![\"The](\"/2026/04/building-a-computer/computer.jpeg\")
The computer sits on a shelf in the garage, with a cable around it for earthquake safety.
\nEarlier this year, I built a new home server and data storage system. From\nthe hardware side of things, this was a whole new experience for me. But the\nsoftware side also gave me a lot of opportunities to experiment.
\nMy previous storage system was Synology, which is appliance-style\nsoftware. The operating system is set up to be mostly foolproof, and additional\nsoftware generally requires applications to be packaged specifically for\nSynology.
\nIt is very convenient to have so many decisions made for you, and my original\nplan was to use TrueNAS as a replacement. Like Synology, TrueNAS has a\nweb-based UI to manage the core services, and an app store to download\nadditional software, all very connect-the-bricks. And if you can’t find an app\nyou want, you can configure anything by using Docker.
\nThe more I considered it, though, the more I realized that I didn’t want the\nlimitations of being inside an opinionated system. When everything goes right\nwith appliance-style software, it’s great. But if you veer too far away from\nthe defaults, or if you run into problems, you find yourself fighting against\nthe system instead of working with it.
\nEven Docker, which can make handling multiple services and dependencies both\neasier and more reliable, adds a level of complexity that can be a drag.\nBesides, I spend my time professionally running containerized, productionized\nservices, writing config files that are used to generate other config files\nthat eventually run and manage the services.
\nSo instead, I decided to go bare metal, and I installed Debian. I have some\nexperience with this from my Mini PC that I was using to complement the\nSynology. It is very common for software to have a Debian installer. And it\nisn’t too hard to write or change a systemd config file if you want to\ninstall something more obscure or customize things a little. I think you do\nneed a better understanding of how the different parts of the system work\ntogether, but as a result, I feel like there is no magic, which means there is\nno limit to what I can do.
\nAnd then, mostly by chance, I stumbled into a Linux distribution called Void\nLinux. I was most intrigued by its service management system, which is\ncalled Runit, because instead of config files it has shell scripts. I don’t\nhave anything in particular against systemd, but if my goal in going bare metal\nwas to get rid of abstractions and config files, then this seemed like an even\nbetter fit for my hobby project.
\nOne downside is that not as much software is packaged for Void compared to\nDebian. And I probably wouldn’t recommend Void to someone who isn’t comfortable\nwith or willing to learn to write shell scripts. Also, setting up Runit\nservices can involve a little bit of boilerplate, which some people (not me)\nare allergic to.
\nBut if you clear those hurdles, the simplicity is your reward. The system boot\nscripts are just shell scripts. Service definitions are just shell scripts that\nare auto-restarted every time they terminate or fail. Instead of a complex\ndependency management system, your service can just quit if something is\nmissing, and the next time it starts, maybe things will be in a better state.\nInstead of writing a config file to create a custom /run directory or /tmp\ndirectory, you can just put a mkdir inside the shell script. To enable or\ndisable a service, you put a symlink into the /var/service folder. To write\nlogs, you just print messages to stdout. And so on.
Anyway, that is the current state of my home server. It feels light and fun and\nunixy instead of cumbserome and enterprisey.
\n", "date_published": "2026-05-17T17:28:49-07:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/05/home-server-software/", "title": "Software For My New Home Server", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/05/home-server-software/" }, { "content_html": "I was playing around with IPv6 on the VPS that hosts this blog when I realized\nthat, at least over IPv6, I no longer need virtual hosts.
\nIn the old, old days, a “host” was a physical computer name, mapped to an IP\naddress by DNS. As HTTP spread, it made sense to host multiple websites on the\nsame machine, so browsers were required to send the “Host” header to tell the\nserver what site they were looking for. Now a single server could do something\ndifferent in response to www.example.com vs example.com.
\nToday, the vast majority of the web is served through a Content Delivery\nNetwork (CDN) such as Cloudflare, where millions of sites are assigned to the\nsame IP address, and the Host header is used to route the request through the\nCDN to see if there is a cached version, falling back to the “origin” server if\nnot. At that point, the origin server is likely serving a dozen or more\nsites, and it again looks at the Host header to actually figure out what\ncontent to return.
