My BitTorrent Setup

28 June, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

First things first, like me, you must not download copyright protected content via BitTorrent. There’s plenty of open content available that downloads much faster on BitTorrent, compared to https and this article applies to such content.

In this post, I discuss using qBIttorrent to download data from the internet via BitTorrent. Below are the reasons that I didn’t like it

My ISP could see that I am using bittorrents.
Copyright providers can see my IP in the swarm and could trace specific downloads back to me.
Downloads were quite slow, especially with finicky seeders.
The process of looking for magnet links on sketchy websites was painful (a least 4-5 pop-ups for each click/tap). Also, I had to use a separate browser to copy magnet links because Safari doesn’t allow this.
Most RSS feeds topped out at 1080p.
qBittorrent is not under active development for macOS and is likely insecure..

My first reaction was to move to put.io, but I couldn’t justify its high subscription price considering I had already invested in a Home Server.

Enter alldebrid, which is a much cheaper and simplified alternative to Put.io. Here’s my setup

The overall setup may seem complicated, but below is a breakdown of what each individual component does.

AllDebrid

AllDebrid is basically a cloud-based service which pulls files from the torrent swarm and provides it to you as an https transfer. This is similar to what put.io does, however, AllDebrid is much cheaper, doesn’t provide permanent storage and relies on APIs for communication with other applications. Its own interface is quite barebones. This way, the torrents don’t touch your home network and your ISP sees nothing.

Files already cached with AllDebrid finish downloading in seconds (Popular TV shows etc).

RDTClient

RDTClient is basically an application which runs on your server/PC which you use to interface with AllDebrid. It uses API keys to access your AllDebrid account. It runs in a container.

The Servarr apps

The Servarr apps are a group of apps which make management of Movies and TV shows easy. Even though they all have native macOS apps, I chose to run them in containers, too, for uniformity.

Sonarr & Radarr

Sonarr is a TV show management utility. You let it scan your existing library and tell it which shows you want further automatic updates for. You can also ask it to download and maintain new TV shows for you. It has it own container.

Radarr is similar to Sonarr, but for movies. Without the additional complexity of seasons and episodes, it is much simpler in nature. Yet another container.

Both apps move the files to the appropriate folders used by Plex. In addition, they can also organise the folder and file names of your existing collection.

Although both apps can interface with torrent search engines directly, I prefer for them to go via Prowlarr for simplicity of management.

I use cloudflare tunnels to expose these applications to the internet for remote management.

Prowlarr and FlareSolverr

Prowlarr is a torrent search engine aggregator and management service. It interfaces with Sonarr and Radarr via API keys. Yet another container.

Some torrent search engines use Cloudflare protection (Like 1337x), Flaresolverr acts as a proxy to Prowlarr and bypasses Cloudflare challenges automatically, using a built-in browser. Last container for today.

Ruddarr

Ruddarr is an iOS application to manae Sonarr and Radarr. It interfaces with them via API keys and the Cloudflare tunnel.

The overall result is

All my TV show episodes download automatically after release and appear in Plex
Any movie I want to watch, I can search for, using the Ruddarr application and they appear in Plex within minutes
I can monitor progress of TV shows and downloads via Ruddarr

As you can see, during idle, 6 containers combined use less than 1% CPU and 2GB RAM.

My only problem is, it is a long chain of services interacting with each other and if something breaks, it will take quite some troubleshooting to find out where the problem is.

Technology

Mac Mini M2 Pro: Video Decoding & Encoding

21 June, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

I recently lost a bunch of videos (mostly concerts) to a disk encryption mis-understanding., so needed to rip them again from their Blu-Ray sources. Having previously done video decoding/encoding on my daughter’s Mac, I was curious to know how the Mac Mini M2 Pro would compare when doing video decoding & encoding.

I used the trusty app Handbrake for this task.

1080p Recode

I started with the Blu-Ray disc for Hell Freezes Over.

Video/Audio specifications

Source : Blu Ray Disc, Duration 1:38:45

Video : 1426×1080, 30fps, SDR, H.264 to H.265, 8-bit
Preset : Quality, 60 CQ

Audio 1 : BD-LPCM to AAC, 320kbps, Stereo, 48KHz
Audio 2 : DTS to AAC, 320kbps, 5.1, 48KHz
Audio 3 : AC3 to AAC, 160kbps, Stereo, 48KHz

The first pass was using the default H.265 option, which was noticeable faster than the Macbook Air M1. But then I found the H.265 with Apple VideoToolBox option, which allows the video decode/encode process to be handled on the GPU.

