Reading path

Systems & Linux

A curated reading path for infra-curious frontend leads — Linux desktop, networking, containers, and shell automation.

For frontend leads who want to understand the machines their apps run on — desktop Linux, networking, containers, and automation — without becoming full-time SREs.

Desktop Linux

  1. Ubuntu, Manjaro, and the Linux Desktop — Why I rethought my desktop stack and what I learned comparing distros.
  2. How Ubuntu Ships Kernels — GA vs HWE vs OEM vs mainline, and why DKMS is the cost of jumping tracks on a laptop.
  3. How Ubuntu Ships Releases — LTS vs interim, the .1 gate, and rewriting sources only if you can recover a stuck apt.
  4. Your Desktop Is Fast — Why Does It Still Stutter? — Building a tiny app to explain desktop stutter on Linux.
  5. Memory Compression on Linux — zswap, zram, and what “free memory” actually means.
  6. The HDMI Port Was Keeping NVIDIA Awake — Hybrid PRIME is fine; native HDMI can still keep the dGPU in the display path. USB-C/TB4 DisplayPort puts the monitor on Intel.

Tools and setup

  1. How to Install Cursor IDE on Manjaro — Practical setup notes for a modern editor on Arch-based distros.
  2. A Maintainable Command-Line Workspace on Linux — A reproducible terminal, shell, multiplexer, and dotfiles foundation that works across machines and distros.
  3. How to Stretch Cursor Pro Further: A Split AI Workflow — After install: split work across ChatGPT, Claude, Ollama, and Cursor; quota mechanics and local model picks on Linux.
  4. Local AI on Manjaro: Ollama, Aider, and Cline — Follow-up to item 9: install Ollama with CUDA and wire local agents (Aider, Cline) for repo work without cloud API costs.
  5. Install oh-my-zsh in VS Code on Linux — Zsh, prompt, plugin, and editor-terminal setup for the workspace overview above.

Networking

Start the Advanced Networking in Linux series (4 posts), then continue to containers. Follow in-post series navigation between parts.

  1. Advanced Networking in Linux — VLANs, bonding, and bridging when you need more than ip addr (series anchor).
  2. Linux as a Router — Forwarding, policy routing, and nftables when packets leave the L2 domain.
  3. Network Namespaces and Virtual Links — netns, veth, and bridge vs macvlan vs ipvlan on one host.
  4. VXLAN and Why CNI Exists — Underlay, overlay, and the CNI contract — then read the container posts below.

Containers and orchestration

  1. Introduction to Docker — Container basics for developers who deploy their own apps.
  2. Getting Started with Kubernetes — A beginner’s map to orchestration concepts frontend leads encounter in production.
  3. Beyond Kubernetes — What comes after the basics when orchestration gets real (CRDs, Operators, Istio — above the pod network).

Automation

  1. Advanced Shell Scripting Techniques — Bash patterns for automating repetitive sysadmin and dev workflows.

Observability

Follow the Observability series, then the hardware-debugging pair:

  1. OpenTelemetry in Angular: Distributed Tracing — Step-by-step guide to instrumenting an Angular app for distributed tracing.
  2. Debugging Radio vs Microservices — What vintage hardware debugging teaches about observability in distributed systems.
  3. Troubleshooting Intermittent Faults in Vintage Circuits — Hunting ghost bugs in hardware — same mindset as flaky distributed systems.

Resilience

  1. Chaos Engineering: Principles and Practice — Start the Chaos Engineering series (3 posts) for frontend and backend resilience patterns.
  • Frontend Quality — Full Chaos Engineering series and frontend testing strategy.
  • AI & Data Tools — Jupyter workflows, local LLMs, and the full split-AI reading path.