🤕 I could’ve rented a VPS or amp, used managed platform or kept everything on my Mac.
Instead, I bought a mini PC.
Not because I needed another server!
Because I wanted a playground I could own, break, rebuild, and keep improving!…
The idea was simple:
My Mac should be interface not machine doing all the heavy lifting.
The mini PC handles development, databases, builds, and execution.
Mac for comfort. iPhone for mobility.
One environment accessible from anywhere!
First challenge: building the development stack without hiding everything behind Docker!
Installed natively:
• NGINX + PHP 8.5/FPM
• MariaDB + PostgreSQL
• Redis
• Composer + Laravel
• Node.js + Python
I wanted to understand and control what actually runs.
Networking was another adventure
SSH, Tailscale, firewall rules, local DNS, Samba
The goal:
Connect securely from Mac or iPhone without constantly remembering IP addresses or fighting networking configuration
And yes networking humbled me more than once 😂