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How I Test

Every claim of “tested” on this site points back to a real machine and a real terminal. This page describes the lab, the process, and where the limits are — so you can judge the guides accordingly.

The lab

  • Home lab: a small rack of mini PCs (Intel N-series and Ryzen boxes) running Proxmox, used for Docker stacks, monitoring tools, and NAS/storage builds.
  • VPS fleet: small instances at the providers I write about — Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Vultr and others — used for install guides and benchmarks. Most guides are written on a fresh VPS, not a lab box that already has the config.
  • Desktop: a Mac for day-to-day work, plus Windows and Linux machines for Samba, desktop-app and driver guides.

What “tested” means for guides

  • Every command, config file, and compose stack in a guide is one I ran myself, start to finish, on the OS versions named in the article. If a step says “you should see X”, I saw X.
  • Guides are written while doing the install, not reconstructed from memory — that’s why they include the small failure cases (busy ports, missing kernel modules, permission errors) that vendor docs skip.
  • Copy-paste means it: commands are written to run verbatim. Where you must substitute a value, it’s marked.
  • Version-sensitive guides are updated when the software changes materially; the “Updated” date on a post reflects a real re-check, not a typo fix.

What “tested” means for hardware and picks

  • Buying guides are based on gear I bought or have direct hands-on time with, plus spec-sheet and firmware research where something wasn’t in my lab.
  • When a post says a product was tested, it was physically in the rack or on the desk — benchmarks, temps, noise and quirks are mine. Where numbers come from the vendor or other reviewers, the article says so, and the title says “Compared” rather than “Tested”.
  • Affiliate links never change the pick order. Recommendations follow the same rule as the guides: if I wouldn’t run it myself, it isn’t recommended. See the affiliate disclosure policy for the details.

Feedback

If a guide didn’t work for you — a broken command, a changed UI, an outdated step — tell me through the contact page or the “Did this guide work?” widget at the end of every article. Failed-guide reports go to the top of the update queue; keeping the archive current is the whole point of the site.