpeg", "04b33fe59044.png" ], "title": "2025 Week 43", "tags": [ "weeknotes", "miscellanea", "synology", "nas", "bbs", "retrocomputing", "kubernetes", "textfiles", "cats", "nokings", "homeassistant" ], "thumbnail": "/2025/10/23/w43/04b33fe59044.png", "year": "2025", "month": "10", "day": "23", "isDir": true, "slug": "w43", "type": "entry", "date": "2025-10-23T19:00:00.000Z", "postName": "2025-10-23-w43", "html": "

TL;DR: Wrestled with my Synology NAS trying to get a Debian VM running, started learning Kubernetes and Argo Workflows, watched Catsby and Miss Biscuits become friends, populated my BBS with text files from textfiles.com. Also: no, I don't need to build a BBS Door that controls Home Assistant lights. (But maybe I do?)

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Cat Updates

\n

I think Catsby and Miss Biscuits are getting along:

\n

\"Two

\n

Our cats just love a thing-on-a-thing. Blanket on a blanket? Sold. Envelope that fell off a desk to land on a rug? Occupied. TV remote on a pillow? Incubated.

\n

Adventures in Synology VMs

\n

I've got a Synology DS723+ NAS. It's been okay as a file server, but part of why I got it was because it claims to support Docker and running VMs.

\n

Well, it does run Docker. But it runs Docker Engine v24 wrapped up in their own proprietary management package. Upstream is at v27 and I can't upgrade it. Also their management package locks up in weird ways and has been unreliable.

\n

It also runs virtual machines. But every time I try to install a simple Debian 13 VM, it ends up freezing on boot. No idea why.

\n

So I dunno, maybe I expected too much from the thing. This is my 3rd Synology NAS, the previous two have only served as network file servers and done fine at that. This is the first one I thought might do a lil more. I think the next replacement for this thing will just be a plain old Linux server on a surplus PC.

\n

I think these Synology devices are \"apple-like\" insofar as they should \"just work\" but otherwise they're a nightmare to get anything not-Synology running on them as an OS. Ironically, I started getting Synology NASes years ago because I was tired of running my own Linux machines at home. Now the turntables have turned, I guess.

\n

Update: Oh hey! I got a Debian 13 VM running on my Synology NAS. It only took the extremely intuitive step of changing the video card setting from \"vmvga\" to \"vga\", which I didn't at all try at random. So, success, I guess?

\n

Learning Kubernetes

\n

Because I want to make a bunch of computers do a bunch of things, I'm learning me a Kubernetes and an Argo Workflows. I think I might be on the right track. I think my near-future path is getting a better old PC to run Proxmox on. I have it on an old underpowered PC just to play with it, but I need to upgrade.

\n

This, not coincidentally, is also why I'm trying to shoehorn some VMs onto my NAS. I might try to press one or more into service as Kubernetes nodes for fun and frustration.

\n

BBS Text File Hoard

\n

\"Screenshot

\n

While waiting for tests to run, I, an enormous old dork, figured out how to leech text files from textfiles.com and shove them into the text files section on my BBS. Don't tell him but I think some dude named Sketch the Cow uploaded his whole site to this hot new Torrent tracker called archive.org. Only got a couple directories unpacked, but I think I might noodle around with dumping in a bunch of the rest just to have them around.