\nIn an nginx config on the origin server, this might look like this:
\nserver {\n listen 80;\n listen [::]:80;\n server_name example.com;\n ...\n}\nThis says “use the following settings if you get any request on IPv4 port 80,\nor IPv6 port 80, as long as the host matches example.com.”
\nThe server that hosts this blog hosts a dozen others, many of which are just\nredirects like www.nathangrigg.com -> nathangrigg.com. Until today, these all\nused the same IP address, with an nginx config to route the different virtual\nhosts to different sites on the same server.
\nWhile I wouldn’t want to pay for that many IPv4 addresses, which typically cost\na couple dollars each per month, IPv6 addresses are plentiful. My host will\ngive me, at no charge, a “/64 block”, meaning a 64-bit prefix for which I can\nuse every address contaning that prefix. Since IPv6 address are 128 bits long,\nthat is 2^64 possible addresses to use.
\nSo I added a startup script on my server that runs
\nip -6 addr add 2a01:7e03:e001:1ac::1/64 dev eth0\nip -6 addr add 2a01:7e03:e001:1ac::2/64 dev eth0\n...\n(That is my assigned 64-bit prefix in four groups of 16, and the double colon\nmeans “a bunch of zeroes”.)
\nThen I updated my DNS entries to map each domain to a different IP address, and\nupdated my server block to say
\nserver {\n listen [2a01:7e03:e001:1ac::1]:80\n ...\n}\n(I had to keep a separate server block with virtual hosts for the IPv4-based routing.)
\nNow, over IPv6, nginx uses the incoming address rather than the host name to\ndecide what to serve.
\nIs it better? Probably not. But it lets me pretend like I have a different\ncomputer for each little website.
\nIf you want to see it in action, try curl -vIL6 www.nathangrigg.com, and you\ncan watch the procession from www-port-80 to www-port-443 to bare\nnathangrigg.com. (v for verbose, I for headers only, L to follow\nredirects, and 6 to force IPv6. If it fails for you, you may have to remove\nthe 6 and watch the boring IPv4 version, where the IP address is the same for\nevery request.)
I like having network-based storage, so I can have a place to store backups,\nlarge files that I’m not using, copies of media that I’ve purchased,\naudiobooks, etc.
\nFor the last 10 years, I’ve accomplished this with a four-bay Synology, which I\neventually replaced with a second four-bay Synology, keeping the old one as a\nbackup.
\nYou can run various programs on the Synology because it is basically a\nlow-powered server. The UI was helpful for me as a beginner.
\nIn the long run, however, I wanted more customization than I could get from\nSynology, which eventually led me to buy a mini\nPC to run everything except the\nbasic file server and backup functions.
\nFinally, I decided that I wanted even more customizability, I wanted a way to\nput all of my drives in one machine, and I was itching for a fun side project. I\nbriefly looked into other network storage options and decided that, since I had\nnever built a computer from scratch before, it would be fun to try a custom\nbuild.
\nI don’t remember exactly how it all came together. There are a lot of options,\na lot of decision to be made, and I didn’t really know what I was doing.
\nI wanted room for a lot of disks and the ability to hot-swap, which led me\nto the Jonsbo N5 case,\nwhich holds 12 disks. It was great for a first build because it is quite\nspacious.
\nI wanted a way to access it without a keyboard or monitor, so my main\nrequirement for the motherboard was something server-grade with\nIPMI.\nThe motherboard I bought has a separate ethernet port that presents a web\ninterface to configure the firmware settings as well as to connect remotely to\na virtual monitor.
\nI wanted a CPU with integrated graphics, and I went with a mid-line Intel chip\n(“Core Ultra 5”).
\nI also needed a host bus adapter\nto be able to connect so many hard drives to the motherboard. This goes in a\nPCIe slot.
\nFinally, I wanted ECC RAM (very expensive thanks to AI), and some SSDs to run\nthe operating system. Plus a power supply, a bunch of cables, and some fans.
