Hands-on maintenance log
These are the smaller fixes, configuration changes, and experiments that keep my computers useful. I bring ideas, set goals, make decisions, run commands, troubleshoot, and check the results. AI assists with planning, commands, scripts, and parts of the execution; these entries document the work I carry out with that assistance. The list gives a closer look at the everyday work behind my larger projects.
67 documented tasks across seven areas · Updated
Remote Access & Windows Permissions
- Set up passwordless SSH with dedicated Ed25519 keys for remote maintenance across Linux and Windows computers.
- Matched SSH identities to their hosts so connections automatically select the correct key.
- Confirmed that the macOS VM user belongs to the permitted Remote Login group, com.apple.access_ssh.
- Checked sudo privileges on the macOS VM so remote maintenance can use administrator elevation.
- Verified passwordless SSH access to the macOS VM through Tailscale after configuring its public key.
- Checked authorized keys on the NUC and removed a duplicated MacBook Air key while preserving the intended access.
- Worked through Windows OpenSSH's different authorized-key locations for standard users and administrator accounts.
- Corrected Windows SSH key-file permissions after a PowerShell permissions operation failed.
- Took ownership of files transferred to Windows with my administrator account and adjusted NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM access to complete the setup.
- Installed the Windows inventory agent with administrator elevation, then verified its inventory upload and automatic service startup.
- Configured a separate Dropbear SSH service on the NUC as a fallback, restricted to the private Tailscale network.
- Configured public-key SSH access to a Windows 11 VM and verified passwordless administrator access, with OpenSSH Server running and set to start automatically.
Remote Desktops & Everyday Usability
- Configured x11vnc connections at 720p and 1080p to show the same active desktop session.
- Consolidated the NUC's separate VNC desktops into one shared desktop to resolve Firefox profile conflicts.
- Increased desktop text scaling to 150% and enlarged panel controls to make remote sessions easier to read.
- Adjusted browser launchers and dock icons after consolidating the NUC desktop.
- Reduced Openbox to one workspace to simplify the shared remote desktop.
- Added panel indicators for network connectivity and download/upload activity, with speeds shown in megabits per second.
- Added hard-drive activity indicators with separate read/write information and explanatory tooltips.
- Configured two persistent x11vnc endpoints over Tailscale on my Debian Mac and checked that both services start at boot and restart automatically.
- Removed stale duplicate Ethernet and network tray entries on the Debian Mac.
- Restored Trayscale to the Debian Mac's XFCE tray.
- Changed the Debian Mac's top-panel clock to persistent analog mode.
- With assistance from Antigravity CLI, diagnosed an Alpine file-manager error when running autoclicker.py: PCManFM/libfm attempted to launch xterm, which was not installed.
- Configured libfm to use lxterminal, installed xterm as a fallback, and added an x-terminal-emulator compatibility link with assistance from Antigravity CLI.
- Verified that the auto-clicker launches from the file manager using Execute in Terminal, with a draggable Click Target window and Ctrl+C available to stop it.
- Resolved a Windows Terminal duplicate-profile GUID warning by removing a manually defined PowerShell 7 profile that duplicated an automatically discovered profile, while retaining PowerShell 7 as the default.
USB Persistence, Startup & Power Settings
- Checked that Slax stores its configuration changes in a persistent filesystem backed by the USB drive.
- Configured the Slax boot menu to resume the existing session automatically.
- Enabled macOS Remote Login with its native OpenSSH launch daemon and verified that it remains enabled for startup.
- Flushed Slax installation and configuration changes to the USB after remote-access and inventory-agent setup.
- Configured inventory agents as systemd services on Linux Mint, Debian, Slax, and Kali, and as an OpenRC service on Alpine.
- Configured the NUC's Docker services and GLPI containers to start again at boot with persistent database and application storage.
- Adjusted the HP laptop's automatic suspend, lid-close, and display power settings to support long-running work and remote reconnection.
- Disabled AnyDesk startup on the Debian Mac while keeping the application installed.
Software & Container Maintenance
- Installed GNOME Software with Alpine's package backend to make installed software and updates easier to manage.
- Added an hourly package-update indicator that opens the NUC's software centre.
- Updated system packages and tools inside the NUC's Homebrew and Codex Docker containers.
- Resolved an outdated repository signing key during container maintenance.
- Saved updated local container images while preserving mounted data.
- Installed Antigravity CLI directly on Alpine and replaced a launcher that pointed to a missing container.
- Checked the installed Tailscale clients against the current stable release during remote-access maintenance.
- Updated all 16 outdated Homebrew formulae on the Debian Mac during this maintenance session.
- Confirmed that the Debian Mac's installed Tailscale client was version 1.104.1 during the October 10 maintenance session.
- Updated both Debian Mac Monero desktop launchers to use the selected MoneroOcean pool and saved a local note documenting the change.
- Configured persistent XMRig MSR device permissions with an msr group and a udev rule using root:msr ownership and group read/write access. The rule is intended to allow tuning after reboot; the existing miner session may require a restart or fresh login.
Inventory, Authentication & Backups
- Deployed GLPI and MariaDB in Docker on the always-on Alpine NUC; the full inventory project explains the rollout.
- Configured a private Tailscale HTTPS endpoint for the management dashboard, accessible from my laptop or phone.
- Changed the default administrator password and disabled unused default GLPI accounts.
- Configured a separate inventory credential for authenticated agent uploads.
- Installed the official GLPI Agent source release with native Perl dependencies on Alpine so it reports the host's APK packages.
- Installed the official Intel macOS inventory agent, configured authenticated HTTPS uploads, and enabled its launch daemon at boot with recovery after unexpected exits.
- Verified eight computers in the dashboard: Linux Mint, Alpine, Slax, Debian, Kali and macOS VMs, a Windows computer, and a Windows 11 VM.
- Checked saved software records: the first enrolled computers reported more than 11,000 installation entries in total.
- Configured daily database and application-file backups, completed the first backup, and checked its archive integrity.
- Verified the administrator login over HTTPS and checked startup settings for the agents and containers.
- Installed the Windows 11 VM inventory agent remotely, verified its first authenticated upload, and confirmed that its service is running with automatic startup.
Local AI & Long-Running Experiments
- Worked through an out-of-memory failure during 4K image decoding and enabled tiled decoding to process the result in smaller sections.
- Completed a local 4K underwater image after 19 hours, 24 minutes, and 31 seconds; view the image and its story.
- Used Realistic Vision and AnimateDiff to turn a portrait of myself into a two-second, eight-frame animation on the HP laptop. The render finished in about four hours and 36 minutes.
- Ran the portrait render as a background service and checked sampling and decoding progress while continuing to use the computer.
- Verified the saved video after generation and stopped the model server automatically to release its memory.
- Manage four VMs on my Windows computer—Windows 11, macOS, Ubuntu, and Kali—to explore different operating systems and configurations.
- Investigated an unresolved Apple Account verification error in the macOS VM with assistance from Antigravity CLI. Reviewed reported AuthKit provisioning and attestation errors; configuration changes and successful sign-in verification remain in progress.
Inbox Rules & Small Automations
- Create email rules to keep my inbox organized and reduce repetitive sorting.
- Worked with AI to build a Google Apps Script that moves Gmail spam threads to Trash automatically.
- Checked the actual script and trigger settings and confirmed the schedule is every 30 minutes; see the project and code snippet.