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Miscellanea

\n
\n\n\n
\n\n\n", "body": "**TL;DR**: Wrestled with my Synology NAS trying to get a Debian VM running, started learning Kubernetes and Argo Workflows, watched Catsby and Miss Biscuits become friends, populated my BBS with text files from textfiles.com. Also: no, I don't need to build a BBS Door that controls Home Assistant lights. (But maybe I do?)\n\n\n\n\n\n## Cat Updates\n\nI think [Catsby and Miss Biscuits](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115390903621986311) are getting along:\n\n![Two cats cuddling together on a bed - dark gray fluffy cat (Miss Biscuits) and orange and white cat (Catsby)](0f60f4fa36c6.jpeg)\n\nOur cats [just love a thing-on-a-thing](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115386573977854708). Blanket on a blanket? Sold. Envelope that fell off a desk to land on a rug? Occupied. TV remote on a pillow? Incubated.\n\n## Adventures in Synology VMs\n\nI've got a Synology DS723+ NAS. It's been [okay as a file server](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115385530642316129), but part of why I got it was because it claims to support Docker and running VMs.\n\nWell, it *does* run Docker. But it runs Docker Engine v24 wrapped up in their own proprietary management package. Upstream is at v27 and I can't upgrade it. Also their management package locks up in weird ways and has been unreliable.\n\nIt also runs virtual machines. But every time I try to install a simple Debian 13 VM, it ends up freezing on boot. No idea why.\n\nSo I dunno, [maybe I expected too much](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115385535225418506) from the thing. This is my 3rd Synology NAS, the previous two have only served as network file servers and done fine at that. This is the first one I thought might do a lil more. I think the next replacement for this thing will just be a plain old Linux server on a surplus PC.\n\nI think these Synology devices are [\"apple-like\"](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115385556194581318) insofar as they should \"just work\" but otherwise they're a nightmare to get anything not-Synology running on them as an OS. Ironically, I started getting Synology NASes years ago because I was tired of running my own Linux machines at home. Now the turntables have turned, I guess.\n\n**Update:** Oh hey! I [got a Debian 13 VM running](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115387852121623925) on my Synology NAS. It only took the extremely intuitive step of changing the video card setting from \"vmvga\" to \"vga\", which I didn't at all try at random. So, success, I guess?\n\n## Learning Kubernetes\n\nBecause I want to [make a bunch of computers](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115392122917690377) do a bunch of things, I'm learning me a Kubernetes and an Argo Workflows. I think I might be on the right track. I think my near-future path is [getting a better old PC](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115386524093278575) to run Proxmox on. I have it on an old underpowered PC just to play with it, but I need to upgrade.\n\nThis, not coincidentally, is also why I'm trying to shoehorn some VMs onto my NAS. I might try to press one or more into service as Kubernetes nodes for fun and frustration.\n\n## BBS Text File Hoard\n\n![Screenshot of BBS file section showing textfiles.com archives](04b33fe59044.png)\n\nWhile [waiting for tests to run](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115391815918349408), I, an enormous old dork, figured out how to leech text files from textfiles.com and shove them into the text files section on [my BBS](https://bbs.decafbad.com). Don't tell him but I think some dude named Sketch the Cow uploaded his whole site to this hot new Torrent tracker called [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/textfiles-dot-com-2011). Only got a [couple directories unpacked](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115391837360404256), but I think I might noodle around with dumping in a bunch of the rest just to have them around.\n\n## Miscellanea\n\n
