The state of homelab tech (2025) (Friends)

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Techno Tim joins Adam to catch up on the state of Homelab for 2025, the state of AI at home and on-prem (AI Homelab) and where that’s heading, building a creator PC, choosing the parts for your build, GPU availability, Windows being user hostile, and why Tim is happy to be using Windows, Mac AND Linux.

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Sponsors:

• Retool – The low-code platform for developers to build internal tools — Some of the best teams out there trust Retool…Brex, Coinbase, Plaid, Doordash, LegalGenius, Amazon, Allbirds, Peloton, and so many more – the developers at these teams trust Retool as the platform to build their internal tools. Try it free at retool.com/changelog
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Featuring:

• Techno Tim – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
• Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

• Building My ULTIMATE Linux Workstation
• Homelab Services Tour 2025 - What am I Self-Hosting
• HomeLab Hardware Tour (Early 2025)
• Building a Low-Power, Fully Loaded Plex Server
• MacWhisper by GoodSnooze (Gumroad)
• Mel Robbins: Let Them Theory
• Changelog News - Everyone knows your location

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Chapters

1. Let's talk! (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Retool (00:00:38)

https://retool.com/changelog

3. Skipping breakfast (00:03:23)

4. Tim snacks (00:05:37)

5. PEE CAN or Pecan? (00:06:36)

6. Berdoll Pecans FTW (00:08:41)

https://www.berdollpecanfarm.com/

7. Let's talk Homelab (00:09:53)

8. How Homelab began (00:11:57)

9. Smaller and less power is the way (00:13:14)

10. What's motivates Tim? (00:16:57)

11. Script it OR wing it? (00:20:26)

12. Cameras for filming (00:23:10)

13. Content practices and workflows (00:28:13)

14. Changelog core beliefs (00:32:30)

15. Homelab stuff that's resonating with Adam (00:36:12)

16. AI Homelab (00:38:34)

17. On-prep AI is the future (00:43:25)

18. Sponsor: Temporal (00:45:12)

https://temporal.io

19. Self-hosting AI (00:47:14)

20. AI at home is the next frontier (00:55:47)

21. GPUs on eBay (00:56:19)

22. Local AI and Ollama are the way (00:58:02)

23. Make Ollama first-class integration (01:04:16)

24. AI as a Service on my LAN (AIaaS) (01:06:26)

25. GPT is the first draft word calculator (01:08:20)

26. AI builds from Tim (01:14:49)

27. Building a creator PC (01:15:20)

28. BUT Windows is user hostile (01:20:34)

29. Paying the Apple tax (01:27:09)

30. Why not BOTH Windows and Mac? (01:30:00)

31. Sponsor: DeleteMe (01:31:25)

https://joindeleteme.com

32. Adam's creator PC build (01:33:17)

33. Understanding the various GPUs (01:38:35)

34. Planning for PCIe lanes (01:41:19)

35. Gamers pushed the innovation (01:45:28)

36. The GPU bottleneck (01:49:35)

37. Tim's Linux Workstation (01:52:33)

38. The hard drive conspiracy! (01:56:35)

39. Should we do this more often? (01:59:35)

40. Wrapping up (02:02:29)

41. Closing thoughts and stuff (02:03:16)