shanetalkstech

When Was the Last Time You Backed Up Your Computer?

Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

When was the last time you backed up your computer? Most people don’t even think about backups until they are needed, and by then, it might be too late.

I am going to call myself out here and say that my backup strategy was beyond terrible. If I felt like I had made enough changes to files on my drive, about once every 3 or 4 months, I’d pull out an external drive and copy my home directory over to it. There was zero naming consistency when doing this, so I couldn’t begin to tell you which backup was current. Lucky for me, I have never had any real issues with that…until last weekend.

The Home Server Journey Begins

Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I got my hardware moved into the new case. The home server is live! I’m still waiting on some drives, but I’ve started getting services up and running. This is going to be a learning process — hopefully a beneficial one. This isn’t my first home server, but it’s my first one that isn’t a single-board computer. Nothing wrong with Raspberry Pis or Zimaboards — I still use and support both. In fact, the Zimaboard 832 that used to be my Proxmox server is getting a new job as my Proxmox Backup Server. My roadmap has already changed, and it’ll keep changing as I go — I’ll probably write about that along the way. Case in point: one of the apps I’ve already got running might get replaced, or paired with something else. The apps in question are Linkwarden and Readeck. Their functions overlap, but I might end up running both. Linkwarden is set up and working — I plan to use it as a full-scale bookmark manager. Readeck, on the other hand, strips articles down to a distraction-free reading view, which sounds great for someone who struggles to focus like I do. Honestly, I originally thought Linkwarden alone would cover article management too. But I need both. It’s not unusual for me to have 25 tabs open in Zen Browser, all articles I’ll “read eventually.” Same story on my phone — 22 tabs open in Firefox, mostly articles. Another new addition is Navidrome. I stream most of my music, but there’s a chunk I own that isn’t on any streaming service — a tribute album I can’t find on Apple Music or Spotify, plus some other local stuff. Might as well have somewhere to play it. I may even discover I already own most of what I listen to and can drop streaming altogether. I also added Jellystat — nothing exciting, just fun to track, and it’s light enough on resources that there’s no reason not to. And Uptime Kuma, which gives me a simple up/down status for my containers. I’ve got my eye on a couple of more in-depth monitoring tools too, just haven’t set those up yet. I just got the renewal notice for Todoist — it’s been a great service, and it was my saving grace when I switched from Apple to Android (I still lean on Apple Reminders more than anything else on my iPhone). But that renewal isn’t happening. NextCloud already has task lists built in, so there’s no reason to pay for a redundant service. I’m not against paying for software — I’ve had a Proxmox enterprise license for years — but paying for a feature I’m already self-hosting doesn’t make sense. Same logic applies to NextCloud Notes. About a month ago I spent a full Saturday setting up ntfy on my old Proxmox server, and it’s still genuinely useful — but the note-sending feature I built it for has now been replaced by NextCloud Notes, which lets me jot something on my phone and have it show up on my computer’s dashboard, ready to copy and paste. ntfy isn’t going anywhere, though. I’ve got Watchtower baked into every Docker Compose file except NextCloud (which manages itself), and Watchtower pings me through ntfy whenever a container has an update. From there it’s just docker compose up -d. That’s enough of a home server update for now. This post jumped around a bit, but it covers the start of the journey — the decisions so far and the thinking behind them. I like mixing in life updates with the technical stuff. These posts are fun to write — basically journaling out loud. I don’t have a huge audience, but if you’re reading this and want to say hi, reach out through one of the contact links — I’d genuinely like to hear what you think. I tried comments back when this site ran on WordPress, and as you’d expect, every single one was spam, unrelated to the content. Turned that off fast. There will be more of these as time goes on — I’m trying to be more consistent with posts like this than with the purely technical ones. If you’re still here, thank you for reading. Until next time. —Shane

A Deeper Look Into Tuxwire

Thu, 03 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The first question I should answer is why did I name it Tuxwire? Initially I didn’t plan on building an RSS reader. I just wanted a way to read all of the sources related to Linux news in a single place. I didn’t even pick the name Tuxwire — it came out as I was walking through my thoughts and getting a layout put together.

