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diff --git a/content/posts/2023-06-02-end-of-may-miscellany.md b/content/posts/2023-06-02-end-of-may-miscellany.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4bc2ac3 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/posts/2023-06-02-end-of-may-miscellany.md @@ -0,0 +1,89 @@ +--- +slug: end-of-may-miscellany +title: "End of May Miscellany" +date: "2023-06-02T20:00:00-04:00" +--- + +### Bookworm Upgrades + +I upgraded several more systems to [Bookworm][], including a [Raspberry +Pi 4 Model B 4GB][pi4] and a [Raspberry Pi Zero W][pi0w]. + +All of the upgrades have gone smoothly **except** for the [Pi Zero +W][pi0w], which failed with "Illegal instruction" errors during +`dist-upgrade` and left the system unbootable in two separate upgrade +attempts. + +### PNG Compressors + +I tried the following [PNG][] compressors on a set of several +dozen screenshots: + +* [pngcrush][]: Lossless PNG compression command-line tool. +* [optipng][]: Lossless multi-format image compression command-line tool. +* [pngquant][]: Lossy PNG compression command-line tool and library. + +[pngquant][] produced the smallest output images. The results were also +visually indistinguishable from the source images, at least for my use +case. Of the two lossless encoders, [optipng][] produced marginally +smaller images than [pngcrush][]. + +(The bitmap images on this site are served as lossless [WebPs][webp] +with [PNG][] as a fallback, courtesy of the [`<picture>` +element][picture]). + +### Domain Registrar + +I've been considering switching to another [domain registrar][] for +a few years. The [recent .zip TLD tizzy][zip-tizzy] seemed like a +perfect opportunity to register a new domain through a different +[registrar][domain registrar]. I'd heard good things about +[Namecheap][], so I created an account and registered my shiny new +`.zip` domain: [fdsa.zip][fdsa.zip]. + +Thoughts on [Namecheap][] so far: + +- Good prices. +- Fast and simple interface. Account setup and domain registration + only took a few minutes. +- [2FA][] prominently located and easy to enable. +- They haven't sold, lost, or spammed my email address (yet). +- DNS propagation only took 2 hours. + +My next step will be to migrate several secondary domains from +[GoDaddy][] to [Namecheap][]. + +[godaddy]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoDaddy + "Go Daddy domain registrar." +[repeated data breaches]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GoDaddy#Data_breaching + "Repeated GoDaddy data breaches." +[domain registrar]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_registrar + "Domain name registrar." +[zip-tizzy]: https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/05/critics-say-googles-new-zip-and-mov-domains-will-be-a-boon-to-scammers/ + "Ars Technica: Critics say new zip and mov domains will be a boon to scammers" +[gandi]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandi + "Gandi domain registrar." +[namecheap]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namecheap + "Namecheap domain registrar" +[fdsa.zip]: https://fdsa.zip/ + "I have no idea what I'm going to do with this domain..." +[2fa]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-factor_authentication + "Two-factor authentication." +[pngcrush]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pngcrush + "pngcrush: Lossless PNG compression command-line tool." +[optipng]: https://optipng.sourceforge.net/ + "optipng: Lossless image compression command-line tool." +[pngquant]: https://pngquant.org/ + "pngquant: lossy PNG compression command-line tool and library." +[png]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNG + "Portable Network Graphics image format" +[webp]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebP + "WebP image format." +[picture]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element/picture + "HTML picture element." +[bookworm]: https://www.debian.org/releases/bookworm/ + "Debian Bookworm." +[pi4]: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/ + "Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (4GB)" +[pi0w]: https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-zero-w/ + "Raspberry Pi Zero W" |