James Read
@jamesread.bsky.social
A "full stack" Open Source enthusiast, creating http://OliveTin.app and other no-nonsense open source software.
Dad, hobbiest developer & Red Hatter. Find by blog, GitHub and contact details at jread.com.
Dad, hobbiest developer & Red Hatter. Find by blog, GitHub and contact details at jread.com.
The #selfhosted survey finishes today; https://selfh.st/survey/2025-open/ I really enjoyed completing it, talking about all the stuff I self host!
October 31, 2025 at 2:58 PM
The #selfhosted survey finishes today; https://selfh.st/survey/2025-open/ I really enjoyed completing it, talking about all the stuff I self host!
I'm having to repair my Wife's #Windows 10 PC, after the boot configuration data is apparently unreadable. I don't use Windows anymore, and I can see why; apparently I cannot just download a simple Windows 10 ISO recovery disk with a SHA-sum?
October 28, 2025 at 9:29 PM
I'm having to repair my Wife's #Windows 10 PC, after the boot configuration data is apparently unreadable. I don't use Windows anymore, and I can see why; apparently I cannot just download a simple Windows 10 ISO recovery disk with a SHA-sum?
Ah, now I see the issue! - you were using AI, instead of your brain!
October 26, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Ah, now I see the issue! - you were using AI, instead of your brain!
Very interesting 1st podcast episode for topical events in the UK right now - easy to listen to, subscribed. :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TkgbHGoOx4
October 23, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Very interesting 1st podcast episode for topical events in the UK right now - easy to listen to, subscribed. :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TkgbHGoOx4
There is something to be said that many apps eventually will grow enough features to probably invent their own DSL, and become Turing complete themselves!
October 20, 2025 at 12:54 PM
There is something to be said that many apps eventually will grow enough features to probably invent their own DSL, and become Turing complete themselves!
I've just started working with #Cursor on remote projects over SSH - and I have to say the experience is very good. It feels very weird when I've got 20 years of muscle memory running [n]vim remotely!
October 18, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I've just started working with #Cursor on remote projects over SSH - and I have to say the experience is very good. It feels very weird when I've got 20 years of muscle memory running [n]vim remotely!
Really enjoyed this story approach to talking about Tor - educating government about privacy etc: https://youtu.be/djM70O0SnsY?si=1aWwJD2nBn-Ud6Nb 2025-10-18 07:03:38
October 18, 2025 at 6:06 AM
Really enjoyed this story approach to talking about Tor - educating government about privacy etc: https://youtu.be/djM70O0SnsY?si=1aWwJD2nBn-Ud6Nb 2025-10-18 07:03:38
Wooo! BlueSky support working in Japella! :-D Yay!
October 18, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Wooo! BlueSky support working in Japella! :-D Yay!
Delighted to announce that the #OliveTin helm chart is now marked as "official" on ArtifactHub! artifacthub.io/packages/hel... #automation #linux
olivetin 3.0.5 · olivetin/olivetin
A OliveTin Helm chart for Kubernetes
artifacthub.io
October 15, 2025 at 9:19 AM
Delighted to announce that the #OliveTin helm chart is now marked as "official" on ArtifactHub! artifacthub.io/packages/hel... #automation #linux
I'm proud to release the first version of: StencilBox - a tool for generating static websites from YAML data, eg: homepage of links, sidebars of links, status pages, etc. #selfhosted #homelab #opensource #docker github.com/jamesread/St... .
GitHub - jamesread/StencilBox: Generate super speedy simple static sites, from sleek templates.
Generate super speedy simple static sites, from sleek templates. - jamesread/StencilBox
github.com
August 22, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I'm proud to release the first version of: StencilBox - a tool for generating static websites from YAML data, eg: homepage of links, sidebars of links, status pages, etc. #selfhosted #homelab #opensource #docker github.com/jamesread/St... .
I'm frantically trying to copy some TV and Films to the kid's tablets via SD card, just before we go away on holiday. You forget just how slow SD cards are... I think it's only a Class 10 - so 10MB/s - need to pick up some UHS-II cards for situations like this!
August 13, 2025 at 8:55 AM
I'm frantically trying to copy some TV and Films to the kid's tablets via SD card, just before we go away on holiday. You forget just how slow SD cards are... I think it's only a Class 10 - so 10MB/s - need to pick up some UHS-II cards for situations like this!
When looking at Currys (highstreet electrical retailer in the UK) for a **DisplayPort 1.4** cable that I need today, this was suggested at checkout... Not used one of those in 15, 20 years?!
July 15, 2025 at 12:03 PM
When looking at Currys (highstreet electrical retailer in the UK) for a **DisplayPort 1.4** cable that I need today, this was suggested at checkout... Not used one of those in 15, 20 years?!
