Self-hosted Tailscale, Part 3: Syncthing over Tailscale

Posted on 2026-05-18 in Software • Tagged with howto , linux , security , syncthing , tailscale , vpn

I've been using Syncthing for years to keep files in sync between my laptop, desktop, phone, tablet and home server. It is an amazing piece of software and has been very reliable, with only the occasional conflict, but I have never lost any data. On the contrary, Syncthing file versioning …


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How I Sandbox my AI Agents

Posted on 2026-05-14 in Software • Tagged with ai , firejail , linux , security

I've been using Opencode as my AI coding agent. Very unlike me, I don't have a long list of reasons why I picked it among the many alternatives. I just wanted to get started with an agent system that checked my main requirements:

  • Must be fully open-source.
  • Popular, meaning it's …

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Self-hosted Tailscale, Part 2: Ad-blocking DNS

Posted on 2026-05-11 in Software • Tagged with dns , howto , linux , security , tailscale , vpn

In Part 1 I set up Headscale and had every tailnet client use Cloudflare DNS. That works, but it's leaving value on the table: every device that connects to my Tailscale gets whatever DNS servers I set, so I might as well run my own DNS server inside the private …


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Self-hosted Tailscale, Part 1: Headscale and clients

Posted on 2026-05-05 in Software • Tagged with howto , linux , security , tailscale , vpn

I had been hearing a lot of people raving about Tailscale as a solution for interconnecting devices, or in other words for creating your own mesh VPN. It does seem great on paper: easy to set up, fast and lightweight, based on an open protocol (WireGuard), works everywhere, solves the …


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Pre-establishing SSH master connections for Ansible, or using OnlyKey with Ansible without losing your mind

Posted on 2026-04-07 in Software • Tagged with ansible , automation , howto , linux , security

I use an OnlyKey as a hardware security device for a variety of purposes:

  • Common passwords are one keypress away, they get typed automatically.
  • As 2FA in my password manager (KeepassXC), by applying HMAC on the password.
  • SSH connections.
  • GPG encryption and signing.

OnlyKey

SSH connections are handled through the …


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Announcing Reflex, a Pelican theme

Posted on 2026-02-16 in Software • Tagged with free-software , pelican

I'm happy to announce the public availability of my Pelican theme: Reflex. It is published on PyPI, which should be the best way for most users to install it.

When I first started this blog I decided on Pelican because I had lots of experience with Python, so it would …


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Self-hosted Home, Part 1: Design and Planning

Posted on 2026-01-25 in Software • Tagged with free-software , linux , self-hosting

Those who have been paying attention to the blog know that I bought a house and have been planning its full renovation. As a computer nerd what excites me the most is the opportunity to implement my dream smart home, networking and home server.

I have a clear idea of …


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New Year's Resolutions for 2026

Posted on 2026-01-08 in Personal • Tagged with personal

Another year has passed, and what I originally didn't plan to turn into a tradition has become one I never miss: publishing my resolutions for the new year. I always fail at some of my resolutions, but I like the effort of reflection and keeping them in mind throughout the …


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Periodic script to back up installed OS packages

Posted on 2025-12-08 in Software • Tagged with backup , fish , free-software , howto , linux , shell

A while ago I switched to yadm for managing my dotfiles. One of its features I have been enjoying is its bootstrap support. I have been adding idempotent setup operations

My latest addition is a script that creates backup files with all installed OS packages. In case of disaster if …


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Responsible education in computing

Posted on 2025-11-09 in Software • Tagged with education , free-software , linux

My oldest daughter is turning 7 soon, and I have promised her a gift: her first computer. I'm secretly hoping that she will develop an interest in computing similar to my own. Not because I want to reproduce my childhood in her (although, of course, I would like to share …


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