Okay, I might have too many computers. There, I said it. I just think they are the most intersting thing in the world, okay?
Funny story: Even though I don't mind building my own computers, my desktop PC is actually a prebuilt. It was an amazing deal I got online, and I've been using it for quite some time now. The mainboard and PSU are propriatary, unfortunately. But I can at least upgrade some of the components.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | Lenovo Ideacentre 510-15ICB |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-8400 (6C/6T, 2.8 GHz base-clock, 4.0 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 2x16 GiB DDR4-3200 |
| GPU | AMD Radeon RX 560 (4 GiB GDDR5) |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD, 1 TB HDD |
| OS | Fedora 40 (GNOME) |
| Misc | DVD drive 😍 I actually use it regularly for ripping CDs and DVDs. I just wish it was a BD drive - I'm kinda forced to use an external one at the moment. |
Fun fact about me: I prefer multiple "smaller" monitors with 1080p resolution over one big 1440p (or more) monitor. Not even sure, why. I think it's because in my head it's easier to organize.
I currently use two monitors:
Maybe my next upgrade will be a third monitor. I used to have three in my old setup, but when I moved to another country I decided not to take them with me.
I use a Keychron K4 (V2) with Gateron Brown switches. I like it a lot!
There's another funny story of how I got it: A friend from Twitter wanted one, but accidentally ordered the ANSI version - they are German and are used to ISO keyboards. I happen to actually prefer ANSI because I use the US Intl layout anyway, so they sold it to me for a pretty good discount.
Logitech MX Ergo, my beloved. 🥰 I think, I have like three of that model laying around. It's just such an amazing trackball.
I'm also fine with (good) touchpads, but I noticed that I'm starting to forget how to use a "normal" mouse, because I've almost exclusively used trackballs for the past 10 years or so.
On my desktop I use a Focusrite Scarlett Solo 4th Gen audio interface. Mainly, beceause I use a condenser microphone for my streams, and it has phantom power to drive the mic.
I mainly use Philips Audio Fidelio X2HR headphones on my desktop PC. I got the recommendation from a good friend some years ago, and they are still amazing. Really comfortable to wear for long periods and a pretty decent sound signature.
Okay, listen: I don't have a problem, I swear!
This one I probably use the most, as I do a lot of my professional work on it.
Apple Silicon is amazing, btw! If you are looking for a new computer that just works (yeah-yeah, I know), and you don't mind Apple and macOS, I'd consider getting an Apple Silicon machine, especially as a laptop. Although, the new Mac Mini also looks quite juicy.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | MacBookPro18,3 |
| Display | 14.2", 3024x1964 (no idea what this resolution is called) |
| CPU | Apple Silicon M1 |
| RAM | SoC 16 GiB |
| GPU | SoC |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD |
| OS | macOS 15.3 |
This used to be my daily driver for a loooong time. I actually bought it for really cheap on eBay and upgraded/replaced pretty much everything over the years.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | ThinkPad T450s |
| Display | 14", 1080x1920 (FHD), mat |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-5300U (2C/4T, 2.3 GHz base-clock, 2.9 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 4 GiB DDR3-1600 soldered + 8 GiB DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM |
| GPU | Whatever Intel's name for "APU" is |
| Storage | 512 GB SSD |
| OS | Arch Linux (KDE) - I'm about to change that though. |
| Misc | Docking Station |
Another funny story here: I didn't actually buy this one. It was a gift from a dear friend. Not sure yet, what I'll use it for. ^^
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | MacBookPro12,1 |
| Display | 13.3", 1600x2560 (WQXGA) |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-5257U (2C/4T, 2.7 GHz base-clock, 3.1 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 8 GiB soldered |
| GPU | Whatever Intel's name for "APU" is |
| Storage | 256 GB |
| OS | macOS 12.7.6 |
Yet another second-hand ThinkPad. ^^ I actually gave this to my mom as a small laptop for mobile work. But it turned out she never actually used it, so now I intend to use it as a sort of burner laptop for congress and stuff.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Model | ThinkPad X230 |
| Display | 12.5", 1366x768 (HD) |
| CPU | Intel Core i5-3320M (2C/4T, 2.6 GHz base-clock, 3.3 GHz) |
| RAM | Wait, what. 6 GiB? Are you drunk, CPU-Z? Looks like an exploratory laparotomy is required here... |
| GPU | Whatever Intel's name for "APU" is |
| Storage | 128 GB SSD |
| OS | Windows 10, apparently. I need to change that... Qubes might an interesting OS for this machine. |
| Misc | The fingerprint sensor is missing. I wonder if I can somehow build my own cursed peripherals for that space. 😈 |
I currently use an iPhone 12 that I bought second-hand from a friend. I used to be an Android4Life gurl, but I started to take a liking to iPhones when I had some major problems with updates on multiple different Android phones.
I own half of a PlayStation 5, with a sort of shared custody arrangement. I also have a PlayStation 2 at my parents, but I don't even have a TV to connect it to, sooo yeaaah...
Uhhh, now here's the interesting section.
