// blog
Notes and write-ups
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How to securely access homelab via the internet with mTLS
Establishing a secure connection to home services requires balancing accessibility and robust authentication. This guide explores the use of mTLS to provide client-certificate-based security for external access to a homelab environment.
Turning an old 27” iMac into an external monitor
I’ve always admired the design of the older 27” iMacs. Back when they were still current, I couldn’t really afford one, so owning one became one of those small “maybe one day” dreams from my student years.
Building a USB HID Device with Raspberry Pi Pico and TinyGo
I have an old Mac Mini that I wanted to use to run RetroPie and launch it automatically after startup. But the question was how to turn it off. I didn’t want to yank the power or force‑shut the whole OS, but I also don’t have a keyboard and a mouse connected to it. I wanted to have a graceful way to trigger a clean shutdown so the system could close everything properly.
Upgrading my iPod Classic
Why would anyone buy an iPod in 2025? After all, we already carry smartphones that can stream anything, anytime. But that’s exactly what makes the iPod stand out. It’s a device that focuses on just one thing - playing music. No notifications, no social media feeds, no distractions—just your music library and nothing else.
Exploring Scandinavia ‒ my journey to Nordkapp
Ever since I bought my new adventure bike, I knew that one day I had to go on a trip to the very north. I cannot explain why exactly I was so thrilled about this journey, as there’s not really much interesting to see along the way, except for the highways and never-ending forests. At least that’s what some people would tell me. But something in my mind kept bugging me. I saw several motorcyclists setting off on this journey, and I always found it super interesting.
My EDC collection
Recently, I realized I’ve collected quite a few handy little items that I use almost every day. For a long time, I didn’t even know “Everyday Carry” — or EDC — was a thing. I’ve just always been drawn to cool-looking, compact gear that feels good in the hand.
How to do Raspberry Pi OS backups
I recently got a Raspberry Pi Zero and started configuring it for a personal project. As I was setting everything up I realized how much time and effort I was investing. That’s when it hit me: microSD cards, which the Pi relies on for storage, aren’t exactly known for their durability under heavy I/O. A sudden failure could mean losing everything. To avoid starting from scratch in the future, I decided to create a full backup of the system, including all configurations and data.
Extending your application with Lua scripts
I was always intrigued when I heard about people creating custom mods in games with the help of the mysterious Lua scripting language. I didn’t care much about the games themselves, but more about the idea of extending and customizing something to my imagination. I’m not a gamer, but I love automation and modifying things, so this naturally sparked my interest.
How I built a custom Homekit thermostat for 40€
I wanted a smart HomeKit thermostat for a long time. The only problem is that it is quite expensive so I never bought one. Last year, Espressif organized an introductory workshop to familiarize people with ESP32. I’ve heard about this board before but didn’t know what exactly it was and never really played with it. So I signed up for the workshop to get hands-on experience with the chip. If you don’t know what ESP32 is, you can think of it as something between Arduino and Raspberry Pi - a microprocessor that you can program in C with GPIO pins, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity.