Nathan Reynolds

If you are weighing the TUXEDO InfinityBook vs Framework 13 for Linux in , you are not alone. I have spent the last three months switching between Linux-friendly laptops, running Fedora 41, Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and TUXEDO OS across multiple machines, and these two models come up in nearly every Linux hardware conversation. Both are … Read more

Choosing between Mullvad vs Proton VPN comes down to what kind of privacy user you are. Both services earned their reputations as the gold standard for no-logs VPN providers, but they take strikingly different paths to get there. I have run both services for months at a time across Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android, and … Read more

Finding the best Zigbee light switch that works with Home Assistant in 2026 used to mean sifting through forum posts and hoping a $20 relay module would not brick your wiring. I have spent the last three months installing, pairing, and stress-testing eight of the most recommended switches from the Home Assistant subreddit, Zigbee2MQTT device … Read more

A single board computer (SBC) is the fastest way to turn Linux theory into real, transferable skills. I keep a cluster of them running on my desk, and every Linux system administrator I know started by breaking (and fixing) something on a small board at 3 AM. In this guide, I will walk you through … Read more

A single board computer for a wall-mounted dashboard display is a compact, low-power computer designed to run 24/7 in an enclosed wall mount, typically powering a touchscreen interface for Home Assistant or a similar smart home dashboard. Finding the best SBC for a wall-mounted dashboard display means balancing four things: a small enough form factor … Read more

I spent the last three months generating thousands of images on eight different mini PCs, and the gap between the cheapest and most expensive option surprised me. The best mini PC for running Stable Diffusion locally is not always the one with the most raw specs. It is the one that lets you generate SDXL … Read more

After testing both cards in our homelab with TrueNAS and Proxmox setups, I can tell you the LSI 9300-8i and 9211-8i serve the same ZFS pass-through role, but they sit on different sides of the SAS generation divide. The 9300-8i runs SAS3008 at 12Gb/s on PCIe 3.0, while the 9211-8i uses the older SAS2008 chip … Read more

Running a homelab without a monitor, keyboard, and mouse plugged into every box gets old fast. I learned this the hard way when my Proxmox node froze during a kernel panic at 2 AM, and I had to dig out a spare HDMI cable just to see what was happening. That night pushed me into … Read more

I’ve spent the last four months running Linux as my primary workstation OS, and finding the best keyboard for a Linux developer workstation turned into a real rabbit hole. Some boards that look great on paper drop half their features without Windows-only software. Others lose their media keys, RGB lighting, or remapping tools the moment … Read more

I spent three weeks testing six firewall appliances across both Protectli and Netgate lineups to see which one actually delivers on the pfSense promise. After running Snort, pfBlockerNG, haproxy, and WireGuard tunnels through every box, I have a clear picture of where each brand wins and where it falls short. Choosing between a Protectli Vault … Read more