Introduction

“The year of the Linux desktop” is somewhat of a running joke in the Linux community. It refers to the idea that one day, Linux will finally establish itself as a mainstream desktop operating system alongside Windows and macOS for everyday computer users. But the prophecy has not yet been fulfilled—thanks to limited support for popular software, a fragmented landscape of desktop environments, and minimal adoption from computer manufacturers. All of this has kept Linux just out of reach for the average computer user.

Covers containerizing a basic Python app with Docker and uv, from base image selection to multi-stage builds for a slimmer, faster, and more secure image.

Earlier this year, I started a side project called Papernote. It is a simple note-taking application that runs in the browser. Like most of my side projects, the actual product was more of a side quest—I just wanted an excuse to learn something new. Since this was a web app, I had to decide on a front-end framework. I had used React and Vue in past projects, so those were out. I had been hearing a lot about a JavaScript library called HTMX, so, having no idea what I was getting myself into, I decided to give it a shot.

Humble Beginnings

My homelab journey started around 3 years ago while I was an undergrad studying computer science. I had gotten fed up with paying Google every month just to store my photos and files. I wanted a solution to store all my photos and files locally. As a student, I had no money at the time, so I purchased a Raspberry Pi. Following an excellent guide by Jay LaCroix from on Learn Linux TV, I soon had my very own personal cloud. I used Google’s takeout feature to exfiltrate all my digial assets. After importing all my data to Nextcloud, I had accomplished the original goal: get my data under my own roof.