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A place to share alternatives to popular online services that can be self-hosted without giving up privacy or locking you into a service you don't control.

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Beginner in need of real help! (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've been interested in self-hosting for a while, but didn't really know where to start. I've never messed with Linux before and wanted to jump ship from Windows since Microsoft decided to start putting ads everywhere. I came across this post [https://lemmy.world/post/6542543] which was exactly what I was looking for to start, and seemed like a straight-forward guide. I have two laptops, one I want to act as my media server with Docker and the other as my everyday device. Except I've been met with setback after setback from the start. I tried installing Ubuntu Server on the media server laptop but just could not get it up and running. I was suggested to try using a more beginner-friendly distro, so I went with Mint. I also liked the idea of a GUI I can mess around with.

Docker was a success, but then I got to the Adguard part and when I try the docker-compose.yml step, grub just hangs. Decided to skip that part and go onto Jackett. Nope, more errors. Tried Prowlarr, different errors.

I don't want to give up on this because its something I really want to get going for my media, home automation, cameras, etc etc. But I feel like I'm flying blind here.

I have a lot of homework to do to learn Linux, but is there a different, beginner-friendly guide out there for me to follow for now?

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Edit: I appreciate everyone's comments. Although I have no Linux experience, I know my way around Windows pretty well. I understand file systems and in one of my errors that was asked, I was getting a "No File or Directory exists" error. I edited the username to fit my what I have, but was still getting the error. I even created a new user named Prowlarr when attempting the Powlarr install to follow the steps word-for-word, no luck. It got frustrating so I gave up for the day.

I admit I do have a lot of learning to do, and I am really grateful some of you have provided start-points for my Linux journey. I'm also grateful for the "Self-hosting For Dummies" recommendations, like Yunohost and YAMS. I plan on looking over all of this info today to get a solution up for now and start my path down the Linux rabbithole. Its kinda exciting to start embarking on something like this.

Anyway, thanks to everyone who gave me great feedback!

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago

As a beginner myself I would recommend you installing portainer (a gui for docker) and if you need compose files I have them for all of my services on my GitHub.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Can you give some more details on the errors you're seeing? Grub and docker-compose shouldn't be anywhere near each other.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

In general checkout LearnLinuxTV on YouTube. Lots of good guides.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

So a few comments...

I'm not a fan of Ubuntu server, in part because their distribution of docker through snap can conflict with snap from the docker repo. My preference here is either Debian or Proxmox (debian + great virtualization setup). Mint is good, though I like LMDE (Debian edition) more, in part because I prefer Debian in general.
You may want to check out dockge. You do need to have docker running for it, but it's a simple setup, and it has a clean interface for docker compose. Good for getting used to it imo.
grub has no part in docker, so it's something else hanging.
What are the exact errors when you enter "docker-compose up"?
what is in your docker-compose for each of these?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters	More Letters
Git	Popular version control system, primarily for code
HTTP	Hypertext Transfer Protocol, the Web
IP	Internet Protocol
NAS	Network-Attached Storage
PCIe	Peripheral Component Interconnect Express
Plex	Brand of media server package
RAID	Redundant Array of Independent Disks for mass storage
RPi	Raspberry Pi brand of SBC
SATA	Serial AT Attachment interface for mass storage
SBC	Single-Board Computer
SSH	Secure Shell for remote terminal access
VPN	Virtual Private Network
nginx	Popular HTTP server

[Thread #755 for this sub, first seen 19th May 2024, 05:35] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

There's a series of Lemmy posts called the Linux upskill challenge that goes step by step through setting up and using Linux. I tried self hosting and jumping straight in too, and it sucked.

What worked for me:

Start using open source versions of stuff, like switching from Chrome to Firefox, Office to Libre Office.
Set up Virtual Box, and practice running server apps on Linux on virtual machines, until you've done a few Linux VMs and gotten used to the interfaces and commands.
Dual boot a laptop or desktop, one by one getting your daily use apps working in Linux.
Distro hop a bit. I never thought I'd land on Fedora, but here I am.
Get used to running and configuring servers from the command line.
Host some stuff with VMs and get used to the networking and bridging and stuff.
Containers!

I'm still in the middle of 6+7. Not super comfy with Docker quite yet, but getting there. I really do love having my stuff self-hosted though. Well worth the effort.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Do you have sample of what kind of errors you're getting? are they docker related or service related? as in jackett can't connect/reach sonarr for example?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I actually didnt know how to start the Jackett install from the guide I posted, so I just googled and tried following a guide. One of the first steps says sudo mkdir /home/ubuntu/jackett_config

I get a "No such file or directory". Makes sense, ubuntu isn't this user's name. So I change it to point to "/home/user/jackett_config" and get the same result.

This is what usually stops me from proceeding further.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

If you try to spin up multiple services but get stuck on creating a directory, you're moving too fast. I think you'll need to start a bit slower and more structured.

Learn how to do basic tasks in the terminal and a bit about how linux works in general. There is a learning curve, but it will be fun! Then move on to docker and get one service up and running. Go on from there with everything you learned along the way and solve the other problems you'll encounter - one at a time.