Self-Hosted

We chat with 45Drives about their ambitions to build a home-lab server that bridges the gap between enterprise-level servers and consumer-grade NAS products. And more.

Sponsored By:

• Tailscale: Tailscale is a Zero config VPN. It installs on any device in minutes, manages firewall rules for you, and works from anywhere. Get 3 users and 100 devices for free.
• Linode: Receive a $100 60-day credit towards your new account. Promo Code: linode.com/ssh

Support Self-Hosted

Links:

• Amazon is discontinuing Alexa’s celebrity voices, even if you paid for them — “After three years, we’re winding down celebrity voices,” Amazon spokesperson Eric Sveum says in a statement to The Verge. “Customers will be able to continue using these voices for a limited time, and can contact our customer service team for a refund.”
• 45Drives Needs Your Help Developing a Homelab Server — 45Drives here to talk about a new project that we are super excited about. We’ve realized it’s time to build a home lab-level storage server.
• Emby Security Advisory - May 25, 2023
• dua-cli — dua (-> Disk Usage Analyzer) is a tool to conveniently learn about the usage of disk space of a given directory. It's parallel by default and will max out your SSD, providing relevant information as fast as possible. Optionally delete superfluous data, and do so more quickly than rm.
• Developing inside a Container using Visual Studio Code Remote Development — The Visual Studio Code Dev Containers extension lets you use a container as a full-featured development environment. It allows you to open any folder inside (or mounted into) a container and take advantage of Visual Studio Code's full feature set.
• Alby: Your Boost companion for the web — Alby brings Boosts to the web.
• Self-Hosted on the Podcastindex.org — Send a Boost into the show via the web. First, top-up Alby, then head over to our entry on the Podcast Index.

Bambu Labs teaches us how to lose friends and alienate people. Then, Alex Tran from Immich joins us for a project update, and we shared some dreams for a community RSS project.

Special Guest: Alex Tran.

Sponsored By:

• Tailscale: Tailscale is a Zero config VPN. It installs on any device in minutes, manages firewall rules for you, and works from anywhere. Get 3 users and 100 devices for free.
• Unraid: A powerful, easy operating system for servers and storage. Maximize your hardware with unmatched flexibility.
• Keebio: Sign up for their newsletter to get 5% off your first order.

Support Self-Hosted

Links:

• ⚡ Grab Sats with Strike Around the World — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply grab sats in over 110 countries.
• 🇨🇦 Bitcoin Well — Empowering sovereign ownership with free automatic self-custody 🔒
• 🎉 Boost with Fountain FM — Fountain 1.1 with Nostr support, upgrades, and super simple Strike integration for easy Boosts. You can also Boost from the Web via their site.
• Local dashboard is limited to 5 nodes - Help - Netdata — All of a sudden, when I access the Web UI on 19999 on the central node, I see all the node names, but no graphs. If I hover over one of the hostnames I get “Locked! Local dashboard is limited to 5 nodes”. 1 of the nodes DOES show up, and I can navigate to it, etc. But only 1, not 5.
• tinyfeed: Generate a static HTML page from a collection of feeds wtih a simple CLI tool — tinyfeed is a CLI tool that generate a static HTML page from a collection of feeds.
• OpenZFS 2.3.0 Released — RAIDZ Expansion (#15022): Add new devices to an existing RAIDZ pool, increasing storage capacity without downtime.
• Tdarr — Clean up your media libraries, health check files, save space and much more!
• Updates and Third-Party Integration with Bambu Connect — Setting the Record Straight About Our Security Update
• Bambu Lab Authorization Control System - Consumer Action Taskforce — On January 16, 2025, the 3D-printer manufacturer Bambu Lab announced that future firmwares for their 3D printers would introduce an authorization and authentication protection mechanism for their connection and control, in the name of security. Bambu has stated the following:
• [Mega Thread] Discussion on Authorization Control System / Third-Party Integration / Bambu Connect — Mega Thread now made to focus all things to here, so people can somewhat use the sub.
• X1 Firmware Jailbroken — A crossroads for Bambu Lab - Bambu Lab Software / Bambu Firmware - Bambu Lab Community Forum
• X1Plus: Custom firmware for Bambu Lab X1 and X1 Carbon 3D printers
• Immich — Easily back up, organize, and manage your photos ...

We each like different blogging platforms, and share why. Then our tips for keeping your server secure.

Plus a great way to score cheap drives, a Project Off-Grid update, making your household light switches smart, and Alex's review of the HDHomeRun.

Support Self-Hosted

Links:

• Telegram: Contact @hddsale — HDD Sales Telegram Channel
• What SMART Stats Are Telling Us About Hard Drive Reliability — As of September 30, 2019, Backblaze had 115,151 spinning hard drives spread across four data centers on two continents. Of that number, there were 2,098 boot drives and 113,053 data drives.
• How to disable the 3.3v pin on Western Digital USB White Label Drives - YouTube — This is an amazing way to get super cheap storage for your #Plex Media Server. The catch? The shucked #Western #Digital White label drives may not work right out of the box. Don't worry, the fix is simple..
• Amazon.com: StarTech.com 4X SATA Power Splitter Adapter Cable (PYO4SATA): Home Audio & Theater — The PYO4SATA SATA power splitter cable (1-to-4) features a SATA male power connector that connects to a single computer power supply SATA connector and breaks out into four SATA female power connectors.
• OpenLiteSpeed-WordPress - Linode Manager — Blazing-fast WordPress with LSCache, 300+ times faster than regular WordPress
• LinuxServer.io Blog
• ktz. - Alex's Blog
• Shelly 2.5 - Shelly Cloud — Shelly 2.5 comes with a programming/debug header which can be used to flash alternative firmware on the device. It has an ESP8266 inside, with a 2MB flash chip. A USB-to-UART adapter is needed as well as a reliable 3.3V with at least 350 mA drive capability.

