irmadlad
@irmadlad@lemmy.world
Incessant tinkerer since the 70’s. Staunch privacy advocate. SelfHoster. Musician of mediocre talent. soundcloud.com/hood-poet-608190196
- Comment on Self-host Reddit – 2.38B posts, works offline, yours forever 11 hours ago:
How many languages do you know fluently? I get that people have a definite opinion about AI. Like I told another Lemmy user, I have a definite opinion about the ‘arr’ stack which conservatively, 75% of selfhosters run. However, you don’t hear me out here beating my tin pan at the very mention of the ‘arr’ stack. Why? Because I assume you all are autonomous adults, capable of making your own decisions. Secondly, wouldn’t that get a bit tedious and annoying over time? If you don’t like AI, don’t use it ffs. Why castigate individuals who use AI? What does that do? I would really like to know what denigrating and browbeating users who use AI accomplishes.
- Comment on Self-host Reddit – 2.38B posts, works offline, yours forever 14 hours ago:
Yu mussi bawn backacow
- Comment on Self-host Reddit – 2.38B posts, works offline, yours forever 14 hours ago:
spoiler
Maybe read where OP says ‘Yes I used AI, English is not my first language.’ Furthermore, are ethnic slur really necessary here?
- Comment on Silent Storage Solutions for Homelab? 20 hours ago:
but the noise of the platters was not acceptable
Sometimes, being medically deaf is a bonus. LOL
- Comment on Self-host Reddit – 2.38B posts, works offline, yours forever 20 hours ago:
Sweet! I’ll check it out.
- Comment on Self-host Reddit – 2.38B posts, works offline, yours forever 20 hours ago:
I use Reddit for reference through RedLib. I could see how having an on-premise repository would be helpful. How many subs were scrapped in this 3.28 TB backup? Reason for asking, I’d have little interest in say News or Politics, but there are some good subs that deal with Linux, networking, selfhosting, some old subs I used to help moderate like r/degoogle, r/deAmazon, etc.
- Comment on Cheapest way to back up a *lot* of data? 23 hours ago:
Yes, however you could run it in Wine, or create a Windows VM.
- Comment on Homelab hardware choices 23 hours ago:
As far as brands of firewall appliances on Ali Express, I hate to say it, but at the off brand level, it’s 6 of this, half dozen of the other. You pick the spec that gives you the best bang for your $$. Before I pulled the trigger tho, I would do a cursory search for reviews. You’re probably not the only person on the planet that has ever bought that specific off brand, so the chances there is a review somewhere is good.
- Comment on Homelab hardware choices 1 day ago:
Protectli VP2430
Pricey. I mean, if you have the cabbage, no worries. However, you can find off brand, but similar for much less on ebay or Ali Express. I don’t run OPNsense, but I do run pFsense. My pFsense box runs pfblockerng, suricata, ntopng, unbound, tailscale, I use a ton of feeds, and quite the robust set of rules. It doesn’t take a super computer to be an effective OPNsense or pFsense firewall.
Mini PCs
Lenovo’s are nice, sip power, quiet, but unless you can source some used ones they get pricey.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 1 day ago:
I wish you the best with you efforts.
- Comment on Cheapest way to back up a *lot* of data? 2 days ago:
That’s worth a bookmark. Thanks for the share.
- Comment on Cheapest way to back up a *lot* of data? 2 days ago:
Oh sure I understand data hoarding. I was just thinking, to restore 50 tb from the internet is going to take more than a fortnight.
- Comment on Cheapest way to back up a *lot* of data? 2 days ago:
Because the cheapest way would be to trust that it’s already backed up on the Internet
That’s a shit load of downloading. LOL wow!
