SENAITE open-source laboratory information system for Pakistan
My main global health focus is still on setting up SENAITE open-source laboratory information system for a provincial lab in Pakistan; I wrote up the post-installation steps; partners are engaging well, we are adding more and more metadata, and we are hopefully nearing the stage where it can be used in production; I did a presentation on the work at a conference, which generated some interest; I found and reported a bug in the senaite.patient add-on; I was slightly worried that not all of the SENAITE API would work but I haven’t had any problems yet, and I’ve written some useful R functions to query the API; I treated myself to the Senaite Starter Package to help me understand SENAITE internals and add more functionality, though haven’t played with it yet; I’ve also worked out how to add Urdu subtitles to recordings of my training presentations on SENAITE, though it doesn’t work perfectly.
Joining Bluesky
I now have a social media presence! on Bluesky and have abandoned my RSS feeds for the moment; you can find me as @paulcleary.net; I like it so far - it is like Twitter in the good old days; I made the mistake of following too many people at first and then found this tip for doing a mass unfollow; I somehow have over 1,000 followers but my geekery, occasional inanity and absolute avoidance of political commentary will hopefully have led most of them to “mute” me; at the moment I only follow a restricted number of people, such as people I know or particularly interesting people, and also follow a “list” of interesting but prolific accounts, and a “feed” (constructed in SkyFeed) based on various keywords
Home server setup with Nextcloud and BorgBase
I have set up my own home server now; I like the Nextcloud All-In-One version; it does use a lot of RAM but it is great for updates and backups (I am now using BorgBase as my offsite backup)
Advent of Code 2024 in R
I enjoyed doing some Advent of Code last year, all using R; I only got part way through day 9 before running out of spare time, but think I could get further next time; I have put my solutions here and here.
A useful Shiny app
I have uploaded the most useful and used Shiny app I ever did.
Running Python apps from R
I have also been playing with running Python apps from R.
Text from an old blog
Also uploaded the text of an abortive previous blog.
LibreELEC media centre on an old laptop
I have a few old laptops which were discarded by my wife; I have installed LibreELEC on one of them (a very old laptop with no functioning battery, that even refused to start until I changed some BIOS options) and connected it to the TV; it’s great! I can now watch my collection of old ripped DVDs and YouTube downloads, and easily transfer video files from my phone or other computers on the local network via Samba
Pop! OS and a dying desktop machine
My home Linux desktop machine, an old Intel NUC running Elementary OS, is dying; I’ve pulled it apart multiple times over the years to clear out dust; wi-fi and Bluetooth don’t work anymore; the system flickers and Firefox frequently crashes; printing and Ethernet networking work variably; I just installed Pop! OS by System76 to see what the fuss is about; it has a great GUI, possibly the best I have seen on Linux, but I do need a new computer and have just ordered a cheap replacement mini PC from alibaba.com (if it is any good I will do a review)
Causal inference course and ethical hacking
I now have a passing grade on my course: Causal Diagrams: Draw Your Assumptions Before Your Conclusions | edX and I’ll finish it soon (might add my notes to the blog) and then might start to learn about ethical hacking from Hack The Box: The #1 Cybersecurity Performance Center
New blog theme
I have also altered the format to use a new theme that became available; not sure I like it, but it is fine for the moment