A bidet.
I’m too intimidated to try one despite staying in hotels round the world that usually have them. What if it goes wrong? How bad much shitty water do I and the bathroom end up covered in? How do you know if it’s clean? Doesn’t other peoples shitty water end up on the same appliance that you’re now using? Does that mean I end up with other peoples shitty water being jet streamed towards my anus? So many questions, so much doubt. Similarly for those handheld nosel things popular in the middle East and parts of Asia.
does stealing it count? because that would be a boxed copy of redhat linux from best buy in the late 90s/early 2000s. yes, i found a way to steal linux
Building and running my own server for self hosting multiple tools for my home.
-
Bitwarden Password manager, now sharing logins/passwords for stuff my fiance and I both use is easy, and every single website we use has its own unique randomly generated password so when one site gets breached, our logins aren’t compromised anywhere else
-
Plex, it’s like your own self hosted Netflix. My file copies of any movies/TV shows go on here and it parses em all, keeps it all grouped together, streams in 4k.
-
Shinobi, for my security cameras. Self hosted free CRTV application, works with any open spec cameras. Has movement detection and tonnes of other open source options for plug-ins.
-
Deluge, handy UI for downloading torrents onto my server. Conviently added presets to it that let me download to the very folders Plex scans… cough cough.
-
Kavita, self hosted server for books/pdfs. Some e-readers can even connect to it. A couple popular manga reading apps also work with it. Can also just use its own browser web interface as an e-reader, it has multiple options for styles (infinite scroll, page swiping, left/right click, and even supports right to left mode for manga!)
-
Nextcloud, pictures/document storage. Sort of like a selfhosted filesshare/file backup. Has a mobile app that can automatically backup every picture/video you take on your phone!
-
Gogs, open source super lightweight git repo. Has only the bare minimum of features, basic web hook, authorization, permissions, simple web ui to edit. It does the job I need it to and that’s good enough.
-
OpenVPN, self hosted VPN so I can securely access all the above stuff without exposing it to the internet.
-
Also I host my own websites on it, publicly exposed. Blog, a writing project, nothing terribly fancy.
Eventually I plan to add some more stuff to it. Migrate my smart home dependencies over to Z wave and install Home Assistant, so I don’t have to rely on sending my info to google/amazon/etc to do basic smart home stuff.
Plex
You should check out Jellyfin
Plex is getting shittier by the minute, and this is a good alternative.
I havent had any issues with Plex so far, so I continue to use it. Ive definitely looked into jellyfin and it doesnt seem painful to swap over, but at the moment there hasnt been a compelling reason to make the switch.
I put media in my folder, plex scans it by the time I sit on my couch, I click button, show plays. No issues to speak of so far.
I generally have issues with subtitles. Sometimes they don’t work out are out of sync, etc.
While Plex has moved towards the “free” content, it still does remarkably well with apps on all devices. It also makes user management extremely easy without having to manage yourself. Password resets aren’t your problem if you share with others.
It has its limitations and it’s development budget isn’t in the self hosting space as much. But for what it is, it’s still a good value.
Have been using Plex for years, thought I’d give Jellyfin a shot but my god how ugly it was 😩
I personally would never recommend someone to self host a password manager. There’s a lot of things that can go wrong, and any number of them could cause you to lose your passwords or at least access to them when you need them. There’s a lot of value in paying $10/yr for Bitwarden, to have a clear mind, and know that your information is safe, and accessible.
The value in self hosting is your passwords aren’t exposed to the internet at all, and can only be accessed over VPN from outside the house.
If you care about security and you know how to run a network properly, then it’s definitely worth doing.
In terms of things that can “go wrong”, the first rule of homelab is “Back your stuff up”, and the second rule of homelab is “Back it up again”
The issue he/she is taking about is reliability of personal infrastructure. Its never run a password manager without HA, and since I’m not going to run servers in HA, I suppose I’m sticking to pen and paper for the important ones
I would not self host a password manager, simply because I don’t want running something like that on a 24/7 online server.
Still, if I needed to run a password manager on a server, I would rather self host it than use a hosted service from someone else.
