//hellfirehost.flounder.online/gemlog
<name>hellfirehost</name>
<title>Gemlog: Adventures In LineageOS</title>
<updated>2024-08-05T00:00:00Z</updated>
<id>tag:hellfirehost.flounder.online,2024-08-05:/gemlog/2024-08-05.gmi</id>
<content type="text/plain"># Gemlog: Adventures In LineageOS

```
.__ .__ .__ _____.__ ___________ ________/\ 
| |__ ____ | | | |_/ ____\__|______ ____/_ \ _ \ \_____ )/ ______
| | \_/ __ \| | | |\ __\| \_ __ \_/ __ \| / /_\ \ _(__ < / ___/
| Y \ ___/| |_| |_| | | || | \/\ ___/| \ \_/ \/ \\___ \ 
|___| /\___ >____/____/__| |__||__| \___ >___|\_____ /______ /____ >
 \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ 
 .__ 
 ____ _____ ______ ________ __| | ____ 
_/ ___\\__ \ \____ \/ ___/ | \ | _/ __ \ 
\ \___ / __ \| |_> >___ \| | / |_\ ___/ 
 \___ >____ / __/____ >____/|____/\___ > 
 \/ \/|__| \/ \/
```

It finally happened: I bought an Android.

Last Tuesday, I went to CeX (short for "Complete Entertainment Exchange"; literally pronounced "sex") to sell a load of old DVDs and a few games, receiving a whole £4 for the entire bag and then buying a copy of Resident Evil 4 for £5. I was about to leave, when the tech in the window caught my eye.

As someone who is more privacy-conscious than the average enby, I had been meaning to try out a de-Googled Android ROM for quite a while. I looked at the wall of phones, their cameras pointed at me, and decided "£200 for that piece of shit‽ No chance". I then turned to the tablets, and found a device with decent specs and a lower price tag: a rose gold Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 for £110. My current tablet, nicknamed "Peridot", was a cheap piece of shit I had bought from Argos which ran Android 7, and which I only got any use out of by moving slowly and using the lightest software available (the trick is to look for stuff from Android 4 and use Termux whenever possible).

Anyway, the A7 was missing the original packaging and docs, which made it a grade B by CeX' standards and must have been the reason for the lower price tag (for comparison, a brand new Galaxy Tab A9+ costs £239 from Currys). A quick searx told me that it was compatible with LinegeOS and /e/, so I bought it.

After I got it home and played with it, I found that the tablet checked a lot of boxes for me:

* Compatible with custom ROMS
* Hardware made by a relatively trustworthy company (i.e. not Xiaomi or Huawei)
* Responsive
* Decent storage capacity
* MicroSD slot
* Decent camera
* Supports Android 14 (the latest version, at the time of writing; if you're reading this in the future, hello from the past!)
* Large, high-resolution screen (just slightly more than 1080p; again, hello from the past!)
* Stereo speakers
* Excellent battery life

And so I got to work installing a ROM.

The first and most obvious question is which ROM to go for. I checked all of the popular ones, but found that the Galaxy Tab A7 is only supported by LineageOS (deGoogled stock Android) and /e/ (Lineage with a nice skin, a different launcher, more apps, and further deGoogling). I was initially on the side of /e/, until I found out that it sometimes takes months to receive updates from upstream; LineageOS, meanwhile, only takes a few days or weeks. From a security perspective, there is a clear winner here.

A couple of users on Lemmy recommended this table, which I found very useful.

The installation of LineageOS was not something I had done before. Unlike GrapheneOS and CalyxOS, Lineage does not have a WebUSB installer. Rather, you have to mess around with ADB and stuff to install a custom recovery and then sideload the OS. A bit more complicated, but completely doable. Except I decided to buy a Samsung.

You see, Samsung (in my opinion) are sort of a wannabe Apple. As such, they have their own proprietary bits and pieces that make custom ROMs tricky. For one thing, ADB Fastboot does not work to install the recovery image; instead, you need to use a tool called Odin.

