macOS Emacs 26 display-line-numbers, neotree and me, or How I Became an Emacs Power User Today

I’ve been reviving my GNU Emacs config as part of becoming a more active daily user. I typically use a macOS workstation, sometimes connecting to Linux machines (tramp/ssh). The release of Emacs 26.1 about a week ago gave me additional impetus to consume Emacs’s customizable, extensible goodness.

Hardware CapsLock as Control key in iOS SSH client using blink.sh

I’ve been searching for a way to use CapsLock as another Control key on iOS for as long as there has been hardware keyboard support in iOS. (Emacs habits never die!)¹ I have legacy USB and bluetooth keyboards that I’d like this to work with.

Many of Emacs functions and commands are bound to the Control. Using the location of the CapsLock key as another Ctrl key reduces strain in the keyboard hand. ↩

Kubernetes 1.10 on Ubuntu 18.04 bare-metal single host

I needed to resurrect a kubernetes cluster that had been running for over four months straight. I tried using conjure-up after my old kubespray (was kargo) configs no longer worked. I got a kubeadm kubernetes 1.10 deployment working quickly on an Ubuntu 18.04 (LTS) host.

Adding a Webcam to Homekit Using a Raspberry Pi 3

Previously, I had setup HomeKit connecting to Nest thermostat and Belkin WeMo devices using Homebridge project. I had on my TODO list for a long time to put a webcam on HomeKit. At the end of some twists and turns it ended up being relatively easy, had I known the following from the start.

Extending HomeKit with Homebridge and Raspberry Pi to All the Things

What to do with a Nest thermostat, Belkin WeMo smart switches and lights, web services, and custom home-grown sensors in an Apple household? Can HomeKit talk to non-HomeKit devices? An excellent project named Homebridge along with its user-provided plugins has the answers.

Using Ansible to customize a box full of Raspberry Pis

I have been using Raspberry Pis for quite some time. Some are IoT apps like sensor logging or Airplay speakers. I’ve also provided a box full in various hands-on demos in the community. Accumulating a large collection of late-model Raspberry Pi’s, I invested in ansible tasks to automate config and maintenance.

PCalc functions for converting between for latitude/longitude formats

I needed a way to convert Latitude/Longitude coordinates between Degrees+Decimal to Degrees Minutes Seconds notation. I created some user functions within the excellent PCalc app that can do this inline in PCalc.

Porting indoor weather (BMP085) logging project to SFE Phant

For a while now, have had a time/temp logging system in my house. It is still hosted on my very first Raspberry Pi, and uses a BMP085 temperature/pressure sensor, and two 1.2” LED displays from Adafruit. The logging on ~~Pachube~~ -> ~~COSM~~ -> Xively needed to be updated to something else, so I decided to use Phant from Sparkun Electronics (SFE).