\nThe build was like an expensive Lego project except I might have bought the\nwrong pieces. It really was fun to see all of the different pieces come\ntogether.
\nI had a hard time getting the CPU cooler attached and I was worried I had done\nit wrong.
\nI had some annoying fan issues because I had some giant 14-inch fans for the\nfront of the case that max out at 800 RPM. If they went below 300 RPM, the\nmotherboard would think they had failed and start pulsing all of the fans, or\nelse blowing them all full blast. I eventually solved this by connecting them\nto a fan hub so that the motherboard wouldn’t know how fast they were going.\nI’m sure there are better ways.
\nThose issues notwithstanding, I did manage to boot it up on the first try.\nUnfortunately, I had a couple of suspicious crashes in the first few days,\nmostly when I was transferring large files to the new computer. I realized that\nbefore I started trying to install anything, I should have done some diagnostic\nchecks.
\nWhen I ran MemTest86 to check whether there were\nRAM issues, it froze four seconds into the first test. It failed so hard that I\nfigured I must have done something wrong with seating the CPU, or that the\nmotherboard was faulty.
\nI tried reseating the CPU to see if I’d screwed it up, but eventually resigned\nmyself to buying more RAM. This was a painful choice because RAM was 1/3 the\ncost of the full build. But it was the right choice; the new RAM passed\nMemTest86, and I got a refund for the first batch of RAM.
\nSo with that, I had a working computer. It was a really fun way to spend some\nof my free time. I wouldn’t say it was easy or frustration-free, but I learned\na lot. It was also a good complement to my day job, where I wrangle computers\nlike they’re herds of cattle without ever seeing or touching a single one.
\nThe computer sits on a shelf in the garage, with a cable around it for earthquake safety.
\nWriting go code is a thousand paper cuts but then you get that nice beautiful binary and you put it wherever you want and I’m still not sure it’s worth it.
\n", "date_published": "2026-03-02T11:37:41-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/03/ygvghg/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/03/ygvghg/" }, { "content_html": "Well done Bruce Springsteen. I’m touched by the designation “Winter of ‘26.” Some events are too momentous for a descriptive label. Here’s hoping we remember it as a turning point, a wake-up call to the complacent.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-28T15:40:46-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/rrjynz/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/rrjynz/" }, { "content_html": "US politics are more about identity and power than principles, even though we\nlike to pretend otherwise. In my high school in conservative, rural Idaho, we\nwould debate the virtues of small, limited government, second amendment\nfreedoms, family values candidates, and I was duped into thinking the choice\nwas between Platform A or Platform B, when it was really a choice between\ngiving power to a “friend” or an “enemy.”
\nIt took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that my principles were more\naligned with the Democrats, even though I felt “more at home” among the\nRepublicans. But I have also changed, trading Idaho for Seattle, then Los\nAngeles, to the point where today I feel more at home in a city coffee shop\nthan a county fair or a church service.
\nWhile I have always voted against Trump, I have supported some candiates that I\nnow strongly regret. And I try my best to see the humanity in those who did\nvote for him, because everyone has their own journey.
\nBut today, everyone must oppose the Trump administration, with its calculated,\nprovocative, performative violence, including but not limited to the killing of\nRenee Good and Alex Pretti. We cannot accept the lies, obstruction, and\ncover-ups that have followed. Anybody involved in or responsible for these\nviolent acts or their cover-ups should be impeached, removed from office,\nand/or put in jail for their crimes. Every person in power who refuses to hold\nthese offenders to account should be voted out of office and remembered as the\ncowards that they are.
\nWe cannot wait until the next election to take power away from these monsters.\nSpeak up today, set the record straight if you’ve had a change of heart. Call\nyour representatives and tell them to defend us and enforce our laws.
\nICE is not our friend; Trump and his enablers are our enemy.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-25T17:04:30-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/renee-and-alex/", "title": "Taking a Stand", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/renee-and-alex/" }, { "content_html": "I got a new watch.
