Last week I walked into an empty 5 × 4 ft storage room. By the end of the week, that blank space held a fully functional network core designed to keep a small professional office online through power cuts, ISP hiccups, and future growth. If you run a home office or manage IT for a […]
Category: General
A New Home for MATE Desktop Users and Some Long Overdue Forum Updates
A few days ago I received an email from Eric Marceau, a longtime member of the ubuntu-mate.community forum, reaching out to ask whether LinuxCommunity.io would be willing to accommodate a group for MATE Desktop users. The ubuntu-mate.community forum announced it was shutting down and migrating MATE under the Ubuntu banner. The new Ubuntu Discourse site […]
Cloudflare with Discourse: Setup Guide (WAF & Security Rules)
I run a Discourse forum behind Cloudflare, and getting the WAF rules right took more trial and error than I expected. Discourse is a Ruby on Rails application that most people self-host in a Docker container. It handles traffic differently from a typical CMS, and generic Cloudflare WAF rules will either break your forum or […]
Trackpoint Replacement
Update: 11 years later, here are the replacements I currently use. It’s been 3 years that I’ve been using the Lenovo x301. The ONLY issue I’ve had, is the TrackPoint caps. They don’t last that long. Or maybe 3 years is a bit long. Anyway, I really love this laptop, and although I use both […]
Dewedda.com – A weather side project for where I live
I’ve been spending the past month or so working on a hobby project I started last year, a weather and hurricane tracking site built for the Eastern Caribbean. I figured it was worth sharing here since it’s a full-stack project running on a Linux/PHP stack. What is it? Dewedda.com is a hurricane tracking and weather […]
Why Small VPSs Feel Slower Than They Used To
Servers aren’t what they used to be. If you’ve spun up a small VPS (Virtual Private Server) recently and felt underwhelmed by its snappiness, you’re not alone. A basic 1-core CPU with 1 GB RAM VPS was reasonably responsive a decade ago, yet today’s entry-level instances sometimes struggle under similar workloads. This article digs into […]
Choosing a Network Switch – 6 Essential Tips
Choosing a switch can feel deceptively simple, until slow file transfers, port shortages, and similar unexpected upgrade costs remind you otherwise. Before you click “Buy,” it helps to step back and look at the entire network you’re building: how many devices you run today, where you expect growth, and which features will save you headaches […]
Self-hosted Projects That Earn (Make money from your Home lab)
If you run a home lab long enough, this realization eventually hits you: a lot of your hardware spends more time idle than working. Servers sized for future growth, machines you planned to use for one thing but never quite did, systems that stay powered on 24/7 but barely break a sweat. Thanks to how […]
Rolling Network Racks: The Ultimate Upgrade for Home Networks
This article focuses on the benefits of rolling network racks for established or expanding home networks. If you’re looking for a comprehensive guide to building your first home lab, read my Home Lab Beginners Guide to Hardware article. Managing a modern home network or home lab often involves juggling multiple devices, cables, and upgrades. After […]
AI in the Workplace: 16 Ways to Stay Ahead in 2026 & Beyond!
As we stand on the brink of 2024, 2025, 2026 AI has already established itself as an essential collaborator in the workplace. The relationship between humans and AI is growing, moving beyond just automating repetitive tasks or crunching data. We’re seeing AI step into roles that need creativity and decision-making. It’s like having an extra […]