Parameter	Baseline	Regular Encoding	Apple VideoToolbox
Average Power Consumption	8W	52W	18W
Average CPU	5%	99%	22%
Average Fan Speed	1600 RPM	2950 RPM	1700 RPM
Average CPU Temp	55C	101C	63C
Average GPU Temp	44C	95C	68C
Average Frame Rate	—	58 fps	131 fps
Total Encoding time	—	58 mins	23 mins

As you can see, the performance difference is quite noticeable. With Apple VideoToolBox, the entire process is not only much faster (taking almost 70% less time), the CPU utilisation is much lower and the computer runs cooler, drawing much less power.

Handbrake 1080p Blu-Ray to H.265 software — 1080p Blu-Ray to H.265 Software vs Apple VideoToolKit Comparison

Handbrake 1080p Blu-Ray to H.265 Apple VideoToolBox — 1080p Blu-Ray to H.265 Software vs Apple VideoToolKit Comparison

2160p Recode

I decided to push the computer further, so decided to document a 4K HDR file next.

Video specifications

Source : MKV File downloaded from here, Duration 00:00:30

Video : 3840×2160, 60fps, HDR, AV1 to H.265, 10-bit
Preset : Slow, RF 51

Parameter	Regular Encoding	Apple VideoToolbox
Average Frame Rate	7.6 fps	53.7fps
Total Encoding Time	3 mins, 55 secs	35 secs

With a higher bitrate file, the difference is even more stark. The entire process completed in 85% less time.

Handbrake 2160p HDR AV1 to H.265 software — 2160p AV1 to H.265 Software vs Apple VideoToolKit Comparison

Handbrake 2160p HDR AV1 to H.265 Apple VideoToolBox — 2160p AV1 to H.265 Software vs Apple VideoToolKit Comparison

Overall, I regret not knowing about Apple VideoToolBox earlier.

Looking forward to pushing the mac for more intense tasks.

Technology

Retro Computing: Windows 98 SE/Further setup & config

18 June, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

Continuing from my last post, we look at the further setup and configuration of Windows 98 SE.

Emulator : UTM

After experimenting with UTM SE on iPad, then Synology VMM on the NAS, now I am using UTM on the Mac Mini.

Unlike the iPad, UTM on mac has full support for JIT, so performance is much better.

I use UTM Remote to access the VMs on my iPad, even though they are running on the Mac.

Windows 98 SE: Further Setup

The first screen after Windows 98 SE boots for the first time is this welcome screen. Time to disable it and prevent it from ever showing up again.

I heard the accompanying (rock) music for the first time ever, because I always had cheap AC’97 chipsets and you needed to install the drivers later, manually. Virtually, I can afford the Creative Sound Blaster 16; for which, Windows has drivers pre-installed.

The next step is to disable the Task Scheduler forever which I also, always did back in the day.

Windows 98 SE: Chipset driver setup

For the next few steps, it is advisable to keep the CD (Or the iso) popped in as windows will install a lot of drivers.

As you can see below, Windows 98 SE has failed to detect the PCI bus (and consequently, everything else connected to it). It needs a bit of manual push to be recognised properly.

Device Manager - Plug and Play BIOS — Device Manager – Plug and Play BIOS

Display a list of all the drivers — Device Manager – Plug and Play BIOS

We are at the 6th restart since starting the installation, so why not?

After the restart, Windows 98 SE detects a whole bunch of new devices, freshly exposed from behind the PCI bus. Surely some of the names are made up, right?

Intel 82441FX Pentium(r) Pro Processor to PCI Bridge — New Hardware Found : PCI Host Bridge

After the 8th reboot, yet more devices.

Intel 82371EB Power Management Controller

New Hardware Found : PCI VGA Compatible Display Adapter — Intel 82371EB Power Management Controller

It’s not Windows if it doesn’t rash a few times along the way and Scandisk gets a chance to check the disks again.

