Charging for training notes?
Earlier this year I delivered a half-day workshop entitled Configuration Management with Ansible and Git. I spent a lot of time preparing the notes for the workshop, and as a result…
FLOSS UK newsletter build process
A couple of weeks ago, I sent the latest copy of the FLOSS UK newsletter (my last as editor) to the office for printing and distribution. When I became editor…
Low Cost Computing with Linux
Today I gave a talk entitled Low Cost Computing with Linux at the Manchester Linux Users' Group, which I've been attending for more years than I care to remember. The turnout…
Upcoming talk: Low Cost Computing with Linux
On Saturday 14th May I will be giving a talk entitled Low Cost Computing with Linux at the Manchester Linux Users' Group, hosted by MadLab. The meeting starts at 2pm and runs…
My first UKNOF conference
Last week I attended UKNOF 34, the first time I had attended an event organised by the UK Network Operators' Forum. As suggested by the name, the talks were generally…
Maintaining old software on new systems
This post relates to a project at a previous employer, the University of Manchester. It's nine months since I left, but I still maintain contact with former colleagues and have been…
From Perl to Python
As part of the process of relearning Python, I tried converting my csv2qif script from Perl. It took me a while to get round the different syntax, particularly for reading from…
Converting CSV to QIF
I've recently become the treasurer of Manchester Friends of the Earth, a local environmental campaigning group that I've been involved with sporadically since I was at university. We've moved our accounts…
Programming language proficiency
As a freelancer, I have a degree of control over which languages I invest the time required to achieve a level of proficiency -- albeit somewhat guided by the market…
Check TLS certificate dates on the command line
I've recently started rolling out encrypted connections for the services I run for myself and other people, such as IMAP, SMTP and HTTP. I'm using LetsEncrypt for free automated certificates which work…