Quite a few recommendations echo the same sentiment: get a whatever computer, start by installing xyz Linux, and go from there. Instead of direct recommendations I'll present some alternative paths you may find useful to balance your self-hosting style against.

Path 1: Get a cheap VPS and host something like File Browser to transfer some low-stakes files between friends&family. Add services and beef up the server as you need. Doesn't matter too much if it gets hacked, it's separate from everything else and you'll learn to harden it over time when you learn to consider an exposed server insecure by default. Also your financial stake is really low, sub 5€/month and you can quit at any time when there's no unique data on the VPS. Grow your stake slowly along with your confidence in how well you can secure the thing.

Path 2: Get 3 identical 1-4TB drives and an SSD boot disk on some random computer, and install TrueNAS for home use. It has a large self-hosting community and nicely abstracts away the Linux side of things. No worries about exposing ports, just host anything you're okay using just at home. Think: Jellyfin, Paperless, Home Assistant. You might find this useful if you never intend to really learn Linux in the first place and just want to solve some of your digital problems locally with some money invested. Later, add a mesh VPN like Tailscale or Netbird to safely access it from outside your home.

Path 3: Get heavily into networking and start by getting complete control and understanding over what happens in your network. OPNsense, adguard, OpenVPN/wireguard, pihole, ddns, ids/ips, VLANs. Do this if you're a control freak and are willing to commit to updating your stuff and keeping track on potential attack vectors.

I started out with path 3, but have moved more or less towards a mix of 1 and 2 and no longer expose ports on my home router. If I'll end up getting more than one device, I'll probably install TrueNAS on one and make the rest a baremetal Talos cluster. Now my stuff runs on one device so it makes most sense to be Proxmox, this is however not advice, I work in tech and full well realise this is not an easy system to run.

Not all Finnish banks require play services for their apps, if any. Mine works just fine on eOS. Don't know about Mobiilivarmenne, if you'd rather use that

Glad to see this doesn't get downvoted to oblivion on Lemmy at least. On Mastodon I have encountered quite some hostility on anything that could be seen as "blueanon".

Took some time for the topic to federate, there were 10s of thousands of ppl on the subreddit about this immediately after election day having a look on the numbers. But cool that it did.

I think the sub was "somethingiswrong2024" or so, if it still exists, haven't been on reddit lately.

Mediating, as in managing interactions between people who refuse to understand each other (or you for that matter). Being able to talk your way around, de-escalate, and just in general "make everyone happy enough" is going to both be super AI-proof but also make the journeys of you and those close to you much safer on this planet.

I believe it is a skill that can be learned. It's not really taught anywhere directly though.

If you're more technically inclined, whatever practical skills you need to live without money. Food, shelter, water, and energy related. If you can confidently and cheaply fix whatever necessity there's broken in a house, you'll be valued.

Don't learn skills that require complex equipment that you don't own and control yourself, because that equipment can be taken away from you at any time. Eg: most forms of AI usage

It does rub me the wrong way too, implying men are in general not in control of their relationships and their opinion matters less.

Dating apps mix the social circles pretty significantly so it can also easily be a case of going on dates with randoms and seeing the shift that way.

But why

Thanks! This sounds like an option.

So he's hinting that he has now discovered where autism comes from, conveniently passed from the mother's side? Checks out..

Huh.

There's a time and place for a DIY solution and academia can well be like that sometimes.

The latest Mac Mini can't run Linux though. It's M4 and asahi doesn't even support M3 chips yet. But if you actually got the previous model with M1/M2 you can do Linux if desired. I might not attempt, and just use the Mac as a server as-is. It's not too different from Linux. Asking the duck for "how to xx on Mac" when you already know the Linux equivalents should make your life tolerable.

I organise events to help people switch to Linux so for that yes it's actually helpful to evaluate so you're not giving out some unhinged advice :)

Specifically Debian changes quite a bit between releases.

I'd be very interested in these polls if you have some to link!