Gimpydude

Telegram is and always has been shitty. WhatsApp is shitty too. Use Signal instead.

Try getting a used server. You can find one on labgopher. For the budget you have, don't expect something great but it'll be a start.

ClamAV is alive and well. Immunet != ClamAV even if that was the engine Immunet used.

Stray Cat Strut by the Stray Cats

Thanks, I will definitely check out both of those

I'll take a look at that, thanks. It's been a year or so since I last looked at it but back then there was a push button that you could use but I couldn't get it going.

Privacy issues aside, for wider adoption the user experience needs to be better. Most people don't want to be a sysadmin for their house, they just want to live in it.

Yeah, that's why I said I'm very hopeful. It says so in my comment.

Sure, but if I had a Pi (or similar board) with a speaker and a mic, I'd hope to be able to do the same thing. A Pi Zero would definitely be able to do the job.

I've dabbled a little with it, but I really want something that's as easy to use & set up as the commercial offerings like Google Home and Amazon Echo. I want to have an interface where I can connect my light bulbs, and have little hockey pucks that will listen for a wake word and do what I ask of it, and play my music. I also want to be able to get under the covers and do something that solves an odd problem that might come up.

I'm very hopeful for the project and I do think it will get there eventually.

That makes sense. I'm a lazy guy and I didn't want to try testing so I went with a known quantity.

You should take a look at getting sas enclosures. They're pretty cheap, like $200 for a 16 bay. That will be so much more reliable.