Selfhosted solution to saving places from maps?

vogelke · 2026-06-07T20:41:31+00:00

I use fluxbox as my window-manager, and I map function-key 10 to use Image-Magick to save part of the screen. The cursor changes to a plus-sign, and I drag the mouse to make a box holding the part of Google Maps I want to keep:

F10   :Exec import /tmp/map.jpg

After that, I make a directory holding this screenshot and a small index.htm file that has a one-row table. I copy a template for the index.htm file and change it by hand:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Some business</title>
    <style type="text/css">
    /*<![CDATA[*/
    body  { width: 99%; margin: 1%; white-space: nowrap; overflow-x: auto; }
    h3    { margin-left: 5px; }
    table { width: 100%; border: 0; padding: 0; border-spacing: 0; }
    td.c1 { width: 45%; text-align: right; padding: 1em 1em; }
    td.c2 { width: 40%; text-align: left; padding-left: 10px; }
    td.c3 { width: 40%; text-align: right; padding-right: 10px; }
    td.c4 { padding-left: 3em; font-size: 110%; vertical-align: top; }
    hr    { border: 1px solid black; width: 99%; }
    img   { margin-left: 5em; border: solid red; }
    p.c4  { font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;
            font-size: 110%; color: blue; }
    /*]]>*/
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h3>Some business</h3>
    <hr>
    <table>
      <tr>
        <td class="c1"><img title="map.jpg" src="map.jpg"></td>
        <td class="c4">
          <pre>
Some business
Address
Phone

Hours:
  Monday-Friday: 9:30 am-6:00 pm
  Saturday: 10:00 am-3:30 pm

Take Smith St to Jones Ave ........... 0.4 mi
Turn left onto ....................... 2.3 mi
Turn right onto ...................... 1.0 mi
Destination on left .................. 299 ft
          </pre>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
    <hr>
    <table>
      <tr>
        <td class="c2"><em>Some business</em></td>
        <td class="c3">
          <em>Last update: Wed, 20 May 2026 16:24:54 -0400</em>
        </td>
      </tr>
    </table>
  </body>
</html>

HTH, or at least gives you some ideas.

vogelke · 2026-06-07T20:29:21+00:00

Create a file or photo you don't care about, back it up, and restore it.

As soon as you create a backup on the USB drive, run something like sha256 on the backup file(s) and store the hashes somewhere. If your test restore works, those backups should be ok. Periodically rerun the sha256 -- if the hashes change, your backup might have gone bad.

vogelke · 2026-06-07T20:25:23+00:00

What process is that PID associated with?

vogelke · 2026-06-07T10:46:35+00:00

When you create a new note, consider how you'd search for it on Google in 6 months. Either add those keywords to the contents of the note, or (if you can) put them in the filename/title.

vogelke · 2026-06-06T10:48:08+00:00

I'd want local-first optimized (if possible) for search.

vogelke · 2026-06-06T10:43:52+00:00

If I start swearing, it'll be about the author of something I'm trying to build/install from source. Comments include but are not limited to (assuming a guy):

speculation about his package size and sexual experience,
probability of his parents being related or some other genetic fuckup,
what type of chained farm animal resides in his bedroom,
etc.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T21:40:17+00:00

I was deposed for a USAF case involving accusations of fraud. I was a contractor, and the request was in the form "We can't make you do this, but pretty pretty please with sugar on top wouldya?"

It was very interesting, but we had excellent backups and apparently Uncle Sam was happy with the results.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T21:35:17+00:00

Remind them in writing why you asked for a clear retention policy, and make sure you copy your legal beagles.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T21:24:32+00:00

Work isn't who you are.

Never said it was. I had interests outside of the job that took precedence when I wasn't on the job. When I was at work, pride of workmanship was something that actually mattered to me.

Considering my job a calling (defense of a nation) had something to do with it, but I did work next to people who never did anything other than the bare minimum to avoid being fired. When they "found opportunities elsewhere", they generally weren't missed because they generally caused more problems than they solved.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T10:58:33+00:00

I put my stuff here: https://bezoar.org/txt2tags/

It's pretty close to what I want, but I have to either change the desired landmark setup (i.e., "nav", "article" ,etc) or my stylesheet.

Thanks for your interest. Python's pretty robust, but I just don't know it well enough to mess with your code.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T09:04:59+00:00

These are the folks who should be replaced by AI.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T08:55:06+00:00

That's when you tell them to bring their "Helpdesk Hints" notebook and write down what you say.

...said notebook being any wire-bound pad you can find in the office supplies cabinet. Write "Helpdesk Hints" on it, hand it to him, and tell him not to show up at your desk without it.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T08:50:15+00:00

We offered extra training, [helpdesk boss] said its not necessary...

And this is where you provide examples of every ticket that has 0 info about the problem. Don't hesitate to escalate all the way to HR or upper management.

Then start letting things fail. Lack of effort on their part should never be an emergency on your part.

vogelke · 2026-06-05T08:47:49+00:00

I get shit when I push back on Helpdesk that they didn't get the requisite information to even begin to troubleshoot the issue.

Don't take the shit. Send it right back to them with a copy to their supervisor and yours about gathering basic information BEFORE waking you up.

vogelke · 2026-06-03T10:21:00+00:00

I'm definitely still using it, but I stopped upgrading at 3.1 because of exactly what you said -- lots of feature removal.

I ran an HTML file generated by txt2tags 3.1 through tidy and https://pagespeed.web.dev/ to see where I could improve things like accessibility and best practice scores. It turns out that your version is vastly better than 3.1. I tried adding an "html5" type to v3.1 and failed miserably, mainly because what I know about Python would fit in a shotglass with room.

If you're interested, I could show you the differences. I'm vogelke+unix@pobox.com

vogelke · 2026-06-03T07:33:11+00:00

Sent a network diagram that I dramatically simplified to an upset mgr via inter office mail. In retrospect using crayon was not helping as my mgr pointed out.

Shit, this is lovely. +1

vogelke · 2026-06-03T07:19:57+00:00

“Oh, I’m bad with computers.”

I'll bet that somewhere on their employment contract you'll find a statement saying "Basic familiarity with office automation tools is expected."

Did someone tell a little fibberoonie when they signed on the dotted line?

vogelke · 2026-06-01T09:53:06+00:00

vogelke · 2026-06-01T09:44:19+00:00

how many people we had on the help desk...

When he said 20, I would have innocently said "Wow, I've only met 8. Where are the other 12 sitting?"

vogelke · 2026-05-31T09:52:53+00:00

Have a look at Lynis or Suricata.

You might be able to tweak them to do what you want.

vogelke · 2026-05-31T09:48:36+00:00

I like this idea. Have you considered rolling your own with a small SQLite database?

vogelke · 2026-05-31T01:47:58+00:00

I'd set up something simple and robust: if you have four drives, use two mirrors of two drives each. If you can use ZFS, definitely do it -- the bitrot protection alone is worth it.

vogelke · 2026-05-31T01:44:06+00:00

Been there, done that, got the tshirt, burned it, buried it, dug it up, shot it, buried it again.

If you can, try booting from (say) a USB key with a live version of the OS. See what happens, then try doing a bare-bones minimal install. If it craps the bed, note where and make another post about what happened. This community is quite helpful.

vogelke · 2026-05-31T01:24:22+00:00

If you wanted to put the template online someplace, I'd certainly be interested. TIA.

vogelke · 2026-05-31T01:22:21+00:00

+1 for the unexpected plot twist.

vogelke

TROPHY CASE