Mikelius

I use it for my media server and have been for a long time.

Tldr: started so I could learn and understand Linux, still use it since I’m comfortable with it and it’s familiar/fast for my needs.

How it started: I kept going back and forth between windows and Linux, but never truly understood Linux like I did Windows. I eventually decided that I should try to install a Linux distro from scratch and learn the entire process manually so that I could understand it at a strong level. Gentoo has some of the best, if not the best, documentation for this. After spending several days going through the entire install process to finally get that login screen and UI up and running, I had learned more about Linux in those few days than I did the previous 3 years. I wanted to keep going, so I kept it on that laptop and continued to learn and become way more efficient than even Windows.

Why I still use it, specifically for my media server: partly because I understand Gentoo more than any other distro I’ve used, so I’m extremely comfortable with it. But mostly because I know every little thing on my server. I never find things I don’t recognize, because I installed it. I made the explicit decision to all the software I installed on my system. And I truly do feel like I’m in absolute control of the entire thing, in and out. On top of this, it’s truly as high in performance as it sounds.

As I type this, my media server is running 76 docker containers (no, not 76 services), 4 of which are game servers I host 24/7 for friends, and I’m only using 32GB of memory. CPU is rarely, if ever, above 20% (12 core Ryzen). The need to upgrade is really far out there, so that just adds to my reasons to continue using it. That being said, I’ve never run something like a Debian media server with all the same stuff on it… It’s very possible it’s just as good, but I really don’t know. I’m too comfortable where I am to spend time finding out lol.

Add

PATH="${PATH}:~/.local/bin"

To your .zhrc or .bashrc (whatever you use) and either source the file or open a new terminal. Should be as simple as that (assuming +x permissions)

Rather than leave another long reply to read, I’ll leave my thoughts simple: if you have another computer you’re not using, try Linux mint and see if it fits your needs. If it’s too much and you can’t get the time needed to figure things out, 11 might be the choice (for now).

But either way, keep Linux on the second and learn a little bit as you get time to! :)

I’m not familiar with those two… But I’ve always been hunting for the perfect replacement.

I started with Nextcloud Deck and used it extensively until they got rid of my markdown support.

So then I tried taiga and a few others before landing on Wekan. Really great software, but the terrible API, horrible mobile support, and slow outdated UI drove me away…

Now I’m on Vikunja, which ironically doesn’t support markdown text. So I basically returned to square 1 with a better UI lol. I almost stayed on Wekan because of the checklist support, but the faster speeds, nice API, and slick UI in vikunja landed me here… for now.

If you go for btrfs, be careful going backwards on kernel versions.

I had upgraded my kernel on Gentoo, which also happen to include a btrfs update. Booted up and found the latest kernel didn’t like something about my full disk luks encryption with RAID mirror setup (for the root partition, and unrelated to btrfs), so I decided to go back to the previous kernel. Big mistake.

My entire root partition got corrupted to hell. It mounted read only at first so I decided to try to go through regular repair steps. It got worse. Got to an eventual step that someone said could take a few weeks to restore (forgot the commands). This isn’t an option for my server. So with snapshots broken, unable to use the old and now new kernel due to corruption from attempting to go back to a previous kernel, I had to restore with a full partition clone backup I had created prior to the kernel upgrade… Also went back to ext4 again afterwards.

Btrfs treated me really well for a few years, and snapshots and performance are great, but once it hits a hiccup, you might in a world of trouble. Don’t think I’ve ever run into such a thing with ext4 over the years, which is why I reverted to it - not saying it’s immune to such things, but this is just me.

Not sure if zfs would have such a dramatic situation, but maybe something to consider about btrfs if you ever decide you’ll need the ability to go back a kernel version due to whatever reason.

I’ve been using “passwords” on nextcloud for a few years now. Minimal issues with the app, moving apps, and browser extensions. Not perfect, but hey it’s self hosted and reliable.

My personal advice, secure it down to only permitting what needs it, regardless of your trust to the network.

Treat each device as if they’ve been compromised and the attacker on the compromised device is now trying to move laterally. Example scenario: had you blocked all devices except your laptop or phone to your server, your server wouldn’t have been hacked because someone went through a hacked cloud-connected HVAC panel.

I lock down everything and grant access only to devices that should have access. Then on top of that, I enable passwords and 2FA on everything as if it were public… Nothing I self host is public. It’s all behind my network firewall and router firewall, and can only be accessed externally by a VPN.