root@labs:~$ make something

What we build, and what we think about it.

Projects are the technical record: what we built, how, what we'd do differently. The blog is everything else, posted when there's something worth saying.

cd /projects cat blog/latest
root@labs:~$ ./status.sh
✓ site rebuilt and online
✓ latest post: The AI tools that actually earned a place on our machines
… in progress: The Synology (RS815+)
✓ forum: Hello World
root@labs:~$

recent-entries

LOG-007 synology The Synology (RS815+) Years of runtime, relearned every time DSM changes. ● active LOG-006 media-server Home Media Server A NAS, a media server, and an automation stack that never really finishes. ● active LOG-005 homelab Rebuilding rootlabs.us New AWS home, Caddy, PHP, WordPress, and the redesign you're looking at. ● active LOG-004 3d-printing The print lab FDM and resin printing: functional parts, jigs, and beautiful failures. ○ ongoing LOG-003 electronics Smart home, the hard way Automating the house one stubborn device at a time. ○ ongoing

readme

Root Labs is where the fun stuff goes. A lab for after-hours engineering: homelab, 3D printing, electronics, software, and whatever we get our hands on next. No clients, no tickets, no invoices. Projects, experiments, and honest write-ups of both.

blog --latest

2026-08-22 software The AI tools that actually earned a place on our machines Two years ago this section of the blog would not have existed. Now AI tools are just part of how… read → 2026-08-22 media-server Synology vs QNAP: the NAS argument we keep having This argument shows up in every homelab forum thread eventually, and both sides are right, which is the annoying part.… read → 2026-08-22 media-server The Arr stack, explained without the acronym soup The names sound like a pirate convention. Sonarr, Radarr, Prowlarr, Jackett, Bazarr. Once you understand what each one actually does,… read → 2026-08-22 media-server Jellyfin vs Plex: which one actually runs in our lab Every homelab eventually asks this question. You get a media library going, you want to actually watch it on a… read → 2026-08-22 3d-printing What we wish we knew before our first 3D print Everyone's first print goes wrong in roughly the same handful of ways. Here is what we wish someone had told… read →