May 12, 2026 Update: An actual domain now?

You read that right. This site finally has its own proper domain after four years of existing.

I’ve actually wanted a domain for a while now but I was quite hesitant about it. It always felt like one of those “someday” upgrades rather than something I would actually commit to. Part of that was uncertainty and part of it was not really knowing how far I wanted to take this site since it is not updated very often, but here we are.

The Mainframe now has a proper home on the web and it feels like a small step forward for the site.

So... now what?

Well, you may have noticed this site's code is now hosted on Codeberg instead of GitHub, with the custom domain pointing to it. I’ve been gradually trying to move toward more FOSS-focused services and platforms where possible. Codeberg is a non-profit, community-driven alternative to GitHub that runs on a modified version of Forgejo and so far I’ve honestly been enjoying it quite a bit.

The move was not entirely smooth, though. Getting everything working properly, especially the custom domain setup, took a fair bit of trial and error. Then there were DNS headaches and figuring out how Codeberg Pages behaves compared to GitHub Pages.

I do not know if this site will suddenly become super active or anything like that but having an actual domain makes the whole thing feel a little more “real” now. Even if updates are infrequent, it is nice knowing The Mainframe finally has a proper place on the web.

Part one of the FOSS move has also been trying to make everything feel a little less scattered. I have accounts, emails and services spread across way too many places, so I have been slowly trying to bring things together where I can. One example of that is using Thunderbird instead of constantly jumping between different email providers and browser tabs. Being able to manage everything in one place has honestly made things feel a lot less messy.

I am not planning to suddenly replace every proprietary thing I use overnight, though. Some software still works better for what I need, and some things just do not really have FOSS alternatives that fit my use cases yet. For me, this is more of a gradual transition rather than an all-at-once switch.

Part two of the FOSS move has also been experimenting more with privacy-focused services. One example of that is switching over to Proton’s ecosystem for things like VPN usage. I originally started looking into it because of all the increasing age verification laws, online restrictions and general privacy concerns that keep appearing lately.

I ended up going with ProtonVPN since it felt like a decent balance between usability, privacy and actually having features I would use plus I have used their free plan in the past. Their apps are open source, the company is based in Switzerland and unlike a lot of “free” VPNs, it does not immediately feel sketchy which, well... I definitely cannot say for some of the ones I used in the past (looking at you, Psiphon, though to be fair at least that is open source too).

I am currently using the paid plan since the free version blocks things like torrent traffic, which is fairly standard for most VPN providers anyway. The Unlimited plan also comes bundled with some of Proton’s other services so it ended up making more sense for me than just paying for a standalone VPN subscription.

I have also looked into alternatives like Mullvad since a lot of people in privacy communities recommend it, though it lacks port forwarding support which can affect connectivity in some situations. Right now Proton has just worked better for my own setup overall.

Part three of the FOSS move is... honestly, I do not really know yet. I already use MX Linux on a second drive but Windows 10 is still my main OS, mainly for day-to-day use. I suspect the next step might be consolidating more of my workflow there, maybe eventually making it a primary environment for certain tasks or experimenting more with self-hosting and local-first tools. For now it feels more like an open-ended phase than a defined plan.

Oh, and also. I am aware some parts of the site are broken or the domain keeps going down. I plan on fixing the site but idk why it keeps going down though time for me to clock out. It's 6am for me as I write this and I've been up all night configuring this stuff...