Incessant tinkerer since the 70’s. Staunch privacy advocate. SelfHoster. Musician of mediocre talent. https://soundcloud.com/hood-poet-608190196

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Joined 10 months ago
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Cake day: March 24th, 2025

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  • Wait, do you have an issue with piracy in general

    I don’t mind stating here: Piracy in general. I don’t condemn those who do because, as I’ve said, you are autonomous adults capable of making your own decisions. You know the risks and you take steps to mitigate those risks. You and I, have both heard all the pros and cons and all the supporting arguments of both sides. Now, I know there are lots of people who rip and catalog their own DVD, CDs, etc. All fine and dandy.

    The comparison was that every time AI is used here in this comm, or even suspected of use, people have a conniption and start piling on. Like moths to a flame. What does that accomplish? Nothing. It seems to just make those who are anti-AI feel superior, is about all I can get from it. To me, it’s just a tool. I’ll grant you it’s a tool that needs some heavy regulation, even as much as I chafe against regulation. It is necessary. AI isn’t going away. It’s not a fad. It’s here to stay. If using AI makes your blood boil, fine. Don’t. Although I foresee a time where you’ll use AI and not even know it.

    Opinions are great too. I, like others, have a long list of them. Stating your opinions is fine too. It seems here tho, opinions turn into castigation and denigration, which is in direct violation of ‘Rule 1: Be civil: we’re here to support and learn from one another.’ State your opinion on AI: ‘I’d rather guide my pops into my mum before I’d use AI’. Then move on. Personally, I don’t state my opinion on the arr stack, because it would accomplish nothing and in the long run become tedious and obnoxious.

    As far as the arr stack as software, I’ve never deployed it, but it is pretty darn amazing from what I’ve read. The dev teams that have put it all together have some knowledge to say the least. It’s just not my bag.


  • How many languages do you know fluently? I get that people have a definite opinion about AI. Like I told another Lemmy user, I have a definite opinion about the ‘arr’ stack which conservatively, 75% of selfhosters run. However, you don’t hear me out here beating my tin pan at the very mention of the ‘arr’ stack. Why? Because I assume you all are autonomous adults, capable of making your own decisions. Secondly, wouldn’t that get a bit tedious and annoying over time? If you don’t like AI, don’t use it ffs. Why castigate individuals who use AI? What does that do? I would really like to know what denigrating and browbeating users who use AI accomplishes.








  • As far as brands of firewall appliances on Ali Express, I hate to say it, but at the off brand level, it’s 6 of this, half dozen of the other. You pick the spec that gives you the best bang for your $$. Before I pulled the trigger tho, I would do a cursory search for reviews. You’re probably not the only person on the planet that has ever bought that specific off brand, so the chances there is a review somewhere is good.


  • Protectli VP2430

    Pricey. I mean, if you have the cabbage, no worries. However, you can find off brand, but similar for much less on ebay or Ali Express. I don’t run OPNsense, but I do run pFsense. My pFsense box runs pfblockerng, suricata, ntopng, unbound, tailscale, I use a ton of feeds, and quite the robust set of rules. It doesn’t take a super computer to be an effective OPNsense or pFsense firewall.

    Mini PCs

    Lenovo’s are nice, sip power, quiet, but unless you can source some used ones they get pricey.







  • Backblaze personal is about the cheapest I know of: $99 per year unlimited. Caveats would be that the drives have to be physically connected to the computer doing the backup. Additionally, should you ever need to restore the backup, the best way would be to buy a 10 tb drive from Backblaze, restore the data, then send the drive back for a full refund x 5. Restoring 50 tb online would be excruciating.


  • Understandable. I don’t know what your threat model is. I don’t trust any of them except to do what is in their best interest, globally. However, there is nothing stopping Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, UK, or even your country, from doing the very same thing. Governments make laws for citizens, not themselves. Everything can be compromised at any time a government decides to. That is the reality of it all. If I am going to have to hide my online activities from a government in 2026, then game over, and there’s not a damn thing I could/can do about it. I’ll just unplug, and live out the rest of my life in the seclusion of my farm/compound.


  • data server

    Here is the way I understand Tailscale to work. Feel free to correct any misinformation.

    Tailscale doesn’t operate ‘data‑center’ servers that store or forward your traffic.

    • Control plane: Holds device metadata, public keys, ACL policies, and the DERP map. It is a small, highly available service that all clients contact only when they start up or need a policy update. Tailscale runs this service on a handful of cloud providers (primarily AWS and GCP) in the United States. TThe service carries no user data. Only control information.

    • Data plane: Carries the actual packets between your devices. After the control plane tells two devices how to reach each other, they open a direct WireGuard tunnel that is end to end encrypted. There are no dedicated ‘data servers’. Traffic travels directly between the peers. If a direct path can’t be established because of strict NATs or firewalls, the connection falls back to a DERP relay. The DERP relays are the only servers that ever carry user payload.

    However, to keep with your fear of the US having all your Tailscale keys, what makes you think that Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, India, Japan, or the UK wouldn’t/couldn’t do the same? I’m no shill for Tailscale. AFAIC, you can either use the service or not. Your choice, no skin off my back. I’m just curious how far the paranoia rabbit hole goes.