Hi, I’m Rhys! 👋
Thank you so much for taking your time to read my little corner of the internet.
While you’re here, I might as well tell you some things about me.
My interests
As you may be able to tell by the contents of my blog, I am a big fan of technology, and I am thankful for everyone around me for supporting my little hobby and putting up with my talks about it.
I currently have a homelab (or more home production at this point) that runs all my services (including this website!) such as Active Directory and Microsoft Exchange for emails. All my servers (see attached image below) are currently running VMware vSphere as their primary operating system with nearly 100 VMs ranging from RedHat Enterprise Linux to Windows Server to even running some “vintage” operating systems such as Solaris and IBM OS/400.
As you can see in the lower half of the image, you can also see a few older devices, these are part of my hobbyist dial-up network, where members of the C*NET telephony group can connect and access services ranging from a BBS server to an IRC network I host with a few active members. I do not believe in “outdated” technologies being phased out entirely, but for them to stay around for those of us interested to learn about and use as a “living” museum.
I also recently upgraded my core networking to a Cisco Nexus 40g switch, since 10g was slightly too slow for my usage. It’s a fun little switch, and I do plan on writing a post about how I use it and learning to get past it’s few issues.
I am also a MASSIVE music fan, enjoying genres ranging from 90s-00s pop to primarily rock and heavy metal, however I enjoy pretty much all genres of music.
I spend about half my time outside of study and work at concerts and festivals where I love taking photos of my favourite bands. Below is a few of them.
Currently, I am working on a band with a few friends where I play bass and guitar.
Music is my escape from reality, and I believe it to be the solution to world peace.
I also really enjoy hiking, and various other outdoor activities during the times I’m not attending shows.
I spend a lot of time on Dartmoor or on Portland jumping from cliffs with friends.
Other interests
As a part-time project, I currently maintain an operating system I have written using C++ and Assembly. This project aims to be run on old computers to “modernise” anything from old 386’s to Apple ][‘s with access to newer technologies like web browsers while keeping to the roots of the original systems.
It’s currently in a VERY rudamentary stage, and only runs on a few systems with many features missing, however the community I’ve built around it improves on this daily.
I plan on releasing it to the public next year, where I am sure more people will contribute to it.