iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 06/06/2025

Stop staring at diffs like they owe you money 💸 faff - another bloody AI commit generator (yes, we definitely needed one more!) after GitKraken's AI ate my credits but refused to write conventional commits 😡 wimpysworld.com/posts/faff-o... Drop the faff, dodge the judgment, get back to coding 🦙

Drop the faff, dodge the judgment. Another bloody AI commit generator, but this one stays local 🦙

https://github.com/wimpysworld/faff

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 16/05/2025

Tired of "no space left on device" errors when building #NixOS configs in GitHub Actions? ️❄️ I've created Nothing but Nix, a GitHub Action that ruthlessly reclaims disk space 🪓 Get up to 130GB for your #Nix store instead of the measly 20GB default! Learn more 👇 wimpysworld.com/posts/nothin...

The Great GitHub Nix Space Heist 🪓❄️

I've just released **Nothing but Nix**, a GitHub Action that transforms cramped 20GB GitHub runners into 130GB Nix powerhouses!

If you've ever hit the dreaded `no space left on device` error when building NixOS configs in CI, this one's for you.

This action:
- Creates a large BTRFS volume from free space on `/mnt`
- Ruthlessly eliminates unnecessary packages in the background
- Dynamically expands your Nix store as space becomes available

The results? All my configurations now build successfully in CI:
- My home servers (media, LLMs, etc.)
- Workstations with dual GPUs
- Laptops and testing VMs

Best of all, when I update systems, everything comes from `cache.flakehub.com` with zero local compilation time. Updates that used to require coffee breaks now happen in seconds!

Check out the full technical details on my blog: https://wimpysworld.com/posts/nothing-but-nix-github-actions/

GitHub: https://github.com/wimpysworld/nothing-but-nix

Being both cheap and stubborn pays off sometimes 😉

#Nix #NixOS #DevOps #GitHubActions #BTRFS #Linux #FlakeHub

061

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 08/04/2025

The second keyboard is built. Also a Crush 80 modified from US ANSI 🇺🇸 FR4 switch plate to UK ISO 🇬🇧 PP switch plate with Akko Roseword switches and GMK Hammerhead Light keycaps ⌨️ Much Thocc 🧱

An overhead view of a mechanical keyboard with a turquoise and gray color scheme. The keyboard features a custom stormtrooper keycap and is placed on a surface with a design of stormtroopers in the background.

2130

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 04/04/2025

The finished build. Crush 80 converted to UK ISO 🇬🇧 Replaced the FR4 switch plate with a PP switch plate and swapped the Kailh Cocoa switches for Akko Rosewood to bring the "Thocc" 🧱 Keycaps are Cherry profile GMK 8008 🍒

A colorful keyboard with pink and gray keycaps, featuring an axolotl figure on the keys. A small Darth Vader keycap is also visible, along with a utility knife in the background. The keyboard is illuminated with red backlighting.

120

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 03/04/2025

I had one switch more than the keyboard needed, and yes, I bent the pins on one switch 😰 I suspose I should test the switches and make sure everything works 🤞⌨️

A partially assembled mechanical keyboard is displayed on a wooden table. It features a white plate with pink keyboard switches installed, alongside additional switches and keycaps in various colors scattered around. In the background, other keyboards and components are visible.

100

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 03/04/2025

The US ANSI 🇺🇸 FR4 switch plate has been removed and the stabilisers mounted on a UK ISO 🇬🇧 PP switch plate ready for filling with Akko Rosewood switches ⌨️

An assortment of keyboard components is displayed on a desk. A disassembled keyboard base with some key switches installed sits in the center, while various colored keycaps and switches are arranged nearby. Additional tools are present for assembling the keyboard.

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 03/04/2025

I don't know how this happened but I appear to have fallen head first in to the custom keyboard ⌨️ rabbit hole 🕳️🐇 Send help 🛟 And a decent switch remover 😧

A dismantled mechanical keyboard is displayed on a table, surrounded by various key switches, keycaps, and tools for assembly. There are two keyboards in the background, one with blue keycaps and one that is partially disassembled.