- Comment on Cheapest way to back up a *lot* of data? 2 days ago:
Backblaze personal is about the cheapest I know of: $99 per year unlimited. Caveats would be that the drives have to be physically connected to the computer doing the backup. Additionally, should you ever need to restore the backup, the best way would be to buy a 10 tb drive from Backblaze, restore the data, then send the drive back for a full refund x 5. Restoring 50 tb online would be excruciating.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 2 days ago:
Understandable. I don’t know what your threat model is. I don’t trust any of them except to do what is in their best interest, globally. However, there is nothing stopping Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK, or even your country, from doing the very same thing. Governments make laws for citizens, not themselves. Everything can be compromised at any time a government decides to. That is the reality of it all. If I am going to hide from a government in 2026, then game over, and there’s not a damn thing I could/can do about it. I’ll just unplug, and live out the rest of my life in the seclusion of my farm/compound.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 2 days ago:
data server
Here is the way I understand Tailscale to work. Feel free to correct any misinformation.
Tailscale doesn’t operate ‘data‑center’ servers that store or forward your traffic.
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Control plane: Holds device metadata, public keys, ACL policies, and the DERP map. It is a small, highly available service that all clients contact only when they start up or need a policy update. Tailscale runs this service on a handful of cloud providers (primarily AWS and GCP) in the United States. TThe service carries no user data. Only control information.
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Data plane: Carries the actual packets between your devices. After the control plane tells two devices how to reach each other, they open a direct WireGuard tunnel that is end to end encrypted. There are no dedicated ‘data servers’. Traffic travels directly between the peers. If a direct path can’t be established because of strict NATs or firewalls, the connection falls back to a DERP relay. The DERP relays are the only servers that ever carry user payload.
However, to keep with your fear of the US having all your Tailscale keys, what makes you think that Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, or the UK wouldn’t/couldn’t do the same? I’m no shill for Tailscale. AFAIC, you can either use the service or not. Your choice, no skin off my back. I’m just curious how far the paranoia rabbit hole goes.
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- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 2 days ago:
While true, only partially.
- United States Ashburn, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle
- Australia Sydney
- Brazil São Paulo
- Canada Toronto
- Finland Helsinki
- France Paris
- Germany Frankfurt, Nuremberg
- India Bangalore
- Japan Tokyo
- South Africa Johannesburg
- United Kingdom London
- Others Various locations in other regions, including Asia and Europe
- Comment on #ShowerThought: Cybernetical Disobedience 3 days ago:
Absolutely agree 100%. Self sufficiency is something I have diligently worked on to achieve in my life. Not only in the digital sphere, but in my daily life as well.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 3 days ago:
It’s a tool. A tool that needs some heavy regulation, but a tool nonetheless
- Comment on #ShowerThought: Cybernetical Disobedience 3 days ago:
These are my opinions. There are many like them, but these are mine.
I believe in, and practice privacy, security, and anonymity in every facet of my life that I can. Selfhosting fits in with that just nicely. However, I am very realistic about the whole thing. You are never going to take down Google, Amazon, Microsoft, AI, et al. The best you can do is disconnect from them. However, in the case of Google specifically, that’s a very tall order. The amount of domains and subdomains they run will blow your mind. Almost daily I find yet another one to block. Which makes the likelihood very high that you will encounter one that isn’t in your blocklist, or what have you. Same for Microsoft, same for Amazon, same for all of them. So, to me, chest beating about taking down ‘corpos’ as is usually the jargon, is kind of useless. Oh, it makes us feel good, but in the grand scheme of things, it does little. I would say the percentage of privacy minded individuals that actually practice it, and the percentage of selfhosters is very slim when you consider there are 8.4 billion people on this planet.
Additionally, I hear people saying ‘I run this or that federated’, or whatever ‘…and that can’t be taken down’. That’s a false sense of security to me. Everything can be taken down and a moment’s notice, even the internet. I’m not saying capitulate or rage quit. Again, I’m just very pragmatic and realistic about life in general.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 3 days ago:
Be prepared that this can be shut down.
Everything can be shut down. Just because you don’t see it happen much in the US, doesn’t mean it’s not on some official directive.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 3 days ago:
To the folks in the comments debating whether I’m an AI: I’m flattered by the grammar check
This is the world we live in. If you can actually string words together into grammatically correct sentences, then you are AI. It matters not whether you are or you aren’t. Like the witch hunts of Salem, all that is necessary is the accusation. I personally don’t care if you used AI, the message resonates. Don’t let 'em give you shit about your pony tail.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 3 days ago:
Can we all pitch in and send @Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com a box of zip ties?
