2023-12-17
server?
I have a home server now?
This isn't advice. In case you were looking for it. Do it how you want, girl. I'm just some punk kid.
Following an awesome guide from 2020, I installed Debian on my (mother's) late-2011 Macbook Pro. Yes, I'm certain by the shudder that just went through you that you know more about computers and home servers than me, but I'm unfamiliar with linux and its derivatives and this was cheaper than buying a Raspberry Pi (i.e. free). I need something dumb that has a processor, storage, and internet access to run Docker, basically, for my various little quality of life goodies such as a self-hosted Bitwarden server (appeasing the freaks I know and love), an RSS aggregator (idk Feedly isn't that good on free), and perhaps even a media server (le gasp). And no, encours.xyz (nor any of its subdomains) is not pointing at it. I'm not trying to draw traffic. (I have other, fun, cool :sunglasses: domains that y'all haven't even heard of yet!)
My dumb brick (lovingly dubbed florencethemachine by my roommates in keeping with my alphabetical naming scheme for my devices. it's a family thing.) will now be perched right by the router, sipping on its built-in gigabit ethernet port, chewing dvds, and rocking the worlds shittiest battery backup with its aged battery. A friend suggested I should figure out some cooling for her (late-2011 macbook pros are notorious for overheating), I might print her some nice supports to give her good clearance for her fans (when did she become a she? oooo u are not resistant to anthropomorphisme teehee). It was a fun project to occupy most of my afternoon. I never had any major files or notable things on it (long since transferred to other computers or backed up), but there were touching reminders of a much younger self that hid inside of it. I saw the original PDF of my CAQ (Certificat d'acceptation du Québec; a study permit document) and an early D&D character, artefacts of a pre-university self that I haven't seen for a while. It was a nice reminder, a gentle shoulder brush with a self I love (you must love your past or bear the consequences).
I haven't done it yet, but it looks like I'll be doing the media serving with Jellyfish. Why? Honestly, the documentation is really clean. I'd been considering Emby but again, my good friend suggested I investigate the truly FOSS option (I know, I know, I'm mostly not becoming one of those girls. But I do love several of them, and they rub off on me). It looks slick as, is truly free, and seems pretty easy? We'll see when I finally get it set up. My friends in Auckland run their media server with openmediavault which looks a nice setup, but it is meant as the sole application of a Raspberry Pi, not one-of-many functions on a pet server (katie i know you're thinking 'oh just run a second server on her' that is a level of fuckedupitude i'm not willing to commit yet).
I'll post updates as I have them. For now, have you listened to Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers yet?
Update 2023-12-18
I forgot to note that I deviate from pvital's guide a little bit. I'm opting to keep my home server on the stable LTR of Debian (not trying to do anything groundbreaking, just want it to keep running
on my little baby). Also, I haven't said it on here before, but I'm a shudder Fedora user. And this is my first foray into anything Deb/Ubu/related. I had to figure out how to make my native user a
superuser (so i can sudo, i'm not just freeballing as root. though i could...). su - feels so unnatural to me.
I installed the Bitwarden server today, which is propped up by Docker Compose. It was super easy? The most convoluted piece of the process was setting up the SMTP mail settings which wasn't horrible after I had to do the same for getting my new fancy professional email to play right on android gmail. (It's hosted through iCloud. It's a thing. Ask me about it if you have to, but you'll probably know more than I do). Tomorrow's task is SSH & potench Tailscale, again at katie's suggestion. Ah the adventures in home serving! If you have any suggestions of other ways to torture a late-2011 MBP, lemme know!