Having resumed my interest in mucking about with computers I have built up quite a nice home lab. There is:
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one full size PC with Linux Mint which is my main day-to-day workhorse
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another full size PC which is quite old and slow but a useful box for experimenting with
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3 Raspberry Pi 4Bs 4MB which are the headless servers for various software such as Pi-Hole, Dokuwiki, Silverbullet, WireGuard, FireFly3 etc.
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1 Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, also headless, which is an experimental internet facing web server
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1 Raspberry Pi 4B 8MB currently unassigned.
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1 old Samsung laptop, well out of date but which I can put into service if I need to go portable.
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1 Framework laptop on order to replace the above
I spend many hours experimenting with Docker, Git, CLI network configuration and trying different software and different ways of doing things. In the last few months I have learned so much about how to make Linux work for me. I’m getting quite good on the command line, written short shell scripts to perform regular backups. I’ve installed my own firewall and router using pfSense, and even - eventually - got IPv6 working - but I still don’t quite understand it. However, I have so far failed to get Unbound working. I did manage to get all the home network routed through Pi Hole and set up Wireguard VPN so that I can access it all while away from home.
Getting this blog up and running, and setting up a self hosted home page for another internet domain I have are also great achievements for me. Something I have always dreamed of doing, but for some unaccountable reason I was afraid to do. The learning curve of httpd, reverse proxies and Apache just seemed insurmountable; but I got there in the end.
Anyway, here I am today invigorated by my achievements and wanting a more practical reason for pratting around with computers. I am running out of ideas for projects with my home lab – it is becoming a bit like re-arranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. On a couple of occasions I have started to learn Python, I did the free course on Udacity, and some tutorials and exercises from other sites, but other things got in the way so I never really consolidated my learning. I would quite like to to that again but I really need a motivation - a particular reason (project) for learning.