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WhatsApp should really fix these issues

WhatsApp is my most used app, but its development seems stagnant. Which is not always a bad thing for software, but WhatsApp could really improve some things, especially when those improvements seem trivial. Some wishes could even be classified as bugs: which they should really fix. In no particular order (for iOS). Multi-select on media searchWhen you use the global search (pull down on iOS) and select a category (Photos,… Read More »WhatsApp should really fix these issues

Reaching 100 stars on GitHub: what I learned from putting code online

When the pandemic started in early 2020, I needed something to get my mind off things. Frustrated with most database form generation solutions I created Cruddiy and put it on GitHub. Two years later Cruddiy reached 100 stars on GitHub. Something which I did not expect. We could argue a long time on what a GitHub star as a metric actually represents, but for this post it represents: hey, more… Read More »Reaching 100 stars on GitHub: what I learned from putting code online

Windows Terminal + Cygwin

[UPDATE July 2022: I switched to using MobaXterm which does the job just fine. I don’t like that it is not free/open but I do like that it comes with an integrated SSH agent, which makes life a lot easier] I had been a happy WSL1 user for many years, but after switching laptops I more or less had to upgrade to WSL2. Which is the same thing but not… Read More »Windows Terminal + Cygwin

Bypassing Hetzner mail port block (port 25/465)

I recently switched my VPS from Linode to Hetzner. I got more CPU, RAM and storage for a couple of dollars less. Pretty good right? However it wasn’t after I migrated that I found out Hetzner blocks all outgoing port 25 and 465 traffic. At least for the first month for new customers. This means my new server cannot talk SMTP with the rest of the world i.e. my server… Read More »Bypassing Hetzner mail port block (port 25/465)

Ten 2022 Tool Tips

Here’s a list of software tools I either started using this year or tools I think everyone should be using. Bitwarden The best password manager. Free if you like, or only $10 per year if you want to have a little bit more features or just want to support the project. My advice: pay the $10, Bitwarden is the best bargain for a great password manager and you support development… Read More »Ten 2022 Tool Tips

Migrating a LAMP VPS

I recently switched my LAMP virtual server to a different VPS provider. The LAMP server that is serving you this site. So the migration worked! Here are the steps, for future reference. Mostly for myself, but maybe you — someone who came here from Google — can use this too. This should work on any small to medium sized VPS. Let’s go! Lower your DNS records TTL value When you… Read More »Migrating a LAMP VPS

Get Back part 2

I finished watching Get Back. Read my article about the first 30 minutes here. It’s safe to say this is hands down one of the best documentaries ever. I could not look away. Truly amazing. In between watching this over the last week I accumulated quite a few articles (from blogs, newspapers, and my RSS feed) that I did not want to read before I finished watching. But now I… Read More »Get Back part 2

The Beatles: Get Back

I am only 30 minutes in to the 8 hour long — highly anticipated — Peter Jackson documentary and I already have many thoughts. I need to get these out before further viewing, because I have a feeling I will change my mind many times over during viewing. Let’s go Beatle by Beatle. Paul It’s very apparent that Paul is the undisputed leader of the band. There are no two… Read More »The Beatles: Get Back

Corbin

Corbin: static responsive image and video gallery generator

In classic yak shaving fashion; this weekend I created a static responsive image gallery generator. It’s one PHP file that — when run from the command line — generates a clean, fast and responsive (aka mobile friendly) video and image gallery with navigation from a directory of images and videos. The output is one single index.html file. The generator itself is a single PHP file (~300 LOC). And running it… Read More »Corbin: static responsive image and video gallery generator

Bloglife @ janvandenberg.blog

For my Dutch speaking readers: on my other blog piks.nl janvandenberg.blog I started blogging daily. Six days a week you will find a short thought or observation that explicitly aims to be above current events. I aim for timeless truths; observations and thoughts that are true regardless of time and place. Blogging daily is a deliberate attempt to not start my day with doomscrolling or consuming other people’s content, but… Read More »Bloglife @ janvandenberg.blog

Auto insert date when starting Vim

I have a file where I keep notes & ideas. And I try to have as less friction as possible to add ideas to this file. To achieve this I made it so that when I am at my terminal I edited just two files to achieve this. .bashrc An alias in .bashrc to type just one letter and start the file in Vim in insert mode: .vimrc I added… Read More »Auto insert date when starting Vim

Connecting a Dell 4K monitor to HDMI

When I installed my new monitor — the Dell S2721QS — and attached it to my Dell laptop, something felt… off. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, the resolution was fine (3840 x 2160), screen was fine — brightness, contrast etc. — but the overall experience was more sluggish. Especially when moving my mouse. Ah of course, this new resolution calls for different mouse speed settings! But after… Read More »Connecting a Dell 4K monitor to HDMI