\nI’ve almost exclusively worn an Apple Watch for the past several years. I still\nwear one when exercising and sleeping, and I plan to still wear it on some\nother occasions, but I wanted to see what it was like to go back, shall we say,\nto a simpler time.
\nMy initial feelings are a happy dose of nostalgia. Back before all of our\nphones and watches and cars were synchronized to NIST time, I would carefully\nsynchronize my Timex digital watch to the school bell time. It was satisfying\nto know exactly how much time was left in class (or passing period) while most\nof my classmates just had to wait and wonder when freedom would come (or end).
\nWith a “dumb” watch, there is this same sense of satisfaction, that I know the\nprecise time not through the wonders of the internet, but because I made the\neffort to accurately set my watch.
\nMy new watch is a GMT watch, which is a popular watch style over the last\ncentury or so, because it makes it easy to know the time in a second or even\nthird location, and can make it easier to change the time as well.
\nThere are many different styles of GMT watch, but they are usually\ndistinguished by a separate “GMT hand” that makes one revolution per 24 hours,\ncompared to a traditional hour hand that revolves once per 12 hours. A GMT\nwatch typically has the traditional hour hand as well, which most people call\nthe “local hour hand,” because it tracks the time of your current location.\nBoth of these hands are typically aligned to the same minute hand.
\nBeing non-smart watches, they are relatively simple to configure. A true GMT\nor flyer GMT lets you adjust the time (minutes and hours) on all three\nhands simultaneously, and then jump the local hour hand forward or backwards an\nhour at a time. On a caller GMT or office GMT, the jump function moves the\nGMT hand forward or backwards an hour at a time. Either way, you can track both\nthe local time and a separate reference time, but the caller GMT is more\ncumbersome to travel with, because if you change time zones, you have to reset\nthe watch the same way you would any watch, and then also fix the GMT hand to\npoint back to whatever reference time you want to track. A flyer GMT lets\nyou quickly adjust the local time without messing up the GMT hand at all.
\nMany GMT watches also feature a rotating bezel labeled on a 24-hour scale. This\ngives you a way to quickly change the meaning of the GMT hand by shifting the\nlabels instead of the hand. Hence you have the ability to track a potentially\nthird time zone. I say potentially because on most GMT watches with a bezel,\nthe bezel is the only set of 24-hour labels, so if you rotate it, you might not\nknow exactly where the GMT hand is pointing on the “natural” set of labels.
\nHere are some examples of tracking two or three time zones on a GMT watch:
\n![\"It](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock1.svg\")
It is 10:11 a.m. in Central European Summer Time, and the GMT hand is showing 08:11 UTC.
\n![\"By](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock2.svg\")
By rotating the dial four 15-degree clicks, we can read the New York Daylight Saving Time (UTC−4) as 04:11.
\nIn these examples, note that the twelve o’clock position represents midnight\nUTC, and in the second example, the 20 (which is −4 modulo 24) lines up with\nthis slot so that we can read UTC−4. And even with the bezel rotated, you get\na sense of the UTC time because you will at least remember where 0, 6, 12, and\n18 would be on the unrotated bezel.
\nAlthough a GMT watch only has a few configurable parts (minutes, local hour,\nGMT hour, and bezel rotation), you get to choose what the configuration should\nbe. If you really wanted to, you could have the “local time” always be your\nhome time and the “GMT hand” be your current local time.
\nI knew I wanted to use the local hour hand the normal way, with the local time\nof wherever I happen to be (usually in Los Angeles). At first, I thought that I\nwould use the GMT hand for UTC, and then rotate the bezel to whatever second\ntime zone I was actually interested in. But I was quickly annoyed that the\ndirection of the GMT hand didn’t really have any meaning to me.
\n![\"At](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock3.svg\")
At 9:29 p.m. Los Angeles winter time, it is 05:29 UTC
\nNext, I decided to use my home time (or at least UTC−8, more on that in a bit)\nfor the GMT hand. This way, no matter where I am in the world, the GMT hand in\nthe upper half means it is night in Los Angeles, and in the lower half means it\nis daytime.
