Anybody who knows me knows that I tinkered with different projects involving computers for a while. I’ve done some HTML/CSS coding for years while in college. I’ve always tried to poke and prod my systems to do interesting things, but costs have always been a hinderance. Probably around 2010 or so where I came across a write-up that used a home computer as a home server. I had just replaced my home computer and instead of removing the drive and tossing the hardware I started to explore. This set of instructions was found at woodel.com. It involved setting up Debian Linux and Webmin. Unfortunately it seems as though this is no longer maintained by the author.
The instructions worked, and I hosted a couple of different web pages for a while on it. Not long after I discovered WordPress. A far cry more advanced than the HTML/CSS coding I had dabbled in since my college days. I wanted more. I wanted a place to back up my computers to. I wanted attached storage. Unfortunately I know enough to be dangerous and I had some difficulties getting samba to work in a mixed Windows/Linux environment. So using this system as a NAS proved to be problematic. At least in the beginning. Another significant issue I had was not having any hard drives that I could use to expand storage, especially in a RAID configuration. Regardless woodel got my feet wet and I was hooked. I wanted to do more.
Being perpetually broke, I started exploring the idea of cutting the cable. However I knew I wouldn’t be able to cut television out of my life and looking around for options I started to learn about media servers as well as storage devices such as FreeNAS. Interesting to be sure, but given my experiance with samba, I just wanted something that would work.
I learned about UNRAID and the possibilities that it provided. The idea that a computer would not only be stable, but would allow me to run a variety of different services that would aid me in cutting the cable? Tell me more! I was also learning about raspberry pi’s. Credit card sized computers that could do just about anything. From acting as a full blown Linux computer (albeit very slow) to running media servers such as Kodi or Plex that would display stored media on our television. Even opening the door to home automation?
There are times when I am convinced that I should have taken a different route in college, but why can’t I keep learning new stuff now? This brings us here. Why should you care? Why am I now putting this information on line and sharing? Well, long story short, watching YouTube one evening I came across Network Chuck to presented me with a wide variety of interesting projects that I thought could very well be integrated with my current situation. From installing a load balancer, running ESXi on a raspberry pi, to having a website again.
A goofy guy who loves his coffee to be sure but his method or presentation struck a cord with me. In fact one of the first videos that I saw was Chuck demanding that I need a website. I had kind of let my personal website fade. Due partly to not have any actual time to devote to it, but mostly because I found myself on the book of faces. (What an absolute time suck that place is.) Chuck had pointed out a couple of places where he had been encouraged to share his knowledge even if he believed nobody was reading the information and it turned out that after some time and a YouTube channel it became his primary source of income. While that is not one of my goals. I have to admit that I’m more interested in detailing my journey down this rabbit hole, and sharing what little bit of information I have gathered in the hopes of maybe helping others out.
Maybe you will enjoy reading about my projects, perhaps you can learn something or perhaps you will share with me a better way of doing things. Either way check out some of the things that I have learned.