At the same time, Ubuntu is so dumbed down thst certain things are impossible via the UI. I spent a whole day and 5 reinstalls to be able to install an encrypted OS next to another partition. This used to be trivial though the infstaller.

I got an old desktop for 30 euros off of Facebook marketplace. If you look long enough, sometimes you find free laptops with broken screens that make for perfect servers.

Same. One single docker compose, and a dozen images. I get to take advantage of publicly available docker images too which makes managing and updating things a breeze.

This is also true for laptops BTW. I remember older Dell XPS laptops used to be super picky about USB-C dongles with

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Hack the firmware. Kidding just use tape.

Because when you’re terminaling, you’re hacking, hence dark. When you’re emailing, you’re officeing, hence light.

With Microsoft destroying it’s reputation for very long device support, I can only imagine they’ve also destroyed all trust in them from the embedded devices and outdoors hardware industry. These machines don’t get a lot of updates and it would suck to have to throw them away because software support ended.

Linux sucks because the problems are sometimes hard to solve and you have to solve them yourself. Windows and Mac suck because the ability to solve hard problems is actively being kept away from you by the gatekeepers.

I much prefer “hard to solve”.

The fact that jellyfin let’s you sort your media exactly the way you want without promoting or hiding content already puts JF miles ahead any commercial streaming services. The ease of mind is unbeatable.

On the home server on the host. I couldn’t figure out how to make it work in a container and still have ssh access to the host, which was my goal…

Same! I setup a cronjob calling namecheap dyndns API.

I still don’t understand how Searx is able to operate for free. Don’t the API calls cost money?

Haha OK. DIY server is like legos, docker is playmobil.

Maybe I can start shedding some light off docker.

When you start setting up a server, you end up having to setup many things. You install various programs and their dependencies. Sometimes those dependencies can conflict with each other, or you mess up your system by manually pasting some command you found on stack exchange. Then you need to manually keep all the software you use up-to-date and pray they don’t brick your server and force you to start over. And then when you need to update your OS or move to a new machine, you need to repeat this whole dance again.

Docker is like legos. You want to install jellyfin? There’s already a docker imagine for that. You just spin it up with some little configure file and you’re done. You want to setup a firewall? You want to setup https access? Automatic updates? There are docker images already made for it.

So you keep on setting up those docker containers and they all run in isolation but can communicate with each other. If you break something, you just restart one or all the containers and you always start fresh. Docker keeps nothing in memory, unless you explicitly want it (e.g. Your jellyfin config will presist in external config files).

Want to move to a new machine? You can just copy over the scripts that run the docker containers and those config files. Software updates? Just update the docker container and it handles all dependencies.

Also, Jellyfin all the way. It’s open source and free all the way.

Basically it’s a URL that you call with curl. You can set up a crown job to call every day or as often as you need. The URL contains the domain name or subdomain, you dynamic public IP (not CNAT), and the API token. This way you Domain always points to your dynamic IP.

Namecheap, and I guess other registrars too, has an API that you can call from your server to update your IP address in their DNS. It’s super easy. No need to pay for a static IP address. At least in my case ei already use my domain for other things.

And since when is the easiest way the funnest way? :P

My ISP uses CGNAT but I can ask for a dynamic IP address for free. I sent them an email and got a reply in less than a week. I can also pay extra like 2.50€ per month or something for a fixed IP. I found that quite reasonable.

Good to know 🫣

Trying to smoothly orchestrate prowlarr, radarr, jellyfin, and transmission (via Proton vpn), using a big beautiful docker compose file. It’s been working OK but not without roadbumbs and tough learnings. Keep messing up directory permissions one way or another.

Next step is setting up fail2ban on my public facing jellyfin to control things a little better. Everything is hosted at home, and I don’t want to use cloud flare tunnels, are streaming video is technically not allowed in them.

If you have more good tips on securing a home server, let me know!

Also, this is all running on an ancient 2012 mac mini running Ubuntu. Slow as molasses and sometimes the fans make a noise. I should start looking into back-up solutions, at least for the configs.