#home-lab
83 episodes
#5907: Rackmounting a Desktop: Size, Cases, and the Swap
How to move a working desktop into a 19-inch rack — sizing by rack unit, picking a chassis that fits your parts, and what the transplant costs.
#5782: Unraid in a VM: When the License Is the Wall
Daniel wants Unraid's parity array without Synology's lock-in. The technology works. The licensing is the wall.
#5754: Your Home Rack's Power Problem, Solved
Data centers look immaculate, your rack looks like a raccoon got into a cable box. Here's what actually transfers from pro PDUs to home.
#5753: Unpacking as a Warehouse Problem: Sorting vs. Tagging
Daniel's move is done but nothing's findable. The fix is a warehouse putaway problem — and his IKEA bag is the slowest possible tool.
#5664: Rack Dreams: Getting Display and USB Across the Room
Display over fiber is the easy part. USB is where it gets annoying — and the single-UPS dream doesn't quite close.
#5553: When 52 Volts Meets a 12-Volt Modem
A fried fiber modem raises the real question: where do you draw the line between preparedness and "done enough"?
#5522: Building a Podcast Backup Appliance
One listener wants a single-purpose box that pulls every episode to local storage he controls. Turns out the software exists — the packaging doesn't.
#5521: Old Laptops as Home Servers: A Field Guide
That dead-battery laptop in your drawer can still serve. Here's the whole playbook — headless Linux, thermals, and the battery question nobody agre...
#5457: Pigeon Alerts on a Repurposed i5: Frigate Without the TPU
Daniel wants a pigeon notification, not a custom model. Frigate already ships with bird detection — the real work is masks, zones, and filters.
#5382: 10 Commercial Gear Upgrades for Your Home
Commercial dishwashers, washers, and fridges can outlast consumer gear — if your electrical panel cooperates.
#5328: A Shabbat Radio That Can't Be Paused
A soundproof box that plays podcasts continuously — no pause, no skip, no volume. Just open the lid and listen.
#5054: Hardware Clubs for Grownups: Finding Your People
Software is solitary. Hardware is social. Here's how to find or build a space where adults and teens build together.
#4931: Building a DIY Barcode Inventory Cart
Old laptop, USB scanner, and Linux kiosk mode for a dedicated home inventory terminal.
#4925: ESP32 Mics for Remote Home Monitoring
Why an $8 ESP32 with a MEMS mic beats expensive cameras for remote audio monitoring in a vacation home.
#4827: When Your One-Person Stack Starts Fighting You
Your custom-built system was a perfect fit. Now it's a cast you can't escape.
#4640: Turning Your Home Router Into a Networking Lab
Beyond the firewall tab—using OPNsense plugins and traffic shaping to learn real networking at home.
#4498: The Smallest Windows for a Printer VM
Can you run a Windows VM so stripped down it only hosts printer drivers? We explore Server Core, IoT Enterprise, and Tiny11.
#4464: Building a $120 Porch Monitor for Construction Noise
Daniel built a weatherproof sensor system to track construction noise and dust while he's away for the summer.
#4455: Borrowing a GPU Over Your Home Network
Can you use your desktop's AMD GPU from a laptop as if it were local? We explore the real options.
#4453: Workers vs Workflows: Recovering From SSD Failure
When your VPS SSD dies at 3AM, how do you know what broke? A practical guide to self-hosted worker management.
#4452: YouTube Backup Pipeline: RSS + yt-dlp + Wasabi
Build a free, reliable pipeline to auto-download and backup YouTube videos using RSS feeds, yt-dlp, and cloud storage.
#4427: ADB + Claude Code: Clean Up Your Android Phone
An AI agent plus a 20-year-old debugging tool can strip bloatware and fix apps without root.
#4379: One Filesystem to Rule Them All
Merge Google Drive, S3, and NAS into one browsable tree on your phone.
#4362: Batteries vs. Wired: Smart Home Security for Renters
Coin cell batteries die silently. Here’s how to wire Zigbee sensors to mains power in a rental apartment.