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by Bockit 79 days ago
It’s such a fun time to have 1+ decade(s) of experience in software. Knowing what simple and good are (for me), and being able to articulate it has let me create so much personal software for myself and my family. It has really felt like turning ideas into reality, about as fast as I can think of them or they can suggest them. And adding specific features, just for our needs. The latest one was a slack canvas replacement, as we moved from slack to self-hosted matrix + element but missed the multiplayer, persistent monthly notes file we used. Even getting matrix set up in the first place was a breeze.

$20/month with your provider of choice unlocks a lot.

Edit: the underlying point being, yes to the article. Either building upon the foundations of open source to making personal things, or just modifying a fork for my own needs.

2 comments

Couldn't agree more. I'm building open source software for the grid, contributing in a way that feels like it could truly make a difference, while building momentum for open standards. It doesn't feel like work, just creativity and problem solving. On top of that, I can just build stuff for fun. Kids want a Minecraft mod? Let's build it and learn a thing or two on the way.
Where/how do you host your family apps to have them conveniently available to your household? This is the thing I'm struggling with most.
I have a Synology NAS I can push docker images to. The key is to set up the docker image so it does a git pull on start, that way I just push to Github and restart it.

This was _incredibly_ hard to set up, in a way I did not expect, even with frontier models. It took me 3-4 evenings.

If someone can solve "Heroku for home server" it would open up a world of what HackerNews calls "home cooked" software.

I have a Mac mini and I put every device that needs access on Tailscale