SumGuy's Ramblings
The art of wasting time.
Docker, self-hosting, AI/LLM, Linux, and DevOps — explained by someone who learned the hard way. No fluff, no enterprise jargon, just practical stuff that actually works on real hardware.
Recent Posts
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Audiobookshelf vs Booksonic: Self-Hosted Audiobooks
Audiobookshelf vs Booksonic: which self-hosted audiobook server wins? ABS takes it for most homelabbers. Here's why, and when Booksonic still makes sense.
8 min read -
Agentic Browsers: Browser-Use & Skyvern Reviewed
Browser-Use and Skyvern let LLMs drive real browsers via natural language goals. Here's what they can actually do, where they break, and when Playwright is still the right call.
9 min read -
Steam Deck as a Homelab Toolkit (Yes, Really)
SteamOS 3.x is Arch Linux under the hood. Here's how to turn your Steam Deck into a portable sysadmin console for SSH, Tailscale, IPMI, and more.
9 min read -
Devbox vs Devenv: Nix Without the Pain
Devbox and devenv both tame Nix for reproducible dev environments without needing a PhD first. Here is which one will not send you reading a 40-page manual.
11 min read -
systemd-homed: Portable Encrypted Home Directories
systemd-homed turns your home dir into a portable LUKS-encrypted blob. Move it between machines, unlock with FIDO2, and own your own data.
9 min read -
Topgrade: One Command Updates Everything
Topgrade runs every package manager and update tool on your machine in one single command. Stop juggling apt, brew, flatpak, pip, cargo, and gem separately.
9 min read -
Local Voice Assistant: Whisper + Piper + Home Assistant
Ditch Alexa and Google Home. Build a fully local voice assistant with Whisper STT, Piper TTS, and Home Assistant using the Wyoming protocol.
10 min read -
Carapace: Universal Shell Completions
Carapace-bin delivers tab completions for 1000+ CLI tools across every major shell, one install, one config line, zero per-tool completion script headaches.
9 min read -
procs vs ps: Modern Process Listing
procs adds color, Docker container awareness, and process tree views to replace ps. Here is exactly when switching is worth it in your daily Linux workflow.
10 min read -
SOCKS5 Over SSH: Selective Routing Without a VPN
Route only the traffic you want through a SOCKS5 proxy via ssh -D. Browser extensions, curl, git, ProxyChains, autossh, and DNS leak gotchas, no VPN needed.
8 min read -
btop vs htop vs bottom: Top Replacements
btop, htop, and bottom compared on features, memory footprint, and personality, find out which terminal process monitor earns a spot in your daily toolkit.
11 min read -
Your Agent Doesn't Need a Shell
Coding agents get unrestricted shell access by default because it's easy, not because they need it. Here's the short list of what actually breaks without one.
6 min read
