If I use Tailscale as described, how will a request connect to the tailnet? Is there anything you can link that explains how to do this?

Tailscale is great. Don’t believe the bad press. You can always switch in the future if they change their trajectory.

I run all of that on a Dell Optiplex that I bought refurbished in your price range. I couldn’t figure out the self-signing certificates to run nextcloud without a domain, so I run OwnCloud, but hopefully you’ll have better luck.

This is great, thanks!

Yes!

Someone in this community once said that if you’re not ready with a backup plan, then you’re not ready for self-hosting.

The distro doesn’t really have much impact on the end result. Use what you prefer. Especially if you are using containers which is really the way to go anyway.

It’s worth noting that there are some problems with using Snap. I don’t recall the service I was using, but I was pulling out my hair trying to solve something that I could not get working. Turns out that the snap installation did not function in the expected way and the solution was to re-install without Snap.

Its run locally on the device. Did you even read it?

Thanks - this was the solution. I’ve updated the post to reflect the solution I used.

I believe that’s exactly what is happening. I just don’t know how to fix it. I could edit the YML files and delete restart: unless-stopped but I want my containers to restart if something goes down unexpectedly

I’m even less of an expert lol. What information can I provide to help?

I have used any number of Spotify downloader apps to back up my music accumulated from other sources.

Second this - so far it has cost me money, but as I am able to cancel more subscription services, the savings will add up.

Re tailscale: not sure if it is a technical issue or not, but my wife found it helpful when I added a toggle to the Quick Settings menu, which shows when it is running and can restart it with one tap.

I ended up spinning up audiobookshelf. It’s fine for audiobooks, and I immediately installed Lissen (alongside ABS) and it is clearly preferable to me.

Lissen does not recognize ebooks at all, and I also didn’t have success with the comic book I tested on the ABS client, so I may try another service for those. For now audiobooks are the higher priority and I am very happy with those. Thanks for the input - I really appreciate it.

Thanks, this is really helpful! Do you use the same app for both? Is it the abs client or something else?

Looks very cool! I don’t know that I have the resources for it on my little homelab but good to keep it in mind in the future.

Can I ask what stands out with Kavita that audiobookshelf lacks?

I think that’s a great way to start. It is surprisingly easy to add remote access at a later date.

The dead simple way is to set up a shared folder with Syncthing, although you will end up with all of the files copied onto every device.

If you want the files to live on your home server to be accessed as needed, then you will want something like Nextcloud or OwnCloud. Personally I found ownCloud easier to set up, but it has far fewer features.

If the focus is on pictures and videos, then you should probably start with immich. It is very simple and incredibly powerful. You can more or less set it up once, and not think about it too much other than running an update from time to time. It supports multiple users, etc. Note that if you are adding photos from a Google Takeout, you will want to run a one time script to rescue the metadata (date, etc.)

Any of these are accessible on any device.

I currently use antenna pod for listening to podcasts and I love it. Am I understanding correctly that you also use it for audiobooks? Does show each chapter as a separate episode or how does that work?

I’ve read some places that Calibre can be finicky. Have you had to troubleshoot any issues with your deployment?

For document editing, I have had fairly good luck with OnlyOffice, although it is not without its issues. Others also recommend Collabora, which plays well with NextCloud and LibreOffice.