\n![\"Still](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock4.svg\")
Still 9:29 p.m. in Los Angeles, with the local 24-hour time of 21:29 shown on the GMT hand
\nThen I realized that, because my watch doesn’t have a fixed set of labels, I\ncould orient the “natural” 24-hour scale with midnight at the bottom and noon\nat the top, imitating the path of the sun. I decided to keep the bezel oriented\nwith the zero marker at 6:00, so that I can read the Los Angeles 24-hour time\noff the bezel, if I want.
\n![\"Again](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock5.svg\")
Again 9:29 p.m. in Los Angeles, with the local 24-hour time of 21:29 shown and the bezel rotated so that noon is at the top and midnight at the bottom.
\nThen when traveling, I can intuitively read my home time off the GMT hand.
\n![\"Jumping](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock6.svg\")
Jumping the local time to 2:29 p.m. (Tokyo time), the GMT hand and bezel still pointing to Los Angeles time of 21:29.
\nAnd in this configuration, midnight UTC happens when the GMT is at the two\no’clock position, which means I can easily spin the bezel to read a third time\nzone, for example, putting the 1 at two o’clock to read UTC+1.
\n![\"Still](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock7.svg\")
Still 2:29 p.m. in Tokyo, and 06:29 in UTC+1. Evening in Los Angeles.
\nHere is where things get a little speculative because I’ve only had the watch\nfor a month, and haven’t had to transition to summer time. So I have plans but\nmaybe I will change my mind after some experience.
\nThe Los Angeles time zone is only UTC−8 on winter time. For the rest of the\nyear, we observe Daylight Saving Time, which puts us at UTC−7.
\nThere are a lot of reasons to leave the GMT hand at (noon-on-top) UTC−8. First\nof all, it makes adjusting for Daylight Saving Time a simple jump of the local\nhour hand. It also preserves the two o’clock UTC reference point year round,\nmaking a third time zone a bit easier. It is also somewhat convenient because I\ncan still track (approximate) astronomical noon and midnight.
\nBut it also means that during the summer, if I want the 24-hour bezel to track\nLos Angeles 24-hour time by default, then it has to be one 15-degree rotation\naskew.
\n![\"Local](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock8.svg\")
Local Los Angeles summer time of 6:48 p.m., the bezel rotated to show UTC−7 time of almost 19:00, but the GMT hand also shows the natural solar time of almost 18:00.
\n![\"Quick](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/clock9.svg\")
Quick spin of the bezel, aligning the 9 with the two o’clock marker, to check UTC+9 Tokyo time, where it is nearly 11 a.m.
\nMany years ago, I tried to use the Apple Watch GMT Face and didn’t last long. I\nlooked at it again to remind myself why I don’t like it.
\nFirst of all, you have no choice about any orientations. The local hand has to\nmatch your local time (but at least it automatically adjusts when you travel).\nAnd of course, up has to be midnight because the programmers might die if they\nhad to add that level of complexity.
\nThe GMT hand also has to match your local time as well. As I mentioned, I don’t\nlike how this messes with my intuition in the admittedly rare case when I’m\nin a different time zone.
\nYou track a second time zone with a software spin of the bezel. Making use of\nthe flexibility of a digital screen, the bezel is two-toned with the colors\nrepresenting night and day, based on the current sunrise and sunset in the\nsecond time zone. Analog GMT watches often have two-toned bezels, with\ntransitions fixed at 6 and 18. (You could argue that 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. are more\nuseful markers than sunrise and sunset in a time zone where you aren’t\ncurrently located.)
\nUnfortunately, the Apple Watch bezel isn’t actually labeled\nexcept for the index closest to the hand, because otherwise the digital face\ngets too cluttered. Even worse, if you have your watch set to show 12-hour\ntime, the index gets labeled with the 12-hour time, with no indication of a.m.\nvs p.m. except for the color of the bezel.
