September 13, 2026 · Software
145 Days of Uptime, 56 TiB of Traffic, One Debian Upgrade
What upgrading the Debian server that runs my smart home, NAS, NVR, TV, monitoring, development environment and local applications taught me about modern bare-metal Linux.
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August 17, 2026 · Software
We Just Wanted to Deploy a PHP Website
What started as a small deployment modernization turned into a journey through Forgejo runners, isolated CI, custom Docker images, PHP 8.5, Yarn 4, reproducible artifacts, restricted SSH and our own provisioning stack — all so a PHP website could update itself in under a minute.
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April 20, 2026 · Software
CoreDNS at Home: Reclaiming Local DNS from pfSense
Local DNS starts out harmless: a few host overrides here, one internal service there. But once VLANs, multiple interfaces, and a growing homelab enter the picture, those convenient little firewall UI entries turn into hidden infrastructure state.
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May 14, 2025 · Technology · 1 Comment
Cheap Bits, Solid Data: Building a Whole‑House Climate Monitor
Turn a cheap DVB-T USB stick and €20 wireless sensors into a reliable, real-time climate monitoring system for your entire house. This guide walks you through setting up tfrec on Linux, collecting temperature and humidity data over 868 MHz, and integrating it seamlessly into OpenHAB, Home Assistant, or any MQTT-capable platform. No cloud, no vendor lock-in—just efficient, low-cost data from every room.
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December 01, 2024 · Software
Securing Your LAN with SSL: A Comprehensive Guide for Home Servers
Secure your local network with trusted SSL certificates that are recognized by every device. In this guide, we’ll explore how to set up out-of-the-box SSL for your LAN projects, highlight the advantages of owning a personal domain, and discuss how even a modest investment can elevate your web presence.
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November 24, 2024 · Software
What's the Most Reliable Way to Run Jobs Every Minute?
Running jobs every minute might sound simple, but there’s a lot that can go wrong. From overlapping tasks to missed executions, choosing the right approach is crucial for reliability. While tools like cron and systemd timers are great for most use cases, I’ve found that a custom PHP daemon strikes the perfect balance of control and flexibility for certain scenarios.
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November 09, 2024 · Software
Ventoy: The Game-Changer for ISO Booting – Say Goodbye to Burning ISOs Forever
Ever found yourself scrambling to "burn" yet another ISO onto a USB stick, juggling formats and wasting time reformatting? With Ventoy, there's a better way. This tool transforms any USB drive into a multi-boot powerhouse, allowing you to carry all your essential OS and utility ISOs in one place, making it invaluable for troubleshooting, setup, and backup tasks.
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November 01, 2024 · Software · 10 Comments
Ultimate Guide to Configuring Samba for Time Machine Backups on Debian Servers
Setting up Time Machine backups for Apple devices on a Linux-based NAS has become significantly easier and faster thanks to Samba’s new features. With a well-configured Samba server on Debian, you can seamlessly backup macOS devices over the network and access your NAS with minimal setup. No more manually creating sparsebundles or struggling with complex configurations.
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September 16, 2024 · Software · 3 Comments
How to Create and Serve Europe’s Maps with OpenStreetMap
Ready to take your OpenStreetMap skills to the next level? In this post, we walk you through creating a custom tile server for the entire European region—from setting up powerful hardware to generating map tiles and serving them on your own web server.
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September 09, 2024 · Software · 1 Comment
Map Mastery: My Journey to Building an OpenStreetMap Server
Ever wondered what it takes to create your own map server using OpenStreetMap data? Spoiler: it’s a long, winding journey filled with challenges, retries, and valuable lessons. In this post, I share my experience navigating the complexities of OSM.
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September 02, 2024 · Technology · 1 Comment
Airplane Tracking Made Easy: My ADS-B Adventure
Airplanes have always fascinated me, but the ability to receive and track their signals took this fascination to a new level. With a simple DVB-T stick and a bit of DIY enthusiasm, I built my own ADS-B antenna and dove into the exciting world of flight tracking.
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July 22, 2024 · Software
High-Precision Time with GPS on a Raspberry Pi and providing it via NTP
Ever wanted to maintain high-precision time in your local network, independently from public NTP servers? Whether for projects like an ADS-B airplane tracker or just to have an ultra-precise time source, setting up a GPS-based NTP server on a Raspberry Pi can be the perfect solution. In this detailed guide, I'll walk you through every step of the process.
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