Could you recommend a source for learning how to use the command line? In the past I struggled with understanding the basic commands and the various flags. I’ve found it difficult to find good documentation, but I would like to learn
Comment on What OS should I use for self-hosting that doesn't require extensive terminal knowledge?
hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
If you’re afraid of the terminal, you won’t get far in self hosting. You should learn to use the terminal. It’s not as scary as people make it sound.
Mavytan@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
dgdft@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I highly recommend O’Reilly’s Learning the Bash Shell in paperback form: www.oreilly.com/library/view/…/0596009658/.
The other responses you’ve received so far don’t offer much insight into the historical background and underlying mechanics of the shell, which are crucial to understanding the "Why?"s of command-line quirkiness.
Mavytan@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
Thanks for your reply. I agree the ‘why’ is important, for me that usually makes things more intuitive
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
A 20 year old paperback book seems like a bad choice.
dgdft@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It’s a 36 y/o language, mate. I still reference my copy all the time, and found it to be a great definitive resource when I was learning.
How many bash 4/5 features are you seriously using on a regular basis? What do you think is out-of-date?
hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
It’s been a long time since I learned, so I don’t remember exactly what I used, but at a cursory glance, this one looks good:
Mavytan@feddit.nl 3 weeks ago
Thanks for the very practical resources!
Nasan@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
TBF ChatHPT is probably your best bet
Angry_Autist@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
If you’re afraid of t
The least sanctimonious linux shithead
Kusimulkku@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
Name checks out
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
It’s not as scary as people make it sound.
It is not “scary”. It is complicated and requires special knowlege.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I wouldn’t call it complicated, but yeah, it’s special knowledge. So is all of self hosting.
Ulrich@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
You wouldn’t. A lot of tech people wouldn’t. But it is. I’ve found this out the hard way, after spending dozens of hours trying to figure it out. You’re not doing anyone any favors.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
It’s not any more complicated than a GUI, it’s just that the dozens of hours you spent learning to use a GUI was a long time ago, and you don’t remember how complicated it was.
Also, you’re probably exaggerating, because dozens of hours is way longer than it should take to become proficient at the terminal. There are resources online that you can use to learn in a few hours.
VeganCheesecake@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
I guess you could install cockpit (via Terminal, sorry, but it’s pretty straightforward and there are good guides). After that, you could use the cockpit web interface to deploy docker/podman containers. It’s a bit clunky sometimes, but it does the job purely in UI.
You can also manage updates, backups, etc via cockpit if you install the required modules.
As base, I’d use any stable Linux distro that’s reccomended for server use.
masterspace@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Self hosting is doomed until this isn’t the answer.
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Yeah, this whole “Linux server” thing just isn’t going to take off.
masterspace@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
Notice that it hasn’t amongst mainstream consumers.
kittenzrulz123@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
Notice that mainstream customers dont self host.
You’re viewing this through an incredibly skewed lense. The average person will never even consider self hosting nor will care, if anything the average person prefers cloud services. Who cares if server grade software is terminal only? Its good enough for the companies that sponsor these projects and its good enough for enterprise level users.
atzanteol@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Good. Mainstream consumers don’t understand enough about networking and computer security to be trusted to self-host anything beyond desktop applications.
tauren@lemm.ee 3 weeks ago
What? A niche technical hobby isn’t popular among mainstream consumers? Mainstream consumers don’t know words “Plex” and “Home Assistant” either. There are already products that target these people. And there are products targeted at technical people. We need diversity.
baduhai@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
It isn’t, self hosting just isn’t for everyone, and it never will be.
gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
Self hosting isn’t likely to ever get to the point of “plug and play”. It’s inherently incredibly flexible and different people will do different things with it. Some people just want NAS. Some people want to build a router. Some people want to have a modest compute farm that they physically own. Some people want a virtualization playground. Or pretty much anything else you can think of, or some combination thereof.
For instance, I custom built a 2-tier + optane cached NAS running proxmox, and I have a handful of old thin clients I can spin up for doing Beowulf things when I feel like it, and I also have another repurposed thin client running pfSense as my router that can support up to 10g (futureproofing).
aMockTie@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Imagine if OP asked: “I want to repair my own car, but I don’t want to open the hood or get under the car. What are my options?”
Obviously there would be some options, but those options would be very limited and not ideal. This is very similar. Self-hosting, like self-repair of a vehicle, requires some foundational knowledge and understanding of your specific hardware, usecase, and needs, as well as the knowledge and ability to bring those things to fruition. There is no single universal answer that applies to everyone, but those skills can be acquired by anyone.
I don’t think self-hosting is any more doomed than self-repair of a vehicle. Not for everyone, but enjoyable and generally optimized for those who participate.
hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
No. You really don’t want to self host unless you are pretty familiar with how these services work. Otherwise, you’re just setting yourself up to get hacked.
masterspace@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
I mean what’s the point of “self” hosting then?
If you have to be a professional server administrator to host one of these services, then why even have a self hosting community as opposed to just a hosting community for server admins to discuss how to set and configure various services?
hperrin@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
If you want to ride a bike, you need to learn to balance on a bike. That will never change. You don’t need to be a professional cyclist.
If you want to self host, you need to learn some basic administration, and that includes the terminal. That will never change. You don’t need to be a professional server administrator.
You might be able to get by with some hand holdy solution that offers a few things you can do, but just like riding a scooter is much more limited than riding a bike, using a turnkey solution is much more limited than setting up your own server.
Imagine wanting to self host but refusing to learn how to forward a port. There are just some things you need to learn. Like I said in my original comment, the terminal is not as scary as people make it sound. Right now, you are the person making it sound scary.
irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 weeks ago
A desktop environment is a waste of resources on a system where you’ll only use it to install and occasionally upgrade a few server applications. The RAM, CPU power, and electricity used to run the desktop environment could be instead powering another couple of small applications.
Selfhosting is already inefficient with computing resources just like everyone building their own separate infrastructure in a city is less efficient. Problem is infrastructure is shared ownership whereas most online services are not owned by the users so selfhosting makes sense, but requires extra efficiencies.