Just purchased Black Mesa on Steam, it's currently got 80% off and is selling for £2.99. Looking forward to reliving the Half-Life experience.

games steam

Upgraded a busy Debian web server last Thursday night and so far I've only received one reported issue. Not bad considering the amount of old PHP applications this thing runs. I was expecting a busy weekend fixing issues, but it never happened. I did spend a while testing everything before the upgrade, so that probably helped.

debian php

Today, I've mostly been head scratching over an issue with some PHP code, turns out the problem was due to the date getting out of sync in WSL2. I think this happens when I put my laptop to sleep?! Anyhow, I've installed the ntpsec package which immediately fixed the issue. Will keep an eye on it.

ntp php wsl

How many times do you run a specific set of shell commands, before you create a script to automate the process? Sometimes, I think I wait far too long.

bash linux

I've performed a clean install of Windows 11 23H2 on my Razer Blade 15 and spent a while setting up a dev environment with WSL (Debian). It's early days, but it seems to be performing a lot better than before. Recent hardware upgrades (2TB NVMe SDD and 64GB RAM) may have helped with performance. I'm actually enjoying using Windows for a change, mostly, but I'm keeping my Linux machine close by, just in case I feel like rage quitting.

windows wsl

It's taken a week, but I'm feeling somewhat normal again after catching COVID. I'm still taking it easy, but I'm steadily getting back into work and catching up. If you can avoid catching COVID, I strongly recommend you do.

devnull

This is the second time I have had COVID. I seem to recall that I slept my way through it the first time around, so this insomnia business is new to me. I should probably make use of this bonus time I find myself with, but I think I'll probably waste it playing some Starfield.

games steam

I have COVID-19. Apparently, ~40% of people with COVID suffer from insomnia, which might explain why I'm typing this status update at 03:30am. Becky also has COVID, so our house currently feels and sounds like a plague house.

devnull

Becky has the coronavirus. She has somehow managed to avoid catching it for 4 years, but she has been feeling rough for a couple of days and so did a test this morning. We've cancelled our plans for New Year's Eve.

devnull

I'm covering support today and it looks like there might be a drive failure on one of our SQL servers. Almost entirely sure that I cannot fix this remotely.

dayjob

Queued for Brussels sprouts at 7am this morning. Other members of the queue were in good spirits and everyone was excited to get their hands on some tiny little cabbages. This is what Christmas is all about.

devnull

The Steam winter sale has started. How many games will I buy and not play this year? The only game I'm actually interested in is Starfield - I watched Becky play it on the Xbox and it looks like fun! Also, I'm a big fan of the Bethesda games and have logged many hours with Skyrim and Fallout, so I think I'll enjoy it a lot.

games steam

My team at work was awarded some cash for being awesome, so we spent the money wisely and invested in a Street Fighter 2 Capcom Legacy Championship Edition Cabinet for the office.

Arcade1Up Street Fighter 2 Capcom Legacy Championship Edition Cabinet

dayjob games

Running Fedora 39 on my Razer Blade 15 and it's almost silent with very little fan noise. Running Windows 11 on the same machine and it sounds like a Boeing 747 on takeoff. WTF is that about?

fedora linux windows

Philip Newborough and a donkey enjoying a beer.

About

My name is and I’m a full stack web developer living and working in Lincoln, England. This website (philipnewborough.co.uk) serves as my personal homepage. When I’m not working with tech, I love to ride bicycles with my wife and friends.