Show threadselfhosting.couchsurfingApr 8

the plan is to eventually use it to monitor the UPSes and probably to control some on/off switches once I get those, and thus handle power control for the whole cluster in the event of power loss.

there is an actual point to this in that I have two long-term goals for my #CouchLab

1. be able to run it entirely off solar power

2. have it fully able to live in a vehicle (even a small one) as its permanent home

the latter is because it's very unlikely I will ever own a home, and with my sensory needs, getting a house on wheels is critically important.

selfhosting.couchsurfingApr 1
if I had tons of disposable income I'd have an IP KVM in the #CouchLab just so I don't have to mess with hooking up this extremely long HDMI cable every time something breaks badly enough to require console access on a physical host.
selfhosting.couchsurfingMar 31

by the way, everybody who ever warned me (even just by leaving posts which I found & did not heed) about using USB NICs was correct. but I had to find out for myself that the vast majority of them are trash. probably still worth it given the particular #CouchLab niche I find myself in.

they don't *have* to be trash; it'd certainly be possible to make a USB network adapter with good hardware and good software support. it's just that practically no one has done so.

I mean, maybe it's not surprising given that a lot of NICs which are integrated onto motherboards in high volume are also trash for whatever reason. and not just the likes of Realtek, either. Intel has some real stinkers, some of which stayed on the market for ages.

selfhosting.couchsurfingMar 25

okay, got Proxmox up & running on the 10500T box last night, but LVM is not set up yet.

I have a decision to make on LVM caching: whether to continue with write-through cache as I've done previously, or whether to try writeback for higher performance.

the tradeoff consideration regards behavior in the event of an unsafe shutdown: https://lucaswerkmeister.de/posts/2022/07/03/lvmcache/

my #CouchLab is battery backed - by ancient low-end consumer UPSes with LFP "drop-in replacement" batteries - but I don't yet have provisions made for safe shutdown in the event of a power failure more than a few minutes. it's on the TODO list but I haven't gotten to it yet.

#LVMcache

LVM Cache Modes and Behavior

selfhosting.couchsurfingFeb 14

Patrick from #ServeTheHome with a new TinyMiniMicro video on Lenovo's new generation 2 ThinkStation P3 Tiny ... there's a lot crammed into a tiny 1-liter package!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-xVenrTcB8

#miniPC #1LPC #HomeLab #CouchLab #TinyMiniMicro #ThinkStation

Even an NVIDIA GPU and 3x SSDs fit in 1L Lenovo ThinkStation P3 Tiny Gen2

YouTube
Show threadselfhosting.couchsurfingJan 31
@saustrup this is my router + WAP at the #CouchLab for my personal network, I really enjoy the DFS channels since I live in an area with no weather radar ... full speed on a completely empty 5GHz channel in the middle of a city is nice
selfhosting.couchsurfingJan 23

I'm very happy to announce that thanks to a donor who wishes to remain anonymous, I have in my hands a FriendlyElec NanoPi M6 - in this configuration, a tiny fanless desktop #microPC based on the Rockchip RK3588S processor.

I've had my eye on this device to fill the role of ultraportable desktop PC, especially in the event my laptop ever breaks or is lost/stolen, which would instantly render me unable to work if I didn't have a backup.

because of this generous gift, I'll be able to put the #NanoPi M6 to the test, and answer my top-of-line question: just how usable is this device as a light-duty desktop PC running Linux right now, in 2026? how well is the hardware supported? will I have problems getting work done?

I'm looking forward to having answers to all that and more. be sure to keep an eye on the Peertube channel @surfhosting.cc in the coming weeks and months ... and thank you so much to my donor, you know who you are!

#CouchLab #miniPC #RK3588 #RK3588S #FriendlyElec

Show threadselfhosting.couchsurfingJan 23

this video makes the case that prices and power consumption will continue to fall for 10GbE, but at $200-300 for a 4-port switch and with the lowest-power brand new consumer NICs still pulling 3 watts, probably not yet a great #CouchLab solution.

Patrick did also note that more of these new 10GbE devices should be more likely to autonegotiate with 2.5GbE and 5GbE gear than some older 10GbE equipment apparently was.

Show threadselfhosting.couchsurfingDec 14

@dbtechyt you know what I haven't seen, a comparison of setting up basic networking (SDN simple zones vs old-style Linux bridges) in terms of features and performance.

I'm interested in SDN because I'm doing at least 4 things at once with my #CouchLab: personal "live" boxes including virtualized dev machines; personal 24/7 services which may or may not be exposed to the internet; fedi-related "work" services which are exposed to the internet; and "work" services for a mom & pop Wordpress business I have with a friend. my main concerns are security in the event somebody cracks in to one of the internet-facing services, and isolation such that work on one set doesn't affect the others.

even so, networking is one of my weaker skills and I'm not using VLANs or anything like that (yet) ... that's probably happening soon, but for now it's physical separation and Linux bridges, and I'm just starting to explore SDN. the built-in DHCP service would be another good focus if you do make another video at any point!

selfhosting.couchsurfingNov 28

I've been haunting the Black Friday threads on #LowEndTalk and finally figured out why my self-managed VPN exit is in internet jail 🚔 on so many sites ... the direct VPS provider and the provider they're reselling from are both known to be shady ... sometimes you do get what you pay for, and in this case I paid like $18 for a year of #VPS service.

it got me thinking though, the money certainly wasn't wasted, in that I have several months experience doing my personal internet stuff on an IP that's on a few naughty lists, and I also now have firsthand knowledge of a couple cheap hosts to avoid. it's more fodder for Surfhosting documentation.

just gonna put this out there - if anybody wants to toss me a few bucks (or @incognet wants to sponsor me 👀) - I'll sign up for the IncogNET Professional VPN product and do a review. I'm gonna be watching up to four (4) cats in different parts of town in the next few weeks and planning to do further testing & development of my setup for working remotely from the #CouchLab, so now would be a perfect time for it...

donate link in bio, CashApp available on request ❤️