Axel VerneThe Junk Drawer Homelab — companion kit
Every code block in the book, copy-ready. Compose files, checklists, the cheat sheet. Free, MIT-licensed, no sign-up. The book tells you why; this page saves your fingers.
Kindle $9.99 Paperback Download the kit (zip)
DRM-free. Lend it to the friend with the dead laptop.
Want the whole thing in one folder instead of a zip full of loose files? See the paid companion kit, $24
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Chapter code
- Chapter 1 — What's in the Drawer1 code block
- Chapter 2 — Subscription Killer1 code block
- Chapter 3 — The Boring Foundation7 code blocks
- Chapter 4 — First Light I: Pi-hole on the Pi You Forgot5 code blocks
- Chapter 5 — First Light II: Old Laptop → Jellyfin4 code blocks
- Chapter 6 — First Light III: Old Phone → Camera, Dashboard, or Sensor3 code blocks
- Chapter 7 — Break Up With Big Tech I: Google Photos → Immich9 code blocks
- Chapter 8 — Break Up With Big Tech II: Password Manager → Vaultwarden6 code blocks
- Chapter 9 — Break Up With Big Tech III: Audiobooks & Podcasts → Audiobookshelf5 code blocks
- Chapter 10 — Fortress I: Reach It From Anywhere Without Opening a Port (Tailscale)9 code blocks
- Chapter 11 — Fortress II: Backups That Actually Restore27 code blocks
- Chapter 12 — Fortress III: Network Hygiene13 code blocks
- Chapter 13 — The Oracle I: Local AI on Old Hardware23 code blocks
- Chapter 14 — The Oracle II: Let the AI Run the Lab6 code blocks
- Chapter 15 — The Oracle III: Automations with n8n4 code blocks
- Chapter 16 — The Rack: Many Boxes Into One3 code blocks
- Chapter 17 — When It Breaks: The Field Guide5 code blocks
- Chapter 18 — Close the Drawer2 code blocks
Want it all in one folder?
The free kit below gives you the core worksheets and the basic installer scripts — it stays free, MIT-licensed, no sign-up. The paid companion kit is the same thing finished:
- The book — PDF + EPUB, DRM-free, no Kindle required
- Every code block from the book, organised chapter by chapter instead of one long page
- Five printable worksheets to plan and track your own drawer
TIMING.md— the installer times measured on real hardware, so you know what "wait for it" actually means
$24 one-time · instant download · no subscription
Get the paid kit — $24 Buy on Whop
Prefer to pay on Whop or Gumroad? Same files either way — it's one-time, and the free kit stays free. This is just for people who'd rather not hunt through folders.
Chapter 1 checklist — empty the drawer
Lay everything out. Five piles: laptops, Pis and little boards, phones and tablets, network junk, storage. Label every single thing before any of it gets a job.
DEVICE MODEL / YEAR RAM STORAGE BOOTS? IDLE W ASSIGNED TO (fill in later)
________________ ___________________ _____ ________ _______ _______ __________________________
________________ ___________________ _____ ________ _______ _______ __________________________
________________ ___________________ _____ ________ _______ _______ __________________________
________________ ___________________ _____ ________ _______ _______ __________________________
________________ ___________________ _____ ________ _______ _______ __________________________Straight to e-waste: anything with a swollen battery, drives that fail SMART, routers that can't run OpenWrt and have no gigabit ports, pre-2010 laptops with 2 GB soldered on, cables you can't identify.
Old 2.5" laptop drives become backup targets with a cheap enclosure: USB 3 2.5" enclosures on Amazon (affiliate link). Missing something else? What the book says to buy, if anything.
Build times and claims
Where the book quotes a build time, it was measured on real hardware and labelled with that hardware. Where it wasn't measured, it doesn't say. Same rule here.