Odin is a proprietary tool created by Samsung for internal use, which was leaked and is now available for download. It also only runs on Windows, so that made life even more difficult for the FOSS-loving Linux user you read before you. There used to be an open-source clone of Odin, called Heimdall, but it hasn't been updated since 2017 and does not support my device at all.

I knew that flashing a custom recovery would be a delicate process, so I didn't want to risk using Wine. I also didn't try emulation, as Windows 10 always ran particularly sluggishly on my machines. And then I discovered Tiny10.

Tiny10 and Tiny11 are stripped-down versions of Windows 10/11 Enterprise, meaning they have absolutely no bloatware and actually run rather well. So well, in fact, that I decided to keep Tiny10 installed on my spare hard drive instead of wiping it once I was done.

Anyway, things went smoothly from there. I installed Mullvad Browser and NextDNS, activated Windows using the script from massgrave.dev, installed the tools and drivers, downloaded Odin, and flashed the recovery, which booted flawlessly and even respected the tablet's orientation (landscape; not portrait). At last, I opened a command prompt and entered the ADB command to sideload the firmware, rebooted the tablet... and something had gone horribly wrong.

Rather than the LineageOS boot animation, I was greeted by a teal-coloured splash screen, informing me that my tablet could not boot on account of unrecognised software. I looked back over at my laptop, and realised my complete and utter idiocy: I had jumped the gun. The LineageOS package was barely even halfway downloaded, so I had just flashed an empty zip archive. The reason for my not noticing could have been anything, but I'd blame the Smirnoff Ice I had been drinking.

"No biggie", I thought. "I can just try again". I turned the tablet off and held the buttons in the right manner to enter download mode again... only to be greeted by the same screen. I tried again, and again, and again, until it dawned on my that it simply wouldn't go. I had soft-bricked my tablet.

So, what could I do? I turned back to the internet of course, and after a few minutes of searxing I eventually came across a thread on XDA Developers. In the tablet's OS-less state, plugging in the power cable did exactly the same thing as pressing the power button, so I could seemingly trick the device into booting to download mode by holding the volume keys and then plugging it in. It only bloody worked.

Of course, the tablet gods weren't finished with me quite yet. When I tried to re-flash the recovery image, it failed, so I turned back to the internet and found another XDA thread that explained my problem. I needed to enable USB debugging or something, and check that OEM unlocking was still enabled (which it would be anyway, but every guide says to double-check). As my tablet had no OS, I obviously couldn't do that. I needed the firmware back.

Finding the correct One UI firmware was a lot harder than expected. Most of the sites I visited were full of ads (at least, according to uBO) and definitely seemed like the sort of thing a government would set up to try and distribute spyware. A lot of them also wanted to charge me for the files, which I was not prepared to do. Finally, I found a site that seemed okay, and (after figuring out which region code I needed) downloaded the firmware, which weighed in at a whopping 4GB.

I went through a couple of cycles of reflashing the firmware and re-bricking the tablet, but I eventually got it and managed to flash the recovery again. Paying close attention to the LineageOS install guide, I lined up the command, went into sideloading mode, and hit enter.

The counter hit 100% and the recovery returned to the home screen, and I double checked everything to ensure I hadn't made another silly mistake, before finally rebooting. My memory has been on the fritz for the last five years (give or take), so I don't recall much about what I did next, but I do remember praying. I'm not religious in any sense, but I thought it might help me mentally to quietly utter "If there is a deity of any description, just give me this one". I opened my eyes, and I was greeted by the boot animation.

After that, I took a photo to follow up a Mastodon thread I'd written and pretty much went to bed. I would be travelling across the UK on the following day, so I needed to sleep. I rooted around in a junk box for the 10" tablet case I had made from leather back when I was 12, took my MacBook out of my rucsac, put the tablet in, and turned out the light...

...only to pull out my phone and look at Pinterest and Tumblr until 2AM, as is traditional for depressed queers like myself. All the same, I felt proud of having finally achieved some degree of mobile freedom, and having had my perseverence pay off.

