Uses / Gear

The tools behind the work.

A practical inventory of the hardware, software, and workflows behind the lab.

uses

Hardware

  • Primary AMD/NVIDIA workstation for daily work, gaming, and local AI experiments
  • M2 MacBook Air used for mobile work and macOS-specific testing
  • KAMRUI Hyper H1 mini PC with a Ryzen 7 6800H and 64 GB RAM running the main Proxmox lab
  • Synology DS923+ NAS with four 18 TB drives for storage, media, and backup targets
  • 1500VA-class UPS protecting the core workstation, NAS, and mini PC
uses

Software

  • Astro, TypeScript, Markdown, and MDX for this site
  • Git-backed notes, projects, and infrastructure configuration
  • A password manager for credential hygiene and SSH/key management patterns
  • Codex and AI assistants for drafting, code review, planning, and release-note review
uses

Homelab

  • Proxmox for VMs, LXCs, snapshots, and lab workload separation
  • Synology NAS for photos, storage, Time Machine, media, Proxmox backups, and workstation backups
  • Docker, Compose, Portainer, and Forgejo for self-hosted applications
  • Tailscale and Cloudflare Tunnel for private and browser-based remote access
uses

Network And Smart Home

  • Home network stack with 2.5 GbE LAN and Wi-Fi 7
  • AdGuard Home for network-level DNS filtering and remote-device DNS
  • Home Assistant for lights, fans, climate, media scenes, and safe household automations
  • IP cameras and object-detection experiments documented only in generalized form
uses

Development tools

  • Forgejo for local Git hosting and private project history
  • Portainer pulling Compose stacks from Git-backed configuration
  • Semaphore/Ansible experiments for repeatable maintenance workflows
  • Guacamole for browser-based remote desktop access when client software is not available
  • Cloudflare Pages for static deployment of the public portfolio
uses

Learning resources

  • Networking, VPN, NAT, DNS, and segmentation lessons from the lab
  • Cybersecurity learning through access patterns, recovery habits, and system boundaries
  • AI-agent experiments using isolated VMs and reviewable Git history
  • Smart home and media-stack troubleshooting notes for future writeups