Because Windows was not properly shut down, one or more of your drives may have errors on it

Windows 98 SE: Display

With the display adapter correctly detected and the drivers installed, we can bump up the resolution and colour depth. Of course this brings us to the 10th restart.

Display Properties : High Color (16 bit) and 800 by 609 pixels

Compatibility Warning : Restart the computer with the new color settings? — Display Properties : High Color (16 bit) and 800 by 609 pixels

Now its time to set a proper theme.

This used to be my mother’s favourite theme, even if not mine. I used to keep this on in hopes that she would like it and let me use the computer for some more time.

Time to shut down the VM and let it rest for yet another adventure for another day.

Microsoft Windows 98: Windows is shutting down

Rant

Bye Bye Jetpack? Not so fast!

14 June, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

For those who don’t know, Jetpack is Automattic’s WordPress plugin, which connects your blog to their cloud service and provides a number of features.

I have been using Jetpack for as long as I remember having this site on WordPress. And for most of the time, it has worked well.
However, recently, I noticed that when composing posts, the block editor would get stuck “saving” and not recover at all. Over many months, it led to hours of lost work. After troubleshooting thoroughly, I found that the problem only happened when Jetpack was enabled.

After begging a few days on their support forums and not receiving any response, I decided to ditch it once and for all and look at other options.

I knew there’s no single plugin that can replace Jetpack in totality, but when I made a list of the Jetpack features I use and how many plugins it would take to replace it, I was shocked.

Below is a description of what I did.

Social Media Share Icons

I decided to start with the easy items and immediately found “Simple Social Icons” to replace Jetpack’s social share icons.

All good. Let’s continue.

Commenting System

WordPress’s default commenting system requires a person to create an account on your blog before they can comment. Obviously this is not practical for blogs like mine where no one would bother to do this. So I tried 2 options:

Disqus

I was already familiar with Disqus, because I used it on my blog long ago, but I seem to have forgotten that it shows advertisements. I have kept my blog proudly clean over decades, why would I let a plugin display ads? Hard pass.

More things against this plugin were the requirement to create & maintain a Disqus account and it maintaining your comments on its servers, rather than integrating with WordPress’s comments (At least by default).

wpDiscuz

In-spite of the childish name spelling, this plugin was quite powerful, even with the free iteration.

This plugin actually out-performs Jetpack by allowing users to login with many different social media accounts (Jetpack allows only WordPress and Facebook accounts).

Downtime Monitoring

For downtime monitoring, I chose Pingdom’s service. The service is quite powerful, generating detailed stats, certainly more so than Jetpack which only shows up/down alerts. However, I realised later that the free tier only supports monitoring for 30 days. Since I don’t earn any money from this website, I decided to forego this feature and stay in the blind.

Fetch images directly from services

Jetpack has this nifty feature which allows you to insert royalty-free images directly from multiple image services (vs finding an image, verifying the license, saving it, then uploading it). I mostly use it for the cover image of each post.

To replace this, I found Instant Images, which allows fetching images from even more platforms.

Infinite Scroll & Lazy Load

For this, I chose WordPress Infinite Scroll – Ajax Load More, which does a good job.

Site Statistics

Cloudflare statistics example for this blog

WordPress shows you graphs of how many people visited your blog and from where. This data is widely disputed to be flawed. Since I was already using Cloudflare, I chose Cloudflare’s stats for this.

However, I didn’t find a way to view these statistics in a formatting suitable for mobile displays.

Cloudflare statistics: Requests by country

Email Subscription & Sign Up Form

I saved the most complicated for the last and eventually this was the item which eventually caused me to give up.

Basically, I wanted people to be able to sign up to my blog newsletters via a sign-up form on the blog page and then receive notification emails when there’s a new post. Simple, right? Not so

MailChimp & MC4WP

MailChimp is the world’s leading email marketing platform. You can use it for free if you have less than 2000 subscribers, which is not a problem for me.

Signing up for an account and starting a campaign requires a lot of verification (To prevent spam, they say), but I was done in an hour, including importing my existing subscribers via a .csv file.

To make a subscription form on my website for people to type their email addresses in, I used MC4WP, which is a nifty tool which can update the subscriber’s list on your MailChimp account.

The free account was suitable for my needs.

