🏡 My Homelab Journey

This repository documents how I turned my old Dell Inspiron laptop into a flexible and secure homelab. It includes step-by-step notes on setting up remote access, file sharing, MeTube-powered media downloads, game emulator access, and a self-hosted Jellyfin media server—all tailored for Wi-Fi-only environments and seamless MacBook integration.

This project serves as both a learning log and a public portfolio as I grow my skills in networking, self-hosted services, and Linux system administration.

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📚 Table of Contents

• Hardware Specs
• Network Setup
• Jellyfin Media Server
• Emulator Streaming
• MeTube Media Downloader

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🧱 Homelab Hardware Specs

🖥️ Main Server

• Model: Dell Inspiron 13 7000 2-in-1
• Processor: Intel Core i5 (8th Gen)
• RAM: 8 GB DDR4
• Storage: 256 GB SSD
• OS: Ubuntu Server (version TBD)
• Power: Always plugged in (acts as 24/7 host)
• Form Factor: Laptop

💻 Client: MacBook Air (M1)

• Model: MacBook Air (Apple Silicon, M1)
• OS: macOS Sequoia
• RAM: 8 GB Unified Memory
• Storage: 256 GB SSD
• Network: Wi-Fi only (802.11ac)
• Use Case: Remote access, file mounting (Samba), local emulation, Jellyfin streaming

🌐 Network Interface

• Wi-Fi: Integrated (primary connection)
• Ethernet: Not used

🖧 Clients

• MacBook Air (M1) – for streaming, remote access, and media control
• Secondary Laptop (used for transfer/setup)

📦 Peripherals

• External hard drive (4 TB, used for Jellyfin and MeTube downloads)
• USB drives (media transfer)
• Surge protector + power switch

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🌐 Network Setup

🔐 VPN / Remote Access

• Tailscale used for secure access across all devices
• Installed on:
  • Dell Homelab Server
  • MacBook Air (client)

Tailscale Setup Notes

curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
sudo tailscale up --authkey <YOUR-AUTH-KEY>

• Created a subnet route to access other LAN devices
• Enabled MagicDNS for easier access via hostname

🖧 Local IP Management

• Static IP assigned to homelab via router settings (DHCP reservation)
• Tailscale IP used when away from home

📡 Firewall / Router Notes

• UPnP disabled
• Port forwarding NOT required (Tailscale handles tunneling)
• Firewall allows Tailscale range only

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🍿 Jellyfin Media Server Setup

📌 Goals

• Host and stream downloaded media (drama, anime, movies)
• Support subtitle files (SRT, embedded)
• Access on MacBook via browser or app

🐳 Docker Compose Setup

version: "3.8"
services:
  jellyfin:
    image: jellyfin/jellyfin
    container_name: jellyfin
    network_mode: host
    volumes:
      - /path/to/media:/media
      - /path/to/config:/config
    restart: unless-stopped

🧪 Testing

• Access via http://<tailscale-ip>:8096
• Auto-detects most metadata
• Embedded or .srt subtitle files are picked up automatically

📺 Client Access

• MacBook: Used Chrome + Tailscale login

🛠️ Issues Encountered

• Subtitle encoding mismatch (resolved by setting UTF-8)
• Slow library scan (resolved by limiting folders scanned)

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🎮 Emulator Streaming from Homelab

⚙️ Goal

Access game emulators hosted on the homelab server from a MacBook client using network file sharing.

🧩 Emulator Stack

• PCSX2 (PS2)
• RPCS3 (PS3)
• DuckStation (PS1)

📡 File Sharing Method

• Samba (SMB) used to expose /games directory from homelab server
• MacBook connects via Finder (⌘K > smb://[homelab-ip])
• Games and BIOS files accessed directly from mounted volume

Samba Configuration Snippet (/etc/samba/smb.conf)

[games]
   path = /home/username/games
   browseable = yes
   read only = no
   guest ok = yes

Mounting on MacBook

1. Open Finder > Go > Connect to Server…
2. Enter smb://<homelab-ip>
3. Mount the games share

🧪 Testing

• Ran emulators locally on MacBook using games from mounted network drive
• Verified no input lag or load issues with PS1/PS2 titles

🧱 Performance Notes

• Streaming via SMB is stable over Wi-Fi for retro and mid-gen consoles
• For PS3/modern consoles, consider using a laptop that has more than 8GB RAM for faster performance

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📥 MeTube Media Downloader

🎯 Purpose

A web-based frontend for downloading media (YouTube, Dailymotion, etc.) with support for subtitles and format customization. Ideal for populating your Jellyfin media server.

🐳 Docker Compose Example

version: "3"
services:
  metube:
    image: aleksilassila/metube
    container_name: metube
    ports:
      - 8081:8081
    volumes:
      - /path/to/downloads:/downloads
    restart: unless-stopped

🔧 Configuration Notes

• Downloads placed into shared Jellyfin media folder (/downloads)
• Subtitle files (.srt) are fetched automatically if available
• Uses yt-dlp under the hood for more reliable downloading

🧪 Usage

• Open browser to http://<tailscale-ip>:8081
• Paste video URL
• Select format (e.g., best + subtitles)
• Download directly to Jellyfin library

🛠 Troubleshooting

• If subtitle fetch fails, check subtitle language availability
• To download only subtitles: set format option to --write-subs --skip-download

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Built as part of my Computer Engineering & CS journey, this homelab is more than a server—it's my digital playground.