In my opinion, running such a service commercially is a much harder problem than self hosting it and has a much bigger attack surface.
This is IMHO what many people do not understand about hosting as a service vs. self hosting: The full time DevOps/Admins etc. people who work at the hosting service are hopefully better than me at hosting stuff. At the same time the problem they have to solve is so much harder than self hosting, that even if they are 10x as good as me, running my own little service with a firewall, rate limiting and monitoring should at least not be less secure.
In my opinion the risk of something killing my server and wiping my passwords out is much much scarier than the prospect of a semi competent company hosting them getting hacked. Like several orders of magnitude scarier.
Excellent choices. Might I hint towards lovely alternatives?
Emby instead of plex (cheaper, and equally capable (use jelllyfin for really free but less reliable))
AgentDVR. Super reliable, mega flexible PVR totally free for private use. Even got options for AI-motion detection and stuff.
And especially: KeepassXC. You’ll never regret switching in time.
I used emby briefly after ditching Plex then settled on jellyfin. It’s been over a year and I’ve had no issues with reliability.
I tried hard with jellyfin after ditching plex. And it was horrible. Then jumped to emby and that was years ago with no single issue.
Jelly might be better now, haven’t tried since then.
Shinobi
If starting from scratch - what camera recommendations would you give to connect to Shinobi?
A Kobo e-reader. I now read much more than before because of the convenience, and I also became a book pirate. It has paid itself multiple times on the money I’ve saved in physical books.
Everywhere I go suggests Lemmy returned the pictures feature, but then I try it and it still won’t work. What’s going on here?
Not sure what issues you are having. I am using the Jerboa app on android.
Is it something specific about a Kobo e-reader that is amazing or would any e-reader have turned you into an avid bookworm you think?
I have a Kobo and my wife has a Kindle - I like the Kobo way better, primarily because the Kindle is trying to sell me stuff all the time.
I prefer the Kindle because it’s so easy and cheap to buy books I don’t need to bother pirating.
It’s likely because kobo’s can be flashed with a custom OS https://inkbox.ddns.net/, which can sync with https://calibre-ebook.com/
I have a kobo as well and I I did a lot of research before selecting it. Imho it’s the best on the market for my personal needs and that definitely changed how often I use it vs an alternative. Some of the things I like about it are direct integration with the library and the ability to do audiobooks. I also like that it is only an ereader and I can’t play games or surf the web on it. I think knowing what’s gonna help you as an individual is the most important thing. If you’re more likely to take a fully fledged tablet with you somewhere because of the versatility, and would otherwise leave a plain ereader at home, then a tablet is better because if you decide to read at least you have it with you. Like a lot of tech, I think it really depends on the user.
For me it’s the ability to read outside in bright days, so I can take care of kids in the beach/pool.
I went for a boox since it’s an Android and can run not only my favorite e reader app but also dictionary, browser for Wikipedia, and any apps for Android such as news Guardian, DW etc.
Obviously it also runs official apps such as Kobo, kindle etc, so I can try/ buy the book wherever and later I de DRM it and upload epub.
Oh also I have severe dust allergy from physical books, and moved countries a couple times leaving behind lots of unread stuff.
A dog.
Have had a dog most of my life. Hard to imagine living without one. They’re better than people, fantastic companions, and the entire relationship is based on each other trying to make each other happy.
It’s very hard. I cry for days and drink a lot. It is a huge piece of life suddenly gone. But, like my last dog, I see all the things we did, so many adventures, and how many people are upset—even strangers at my climbing gym reached out because they knew him but not me; someone even drew an amazing portrait of him for me and it’s on the wall. That made me realise how awesome a life he had and how many people loved him. A truly good boy that got a hell of a life.
I know I’ll be sad, but it passes and I’ll be very happy with what I did for my dog and what they did for me. Then I’ll get another dog and they’ll get an awesome life too.
True, it’s so hard to loose them. But it’s worth it. The pain and sadness goes away and all that’s left is good memories.
It’s been years since I lost my first dog and I still think about him. Sometimes the eyes are kinda wet but it always end up with some smile on my face.
