Hardware

I have a lot of dumb toys lol

I've always wanted a clean homelab setup. For 20+ years, it's been duct tape and salvaged hardware and "you better not die on me because I can't replace you". It's been hell. But, over the course of 2025, I've slowly transitioned to a cleaner, less slapped-together setup.

Servers

Tycho - Everything Server
Specs: AMD Ryzen 9 3900XT, 32GB DDR4 RAM, Nvidia GeForce RX3080, 16TB DAS in RAID5

The AI write-up for this was so bad... OK, Tycho is the mule of my network. He's a Cyberpunk-era gaming rig that's been converted to the most OP Debian Linux server I've personally ever had. It's been really freeing, not relying on Windows whatsoever at home. That doesn't happen often. Tycho's where all my development happens. Claude Code runs with reckless abandon.

Docker containers serve up this website and others, media services like Plex, Jellyfin, and the Arr suite, and network monitoring tools.

On top of that, (literally it sits on top) I've got a 5-bay URAID enclosure configured in RAID 5; 4TB drives, 1 parity drive, so 16TB capacity. I call it the Cargo Bay. Get it? You get it.

Luna - 3D Print Server
Specs: Raspberry Pi 4 (1GB)

Luna's named after the moon. Obviously. She runs Octoprint, has a little pi cam hooked up, and babysits my 3D printer while I'm busy (probably breaking something on Tycho).

Pallas - PiHole
Specs: Raspberry Pi Model B (yeah, OLD)

Yeah, this thing's whole purpose is to be a PiHole. So, that's what it does. ¯\\_ (ツ) _/¯

Dawes - Network Monitor
Specs: Raspberry Pi Zero W 2

Anderson Dawes was the chief spy for the OPA, so Dawes is the chief spy of my network. He's got network scanning, Docker container monitoring, and a fully vibe-coded web dashboard to display all his findings. Also he's Pallas's backup PiHole.

Clients

Roci - My Daily Driver
Specs: Apple MacBook Air M4 2025, 16GB RAM

Again the AI write-up... cringe. Roci's my current daily driver; "Roci" is always my daily driver, but this MacBook Air is the current current one.

Anyway, this thing rocks. Battery lasts forever, unified RAM means I can run LLMs locally if I wanted, and MacOS feels more Linux-Desktop-like than ever before. The switch from my old thinkpad (obituary below) was painless.

Tablet - iPad!
Specs: Apple iPad 9th Gen 64GB

Nothing to get excited about. It's an iPad, I don't really use it anymore since the MacBook arrived. Prior to the new Roci purchase, I'd considered an iPad Pro

Phone - iPhone!
Specs: iPhone 14 Pro 128GB

Yeah there's a trend here. I've always liked Apple's hardware, it's premium af and gives me confidence my phone isn't going to shit its pants. Android has also always felt like "we got iPhone at home", to me. Yeah I know, the Linux guy hates on Android; I don't hate it, but I do think it's inferior to iOS.

I don't need my phone to be anything other than what a typical phone is, these days. Endless customization can be overwhelming, so I view Apple's deficiency as a strength.

Graveyard

Old Roci: 2019 Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon, 16GB RAM, touchscreen

My poor Thinkpad. Stickers covering every possible piece of real estate, loaded up to the nuts with RAM and SSD space, and running whatever Linux flavour I felt like farting around with at the time, mostly Arch-based. This thing rocked, I felt free. Unfortunately, during a Zoom call, I docked it to my desk and fried it, a literal ZAP from the dock cable. One USBC port never worked, so I knew this was a lemon. Made a lot of lemonade with it, though! That came out wrong.

Plexiboi: Intel Xeon 990X rig, 12GB RAM

THIS THING. This rig is the reason I home-lab as a hobby. What started as a Plex server turned quickly into a "what else can I do?" machine. Debian, then Arch, then quickly back to Debian. (as an aside... look, I get the appeal of Arch, I really do, but I'm a simple man with ADHD who's easily frustrated; so it's nice when shit just works, ya know? Especially a server.) This poor server worked its ass off like it wasn't already 10 years old when I got it, transcoding and downloading.

Retired systems: various hardware, mostly Pi's

I went through several iterations of servers/services before I found the current state. At one point, twin Pi Zero W 2's were my DNS servers (Phobos and Deimos), but they kept crashing. Pi Zeros are amazing for what they can do, but don't push them, or you'll just be disappointed like I was.

I retired server names as I went along too, as it didn't feel right to "resurrect". Again, these all came from The Expanse: Tynan, Phobos, Deimos, Ganymede, Eros, Ceres, Chetzemoka, Beacon, Transponder, and Razorback. ("Screaming Firehawk" sucks, so does Cas Anvar, fuck that guy, you ruined my 7th favourite Expanse character)