However, I got stuck on the next part, which was to automatically send a notification email to my subscribers when there’s a new post. There doesn’t seem to be a native way to do this. The method recommended by MailChimp is to set up a “classic” automation which would read from an RSS feed of my blog and trigger the email sending. However, this feature was paid and I didn’t want to pay to send emails to 30 subscribers. On to the next option, then.

Icegram Express

The big advantage of Icegram Express was that it all runs natively within your WordPress installation, without a need for an account with them.

It took me 20 minutes to configure everything and setup the automations. However, when I tried testing the email digest (I tried both WPMail and PHPmail), it would only send emails half the time. The other half, it would say it sent the email, but the recipient would never receive it.

I tried my best, but I couldn’t find another alternative.

Eventually, I took stock of where I was. I had replaced Jetpack with 5 different plugins, created accounts with 3 new services and still I was nowhere near the functionality Jetpack provided.

I made the hard decision to give up and go back to Jetpack, with a new found appreciation for how useful this plugin actually is & how much it does for free.

If I edit my posts in Firefox, I don’t run across the “saving” problem anymore, however, I have raised a feedback with Apple to hopefully get it fixed.

Gardening

Home Garden – Jade Plant (Crassula Ovata)

11 June, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

Continuing my series, this post is about the Crassula Ovata, commonly known as the Jade Plant.

Jade Plant (Crassula ovata) is a beloved succulent known for its thick, glossy, oval-shaped leaves and its tree-like appearance. Native to South Africa and Mozambique, it has become a popular houseplant around the world. It is prized for both its beauty and symbolic meaning.

Often referred to as the “money plant” or “friendship tree,” the Jade Plant is associated with good luck, prosperity, and positive energy, especially in Feng Shui practices. Its fleshy leaves are thought to resemble coins, reinforcing its connection to wealth and abundance.

My wife bought it from our local Thursday market.

I keep this plant in shade all the time, as it prefers indirect light but can tolerate low light conditions. It sits on our living room cabinet, next to the Mac Mini.

This plant requires no maintenance at all, making it perfect for those who may not have a green thumb. With proper care, they can live for decades and even grow into small indoor trees, making them a lasting and meaningful addition to any space.

I water it twice a week. It is drought-tolerant, so I don’t have to worry about watering it frequently.

Additionally, I fertilise it every 2 months or when it shows signs of growth, helping to promote healthy foliage and overall vitality.

You can read more about this plant here.

Technology

Homebridge & Plex on Home Server

7 June, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

I recently did some pretty complicated configurations on my Synology NAS & subsequently the Mac Mini & decided to make diagrams to document how things communicate with each other. The below sections describe the traffic flow for Homebridge & Plex on my home server.

Homebridge

The Homebridge traffic flow is relatively straight forward.

Homebridge acts as a bridge between IoT devices and Apple’s HomeKit. There are many 3rd party plugins for different types of devices. The plugins are searchable/downloadable from the app itself.

The traffic flow goes like:

Homebridge polls your IoT devices regularly (depending on how the plugins are built) and gets status information, storing it in a local database
Homebridge shows up as a HomeKit bridge to your HomeKit home hub and exposes all its connected accessories.

There’s a fair bit of mDNS involved for device discovery, so make sure your router allows Layer 2 multicast between the wired and wireless networks.

Plex

There are 2 use cases here, both a bit complicated

Plex Home Media Streaming

Plex Media Server is installed on my Mac Mini and can access all my media.

For devices on the local network, streaming is straight forward, the devices access Plex Media Server and stream the media.

For devices on the internet, I needed to setup a Cloudflare tunnel for remote access. This is because my ISP doesn’t provide a Public IP via which I can establish direct inbound access. Cloudflared establishes a tunnel outbound from my NAS to Cloudflare’s servers. Devices on the internet use DNS mapping on a domain name to locate the tunnel endpoint and stream media through it.

Plex IPTV Streaming

A few weeks ago, I figured out how to integrate my IPTV service with Plex. Now, Plex by itself doesn’t support IPTV services, but it does support TV tuners. That’s where Threadfin comes in.

So, there are 2 separate, independent traffic flows we need to consider.