120

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 22/06/2024

I name my computers after Sith Lords 😈 We all have a system, right? I add a little Dark Side flair to the computers I build. Here's Revan the new home lab server, all finished, ready for racking and sporting a Darth Revan decal 🎨 What is your host naming convention?

130

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 10/06/2024

While testing the CPU underclocks and undervolts I saw some of the M.2 SATA SSDs on the PCIe adapter were approaching 80°C ⚠️ I've put 0.5mm thermal pads under each SSD and now adding these Akasa heat sinks to help drop the temps 🧊

A PCIe expansion card with four Transcend M.2 SSDs installed is on the left, next to a box of Akasa M.2 SSD heatsinks on the right.

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 08/06/2024

Here's the final internals of the new home lab server 🩻 This adds the drive shelf with my 2x 12TB spinning rust drives, that act as internal snapshot targets 💾 I'm not thrilled 🫤 about the SATA data cable routing. Longer cables ordered 🛍️ Time to underclock and undervolt the snot out of the CPU 📉

An open RM44 server case showing internal components, including a Corsair RM750x power supply, multiple cooling fans, and visible circuit boards and wiring.

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 08/06/2024

PCIe slot load out in the new home lab 🥼 From left to right: - 8TB storage slice (2 PCIe lanes) - 4TB storage slice (1 PCIe lane) - NVIDIA T400 (8 PCIe lanes) for NVENC and CUDA - 8TB storage slice (1 PCIe lane) - 8TB storage slice (2 PCIe lanes) The 4TB slice will be upgrade to 8TB soon.

Close-up view of the inside of a computer case showing multiple installed PCIe cards, including an NVIDIA graphics card. Several cables and connectors are also visible.

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 08/06/2024

With some preliminary cable management in place the base system boots and works 🎉 Time to load up the slots with GPU and storage alices then drop the drive shelf in 🫳

Open RM44 server chassis on a desk with a screwdriver and cables, a monitor displaying BIOS settings for a Z390 Designare motherboard with i9 9900K

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 08/06/2024

This was tricky 😤 The Arctic Liquid Freezer II 360 is mounted in a push-pull fan configuration 🌪️🌪️🌪️ I added 3 additional Arctic P12 fans to reduce fan noise 🤔 This sounds unintuitive, but 6 fans can be run at far lower RPM to get better static pressure and achieve lower noise than 3 fans🧑‍🔬

Close-up of the interior of a desktop computer build, showcasing the motherboard, RAM sticks, neatly managed cables, and Arctic Freezer II 360 cooling system with 6 Arctic P12 fans in push-pull configuration.

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 07/06/2024

This is 32TB of unorthodox storage for the home lab. Everything is SATA III, there is no NVME 🫢 Each "slice" is 8TB and uses either 1 or 4 PCI lanes. I can pack lots of "fast" storage in commodity computers. Fast enough, silent, and lower heat 🧊 and power ⚡when compared to NVME and spinning rust 👍

A collection of computer storage devices, including several SATA SSDs, M.2 SATA SSDs, and PCIe adapter cards, arranged on a flat surface.

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 07/06/2024

Shuffling storage around some drives to DIY 4x 2TB 2.5" SATA SSDs to be used as one of the storage slices in the server 💾

A collection of computer storage devices, including stacked Sabrent M.2 SATA adapters, with WD Blue SATA SSD M.2 drives, an opened SSD enclosure, and a few small screws on a light-colored surface.

030

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 07/06/2024

The "new" home lab server is coming together 👍 Designare Z390 motherboard mounted in the Silverstone RM44 chassis with Corsair RM750x PSU hooked up 🔌 From now on, it is going to get interssting...

A partially assembled server with a SilverStone RM44 case, Z390 motherboard, RM750x power supply, and cooling fans, placed on a wooden table.

