The gear, software, and services that keep the lights on around here. Everything runs on hardware I own, in a room I can walk to. That’s the point.
The Iron
Physical machines on the network. Named by someone who grew up on Saturday morning cartoons.
Scooby — Home Server
Dell PowerEdge R710 · Ubuntu 24.04 LTS · Dual Xeon E5620 · 12TB storage
The beating heart of the operation. Runs every Docker service on this page. Named after the dog, not the mystery van.
Optimus — Primary Domain Controller
Windows Server · Active Directory · DNS · DHCP
Keeps the network organized. Everything authenticates through here.
Megatron — Desktop Workstation
Windows · Primary daily driver for development and general use.
Sentinal — Desktop Workstation
Windows 10 · General workstation.
Passbolt — Linux Server
Runs aMuTorrent. Light duty.
Storage
Rollo — QNAP NAS
Primary NAS · Movies, TV Shows, Music Collection, General Storage
The vault. If it’s media, it lives here.
Lamont — Synology NAS
Documents · Pictures
Grady — Synology NAS
Trilium Production · TV Shows
FredG — Synology NAS
Classic Cartoons · eBooks
Four NAS units, one QNAP and three Synology. Redundancy is a lifestyle choice.
The Ranch
Everything runs in Docker on Scooby. No Kubernetes, no orchestration nonsense. Just Docker Compose files and stubbornness.
WordPress
Custom “Knuckledust” theme · MariaDB 11 · Redis object cache · OPcache enabled
You’re looking at it. Theme built from scratch — no page builders, no premium themes. Self-hosted fonts, dark mode, reading progress bar, the whole nine.
Caddy
Reverse proxy · Automatic HTTPS · HTTP/2
Replaced NGINX Proxy Manager. Simpler config, automatic SSL, just works.
Authentik
SSO and identity management for public-facing sites · OpenID Connect · PostgreSQL
One login for everything that faces the internet. knuckledustchronicles.com, familytechlab.com — all through here.
Authelia
SSO for internal/homelab services · PostgreSQL · Redis
Lighter weight for the internal stuff. Built a custom Flask-based user manager for it.
Immich
Self-hosted photo management · AI-powered organization · PostgreSQL with pgvecto-rs
Google Photos replacement. My photos, my server, my rules.
Forgejo
Self-hosted Git forge · PostgreSQL backend
GitHub is someone else’s computer. This is mine.
Emby
Media server · Streams from the NAS library across the network
Spotify doesn’t have everything. And when they remove something, I still have it.
Navidrome
Music streaming server · Reads from the NFS music library
Lightweight, fast, and speaks Subsonic. For when you want music without the overhead.
Filebrowser
Web-based file manager for the home directory
Sometimes you need to grab a file without SSH-ing in.
LubeLogger
Vehicle maintenance tracker · SSO via Authentik
Because spreadsheets for oil changes is chaos.
Speedtest Tracker
Automated hourly speed tests · SQLite · Keeps a year of history
Proof for when the ISP says “it’s fine on our end.”
LanguageTool
Self-hosted grammar and spell checker · Java-based
Grammarly without the surveillance.
The Workshop
The tools I actually build things with. 28 years of IT, largely self-taught. Beginner coder who has built dozens of real-world apps.
Claude Code
AI coding assistant · Terminal-based · Anthropic
Built the Authelia Manager, three WordPress plugins, and half the stuff on this page with it. The first AI tool that actually made me faster, not just busier.
PowerShell
Primary scripting language · Exchange and Active Directory automation
16 years of Exchange means 16 years of PowerShell. It’s muscle memory at this point.
Python
Scripting, automation, tool development · Flask for web apps
When you need a custom tool and PHP isn’t the answer.
React / TypeScript
Frontend stack for HookHouse-Pro, HomeBase, and other projects
Learned it by building things, not by watching tutorials. The hard way works.
PHP / MySQL
Crumble recipe manager · WordPress plugins · Web app backends
Old reliable. Sometimes the boring choice is the right choice.
Docker & Docker Compose
Every service runs in a container. No exceptions.
Rebuild anything in minutes. Break something? docker compose down, fix it, bring it back up.
Bash
Shell scripting · Automation glue · Cron jobs
The duct tape of the Linux world. It holds everything together.
The Jukebox
Music is not a hobby. It’s a second language.
Suno AI
AI music generation platform · 1,100+ songs created · Profile: fmr_music
Advanced power user, not a casual hobbyist. The intersection of technology and creativity.
HookHouse-Pro
Flagship React/TypeScript AI music workstation · Integrates OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, xAI, and Suno APIs
VocalForge, Suno Prompt Doctor, MIDIForge, MasterForge — built it all from scratch. This is the big one.
The Custom Plugins
Built for this blog. Not for sale. Not productized. They just work, in this context, for this person.
Knuckledust Auto-Writer
AI content generation with persona system · Claude Sonnet · DALL-E image generation with WebP conversion · Content-aware anti-repetition · Angle & structure randomizers
Generates first drafts in my voice using a 144-line persona document. I review everything before it publishes.
Knuckledust Auto-Linker
Automatically links known terms to their URLs · First occurrence only · Render-time only — never modifies post content in the database
Mentions ChatGPT? It links to ChatGPT. Mentions Docker? Links to Docker. Set it and forget it.
AI Editor Sidebar
Post editor panel for rewrites, tone changes, proofreading, and image generation
Like having a writing partner who doesn’t argue about Oxford commas.
Last updated: March 2026. The workshop is always evolving.