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
-
k3s + Tailscale: Cluster Across Two Sites
Run a single k3s cluster spanning two physical sites using Tailscale as the WireGuard fabric — home lab server plus cloud VPS, one single kubectl context.
10 min read -
Renovate vs Dependabot: Self-Hosted Dependency Bots
Renovate vs Dependabot for self-hosted teams: config depth, ecosystem coverage, self-host paths, and which bot wins for Forgejo/GitLab shops.
11 min read -
KubeVirt on k3s: VMs Next to Pods
Run real KVM virtual machines as Kubernetes resources on k3s. One control plane for pods and VMs — no more juggling Proxmox alongside your cluster every day.
10 min read -
Mesh VPN Showdown: Tailscale, Nebula, ZeroTier, NetBird
Tailscale vs Nebula vs ZeroTier vs NetBird — honest comparison of mesh VPN options for homelabs, small teams, and self-hosters in 2026.
13 min read -
ClickHouse vs DuckDB vs StarRocks: Light OLAP
ClickHouse, DuckDB, or StarRocks for home lab analytics? A practical guide to picking the right OLAP engine for your query patterns without losing the weekend.
11 min read -
Speculative Decoding: Faster LLMs With a Tiny Sidekick
Speculative decoding, Gemma 4 MTP, and DeepSeek DSpark all make LLMs 2-6x faster losslessly. How each works, and which to use for local vs. serving.
13 min read -
Gitea Actions vs Woodpecker CI
Gitea Actions vs Woodpecker CI: two solid self-hosted CI options, one clear winner for your setup. Compare syntax, runners, footprint, and secrets handling.
13 min read -
Adding NOT NULL on a Big Table Without Downtime
How to safely add a NOT NULL column with a live backfill on a 200M-row Postgres table without locking your users out or scheduling any maintenance downtime.
11 min read -
Karakeep: Self-Hosted Bookmarks With AI Tagging
Karakeep (formerly Hoarder) is a self-hosted Pocket alternative with AI auto-tagging, full-text search, and Docker Compose deploy in under 10 minutes.
10 min read -
Firefly III vs Actual vs Fava (Beancount)
Firefly III is full-featured. Actual Budget is YNAB-style. Fava+Beancount is plain-text accounting. Here's how to pick self-hosted personal finance.
10 min read -
Postgres HA: Patroni + etcd + HAProxy
Build a real Postgres 17 HA cluster with Patroni 4.x, etcd 3.5, and HAProxy — fully automatic failover, tested switchover procedure, zero manual babysitting.
12 min read -
Syncthing for Dotfiles: Sync vs Manage
Syncthing mirrors your files in real time, but is that actually a good idea for dotfiles? An honest comparison against chezmoi and proper dotfile managers.
11 min read
