I'm excited to share that I've finally kicked off buddyverse.net, my passion project to build a self-hosted, open-source ecosystem right from my homelab. Previously, I relied on cloud services for hosting, but I recently invested about $650 to set up my own homelab. I'm running everything on refurbished HP EliteDesk and Dell OptiPlex mini PCs—pretty cool, right?
Right now, I’ve got two servers running Proxmox, and I’m planning to add a third soon to run an OPNSense firewall for extra security. Here’s what’s up and running so far:
Lemmy: https://lemmy.buddyverse.net
SearXNG: https://search.buddyverse.net
Pastebin: https://paste.buddyverse.net
Redlib (Reddit frontend): https://redlib.buddyverse.net
ConvertX (File converter): https://convert.buddyverse.net
Rustpad (Anonymous real-time collaborative editing): https://pad.buddyverse.net
To make these services accessible, I’m using Pangolin Tunnel on a $5 Linode VPS in Singapore. For backups, I’ve got S3 storage handling offsite data. Next up, I’m planning to launch a Mastodon instance at social.buddyverse.net. As for the main domain, I’m thinking of setting up a simple page with links to all these services for now.
This whole project is a labor of love. I’ve been tinkering with tech since I was a kid, and it’s just so much fun to experiment and build. I’m still a student, and in my free time, I pick up some freelance system admin gigs on Fiverr and Upwork—though it’s not a big earner yet. Your support here on Patreon means the world and keeps me motivated to keep this project growing. Thanks for being part of this journey!
What do you think I should add to the main domain or other services to explore? Let me know your thoughts!