Uses / Gear

The tools behind the work.

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

Inventory

Tools grouped by how they are used.

The inventory focuses on roles, workflows, and the parts of the setup that matter to the work.

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