> First Published 2024-08-04 23:50 BST
> Last Edited 2024-08-05 12:23 BST</content>
<link href="//hellfirehost.flounder.online/gemlog/2024-08-05.gmi" rel="alternate"></link>
<summary type="text/plain"></summary>
<title>Guide: General Election Toolkit</title>
<updated>2024-05-22T00:00:00Z</updated>
<id>tag:hellfirehost.flounder.online,2024-05-22:/gemlog/2024-05-22.gmi</id>
<content type="text/plain"># Guide: General Election Toolkit

```
.__ .__ .__ _____.__ ___________ ________/\ 
| |__ ____ | | | |_/ ____\__|______ ____/_ \ _ \ \_____ )/ ______
| | \_/ __ \| | | |\ __\| \_ __ \_/ __ \| / /_\ \ _(__ < / ___/
| Y \ ___/| |_| |_| | | || | \/\ ___/| \ \_/ \/ \\___ \ 
|___| /\___ >____/____/__| |__||__| \___ >___|\_____ /______ /____ >
 \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ 
 .__ 
 ____ _____ ______ ________ __| | ____ 
_/ ___\\__ \ \____ \/ ___/ | \ | _/ __ \ 
\ \___ / __ \| |_> >___ \| | / |_\ ___/ 
 \___ >____ / __/____ >____/|____/\___ > 
 \/ \/|__| \/ \/
```

Earlier today, Rishi Sunak announced that the next general election in the UK will be held far sooner than expected, on 4th July. Now, since this is the first election in which I will be able to vote, and in which I have a platform other than Twitter (good riddance) to share my content on, I feel I should share some resources that helped me to make sense of my country's convoluted electoral system. I hope that you find them as helful as I did.

## TheyWorkForYou

TheyWorkForYou[1] is a search engine for MPs' voting records. This nifty little website will tell you exactly how every MP in the country has voted on matters in the past few weeks, and how they tend to vote on general topics (e.g. environment, social issues, education, etc.).

=> https://www.theyworkforyou.com/ 1: https://www.theyworkforyou.com

## Tactical Vote

If you want to be rid of the conservatives in this general election, then Tactical Vote[2] is the website for you. For each constituency, it will tell you which candidate has the best chance of winning against a conservative, and also if your constituency is a "safe seat".

=> https://tacticalvote.co.uk/ 2: https://tacticalvote.co.uk

## thejuicemedia

In case you are not aware, or if you need reinforcement, thejuicemedia has made one of their famous "Honest Government Ad" videos about the UK government. Is it unbiased? I'd say no. Is it a fair assessment? Abso-f***ing-lutely! In any case, it's worth a watch.

=> gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/8sRoYvFTE3c 3: gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/8sRoYvFTE3c

## Politics Unboringed

What I would consider both the most useful and most entertaining resource is a webseries by the brilliant Jay Foreman, called "Politics Unboringed", which was released on YouTube in the early 2010s. There are four videos in particular which I feel are essential viewing before casting your vote.

### Who's in charge of Britain?

=> gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/rMXJOKhf_AA 4: gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/rMXJOKhf_AA

### Whom should I vote for?

=> gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/KIrCOfDbL_E 5: gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/KIrCOfDbL_E

### Is there a good reason for not voting?

=> gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/_gbDAvK42yA 6: gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/_gbDAvK42yA

### What is tactical voting?

=> gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/PQRyGacBRA4 7: gemini://auragem.letz.dev/youtube/video/PQRyGacBRA4

## In Conclusion

I hope that you found this page useful. Remember to vote responsibly, and good luck.

