I’ve been working on a small personal Linux project called BasementOS — a distro that blends functional customization with a bit of atmospheric “ghost in the machine” flavor.

Today I finished Quest 4, which focused on adding system services, background rituals, and a dynamic MOTD. None of this is meant to be production-grade (yet), but it’s been a fun way to learn more about systemd, logging, and scripting.

What I added in Quest 4:

🧩 1. CPU Load Ghost Daemon (Channel 3)

A systemd service (basement-ghostd.service) that monitors 1-minute load average and writes themed log entries to:

/var/log/basementos/ghost.log

It records when the system is calm vs overloaded, and can optionally broadcast wall messages (disabled by default).

🧩 2. Disk Usage Ghost Daemon (Channel 1)

Another service (basement-ghostd-disk.service) that monitors root filesystem usage and logs when storage fills up:

/var/log/basementos/disk-ghost.log

Mostly just a fun way to practice systemd service creation and scripting around df.

🧩 3. Hourly Confessional Timer

A simple oneshot script (basement-confession) triggered by a systemd timer:

basement-confession.timer

Every hour it writes a random “confessional entry” to:

/var/log/basementos/confessions.log

This is mostly playful, but it’s also a nice, lightweight example of timers + logging + script generation.

🧩 4. Dynamic MOTD Integration

Created a module in /etc/update-motd.d that displays the most recent lines from all three logs on login. It works as a quick status dashboard for CPU load, disk usage, and the hourly ritual.

Why I’m doing this

BasementOS started as a fun side-project to learn more about:

• system services
• timers
• daemon-style scripts
• logging structure
• MOTD customization
• distro-building foundations

Over time it’s grown into a quirky little environment that feels “alive” when it boots.

Next steps (Quest 5):

Right now I’m planning:

• a BasementOS health command
• basic installer script
• packaging configs
• and eventually experimenting with ISO remastering

If anyone has recommendations, tools, or tips for the ISO stage, I’m all ears.

Thanks for reading — happy to share more if anyone’s curious or wants to see the scripts/services. It’s been a fun way to learn more about the internals of the system.