avatar
A Pilgrim's Progress, Retold

A Pilgrim's Progress, Retold

Thursday, 4 Nov, 2021

Audiobook. A retelling of John Bunyan’s famous allegory Pilgrim’s Progress, by Geraldine McCaughrean (illus. Jason Cockcroft), read by yours truly a few months ago, now republished here.

4 minutes read
The Rhyme Bible

The Rhyme Bible

Thursday, 4 Nov, 2021

An audiobook, written by L. J. Sattgast, illustrated by Toni Goffe, read by Darren J. de Lima

2 minutes read
Shakespeare Stories

Shakespeare Stories

Monday, 27 Sep, 2021

Audiobook. A retelling of the Bard’s tales, by Leon Garfield (illus. Michael Foreman), read by yours truly.

7 minutes read

Still ongoing

Wednesday, 4 Jan, 2017

Of Machines and Men is still subject of ongoing work.

1 minute read

Story

Sunday, 29 May, 2016

“A Tale is told

Of Machines and Men,

1 minute read

© 2016 - 2022 Of Machines and Men. Site last updated: 15 December 2022

Powered by Hugo with theme Dream.

Site is a work-in-progress

avatar
Guest Authors

Friends of mine are welcome to contribute their knowledge to the site! Here’s a list of those who have contributed:

Avatar Username Bio
Avatar, guest Ionicannon Ionicannon My niece, with an Eastern European connection and a growing interest in literature and art.
Servers

I enjoy systems administration, so I manage a few servers and websites.

My LAN

Chances are if we are on the same Local Area Network (LAN), I’m serving something! These are served from my Raspberry Pi homeserver, and currently only accessible on my home network. For your convenience, here are the services you can access (you’ll have to ask me for the passwords in person; no way I’m putting them in cleartext on the web):

  • qBittorrent server - a torrent client with which we can remotely download public domain media via the Bittorrent, without leaving our PCs on for hours. Homepage
  • filebrowser - access downloaded torrents or files stored on the homeserver’s Network Attached Storage (NAS) via any web browser. Looks like Google Drive, but is fully self-hosted. GitHub Repository
  • Aria2Ng server - Don’t feel like leaving your PC on all night for that big download? Remotely download media to the NAS, by torrents and many other protocols, too. GitHub Repository
  • WireguardUI - still not fully functional, a frontend for the Wireguard VPN protocol, so that eventually I can host my own VPN. GitHub Repository
  • AdGuard Home - [Currently Disabled] Network-wide ad blocker and DNS server. Not something the end user needs to worry about, save that they won’t see advertising. GitHub Repository
  • Navidrome - [Currently Disabled] Spotify replacement, but fully self-hosted with my own music. Homepage
  • Samba (SMB) access to the 500GB NAS is also enabled. You can access it from Windows Explorer >> My Computer (This PC) >> Add a network location or the equivalent on MacOS/iOS/Linux/Android.
  • SSH (command line) and SFTP (filesystem) access are also enabled, accessible via the appropriate clients, e.g. WinSCP, OpenSSH, OpenSSH Windows or PuTTY

Your LAN

These are served from my PC, and you can access them as long as we’re both connected.

  • Cerberus FTP Server - file server.
  • LanXChange - Apple Airdrop alternative. We can both run the clients and share individual files easily between PC, Mac, Linux, Android.
  • filebrowser - I also occasionally run filebrowser to turn my PC into a “Google Drive”.
Contact

Questions? Comments? You can reach me on the social media linked in the Socials box. Feel free to drop me a message. I’ll try to get back to you shortly. To prevent spam, I have added [square brackets] to some of my socials; if you’re not a robot, you can click the links and remove the [brackets].

You can email me via darthagnone [at] gmail [dot] com.

WHOIS running this site?
Avatar, admin Darthagnon

Hello! The site admin is Darthagnon.

This is my blog and technical portfolio, where I seek to inform, entertain, and share my handicrafts and knowledge with you. I like to create robot “heroes” from recycled materials, write legends and draw pictures of them. To keep good old machines running for a long time - without puppet strings attached - you could also use some of my tips and tricks for computer software and hardware. Or cook yourself a delicious vegan recipe or two, gathered from across the globe. I’ll also wax lyrical about esoteric literature and nerdy hobbies on occasion.

What’s with the username?

I like to go by the Sith version of the 4th Musketeer, D’Artagnan. It’s obviously not my real name.

Friends

Other blogs and people I follow or recommend:

  • Wololo.net; the Playstation Portable hacking blog that first got me interested in computer science and security research back in 2013ish. The /talk forum used to be a vibrant community full of hobby programmers. There’s also the separate Wagic forum, which was focused on developing the digital card game Wagic: the Homebrew?!. Run by @frwololo
  • Explorium; my former employers, a growth-mindset-focused creative learning centre and training provider for Primary and Secondary school children. We did some incredible work there, and helped many kids discover their creative potential. Check them out!
  • Colin Smith, an author and friend of mine writes at:
  • Dragons Not Included, a D&D and roleplaying podcast run by my best friend. Join the crew of the Dragons Not Included podcast as they roll, crit and laugh their way through the Wrath of the Righteous tabletop role playing adventure. Subscribe via RSS or anywhere else podcasts are syndicated.
  • CHEF-KOCH’s Technology News, a technology news outlet (also on Twitter, Reddit and other social media) where CHEF-KOCH reports on the cutting edge of technology in a concise, readable and helpful manner. Head and shoulders above all other tech news these days.
  • Howl’s Project; based in Turkey, a Studio Ghibli anime-themed fashion store run by a friend of mine.
  • CS.RIN.RU, the Famous Russian Forum for DRM-free videogames. Information on every game on Steam/GOG/Epic and beyond, inhabited by knowledgeable users and freelance hackers.
  • FitGirl Repacks, the ONLY official site for FitGirl Repacks. Despite the odd name, it’s the best source for DRM-free videogame installers these days. See also Masquerade, who is an upcoming repacker.

Artists I know