IPTV Control Traffic

Before IPTV streaming can start, all the devices involved need to have the correct information. This is how it goes:

Threadfin fetches the channel list from the IPTV provider using an authenticated .m3u playlist
Threadfin fetches the programme guide from the IPTV provider using an authenticated .xml file
Threadfin allows you to filter both the above to reduce the list of channels sent to Plex.
Threadfin exposes itself as a TV tuner to Plex. Plex fetches the filtered list of channels and EPG information from Threadfin.

One quirk with Threadfin is that it stores the original playlist in its memory, so the container may use up a lot of RAM. My container was using 2.6GB RAM with 113k channels in the playlist. After I asked my IPTV provider to trim it, currently it is using 800MB with 37k channels.

IPTV Media streaming

Threadfin doesn’t participate in the actual media stream. When a channel is selected on Plex to be viewed, Threadfin provides Plex with the actual streaming URL.

Once Plex has the original URL, it starts fetching the stream directly from the IPTV server and provides it to all client devices, local or remote, using the same mechanism as media streaming.

Gardening

Home Garden – Bougainvillea

31 May, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

Continuing my series, this post is about the Bougainvillea that we recently bought.

Bougainvillea is a vibrant, fast-growing ornamental plant known for its explosion of colorful, papery bracts that surround its tiny, white, inconspicuous flowers. Native to South America, it’s widely cultivated in warm climates around the world for its stunning display and hardy nature.

Bougainvillea is perfect for adding bold color to gardens, balconies, and landscapes. With minimal care and the right sunny spot, it rewards with vibrant, long-lasting blooms almost year-round. It is one of the most striking flowering plants you can grow, prized for its vivid, paper-like bracts that bloom in bold colors throughout the year in warm climates. Though often mistaken for flowers, these bracts actually surround the plant’s tiny, white blossoms and are what give Bougainvillea its unmistakable appearance.

The pot is Honungspalm from Ikea.

I keep this plant in direct sunlight, on our south-facing balcony, where it receives bright sunlight 2-3 hours a day.

This plant requires low maintenance, however, pruning the branches triggers growth and maintains the desired shape.

I water it five times a week; the watering needs to be deep, filling the whole put with water.

I fertilise it every 2 months or when it shows signs of growth.

You can read more about this plant here.

Gardening

Home Garden – Lucky Bamboo (Dracaena Sanderiana)

28 May, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

Continuing my series, this post is about the Dracaena Sanderiana, commonly known as the Lucky Bamboo.

Dracaena sanderiana is a popular houseplant. People know this for its elegant, slender stalks and its reputation for bringing good fortune and positive energy. Despite its name, Lucky Bamboo isn’t a true bamboo—it belongs to the Dracaena genus, which is native to Central Africa.

My wife bought it from our local Thursday market.

This resilient plant is often used in Feng Shui to promote harmony and prosperity. Its stalks are frequently arranged in decorative groupings, with each number symbolizing a different kind of luck. For instance, two stalks for love, three for happiness, wealth, and longevity, and eight for growth and abundance. Ours has eight stalks.

So what if it’s tiny? It deserves a post.

I keep this plant in shade all the time, on our dining room table.

The Lucky Bamboo requires no maintenance at all, making it perfect for those who may not have a green thumb. Although, to be honest, I personally don’t like such hands-off plants.

I water it twice a week & drain/change the water every month, as the pot doesn’t have a drain hole; basically a bonsai.

You can read more about this plant here.

Technology

Retro Computing: Windows 2000 Professional

26 May, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

After the painful (and unstable) experience of using Windows 95 and Windows 98, Windows 2000 Professional came as a breath of fresh air. It was the first version of Windows I used, based on NT technology. While going through the process of running it on my NAS, I tried to recall what I felt the first time I installed it.

This was almost 25 years ago, and I was apprehensive about moving to a new platform. When I consulted my friend Vishal Chopra about it, his simple advice was “2000 is a higher number than 98, so it is better”.

Windows 2000 Professional: Setup

The first phase of the setup process resembled Linux more than it did other Windows versions.

Windows 2000 Setup: Setup is loading files

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Welcome to Setup — Windows 2000 Setup: Setup is loading files

Yeah sure, nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

Oooh, a shiny, new, modern file system.

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Unpartitioned space — Windows 2000 Setup: Unpartitioned space

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Existing Partitions — Windows 2000 Setup: Unpartitioned space

The part of copying files was extremely fast.

