the_artic_one

I wanted to get started without having to learn a bunch of Linux networking and docker stuff so I used this pre-built mediastack compose file.

Then I spent weeks fixing all the problems with it, upgrading the outdated packages that they pinned, sorting through the outdated/incomplete setup docs, and disabling the apps I don’t need (so many monitoring dashboards without config instructions). Now I know a bunch of Linux networking and docker stuff.

I’d still recommend mediastack as a reference just because it’s a good example of how to set up secure internet access (the diagrams of the network architecture are great) but their “full download vpn” config is overkill (most of this stuff doesn’t really need to be accessible from the Internet in the first place) and even their “mini download vpn” unnecessarily puts the Usenet download client (SABnzbd) in a VPN.

I’ve seen a few folks mention trash guides, while they’re great, their quality settings weren’t written for current hard drive prices so you might want to skip the part where you crank up all your preferred bitrates to the maximum.

One thing I added which is haven’t seen mentioned yet is Tunarr to create live tv channels for shows I like to have on in the background. It’s great when it works but it’s in active development so I frequently have issues with it. Thankfully the devs are responsive and helpful.