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Although a fun activity, do not set high expectations out of personal automation. I think the quoted XKCD [1] (also [2]) strip illustrates the glory and peril o

by raldu 9y ago

Although a fun activity, do not set high expectations out of personal automation. I think the quoted XKCD [1] (also [2]) strip illustrates the glory and peril of personal automation enough. Automation makes most sense in the true context where it belongs, "business." Automating a complicated e-mail marketing process with targeting, statistics and all makes sense because you need tens of thousands of instances of that process to be executed to create business value. Except for rare idiosyncratic use cases, spending time in personal automation is more of a hobbyist and educational activity. Further, if the use case is not "that" rare, there is almost always "an app for that" anyway. Therefore, have no high expectations out of that. With that disclaimer in mind, if you are into it, check out the open-source project Huginn [3] that can "Create agents that monitor and act on your behalf." for personal automation. Lastly, the industry standard of cloud API integration currently might be Zapier [4], which has more integrations, (business) battle-tested features compared to end-user oriented IFTTT. ---- 1: https://xkcd.com/1319/ https://xkcd.com/1319/ 2: https://xkcd.com/1205/ https://xkcd.com/1205/ 3: https://github.com/huginn/huginn https://github.com/huginn/huginn 4: https://zapier.com https://zapier.com

falsedan 9y ago
When you indent-quote the postscript links, HN’s parser skips turning them into links. This makes it hard to visit them! Copy-paste is pretty unpleasant on mobile and I can’t imagine how crummy it is in a screen reader…
gt_ 9y ago
The comic strip was tough to swallow for me, having spent the last few months automating configuration of my Windows workstation setup I use for 3D/VR. I was doing freelance jobs and had my workstation collapse a few times during aggressive deadline sprints so I figured I would automate the rebuild so that reinstalling the OS becomes more of a Plan A than a Plan B. Why am I posting this here? I am honestly on the fence about whether this has been a good use of my time. It took longer than expected and I had to use Powershell for some of it, which was just dreadful. It was ‘for business’ but I am still not sure it was a great call. Has anyone else out there found themselves automating something like this? Was it worth it?
- contingencies 9y ago
  Set yourself a goal never to do that again. Learn about modern filesystems with snapshots like ZFS, and PXE. If you don't need native performance, use a VM in preference to PXE. This is how many cluster/cloud data centers operate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapshot_(computer_storage) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapshot_(computer_storage) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment
  - gt_ 9y ago
    Thanks for the response. I will certainly research these items. Unfortunately, I do need native performance. My workstation runs a 5960X, 256 GB RAM, x4 GTX 980 Tis, a stack of SSDs and I use all of it regularly. I’m very curious about this PXE solution. I am googling now. If anyone has pointers on methods that fit my needs, I would be gracious. Thanks! UPDATE: Reading the Wikipedia on PXE suggests to me I would be using one of the Microsoft deployment solutions. I messed with these a littleand it felt like cutting bread with a chainsaw. It sort of worked but, on top of many known bugs, it it was designed for big deployments, prioritizing hundreds of features and admin relationships that I have no need for. Maybe I’m looking at the wrong thing, but it’s pretty hard to tell. My general goal in my scripting solution was to automate out the Windows annoyances like UAC, bloatware, registry configs, and software installation. I learned how to do that with scripting and it seems predictable even after OS updates, and I can modify it very easily. It has a few run-all directories for quick mods, and some .jsons with config data. I made an install USP that puts a script on my desktop which installs git, pulls my setup repo down and runs it, downloading files needed from my google drive... just to give a picture of what worked. It takes about the length of a lunch break to run and I’m back in action, with exception of a few licensed softwares that I chose not to automate. I’m still interested in learning better solutions.
    - devereaux 9y ago
      With a large storage space, once your installation is done, from a linux: cat /dev/sde3 > /storage/windows-vr-installation.bin Then when the install dies for some reason, restore it with: cat /storage/windows-vr-installation.bin > /dev/sde3 You will say it is inefficient. Maybe. On an optane 900, the burst write speed will be decent enough. Keeping .bin images that are a few Tb is not really a problem with modern setup (zfs, raid, etc.) I know there are commercial solutions doing that, but I wouldn't bother much with that. A simple free software setup will end up being more efficient if you know some basics. If I were you, I really wouldn't bother more than that with automation for reinstalls. You are not deploying to N identical devices (in which case the above trick may still work by having sufficiently similar workstations, and a special licensing scheme - I often buy a few similar laptops for the same reason). Regarding native performance, since being able to reconfigure windows quickly seems very important, if I were you I would do a GPU passthrough. KVM on computers with VT-d etc offers near native performance. That's what gamers do, and I trust them for their insane attention to fps performance :-) It may take some time for the initial tweaking (recompiling kernels, selecting some hardware etc) but it very possible, and also very stable. And it is more and more common. (disclamer: I sell such solutions, and do various weird things for my clients -- including supporting Wine when their need for a very stable solution is greater than the costs of the time I will bill them + the specific hardware I will have them buy to guarantee the speed of the results)
weaksauce 9y ago
A lot of these personal automation things(and helpful scripts and aliases) are not so much a timesaver to me but a way to make the time I interact with a computer more pleasant. Like steel toed boots vs. stubbing your toe all the time. Yeah stubbing your toe is unpleasant but ultimately un harmful and does not last long. I'd still prefer to have the boots. The other aspect of it is that it may help you keep long trains of thought or keep you in the zone longer if there are fewer interruptions.
- mathgeek 9y ago
  > Yeah stubbing your toe is unpleasant but ultimately un harmful and does not last long. As someone with ingrown toenails that has ended up at the podiatrist when I stubbed a toe badly enough, I respectfully disagree with your analogy. :)
jjeaff 9y ago
I used to think that way about how one automation, but I kind of got into it, and now, I realize how fastidious it was to turn off all the lights and adjust the thermostat when I leave home. Or get out of bed and adjust the thermostat or back up to turn off that light in the kitchen. It doesn't likely save me tons of time, but I feel like it lowers my stress levels by letting me just sit and relax or work or read for longer periods of time uninterrupted.

