Kyle Rankin @kyle@librem.one

I host my own email, DNS, website, and many other services, so I figure I should probably host my own mastodon instance as well. Plus as @aral always says, it's good for the Fediverse to have more smaller instances.

So I'm going to attempt the Mastodon server migration now, which means if you follow me, it *should* automatically move you. If not, you can follow me @kyle.

The Best of Hack and /: Linux Admin Crash Course is published!

This book doesn't aim to be an exhaustive guide to everything you need to know to be a system administrator. Instead, this book allows me to act as a remote mentor to someone starting out in IT or system administration whether as a full-time job or as a full stack developer.

It's available in premium hardcover, paperback, and ebook forms here:
https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kyle_rankin

#writing #SelfPublishing #linux #publishing

After five years of helping to build hardware and software that protects people's privacy, security and freedom, at the end of the month I will no longer be at Purism (I'll still be helping out as an advisor).

For the near term, I plan to spend my time promoting my new book (coming very soon), writing yet another book, and thinking about what's next for my career.

If you have any suggestions for what I should do next, email me at next@kylerank.in (DMs are disabled on this instance).

I host my own email, DNS, website, and many other services, so I figure I should probably host my own mastodon instance as well. Plus as @aral always says, it's good for the Fediverse to have more smaller instances.

So I'm going to attempt the Mastodon server migration now, which means if you follow me, it *should* automatically move you. If not, you can follow me @kyle.

Today is my last day at Purism after being there for over five years. I'm marking the event on my Tempus Nectit knitting machine clock with a white stripe.

#knitting

(Apologies to Rick Astley)
We're no strangers to hacks
You know the column, and so do I
A full published book's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy

I just wanna tell you what I've written
Gotta make you understand

It's the Best of Hack and /
It's a Linux admin class
You can order and real fast send to you
Hardback's awesome I won't lie
Paperback is a close tie
With the ebook you can buy on Lulu

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kyle_rankin

#SelfPublishing #writing

Back in 1918 machines were designed to tell humans when they made a mistake. Over a hundred years later the roles have reversed. How times have changed.

#AI #VintageAds #calculator

This Monroe Model G mechanical calculator was made some time between 1918 and 1920, and is the one I used on the cover of my new book. I also featured non-blurry pictures of it as the background image on each chapter, and in those cases left a little easter egg for keen-eyed readers.

#calculators #writing

Thanks to the excellent suggestion from @agx, I have created a sample chapter for the book. A link is available on the product page for each version of the book, or you can check it out directly here:

https://kylerank.in/bohs_lacc_sample_chapter.pdf

#writing #linux #publishing #SelfPublishing

OK this is neat, a protocol for hosting a website around the globe that distributes traffic based on which server has the most solar energy: http://solarprotocol.net/

I have officially just used my new book as a reference for the first time. In this case I wanted to confirm the syntax for a flock command and remembered "oh wait, that's in the book!" and found it using the index.

#writing #linux

Wrote for Linux Journal and it was a gas
Every month, published Hack and /
Wrote for a decade only to find
LJ went bust, posts gone behind

Wrote for Linux Journal and it was divine
I wrote down everything on my mind
A lot of great tips that now you can't find
LJ went bust, posts gone behind

In between, I put the best columns in a book of mine
It is now self-published with hardcover spine
Paperback and ebook too, they all are good
I sell them on Lulu

https://www.lulu.com/spotlight/kyle_rankin

If you have questions about my new book, bought it and wants to send me feedback, or if you are a tech book reviewer and want to see about a review copy, please email me at bohs@kylerank.in.