Welcome to Bit Powder, a virtual place for technology with low footprint: either low memory requirements, low energy consumption, or both. For example, this website runs on a special web server, costing only tens of MiB of memory. This includes an in-memory search index, for fast searching.
Tech used regularly:
Framework mainboard upgrade & install
2026-01-17 Recently I upgraded the mainboard of my Framework 13 laptop from a 12th generation 1240P mainboard to a Core series 155H mainboard. Hardware-wise it was really smooth, but there was a boot issues as it could not find the correct UEFI boot partition.
Apps
Making the Linux desktop more productive, with apps like clippy (ssh clipboard), tmuxstatus (tmux status line), gestures (swipes for touchpads). And platform independant utilities like genny (text generator), and butlery (webserver).
Libraries
Libraries, e.g. expry (expression evaluator), hairy (templates), and libpep (pseudonimisation and encryption).
Docs
Docs for syntax supported by the apps and libs of Bit Powder: markdowny version, hairy text templates, expry expressions, and embedded Lua API offered.
About me
This site is created and maintained by me, Bernard van Gastel. I like tech stuff, focusing on minimal resource usage (especially memory and energy), domotica, internet services, crypto protocols. Stuff like that. I'm actually a computer science researcher working on sustainability of computer programs, and diving into social inequality due to a growing digital divide. So basically I'm trying to make a significant (positive) impact on society. This aligns neatly with the current motto of my employer: the Radboud University uses the slogan 'a significant impact'. I also have a site focused on my academic work. This site is for my non-academic work, mainly programming. Have fun!