@www.bentasker.co.uk@rss-parrot.net
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The website of Ben Tasker, IT Manager, Linux Specialist and software developer. I'm based in Suffolk in the UK but work with customers worldwide
Site URL: www.bentasker.co.uk/
Feed URL: www.bentasker.co.uk/rss.xml
Posts: 10
Followers: 1
Changing Browser from Firefox to Waterfox
Published: January 5, 2026 13:29
I've changed browser. Although I used Firefox for years, I've switched to Waterfox. As well as talking about how I migrated, this blog lays out why I moved and some of the issues that I ran into along the way. The installation section is Linux specific,…
Self Hosting A Firefox Sync Server
Published: January 3, 2026 16:37
In one form or another, Firefox Sync has been around for years (in fact, it's not that far off being decades...). It allows you to share tabs, history and bookmarks between browsers on different devices (though, frustratingly, it doesn't sync settings or…
Using Woodpecker CI to publish site updates
Published: January 1, 2026 16:08
I recently deployed Woodpecker CI. My original post talks about using CI jobs to periodically rebuild container images, but that's not the only thing that I've been using Woodpecker for. Almost all of my sites are built using static site generators (SSG):…
Weihrauch HW100 Gas Leak
Published: December 26, 2025 16:24
My PCP air rifle is a Weihrauch HW100 T. The rifle developed a slow leak: I could fill and use it, but over the course of a couple of days any stored pressure would be gone. This was problematic because leaving the gun empty for long periods can allow…
Playing Around With Woodpecker CI
https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/general/playing-with-woodpecker-ci.html?utm_source=rss
Published: December 20, 2025 12:22
Last weekend, I decided to stand up Woodpecker CI so that I could have a play around with it. In my working life, I've been exposed to a (horrifying) range of CI/CD systems but (perhaps as a consequence) have never really felt much desire to run anything…
Migrating Our Music from Subsonic to Gonic
https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/general/replacing-subsonic-with-gonic.html?utm_source=rss
Published: December 5, 2025 19:05
We have almost always self-hosted our music collection and, for a little over a decade now, have been streaming music from a self-hosted instance of Subsonic. However, that install is now positively ancient: the most recent release of Subsonic was cut in…
Replacing a Google Nest Thermostat with Home Assistant
Published: November 25, 2025 15:44
Not long after we moved into this house, we installed a "smart" thermostat: a Google Nest Gen3. I've disliked it ever since. Lowlights include "True Radiant" turning the boiler on 5 hours early and Home/Away assist turning the heating off while we watched…
A Week Without Medicinal Gummies
https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/health/spending-a-week-without-gummies.html?utm_source=rss
Published: November 22, 2025 16:54
It's a little over a month since I was prescribed medicinal cannabis and have been taking half to a full gummy each evening (aside from not wanting to risk being impaired during the day, higher levels of daily use are associated with lower levels of pain…
Enabling Fingerprint Authentication On Linux
Published: November 22, 2025 11:48
My work laptop is made by Framework and apparently has a fingerprint sensor built into the power button. Once I found out, I wanted to set it up so that I had a more convenient means of authenticating when working on the go (it's a little less useful in my…
Automatically Backing Up Ente Photos
Published: November 2, 2025 20:32
About 6 months ago, I imported our photo collection into Ente Photos. Before that, our memories lived in Nextcloud. Although it's great for file syncing, Nextcloud didn't really work all that well for us as a photo manager (in fairness, that's probably…