Getting Started with the Build
Okay, so I decided it was time to put together this thing I’ve been calling the “alexandrina sebastiane” setup. My old way of managing… well, everything related to my projects… was just a complete mess. Files scattered everywhere, notes lost in the digital ether. Had to do something.
First step, I cleared out some space. Found an old drive I wasn’t using much and wiped it clean. Didn’t want any conflicts or leftover junk interfering. Then I started gathering the basic tools I thought I’d need. Wasn’t entirely sure, but had a rough idea.
- Needed a solid base OS. Went with a minimal Linux install I’m comfortable with. Nothing fancy.
- Pulled down the core libraries for handling data processing. Stuff I’ve used before.
- Got a simple version control system set up. Git, obviously. Didn’t want to lose progress if I messed up bad.
Basically just laid the groundwork. Like prepping the workshop before starting the actual woodworking, you know?
Putting the Pieces Together
This is where things got a bit more hands-on. Installing the base OS was straightforward. Did that a million times. Then came installing the specific packages. That took some fiddling. Dependency hell, the usual story. Spent a good couple of hours just getting the environment stable. Making sure all the library versions played nice together was key.
Next, I started configuring the core application. This ‘alexandrina’ part is really about data ingestion and structuring. Had to write some custom scripts to pull data from different sources I use. Nothing too complex, mostly parsing text and log files. Used Python for this, just because I can write it quickly, even if it’s not always the prettiest code.
Then I tackled the ‘sebastiane’ component. This was meant to be the analysis and reporting engine. Bolted on a simple database, something lightweight like SQLite to start. Didn’t need massive scale, just something to query the structured data. Wrote more scripts to transform the ingested data and load it into the database tables. This part involved a lot of trial and error. Run script, check output, tweak script, repeat. Getting the data schema right took longer than I expected.
Ran into a snag where timestamps weren’t parsing correctly from one data source. Dates are always a pain. Had to write a specific workaround just for that source. Annoying, but necessary.
The Result – How It Runs Now
So, after all that tinkering, what do I actually have? Well, the ‘alexandrina sebastiane’ build is up and running. It’s basically an automated system now. The ‘alexandrina’ scripts run periodically, grabbing new data from the sources I configured. They clean it up a bit and stage it.
Then, the ‘sebastiane’ scripts kick in. They take the staged data, apply the transformations I defined, and load it into the SQLite database. I built a very basic web interface using Flask – again, Python, keeping it simple – just to view the processed data and run some simple reports I need.
It’s not enterprise-grade stuff, not by a long shot. It’s clunky in places. The code could be cleaner. But you know what? It works. For my specific needs, it gets the job done reliably. I can check the reports I need quickly, the data updates automatically. Took me a few solid evenings and a weekend to get the first version working. It’s my own little data machine, built from scratch. Pretty satisfying, honestly. Does what it says on the tin.
