Hacker News: backtogeek

New comment by backtogeek in "Serving a website on a Raspberry Pi Zero running in RAM"

backtogeek — Fri, 08 May 2026 20:02:46 +0000

Brilliant write up, just 1 correction, the TierHive VPS should only be $1.20 per year not $4 :)

Show HN: Installing OpenBSD on any VPS via ipxe (128mb RAM, 1GB Disk)

backtogeek — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 19:12:58 +0000

I made this guide and posted it on the LowEndSpirit.com VPS/Hosting community forum, a guide to installing OpenBSD on any VPS with a console and ipxe support (pretty much any KVM based host should support this now) even if they dont have any BSD templates, no dhcp required, static config method included and ipxe shell commands to get started.

I did this in a tint 128mb ram vps with 1 vcpu and 1GB disk, hopefully it gets people thinking about doing and achieving more with less, the LowEndSpirit philosophy!

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47546981

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by backtogeek in "Show HN: Full graphical desktop running on a 128MB VPS Alpine+XRDP+WindowMaker"

backtogeek — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 16:04:49 +0000

Thanks I appreciate you taking the time to comment!

I wonder that too. I have been a reader for YEARS, lost access to my old account, so I am cautious about posting content here, as I know new low-post accounts are often seen as spammy, which is fair enough.

Show HN: Full graphical desktop running on a 128MB VPS Alpine+XRDP+WindowMaker

backtogeek — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 13:41:57 +0000

Built this as a guide for users of my hosting service. Everything here was run on a real instance. The Mesa/LLVM dependency is genuinely painful on a 1GB disk, and I couldn't find a way around it. WindowMaker won the window manager battle purely on dependency chain cleanliness; it pulls in no GTK, no Python, no audio stack. Happy to answer questions about any of the choices made. Screenshots at the end.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47530375

Points: 9

# Comments: 4

Show HN: TierHive – Hourly-billed NAT VPS with private /24 subnets

backtogeek — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 17:44:47 +0000

This idea has been floating in my head for about 10 years. Some of you might remember LowEndSpirit.com back before it became a forum, I started that. I've been obsessed with making tiny, cheap VPS actually useful ever since.

TierHive is my attempt to make 128MB VPS great again :)

It's a NAT VPS (KVM) platform with true hourly billing. Spin up a server, use it for 3 hours, delete it, pay for 3 hours. No monthly commitments, no minimums beyond a $5 top-up.

The tradeoff is NAT (no dedicated IPv4), but I've tried to make that less painful:

- Every account gets a /24 private subnet with full DHCP management. - Every server gets auto ssh port forwarding and a few TCP/UDP ports - Built-in HAProxy with Let's Encrypt SSL, load balancing, and auto-failover - WireGuard mesh between locations (Canada, Germany, UK currently) - PXE/iPXE boot support for custom installs - Email relay with DKIM/SPF - Recipe system for one-click deploys

Still in alpha. Small team, rough edges, but I've been running my own stuff on it for months. Would love feedback — especially on whether the NAT tradeoff kills it for your use cases, or what's missing. (IPv6 is coming) https://tierhive.com

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46544004

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by backtogeek in "Eat Real Food"

backtogeek — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 11:09:18 +0000

All the deep state stuff aside, I switched to 100% unprocessed meals for a month sometime ago after finding out I was becoming insulin resistant.

It worked I feel better and a few other things... My eye sight improved and my beard, leg and arm hair increased, noticeably.

New comment by backtogeek in "Databases in 2025: A Year in Review"

backtogeek — Mon, 05 Jan 2026 11:40:25 +0000

I can't believe that article has no mention of SQLite ??

New comment by backtogeek in "Replacing JavaScript with Just HTML"

backtogeek — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 08:29:28 +0000

Brilliant I will be adopting a few of these, I have been on a personal quest to reduce js use recently, I feel like I spend more time debugging js than producing the end result.

New comment by backtogeek in "Ask HN: How to go back to listening to MP3s?"

backtogeek — Sun, 28 Dec 2025 00:14:16 +0000

Yep and I have kept it really basic and simple, I just store them in a folder in /home/$user/music and let jukebox scan and catalogue and I keep a subset on my phone, really that simple.... And you know what, it feels great, but then again, I am old enough to fondly remember just listening to a Walkman and being blown away.

New comment by backtogeek in "Floor796"

backtogeek — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 18:29:18 +0000

This sort of thing gives me a nice hit of nostalgia.

I am pleased things like this continue to exist on the tinterweb.

New comment by backtogeek in "Apple releases open-source model that instantly turns 2D photos into 3D views"

backtogeek — Sat, 27 Dec 2025 18:25:45 +0000

License arguments aside, pretty cool.

New comment by backtogeek in "Show HN: CineCLI – Browse and torrent movies directly from your terminal"

backtogeek — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:32:47 +0000

Probably is, nice that people who do other things apart from learning to code all day can get their ideas out of their heads.

New comment by backtogeek in "Show HN: CineCLI – Browse and torrent movies directly from your terminal"

backtogeek — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 12:31:53 +0000

looks pretty cool, will add it to the never ending list of stuff to test

New comment by backtogeek in "BMW Patents Proprietary Screws That Only Dealerships Can Remove"

backtogeek — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 13:45:04 +0000

Give it a week, there will be a tool out of China that works just fine, the right to repair by brute force!