A year (or probably two now), I converted all of my personal services into a Kubernetes cluster. We’ve been moving toward Kubernetes at work and so I wanted to know how it worked from the inside by building a cluster myself. Part of that hosting work includes hosting a site for the homeschool coop my wife leads, a web site for a weekly “geek lunch”, and also hosting our city mayor’s campaign web site.

I am working on a robotics project with my 3 boys. For this project, I have designed the core components to be a Raspberry Pi, an Adafruit Circuit Playground Express (CPX), and an Adafruit Crickit Hat. The Raspberry Pi will be running firmware written by me to control the Crickit Hat. This firmware will directly drive the sensors, the motors, the servo, and other hardware. The Raspberry Pi also communicates over USB to the CPX to provide high level sensor information and receive commands.

For my first real post of my new blog, let’s talk about multi-stage docker builds. This blog is built with the aid of just such a build. A multi-stage docker build gives you the ability to build multiple containers. In the case of my build, it helps me build a single end-product that’s uncluttered by extra build configuration and tooling. Why multi-stage? Docker holds a place in the modern development pipeline for deployed applications similar to the role the classic Makefile has in building packaged applications.

So here’s the story. For most of my adult life I have had a blog of some kind. I like to write. It’s a great way to blow off steam. I also like to brag about things I’m doing or learning about. It’s a pride issue, but I like to think I do interesting things others would be interested in too. My last blog atrophied as such things do. My posts had gotten short enough to be in Facebook post range, so I’ve been doing just that then.