Linux, Open Source & Unrelated Topics - metahttps://pbarker.dev/2024-03-23T00:00:00+00:00Website Refresh2024-03-23T00:00:00+00:002024-03-23T00:00:00+00:00Paul Barkertag:pbarker.dev,2024-03-23:/posts/2024-03-23/website-refresh/<p class="first last">Today I've deployed the new design for this website, built using <a class="reference external" href="https://getpelican.com/">Pelican</a>
and <a class="reference external" href="https://tailwindcss.com/">Tailwind CSS</a>. After the changes I've made, I'm really pleased with
the new design!</p>
<!-- Copyright (c) 2023 Paul Barker <paul@pbarker.dev>
SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-NC-4.0 -->
<p>Today I've deployed the new design for this website, built using <a class="reference external" href="https://getpelican.com/">Pelican</a> and
<a class="reference external" href="https://tailwindcss.com/">Tailwind CSS</a>.</p>
<div class="figure">
<img alt="A Brown Pelican in flight against a background of grey clouds." src="https://pub.pbarker.dev/pexels/pelican.webp" style="width: 100%;" />
<p class="caption">Photo of a Brown Pelican in flight by Pamela Marie on <a class="reference external" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-and-white-bird-close-up-photography-2625816/">Pexels</a>.</p>
</div>
<p>Pelican isn't new here, I've been using it for several years now and I've been
very happy with it. It's easy for me to work with as I'm familiar with Python
and with Jinja2 templating. I did briefly experiment with <a class="reference external" href="https://www.getzola.org/">Zola</a>, but in the
end I came back to Pelican and I don't think I'll be switching away from it any
time soon.</p>
<p>Tailwind CSS, on the other hand, <em>is</em> new here. Previously I was using
Bootstrap, that worked pretty well but I ran into some limitations with it. I
wanted more flexibility in how I could design this site, and I wanted to fix
some mistakes I'd made in the previous design. I could probably have stayed
with Bootstrap and achieved the design improvements that I wanted, but once I
started looking into Tailwind CSS it became obvious that it was going to be
much easier for me to work with.</p>
<p>The new site design includes a much better looking dark mode, which is now
automatically selected based on your browser/system settings. I'm using the
<a class="reference external" href="https://github.com/tailwindlabs/tailwindcss-typography">Typography</a> plugin for Tailwind CSS, which provides a clean text style for
the site. The top navigation bar no longer floats at the top of the screen as
you scroll down, improving readibility on small screens. I've also simplified
the front-page layout, so all pages on the site now share a single column
layout.</p>
<p>After these changes, I'm really pleased with the new design but I still have
some minor tweaks planned for the future.</p>
<p>For now, I'm still using <a class="reference external" href="https://iconify.design/">Iconify</a> to provide the <a class="reference external" href="https://openmoji.org/">OpenMoji</a> icons and
other icons used on this site. Using iconify has kept things simple for me, but
it seems to be slowing down page loads for the site. So at some point I'll get
around to removing Iconify, and I'll instead self-host the icons that I'm using.</p>
<p>I also plan to improve the way my photography is hosted and displayed on this
site. That's a story for another day however...</p>
<p>So, I hope you enjoy the new design of my website! If you have any feedback,
you can reach out to me on <a class="reference external" href="https://social.afront.org/@pbarker">Mastodon</a> or drop me an <a class="reference external" href="mailto:paul@pbarker.dev">email</a>.</p>
A Change of Seasons2023-11-19T00:00:00+00:002023-11-19T00:00:00+00:00Paul Barkertag:pbarker.dev,2023-11-19:/posts/2023-11-19/a-change-of-seasons/<p class="first last">Well, I've been pretty quiet here the last couple of months....</p>
<!-- Copyright (c) 2023 Paul Barker <paul@pbarker.dev>
SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-NC-4.0 -->
<p>Well, I've been pretty quiet here the last couple of months....</p>
<p>Back in July, I started a new job as an Open Source Specialist at Renesas
Electronics. I'm working on improving support for Renesas processors and boards
in the Linux kernel, U-boot and other open source projects. I really enjoyed my
time with SanCloud, but it was time to move on after working with them for over
4.5 years in different capacities.</p>
<p>Then in September, I moved up to Leeds with my partner. This was rather
stressful, but ultimately an excellent move. I'm enjoying being back in the
North! Our home in Nottingham was pretty well located for green space, but we
have even more woodland, hills and wildlife around us here.</p>
<div class="figure">
<img alt="A sleepy hedgehog in September." src="https://pub.pbarker.dev/photos/2023-09-21/img0001_960.webp" style="width: 100%;" />
<p class="caption">A sleepy hedgehog in September.</p>
</div>
<p>...Wildlife like this hedgehog who probably shouldn't have been out on the
street in daylight - but don't worry! With the help of a neighbour we made
sure he was ok.</p>
<p>It's definitely not summer any more! But things are slowly settling into a new
routine now, so maybe I'll find time to write some more. I have no shortage of
thoughts taking up space in my head so I suppose I should use them for
something!</p>
<div class="figure">
<img alt="A foggy October day." src="https://pub.pbarker.dev/photos/2023-10-23/img0003_960.webp" style="width: 100%;" />
<p class="caption">A foggy October day.</p>
</div>
