this post was submitted on 04 Sep 2024
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What OS is best for a beginner to degoogle? (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by gedaliyah@lemmy.world to c/selfhosted@lemmy.world
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So I have a retired but still very serviceable PC that I intend to use as my first home server. I gave two basic goals in self-hosting:

  1. Host family media through Jellyfin, etc. This would include tv, music, and possibly books as well. Many of these will be managed through the Arr apps.
  2. Degoogle my phone - I'm beginning by replacing Photos with Immich, but hope to also use Home Assistant, backup other phone data such as messages media, shopping lists, etc. I hope to replace Google storage/backup with Proton Drive.

So the question is what OS should I set up to run that? My proof of concept was an immich container running in xubuntu on an old laptop. I chose Xubuntu because I like the availability of documentation and community support for Ubuntu like distros, but wanted a lower powered alternative for the older device.

It seems to be working well, but I've had a few hiccups trying to update it, and I've heard that once you get into it, Linux distros like Ubuntu are not very user friendly for self-hosting as a beginner.

So is it better on the whole for a beginner to have a popular distro with lots if documentation and step by step guides, or to have a purpose-built OS like TrueNAS that might be more straightforward, but with less support?

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[–] N0x0n@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Yep, Debian for sure ! 3 years ago I settled for debian on an old spare laptop, It's still cruisen with more than 21 containers !! Sure I had a few fresh installs because skill issues, lack of proper configuration, user mistakes... But it's probably the easiest to maintain and learn as a beginner !

No idea what's your level and how close you're with computers and how much time you have to spare, but don't be afraid to make mistakes and try a few things out.

If you are like me just a plain old geek who knew his way arround computers and used Hamachi back in the days, thinking you were a HAKKER... Get ready to get your ass kicked !

While self-hosting and de-googling is fun, it also has alot of negative things:

  • Time consuming
  • Involves ALOT of Searxing/Reading
  • Debuggin (kinda...)
  • Learning the basics of at least 1 scripting language (consider bash your ally)
  • It's an infinite rabbit hole that will suck you in and sometimes get to your nerves...

One of the best advice I could give you along the way is, If you're stuck on a bug or something isn't working as expected in your setup and It seems you couldn't find any answer or similar issues on the web, you absolutly have to take a break, not a 5min cigarette break... A few hours bicycle/sleep break !!!!

The next day you will for sure find a solution !!

Good luck, have fun and don't forget to take time for yourself and people arround you !