💾 Archived View for gmi.bacardi55.io › blog › 2023 › 04 › 14 › 13-years-of-blogging captured on 2023-07-22 at 16:36:06. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-04-19)
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Posted on 2023-04-14
Usually, I post my non technical articles on my [gemini capsule] and not on this blog, but this particular one is only about the history of this blog, hence the exception :).
Earlier this week, while looking for an info I knew I wrote here, I stumble upon the footer of my blog:
©2013-2023 bacardi55
I thought: "wow, 10 years already!". But then I start trying to remember what it looked like back then… And it appears I was wrong when writing the footer, it has been in fact 13 years as I can find the first version dated from 2010 on the [wayback machine]. So clicks after clicks, I ended up having a short recap of this blog and decided to transform that in some sort of wrap up post, because why not :).
It seems I created my first blog under blog.bacardi55.org in early 2010. Back then, I used the CMS Drupal. The reason why was easy, as this CMS was what I was working on back then (and 13 years later, my professional career is still link to it!). The first snapshot on wayback machine is [from the 22th of April 2010]. The CSS wasn't saved so the display is broken.
In term of content, I was writing in French and mostly about [WMFS] (Window Manager From Scratch), a small tiling WM I was contributing to. Some small linux tips and apparently I was already into CLI/TUI application, because I wrote about reading tweets within [irssi] (IRC client) via [bitlbee] :D.
The last snapshot of this version of the blog was taken in [April 2012].
At this point, I moved from Drupal to a static site generator (one of many I tried). Not that Drupal didn't do the job, but it was way overkilled for my use of static content publishing. I was really into php back then so I moved to, IIRC, the only php SSG existing at the end of 2012: [carew]. The first snapshot of that version is from [February 2013]. I must say I liked the minimalist theme I used!
I removed the "blog" subdomain to use only bacardi55.io and decided to write in English instead of French. It means I started from scratch and lost all previous post. Also, IIRC, I moved away from WMFS and thus was ok with loosing most of it. Seems I wrote about linux tips and php.
In 2014, the design was more or less the same:
Archive from 2015 show the exact same homepage as the one in 2014. Seems the last written article was in March 2014. Then nothing new in 2015 and until December 2016.
In December 2016, I reopened the blog. I started again on Drupal mainly to try the new (back then) Drupal 8 release. I didn't migrate the content from the previous blog, and I think now it was a mistake. Not that the content from before was particularly interesting or important, but it was still stuff I wrote and that represented what I was doing/focusing on during that time.
I don't have any archive from that time, because I moved very quickly back to a static site generator…
Early 2017, I moved to the static site generator [Jekyll]. I imported the few article I had on the Drupal version and since then I didn't remove a post.
During that period, I was writing a lot about [Kalliope], an open source (voice) assistant I was contributing to. I wrote many posts and modules for it until I decided to redo my home automation later without voice control. I felt (and still feel) silly talking to a machine. I prefer a touch screen for quick access or commands.
The design was minimalist but not great:
From February 2018 to March 2020, nothing was written on my blog…
In March 2020, in yet another attempt to revive this blog, I moved to [Nicola], yet another SSG written in python. I also moved the blog under the domain bacardi55.io. I also decided back then to move back services from the cloud to selfhosting and decided to have fun with docker swarm (an alternative at kubernetes built-in within docker but that lost the "battle" against k8s) and a lot of rasperrypi. I must say I learned a lot and it was a fun experience. It allowed me to write way more than before with a 7+ part series about my setup.
The other main topic addressed was home automation with more than 8 posts about it. There too I learned a lot about the different protocols while having fun automated stuff in my apartment. I say "home automation" and not "smart home" on purpose.
As I just recently changed city, I will need to go over this again and I'm currently planing how I will manage my selfhosted services now. Probably not with docker swarm anymore… But the good news is that it might help me write more again :).
I like the design I used during that time:
Early 2021, I discovered [The Gemini protocol]. And I loved it! I launched my first capsule in February 2021 and the blog suffered from that as I wrote more on Gemini than here. In 2022, I wrote about [orgmode], some app I build (like [walgot], a TUI client for [wallabag]).
I also changed again the SSG used to try [Hugo]. This is still the SSG used to this day with the same design. Just in case I change it again later, here is a screenshot of the blog as of April 2023 (and since 2021):
I started this year with a new series of post about my new laptop setup. I still have a few posts to write about it that are still in draft. Between work and moving cities, time has been a luxury lately so the rhythm has dropped a bit. That's fine as I don't put to much pressure on myself about it. I focus on writing when I want and when I can. I just try to make sure I don't have to write yet another "revival post" :P.
I do have a series of posts planed about my backup system with [borg], that I'm putting a bit on old until I'm moved back some selfhosted services back home.
I think some homelab posts will happen soon-ish, meaning when I finally agree with myself with how I will do thing from now on, I'll write about the setup as usual :).
I'm still writing dedicated posts on my Gemini capsule as well so writing time is splitted between the two.
I started this post thinking as usuall it would be a quick one going through memory lane… And as often with me, it ended up way longer than expected… But was fun to write and to remember all that.
I didn't have a precise goal for this post, but it made me realize that motivation comes and go. I'm not the kind of person that manage to post every day or close to it. My motivation depends a lot of the energy I have left after <dayjob> and spending time with my partner. I know for some people, writing doesn't take much, but for me it always requires a first big motivation start, which is why I'm often to lazy to do so. Taking more notes about stuff I do since my move to org mode has helped a lot with that as it is easier to start a new post when you know most of the content is already somewhere and it mainly needs a bit of context and adding small explanations.
In 2020, I wrote about [Why do I blog], which is still relevant today. The TLDR; was and still is: **for me, myself and I**. If it helps others, that's just a (very) nice bonus!
Hopefully, 2023 will see many blog and Gemini posts, but we will see!