Episode Description
- Alex's overnight homelab failure and the dangers of a single point of failure
- High availability vs. disaster recovery: how much redundancy does a homelab actually need?
- Bambu X2D, Snapmaker U1, and whether Prusa can still compete (or has closed source won?)
- Power banks in 2025: travel companions, UPS replacements, and why the screen matters
We kick off the episode with Alex sharing a cautionary tale about his MinisForum MS01 PC dying unexpectedly, taking down his Home Assistant, DNS (this time it wasn't DNS, we swear!), and reverse proxy along with it — sparking a broader conversation about the line between home lab and home production. We discuss strategies for high availability versus simpler disaster recovery, the value of keeping smart home automations additive rather than replacing physical controls, and the discipline required to maintain proper separation between prod and test environments.
We also talk about 3D printing, covering the newly announced Bambu X2D and its surprisingly aggressive $899 price point when compared to the pricing of the Snapmaker U1, the ongoing tension between Bambu's closed ecosystem and open-source alternatives like Prusa, and a brief tangent on legislation around 3D-printed firearms.
We wrap up with a quick discussion on high-capacity power banks, particularly their usefulness for travel and potential as UPS replacements during power outages.
Topics: homelab, Home Assistant, high-availability, disaster recovery, Proxmox, self-hosting, 3d-printing bambu lab, snapmaker, prusa, power banks, minisforum
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