What I want to do is set up an Arrstack, and I know I need to put Docker and maybe Portainer? I have no experience with Docker though.

I used DockSTARTer and TraSH Guides to set up a docker instance running the arr stack in a Debian VM. I still should take the time to learn more about it though.

I also want to put some basic things I and others can access remotely like a shopping list program, photo backups, period tracker, and DnD software. But I’m very afraid of exposing the server to the internet and it being hacked or such. I know there’s something called Tailscale but I’m not sure if that’s what I need.

As of now, it’s pretty much just me accessing my services, but I did use Netbird (similar to Tailscale) to make a VPN to my home network for my friends to access my minecraft server. My setup is jank though, a shared account for all my friends while I have my own. I definitely need to just use another method to host stuff so no account login sharing is being done.

I picked Tailscale to avoid major provider login (Google) and I plan to selfhost it one day…

Oh, I totally understand the software side would be different due to running different firmware, and yeah I wasn’t expecting to be able to use the vendor management systems. I was more worried abiut the hardware, but you cleared that up a bit :)

I’ve never heard of OpenWISP, but I’ll keep it in mind if I’ve ever got a bunch of devices I need to manage!

I still don’t truly know how to use docker, as I use dockSTARTer on my Debian VM on Proxmox, but it runns all my services now. I tried to resist and have multiple LXCs run everything, but as my homelab grew more complex (SMB & NFS, VPN tunnels, filesharing/hardlinks, etc.) I’ve just given up and have most things running on the docker. With dockstarter it’s enter “yes” to some terminal qs, copypaste templates into your overrides folder, and then use ds -u for update and ds -c to run everything.

I tried to use podman at first because people said it was safer and faster but… I literally couldn’t figure out how to turn a pod into a service so it will autostart on system launch 😅

It’s a shame, cause I generally like the design. But yeah the gloss and rounded corners does make me think of GPT. And that sidebar is doing the shitty “emoji in front of every sentence so you know what we mean right??? 🥺🥹😉😊😌”

Okay, how do you get sanoid & syncoid to run, because I’ve tried, and I’m just too dummy. When it makes a backup, is it literally making a zfs data record/pool/whatever on the other machine? Or is it more like a file? I have a Proxmox running cockpit (SMB & NFS) and the machine is connected to a USB drive bay that has ZFS. My immich is saving pictures to my ZFS drive bay via SMB.

I’ve tried to do

syncoid pool_name/data/immich root@cockpit.service.IP.addr:mnt/samba/backups

but I get hit with:

WARNING: ZFS resume feature not available on target machine - sync will continue without resume support.
INFO: Sending oldest full snapshot Orico2tera4/data/immich@syncoid_nova_2026-01-27:13:38:44-GMT-05:00 to new target filesystem root@192.168.0.246:/mnt/samba/backups (~ 42 KB):
/dev/zfs and /proc/self/mounts are required.
Try running 'udevadm trigger' and 'mount -t proc proc /proc' as root.
44.2KiB 0:00:00 [ 694KiB/s] [===========================================] 103%            
CRITICAL ERROR:  zfs send  'Orico2tera4/data/immich'@'syncoid_nova_2026-01-27:13:38:44-GMT-05:00' | pv -p -t -e -r -b -s 43632 | lzop  | mbuffer  -q -s 128k -m 16M | ssh      -S /tmp/syncoid-root1921680246-1772385641-845218-1784 root@192.168.0.246 ' mbuffer  -q -s 128k -m 16M | lzop -dfc |  zfs receive  -F '"'"'/mnt/samba/backups'"'"' 2>&1' failed: 256

I’ve tried reading the github docs and some forums but I’m dummy. I just want to have backups that I can encrypt and keep in a cloud for cheap somewhere. Does it literally have to be two different machines (god I’m dumb)? Can I just auto run ZFS snapshots and encrypt then save those to Drive/OneDrive/Whoever?

Too young to actually exist (or gain consciousness ig) when Myspace was popular, but ain’t Facebook just Myspace but “better”? So therefore Frendica is “Fediverse Better Myspace”?

As a cyber student, I have to literally stop myself from researching FOSS apps and homelab setups so I do my actual work that will get me the degree to pay for said projects and setups…

Oh I definitely want to have a dedicated machine for the opnsense, I was planning that and a small switch as a gift to myself for my birthday. I just wanted to figure out if I could do something with this poor laptop lol.

