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I Spent a Year Replacing My Subscriptions. Here’s How. — Transcript

by Dammit Jeff · 10,374 words · 1,460 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00HBO Max is raising prices for all of its
0:03plans.
0:03>> Disney is increasing subscription prices
0:06for Disney Plus.
0:07>> Users will have to pay $6.99 a month for
0:09each additional user.
0:10>> The free ride era of streaming is coming
0:13to an end.
0:15>> Big tech has been getting more and more
0:16aggressive every single year. They used
0:18to be much more subtle about it, but now
0:20with rising subscriptions and hardware
0:21costs, their goal is becoming much more
0:23obvious. Ow nothing, then rent it back
0:26to you. So, I built my own HomeLab, and
0:28now I can stream movies, photos, music,
0:31download games, even run video game
0:33servers, and so much more, all without
0:35having to subscribe to anything. And
0:37it's way easier than you think. I spent
0:39the last year documenting everything
0:40I've learned, detaching myself from as
0:42many services as I can. And I want to
0:43share everything with you, from the
0:45cheapest and most expensive hardware to
0:47software, the best apps, and getting
0:49everything online. It's time to take
0:50back control over your data before it's
0:52too late.
0:56So, most of our day-to-day lives, like
0:58our photos, our files, our Ring cameras,
1:01even random stuff like video game saves,
1:03are incredibly dependent on other
1:05companies holding everything together
1:06and storing your files on their data
1:08center somewhere in some random field in
1:11Texas. The idea was at some point to
1:13make your life more convenient. Let them
1:16take on the stress and cost of managing
1:18all that data and files and stuff, and
1:20you don't have to worry about your stuff
1:21being lost or damaged. But as I'm sure
1:23you've noticed, times have changed and
1:25what was at one point just like, "Oh,
1:27this is a nice like convenient thing."
1:29is now dependence on these services.
1:31Which means when they decide to raise
1:33the prices, remove features, delete your
1:36account, or change the terms of service
1:38to start scanning your images and data
1:40for things that they should have no
1:42reason to keep. You're just stuck there.
1:44So, you know how people say the cloud is
1:46just someone else's computer? Well, home
1:49labing is basically the reverse of that.
1:51Instead of putting all your files,
1:53photos, cloud storage, etc. on Google
1:55servers, they live on a system that you
1:57control at home without ever having to
2:00worry about what Google or Microsoft or
2:02Apple is going to do next. Like, think
2:03of it like Minecraft servers. You
2:05remember setting up one of those on your
2:06PC for your friends to all play
2:07together? It was really great until you
2:10turned off your PC and then your friends
2:12couldn't play anymore. Now, imagine if
2:14you had a lowowered, compact little
2:16machine that's whole job is to just
2:18always be on all the time, always. So,
2:20it can run things like your Minecraft
2:22server, but also a lot of other apps
2:24like a self-hosted cloud storage or
2:26self-hosted photos or self-hosted media
2:28player, self-hosted YouTube, and yes,
2:31even your friend's Minecraft server.
2:33That's what a HomeLab is at its core.
2:35So, if that sounds interesting to you,
2:36awesome. Now, there are a billion
2:38different ways to configure your server
2:39with different hardware, different apps,
2:41different workflows. I'm going to show
2:43you mine and then hopefully it gives you
2:45some ideas as to what you want to pursue
2:47in your own setup.
2:50So you want to get into home lab. Okay,
2:51awesome. So what what do you buy
2:54exactly? Do I need like hardware or like
2:56hard drives? I keep hearing people talk
2:57about like d and n and ass and commoner
3:00nutties or what is all that? Well,
3:02there's a whole range of prices you can
3:04start spending on for a home lab server.
3:06Anything from completely free all the
3:08way over to like thousands of dollars
3:09Linus tech tip setups. But the common
3:11thing in all these hardware setups is
3:13that they're usually low power by
3:14design. They can stay on for super duper
3:16long periods of time and they have a
3:18decent Ethernet jack so we can
3:20communicate with the rest of the house.
