Anything much newer than that will consume less power per core (usually) but will cost more up front

I did a little passive research on the Dell OptiPlex 3050 Micro that @DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world recommended. For my locale you could run that 24/7 for about $2.00 USD per month. I like to stay in the DDR3 range of equipment because those are not nearly the same price for units using DDR4 or higher, and as far as performance goes, are still on the green of newer DDR4 & 5 units. Plenty enough computing power to handle a lot of Docker containers, etc.

Not sure where you are located OP but, eBay, CraigsList, Goodwill, local Refurb shops, befriend a local IT person…business are always throwing out decent stuff. Just stay away from enterprise equipment. In my locale there are ‘flea-markets’, FaceBook Marketplace. @DonutsRMeh@lemmy.world suggested a Dell OptiPlex 3050 Micro, and if you do some dilligent searching of Amazon, you can find some good deals on Used or Refurb computers.

That is totally awesome and cool bro. You’ll never hear me throw shade on someone for charting their own course in life or choosing a different path. In fact, to drop a little relevant Hendrix up in here:

“I’m the one who has to die when it’s time for me to die. So, let me live my life the way I want.”

As long as my life doesn’t interfere with your life, we’ll be just jippity jippity. Rock on! Git sum! It’s a big world. We can all coexist.

<shrug> It was there when I went and took a screen shot without refreshing.

It’s not acknowledging that part which seems out of touch.

I assure you, I am fully cognizant of what for-profit corporations do. It’s one of the reasons I turned off the TV over two decades ago. There just wasn’t any ROI for me.

There are a handful of things I do not self host.

• arr stack
• password managers
• anything financial

It’s not ‘out of touch’. It’s paying for (if it comes to that) a service that houses all of my business accounts, investment accounts, personal accounts, etc, and all with a pretty damn good track record. As with any technology, you must constantly evaluate it to see if what you are spending is justified for the service you are receiving. If at such time I feel the service isn’t worth the price, then sure. As of now, it’s not really an issue to me.

Man, I tell you, I wish I could live in a fantasy world where everything is free.

today it’s 1.65… tomorrow it’s 4.99… next week it’s 12.99… stop being a mindless sheep giving them any sort of leeway. you’re enabling the scammers to literally scam you more, and more and more.

‘Mindless sheep’. That’s hilarious. But I get it. Nobody likes to pay for shit.

https://bitwarden.com/pricing/

I kind of find the headline a bit disingenuous. However, if they do move to a non-free model, I’d still pay for it. I mean $1.65/Month USD. Sure, I don’t even have to think about it.

or maybe ME)

That OS was terrible enough to make me shudder now to even recall it.

Come to think about it, it may have been just a PCI card. That’s too long ago for this old head to clearly remember.

I use a USB tuner like https://hauppauge.com/

I did that way back in the day, tho mine was not inline USB but a PCIe card and MythTV. Worked pretty well.

In the words of a Blues/R&B musician by the name of Swamp Dogg, if I ever kiss it, he can kiss it goodbye.

Good band, I just couldn’t stand Gene’s arrogance.

My first question would be, how familiar are you with the Linux cli? How much experience do you have with Docker containers? You are right, your list is quite extensive. and there is nothing wrong with goals, but I would caution to start small and slow. I would learn how to:

• Drive the Linux bus fairly well. I’m using Ubuntu Jammy for my servers, but there are other options. NixOS seems popular.
• Understand what reverse proxies are and how to deploy one. Caddy is pretty much dead simple with a small learning curve. There are many of them to choose from tho.
• Learn about various security implementations. Security is paramount. Fail2ban is a good start, but I would also explore Crowdsec, Wazuh, etc.
• Learn about Docker and how to set up Docker containers so that they are secure.
• Instead of mass deploying apps and containers, choose one. Get to know it on a personal basis. The installation process, the security aspect, etc. Things are easier when there is only one container to mother hen. Then as your knowledge base grows, add another…and so on.
• Document everything you do. Seriously. You can’t write too many notes. When you’ve successfully deployed your first app while documenting, go back and clean up your notes and make them a part of your 3,2,1 back up policy. I can almost guarentee you that 6 months down the road, you won’t be able to remember every command you typed in or what you’ve done. Documentation makes troubleshooting much easier.
• Speaking of backups, you’ll need a reliable way to make backups of your server. Borg seems to be quite popular, but there are others.
• Have fun!

purpose built homelab dashboard with custom built grafana dashs

I’ve seen them, but have had no hands on experience. Most of the ones I’ve seen are quite complex tho. Would be interesting.

As much as I like Homarr, it’s my dashboard of choice, I’m wondering, with all you have potentially going on, if Homepage would be more suitable. Homarr can do some metrics, but Homepage seems more suitable for lots of metrics. Other than that, it sure looks like you’ve got it wrapped.

Awesome man. KISS is pretty much the way to go.

I have one. Very neat little project. I see now that there is an AI interface for MagicMirror now. Looks intriguing.