I started out with a Raspberry Pi 2 with an external HDD but soon moved on to an older laptop I no longer used.
I soon tired of the lack of I/O and when the laptop broke down for the third time i moved on to a desktop computer.
I expanded the storage and its funcionality with time and played around with VMs and Docker but the old CPUs i used could not really handle alot.
That changed when I swapped out my G3930 for an i5 7400 and installed Proxmox.
Now I can easily run everything in its own container and with automatic backups i can roll them back if anything goes wrong.

Everything below runs in its own LXC container with regular backups and can be easily maintained through Proxmox webinterface.

• OpenHab

  Home automation with google integration.
  Currently running 5 wifi lightbulbs (with esp8266) reflashed with Tasmota (open source firmware) to restrict the lightbulbs communication to the local network.
  With Tasmota running on the bulbs it's communication is limited to my local network and they mainly talk to my server (you can configure the device with its webinterface) with the help of a Mosquitto MQTT server.
  Two power switches running Tasmota are used to minimize the energy consumption of other devices in standby. These are also communicating through the Mosquitto MQTT server.
  By binding MotionEye and displaying both temperature and soil sensors on OpenHab. Everything "smart" (i.e connected) can be monitored or controlled from one app or webgui.
  All the devices can be automated with rules and patterns. For example a shut of timer to turn off all devices at night, or to turn on light in the morning during the darker months of the year.

• Wireguard server

  Enables me to tunnel home from outside the LAN for maintenance or to access my local storage.
  Also useful to get rid of ads when you're outside of your home network, if you have a pi-hole service running.
  This server is more or offline these days.

• Tailscale server

  Same as Wireguard but easier to use and does not require open ports to WAN, the Wireguard server is more or offline these days.

• Samba server

  I swapped out my NFS server for a Samba server, they are easier to access from windows machines than NFS disks.
  Having a samba server reduces the need for large hard drive disks on our laptops and desktops.

• Pihole

  DNS sinkhole to filter unwanted content with an ever expanding blacklist.
  The easiest way to use it is to install it on a supported OS and force your router to look for a DNS server at your Pi-holes IP. I often vpn home to get rid of ads when i'm outside. This is in my opinion one of the best services available for everyone and even runs on a Raspberry Pi.

• Python scripts

  A couple of python scripts running in a container together. Everything that needs logging is saved in a SQLite database

  • Temperature logger

    Receiving temperatures from a Raspberry Pi with two temperature sensors (see other project) through python sockets.

  • Soil moisture logger

    Receiving the soil moisture levels in a plant pot sent from an Arduino with wifi (see other project) through python sockets.

  • Temperature and moisture graphs

    Simple Flask server to display temperatures and soil moisture levels with graphs.

  • Script to turn off "smart" devices

    Receiving button press from an battery powered arduino with deepsleep enabled that turns off all "smart" devices, useful for when you want to go to sleep but not fiddle with your phone or talk to Google Assistant.
    Turns off Philips Hue light with PUT requests to the Hue Bridge and other "smart" devices via OpenHab

  • Europa Universalis 4 Achievement tracker

    A Flask server that enables you to search through available achievements you haven't taken yet by name ( and maybe by country in the future).

• Jellyfin media system

  Easily view my pictures and videos on other devices from anywhere.

• Nextcloud

  Self-hosted cloud service only accessible on my home network ( or through VPN ). Replaces services like Google Drive or Dropbox.
  A really nice service to have if you don't want to share your files with companies that don't value your privacy or if you just want to have more control over your own information.

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