I’ll keep your NAS setup in mind.

Currently in that “sifting through online resouces” phase, but less because of broken stuff, and more because I want to set up everything prefectly the first time. Which is probs impossible lol. I am majoring in Cyber, so tech is my life, but this homelab is how I actually put what I’ve learned to use and learn even more than what college will probably teach me.

I’m on winter break and having a blast (kind of 😅) setting up my Proxmox to have all the services I want. I have gotten stuck several times, but I can find info eventually, and keep moving forward. Thankfully there’s a website that contains Proxmox setup scripts for almost every service imaginable, making a homelab way more accessible.

Linux skills/terminal knowlege helps this process go by faster, and my networking knowledge helps too. But that’s basically all I got lol. I can understand an okay amount of what scripts do, but I’m no programmer/scripter. I screw up mount points, look up how to check ssh key fingerprints every 10 mins, I fail to get VPN tunnel configs to work, a whole slew of issues. But I always end up learning something in the end, and get one step closer to that sweet sweet setup. So just learn and break things while you don’t care about it. Who cares if I fuck up the jellyfin config? It only had like two videos in it anyway. Best to screw up now so when I go data hoarder I know how to save my info.

Edit: Just got SMB to work for both my VM and LXCs, and I’m so happy. Every accomplishment with my homelab has me fistbumbing the air and floating on clouds. Make a homelab just the high it gives you when you do something right.

I feel like the author is being a tad dramatic about Pixelfed. I think the whole “can’t see text posts” issue could be solve with a simple “Let me see text posts” toggle, either for the overall feed or hashtags, or account, whatever. The more customizable the better.

My second point is, expecting to have one account to see EVERYTHING on the Fediverse is insanity. Do you expect a Peertube account to read Mastodon posts? A Funkwhale that can look at Misskey? I think servives like Masto, wafrn, and misskey/sharkey should make efforts to have embeded posts from media based services like Peertube/Funkwhale, but different services have different purposes. Some people on Threadiverse (Lemmy, Piefed, mbin) probably don’t even have Masto accounts. Pixelfed’s main goal is to be similar to Instagram, a place to post pictures/images. Instagram doesn’t do walls of text, but if you really wanted to just write words and screenshot it. But why try to make something that “does it all”? We’re getting mad at Facebook for doing exactly that, they have games, vertical videos (Tiktok), marketplace, live streams, groups, instant messaging, and more bullcrap. Pixelfed deserves to exist just as much as Mastodon does.

My final point is, some people don’t want to do a whole blog in addition to their pic. Tumblr has a healthy blend of image and text capability, and some people just do text while others just do pictures. Some people just want to post a picture and communicate through that. Why does text have to weigh heavier than images? I feel it’s a bit unfair to make it sound like people only see brainrot and sensory overload on Insta/media-focused services. I miss many artists from Instagram and Twitter, I wish they’d migrate to Pixelfed or Masto.

I say this as someone who barely uses either Masto or Pixelfed, because it’s far harder to find content I’m interested in on there compared to Threadiverse. Here, we have neat, ordered communities where you get what it says on the tin. But you have to work to find what you want everywhere else, which would feel rewarding if we had the people and content to back it up.

The only thing stopping me from liking Pixelfed is the network effect (lack of content I want to see), and that’s obviously out of anyone’s control but society itself. Of course there are more features it could have (all fediverse services are constant WIPs), but I don’t think Pixelfed is a bad client. Loops obviously needs work, but it has app clients, federated servers, and open code like any other Fediverse project. I don’t understand what issues you or others are having?

I mean, Bluesky is essentially a Twitter replacement, so it’s not like many people are going to be on there for tech/FOSS news. Every user on Mastodon knows what the Fediverse is, which means they’re disproportionately more likely to care about FOSS and tech, therefore they’re gonna spread the word more. Especially since most Fediverse users know the negatives of being on centralized social media, so they won’t make a Bluesky account because they have a Fediverse account that will never be stuck on a enshittified platform. Therefore all the tech nerds are here instead of Bluesky anyway.

We have tech nerds. We don’t have celebrities and “hit tweets”/jokes/memes that are getting screenshotted and dispersed to millions. Which is both a positive, but also a negative. Fediverse could do with more silly “hit tweets” (toots? posts.) that encourage people to join. I just want fanartists personally

Yup, used this a lot until I started using KDE Connect more.