> First Published 2024-05-22 22:30 BST</content>
<link href="//hellfirehost.flounder.online/gemlog/2024-05-22.gmi" rel="alternate"></link>
<summary type="text/plain"></summary>
<title>Gemlog: How about a new desktop environment?</title>
<updated>2024-04-12T00:00:00Z</updated>
<id>tag:hellfirehost.flounder.online,2024-04-12:/gemlog/2024-04-12.gmi</id>
<content type="text/plain"># Gemlog: How about a new desktop environment?

```
.__ .__ .__ _____.__ ___________ ________/\ 
| |__ ____ | | | |_/ ____\__|______ ____/_ \ _ \ \_____ )/ ______
| | \_/ __ \| | | |\ __\| \_ __ \_/ __ \| / /_\ \ _(__ < / ___/
| Y \ ___/| |_| |_| | | || | \/\ ___/| \ \_/ \/ \\___ \ 
|___| /\___ >____/____/__| |__||__| \___ >___|\_____ /______ /____ >
 \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ 
 .__ 
 ____ _____ ______ ________ __| | ____ 
_/ ___\\__ \ \____ \/ ___/ | \ | _/ __ \ 
\ \___ / __ \| |_> >___ \| | / |_\ ___/ 
 \___ >____ / __/____ >____/|____/\___ > 
 \/ \/|__| \/ \/
```

Yesterday, I decided to perform a clean install of Linux on my main box (Garnet). After a little distrohopping, I ended up settling once again on openSUSE Tumbleweed.

Since I have the specs, I usually run KDE Plasma on this machine; but openSUSE now ships Plasma 6, and I would say that it is currently still a little rough around the edges. However, I still wanted to run Wayland and I do not want to go back to GNOME.

So I installed Wayfire. I used to use MATE+Compiz and I figured that, since MATE seems to be Wayland-ready except for Marco, I'd be able to run the MATE desktop on top of Wayfire. I was wrong. I tried switching the WM to Wayfire in the settings, but the only option was Marco. I tried launching the desktop and panels from inside Wayfire, but it was buggy and certainly not suitable for production. I eventually gave up.

So I installed River. I spent around an hour writing my init script and pulling together components; then I logged out of the compositor and something strange happened. Instead of returning to the display manager, I was presented with the blank background River had had when I logged in in the first place; except this time no key combinations worked, and I couldn't switch to a TTY either. The same problem occurred when I rebooted and logged in normally. I eventually gave up.

So, what to do? Well, the thing I feel Wayland is missing is a lightweight desktop environment. It has plenty of compositors, and the big two desktops have made the switch; but we're probably not going to see Xfce or MATE running smoothly on Wayland for a while yet. As such, I'm going to try to create my own.

Assuming I actually find the time to make it, the new desktop will be called the Aster Desktop Environment, named after the Asteraceae family of flowering plants, which were originally known as Compositae. This is a reference to both the composite nature of the desktop, and the fact that the Wayland equivalent of a window manager is known as a compositor. The long and unweildy name could be shortened to either ADE or simply Aster.

Aster will initially be cobbled together from components of other desktops and projects, but I hope to replace parts of it with my own code when and if the project becomes more popular. Currently, the plan is to use:

* LabWC as the base compositor.
* Caja as the desktop and file manager.
* Sakura as the default terminal emulator.
* dunst as the notification daemon.
* Swaylock as the screen locker.
* brightnessctl and wlsunset as the screen brightness and warmth controls.
* GNOME PolicyKit as the authentication agent.
* Flameshot as the screenshooter.
* sfwbar as the panel.

I also plan to write my own logout UI, as the only options available are wofi and wlogout, which don't quite fit what I had in mind for the desktop.

You can find AsterDE on Codeberg. If it still seems worthwhile later this year, I'll move it to the X-Industries Codeberg.

EDIT: Replaced mate-panel with sfwbar.

EDIT 2: Updated post to reflect that I have created the desktop.

