• ChatGPT is going to take my jerb!

    There’s a lot of talk about Large-Language Model AIs like ChatGPT these days. People say the days of computer programming as a profession are numbered. I’ve seen stories of ChatGPT doing a pretty amazing job writing and debugging code. I wanted to try it for myself. Is ChatGPT really going to take my jerb? One…

  • Spacewar!

    I made a simple implementation of Spacewar in Scratch.  Here it is:

  • Drobo FS reliability

    Years ago I bought a Drobo FS (no longer made, but more-or-less equivalent to the Drobo 5N they sell today.)  It’s a nice little package using Drobo’s very easy-to-use RAID system, combined with a Linux-based file-server.  Drobo gave it the ability to have other applications installed on it (they call them DroboApps).  I installed rsync,…

  • Programming the INSTEON PowerLinc Modem 2412S

    I’ve been writing some code to drive the INSTEON PowerLinc Modem.  It’s not the newest generation of INSTEON interfaces, but it’s the one I have in my system. It’s been kind of a miserable experience.  This thing could serve as a textbook example of how not to design a serial protocol.

  • DNS problems with Windows, Dnsmasq, IPv6 and CNAME

    I’ve been trying to set up a git repository on a server in my home.  I wasn’t sure exactly which computer I should set it up on, and I want to be able to move it to another computer later without breaking the connections to it.  I thought maybe I could do this by setting…