Digital Independence exists for people who would rather understand technology than simply consume it.
Technology has never been more capable, and never harder to see inside. Every year we rely on more online services, subscriptions and connected devices without really knowing how they work, what happens to our data, or what we would lose if they disappeared tomorrow. The problem is becoming dependent on systems we do not understand and cannot leave.
One of the central ideas you will find throughout this site is digital independence. It's about having enough knowledge to make deliberate choices about the technology you use, instead of accepting the default.
For some people that means running a homelab. For others it means buying DRM-free games, choosing open-source software, or understanding the trade-offs before signing up for another subscription. There is no single correct way to become more independent. You have to decide what makes sense for you.
Through practical guides, a growing Lexicon and designs inspired by technology and curiosity, I want to make these topics approachable for everyone. It's for everyone, not for developers and IT professionals only.
The goal is not to convince you to copy my setup. It is to help you understand your own well enough to build the digital life you actually want.
Three pillars
The writing here covers three areas that look separate and are not:
Self-hosting and homelab
Much of this pillar is about the subscription layer. For example the storage, photo and productivity services you pay for every month, which quietly become the only place your data lives. In most of those cases a free, open-source alternative does the same job on hardware you already own. The usual problem is that nobody told you the alternative existed, or helped you make the switch.
Emulation and retro gaming
Keeping your games intact, and keeping what you already paid for. If you bought a game in the nineties, you should not have to buy it a second and a third time to play it on current hardware. But that is usually exactly how it goes - another payment for a remake of something you already owned. Emulation is the alternative. I am a child of the nineties, so the focus here is the hardware I grew up with, emulated on Linux.
Indie and open-source gaming
Small studios are where the variance is. They build mechanics nobody has tried, and ideas that would not survive a budget meeting in a AAA Studio. Large releases are too often expensive, familiar, and designed mainly to occupy your time. The attention here goes to independent and retro games, where the people who made the thing plainly cared about it. The hidden gems are worth the search, and this is a place to collect them. The preference throughout is for storefronts that hand you a file rather than a licence that can be withdrawn.
About the recommendations
Hardware and software get recommended here because they are worth using, not because they pay. Some links inside the guides earn a commission if you buy through them, and those are marked wherever they appear. The guides stay free either way.
Where this stands right now
This project is being built in the open, and not all of it exists yet. The Lexicon is live and growing over time. The guides are still being written. The shop starts deliberately small, a handful of designs rather than a catalogue. Saying so seems better than pretending the whole thing arrived finished.
Where to start
The useful first move is not to pick the single dependency that would hurt most to lose, and replace only that one.
The Lexicon defines the terms you will hit on the way. Start anywhere in it, every entry stands on its own. If you would rather be told when something new goes up, the newsletter signup is in the footer.
About covers who is writing all this, and why there is a shop attached to it.