Home Assistant has changed our families' lives for the better. We share tips for getting started, implementing automation, devices we use, and our favorite integrations.

Plus Alex's thoughts on automating his new LG TV and be sure to check the links!

Support Self-Hosted

Links:

• Hard Drive Sales Telegram Group
• Nabu Casa — No longer worry if you left the garage door open. Quickly access your Home Assistant instance from your phone, your favorite coffeeshop or at work. All data is fully encrypted between your device and your Home Assistant instance. No snooping
• Home Assistant Cloud
• Chris' Z-Wave USB Dongle — Z-Wave Plus certified for wide compatibility
• Chris' White Noise Makers — The Original White Noise Machine - Marpac Dohm
• Chris' Fav sensor: Aeotec Multisensor 6 — Z-Wave Plus 6-in1 motion, temperature, humidity, light, UV, vibration sensor
• Chris' Outdoor Z-Wave Power Plugs — GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Plus Smart Plug, 1 On/Off Outlet, Weather-Resistant, Built-in Repeater/Range Extender
• 500-Watt Ceramic Small Space Personal Mini Heater — Compact personal space heater design that is small enough for tables or desktops
• Chris' Portable Oil-Filled Radiator — 1200 watts of heating power, silent operation, Best for small to medium rooms that need constant heat in the colder seasons.
• TP-Link Smart Plug two Pack — Smart WiFi Plug Mini by TP-Link
• Home Assistant Integrations Directory
• Alex's Fav Smart Plug — Teckin Mini Smart Socket with Schedule and Timer Function
• Smart RGB LED strips with Home Assistant — This article will detail how to build a fully open source, 3D printable smart LED strip for $16.38.
• Mosquitto - An open source MQTT broker — The MQTT protocol provides a lightweight method of carrying out messaging using a publish/subscribe model. This makes it suitable for Internet of Things messaging such as with low power sensors or mobile devices such as phones, embedded computers or microcontrollers.
• Complete guide on setting up Grafana/InfluxDB with Home Assistant

The battle for code forges is heating up. We chat about HexOS' big promises and get excited about Meshtastic.

Sponsored By:

• Tailscale: Tailscale is a Zero config VPN. It installs on any device in minutes, manages firewall rules for you, and works from anywhere. Get 3 users and 100 devices for free.
• Grist: Grist - the open-source alternative to Airtable and Google Sheets.
• Unraid: A powerful, easy operating system for servers and storage. Maximize your hardware with unmatched flexibility.

Support Self-Hosted

Links:

• ⚡ Grab Sats with Strike Around the World — Strike is a lightning-powered app that lets you quickly and cheaply grab sats in over 100 countries.
• 🎉 Boost with Fountain FM — Fountain 1.0 has a new UI, upgrades, and super simple Strike integration for easy Boosts. You can also Boost from the Web via their site.
• Toronto Meetup, Thu, Aug 29 — Chris and Alex are slinging servers in Toronto. Come join us after we get our new box racked.
• Google is no longer making Chromecasts, updates to continue — The Chromecast with Google TV 4K and HD will remain on sale until inventory runs out, but Google is not replenishing stock after that.
• The Google TV Streamer might be the Apple TV 4K rival we’ve been waiting for — es, there are some Gemini AI tricks thrown in, and with other hardware upgrades like a built-in ethernet jack, the Google TV Streamer seems poised to be a much better entertainment hub than its predecessor. The only downside? Since it’s not a dongle anymore, you’ll have to provide your own HDMI cable when it ships on September 24th.
• The Magic Behind HexOS — HexOS combines a simplified UI, automations, workflows, and managed services with user-provided hardware to offer elegant home server management for off-the-shelf server appliances, custom-built hardware, and even recycled PCs. Powered by TrueNAS, the world's most deployed enterprise-grade storage platform, HexOS provides a highly reliable and easy-to-use solution to store, use, and protect your data. In this article, we'll take a closer look at how HexOS works to make all of this possible.
• Forgejo v8.0 is available — It comes with a number of new features, as usual. But the most impactful changes are of a different nature: increased stability, less random UI modifications and almost no breaking changes.
• ForgeFed — ForgeFed is a federation protocol for software forges and code collaboration tools for the software development lifecycle and ecosystem
• Open Letter to Gitea - Restoring Trust in the Gitea Project — After many days of hard work and preparation by a team of former Gitea maintainers and enthusiasts from the FOSS community, we are proud to announce that the Forgejo project is now live.
• Rallly — Schedule group meetings with friends, colleagues and teams. Create meeting polls to find the best date and time to organize an event based on your participants' availability. Save time and avoid back-and-forth emails.
• Fully automated DNS and DHCP with Ansible, Dnsmasq and Pihole