Smart home guides keep pushing the wrong starter setup – here are some tips that actually work
… So, here are some tips to ensure you don’t fall into the pitfalls afflicting beginner smart home setups in 2026. …
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I kept waiting for Docker to fail, but nineteen containers on bare metal proved Proxmox wrong
… I thought to start with this laptop, and then later, when my requirements grow, I would upgrade to better hardware and a better setup, like enterprise-grade hardware and Proxmox. I assumed Docker was a beginner-only setup and planned to upgrade when requirements grew. …
Google Home and Alexa can't do what I built in Home Assistant, and that's the whole point
… Sign in to your XDA account Google Home, Alexa, and HomeKit are the most common options when building smart home setups, and for good reason. …
I tested TrueNAS, Unraid, and OpenMediaVault to find the perfect NAS OS, and there's a clear winner
… TrueNAS isn’t the most beginner-friendly option in the home server ecosystem, either. …
Docker rootless mode is a one-line fix most guides skip over
… And leaving sudo out of your Docker commands on a barebones setup will just result in a "permission denied" error. …
I over-engineered my home lab on purpose, and it's the best decision I've made
… That said, it's only a matter of time before you get bitten by the home labbing bug and start building an overkill setup. Sure, most consumers don’t need to go this far, but few things are as satisfying as building a secure, automated, and over-engineered high-availability setup. …
Fedora 44 gets delayed again as installer and KDE setup bugs block release
… Right now, the blocker bug tracker has four confirmed blocker bugs in place: 2458907 anaconda ON QA Installation of the system failed: Storing configuration files and kickstarts org.fedoraproject.Anaconda.Error: 'NoneType' object has no attribute 'path' testing 2448283 plasma-setup NEW Selecting a … …
I tested dual-boot, WSL2, and VMs to run Linux apps on Windows, and only one was worth keeping
… But there’s no denying that it can be a little intimidating for complete beginners. …
I ditched Docker Desktop for native containers and everything is better
… Docker is what got me into the self-hosting ecosystem, and the storage-hogging services I’ve deployed on my TrueNAS node rely on this beginner-friendly runtime. …
Home Assistant's intimidating reputation is completely undeserved once you survive the first week
… You might end up with a somewhat fragmented setup this way, but it will make your life a lot easier. …