Power, Domain Name (if using a standard paid one instead of the cheaper route), VPN are the 3 that I pay for that I feel are the bare minimum.

I pay for a domain that’s $12, but you could easily get the $1 ones for the same purposes. I pay for a static and service VPN with Windscribe, which comes out to be like $35+$89 respectively. So that’s already $136 a year excluding the cost of power. I could cut that cost easily, but I use them for more than just my selfhosting so I feel like it’s a fair price for what I get out of it.

I think that’s a really key point - back in the days of the PS2 to 360 era, it was all about Xx_Graphics_xX and there were so many 30fps games that dipped to 15 at times, making “30FPS” feel worse than it was.

That said, 30FPS can still be rough. IMO Dragons Dogma 2 running at 30 on the PS5 is pretty rough. Even excluding dips, but it has them. But the game Heroes Hour on the Steam Deck running at 30 is perfectly fine. Similarly, setting Red Dead 2 to get a consistent 30 is fine too.

Consistency is huge, for sure!

Cool read through! I personally don’t think I’d add clicky buttons to my devices since playing at night in bed is a big one for me, but I do like the idea of modding the Steam Deck!

Also gotta love modded Melee on Deck!

I don’t go as hard as other members of the community, I just want to have the parts in case of an issue. I have my key caps, switches, and tools all in the same Ziploc bag (not loose though, each are separate just consolidated).

I keep the bag with my PC parts box

Should discussion posts be labeled other?

I can’t speak to what you’re looking for specifically, however I can give you an idea of the level and type of noise you could expect.

With a local server I built with 3 standard 8TB HDDs, the “noisiest” part of the whole computer is the fans itself - it’s very quiet compared to say, a fanned air purifier on full or maybe even half power. I’ve never actually heard my hard drives from any of the computers I’ve built in the last 6-8 years, and I’m usually right by them. If I listen very closely I may hear some ticking/spinning if they happen to be ramped up.

So under load, there may be a chance of hearing some of the spinning disks in a quiet room, however I haven’t actively heard an HDD since 2012 - though the size you’re going for could be different as you mentioned. I can’t speak for the 18tb sizes. As for the smaller external HDD’s, I have 3 6TB ones running in tandem and it’s pretty much the same, I’ve heard them ramp up slightly but it’s nearly silent even under load it’s more of a gentle hum. If there were any noise sources like music it would be unnoticeable. But again, the size may play a factor.

You mentioned it’s right by your bed but would your active hours align with the backups? I.e. if you run them overnight from 2a to 8a, you’d already be asleep for the backup. If it’s noise that prevents you from sleeping that may help.

It’s a bit dated by now I’m sure but I’m a fan of my Rakk Ang Lam Pro (or for me, the Falcon Elite TKL - same thing) that I got from Flashquark.

~$80 board with media scroll wheel and a Win lock. Hotswappable so your favorite switches likely work. It is just a plastic housing but it’s sturdy and there’s no major flex or wear after ~3 years.

Spilled a beer on it and washed the board, all still fully functional.

In browser audio sampler with fairly decent tools

The one I haven’t been able to find a good replacement for is Sampler.

I was just reading a couple weeks ago about a smaller web project. Lemme see if I can find it

Edit: here it is, https://kbin.social/m/selfhosting@slrpnk.net/t/476826/What-is-the-Small-Web

Yoda nearly had a heart attack during the clone wars, honestly.

that plus war, shit will age you.

Just some other suggestions, there’s also Syncthing (for backups and syncing devices) and PhotoPrism (like the user who suggested Immich, for gallery view.)

Good find on the solution, there’s some good alternatives from the github Monolith as well. However, MoW looks great, too bad it’s Chrome only from what I can see :(

To confirm if it walks like the hulk or like Yoda, I mean clearly these are questions we need answers to

I did attempt it a bit but I was having issues. Definitely the way I’m trying to go though!

I’ve yet to unfortunately, I bought the very last stock available and inquired a few sellers (like Vgoodiez) for any potential but no luck. Treat the ones you have with care :(

Actually, I should reach out to the company though. They may have the contact for the basket manufacturer. I was lucky enough to always have good experiences with them as well, near the end I bought some glass from them and one of their shipments was eternally delayed but I was talking with the owner and they sent me a more expensive piece for free, which I still use today (the “Halley”). Really a shame their other version didn’t release, although, it didn’t look particularly… well ahem, it was more unique.

For now if I ever run low my solution is going to be something along the lines of Tiny Might/Arizer “ELB” basket screens (the small lids that we use as the cap) with some metal mesh and figuring out how to fashion it to work lol. Not looking forward to that sad day.

I started smoking with massive bong hits and I’ll never move away from that, so I needed to find a vaporizer that was able to provide what I was looking for. I’ve been through a long list, all with their own pros and cons and various “best” ways to use them.

