Turning a 2017 iMac into a 24/7 homelab server Draft
The goal
Give the operation an always-on box: scheduled jobs, self-hosted apps behind a reverse proxy, and a home for everything that shouldn't depend on a laptop lid staying open.
Hardware and cost
- 2017 iMac — repurposed, not retired
Exact specs and setup notes pending fact-check.
Software stack
- Omarchy / Arch Linux — the operating system
- Docker Compose — apps run as containers
- Reverse proxy — self-hosted apps served through it
What broke and how it was fixed
The real war stories go here after the author's fact-check — what failed on the first try, and what the fix was.
Verdict
Pending fact-check: who should copy this setup, and who shouldn't.