030

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 07/06/2024

I've dusted off 🧹 the old Gigabyte Designare Z390 motherboard with the essential components of i9 9900K CPU, 64GB RAM plus 500GB and 1000GB NVME SSDs for root and home 💾

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 07/06/2024

The Silverstone RM44 stripped down is cavernous 📏 Here's hoping for an easy build 🏗️

Silverstone RM44 stripped down and empty.

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 06/06/2024

My old workstation is about to get a new life as home lab server. The only new component is this Silverstone RM44 4U chassis. It's a chonker 🗄

Silverstone RM44 4U rack mount server chassis.

030

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 14/05/2024

I've been making my Quickemu project macOS-compatible; meaning it can run on a macOS host 🍎 This is NixOS ❄️ running a virtual machine of macOS Ventura 🍏 via Quickemu, which is running a virtual machine of Alpine Linux 🐧 via Quickemu #linux #qemu The project is here: github.com/quickemu-pro...

120

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 25/04/2024

Ubuntu MATE 🧉 24.04 LTS is released and ready for download 📀 See the release notes for more information, upgrade instructions and get the download 👑 #ubuntu ubuntu-mate.org/blog/ubuntu-...

150

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 15/03/2024

Complete this short 🤏 Nix survey and get a link to the Etsy store 🛍️ where you can buy the NixOS case badges I've been handing out at NixCon NA ❄️ I still have a few my pocket for those of you at NixCon 🙂 #nixcon #scale21x forms.gle/NHVP7kxLEyyG...

021

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 14/03/2024

Are you at NixCon ❄️ NA? 🇺🇸 Want one of these exclusive NixOS case badges? ✨ Come and find me in the common area outside room 106 🙂 There are currently only 75 of these in the world, and I don't have many left 📉 #nixcon #scale21x

020

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 13/03/2024

NixCon NA Day -1 ❄️ Here's Eelco Dolstra (creator of Nix) getting settled in a day early thanks to the SCaLE infra team already having the network up and running 💖 Appropriate considering most of the infra is powered by Nix 💪 Nix workshops in room 106 tomorrow #scale21x

030

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 26/01/2024

Decided to go all in on bcachefs 💾 on my new workstation builds 🖥️ Putting it through its paces 📊 Using tiered storage (therefore multi-device) with full disk encryption 🔐 and compression 🤏 Next I need to sync over all my data and stress snapshots as a tool for creating frequent recovery points 😅

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 19/01/2024

I have discovered the wonderful world of USB 9-pin header adapters 🤓 I'm using these 2xUSB-C adapters to mount 2 small radios 📻 inside my workstations. I'm also planning to use similar adapters to place wireless mouse/keyboard dongles inside their dedicated computers.

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 19/01/2024

Cable management is done 😅 Much neater and there's clear airflow inside the case 🌬️ I was able to add an extra 80mm fan 🌪️ on the left side of the case to feed air to the GPU. I added a single drive caddy 🏌‍♂with a 4TB SATA drive in it next to the PSU ⚡

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 18/01/2024

Here's an interesting little adapter, a USB 2.0 internal 9-pin header to USB 3.1/3.2 20-pin header 🤔 Wire the USB-C front panel ports to motherboards that don't have the USB 3.1 20-pin header 🎉 Speeds will be limited to USB 2.0 🐢 but for many peripherals 🖱️⌨️🎮🔊🎛️ this is good enough 👍

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 18/01/2024

I've got some cable management to do and need to transplant some components from the outgoing PC, but it all works 🎉

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 18/01/2024

The MSI MEG X570 Unify motherboard fits alongside my DIY oversized AIO 😁 and seems to have enough room to organise cabling. I love how this dark 🥷 no RGB build is coming together but might be a challenge to ventilate the left side of the case as the motherboard headers are against the fan cutouts 🤔

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 18/01/2024

Hello fans! 😁 I'm installing a pair of Noctua NF-R8 redux-1200 in the rear of the case. These 80mm ultra quiet "budget" fans will be run at a low RPM to assist exhausting warm air out of the case 💨