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Setup is copying files — Windows 2000 Setup: Setup is copying files

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Please wait while Setup initializes your Windows 2000 configuration — Windows 2000 Setup: Setup is copying files

The first boot screen was less modern than Windows 98. The second boot screen was more modern than Windows 98, showing a progress bar for the first time.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional: Built on NT Technology — Starting Windows

The second phased of setup felt as if it was running within Windows.

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Welcome to the Windows 2000 Setup Wizard — Windows 2000 Setup: Please wait…

Networking was pretty robust in Windows 2000 Professional. I always felt (maybe placebo effect) that my dial-up internet worked faster and was more stable on it.

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Installing Devices — Windows 2000 Setup: Installing Devices

Windows 2000 Professional Setup: Please wait while Setup: Installs Start menu items — Windows 2000 Setup: Installing Devices

The first version of Windows I used that encouraged you to configure a login password.

Welcome to the Network Identification Wizard

Welcome to the Network Identification Wizard

Windows 2000 Professional: Out of Box Experience

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional: Loading your personal settings

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional: Applying your personal settings — Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional: Loading your personal settings

The first order of business was disabling the terrible “getting started” screen forever.

believe this bubble was redundant, as people were already familiar with the Start menu for many years by now.

Second order of business was enabling web content for the desktop and exposing hidden files and folders.

Folder Options : Enable Web content on my desktop

Folder Options : Show hidden files and folders — Folder Options : Enable Web content on my desktop

Thankfully, Windows 2000 did not put Task Scheduler in the system tray by default, disabling which was also an action item with Windows 98.

The shut down experience was also much better on Windows 2000.

Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional: Saving your settings

Windows 2000 Professional: Windows is shutting down — Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional: Saving your settings

Luckily, most of the games I played back then worked well on Windows 2000; although DirectX did not come out of the box.

Gardening

Home Garden – 9 Succulents

24 May, 2025 Scurvy Dawg Leave a comment

Continuing my series, this post is about nine succulents that I recently bought.

Dog-Tail Cactus (Strophocactus Testudo)

The Strophocactus testudo, also known as Dog-Tail Cactus is a fascinating succulent that boasts long, trailing stems resembling a dog’s tail. This unique growth habit makes it a popular choice for hanging baskets and terrariums. It is the favourite of all my succulents.

This succulent is native to Central and South America, found abundantly in Brazil.

It needs careful handling, or bits of it can fall off.

You can read more about this plant, here

Peyote (Lophophora Williamsii)

Lophophora williamsii, commonly known as peyote, is a small, spineless cactus native to the southeastern United States and northern Mexico. This unique cactus is renowned for its psychoactive properties, particularly due to the presence of mescaline, a naturally occurring psychedelic compound.

Indigenous peoples in North America have used this plant for thousands of years for religious and spiritual ceremonies. It is a sacred plant that facilitates introspection, healing, and connection with the divine.

Learn more about this fascinating plant here.

Tabia Gorge Dorstenia (Dorstenia Lavrani)

Tabia Gorge Dorstenia, also known as Dorstenia Lavrani is a beautiful succulent.

It is native to Northern Somalia, specifically north of Erigavo in the Taba’a gap (Tania Gorge) where it gets its name from.

Dorstenia lavrani (Tabia Gorge Dorstenia)

In a few months, I will pot this one in a bigger pot to let it grow bigger.

You can read more about this plant here.

African Spear Plant (Dracaena angolensis)

The African spear plant, also known as Sansevieria cylindrica or Dracaena angolensis, is a striking and low-maintenance succulent native to Angola.

Its gray-green leaves often grow in a fan shape and can reach several feet in height. Some varieties are braided or trained into patterns for a decorative effect. Like other members of the Sansevieria family, the African spear plant is incredibly hardy—thriving in a range of light conditions from bright indirect light to low light—and needs minimal watering, making it perfect for beginners or busy plant lovers.

African spear plant (Dracaena angolensis)

You can read more about this plant here.

Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)

The Jade plant (Crassula ovata) is a popular succulent known for its thick, fleshy leaves that resemble small jade coins—hence the name. Native to South Africa and Mozambique, it’s often seen as a symbol of luck and prosperity, making it a common gift for housewarmings or new ventures. Easy to care for, the jade plant thrives in bright light and needs only occasional watering, making it ideal for both beginner and experienced plant lovers. Over time, it can grow into a small, tree-like shrub with a sturdy trunk and branches.

You can read more about this plant here.

Bird’s Nest Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata Hahnii)

The Bird’s Nest Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata ‘Hahnii’) is a compact, rosette-forming variety of the classic snake plant. Its short, broad leaves grow in a tight, nest-like cluster—hence the name—and feature striking green variegation with lighter horizontal stripes. Native to West Africa, this plant is incredibly hardy, tolerating low light, infrequent watering, and a range of conditions.

You can read more about this plant here.

Pies from Heaven (Sedeveria)

The Pies from Heaven plant (Sedeveria ‘Blue Elf’) is a charming hybrid succulent, a cross between Sedum and Echeveria. It features compact rosettes of chubby, bluish-green leaves that can blush with pink or red tones under bright sunlight or cooler temperatures. This drought-tolerant plant thrives in well-draining soil and lots of sunlight, making it a favorite for rock gardens, containers, and succulent arrangements. In the spring, it produces cheerful, star-shaped yellow flowers that attract pollinators and add to its appeal.

Pies from Heaven (Kalanchoe rhombopilosa) — Pies from Heaven (*Sedeveria*)

Zebra Plant (Haworthiopsis attenuata)

The Zebra Plant (Haworthiopsis attenuata, formerly Haworthia attenuata) is a small, eye-catching succulent native to South Africa. It’s named for the white, horizontal stripes that decorate its dark green, pointed leaves—resembling a zebra’s pattern. Compact and low-growing, this plant forms rosettes and is ideal for containers or small indoor spaces. It thrives in bright, indirect light and well-draining soil, requiring only occasional watering. Easy to care for and visually striking, the Zebra Plant is a favorite among succulent enthusiasts and beginners alike.

You can read more about this plant here.

Monk’s Hood cactus (Astrophytum Ornatum)

The Monk’s Hood Cactus (Astrophytum ornatum) is a striking and slow-growing cactus native to the central highlands of Mexico. It gets its name from the curved, hood-like shape of its ribs, which give it a somewhat monastic appearance. Its tall, columnar body is often ribbed and covered in small white speckles and spines, adding to its visual appeal. In summer, it may produce large, yellow, daisy-like flowers near the top, making it even more eye-catching. Hardy and drought-tolerant, the Monk’s Hood Cactus thrives in bright light and well-draining soil, perfect for arid gardens or sunny windowsills.

You can read more about this cactus here.

All 9 succulents thrive in bright sunlight in our south-facing balcony.

I water all of them twice a week, allowing the soil to dry out completely between watering sessions.

During the summer growing season, a light fertilisation every month can promote healthy growth, but it’s important to refrain from this during the dormant winter months.

AllDebrid

RDTClient

The Servarr apps

Sonarr & Radarr

Prowlarr and FlareSolverr

Ruddarr

1080p Recode

Video/Audio specifications

2160p Recode

Video specifications

Emulator : UTM

Windows 98 SE: Further Setup

Windows 98 SE: Chipset driver setup

Windows 98 SE: Display

Social Media Share Icons

Commenting System

Disqus

wpDiscuz

Related Content

Downtime Monitoring

Fetch images directly from services

Infinite Scroll & Lazy Load

Site Statistics

Email Subscription & Sign Up Form

MailChimp & MC4WP

Icegram Express

Homebridge

Plex

Plex Home Media Streaming

Plex IPTV Streaming

IPTV Control Traffic

IPTV Media streaming

Windows 2000 Professional: Setup

Windows 2000 Professional: Out of Box Experience

Dog-Tail Cactus (Strophocactus Testudo)

Peyote (Lophophora Williamsii)

Tabia Gorge Dorstenia (Dorstenia Lavrani)

African Spear Plant (Dracaena angolensis)

Jade Plant (Crassula ovata)

Bird’s Nest Snake Plant (Sansevieria trifasciata Hahnii)

Pies from Heaven (Sedeveria)

Zebra Plant (Haworthiopsis attenuata)

Monk’s Hood cactus (Astrophytum Ornatum)

Earth bound misfit, I