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Top-level
 There will come a point where you ask internet-oracle-of-choice "how do I self-host a Netflix alternative" and they will intentionally give you bad advice in order to discourage you. That point is coming sooner rather than later, and we need to train *an entire generation* of internet users how to get out of this trap. That's *our* work to do, RIGHT NOW. 72 comments
@socketwench LibreELEC is really good at this. I personally spun up Jellyfin though, there's a supported Kodi plugin and it handles everything like a champ. Pretty sure a spare Pi could handle it (I hope to cover this in a video soon, just need to finish the damn basement first).  @vkc House stuff takes *forever* especially if you're doing it alone. I do have a miniPC I got from FreeGeek with LibreELEC on it. I should see about using that someday. @socketwench It's pretty great- I've got at least three videos scripted in a series I'm calling "So you want to self host your media", but I really want to do it like a cheesy infomercial and not a typical episode. @vkc @socketwench I second Jellyfin, it's pretty cool. Depending on what you have you can use several things as a client to consume that stuff: am app on your TV itself, a Kodi box, some streaming box, an HTPC and probably more. I went with an Nvidia Shield.  Start here: https://libreelec.tv/ Is a simple Linux installation with KODI. It will "just work" when installed on a NUC and hooked up to your tv. Then also check out Jellyfin.org to setup a server to share your media on your network. After you have libreelec and jellyfin, you can install a jellyfin video add-on into KODI. https://jellyfin.org/docs/general/clients/kodi/ A remote that works 'out of the box' Rii Mini K25 ~$30 https://www.ebay.com/itm/196361631077 @socketwench @vkc If you have a "smart tv" or use a plug-in device like apple, amazon, google, roku there is likely a Jellyfin app you can install through their store. Though I recommend the libreelec/kodi way as its not a device tracking everything you do =) Lastly, if you do go libreelec/kodi/nuc you will be able to control kodi well with the remote I mentioned, but... not your TV. This is because of HDMI CEC support, this can be solved with a USB device, details here: https://kodi.wiki/view/CEC  @tehstu @socketwench @vkc Jellyfin isn't, but the smart tv itself is, as are the devices sold by apple, amazon, google, roku, etc @miah @socketwench @vkc well, but it would be the same with a Kodi device connected to HDMI, right? Sorry to nit pick, I'm just trying to understand what additional tracking might be at play. I've turned off device and Roku picture scanning, for instance. @tehstu @socketwench @vkc kodi is a open source application. Its not tracking anything. If a device is hooked up to a smart tv through hdmi its possible your tv is doing automatic content recognition still and collecting all that data. If you really want to limit what can be collected, ditch the smart tv, go buy a used display from a thrift store. @miah @socketwench @vkc Gotcha, thank you! Yeah, I've turned all that nonsense off. Assuming Roku honors the setting. @socketwench @vkc Jellyfin is my go-to choice since it's FOSS, but people seem to like Plex as well. You can point the libraries at the NAS directories and then use their apps to play on pretty much anything. I have the Jellyfin app on my Nvidia Shield and it works perfectly.  @socketwench @vkc If your TV is any kind of smart TV, it has all the stuff built in to play videos from a DLNA server. @leeloo @socketwench @vkc I've run minidlna on a raspberry pi (model 1B) with a usb drive for storage successfully. I think because it defaults to not transcoding and just streams the video the cpu requirements are minimal. It's been painless (but I moved it to a different computer a few years ago). DLNA also works with older bluray players just fine if you don't have a smart TV.  @socketwench Another option, if you want an appliance: https://osmc.tv/vero/ Per the web page, storage can be expanded by hooking something up via one of the USB ports, or a microSD card. It also has wired gigabit Ethernet so I'd expect you can coax (no pun intended) it into accessing the files on your NAS through that.  Also, important to emphasise you don't need to be a techy person to host your own services any more. There are lots of independent managed hosting companies which will do the techy stuff for you, but you own and run the service and can move it to a different host if you want to. Apologies for plug, but I run a website trying to encourage and help non-technical people to set up their own online sites and services at: @vkc that might be hot take and there's a lot to work to be done but this is why I am really convinced by NixOS style ecosystems where all the expertise knowledge on how to self host X software is crowdsourced by many smart people and *packaged* into a usable to a non-expert developer audience In the future, I hope to see more docs of how to run "personal services in a box" or "org services in a box"   @vkc OpenAI does this now with AI related questions. I used it, very early, to help build a site using Generative AI and parameter optimization. I would have never been able to do it without ChatGPT teaching me and then in the next few updates they nerfed the ability to get it to teach you about practical AI programming (LSTM training even).  @vkc I've seen a lot of people talk about self-hosting and some amazing tutorials on setting up everything, but I feel like they leave the important part of how are you going to the internet. The DNS part is always left out most of the time. I might be wrong but don't you need a DNS provider if you don't have a static IP. I want to self-host but I get confused on the DNS part, for example, "example. com" can point to a static IP but if your IP changes often, then what to do at that point.  @pikachu_sensei @vkc you can use a provider who offers dynamic DNS (ddns) and configure your router to regularly update it. You'll need to open a port in your firewall, and set up a port forwarding rule. If you're using CloudFlare as your name server, you can run a tunnel which will let you mask your IP address behind theirs. They've got a container that works really well for docker compose stacks, DDoS protection, and there's no need to open a port on your router. @vkc The last time I asked The Internet Oracle (https://internetoracle.org/) something, I got told off for not groveling enough, and now I think I owe them something ironic? 😄 @vkc that's already happening when you Google stuff for torrents and such, usually the first results are bulk generated pages where they offer you download or stream stuff but then either there's no download button or they point to "legit" streaming services. Most of the piracy related stuff is artificially downranked specially for keywords like "torrent" or "download".  @vkc The list of #GAFAM alternatives should be spread widely. One list I know was prism break. I am not sure if its updated but it is a good starting place https://prism-break.org/en/all/#media-publishing  @vkc I still find the best solution for videos is a DVD player that also has an awesome local video browser, like the inexpensive Philips DVD/Blu-ray player from Walmart. It's able to handle pretty much anything that's h.264.  @vkc  @lmorchard @vkc this is exactly why the fediverse is so important to me... being able to show the next generation that many individuals can work together to create a network without a central authority that's beholden only to shareholders... and we're not gone yet :D multiple implementations, small and self-hosted sites sit side-by-side with beheamoths like m.s and that's as it should be <3  @lmorchard @vkc I believe you, but I would really like to see some of these “illegal” claims, so I have screenshots to use when it suits me.  @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc it's not quite about self-hosting, but there's a recurring theme where, when cops put out statements about people they've arrested, they emphasize that the person owned a 3D printer @antijingoist @ireneista @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc I fear for the less savvy communities. Does anyone have a "self-host all the things" package that the "one guy who knows computers" could deploy reasonably? Like for regional pride group x or community activist collection y. This is probably pie in the sky but also the largest demographic that could be targeted. @Luther @antijingoist @ireneista @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc There used to be some "emergency local network hotspot" projects out there that had live chat and something like Mastodon (but without verification links etc to make accounts) a while back... Like, they were designed to work without a connection to the internet @howtophil @Luther @antijingoist @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc we definitely see these things pop up now and then. in our view what keeps them from really sticking around is that... they're made by technical people whose focus is just building it.  @ireneista @howtophil @Luther @antijingoist @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc There's a bigger problem: Consumer Wi-Fi chipsets are not designed for that kind of thing. Not all of them support ad-hoc mode, AP mode, or 802.11s. They tend to lock up or reset after varying periods of time. Broadcom is Broadcom. The ideal hardware would be a wireless router with the memory of a raspi. @drwho @ireneista @Luther @antijingoist @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc I think a raspi can be configured to be a hotspot with multiple USB wifi sticks too... @howtophil @ireneista @Luther @antijingoist @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc It can. As to how reliable it will be, it depends on the hardware rev, cooling, and traffic volume. @antijingoist @mos_8502 @lmorchard @vkc yes, absolutely. we've been on a whole thing the last few years of trying to recognize all the copaganda we see in the world and the ways we've inadvertently accepted the things it tells us. @lmorchard @vkc even if its during their lifetimes its like expecting people to understand that they can simply build a combustion engine anytime they want, or begin farming again, many people dont realize you can just plant that thing you eating right now and get a new one  @vkc @Adam_Cadmon1 God damn. This. Preserve, pass on, make alternatives. You already get copyright warnings from the chatbot response, when searching for firmware or other files which should be readily available. @vkc @Adam_Cadmon1 Lots of people suggesting LibreELEC, which is great. I’m currently using TrueNAS as my media server though, and it’s bulletproof if built correctly… oh and FAST. Those that only know streaming and on demand services will be blown away by the performance of any locally hosted media server running on solid state disks. @vkc those same company own your internet provider though, and if self hosting bothers them they can make it hard to do on their network - what are we going to do next - build our own broadband?  @laurentoget @vkc If that's what it ends up taking to maintain a functional internet, then yes. But thankfully the internet backbones are generally in a much better place than the major web companies are. @laurentoget I do 90% of my self-hosting *away* from the public internet. I don't need access away from home- that was something that took getting used to. I stripped things back to what was necessary to be happy, even if smaller. That's always an option.  @vkc I have a bunch of stuff self-hosted, including Jellyfin. I've been trying to make sure that my kids (8 and 5) understand that when they use Jellyfin, the videos they're watching are coming from the computer in the basement, which they've touched and looked inside of. Trying to plant little seeds early. We'll see how it goes.  @vkc “we” already have the so-called NotFlix : a solution hosted by a group of friends, but it’s as secret as a Fight Club ! (I’m supposed to NOT talk about it!) @vkc yeah, there's also a large group of people who just claim that running anything yourself is "a nightmare" and essentially call people who do a kind of digital Luddite. It's very discouraging, some part of it is undoubtedly that asking a lot of people who DO run this themselves aren't great at explaining things. I'm glad you're jumping into the fray! ... I should really finish and publish my guide on how to run your own email server. *Shame* @forestjohnson @vkc I'm not going to sit here and say that running my own has always been problem free, but I've literally never had a freemail account (and I'm 40), I run my own Nextcloud, and Wordpress. For my company I run chat, mail, storage, git, kanban, and video calling. You have to keep up-to-date on things a bit, like running email now is a lot different than when I started like... 20 years ago. But then again, so is operating any other piece of software. @forestjohnson @vkc I'm not disagreeing with you that something needs to change! But what hasn't worked out super well in the past are things like webmin or YaST, they tended to break systems if you looked at them wrong. I don't think the solution is to make it unnecessary to understand the systems, that has never worked. I think it would be way more valuable to make good resources for people to understand the systems so they can make their own choices about their systems. @forestjohnson @vkc What does GNU have to do with anything? I'm very confused. You mean, text based interfaces? I did linux servers for 8 years before i knew that the different numbers on the man pages were a secret code that had a concrete meaning for what kind of man page it is. Give me fucking break. @forestjohnson I think that's fair to a point. But nobody has come close to doing anything like that. Netware was kinda easy, in that respect, but it also couldn't do a great deal. Windows is fine until something goes wrong. Then the difficulty curve becomes a cliff because it won't ever tell you anything useful. If you encounter a problem for the first time on Windows you have to go ask someone. On Linux, at least, once you have a base set of knowledge you can mostly figure things out. @forestjohnson That's not to say that things are great now. Not at all. I'm just trying to say that the problem is large to the point where it seems that nobody has ever even TRIED to fix it. @hp Yeah, that's what I'm saying, nobody has done it yet. But that doesn't mean its impossible. Windows is absolutely not the way, but I do believe that a well-documented HTTP-based UI for linux, systemd, and docker, could potentially be a home run. It would have to include the linux installer too, including managing the installation from a phone, so you don't have to plug a kbd and mouse into the server. @forestjohnson I'm mostly wondering how to preserve the "useful errors that will tell you what went wrong." I've never seen that done in anything GUI-like, other than just stuffing a log-file into a textbox. And at that point it'd be better to be able to run grep on it, or find all logs around the same time on the system... How do you give a novice user information like "This violated an SELinux policy" and let them fix it, without making it easy to accidentally allow an exploit to run. Muting this- way too many conversations happening below that I'm getting tagged in. Learn to self-host, that is all. (Edit: I'm not discouraging the conversation I just can't keep track of it anymore) |
Gregory's Server
@vkc I really need to figure out how to get the movies on the NAS to end up on the TV without going through a Chromecast...