> First Published 2024-04-12 12:24 BST
> Last Edited 2024-04-14 22:26 BST</content>
<link href="//hellfirehost.flounder.online/gemlog/2024-04-12.gmi" rel="alternate"></link>
<summary type="text/plain"></summary>
<title>Guide: My Privacy Toolkit</title>
<updated>2024-03-22T00:00:00Z</updated>
<id>tag:hellfirehost.flounder.online,2024-03-22:/gemlog/2024-03-22.gmi</id>
<content type="text/plain"># Guide: My Privacy Toolkit

```
.__ .__ .__ _____.__ ___________ ________/\ 
| |__ ____ | | | |_/ ____\__|______ ____/_ \ _ \ \_____ )/ ______
| | \_/ __ \| | | |\ __\| \_ __ \_/ __ \| / /_\ \ _(__ < / ___/
| Y \ ___/| |_| |_| | | || | \/\ ___/| \ \_/ \/ \\___ \ 
|___| /\___ >____/____/__| |__||__| \___ >___|\_____ /______ /____ >
 \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ 
 .__ 
 ____ _____ ______ ________ __| | ____ 
_/ ___\\__ \ \____ \/ ___/ | \ | _/ __ \ 
\ \___ / __ \| |_> >___ \| | / |_\ ___/ 
 \___ >____ / __/____ >____/|____/\___ > 
 \/ \/|__| \/ \/
```

Just by looking at the construction of this website and my choices of social media, it should come as no surprise that I take my digital privacy and security very seriously. So, now that I have an appropriate platform on which to share it, here is my "privacy toolkit"!

## Web Browsing

* I use Mullvad Browser for general browsing.
* I use Tor Browser for extra protection, when necessary.
* I use Firefox + Arkenfox User.js for general browsing on FreeBSD, as Mullvad has not yet been ported, the Tor Browser port crashes frequently, and the LibreWolf port has room for improvement.
* I use Brave for general browsing on my Raspberry Pi.
* I use self-hosted SearXNG for web searches.
* I always use Mullvad VPN.
* I use NextDNS for extra content blocking.
* I use Redirector (by Einar Egilsson) to redirect me to alternative frontends for popular services (e.g. YouTube -> CloudTube).

## Desktop

* I use several trusted Linux distributions, as well as FreeBSD, on my PCs and MacBook.
* I have set BIOS and UEFI passwords where possible.
* I recently installed Tails, but I haven’t yet had cause to use it.
* I use full disk encryption on everything, and I have a VeraCrypted pen drive for special cases.
* I cover all of my webcams with Blu-Tac or electrical tape.
* Many of my laptops are too old for this, but I am trying to make the switch from X11 to Wayland (as recommended by PrivacyGuides).

## Mobile
### iOS

* I currently use hardened iOS until my iPhone burns out or gets obsoleted. Once this happens, I’ll be using DivestOS.
* Again, I constantly use Mullvad VPN.
* I use Safari + AdGuard, as the EFF’s Cover Your Tracks tool reported that it was less fingerprintable than Brave. It also means * I can use Vinegar. I use this browser in private mode.
* I have also bought a copy of JavaSnipt, which functions like a quick-and-dirty NoScript.
* I have Onion Browser installed, for when I need more protection or if I need to access an Onion site.
* I use a freakishly long numeric passcode.
* I disable radios (i.e. WiFi, Bluetooth) when they are not in use.
* I don’t use a privacy screen protector, but I will buy one for my next phone.

### Android

* I have a four-year-old tablet running LineageOS.
* I am between browsers, but my main options are Cromite, Mulch, Mull, and Tor Browser.
* Mullvad VPN, yet again!

## Messenger
* I am forced to use WhatsApp, sadly, as none of my friends or family will even humour me by trying Signal. It's better than SMS, I suppose.

## Online Accounts

* I use Bitwarden to store and securely generate passwords, and to manage passkeys. My vault is encrypted as securely as possible while still being usable on mobile.
* I use ente Auth, Aegis, and OTPClient to generate TOTPs. I also have a graphing calculator that can generate these.
* I am in the process of partially anonymising my online accounts.
* I use ente to store my photos (and my vast collection of memes and random screenshots).

## Video Streaming

* I use Invidious to watch YouTube videos.
* I use FreeTube on desktop and Android.
* I use PeerTube when possible (mainly to watch Techlore and The Linux Experiment).
* Sometimes, I like to watch talks on media.ccc.de.
* Pretty much all of my other video is on DVD, so I don't generally use Netflix or any other streaming services.

