I put openwrt on their router and an adblock dns already but a dns sink would be cool too

Neither of us want to learn proxmox, but I am still convinced there are simple and feature rich solutions that don’t require that.

I wonder how far the ecosystem is from a mini-server as easy as mint… Linux servers on old vapes exist, yet there’s no equally trivial, commodified mini servers. Nixos, silverblue or some other type of immutable os is probably part of the solution…

A completely non-tech friend showed me their internet-in-a-box, cheap, easy, lots of features in the box and well maintained. Just flash an SD or run the install script and its done. All data is on the usb so if there’s ever an issue, just reflash the os. Even comes with nextcloud! https://internet-in-a-box.org/

If we break up and somehow lose contact, and the server dies, they can just unplug the usb drive and use it like they used to. Or ask any of their other linux literate friends.

Thanks for answering :)

They’re not tech illiterate just uninterested in software. They do value privacy and want to life outside big-tech. They got a Linux pc already and love it. Just as easy as installing software in Mint is, so is installing a container inside a webgui.

How can we live life outside bigtech ecosystems, except for self hosting?

Hosting them on my systems create the same kind of lock-in but on an interpersonal level rather than a corporate one. I want to give them a slice of freedom, not tie them to me by way of tech dependence.

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?

Yea I always provide lifetime support to linux convertees and so far every issue we had in lmde could be solved with the right keyword search. I was hoping the right server distro would have similarity good documentation. The Linux version of TrueNas and open media vault look like promising such distributions.

The idea evolves with all the comments and I think the way is to make two identical servers from thin clients. Identical hardware, different passwords. Two mirrored drives over usb each and the internal nvme for write cache and OS. Perhaps the OS could be immutable on a USB, to further reduce the risk of sudden self immolation. Just need to learn flashing the latest version.

As long as there is a competent webgui I know they are willing and capable of reading documentation and forum answers. Should something ever happen to our relationship my partner can easily take their data even if their server died, but they do say debin goes forever with regular updates. In the meantime, the server gets the same treatment as mine.

I did look at that. Between the giant popup ads and at the time 403 forum I couldn’t tell if it was legit or not. Would you say it is trustworthy and long term?

Maybe I don’t know myself! I suppose it boils down to understanding the whole stack. Too many times I’ve decided ”im gonna do distro A! And Y program. Great. Lets add Z. Oh. Outdated or incompatible without ninja moves. But flawless on distro B” Do i then virtualise, make ninja moves or swap distro? This makes me abandon it again.

For context I’ve gone from being the early linux adopter self hosting game servers on centos but I’m fairly stagnant since 10 years. I deegoogled but never replaced the infra. These days I barely open my laptop except for chores and work. Im back to using gmail for official purposes. But I also desperately want to break out of the phone/surveillance eco system

Now when I’ve been trying to look for solutions theres the added AI jungle. I was reading up on easyNas which seemed to tick all my boxes but it appears new and reliant on claude… so that would require me to look into how they handle that. Which feels insurmountable.

Im looking for the ”simple recommendation for grandparents” but for me, linux knowledgable but information overloaded. Ideally I can support my partner in a gui over the phone, should the need arise.

How did you make your stack and how easy to manage is it? Whats your favourite server distro and do you use any interface for it?