Austin · Texas · Network Operator · Est 1996

120 sites.
One operator.
Since 1996.

A 30-year independent web network run by Paul Walhus from Austin, Texas. 114 live sites across 120 domains — real estate, fan archives, coworking, AI, sustainability, and a dozen more verticals — all on one server, all under one operator, all built and shipped by hand.

A network isn't a brand. It's a habit you keep for thirty years. — Operator's note, May 2026
· Network status All operational
Live sites114 / 120
SSL certificates120 · auto-renewing
Network went live2026-04-01
Server1 · DigitalOcean
Years operating30
OperatorPaul Walhus
114
Live
11
Verticals
30
Years
1996
Since
120domains
Network scope
114live
Currently operational
11verticals
Topical coverage
1operator
Built by hand
1996→ now
Three decades
The origin story · how we got here

It started with a BBS.

No agency. No round of capital. No team. Just one operator, a domain registrar's email, and thirty years of figuring out what to do next.

1996 — spring.com BBS 1998 — spring.net 2001 — austinspring.com 2003 — firth.com 2005 — austen.com 2010 — coworking dirs 2018 — real estate stack 2026 — full network live

It began in 1996 with spring.com — one of Austin's first online communities, running on a BBS in a spare room. Then spring.net. Then austinspring.com. A Colin Firth fan site that became one of the longest-running on the web. A Jane Austen archive that's still serving readers two decades later. Coworking directories. Real estate niches. AI explainers. Sustainability research.

Over three decades, WholeTech has built and maintained more than a hundred sites. In March 2026, the entire network was rebuilt — 114 live sites in days, all with modern design, SSL, structured data, sitemaps, cross-links, and email capture. On April 1, 2026, the network went live in full: every domain, every certificate, every site, all in one push.

It runs on a single server. It's operated by one person. That's the whole tech.

The network · 114 sites across 11 verticals

Every site, under one roof.

Eleven category clusters. Each one a focused vertical, each one cross-linked into the larger network. Click through to the dedicated landing for each cluster.

Builder · off-grid6sites

Sustainable building.

Tiny home villages, off-grid living, earth-friendly construction, and the small-home movement.

buildercampoffgriddersmallhomevillages
Tech · AI14sites

Tech & AI explainers.

Hands-on AI guides, Claude/Anthropic deep-dives, video-switcher gear, networking how-tos.

claude.wholetechvideoswitcherguideaiwholetech
Austin · TX18sites

Austin culture, deep.

Sports, music, festivals, events, food, neighborhoods — Austin coverage that doesn't read like a tourist brochure.

austintexasfanstvatxatxaisites
Coworking9sites

Coworking directories.

Hot Springs, Austin, regional coworking maps and small-business space discovery tools.

texascolivingrealhotsprings
Real estate28sites

Real-estate niches.

Hot Springs micro-sites, retire-here playbooks, lake homes, luxury, Airbnb operator gear, land assembly.

realhotspringsretirehotspringsland.wholetech
Media · entertainment11sites

Media archives.

Long-running fan sites, awards coverage, TV/film criticism, and a Colin Firth archive older than YouTube.

firth.comtvreviewertvawardshows
Arts · letters8sites

Arts and letters.

Jane Austen scholarship, regional art collections, poetry, and a quiet love for the long-form.

austen.comcarolekatchen
Sustainability7sites

Energy & environment.

Solar, water, earth-modeling, and the unromantic engineering of staying livable on this planet.

earthmodelearthscrapers
Civic · politics4sites

Civic engagement.

Local-policy notes, voter research, civic infrastructure — slow journalism for towns nobody covers.

bastropbeat
Personal5sites

Personal & private.

Paul's own working docs, archives, and operations dashboards — most behind basic auth.

walhus.comfinance.walhus
Clients4sites

Client work.

Selected client builds — independent operators and small businesses who wanted real sites, not page-builders.

thebergerongroup+ private
All sites114live

The full inventory.

Searchable, sortable, color-coded by vertical. Every domain, every status, every cross-link.

browse →
Active builds · what's shipping right now

Always something live in progress.

A network isn't a museum. Three active project lines as of May 2026 — each one a real parcel, a real audience, a real shipping deadline.

Capabilities · what one operator actually does

Build · Host · Operate.

The three loops every WholeTech site runs through, every week, by one set of hands.

01 · Build

Hand-coded, not page-built.

Every site in the network is hand-crafted HTML/CSS/JS — no WordPress sprawl, no template lock-in, no plugin tax. Distinct design language per vertical.

  • Custom typography stacks per audience
  • Structured data + sitemaps on every page
  • SEO-grade markup, accessible defaults
  • Performance budgets enforced
02 · Host

One server. 120 domains.

The entire network lives on a single DigitalOcean droplet: nginx, Let's Encrypt automation, structured backup chain to B2, GitHub, Drive, and offline NAS.

  • Auto-renewing SSL on every domain
  • Triple-redundant backup architecture
  • Idempotent rollout scripts
  • Live status board, audited weekly
03 · Operate

Edit · ship · repeat.

Content moves continuously. Real estate data pipelines, MLS pulls, ACTRIS scraping, BCAD parcel imports — the network is a data system as much as a publishing one.

  • Daily MLS & BCAD pulls
  • Per-site analytics, ad-allowed inventory
  • Email capture & newsletter rails
  • AI-assisted editing pipeline (Claude)
Timeline · three decades of building

A working chronology.

Compressed to the load-bearing moments. The unimportant years happened too — those just aren't on this page.

1996 — 2002 · the BBS era

From spring.com BBS to spring.net.

The first community lived on a dial-up BBS in a spare room. By 1998 it became spring.net. By 2001, austinspring.com — built before "Austin tech" was a brand.

2003 — 2010 · fan archives + verticals

Firth.com. Austen.com. The long-form era.

A Colin Firth fan site that's still running. A Jane Austen archive still cited in academic blogs. The lesson: the web rewards the operators who don't quit.

2011 — 2024 · coworking + real estate

Directories. Niches. Compounds.

Coworking directories. Hot Springs micro-sites. The Cedar Creek operating compound. A network of focused verticals, each with its own audience.

2025 — 2026 · the rebuild + AI

Network rebuilt in days. Live April 1, 2026.

March 2026: full rebuild of the network — 114 sites, modern SSL, structured data, cross-links. April 1, 2026: the network went live in full. AI editing pipeline standard, Claude integrated, every site uniform-quality.

Network commerce · curated stores

Shop the archives.

Three of the longest-running sites in the network now route through curated Amazon Associate storefronts. Every pick is hand-selected; every link supports the operator.

As an Amazon Associate, the network earns from qualifying purchases.

Want to engage with the operator?

Independent web work, niche-site builds, real-estate data pipelines, content-network strategy, AI-assisted editorial. Email is the channel.