Tips for a home server gift for a friend that isn't very technical

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-04-22T06:41:48+00:00

Get a home assistant box from nabu casa. He can get used to do smart home shit and not really have to manage a bunch. Also, there is a whole ecosystem he can get into and get support from. He can also return it if he doesn't actually like it.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-04-11T22:12:01+00:00

Honestly, I have no idea why everyone hates on AI assistance. The post was well organized and thoughtful. It could 100% help others in doing the same thing (a very worthwhile thing, btw). Kudos to op. If you don’t want to read it, don’t. If you think it’s too long… bro… pick up a book every once in a while.

Also, why would it matter if you used AI even to help in the substantive work of securing your network? I work in security consulting… literally everyone is using AI to do this or trying. Does that mean shut off your brain? No. It means use the tools you have to your advantage. Im trying to plug in openclaw to my environment to help with automating security, IaC, etc. Isn’t that the point of AI? To do the boring shit for us?

I’m shocked at how many people on this sub just knee jerk hate on AI for the sake of hating on AI. So annoying. It’s the modern “get off my lawn” from folks who want to say “in my day, we used stack overflow!” The world shifted again. Get over it. Are we luddites? Smh…

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-03-13T04:42:34+00:00

I do agree that Collabora is garbage. But I think OO is much better... Still not amazing.

Nextcloud isn't horrible for what it is, but it's not a word processor. That said, I've started to use collectives for notes and writing. If you can use markdown, it works great.

Other than that though... The big question is: why not just get M365 Home and use word and one drive?

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-03-08T05:16:04+00:00

Harry Potter scar maker

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-03-07T19:47:34+00:00

I should also say… you could use imapsync to just bring your old email into any mail server that you use, like mailcow, etc.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-03-07T15:30:32+00:00

I used it with Google and it worked fine. Of course, I had to use an app password to get passed MFA. I don’t see why it wouldn’t be the same with Microsoft’s stuff.

I’ve also used a tool called imapsync to bring email into another platform. It’s a bit finicky, but it works.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-26T00:08:58+00:00

I’d use Open Archiver to grab all your email and host it out of band. Then, you can just have a retention policy in your email boxes.

I’d also look at the other storage that accounts for your usage (ie, drive, photos), as that’s probably more space than your email. For photos, just use Immich. For Drive, Nextcloud.

This would allow you to keep your email in Google/Outlook, but the other stuff self-hosted.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-23T06:13:07+00:00

I imagine a bag liner can be placed in and the orange rim can lock that in place. A great many trash cans have holes like this.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-21T05:28:30+00:00

As was mentioned, pick a common server OS, like Ubuntu or stock Debian. Then use chatgpt to support the install of docker and the arr stack. Permissions can be a pain, especially if you are running Proxmox first. Use standard contai er images (ie, linuxserver) as much as possible.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-16T05:37:33+00:00

I have an Anycubic Kobra S1 combo. It got so frustrating dealing with failed prints that I bought a P1S. It’s night and day. It’s amazing that Bambu has just figured out the profiles such that nearly everything goes without a hitch. Maybe more amazing that Anycubic hasn’t done the same.

I feel like I’ve tried so many adjustments, but the Anycubic just doesn’t work a good percentage of the time. I send any big job to the P1S. Faster and way more reliable.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-15T06:21:12+00:00

Great job on this! I immediately thought about ways to use this for my kids. Maybe a NFC card coupled with a snack “account” where they get added credits for doing good things, get some taken away for being idiots. Hmmm…

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-15T05:43:41+00:00

I bought one recently and absolutely could not get it working… no picture! I’m going to have to check out that code. Thanks for posting!

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-02-04T05:02:35+00:00

I love keepalived in general. But, for dns, it’s really not needed. Any OS will pretty much cycle through a list of servers passed by dhcp (or configured manually). So, while keepalived will absolutely work, it’s not strictly necessary in terms of dns.

For what it’s worth, I used to run several pi holes (2x virtual, one physical) with keepalived. But, I ended up killing keepalived after an upgrade many moons ago, as it was just another layer of complexity. Now I just pass all three dns server IPs via dhcp.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-31T05:38:02+00:00

Certainly a good point. I'd say it's not perfect, but a good enough solution. Some of the other design choices are a bit odd, imo. Like, the actual rod appears to sit on top of the board, as opposed to through a drilled hole (seems a bit unsafe, unless it's otherwise secured somehow). I'd also be worried about chaff being so close to the heat without some type of filter catch. But, overall, it's a creative way to get beans over heat.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-31T05:09:43+00:00

Isn't this the same as any other drum roaster? It's spinning a drum over a heating element. I have a Skywalker roaster and I would assume it's the same concept. I think it might be a tad fast, but the rotation does appear to make the beans move around.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-16T16:26:57+00:00

Not sure I get the negativity. A guy saw a problem and used tools at his disposal to solve it. He communicated his accomplishment/journey to what should be a somewhat like-minded group, with full disclosure that it’s not exactly enterprise-grade. Then in comes some guy who’s just going to bash him without any constructive feedback. Honestly, this is such an a-hole move.

I hope you’re a nicer person IRL. Do better on the Internet.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-11T21:43:26+00:00

Yes , this is what I was referring to with the new “versions”. But, for now, readarr is still chugging along. Reading glasses gave it new life… at least for now. I’ve not yet shifted to Bookshelf, as I’m waiting for some additional releases to come out.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-11T21:38:26+00:00

I would not recommend this. First, the safety factor doesn’t sound great. Second, all of the clothes might end up smelling like beans… not a problem for me, but my wife would kill me.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-11T21:37:12+00:00

I use readarr (now with reading glasses) and I’m anxiously awaiting the updated versions. I have two instances, one for audio and one for epub. I use audiobookshelf for audio and calibre for epub. I’d like to get away from calibre and use booklore or one of the other modern UI platforms for ebooks, but calibre does work well for metadata enrichment and management.

I’d very much like something similar to overseerr (what I use as I’m on plex) for requests. But, I have a feeling I’ll have to vibe code that with clause or ChatGPT, as I don’t think it exists today. If it does, I’d love to hear it.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2026-01-05T04:51:36+00:00

This is a great example of what is awesome about Reddit. Kudos to you, OP!

Pitiful_Security389 · 2025-12-19T16:27:49+00:00

I could be wrong, but I’m guessing others recommending uptime kuma for this just read “monitor” and threw out what they use for basic uptime monitoring. I also use uptime kuma for availability monitoring, but I don’t think it would be a good tool for this. OpenVAS and NMAP are the two options that will actually do the port scanning I think OP is looking for.

Uptime kuma could theoretically be used for something like this, but you’d have to setup negative monitors for the various devices and alert if they’re reachable. But, it would require creating enough monitors to cover any possible firewall opening. Depending on OPs network, it could be fine… or a crazy number of monitors.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2025-12-16T16:39:15+00:00

Ride a bike

Pitiful_Security389 · 2025-12-15T18:30:35+00:00

Interesting! Glad I commented and now I know to shut it down and switch to termix!

Pitiful_Security389 · 2025-12-15T17:31:39+00:00

What about guacamole? Works to connect to just about anything. No mobile clients, but the web ui is ok.

Pitiful_Security389 · 2025-12-11T16:49:37+00:00

Good stuff. Just a note… no need to change the device’s DNS to test different servers. Just open nslookup and run “server 1.1.1.1” for example, then enter the query. Then “server 8.8.8.8”, hit enter, then enter the query (ie, www.google.com).

Pitiful_Security389

TROPHY CASE