147 karma · joined March 11, 2010
Sure, you could run your own firewall and what not but the mesh VPN with it’s simple set up. Makes it a whole lot easier to access your home services.
I have the same exact feeling every time I ride my cargo bike as I did the first day I rode it. An exciting open to the world feeling. It has never wore off. It allowed me to really experience the cities I’ve lived in.
https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy
A top notch well managed Ansible setup!
It hasn’t integrated in a good iMessage bridge yet last I checked. Hopefully soon!
Finder on MacOS: probably should be renamed to Hider. Just a horrible file explorer interface. I couldn’t imagine something worst. I ended up training my family on how to use the Terminal and mdfind command instead.
Apple Photos and the shared album interface is such a pain to work with as a user. I hope it’s not just me!
I could go on but I’ll stop here.
Hardware (you don’t need much!)
Mini atx tower, 8TB usable storage, Debian, AMD processor, 8GB memory
Pfsense Firewall (Tailscale exit node)
Plume Wi-Fi (would like to replace, owned by comcast now)
Solution stack:
Portainer + Docker Compose to manage everything
Nextcloud
Photo Prism
Tailscale (remote WireGuard based access from all my devices. Integrates well with Pfsense)
Home Assistant (amazing platform for home automation and more). I love the new voice control features and mission!
Used to self host Email with Helm hardware company (not k8s Helm) but they went out of business. Self hosting email is annoying thanks to the big email providers and their control over the spam filtering world.
Matrix chat server bridging all the chat interfaces I use. This is managed by an awesome open source Ansible playbook https://github.com/spantaleev/matrix-docker-ansible-deploy
Pihole
The section in the book about fecal matter transplants (FMTs) and how they work blew my mind.
(Edit typo)
I’m in the process of moving to better purpose built products. System76 for general compute, and Garmin for health and activity tracking. I’m hoping for the Fairphone to land in USA soon so I can transition to it.
Also, spending time on a solid home server setup and leaning on Home Assistant community to provide an ideal smart home. HomeKit is just another walled garden that will harm IoT advancement.
On a side note, I'm actively evaluating options to replace my aging MacBook. Anyone have a System76 laptop?