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 18/01/2024

I've got fans on the Arctic Freezer II 240mm AIO 🧊 front & back. It fits 📏 but the case is empty, so this might be a short lived win until I try to add the motherboard 😬 I don't need all these fans to cool the Ryzen 5950X but I'm trying to make the AIO intake pull double duty as case airflow 🌬️

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

The plan is to grab my Arctic Freezer II 🧊 off the spares shelf & drop it in the Silverstone Grandia 11, which will require the fans are moved from inner side to outer side to push air for intake. The tricky bit will be fitting 2 new P12 Max fans on the inner side of the AIO 🚰 to help airflow

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

Installing the Corsair RM1000e PSU was nice and simple 🐥 with the fan 🌪️ exposed via a case vent. I think my crazy idea for a push-pull AIO fan configuration might be more troublesome 😬

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

With the office workstation repaired 🛠️ and the games machine upgraded 📈 it's time to rebuild my home workstation in this interesting case, the Silverstone Grandia 11 🦣 This is a large HTPC case, but is essentially a mid tower case in a horizontal orientation, which fits in my racking shelves 🎉

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

And here is the final SSD sandwich 🥪

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

Add some low profile heatsink 🔥 These cooling fins are just 6mm high 🤏

100

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

Next 2x4TB SATA SSDs are mounted. These Transcend MTS830S have DRAM so perform well given the SATA protocol. I use Linux 🐧 mdadm to create a RAID0 from these drives as they are only ever used for internal Borg backups 🤖

100

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

First I add 0.5mm thermally conductive silicon pads, not really for cooling but to create a base for the SSDs to prevent bowing and bending 🏹

100

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 17/01/2024

Next up is one of my DIY 🛠️ single slot high capacity storage arrays 💾that I use as internal backup targets. These use single slots PCIe adapters from Sedna with a pair of M.2 SATA SSDs. On typical consumer motherboards the single slots are on the chipset and shared with USB, WiFi/LAN

200

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 16/01/2024

The games machine is finished🎉 The Fractal Ridge is excellent. Great build quality, easy to build in, well ventilated and makes no compromise builds possible 👍 I can run everything at 3440x1440@60fps at maximum everything without frame dips and the case is cool 🧊 and whisper quiet 🤫

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 16/01/2024

As I'm reassembleming the rebuilt gaming machine, here's the under side of the Fractal Ridge. I still can't believe 🤯 there is an RX 6900 XT lurking beings those 140mm fans 🌪️

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 16/01/2024

The ASUS TUF Gaming RX 6900 XT is an absolute unit of a GPU, but astonishly fits in the Fractal Ridge case 😲 And that's with the 2x 140mm fans 🌪️ under it! 🤯

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 16/01/2024

Transplanting the PSU and motherboard from the Fractal Node 202 to the Fractal Ridge was fairly straight forward, the cable management always takes ages ⏳ Time to see what GPU I can cram in it 😰 Idealy the RX 6900 XT (massive) but I've also freed up the RX 6800 juggling the other builds around 🤹‍♀️

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 16/01/2024

My daughters ChimeraOS 🦁 games console 🎮 is next up for a strip down and hopefully an upgrade to the RX6900 XT and Fractal Ridge case 💼

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 15/01/2024

It lives! ⚡ I need to tame the RGB, add case fans 🌪️ front and top and cobble together one of my PCIe 1x SATA backup arrays. But the first rebuild is functional, after the usual memory training shenanigans 🤡 This is my first MSI motherboard and I really like the simplicity of their BIOS 👍

010

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 15/01/2024

Here's the patient 🤕 This one will get completely stripped down and all its parts (excluding the motherboard) will be donated 👨‍⚕ to 3 other rebuilds I'm working on 🏗️ I love the Thermaltake The Tower 100 case 💖

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 15/01/2024

Starting to take shape 🛠️ Ryzen 5900X installed under the Deepcool AK620 cooler 🌪️ and 4x 32GB of HyperX Fury DDR4. Now it's time to transplant the SSDs from the donor PC 💾

000

Martin Wimpress @wimpys.world · 15/01/2024

YOLO BIOS update. Not worried, honest 😰

000