Kevin C. Tofel
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kevinctofel.bsky.social
Kevin C. Tofel
@kevinctofel.bsky.social
Level 55 Halfling Ranger. Lawful Neutral. Side quest addict.

Ex- #Google, ZDNet & GigaOM, currently working at #Wawa.

#Software #Developer in training.

Massive fan of #LiverpoolFC and all things #Beatles. #YNWA
Another #HomeLab #server app installed: Forgejo is a replacement for #GitHub (and other, similar code management tools). After the self hosting installation, I mirrored one of my GitHub repos without any issues. 🎉

forgejo.org
March 9, 2025 at 3:06 PM
🆕#blog post: Why I downsized to the smaller #iPad Pro, some limited #tech time this week and a grandbaby update.

myconscious.stream/blog/Week-in...
January 12, 2025 at 5:20 PM
After nearly 3 weeks in the hospital, my step-daughter and her husband will be having their baby tonight at 33.5 weeks. Baby will likely be in the NICU for a bit but at the moment, everyone is safe and healthy!
January 3, 2025 at 10:07 PM
New #blog post: Another look at de-Googled phones, considering #AI hardware , and a gaining insights from a 250 year old autobiography.

myconscious.stream/blog/Week-in...
December 29, 2024 at 9:56 PM
Weekly review #blog post: An early baby, #eBooks on a home server, #Witcher 3 upgrades, and my first mechanical keyboard mod

myconscious.stream/blog/Week-in...
December 22, 2024 at 10:53 PM
#TIL that you can purchase an e-book version of the #Harvard Classics (2024 edition) for $1.99. 51 volumes of the “Five Foot Shelf” for two bucks?!? The entire series in print costs $1,399!!! 🤓

www.amazon.com/Complete-Har...

For those not familiar with this series: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard...
December 22, 2024 at 5:36 PM
December 22, 2024 at 1:52 PM
First mechanical #keyboard mod!

I cut a few strips of the thin, plastic foam used to cushion items in shipping packages. Took out 4 screws from the keyboard and placed the strips into the keyboard base. Haven’t trimmed them yet (may add more first) but definitely makes for better, deeper sound.
December 20, 2024 at 10:40 PM
Finally found the time to get the fingerprint sensor working on the Dell XPS15 under #Arch #Linux. And yes, I added the information about this to my second brain with a new note. 😉

kctofel.com/n/software/f...
December 20, 2024 at 8:16 PM
Nearly 12 GB of texture and other mods make #TheWitcher3 nearly on par with current AAA #videogames. Yowza!

Here’s the mod package I used: www.nexusmods.com/witcher3/mod...
December 17, 2024 at 12:14 AM
Weekly review - December 15, 2024: A new web interface for the second brain, moving domains and functional programming challenges.

myconscious.stream/blog/Week-in...
December 16, 2024 at 12:12 AM
While I was #coding, the elves were busy baking holiday cookies. 🤓
December 15, 2024 at 6:36 PM
Finally tackling the web app to create and save notes or thoughts throughout the day to my #SecondBrain housed in a #GitHub repo.

Was able to reuse code from a simple GitHub CMS project I started last year. Need to clean this up visually and send the markdown files to a "Notes" folder.
December 15, 2024 at 5:45 PM
Loving the new ESK Qi1 3-in-1 charger I bought to replace a crappy broken charger.

There's a nearly silent cooling fan for the phone, which is supposed to help keep the wireless charging rate at maximum. Best part is the USB-C Apple Watch travel charger that plugs in the back of the unit.
December 11, 2024 at 12:32 AM
A last minute trip to #Vegas to see the final #Beatles LOVE show in person this past July. Saw it at least a dozen times prior but wanted to be there for the last of the 7,814 shows performed.

Best part was the cast breaking out of character at times during the performance to show appreciation.
December 8, 2024 at 5:43 PM
#Tesla* Apple Watch app appeared today after both a software upgrade on the car and the phone app.

* Bought the car before he went nuts; don’t “@“ me.
December 8, 2024 at 5:38 PM
Weekly review: UNRAID and new apps are on my #homelab as I move away from "big tech". #Obisidian on the new front end for my second brain, which is stored on #Github. I also finished #coding Asteroids in #Python and have new project ideas for next week.

myconscious.stream/blog/Week-in...
December 8, 2024 at 4:44 PM
Took me longer than I thought but my #Python version of Asteroids is done for class. Great learning experience and a fun #programming project!
December 8, 2024 at 2:55 PM
New #homelab server app: Trying Beets, which fixes metadata on songs. Ran an album through by adding it to a network share on the server and it worked perfectly.

Putting the corrected files on the iPod Classic, but you can even stream them from the server. 🤔
December 7, 2024 at 1:13 AM
How did I not know about Wttr, a command line weather app?!?

To get local weather, it's just a simple Terminal command:

curl wttr.in

You can add a slash and your town if you want, or it will use the IP address of the request to determine general location. #CLI #Linux
December 6, 2024 at 3:29 PM
Guess the current solution is a pre-built NAS with proprietary software atop #Linux? But is that the *best* solution on the market?

Is there room for better options that don’t require a #ComputerScience degree? 🤔
December 5, 2024 at 5:26 PM
On one hand, I’d think more consumers would want #SelfHosted services / data on their own server running #FOSS.

On the other hand, having used some of the available server software, I can see why “mere mortals” can’t do this, or get try to do it and get overwhelmed.
December 5, 2024 at 5:26 PM
It took about an hour for the script to import all of my Google Photos to #Immich on the #homelab server but it worked without a hitch.

Even the Google #Photos albums I had previously created carried over without any noticeable issues.

Testing a shared album link to the home server works too. 🎉
December 4, 2024 at 7:46 PM
Locally importing nearly 25,000(!) Google Photos images / videos to #Immich on my #homelab server. Cross your fingers that it works!
December 4, 2024 at 4:15 PM
Adding the #Git integration plugin to #Obsidian and pointing the client to my cloned repo just made Obsidian the front end for my #SecondBrain. #PKM

Now I can update my daily journal or second brain from any device with Git. Still want to look at integrating other services though.
December 4, 2024 at 12:22 AM