Hello selfhosters! I read here a lot, longing for the day to get back into it. I have a little plan to do so I have access to some thin clients with decent enough hardware to run a small file server. I’d like to set one up for myself and as a gift to my partner
I keep getting lost in the jungle of options and incompatibilities so I was hoping to enlist some help in selecting a stack
I’m looking for open source software in the base, maybe truenas but I prefer debian and my partner uses LMDE already.
- On top of that should be a simple file server for backups/network storage. Some interface for managing storeage would be huge too
- Wireguard with an interface
- Having a simple container interface for future features like homeassistant and jellyfin et al is great too.
Open source and free is a must and I want to avoid risk for future lockins and freemium/ripe for enshitification-software as far as possible. And no or at least responsible llm use if that even exists anymore. Happy to shed featues to acheive that in combination with longevity. Is plain debian or even ubuntu the way to go or are there more optimised distros? Or am i just describing fedora with cockpit? Im not lost in linux itself, just overwhelmed with the endless options hoping someone can help me make a plan!
Would you make someone you love a home server?
Hell no. I have one because I like tinkering and don’t mind maintaining it. My loved ones are not those kinds of people. So then it becomes more of a chore for me and less of a fun personal project.
Would you get them a qnas or homey or other pre-made products? Apart from providing occational tech support and making sure they’re actually updating, would you argue thats more or less secure and privacy respecting than a basic diy server? Do you know any options that are both simple/”idiot-proof”, non-proprietary and private?
Just based on my own experience with my wife and kids, it’s the whole “you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink” thing. While I have services running for photo & file storage, books, music, and video (plus a Proton family plan and several other services), the only thing my family uses is Jellyfin.
I’ve mostly given up now. I keep everything up because I use it all and love working on it. Maybe one day they’ll express some concern with privacy or ownership, and then I can pounce. But people need to be ready to move.
Agree. I would not accept a server from someone else without nuking its contents, and i would not ask them to blindly trust hardware i give them. And of course then you would be on the hook for any maintenance. Better option is to set to a limited tunnel to your stack so they can access jellyfin or whatever and let them use it. Then offer that if they want help setting something up like this that you could help teach them