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 3 days ago:
I just installed Linux a few months ago as dual boot after being a lifelong Windows user (since 3.1 lol).
Well then, you are on your way.
- Comment on Looking for PDF collaboration 3 days ago:
The only thing I use the PDF format for is ebooks. I just always thought PDFs were something you spammed geriatric people with to get them to fall prey to your scam. LOL Like CD/DVDs. Someone here was talking about CD/DVDs a while back, and I got to thinking, I haven’t burned a CD in at least a decade.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 4 days ago:
If we don’t make these sovereign nodes as easy as a light switch
That’s a long row to hoe. However, I see a lot of very capable mini-servers using Lenovo and that makes me feel better. We live in a digital world now where real life and digital life are co-blended. I’ve always felt that in this digital world, each and every household should have a server. If I were a much younger man, I’ve often toyed with the idea of setting up mini-server racks to sell. But, I’m far beyond being a younger man now, and so I hope some young entrepreneur will bring that to fruition.
I’ve spent a lot of time teaching seniors at a library program
You are a better man than I Gunga Din. I’ve had a computer in front of me since the mid 70s, but a lot of my brethren shit on the notion of computers, giving that ‘…back in my day we didn’t need computers’, and the standard ‘uphill both ways in the snow’ trope. That’s a hard nut to crack because you have to want to learn before you can learn. I know people my age can learn. They damn sure don’t have much problem learning Facebook or TikTok. LOL
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 4 days ago:
The Kiwix Library is chock full of options: library.kiwix.org/#lang=eng
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 4 days ago:
I need to get a backup of some encyclopedias and/or get wikipedia somewhere hosted. That would be fun and informative.
I selfhost the full Wikipedia in Kiwix, plus a decent amount of IT, Political, History reading material in my Calibre library. I’m not much for fiction, novels, or movies.
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 4 days ago:
Maybe I’m mistaken, maybe it’s all really easy even for noobs
I’ll be the first to admit, shit is complicated, especially networking, but it’s not insurmountable. Do you already have a server deployed? How familiar are you with Linux?
See what you think: https://linuxupskillchallenge.org/
- Comment on Self-hosting in 2025 isn't about privacy anymore - it's about building resistance infrastructure 4 days ago:
What’s stopping people you know from taking this step?
As with any privacy, security, and anonymity efforts, it takes work. Nothing I am doing can’t be accomplished by someone else once the work is put it because I possess no special skills or certs on my wall to reflect any special skills. Just reading a lot, doing, screwing it up, rinse/repeat ad nauseam. We live in a world of convenience, where ‘someone else’ does the work and we capitalize on their efforts, and it’s this point where I see most people falling off the wagon.
Additionally, the average Joe really doesn’t have a firm grasp on what happens between the time you click a link in your browser to the time it returns with your webpage. They definitely don’t realize the preponderance of traffic being generated even on a PC at rest. They may see adverts taking up real estate on their computer screen, but no clue about what’s going on behind the pretty graphics. To them it’s akin to advertising on a billboard, which it’s far more insidious.
Then there’s the obligatory ‘I’m not technologically inclined’, especially from those in my generation of old heads who are stubborn cusses for the most part. However, for the younger, upwardly mobile, youngsters, there is the element of time. For the average family in this economy, it takes both adults working to make ends meet. They get up every morning, go to work, come home exhausted, spend a little quality time with the kids, and it’s off to collapse in bed, only to do it over and over again. On the weekends, there are extracurricular activities for the kids, quality time with the family, catching up on any household chores…and then it’s Monday. They don’t have the time nor the inclination to learn how to stand up a Linux server.
I’ve got a couple friends who bought the equipment, and I set it all up for them, and administer any thing remotely. It does become a headache sometimes. Users cause issues. Luckily it’s only a couple.
my 2p