Today I learned that JSON doesn't technically support ints and floats, only "numbers"... so it's up to the parser to determine how to parse it (Golang hence uses float64). Also, the "standard" is 16 pages of mostly whitespace, and is unironically ECMA standard number 404...
July 12, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Today I learned that JSON doesn't technically support ints and floats, only "numbers"... so it's up to the parser to determine how to parse it (Golang hence uses float64). Also, the "standard" is 16 pages of mostly whitespace, and is unironically ECMA standard number 404...
Another totally innocent Amazon order that is likely to confuse the Amazon warehouse packer person... Huel because I'm fed up with cooking, Funnels for cold brew coffee, and new rigger gloves because I tore up a pair at the weekend pulling weeds out of the garden.
July 9, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Another totally innocent Amazon order that is likely to confuse the Amazon warehouse packer person... Huel because I'm fed up with cooking, Funnels for cold brew coffee, and new rigger gloves because I tore up a pair at the weekend pulling weeds out of the garden.
Fascinating interview with Karen Hao; on politician AI understanding, as well as ethical and environmental concerns of the "scale up" approach. Just grabbed her "Empire of AI: inside the reckless race for total domination" audiobook. youtu.be/8enXRDlWguU?...
Silicon Valley Insider EXPOSES Cult Like AI Companies | Aaron Bastani Meets Karen Hao
YouTube video by Novara Media
youtu.be
June 30, 2025 at 10:08 PM
Fascinating interview with Karen Hao; on politician AI understanding, as well as ethical and environmental concerns of the "scale up" approach. Just grabbed her "Empire of AI: inside the reckless race for total domination" audiobook. youtu.be/8enXRDlWguU?...
Been looking through the Bluesky OAuth2 requirements - it's wild. rfc7591 dynamic client registration, PAR, DPoP, Client metadata JWK- quite different from lots of other OAuth services I've worked with! Only familiar with PKCE. Excited to get it working though!
June 28, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Been looking through the Bluesky OAuth2 requirements - it's wild. rfc7591 dynamic client registration, PAR, DPoP, Client metadata JWK- quite different from lots of other OAuth services I've worked with! Only familiar with PKCE. Excited to get it working though!
Still having lots of fun building Japella. It's still incredibly rough, but got a lot of the core systems implemented. It's free open source software.
June 26, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Still having lots of fun building Japella. It's still incredibly rough, but got a lot of the core systems implemented. It's free open source software.
My cooling fan needs a firmware update...
June 25, 2025 at 6:21 PM
My cooling fan needs a firmware update...
Having lots of fun hacking on #Japella, added API keys support, multiple language support, logins etc. Permissions, Settings Editor and Bluesky coming next! #coding #selfhosted
June 19, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Having lots of fun hacking on #Japella, added API keys support, multiple language support, logins etc. Permissions, Settings Editor and Bluesky coming next! #coding #selfhosted
Quite a bit of progress on Japella over the last 24 hours :-) Added language support and rebuilt the nav. OAuth2 working fine for Mastodon and Twitter, but working on user accounts now. Still sandbox quality, but moving fast. #opensource #coding #selfhosted
June 17, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Quite a bit of progress on Japella over the last 24 hours :-) Added language support and rebuilt the nav. OAuth2 working fine for Mastodon and Twitter, but working on user accounts now. Still sandbox quality, but moving fast. #opensource #coding #selfhosted
Day 3 in a series of fixing #homelab hardware things I've been putting off for far too long: the new array from yesterday is built, properly cable routed, and all the old disks have been retired. Didn't have to use backups, yay!
June 11, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Day 3 in a series of fixing #homelab hardware things I've been putting off for far too long: the new array from yesterday is built, properly cable routed, and all the old disks have been retired. Didn't have to use backups, yay!
Day 2 in a series of fixing #homelab hardware things I've been putting off for far too long. A 5 drive raid6 of 2Tb disks...11 years old... that is down to 3 drives. I bought replacement 16tb drives weeks ago. I have backups, but I don't *want* to use them. Will it last the night?! #raidisnotabackup
June 10, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Day 2 in a series of fixing #homelab hardware things I've been putting off for far too long. A 5 drive raid6 of 2Tb disks...11 years old... that is down to 3 drives. I bought replacement 16tb drives weeks ago. I have backups, but I don't *want* to use them. Will it last the night?! #raidisnotabackup
Day 1 in a series of fixing #homelab hardware things I've been putting off for far too long... replacing the very broken CPU fan on my 9600k based gaming games console machine (the bearings are actually gone, it's not just dust). New fancy Noctua fan (and new screwdriver!) to replace it.
June 9, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Day 1 in a series of fixing #homelab hardware things I've been putting off for far too long... replacing the very broken CPU fan on my 9600k based gaming games console machine (the bearings are actually gone, it's not just dust). New fancy Noctua fan (and new screwdriver!) to replace it.