There are so many options to get started with self hosting that I feel myself stuck in the “paralysis of choice”. For a novice, does anyone have a good resource for the equivalent of good/better/best paths that cover the “basics” (In my mind this is hosting images, music, video, connected home controls, search and email)?

Thinking something like first try path A, if you feel comfortable and your HW can handle A, then try path B, etc. I guess a it of a tutorial mode feeling where you get exposed to key boxing blocks initially and then you are released into the large open world on your own.

I know the advantage of this movement is the choice and the well distributed variety, but just feels hard to start.

I have an old laptop, an SFF workstation and a NAS to play with.

Any suggestions?

Edit: Thank you all for a very generous response. I knew this was a tough ask from the start because, by design, this area is vast and constantly evolving. A lot of great starting points here that I’m now considering.

  • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
    14·
    10 hours ago

    OP, I failed to mention one of the most important things you can do as a novice or even as a seasoned vet: take prolific notes. Write down everything. All the commands, all the steps, you’ve used in conjunction with setting up whatever service you choose, everything. What I do is while I’m in the middle of deploying something, I write everything down. Upon a successful deployment, take those notes, clean them up, and include them in my 3,2,1 back up scheme. Don’t be lulled into the notion that you’ll be able to remember everything 6 months down the road. You wont! That’s the devil talking Bobby Boucher. Take notes. They’ll save your ass in the future.

    • verw@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      2·
      3 hours ago

      I STRONGLY agree with this. My notes have saved my ass many times! Even document the little commands you feel dumb for forgetting over and over. Just get over yourself and write them down; it’s not any worse than googling for and opening that same stackoveflow answer for the nth time lol

      I simply kept my notes in markdown files for a while and eventually turned those into a self-hosted wiki using Material for MkDocs. It’s really convenient being able to access the notes from a webpage on any device on my network.

      • irmadlad@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        2 hours ago

        Even document the little commands you feel dumb for forgetting over and over

        Yup! On my dashboard, I have a small notepad where I keep all those ‘commands you feel dumb for forgetting .’ It does go on for a bit, and yes they are basic commands, but my memory is shit, so poke fun if you must. It works for me.

        • verw@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          2·
          2 hours ago

          Ah, neat idea!

          Also, good to run into you again! I didn’t realize you were the person who’d posted the JSON question until I saw multiple replies from you in my notifications, haha.

    • Brgor@lemmy.zipEnglish
      5·
      6 hours ago

      I never take notes and it’s only been a problem most of the time.