I’m a Windows guy since forever and I recently got into selfhosting. So far its a blast! Are posts about that welcome here?
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One step at a time, you will eventually move to GNU/Linux in the future if this new hobby persist. But there is nothing wrong with beginning using software and tools you are already familiar with. However you will probably have to use WSL (Linux inside Windows basically) to make things work and all guides you will find will mostly be based on Docker and/or Linux. So you will definitely use Linux on your Microslop owned machine.
If you don’t have the time to learn a new OS it’s fine, but it will not necessarly make things easier, especially on the long run. That’s my take on it.
My very first self-hosting homelab was a Linux Mint old refurbished desktop PC that I was remotely accessing through AnyDesk (I was a Windows kid user at that time). Now I’m on NixOS through SSH and still learning, I do not completely comfortable but I am able to use it and learn while doing so.
I would highly encourage you to try to run a lightweight beginer friendly Linux distro such as debian, Linux Mint XFCE or Kubuntu if you feel like you need a desktop environement and graphic user interfaces but if you really want to use that Microslop license you bought it’s fine, you will probably switch in the following months or years. Okay maybe not, some people are fine using it.
You can also take a look at stuff like runtipi, yunohost, CasaOS, ZimaOS, Umbrel, Cloudron and stuff like that. They aim to be beginner friendly self-hosting “OS” or “WebUI”.
Sure, but know you’re doing things the hard way. I started with Win 10, WSL, and Docker Desktop but moving to Linux made things 10x easier, Windows is… difficult.
Most self-hosted solutions come as containers, containers are Linux only and on Windows they run under the WSL VM, so eventually (if you are not doing full installs) you are still using Linux
Well, if masochism is your kink…
I don’t see why not.
I would recommend at most ruining windows as the hypervisor then running Linux virtual machines. Maybe run a windows VM if you have a specific need.
This is mainly because Linux is much better “supported” for the majority of self hosted projects.
But you can of course do whatever you want.
I also recommend ruining windows
Sure, if that’s what you want to do. Though, you’ll probably find less references and expertise here. There is a reason that even Microsoft runs Linux on most of its own servers.
Yes, masochists are welcome.
Yup, there’s no kinkshaming here
So I’ve got this Solaris Sparc cluster…
Ooh, that would go well next to my DEC Multias!
I wish I kept my pizza box tbh.
Straight to jail
That’s kinda the core of self-hosting, isn’t it? We are taking back digital sovereignty but giving our time and mental health to the Machine God.
Meh, so far it has been a smooth ride for me. Though I’m using Unraid. Not ready for CLI-only.
I wouldn’t recommend it personally
Tell us what you are hosting! Tell us now! Lol
Tell us what you are hosting! Tell us now! Lol
IKR! You can’t just tease us OP.
Now, let me be polemical here …
(And this is to be read with a pinch of /s)
Selfhosting on windows and understanding what you do is so much better than selfhost on CasaOS/ZimaOS/FancyWebGui/Synology and just spin up containers randomly without even understand what a container is and how it does work at all …
Now roast me :)
Didnt find any /s there. That’s one of the reasons why I dislike docker, it supports not understanding stuff. But then that’s just me, who wants to understand stuff. Enabling less tech savvy ppl is also great I guess.
Lowering the entry barrier is a good thing… Self hosting need critical mass to support and use all the nice things we like to selfhost
More so, from the point of view of big tech independence, for those who care, again lowering the barrier is very important
So welcome to docker and stuff, I use docker for half my stuff or more, it’s just so much more convenient.
But never stop trying to understand and don’t be a passive docker-puller whenever possible :)
than selfhost on CasaOS/ZimaOS/FancyWebGui/Synology and just spin up containers randomly without even understand what a container is and how it does work at all
- I’m in this picture and I don’t like it
I don’t think that Linux is in the title or description of this community!
You pick your own poison …
Mine is Gentoo Linux all the way, yours is Windows. Find two more selfhosters and they will criticize both of us! We are kind of the two extreme of the spectrum…
Welcome!
Gentoo taught me a lot. I ran hardened gentoo with grsec, pax, and selinux ~20 years ago. That was really a nag. I’m glad for the experience though, I’m never afraid to compile my own kernel now. I just prefer the convenience of debian or fedora based distros now.
When I do a hardware refresh on my self hosted machines(typically over 5 years) I usually wait for a bleeding edge brand new socket, and have to compile the latest kernel for reasonable performance and stability until maintainers backport or the distro moves forward.
So true! I met a friend of a friend at a church social last week and he spent the whole time trying to convince me to try FreeBSD instead of selfhosting on Windows. I might try it someday but as polite as he was about it he just couldn’t get the hint lol
Yeah, but you’ll probably figure it out eventually.
Find two more selfhosters and they will criticize both of us!
Absolutely. However I’d argue that some BSD variant is at the other end, not Gentoo, so there’s at least some critics to you ;).
I’m running proxmox and (mostly) Debian on top of that, and I’m sure that there’s someone thinking I’m doing things the wrong way.
With Windows Servers I think the bigger problem is that there’s way less people running things on top of it, so there’s less knowledge about problems and solving them. However, many of us are on corporate IT jobs too and thus have to work with Windows, so that might somewhat cancel out the difference in popularity.
Are posts about that welcome here?
Absolutely. The gate’s open…come on in. It’s been quite a while since I’ve had a Windows based server. I still run Windows 10 in the lab, plus Linux and Mac. I don’t really discriminate. All OS’s have their place imho.
So far its a blast!
That is one of the prime directives of selfhosting. I have a ton of fun learning about new stuff to do and how to do it. Tell us all about it man. What do you selfhost? Are you running any Docker containers? I’m all ears, which in reality isn’t too far from the truth with my Jumbo ears. Share! Share!