Tux, the Linux mascot, is the penguin’s name, and “wire” pulls from news history — the telephone and telegraph machines used to transmit news. I heard it and thought it was a perfect fit.

My Homelab Roadmap

Wed, 02 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000

After building my new PC, I had my old AM4 build sitting under my desk. I had plans for it but wasn’t quite sure what that would come to. Ultimately I made the decision to use that as my new home server and get rid of the multiple smaller devices and external hard drives I have plugged in.

This is the first post in what’s going to be a series documenting that build — from planning through however many mistakes I make along the way. Consider this the “why” post. The “what actually happened” posts will follow as I go.

tuxwire: An RSS Reader Built for Note-Taking

Fri, 21 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m a big fan of RSS readers. I like picking and choosing exactly where my news comes from, and RSS is still the best way I know to do that.

Every day I read Linux, FOSS, and kernel news from about 15 different sources. I wanted a way to bring all of them together in one place — so I built tuxwire, a terminal-based RSS reader written in Rust.

The Problem

You’re probably asking, “Why not just use an existing RSS reader?” And I do — I love RSS readers. But even the good ones are missing one feature I rely on constantly: note-taking.

How to Set Up a Scratchpad for Your Macropad

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Up until recently I’ve heard of scratchpads but, I honestly didn’t know what they were. One of the Linux channels I follow on YouTube is a big fan of using scratchpads.

After understanding what they were I thought the idea was great in concept but, I couldn’t think of any reason I would actually use a scratchpad. Until yesterday.

A project I’ve been working on over the last few months is configuring a macropad to use with my computer.

I Love Cozy Games

Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I love playing cozy games. Most of these games are simple enough to not require much thought. Which is exactly what I like to play a lot of the time. Two games that I’ve put the most amount of time into are Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and Stardew Valley.

I started Animal Crossing long before I started Stardew Valley. I don’t do too much island customization. I’ve seen some islands that look like they have been customized 100%. For the most part, mine is meant to look like a natural island in the woods. More like a campground than anything else.

My Start to Sim Racing

Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I’m not really sure what started it, but I thought to myself one day, “you know, I bet a racing game with a steering wheel would be a lot of fun.”

I decided to give it a shot. I did a bunch of research on finding a steering wheel that would work with Linux and I landed on the Moza R5 bundle with direct drive.

I got some parts ordered and waited for them to arrive. Part of this was a big waiting game. I was looking for a particular stand for putting all of this hardware on rather than clamping it to my desk.

AI and Large Language Models

Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0000

It seems that everything in the technology field is geard towards AI now. Every day that goes by you hear more and more about AI and Large Language Models.

According to Chapter 9 of Stanfords 2026 AI Index Report, 59% of people feel that AI offers more benefits than drawbacks.

Stanford University Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence

Personally, I have heard both sides opinions on it. Those that say use it, and those that say avoid it.

Updates and Moving Forward

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:06:38 +0000

Hello

The site may look a little different and that is because I rebuilt it and changed how it is hosted.

For a while now I have wanted to get away from WordPress and change to anything else. I preferred something simple and I think I have found a solution.

Navigating WordPress is incredibly annoying. And when you login to the admin dashboard, you get bombarded with stuff that needs updated. Plugins need updated. Themes need updated. It gets aggravating when you just want to post something quick.

The OS That Pulled Me Away From Fedora

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 10:00:15 +0000

If you’ve been reading my page or know me at all, you know that I’m a big Fedora fan. I’ve been using Fedora for many years, but there was always something missing. What was missing from this near-perfect operating system?
A preconfigured tiling window manager.

I realize tiling window managers are usually for more advanced users — they’re meant to be customized from the ground up so you really learn your system. If that’s the path you choose, you have all of my respect. I enjoy using a tiling window manager too, even though I didn’t build mine entirely from scratch. I tried installing both the Sway and i3 Fedora spins, but I simply didn’t have the time or knowledge to set them up properly.

