When I moved to Texas and started setting up my smart home, I encountered a specific challenge: a combination switch in my kitchen controlled two separate lights. One of the lights was too bright, so I needed a dimmer solution. The issue? The existing tan-colored switch was built into the tile backsplash, and replacing it with a larger two-gang box wasn’t an option. It had to be hackable, open-source, retain the same look, and be smart—all while keeping my wife happy with it. After some research, I found a way to meet these requirements using the Tuya FS-05R dimmer switch, ESPHome, and a little ingenuity. This post walks you through the process.
Keep reading
Migrating from Tumblr to Jekyll: A Fresh Start
It has been eight years since my last blog post. In that time, life has taken me on quite the journey—I moved to a new state, my wife and I welcomed two wonderful kids into the world, and I’ve found myself celebrating a sabbatical that provides fresh perspective. With the new year upon us, I’m ready to break that long blogging hiatus, and what better way to start than by refreshing my entire blogging platform? My first step: migrating from Tumblr to Jekyll.
Keep reading
Guide to add zRAM on the Synology DiskStation DS212j
My Synology DiskStation DS212j has gotten slower over the years ever since I bought in 2012. DSM
operating system security and software upgrades introduced feature bloat that required more memory and caused memory to page to disk. Wikipedia gives an amazing overview of why paging is bad and why zRAM is amazing for memory constrained PCs.
Keep reading