Learning Docker by Building a Container Engine from Scratch

Am I Overcomplicating This? — The Minimal Homelab That Actually Works

OpenCV 5 Announced — Get Started with Computer Vision in Python for CS Students

Switch from pip to uv — Python's New Package Manager Guide

Cambridge 9618 Paper 1 Theory Fundamentals — AS Computer Science Topic Guide

Debugging Python for A-Level CS — Reading Tracebacks and Finding Bugs

Self-Host Redis 8.8 with Docker Compose — And Why It's Useful for Your Homelab

Switch from pip to uv — Python's Rust-Based Package Manager Guide

Binary, Hexadecimal, and Number Systems — Visual Guide for IGCSE CS

Teaching Python File Handling for IGCSE & A-Level CS — Worked Examples

How to Set Up a Test Pipeline That Actually Catches Bugs

How to Set Up Hermes Agent on a Mini PC Home Server

🔒 IGCSE ICT June 2025 Paper 1 (0417/12) – Security, File Transfer & ATM Processing

📝 IGCSE ICT June 2025 Paper 1 (0417/11) – Testing, Safety & Security

📝 Cambridge AS & A Level Computer Science June 2025 Paper 1 (9618/12) – Databases, Data Structures & Algorithms

📝 Cambridge AS & A Level Computer Science June 2025 Paper 2 (9618/22) – Records, Files & Programming Techniques

📝 Cambridge AS & A Level Computer Science June 2025 Paper 2 (9618/22) – Algorithms, Data Structures & Sorting

📝 Cambridge AS & A Level Computer Science June 2025 Paper 2 (9618/22) – Development Life Cycles, Maintenance & Testing

📝 Cambridge AS & A Level Computer Science June 2025 Paper 1 (9618/12) – Assembly, Logic Circuits & Communication

🖥️ IGCSE ICT June 2025 Paper 1 (0417/12) – System Testing, Safety & Cybersecurity Explained

📝 IGCSE ICT June 2025 Paper 1 (0417/12) – Input Devices, Applications Software & Biometric Systems Explained

📝 Cambridge AS & A Level Computer Science June 2025 Paper 1 (9618/12) – Von Neumann, Number Systems & AI

📝 IGCSE ICT June 2025 Paper 1 (0417/11) – Output Devices, Applications Software & Smartphones

My Experience with Replit Agent: A Promising Start, But a Frustrating Finish

Why use indentation in Python

OSI Reference Model-Networking 101

Techie Mike — Tech Tutorials for Students & Homelab Enthusiasts

Practical tech tutorials for Cambridge CS/ICT students and homelab enthusiasts. I break down complex topics — VirtualBox, Proxmox, ethical hacking, Python, and exam prep — into clear, hands-on guides you can actually follow. No fluff, just real skills.

High School to Homelab — A Student's Linux Journey

linux • 7 min read

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High School to Homelab — A Student's Linux Journey

# High School to Homelab — A Student's Linux Journey Last week, a high school student posted on [r/homelab](https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/). i5-6500T. 40TB NAS. ThinkPad X13 running Proxmox. Looking for advice on his setup. The best way to learn is to try and fail.…

Techie Mike • 23 Jun 2026

linux • 13 min read

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Learning Docker by Building a Container Engine from Scratch

# Learning Docker by Building a Container Engine from Scratch If you've used Docker for any length of time, you've probably internalized the vocabulary. Images. Containers. Dockerfiles. `docker run -d --name my-app nginx`. It works. You ship code. Everyone's happy. But here's a question: what actu…

Techie Mike • 21 Jun 2026

The Chat Graveyard — How to Export, Search, and Learn from Your AI Conversations

Python • 12 min read

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The Chat Graveyard — How to Export, Search, and Learn from Your AI Conversations

# The Chat Graveyard — How to Export, Search, and Learn from Your AI Conversations I counted recently. Across ChatGPT, Claude, Hermes Agent, and a couple of other tools I've tried and abandoned, I've accumulated well over 2,000 AI conversations.…

Techie Mike • 21 Jun 2026

hardware • 7 min read

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Am I Overcomplicating This? — The Minimal Homelab That Actually Works

