About

This project represents a culmination of my life experience as a computer engineer with my desire to detach from big tech companies and empower regular users to control their digital world. Some things mentioned here will be technical, but my goal is to have a system that my wife and kids can use to build their own private, personal dashboard of digital services using completely free, self-hosted software via a point-and-click web interface.

With that being said, the underlying platform architecture was designed to build public cloud services that scale to millions of global users. In that case, you can use this platform to build and run alternative tech stacks for indie communities and startups. The possibilities are endless because it's a portable, private cloud platform at the base.

Please note, this current website is only a mockup design, and the platform is not ready for public use. However, this website serves as a reference guide for people to get started now using alternative services. The Bythos platform is merely a living framework and cluster of existing tools for digital sovereignty. Whatever gets created with it by anybody will surely be the magical things.

Who is this project for?

Various platform layers can be abstracted and utilized in different ways, making it suitable for just about everyone. Someone could use it to run an online gaming service on top of Exoscale's Scalable Kubernetes Service (SKS), for example. Alternatively, a small homestead can use it to operate their cottage food business, partially or completely offline, and with their own hardware.

The first adopters will likely be people who already have experience operating a home lab with Linux servers and want to try something new by diving into Kubernetes. I would consider them to be platform engineers if they help develop the software stack to give the next level of users a smoother experience.

After a while, we could make hardware devices that freelancers and small development teams might want to purchase, or else make it easy for them to install and run on their hardware. Some of those developers will create more software alternatives to add to the marketplace. It will become a great business tool for freelancers and small companies.

Eventually, it could turn into a public cloud service for people who have no desire to run their own hardware or administer a platform, but want to use it as a service. That's fine! We'll deploy it on bare metal edge servers around the world and make it easy for people to assemble their digital portals as securely as possible in a public cloud.

Then, of course, there will be all the users of the online services created from the Bythos with absolutely no knowledge of its existence as the underlying platform.

Why Kubernetes?

Most of the current solutions for home labs use Docker. That's worked well for most, and while those systems should be fine for several years to come, the container world is shifting to Kubernetes. It is the core project of the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, and Docker containers run easily on Kubernetes. I'm creating a repository of Helm charts for self-hosted software, among other things.

If you look at the CNCF Landscape, you'll find a smorgasbord of microservices for building cloud orchestration and automation platforms on Kubernetes. Most of the major internet-based companies are using it for their infrastructure to power the online brands we're all familiar with. They contribute projects, code, and documentation to the CNCF, which is standardizing the way software applications get built and delivered to devices across the globe.

I'm going to run a cluster in my home that will manage a small organic farm business using commodity hardware, free software, and maybe even solar power. It can run disconnected from the internet, as needed, yet still provide tech services to a local network or community. I'll still be spending a lot of time playing with machines to tweak them and keep tabs on things. But that's me, and for the most part, this platform just cares for itself and lets you know when anything needs attention.

Is it enterprise quality?

Absolutely! I've worked in companies operating public and private clouds for nearly 20 years and know how they and most of their customers run data centers and online applications.

All that I wanted to do in my free time was create a family blog but knew I wouldn't be using WordPress on GoDaddy. So far, I've just been working on crafting the proper tooling to build and maintain a modern, custom website. No family blog yet.

Besides web development, the software marketplace has everything you need to operate a small to mid-sized business with technical dependencies. Not to mention all the things for homesteads packed in there, as well.

The options available in open source will change from time to time, but anything that is widely adopted will be around for a long time in some form, even if it is a fork.

You're using the same things that power most of the modern internet.

Will the AI take over my life?

It's quite possible, although they're designed as servants, so not necessarily a bad thing.

You're creating an army of minions. With great power comes great responsibility.

My personal assistant will be a cosmic sorcerer cat named Simon. You'll get to create whatever you want. Just keep good backups.

Will it be easy to use?

I try to keep things as simple as possible for people to use and understand. There will be plenty of documentation, demonstrations, tutorials, etc. Support options will be available in different forms.