August 2026
DNS Drift: Why Your Router, Browser, VPN, and Phone Use Different Resolvers
A detailed DNS audit for home networks and homelabs where router DHCP, browser Secure DNS, VPN clients, IPv6, and mobile Private DNS do not agree.
Local AI Homelab: Hardware for Ollama, Open WebUI, and Small Agents
A practical local AI homelab hardware guide for Ollama, Open WebUI, GPUs, CPU-only experiments, VRAM sizing, and safe small agents.
Paperless-ngx Workflows: Scanner, Email Ingestion, OCR, and Naming Files
A practical Paperless-ngx workflow guide covering scanner intake, email ingestion, OCR, tags, correspondents, filename formats, and backups.
Plex vs Jellyfin Remote Streaming: The Tradeoffs That Matter at Home
Compare Plex and Jellyfin remote streaming by account friction, real client playback, network path, privacy, transcoding, and recovery burden.
Immich as the De-Google Gateway: Great App, Serious Backup Responsibility
Plan an Immich photo service with protected originals, database backups, controlled access, and isolated restore tests before migrating the family archive; mobile synchronization alone is not a backup.
The 2026 Self-Hosted Starter Stack: A Proposed Design
A pragmatic 2026 self-hosted starter stack: host OS, Docker Compose, DNS, remote access, reverse proxy, backups, monitoring, and daily-driver apps.
Bufferbloat for Gamers: Why More Mbps Does Not Fix Ping Spikes
A gamer-friendly bufferbloat guide explaining latency under load, SQM, CAKE/FQ-CoDel, and why more bandwidth does not always fix ping spikes.
Why Your Gigabit Ethernet Is Stuck at 100 Mbps
A practical troubleshooting flow for gigabit Ethernet links negotiating at 100 Mbps because of cables, ports, terminations, or hidden old devices.