technology

Install Arch Linux on a Dell XPS 13 9310 with Disk Encryption

I am mostly just writing this down as a reference for my future self. I recently got a Dell XPS 13 9310 “developer edition” laptop, which came preinstalled with Ubuntu Focal. Since I know all the hardware is Linux compatible I installed Arch. The laptop ships with a NVME HDD and is configured for UEFI booting, so that’s what is represented here. This is largely copied from this existing gist and most of the credit for figuring all of this out is due to Mohammad Javad Naderi. Disable Secure Boot My laptop came with secure boot turned on, but this won’t work with Arch. Boot the laptop while hitting the F2 key until it shows that you’re going into the BIOS setup. Once you’re in there, find the area for secure boot, turn it off, hit the button to apply changes, and finally hit OK to exit. Prepare a USB…

Joining Forces With NodeSource

If you’re reading this blog, then there’s a good chance that you make use of my PPA for Node.js. I started making Node packages several years ago because I wanted there to be a consistent way for people to install up-to-date versions of Node on their machines. Not too long ago, Dan Shaw reached out to me to ask if there was anything he could do to help with the PPAs and give back to the effort. I had been looking for a way to ensure that what I’m doing satisfies the needs of Node developers, and also to make sure the project continues to receive the support it needs. We talked about how best to make this happen and decided to move things over to NodeSource from Launchpad. Here’s why.

A Production Quality WordPress Configuration Tutorial

The blogging software used to power this site, WordPress, has just had its 10th anniversary. In the last decade it has become incredibly popular, and currently accounts for about 18% of all websites. Due to my job at (mt) Media Temple, I’ve gotten to admin several popular blogs at various times over the years, and thus have a pretty good idea of how to optimize everything for good efficiency. In this WordPress configuration tutorial, I’m going to walk you through the production quality setup that I have for this blog, which makes use of Ubuntu Linux, Nginx, php5-fpm and MariaDB.

Switching the Blog to MariaDB

WordPress, which is the blogging platform used to run this site, relies on PHP and MySQL to operate. A while back, Sun bought MySQL, and then Oracle subsequently bought Sun. Two of the most important pieces of that second acquisition were MySQL, and the Java programming language. Without getting into too much of the debates, many people feel that Oracle isn’t a great steward for either Java or MySQL. To that end, the original creator of MySQL forked the code and created an alternative called MariaDB. MariaDB aims to be a seamless drop in replacement for MySQL, with better performance and some extended features. I decided to see how “drop in” it really was by updating this site to use it.

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