Episode Details

What we cover

• A trip down memory lane with Adam
• IEMs and Geoff's terrible hearing
• Nvidia Shield v. Apple TV showdown
• Booklore implosion and rebirth as Grimmory

In this episode of BitFlip, Alex, Adam, Geoff, and Stephen talk through Adam’s tech journey from old game consoles and early PC gaming to enterprise storage, FreeNAS, iXsystems, and now Unraid. It is a fun look at how childhood hobbies can turn into a career in infrastructure and support.

The crew also dives into the strange and expensive world of in ear monitors, the growing frustration with the Nvidia Shield, and why good home media hardware still feels harder than it should be. There is plenty of nostalgia here too, with side trips into old Linux distros, XBMC, and the joys of tinkering.

To close out the show, the hosts unpack the latest self hosted community drama around Booklore, open source ownership, forks, and what happens when trust breaks down between a maintainer and their users. It is a mix of practical tech, opinion, and the kind of conversation that happens when a few infrastructure nerds get together.

Topics: gaming, retro gaming, linux, unraid, zfs, headphones, IEMs, audio equipment, Nvidia Shield, Apple TV, Booklore, Grimmory, drama

Links

• https://florisse.nl/shield-debloat/
• https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/inside-nvidias-10-year-effort-to-make-the-shield-tv-the-most-updated-android-device-ever/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1rs275q/psa_think_hard_before_you_deploy_booklore/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1rvmnru/what_happened_to_booklore/
• https://github.com/grimmory-tools/grimmory