3:21So if you're wondering, can I use X as a
3:24server? Check and see if they meet all
3:26three of those requirements. So no, your
3:28old Xbox 360 unfortunately can't be run
3:30as a server, but your old Wii can
3:33apparently should do a video on that. I
3:34want to show you a range of different
3:36setups from the low-end all the way up
3:37to super duper high-end stuff, and then
3:39you decide how much that you want to
3:41spend on your home lab server. But I
3:43want to make it clear because I didn't
3:44know this when I first started. You
3:46don't need a super duper powerful
3:48machine to run a server unless you're
3:50explicitly running something that
3:51requires that much hardware. Good
3:53examples are like local AI models or
3:56like you know video transcoding.
3:57Self-hosted apps tend to be really
3:59really light and that's by design. Got
4:01it? Okay. So what are our options?
4:05So, probably the cheapest option is
4:07actually going to be completely free. If
4:09you already have an old laptop or a
4:11desktop PC that you may have lying
4:12around that's just too old to really run
4:14anything anymore, you could totally wipe
4:16Windows off of it and repurpose it as a
4:18HomeLab server. I got this one from my
4:20dad that it's just you forgot the
4:21password to, but it's just it's so old
4:23now that there's no point in even trying
4:24to use it anymore. If you're doing the
4:26laptop route though, the only suggestion
4:28I'd give is since this is going to live
4:29forever, maybe consider removing the
4:31battery from the laptop. Those things
4:33can get uh pretty spicy over time. With
4:37something like this, you can easily
4:38start running like a server OS on it and
4:40start running self-hosted apps. But I
4:42won't lie, it's kind of clumsy to store
4:44and stash away somewhere. So, what if we
4:46wanted something a little bit more
4:47designed for a server? Now, the next
4:50step above that would be a recycled
4:51office PC. Yeah, you know the little
4:53office PC that you see at places like a
4:55pharmacy or the DMV or at school or
4:57whatever. Yeah. So companies in schools
4:59buy out like a hundred of these little
5:00tiny PCs at a time every few years and
5:02then so all their old ones for super
5:04duper cheap. They sip power. They're
5:06super reliable and they're perfect for
5:08what we're using them for since they're
5:09meant to just run stuff like Microsoft
5:11Office and Excel and whatnot. Just so
5:13you know what you're looking for, most
5:14of the big computer companies tend to
5:16have a special name for their special
5:18like business class PCs. So Lenovo has
5:21Lenovo Think Centers. HP has Elite Desks
5:24and Proesks for their nicer stuff. and
5:26Dell has Optiplex. Bigger desktops also
5:29have the benefit of having way more room
5:30for proper hard drives, which means you
5:32could buy a bunch of hard drives and
5:33then just stick them in there. Now, in
5:35terms of specs, this is this is Jeff's
5:37opinion, okay? I would look for
5:38something that has at least 8 gigs of
5:40RAM and at least an eighth gen Intel
5:42CPU. Now, the current RAM shortage is
5:44making this a little bit harder than it
5:46used to be, and I do see prices already
5:48going up. So, if you're thinking of
5:49maybe picking up one down the line, do
5:52it now before these things end up being
5:54worth more than like gold or something.
5:56I'll link some places to buy these in
5:57the description. I was able to pick up
5:59this HP 600 from Offer for 75 bucks,
6:02which has a 9inth gen Core i5 processor,
6:048 gigs of RAM, and a 128 gig SSD, which
6:07is plenty for what we're trying to run
6:09on this thing. I mean, we're just
6:10running a bunch of self-hosted apps. And
6:12the crazy part, this thing just sips
6:14power even when it's actually running
6:16apps and stuff. It It's insane. And
6:18these ones are super cool because they
6:19literally require no tools to open up in
6:21case you need to swap out RAM or a new
6:23SSD or anything. Now, just this by
6:25itself is cool, but add an external USB
6:28hard drive like this one, and now you
6:30have a HomeLab server with storage,
6:32which means you can do a lot more like
6:34cloud storage, file backups, media
6:36server to hold movies and TV shows and
6:38stuff, and access it from anywhere. It's
6:41really, really great. Link in the
6:42description if you want the one that I'm
6:43using. By the way, I got a 26 TB one,
6:46but they totally make much smaller ones.