\n\n- Oh no: I have [installed Megabonk](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115393847159542230).\n- I took a nap and [dreamed there was](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115381582995478461) a Buckaroo Banzai convention.\n- No, Les, you [don't need to build](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115381327181880766) a Door application for your BBS that lets you turn lights on and off in Home Assistant. (But... maybe?)\n- I've been buying Sonoff S31 smart plugs because they're [relatively easy to reflash](https://masto.hackers.town/@lmorchard/115407551073647611) with ESPHome. But if for a buck or two more I can get a Kauf plug that's already had that done, I'll be a happier camper.\n- Ross Wintle: [Software can be finished](https://rosswintle.uk/2025/10/software-can-be-finished/?ref=sidebar). \"There is a utopia where we write correct, bug-free, fast, secure, statically-built software with zero dependencies that does its job and will continue doing its job as long as the platform it's written for endures.\"\n- Suff Syed: [The Design Leaders Are Lying to You](https://www.suffsyed.com/futurememo/the-design-leaders-are-lying-to-you). \"Every designer now faces a choice... recognize that the paradigm has already shifted. That the work determining design's future is happening now, in rooms where most designers are not present.\"\n- Suff Syed (again): [Designers Have to Move from the Surface to the Substrate](https://www.suffsyed.com/futurememo/designers-have-to-move-from-the-surface-to-the-substrate). \"We're still arguing about 'does Figma Make augment creativity' while the actual decisions... are being made in rooms we're not invited to.\"\n- [How I Reversed Amazon's Kindle Web Obfuscation](https://blog.pixelmelt.dev/kindle-web-drm/) Because Their App Sucked. \"Decided to reverse engineer their obfuscation system out of spite. Discovered multiple layers of protection including randomized alphabets. Defeated all of them with font matching wizardry.\"\n- [Nanodjango](https://nanodjango.dev/): Full Django in a single file.\n- Eskild Hustvedt: [The joy of rediscovering Perl](https://blog.zerodogg.org/2025/10/13/the-joy-of-rediscovering-perl/). \"Lately I've gotten a lot back into Perl-programming, and it has honestly been an absolute delight.\"\n- [pointerpointer.com's use of voronoi, canvas, and javascript](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ZXW2HBLPM). Can't believe I'd never seen [Pointer Pointer](https://pointerpointer.com/) before, back in the day!\n- Truffle Security: [Removing Jeff Bezos From My Bed](https://trufflesecurity.com/blog/removing-jeff-bezos-from-my-bed). Eight Sleep smart bed found to contain an exposed AWS key and a likely backdoor.\n- [feedfilter](https://github.com/cdzombak/feedfilter/tree/main): RSS feed filtering tool in Go.\n- The False Dawns album [Our Tanks, Your Lawn!](https://thefalsedawns.bandcamp.com/album/our-tanks-your-lawn) - jangly indie-pop's \"Bard of the socio-politico polemic.\"\n- [Get your Pocket Casts data](https://www.mikestreety.co.uk/blog/get-your-pocket-casts-data-using-the-unofficial-api-and-php/) using the unofficial API. Also: [pocketcasts Node.js client library](https://github.com/coughlanio/pocketcasts).\n- [The Greatness of Text Adventures](https://entropicthoughts.com/the-greatness-of-text-adventures): \"Text adventures are weird. They are so weird I don't know how to write this article.\"\n- Empire interview: [Michael J Fox And Christopher Lloyd On Back To The Future At 40](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/back-to-the-future-40-michael-j-fox-christopher-lloyd-interview/). \"We live in a bully culture right now... In this movie, Biff is a bully. Time is a bully. For me personally, Parkinson's is a bully.\"\n- Simon Collison: [Eno on AI](https://colly.com/journal/eno-on-ai). \"All my misgivings about AI really are to do with the fact that it's owned by a group of people that I don't trust at all.\"\n- Simon Willison: [Claude Code for web—a new asynchronous coding agent](https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/20/claude-code-for-web/#atom-everything) from Anthropic. Also: [Don't let Claude Code delete your session logs](https://simonwillison.net/2025/Oct/22/claude-code-logs/) - add `\"cleanupPeriodDays\": 99999` to settings to delay deletion for 274 years.\n\n
\n", "parentPath": "./content/posts/2025/2025-10-23-w43", "path": "2025/10/23/w43", "summary": "TL;DR: Wrestled with my Synology NAS trying to get a Debian VM running, started learning Kubernetes and Argo Workflows, watched Catsby and Miss Biscuits become friends, populated my BBS with text files from textfiles.com. Also: no, I don't need to build a BBS Door that controls Home Assistant lights. (But maybe I do?)", "needsBuild": true, "prevPostPath": "2025/10/23/think-different-about-data", "prevPostTitle": "Developers shouldn't have to be data landlords", "nextPostPath": "2025/10/25/gotosocial-cloudfront-redirect", "nextPostTitle": "GoToSocial split-domain redirects for a static website on AWS CloudFront" }