My smart home was a mess until I gave it a brain
…Instead of saving time, my setup created small interruptions throughout the day that slowly reduced my productivity. I didn’t want more devices or more apps. I wanted my smart home to…
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My entire home lab cost less than a new GPU, and it does more for me too
1d agoYour smart home needs fewer Raspberry Pis and more boring microcontrollers
2d agoThese 5 small tweaks made my self-hosted LLM setup way more productive
4d agoI spent $90 on a power conditioner, and it fixed my entire home theater setup
1w agoStop buying networking gear for your smart home that looks good on paper but fails in practice
…Sign in to your XDA account Building out a smart home can make almost any gadget look essential, especially when the box promises stronger coverage, fewer dead zones, or easier control. I…
I tried to make my Steam Deck a real server, and it’s better at it than it has any right to be
…There's no clean way to build a larger, more robust storage setup. When it comes to reliability, the Steam Deck isn’t optimized for 24/7 uptime — continuous use increases heat…
A single mini PC replaced my Raspberry Pi cluster and nearly cut my power use in half
…Why this shift changed how I build home labs now At this point, I don’t really see myself going back to a Raspberry Pi cluster for core home lab services. I…
Stop treating the Raspberry Pi 5 as a smart home hub — it's actually built for something bigger
…It can sit quietly, use little electricity, and keep the boring parts of the home lab running. The best version of this setup is intentionally restrained. Home Assistant can remain the star…
My entire homelab runs on an 8-year-old laptop most people would throw away
…Related 7 best Docker containers for home lab Building your home lab with Docker My laptop runs my digital life. That's what matters. Many assume a homelab requires enterprise-grade hardware…
TrueNAS 26 is finally catching up to Proxmox, but my home lab isn't switching
…He's been building PCs since young, and when not creating content, you can often find him inside a chassis somewhere. Sign in to your XDA account Home lab enthusiasts have had…
I run Snapcast on a Raspberry Pi, and it's a Sonos replacement that cost me nothing
…This setup is mostly for local music files. To integrate streaming services, Home Assistant, and more, my colleague Jeff Butt's recommendation is a good starting point. You can install Shairport Sync…
This open-source app lets me manage my entire homelab from Telegram, and it's changed how I maintain things
…Sign in to your XDA account Running a home lab sounds pretty simple until you actually build out your first setup. Getting the home lab up and running is only one part…
Google Home and Alexa can't do what I built in Home Assistant, and that's the whole point
…Sign in to your XDA account Google Home, Alexa, and HomeKit are the most common options when building smart home setups, and for good reason. Their plug-and-play nature, low reliance…