Author: Dabble Dan
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Building a Life Tracker with AI CLI Tools: How to “Vibe Code” Your Perfect Self-Use App
As you know, I got into self hosting and home labbing in the persuit of data redundancy and the hunt to find that one, do-it-all life organizing app. From my note-taking app adventures to building out the MiniLab server rack, I love tinkering with systems that make life better, or at least a bit easier.…
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Migrating from Synology and MergerFS/SnapRAID to TrueNAS
If you’ve been following the madness here at DabbleDen, you know I’ve been on a bit of a mission to tame the “Frankenstein’s Monster” of servers living in my rack. In my last post, I talked about breathing new life into a 12-drive bay chassis using Proxmox, MergerFS, and SnapRAID. It was the perfect “budget”…
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Turning My Home Server Into A NAS with MergerFS and SnapRAID
I finally got around to building a NAS out of my home server. I used MergerFS and SnapRAID to turn my ProxMox node into a single mountable network drive that had redundancy, while being able to swipe a drive and throw it into another PC and still read that data without overhead or formatting. And…
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I Passed My HAM Technician License Test!
I just got my Technician-class ham radio license! After diving into study sessions, practice exams, and learning the ropes of amateur radio, I finally passed the test and earned my call sign. I used hamradioprep.com and it made it super easy to study from my phone, or wherever I had internet and a few minutes…
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I Finished It! The MiniLab Is Complete!
A fully 3D printed server rack, thank you to WallyFab on MakerWorld, I was able to use up some old filament that was taking up space! It took about a week to print every piece, and quite a few spools, as you can see with all of the color changes, which in the end I…
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I Tried Finding The Best Note-Taking App
The bottom line up front, I went with the most basic method for this; notepad or some text editor and saving individual text files. Or a markdown editor for more flexibility and flavor to the text like Obsidian. What I am trying to achieve My memory is terrible. I have to write down EVERYTHING in…
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I Made MiniLab Server Rack for the Dabble Den
Compact Power: My 3D-Printed 10-Inch Server Rack for a Home Lab Dream Team Building a home lab is always an exercise in creativity and resourcefulness, but for me, the true magic came when I decided to 3D print my own 10-inch server rack. Designed to house an HP mini PC, four ThinkCentre mini PCs, and…
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BTech RPT50 GMRS Repeater
This is the first time I’ve ever bought a radio the day it gets released! Expectations A buddy of mine and I were discussing how we wanted to set up a repeater for ourselves to have control over who we network it with and when. We also wanted to learn more about radio and see…
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The Mini-Base | Data-Base Station
A Nerd’s Warehouse In this little package is a full home lab and GMRS radio repeater all-in-one! On the left you’ll see 4 mini-PCs that are all clustered together under ProxMox, hosting a variety of different things. Moving right, the upside-down thing is a Protectli Vault that hosts my firewall to the network. Speaking of…
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GMRS Repeater – Haiku GMRS is now live!
I’ve been getting into GMRS recently and have finally committed to setting up my own repeater! What is GMRS? GMRS is basically Walkie-Talkies on steroids. It uses the same channels and frequencies as the walkie-talkies from Wal-Mart, but after you buy a $35 license that covers you and the whole immediate family for 10 years,…