[phuff]

I present an alternate etymology for homelab. Instead of "lab" as experimentation space, think of it as lab: place for doing work. Away back in the day we didn't have laptops to work on university CS classes.

So you had to go to the lab to find a computer beefy enough to do your work on.

It's not a home "lab for experimentation.".

It's a home "lab for getting work done."