The router my ISP provides is just garbage. So I decided to run my own. Works pretty well so far. Though, IPv6 seems to be my personal nemesis - I'm not getting a prefix from upstream even though the ISP should support my use case.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 19" 1U |
| Cooling | passive |
| Model | n.a. |
| CPU | Intel Celeron J1900 (4C/4T, 2 GHz base-clock, 2.42 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 1x 4 GiB DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD |
| OS | pfSense 2.7.2 (Community Edition) |
| Services | VPN |
The first server I bought for my own flat. 😄 Originally I wanted to run my services in FreeBSD jails on this server. But not being able to use Docker was a major headache for me, so I decided to just get another server for compute - see below.
Also, I should probably get a second 14 TB HDD for redundancy. But HDDs for that capacity are so expensive. 😭
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 19" 1U |
| Colling | passive |
| Model | n.a. |
| CPU | Intel Celeron J1900 (4C/4T, 2.0 GHz base-clock, 2.42 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 2x 8 GiB DDR3-1333 SO-DIMM |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD, 2x 4 TB SSD, 14 TB HDD |
| OS | TrueNAS Core 13.0 |
| Services | NFS, SMB, (Offsite-) Backup |
I'm actually kind of proud of this setup. The host itself was set up manually (including NFS, ...), but everything else, all VMs, all services, even the databases, credentials, etc is managed via OpenTofu. I can literally delete all VMs, run a command or two and get my setup back including all the data.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 19" 1U |
| Cooling | passive |
| Model | n.a. |
| CPU | Intel Celeron J5040 (4C/4T, 2.0 GHz base-clock, 3.2 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 2x 32 GiB DDR4-2400 SO-DIMM |
| Storage | 128 GB, NFS on NAS |
| OS | Proxmox 8.2.2 |
| Services | Forgejo, VaultWarden, Ollama, EJBCA, Grafana, InfluxDB, PostgreSQL |
I actually used to have a server for monitoring Sisu's aquarium. It's currently not active because my current living situation doesn't really allow for that. Maybe I can set it up again in the next flat.
It was a Raspberry Pi 4 with some temperature probes. I actually also wanted to measure some other water parameters, and I even bought a pH sensor for this project. (I'll probably not do more than that. Turns out: Specialized water quality sensors are fricking expensive. 😱).
In case you were wondering why I decided to use such an expensive computer for something that a 3 € microcontroller could achieve: I lied, it actually did more than just measure the water temperature. It actually had a webcam connected to it and was live-streaming the aquarium publically online. 😁
This is the oldest system I still operate. My brother and I bought the base system 15-ish years ago. It's also kind of a Ship of Theseus - I don't think a single component is still the same as it was back then.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 19" 4U |
| Cooling | active - definitely active ^^ |
| Model | n.a. |
| CPU | AMD A10-5800K (4C/4T, 3.8 GHz base-clock, 4.2 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 4x 4 GiB DDR3-1600 |
| Storage | 256 GB SSD, 2x 128 GB SSD, 5x 3 TB HDD, 10 TB HDD |
| OS | Debian 12 |
| Services | SMB, Terminal-Server, (Offsite-) Backup, Ampache |
This one used to be my router back in the day. But I replaced it with a MikroTik RB3011UiAS-RM (a great router btw) some time ago.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | Mini PC |
| Cooling | passive |
| Model | No idea - I got it on Aliexpress back then. Pretty cool model though; 4x GbE ports in a tiny form factor. |
| CPU | Intel Celeron J1900 (4C/4T, 2.0 GHz base-clock, 2.42 GHz boost) |
| RAM | 4 GiB DDR3-1333 |
| Storage | 64 GB SSD |
| OS | Debian 9... I should really update this system... Then again: Never change a running system. |
| Services | VPN, DNS, Grafana, IoT Relay, InfluxDB |
I can't check its stats right now because it's offline and I have no physical access to it. But I'm quite sure it's a Raspberry Pi 1 Model B. It was running CUPS and a web-based scanning tool - I forgot the name unfortunately.
My VPN setup is kinda interesting: The different locations where I operate servers (it actually used to be quite a few more) all connect to this server via a VPN. Then, OSPF is used to distribute the routes for each location. The reason I set it up this way is because at some point it was like 20 or so routes, which is too much to maintain by hand.
Individual clients can also connect to this server on a different VPN that doesn't distribute OSPF packets. This way, when I'm on the go, I can just connect to one VPN and have access to all internal resources of all locations.
I use both WireGuard and OpenVPN for historical reasons (Just in case you were wondering what I need EJBCA for. 😅).
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | VM |
| CPU | 2 vCores (ARM) |
| RAM | 4 GiB |
| Storage | 50 GB SSD |
| OS | Debian 12 |
| Services | VPN, DNS, Signal Proxy |
I mainly use this one for when I need to change my IP address to a specific country. Unfortunately, I don't currently have access to it to look up the stats. : /
Not sure what to call this one. I use it for a bunch of different (unimportant) things.
| Key | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | VM |
| CPU | 4 vCores (ARM) |
| RAM | 10 GiB |
| Storage | 100 GB SSD |
| OS | Ubuntu Server 22.04 |
| Services | 4x Minecraft, OwnCast, GitHub Runner, Docker Registy |