A mental health update2021-06-05T00:00:00+00:002021-06-05T00:00:00+00:00Paul Barkertag:pbarker.dev,2021-06-05:/posts/2021-06-05/a-mental-health-update/<p class="first last">It's been a while since I posted here. I had high expectations of
writing more and publishing regular YouTube videos. Then the "2nd
wave" of COVID-19 in the UK happened...</p>
<!-- Copyright (c) 2021 Paul Barker <paul@pbarker.dev>
SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-NC-4.0 -->
<p>This winter was pretty harsh on my mental health. Lockdown restrictions imposed
here in the UK to fight the spread of COVID-19 cut me off from my usual
routines and ways of keeping mentally healthy. My initial response was to fill
up my time with work and other projects but this didn't really work out. Days
became both monotonous and stressful, with no change of scenery or face-to-face
contact with friends to refresh things. There's no blame here on the folks I
was working with, everyone who I spoke to about this has been understanding and
supportive. If blame must the thrown then it can be aimed at the current UK
government and their completely inadequate response to this crisis.</p>
<p>I reduced my work hours, took a break from open source contributions for a bit
and put on hold my plans for more YouTube videos. This was frustrating after
having to take weeks off last year due to a COVID-19 infection and wasting a
lot of what could have been productive time on unnecessary bureaucracy (dealing
with impacts of Brexit & legislation changes on my consulting business). But
sometimes one hit is followed by another, and sometimes we have to accept that
our capabilities have been limited for a while.</p>
<div class="figure">
<img alt="The village of Malham (Yorkshire, UK) and the surrounding countryside seen from higher ground to the North." src="/images/malham_2021-05.jpg" style="width: 100%;" />
<p class="caption">Malham and surrounding countryside in the Yorkshire Dales</p>
</div>
<p>At that start of May this year I was able to get away for a week in a cottage
in the hills of the Yorkshire Dales with my partner. Fresh air, sun, wind, rain
and the occasional hailstone blew off some of the "lockdown cobwebs" I'd
acquired. I've more recently also got to spend time catching up with friends
over a (mostly outdoor) couple of pints and this has done me a lot of good.
I've found energy & motivation returning and have been hacking on a few
projects again. I'm making sure to keep things sustainable though rather than
rushing back into being too busy.</p>
<p>I know that many folks have experienced similar difficulties in the last ~16
months, many have suffered worse and many are still struggling. None of us are
alone in this but our experiences do differ. I have been privileged to be able
to prioritise self care for a while, others are unable to make the changes they
need due to risks of debt, poverty and homelessness. As others have said, we're
not all in the same boat here - we're in the same sea, but some of us don't
even have a boat. If you're struggling with things then I hope that today and
tomorrow are better than yesterday for you and I urge you to take advantage of
any support you can find without feelings of guilt - we're in the middle of
multiple crises, none of this is your fault. If you're on dry land then I ask
you to support organisations which are helping people - in the UK I recommend
supporting <a class="reference external" href="https://www.trusselltrust.org/">The Trussell Trust</a> who provide
foodbanks and <a class="reference external" href="https://www.mind.org.uk/">Mind</a> who provide mental health
support.</p>
Goals and Rationale2020-07-12T00:00:00+00:002020-07-12T00:00:00+00:00Paul Barkertag:pbarker.dev,2020-07-12:/posts/2020-07-12/goals-and-rationale/<p class="first last">This website may evolve in other directions in the future but these
are the initial goals: to act as a landing page and to allow me to keep a
professional blog.</p>
<!-- Copyright (c) 2020 Paul Barker <paul@pbarker.dev>
SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-NC-4.0 -->
<p>This website may evolve in other directions in the future but these are the
initial goals: to act as a landing page and to allow me to keep a professional
blog.</p>
<div class="section" id="a-landing-page">
<h2>A landing page</h2>
<p>After the recent Yocto Project Virtual Developer Day I realised I need a
place to share some basic details, contact info and links to projects I'm
involved in. Essentially a virtual business card to share at online events.
I find when I'm left with just an email address after an event where I've met
many new people that I'm often lacking context and reminders of why I have
been given the email address. Hopefully by being able to share a link to this
site as well as my email address I'll be able to provide some of that context
to the next folks I meet.</p>
</div>
<div class="section" id="a-professional-blog">
<h2>A professional blog</h2>
<p>I realised that this is also a good opportunity to set up a place where I can
collect conference talks that I have given, written content longer than a
tweet and anything else I want to share. I've found setting up a Twitter
account for my professional work has been a definite benefit but the platform
really lends itself to only a narrow set of interactions. Longer form content
can be posted as a thread but it really doesn't feel like a smooth
experience. In addition, where some writing may be relevant for a longer time
period I want to ensure that it is posted on a platform which I can control
so I can share it on my terms. It's also much easier to backup a git
repository than a twitter feed.</p>
</div>