by raldu 9y ago

falsedan 9y ago

When you indent-quote the postscript links, HN’s parser skips turning them into links. This makes it hard to visit them! Copy-paste is pretty unpleasant on mobile and I can’t imagine how crummy it is in a screen reader…

gt_ 9y ago

The comic strip was tough to swallow for me, having spent the last few months automating configuration of my Windows workstation setup I use for 3D/VR. I was doing freelance jobs and had my workstation collapse a few times during aggressive deadline sprints so I figured I would automate the rebuild so that reinstalling the OS becomes more of a Plan A than a Plan B. Why am I posting this here? I am honestly on the fence about whether this has been a good use of my time. It took longer than expected and I had to use Powershell for some of it, which was just dreadful. It was ‘for business’ but I am still not sure it was a great call. Has anyone else out there found themselves automating something like this? Was it worth it?

contingencies 9y ago
Set yourself a goal never to do that again. Learn about modern filesystems with snapshots like ZFS, and PXE. If you don't need native performance, use a VM in preference to PXE. This is how many cluster/cloud data centers operate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapshot_(computer_storage) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapshot_(computer_storage) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preboot_Execution_Environment
- gt_ 9y ago
  Thanks for the response. I will certainly research these items. Unfortunately, I do need native performance. My workstation runs a 5960X, 256 GB RAM, x4 GTX 980 Tis, a stack of SSDs and I use all of it regularly. I’m very curious about this PXE solution. I am googling now. If anyone has pointers on methods that fit my needs, I would be gracious. Thanks! UPDATE: Reading the Wikipedia on PXE suggests to me I would be using one of the Microsoft deployment solutions. I messed with these a littleand it felt like cutting bread with a chainsaw. It sort of worked but, on top of many known bugs, it it was designed for big deployments, prioritizing hundreds of features and admin relationships that I have no need for. Maybe I’m looking at the wrong thing, but it’s pretty hard to tell. My general goal in my scripting solution was to automate out the Windows annoyances like UAC, bloatware, registry configs, and software installation. I learned how to do that with scripting and it seems predictable even after OS updates, and I can modify it very easily. It has a few run-all directories for quick mods, and some .jsons with config data. I made an install USP that puts a script on my desktop which installs git, pulls my setup repo down and runs it, downloading files needed from my google drive... just to give a picture of what worked. It takes about the length of a lunch break to run and I’m back in action, with exception of a few licensed softwares that I chose not to automate. I’m still interested in learning better solutions.
  - devereaux 9y ago
    With a large storage space, once your installation is done, from a linux: cat /dev/sde3 > /storage/windows-vr-installation.bin Then when the install dies for some reason, restore it with: cat /storage/windows-vr-installation.bin > /dev/sde3 You will say it is inefficient. Maybe. On an optane 900, the burst write speed will be decent enough. Keeping .bin images that are a few Tb is not really a problem with modern setup (zfs, raid, etc.) I know there are commercial solutions doing that, but I wouldn't bother much with that. A simple free software setup will end up being more efficient if you know some basics. If I were you, I really wouldn't bother more than that with automation for reinstalls. You are not deploying to N identical devices (in which case the above trick may still work by having sufficiently similar workstations, and a special licensing scheme - I often buy a few similar laptops for the same reason). Regarding native performance, since being able to reconfigure windows quickly seems very important, if I were you I would do a GPU passthrough. KVM on computers with VT-d etc offers near native performance. That's what gamers do, and I trust them for their insane attention to fps performance :-) It may take some time for the initial tweaking (recompiling kernels, selecting some hardware etc) but it very possible, and also very stable. And it is more and more common. (disclamer: I sell such solutions, and do various weird things for my clients -- including supporting Wine when their need for a very stable solution is greater than the costs of the time I will bill them + the specific hardware I will have them buy to guarantee the speed of the results)

weaksauce 9y ago

A lot of these personal automation things(and helpful scripts and aliases) are not so much a timesaver to me but a way to make the time I interact with a computer more pleasant. Like steel toed boots vs. stubbing your toe all the time. Yeah stubbing your toe is unpleasant but ultimately un harmful and does not last long. I'd still prefer to have the boots. The other aspect of it is that it may help you keep long trains of thought or keep you in the zone longer if there are fewer interruptions.

mathgeek 9y ago
> Yeah stubbing your toe is unpleasant but ultimately un harmful and does not last long. As someone with ingrown toenails that has ended up at the podiatrist when I stubbed a toe badly enough, I respectfully disagree with your analogy. :)

jjeaff 9y ago

I used to think that way about how one automation, but I kind of got into it, and now, I realize how fastidious it was to turn off all the lights and adjust the thermostat when I leave home. Or get out of bed and adjust the thermostat or back up to turn off that light in the kitchen. It doesn't likely save me tons of time, but I feel like it lowers my stress levels by letting me just sit and relax or work or read for longer periods of time uninterrupted.