skysurfer.media

So much to do. But things are better since I gave up deadlines for goals. They’re easier to keep. So much for launching this site in June… but things are happening, all the same. Still using WordPress but it’s really bloated and it has it’s own set of security issues despite being difficult to embed iframes and such. I know, plugins – still, really clunky and I don’t need most of what it offers. Even dealing with fonts is frustrating. But, I imported a ton of old journal entries and I’ve documented the whole legal fiasco here (which I will finalize soon)… so, for now I’m keeping this blog. However, some changes are in the works. First, this front page will be a live feed sort of like X (Twitter) but self hosted like everything else here. The format is moving to more of a micro blog without the need for Subject, Comments, Categories, etc… there is no user registration here, only public posts and drafts – keeping it simple for many reasons, not the least of which is that most people are using their phones to get new content. I am considering a few options, but media itself is handled by different parts of this site. Aside from a few static pages and the archives, all that’s really needed is a multimedia notification stream with browser support.

mail.skysurfer.media

Email is fully functional here, though I’m only using indigo@skysurfer.media for the time being… and I only get WordPress spam, so the Contact page will disappear soon, too. Live chat is way better, anyway. Still some fix needed to make Gmail cooperate, but no problems with the local system. This site will never use mailing lists or send out bulk email, and since there are no other users here, it’s not likely to get much use. But, all the usual addresses are available and aliased like a good server should have.

webmail.skysurfer.media

Roundcube rocks. I don’t know why I ever used anyone else’s webmail (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.). Installation and setup was almost as advanced as the mail server itself to get it working securely, but the only thing left to do now is to fix the icons. There are only personal accounts at this time, but the potential to offer users an email address is there (if there are ever other users).

admin.skysurfer.media

No public access. Cockpit reverse proxy. I still use SSH for just about everything, but this makes many tasks very easy – especially on the road. No more mosh, but tmux still has its place. Add the dashboards for Linode and Cloudflare, and every part of this site can be administered with a web browser, even on Android.

mx-admin.skysurfer.media

No public access. PostfixAdmin – invaluable for configuring aliases and mailboxes. The standard addresses are functional – webmaster, postmaster, etc… but I do need to map out a list and make sure all mail gets to a box that gets checked. And also, instead of a catchall address, multiple aliases need to be set up for specific purposes. No rush.

images.skysurfer.media

Public access, should automatically direct to https://images.skysurfer.media/user/indigo — this is the Public folder for LibrePhotos and the pool of images for use elsewhere on the site. Currently, there are 4,300 photos and more to come in the next few days. This is the culmination of rough editing of the 26,000 originals. I don’t think anyone will look through all of the images, but this finally makes things chronological instead of using folders by topic, and that means new photos won’t get lost in large collections (i.e. sunsets, flowers, dragonflies). This is not a final presentation of images and most would need post processing. The addition of slideshows and virtual albums to the site is planned. This is what’s on the sorting table. There are also currently many personal or documentary images mixed in…

photos.skysurfer.media

No public access. For the moment, this runs PhotoPrism and there is no public option. *sigh* I wish it was all it claims to be… the AI is useless, which was the main reason to install it. And there’s no way to delete images. Pros and cons compared to LibrePhotos, but for the time being it’s still the superior engine for importing new photos and it generates a ton of thumbnails. Plus, its installed bare metal and it’s very fast. Hopefully, future updates will improve it’s functionality. This may be renamed px-admin in the future or removed altogether. The original idea was to use photos for final presentation and images for sorting and editing. First things first. Still trying to get the dates right and the duplicates removed… then video…

live.skysurfer.media

This is a companion address to the Skylight powered by OwnCast. In the future it may be used to serve content, but for now it’s just a heavily encrypted input stream that acts like a mixer for adding live content. See below.

skylight.skysurfer.media

Welcome to the Skylight! This section of the site is intended to be relatively separate from the main skysurfer.media – whereas the main site may have some dynamic content, it’s meant to deliver static pages with more traditional-style links and a site map, and all content is mine. The Skylight is meant to be live. Originally intended to be an outlet for sharing live drone footage, the vision grew to encompass all kinds of live streaming – jam sessions, live video from the jeep, even scheduled content. Then, with the thought of adding overlays with ffmpeg and using prerecorded sources on a playlist, the live RTMP input could become preemptive – and voila!, an internet TV station is born. But the Skylight is not being designed to be broadcast to a larger audience. It’s just a personal stream for myself, friends, and people I meet along the way. So, don’t expect it to report the weather in your city unless you’re in my city. Now that the images have all been migrated to the cloud and the new system is chronological, it will be relatively easy to manage heuristic slideshows and video editing. Plus, using systemd timers it’s my plan to introduce scheduled content such as the local news hour and radio shows I like. Then, the whole stream can be saved for a few days to be replayed on demand – say I slept in but I enjoy the 6am DJ, or I had to work but there’s that hip hop show that’s only on Wednesdays, or the reggae hour on Friday – the Skylight is the source for what’s playing, or grab recent content like a DVR. One reason Skylight Productions is separate from skysurfer.media is because not all the content will be mine and some may be auto generated. The playlist and sources will be listed. There is also chat functionality built in but I’m considering Jitsi Meet, instead, if I include chat at all… not sure how I’ll handle incoming messages, yet. SMS? Visitors will not be expected to sign up for an account or download an app…

There is so much to do… stay tuned… skysurfer.media is almost live.

—— Indigo

Updated: July 17th, 2024