## AI

* I played around with ChatGPT and DALL-E last year, but those days are behind me now.
* I signed the NoML open letter, and I have used robots.txt to shut out LLM scrapers from my websites.

## Social Media

* The only non-FOSS social media I use are Tumblr - which is ranked B by ToS;DR - and cohost!.
* I only use my real name on ActivityPub, and even then I will probably change to my usual username when and if I next decide to change servers.

## Email

* I use Posteo as my main email provider.
* I have DuckDuckGo Email Protection as an alias service.
Shopping/Finance
* I rarely make online purchases. I am certainly being tracked, but I’m simply not producing enough data in the first place for this to be a big problem.
* For physical purchases, I try to use cash.
* I like to use cryptocurrency to support open-source projects, but most of them (so far) only accept PayPal, Stripe, and bank transfers.

## Music

* I occasionally stream music from Bandcamp, but virtually everything I listen to is either on CD or a local file.
* I like to listen to KERRANG! Radio using an MP3 stream, and BBC Radio 4 over FM.
* I use Last.fm to track my music, but this is the only service where I am more than happy to provide my data. Worst case scenario, big tech gets a better taste in music.

## Television

* I use DVDs for most of my viewing, but I have sailed the high seas in the past.
* Some shows I enjoy (i.e. Helluva Boss) are released officially for free on YouTube (watched via a frontend).
* I do not own a smart TV.

## Gaming

* I generally don’t game.
* When playing Minecraft, I use PrismLauncher and I’m always sure to install the No Telemetry mod.

## Programming

* I code in Python using Micro. I also sometimes use Kate, but only if I’m running Plasma.
* I use Codeberg to host my projects.

## Productivity

* I normally use LibreOffice.
* I’m trialling a new workflow, using Markdown and Pandoc for text documents and presentations, and Gnumeric for spreadsheets.

## Misc.

* I use Miniflux for news.
* My local timezone just happens to be the same as UTC (except during BST).
* I use a privacy-respecting smartwatch: the PineTime (from PINE64).
* I don’t have a car.
* I use Bluetooth headphones out of necessity. I’m still salty about Apple removing the headphone jack and then every other phone company following suit. However, they are basic headphones which do not require an app, and so they should be more private than other similar models.
* I will never use Amazon Echo or Google Home.

## To-Do

* ✅ Look into further hardening of iOS
* ✅ Start using multiple browsers
* ✅ Use cash more often
* ✅ Anonymise social media
* Try to get family to ditch Meta
* ✅ Look into BIOS and UEFI hardening
* Buy a privacy screen protector and faraday equipment
* ✅ Audit all systems with Lynis

> First Published 2024-03-22 23:02 GMT
> Last Edited 2024-07-09 20:31 BST</content>
<link href="//hellfirehost.flounder.online/gemlog/2024-03-22.gmi" rel="alternate"></link>
<summary type="text/plain"></summary>
<title>Gemlog: Weren't You DCE?</title>
<updated>2024-02-15T00:00:00Z</updated>
<id>tag:hellfirehost.flounder.online,2024-02-15:/gemlog/2024-02-15.gmi</id>
<content type="text/plain"># Gemlog: Weren't You DCE?

```
.__ .__ .__ _____.__ ___________ ________/\ 
| |__ ____ | | | |_/ ____\__|______ ____/_ \ _ \ \_____ )/ ______
| | \_/ __ \| | | |\ __\| \_ __ \_/ __ \| / /_\ \ _(__ < / ___/
| Y \ ___/| |_| |_| | | || | \/\ ___/| \ \_/ \/ \\___ \ 
|___| /\___ >____/____/__| |__||__| \___ >___|\_____ /______ /____ >
 \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ \/ 
 .__ 
 ____ _____ ______ ________ __| | ____ 
_/ ___\\__ \ \____ \/ ___/ | \ | _/ __ \ 
\ \___ / __ \| |_> >___ \| | / |_\ ___/ 
 \___ >____ / __/____ >____/|____/\___ > 
 \/ \/|__| \/ \/
```

> Note: This article is about ~hellfire103's website, opposed to this capsule.