# Am I Overcomplicating This? — The Minimal Homelab That Actually Works Scroll through r/homelab for ten minutes and you'll see server racks that look like data center colocations. 42U cabinets. Enterprise switches with SFP+ cages blinking amber. Dual Xeon boxes drawing 400 watts.…

Techie Mike • 17 Jun 2026

Python • 9 min read

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OpenCV 5 Announced — Get Started with Computer Vision in Python for CS Students

You've written Python programs that print to the terminal, read files, and maybe even scraped a website. But have you written code that can _see_? Code that can detect edges in a photograph or find faces in a group picture? That's computer vision.…

Techie Mike • 10 Jun 2026

1-Click GitHub Token Theft via VSCode Bug — A Developer Security Wake-Up Call

Code • 7 min read

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1-Click GitHub Token Theft via VSCode Bug — A Developer Security Wake-Up Call

Just by clicking a link, it's possible for an attacker to steal a GitHub token that can read **and write** to your repos — including private ones. This isn't a hypothetical vulnerability or a "theoretical risk" scenario. Security researcher [Ammar Askar](https://blog.ammaraskar.com/github-token-ste…

Techie Mike • 08 Jun 2026

Python • 8 min read

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Switch from pip to uv — Python's New Package Manager Guide

# Switch from pip to uv — Python's New Package Manager Guide If you've ever sat waiting for `pip install` to finish building wheels in a Docker build, you know the pain. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Sometimes longer, depending on how many native extensions your project pulls in. There's a better way…

Techie Mike • 08 Jun 2026

computer science • 14 min read

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Cambridge 9618 Paper 1 Theory Fundamentals — AS Computer Science Topic Guide

The June 2026 Cambridge AS/A-Level Computer Science Paper 1 (9618) has just been sat. If you took it, you're probably wondering how you did. If you're preparing for a future sitting, you want to know what topics come up and how to score full marks. I've been teaching Cambridge A-Level CS for over a…

Techie Mike • 08 Jun 2026

Python • 9 min read

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Debugging Python for A-Level CS — Reading Tracebacks and Finding Bugs

Debugging Python for A-Level CS — Reading Tracebacks and Finding Bugs When your Python program crashes, it's not the end of the world. It's the start of a clue. I've seen students freeze when that red error text appears in their IDE. They stare at it, panic, and close the terminal.…

Techie Mike • 07 Jun 2026

developer tools • 9 min read

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Self-Host Redis 8.8 with Docker Compose — And Why It's Useful for Your Homelab

# Self-Host Redis 8.8 with Docker Compose — And Why It's Useful for Your Homelab Most homelabs start with storage. A NAS here, a media server there. But at some point you realize your services need to talk to each other — and that's when you discover you need something faster than your Postgres ins…

Techie Mike • 06 Jun 2026

Writing a Python Program for IGCSE Paper 2 — Full Walkthrough with Mark Scheme

Code • 8 min read

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Writing a Python Program for IGCSE Paper 2 — Full Walkthrough with Mark Scheme

If you're studying for Cambridge IGCSE Computer Science (0478/9618), Paper 2 is where you write actual code. And here's the thing — most students lose marks not because they can't code, but because they don't know what the examiner is looking for. I've been teaching IGCSE CS for over a decade, and…

Techie Mike • 05 Jun 2026

Chuwi Minibook X vs BMAX Pro 8 — Which Budget Homelab Machine?

Computer components • 10 min read

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Chuwi Minibook X vs BMAX Pro 8 — Which Budget Homelab Machine?

# Chuwi Minibook X vs BMAX Pro 8 — Which Budget Homelab Machine? You're building your first homelab on a budget. Maybe you want to run Docker, try Proxmox, or host a few self-hosted services. You've heard about the Chuwi Minibook X — it hit over 400 points on Hacker News. And the BMAX Pro 8 is a pr…

Techie Mike • 03 Jun 2026

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Techie Mike

Computer Science teacher in Thailand. 10+ years Cambridge IGCSE, 4 years AS/A Level. BSc Computer Science & Engineering. Ex-Intel, Virgin Media. Practical exam prep, past paper walkthroughs and tech tutorials.

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Techie Mike — Tech Tutorials for Students & Homelab Enthusiasts

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