I was watching YouTube in my smart TV and after the nth ad, I decided it was enough. There has to be a better way. I started researching and found a solution: a Raspberry Pi running Kodi with a youtube plugin.

It worked like a charm. Life was good now. Then I realized that I can get more from that little computer, so I installed docker on it. Stack after stack, I ended up with jellyfin as a music service, vaultwarden for password management and wireguard as VPN. Then I started playing with Ansible to maintain my homelab and restore it in case of failure.

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My first server in 2008, a VIA EPIA LT running Linux

This is of course not how my journey really started. In my late teens my passion for Linux and servers was already there, after trying different distributions, I successfully made a SUSE Linux connect to the internet dialing my 256 Kbps ADSL modem. In 2008 I got my hands on a VIA EPIA LT where I setup a Linux server, I don’t remember which one but probably Debian.

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My current homelab: Dell Optiplex 5070 micro and a Raspberry Pi 5 (not in the picture)

Fast forward to September 2025, I found a second hand Dell Optiplex 5070 micro and decided to level up my setup. I installed Proxmox, instantiated a VM with OPNSense as router, learned about VLANs and with the help of some managed switches I started a new chapter in my homelab hobby. With the help of some friends, I 3d printed a nice 10 inches rack to organize it.

In future posts I will give more technical details of my infrastructure, for those who are interested in the details.