Anyone seeing this blog during February 2024 will be one of three kinds of people. Either:

* You're somebody I'm excitedly showing this website to
* You work for one of the universities I've applied to recently
* You read my post on my other blog or Mastodon, and you're coming to see what's up
* If you fall under the last category, then this blog post is for you. So, let's answer the first question...

## So... a new website?

Long story short, I wanted something that's easier to maintain. Neocities is great and all, but formatting paragraphs into individual "windows" and keeping the ATOM feed updated was a bit of a hassle, especially because I was using the web editor - and on a phone, no less!

I also feel that, while I am seriously proud of the look and feel I've managed to create, it's also required a liberal amount of digital duct tape in order to get the site to work properly on the sheer variety of operating systems, web browsers, and screen sizes around. A site like this, meanwhile, renders just fine in anything that supports TLS/1.1 and HTTP/2 or higher. The only two browsers that have failed out of the ones I've tested were Dillo and the browser on my Nintendo 3DS.

## What will happen to the Neocities blog?

It will stay up. Do not think for a second that I would abandon something I've spent so much time on!

I would say that you may, at most, see a decrease in activity; but I hardly post on there anyway, so you probably won't notice much. I will also continue to post my art and various fun articles on there when and if I make them.

## What about Gemini?

My Gemini capsule is a different matter. I plan to abandon it. I feel that a Gemini capsule or Gopher hole should focus on my tech and programming content; not my personal stuff. The personal articles usually posted to Flounder will now go to Neocities.

However, I do not plan to abandon the small web altogether! I will continue to use Station and Bubble, and I may decide to create a mirror of this blog using tilde.pink; although this blog should be accessible in Gemini clients through the use of the Stargate Proxy, so I might not bother.

## Hellfire Host? What's that?

So, long story.

In the summer of 2023, I tried to set up a FreedomBox using my Raspberry Pi. It worked, but I wanted a way to access it remotely, so I went to register a domain.

I tried a few places, including NameCheap and Freenom (which was and still is unusable), where I decided to go for something along the lines of hellfire.[TLD]. Eventually, I came across EU.ORG which has apparently been giving away free .eu.org domains since 1996. I applied and waited... and waited... and waited... and then forgot that I had applied and promptly turned the FreedomBox back into a media centre.

Flash forward to February 2024, and I have decided to create a new blog. I need a domain, so where do I go? Back to EU.ORG. And what's waiting for me when I get there? My shiny new domain that took around seven months to be delivered. Hey, at least it's free, right? I assume that the domains are being assigned manually, and that the people doing it have lives outside of their computer, which is fair enough. I applied for the domain edanosborne.eu.org, which is neater; but decided to make do with hellfirehost.uk.eu.org in the time being, in case my preferred domain doesn't get approved until next Xmas.

## How did you do this?

Well, this site can be divided into three parts:

* The domain
* The DNS
* The static site
* As I explained before, the domain was acquired through the good people over at EU.ORG. It was tricky to do and took a long time, but I'm more than happy with the result.

The DNS will cause some controversy. I used ("oh, the horror!") Cloudflare to get it off the ground. I understand that this company does not get along with the privacy community, but their service is easier to use than FreeDNS, so I'll stick with it for now. If anyone has any major concerns, either use someone else's services or send me a message. My Matrix address is linked in the footer.

The static pages are served by Codeberg Pages. It's really quite simple: just create a repo or branch named pages, add a few HTML files, and you have a website. I initially looked into static site generators, but it actually seems easier just to write this by hand.

## What now?

Well, I'm first going to finish setting up the site, and then look into ways I can improve and automate it. After that, I'll just write an article every so often and the rest will be history...

> First Published 2024-02-15 23:23 GMT
> Last Edited 2024-02-18 01:13 GMT</content>
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