\n![\"Apple](\"/2026/01/gmt-watch/apple-watch.png\")
Apple Watch showing 2:44 p.m. in Los Angeles, 10:44 p.m. in London. You infer that pink is night because it is so long, or from the triangle that still marks midnight. Note that the GMT hand tracks Los Angeles time (currently UTC−8), but with midnight on top, so UTC midnight is at the eight o’clock marker.
\nFinally, and this is an ongoing gripe I have against Apple, by default the time\nzone label in the middle of the face says CUP for Cupertino (just like in\niPhone Settings). If that annoys you, you can change it to SF for San\nFrancisco. Neither of those is the correct name of the time zone. Twenty years\nago it was cute to label the Pacific time zone as Cupertino in honor of your\nheadquarters. It’s not cute anymore.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-16T15:06:14-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/gmt-watch/", "title": "A GMT Watch", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/gmt-watch/" }, { "content_html": "Many years after starting The Wheel of Time series (I took a few years’ hiatus between the first 7 and final 7 books), I finished it. Great world, great characters, overall lots of fun.
\nHard to do the series justice, but I guess I would say the first few books are the most exciting, the middle books make for some interesting world building, and Robert Jordan started to pick up steam again before his life was cut short. I don’t believe he ever would have ended the series, too many ideas and too many stories.
\n", "date_published": "2026-01-08T17:40:17-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/fmvfqp/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/fmvfqp/" }, { "content_html": "On a single ten-minute ride from the bus stop to my house, two middle-school-aged kids and one preschooler complimented my bike.
\n![\"My](\"/images/2026/bike.jpeg\")
\n",
"date_published": "2026-01-08T17:00:42-08:00",
"id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/kcnlpv/",
"url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2026/01/kcnlpv/"
},
{
"content_html": "Proud of my kiddo who raised $200 for the Trevor Project by selling crocheted frogs at a “marketplace” event put on by the high school.
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-12T18:10:09-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/12/vbcvbb/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/12/vbcvbb/" }, { "content_html": "Many years after starting, I finally finished Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. I think I did the whole thing by audiobook, which by my calculations (assuming my typical 1.4x speed) is 321 hours of audio. Great series!
\n", "date_published": "2025-12-03T19:38:04-08:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/12/ckrhnp/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/12/ckrhnp/" }, { "content_html": "I’m slowly moving to Jujutsu for my version control needs. For years, I’ve been using Mercurial-based interface to Piper at work and Git at home, and switching challenges my muscle memory. Jujutsu provides a common interface that can handle a central repo in either format. I find it easier to work with than Git or Mercurial, but there is a learning curve.
\n", "date_published": "2025-10-29T16:14:24-07:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/10/bzhyrt/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/10/bzhyrt/" }, { "content_html": "It is long past time for a screenshot file type. Pixel-based image format with selectable text and clickable links, annotations, and a context link to view the original source.
\n(Most of this you could do with pdf, but you could also do it more simply. Either way, phones and computers should be able to create them properly from apps and web pages.)
\n", "date_published": "2025-09-05T12:51:18-07:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/09/zvyymk/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/09/zvyymk/" }, { "content_html": "I feel very powerless to stop the intentional harm and destruction caused by Trump and Republicans in power, but I have absolutely no time for anyone or any organization that is happy about the way things are going, who sees Trump as a means to get something they want, or who sees Republicans as the lesser of two evils.
\n", "date_published": "2025-08-26T07:58:47-07:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/08/hqtxvb/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/08/hqtxvb/" }, { "content_html": "I installed the iPad beta to try the new windowing and I mostly love it. My main complaint is that I sometimes, maybe even always, want a window to go away and come back full screen next time, so much that I find myself maximizing a window before closing it. I would probably be fine if closing a window made it forget its size, and just minimize when you want to preserve the size.
\n", "date_published": "2025-08-08T20:29:00-07:00", "id": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/08/ncnwxv/", "url": "https://nathangrigg.com/2025/08/ncnwxv/" } ], "language": "en-us", "title": "Nathan Grigg", "version": "https://jsonfeed.org/version/1.1" }