About Me

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 01:54:04 +0000

Hello

I am Shane.

Ever since I was a kid, I have had an interest in technology. I began at an early age exploring computers and trying my best to figure out how they work. I was late going to college but I eventually graduated with my Bachelor’s degree in cyber-security. When I started I had no idea what I wanted to do, but I had a professor early on tell me “based on the questions you ask, and the input you provide to our class discussions, I think you would excel in the cyber-security field. I took that and ran with it although I did not end up in the security field.

3D-Printers as household appliances

Sun, 25 May 2025 01:04:27 +0000

I am currently subscribed to a few different RSS feeds that provide news articles about 3D Printing. A few articles that I have read recently were talking about 3D-printed houses. I think these are great. I was researching them more out of curiosity than anything else, but found out there is a company local to me that does 3D printed housing in my area. This is definitely something I want to look into further at some point. If you can 3D-print a two story house, I am definitely interested.

What's new in May 2025

Sat, 10 May 2025 00:16:59 +0000

I have not posted anything in a long time. I want to get better about that. I honestly feel like this is more of a journal than anything else but that is OK I guess.

I have a few things I want to work on in the future and a few projects that I want to talk about.

Most of my free time has been consumed by 3D printing lately so I haven’t been doing anything with the home lab.

I got another certification

Sat, 17 Aug 2024 09:47:26 +0000

I have secured my fourth CompTIA certification. This one was tough for a few different reasons but I succeeded…..finally.

Network+ is the latest certification that I have earned. This is one that I had planned to take much earlier in the year but scheduling had pushed it back several months.

The college that I went to provides boot camps that once completed, will provide a voucher to take the actual exam. All that is required is that you pass the required class related to the subject matter. I took the network class several years ago. It was one of the first classes I took when I started going back to school.

CompTIA CySA+ Certified

Sat, 03 Aug 2024 16:36:04 +0000

Recently I have set a reminder in my phone to remind me to make updates for my page more frequently. I have been terrible about that. This is going to be a quick life update. Not much exciting going on as far as tech goes.

The highlight of my update I will go ahead and get out of the way. I got my CySA+ certification. It was a bit funny how this turned out. The lady that does CompTIA tests at work called me and asked if I was interested in CySA+. The only caveat, I had to take the test within the next three days.

From Buster to Bookwork: Updating Debian

Sat, 20 Apr 2024 00:56:08 +0000

Recently while updating my Raspberry Pi that I use for a simple home server, I broke something for the first time ever using Linux. My Raspberry Pi is running Rasbian Lite and I use it for Open Media Vault and Jellyfin. I was using Plex Media Server, but I switched to Jellyfin recently to try something new.

I set this up several years ago while in the process of looking for a NAS to use to easily share and move files between my computers. I was initially going to go with a well known companies NAS device but the cost was outrageous. Additionally, I like the fact that I can setup something on my own.

Why Printables pushes me to learn!

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 16:14:23 +0000

There are many websites out there that allow you to download STL files for 3D-printing. However, one of them is my favorite to use. That website would be Printables. What does Printables do differently than the rest? A lot of things.

I found this site while in the process of researching 3D printers in 2023. I was initially interested in a Prusa printer for my first model due to its reputation for being reliable. On the Prusa website, they had a link to Printables and I looked at it and thought that it was cool that they integrated this site into the company website so it is easy to find. This may not be unique to Prusa but what is unique is some of the things that you can do on this website.

A 3D Printing Business Idea

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 16:10:22 +0000

Hello Everyone

I am not a business minded person but, recently I thought of one that I firmly believe would be successful. Recently I have gotten into the Maker and 3D printing hobby. I find myself working on different models quite often and printing almost 24-7.

During one of my larger multi-part prints, I found myself running out of filament. That is usually not a problem but, this particular filament is often sold out everywhere. I was able to find it in a large 2KG spool on Prusa3D to order. That is not a HUGE problem but due to this company being in Prague, it usually takes a little while to arrive here in the United States. Shipping is also incredibly expensive from Prusa’s website to the United States.