I started with the FM V5.0s, then the Grasshopper, Arizer Air, Solo 2, VapeXhale Evo, then Mighty family with the Volcano and Plenty, Arizer V-Tower, then the Fury and the Tiny Might.

For bongs, most of these suck or have shortcomings. The Grasshopper (no longer available and should honestly be avoided) was incredible and served me very well, but the company was mishandled and effectively scammed people. However, it was the pinnacle of portable bong vaporizers - seriously unparalleled and its only shortcoming for me was you’d have to reload it if you wanted more than ~2 or 3 very large dense hits (i.e. group sessions). It’s too bad it’s unavailable, because it really was the best (“when it worked”, as the users memed).

The VapeXhale Evo, also no longer available sadly is the next best, only “second” to the Grasshopper for bong rips because it’s a desktop vape and it has a heatup time. But the pros outweigh those “cons” that make it “second”, easily reloadable baskets and the best convection bong rips on the market at the time. Alas, the company grew old and repurchased and rebranded until a new unit never released and they folded. The biggest loss aside is the ez-load bowls, since they are compatible with a number of devices. Anyway… it was nifty, it heated a glass element that heated the air and made it a full convection vape.

The Mighty is ok for bongs. I differentiate them via the actual glass and pressure of the bongs. Imagine a beaker bong or any bong that you hit and the smoke/vapor condenses in the glass before you carb it and get it all. The Mighty does not do that at all. The Mighty is a bubbler that you when you hit it you get some smoke/vapor - no condensing. It’s not my preference, so I personally am not very satisfied with the Mighty as a bong ripper when compared to my other options.

The Volcano is just loud. It’s fine, it’s fun to have the bong percolate itself but, well meh. It’s expensive and loud, it uses a lot of bud but it does put out a lot of vapor. The older V-Tower model is in a similar boat, it’s quieter but a little less efficient than the Volcano. I use them for gatherings. The Plenty is fairly disappointing.

The Arizer portables (I have the Air 1 and Solo 2) are weaker than the Mighty through glass so not what you’re looking for for bong rips.

Finally, for portables worth mentioning that leaves the Tiny Might. It’s a great vaporizer, I find it fairly comparable to the Grasshopper and I’m pleased with it overall. My only shortcoming for it is that I’m constantly reloading bowls, but otherwise it’s a strong consistent vaporizer.

But for you OP, I would suggest looking into Ball Vapes. I personally can’t 100% recommend any particular one as I’m unfamiliar with the specifics of each and what they all entail, but as a brief overview; ball vapes are desktop vapes controlled by an e-nail PiD controller and are essentially e-nails for convection heating. It’s actually just the exact concept of the VapeXhale Evo just inverted, since we are moving the heating elements to the top of the bowl (rather than it being confined).

You can build your own for about $100, but there are plenty of kits available from Cannabis Hardware or Vgoodiez (and I’m sure others, but you can’t go wrong with these two.)

From my studies aphantasia (the lack of visualization) is a separate part of the brain from where our dreams are handled, so from what we can tell aphantasia doesn’t interfere too much with the process of dreaming?

Anecdotally, I find myself rarely dreaming (daily herbal vaporizer user) but can under certain methods (like the lucid dreaming method wake and back to bed). Very very rarely I’ll get visualization right before falling asleep, and dreams I do remember are effectively like I’m living in them, but for as long as I can remember my dreams have been in black and white (sometimes with red skies). When I do dream they are also always very chaotic, usually being chased, running through forests and hiding in cabins or fighting giant monsters. But always fairly detailed just in grey scale. That said, just like life, remembering my dreams is the same. I can only describe what I remember and I don’t visualize any of it again.

I have aphantasia and the most visualization in the waking world that I have is understand space - the layout and size of objects in a room for example - however beyond a rough “knowing” of the shape and size of a chair relative to the size of the room and other objects is all based in memory. It helps have my eyes open to reference other things. But anything beyond can this box fit in there is pretty much a blank (black with static, rather).

In regards to cannabis, THC in the majority of people inhibits our REM cycles which can prevent the process of making/remembering dreams. I’ve pretty much had roughly the same experience with dreams since I started smoking around 16 though, and still when I switch to vaping at 19ish, although consumption has gone up since those ages (and subsequently down a little bit lately).

All in all, anyone who wants to consistently dream should look into incorporating lucid dreaming techniques, writing down whatever they do remember when they wake up, and maybe looking into other aids like mugwort.

I’m wondering how it goes with online game for instance (wouldn’t it be a no-go for many casual users?

I’ve wondered the same honestly. I’m able to connect to servers, never been an issue, but if I want to host my own game server it’s only available locally and no ports are ever exposed (understandably, since they don’t exist lol). Been a real hassle that’s for sure!

I’d be interested in a networking section. My biggest hurdle in self-hosting is that my ISP uses CG/NAT, so no port forwarding. This has made even simple applications difficult to set up. It seems the easiest workaround is to set them up through a domain, which I’ve tried and had no luck with. A mix of not my forte and there being few straightforward guides.