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Why is starting with Self-hosting so daunting?
(alien.top)
A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.
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We welcome posts that include suggestions for good self-hosted alternatives to popular online services, how they are better, or how they give back control of your data. Also include hints and tips for less technical readers.
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I seriously thought it was a product, rather than software tbf. The name always sounded so “corporate” I never considered it.
I definitely know more about the theory than the practice. I’m clueless as to what my options even are so I can’t argue with that.
But I did know about the Linux “inheritance” of distros if you wanna call it that, and I’m fully aware of what that entails.
Just honestly didn’t look at it twice cause I thought “there must be an FOSS option” without realizing what PiHole really is. Just a case of prejudice biting me in the ass I guess.
Sounds like the next step in your journey is combing through this list and seeing what’s out there: https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted
So much great stuff! But most of it has drawbacks, like missing features or less attractive UI. But it’s free and open source so we love it all the same.
I’ve read that repo a million times! My self-hosting needs are more esoteric and I mostly play around with it. I’ve no need for media services or 90% of what that repo offers yet!
I mostly want to end up self-hosting my own apps, but I need some foundational knowledge
Based on your OP and a few of your answers, it looks like you're struggling with setting up too many things together, when in reality some of them are meant to be a foundation and /or are required to move on to the next sparky thing in the awesome list.
You mentioned "Reverse proxy and VPN bullshit" in your OP. Start with setting up your internal DNS (Pi-hole and Adguard are good examples that work mostly out of the box). Once you're confortable with managing internal DNS, and only then, start messing around with reverse proxy.
And like you realized a few posts up, pretty much "every" Pi-related software can be run in a regular computer. If you're not yet familiar with virtual machines, do some research on Proxmox and the likes and it will benefit you immensely.