Getting my A+ certification

Thu, 08 Feb 2024 12:45:09 +0000

The CompTIA A+is typically the first IT certification that people pursue. Myself, I chose to do things backwards. I got the highest level of the initial trio of certifications first, Security+. I initially chose to get this one in hopes that it would help me with the job hunt after graduating. I did not intend to go after A+ and Network+. I just wanted to familiarize myself with the knowledge required for those exams.

What is new for me in 2024

Fri, 02 Feb 2024 13:28:47 +0000

What has been new with me? I haven’t posted on here in a while. I want to get better about that this year and in the future. I have several idea for articles that I want to post and even a few that I have bad before and others that I have started and never finished.

The last article I wrote was about my study process and earning my CompTIA Security+ certification. I will likely also do a write up on my study process for A+ because I also earned that certification as well.

How I passed the CompTIA Security+ exam

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 15:59:22 +0000

After graduating from college, I finally decided it was time to get some certifications to help in my job search. I went about this a little backwards but that’s OK because not everyone does things the same way. That is an important lesson to learn in life. Your way and your path is going to be different from others and that is OK.

I am referring to CompTIA certifications for right now. CompTIA recommends starting with A+ and then getting Network+ before getting Security+. If you do this, getting Security+ will renew your other two certifications.

What does high-end audio sound like to ordinary people?

Sun, 04 Jun 2023 00:58:36 +0000

Recently I was in the process of researching new headphones that I could take with me on vacation for music and study purposes. During that process I was looking at the Sennheiser Momentum 4’s due to them having a 60 hour battery, which is incredible.

While watching many videos on these headphones on YouTube I would often see this compared to audiophile headphones. Up until this point I was completely oblivious to what audiophile level headphones were and what they were supposed to sound like.

Happy New Year

Sun, 01 Jan 2023 11:52:09 +0000

Happy New Year!

This is that part of the year when many people come up with new years resolutions in an attempt to change some behavior about themselves for the new year. I have a few but there is one that I want to talk about today.

In 2023 I want to try to read a little bit everyday. I usually do end up reading something on a web page or something in one of my text books for school. For this reading challenge I am talking about real books that I will likely read on my Kindle.

Reviews

Thu, 22 Dec 2022 17:34:34 +0000

What have I been up to?

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 13:15:18 +0000

What has been going on with me lately? I just finished the most stressful semester of college yet. This is only the second time that I have taken four classes at one time while also working full time and spending time with my family. One class I had was with a professor that expected you to know the material before you took the class. That was a first for me. The best part about it though is I am finished, I passed and now I only have one semester left.

Walkthroughs

Tue, 20 Dec 2022 10:25:53 +0000

New Job

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 11:10:04 +0000

Hello again

I haven’t posted in a while.

This post will be a little different but still related.

I recently got a new job. I have been looking for a while, but it’s been a slow process. During the process of applying for a lot of jobs and never hearing anything back, I thought about researching and finding out why.

It turns out that my resume wasn’t really done that well and wasn’t configured correctly to make it through the Applicant Tracking System.

My Journey to using Linux

Sun, 27 Feb 2022 20:59:24 +0000

For most of my life, Mac was my preferred choice of computers. I got my first one in 2005 after graduating from high school. It was an old MacBook Pro before they switched to the unibody design. I bought it refurbished and it had screen issues, so it did not last long.

Rather than fixing it, I bought a new iMac in 2008. That computer lasted me a long time and as of this writing, it is still being used by my parents after the one they bought the same year had died.

Hello!

Thu, 24 Feb 2022 13:17:45 +0000

Hello everyone.

My name is Shane and I like tech.

I decided to write this blog as a simple way for me to express my creativity the best way I know how.

This website will look a little rough from the start but that is part of my plan. I want to learn more about web design and this is the best way to do that. Starting with something simple an learning and watching it grow. I have no idea what this will look like further down the road but I am anxious to watch it grow.

Contact

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hello

The best way to reach me or see what I am working on is through the links below.

Search

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000