6:48Don't don't worry. This little office PC
6:50and a 26 TB USB drive is what's going to
6:52be running my HomeLab server here. At
6:55least until I can afford something a
6:57little bit nicer. So, if it's good
6:59enough for Jeff, it's good enough for
7:00you. Okay. Now, the only downside with
7:02this setup is that there's no
7:03redundancy. Meaning that if this hard
7:05drive dies, that that's it. Everything
7:08is lost. But as a first real
7:11proper server setup, this is a great way
7:13to get into it. And lots of people just
7:15stop here. Another downside, though, is
7:17upgradability. You can't keep plugging
7:20USB hard drives in this thing since it
7:21starts to get really messy and slow uh
7:24and cables get everywhere. It's it's not
7:26really great. So, the next setup that
7:27you'll see is a mini PC and a DS. This
7:31is where you start separating things
7:32between the processing power and your
7:34storage. Mini PCs are great for this
7:36because they're still pretty cheap. They
7:38got newer processors and usually cost
7:40less than like a specked out office PC.
7:42Something like this from GMK Tech has
7:45these specs and could be had for about
7:46300 bucks. And some people just straight
7:48up use Mac minis for their server since
7:50they're like the only good deals left on
7:52computers right now. And you can go even
7:54cheaper if you look for them in the
7:55right places. I'll link these ones in
7:56the description. If you're paying more
7:58than this for a refurbished office PC,
8:00yeah, honestly, just just go for the
8:01mini PC at that point. These are also
8:03great because you can run virtual
8:05machines on them, no problem. So, if you
8:07need a copy of Windows real quick for
8:08something or Linux, Debian, freaking
8:11Hannah Montana OS, great. You can spin
8:14up multiple of them and run them on your
8:16server and connect to them from
8:17anywhere. As for storage, you're going
8:19to want a direct attached storage or a
8:22D. It's basically just a box that's just
8:24meant to hold hard drives that plugs
8:26straight into your server via USB. So
8:28you can add more drives down the line or
8:30you can have redundancy setup so that
8:32way if one of your hard drive dies like
8:34your whole data doesn't get completely
8:36destroyed and it's generally much
8:37cleaner of a setup. This one from Oracle
8:39can be had for less than a hundred bucks
8:41and gives you way more upgradability
8:43options. Now it's starting to become
8:45like a proper server setup. Now the D is
8:48just that. It's just an attached
8:50storage. There's no brains or drive
8:53management or anything happening on
8:54here. It's just a box. That's it. All of
8:57the hard drives have to be managed by
8:58some sort of software. Uh, usually the
9:01mini PC. Now, at this point, you're
9:03setting up the hardware, installing the
9:04software, running a DA, getting all the
9:06wires set up, and this is great, but
9:08what if I just want something to do all
9:10of this for me, ready to go right out of
9:13the box? And that's when you finally
9:15move to a proper NAS system or a
9:17networkattached storage. It's like a
9:20mini PC and a DA allinone that's
9:22specifically designed to just be a
9:25server. Now, NASA's used to be
9:26considered not good home lab servers
9:28like a long time ago, but nowadays the
9:31hardware in these things are pretty
9:32good. Good enough to be used for running
9:34apps and doing more than just managing
9:36your files. UG Green, Synology, and QAP
9:39are the most popular ones in the NAS
9:41space. They're also great because
9:42they're literally just plugandplay. Just
9:44put in your hard drives and you're done.
9:46You're all ready to go. And they all
9:48have their own operating systems, too,
9:49that usually have the stuff that you
9:50already want pre-installed, like a cloud
9:53sync, docker, an app store, and an
9:55interface you can already just start
9:57accessing your files. These are
9:59considerably more expensive, but they
10:01really just configure everything for
10:03you, and you can get right to doing home
10:05lab stuff, and they can fit anywhere. I
10:07mean, I literally have one sitting in my
10:08closet like right now back at home. It's
10:10it's really, really nice. So, now you
10:11know the basics. That's basically all
10:14that a home lab is. a computer, an
10:16Ethernet connection to your network
10:17somehow, and usually some hard drives to
10:20store stuff. A server is basically just
10:22some combination of all of those. And
10:24then down the line, you can add other
10:25stuff, too, like a UPS, which think of
10:28it like a battery bank, but for your
10:30server. If your power dies or something,
10:32it'll still run on battery for like
10:3410ish minutes, so that way you have time
10:35to shut down everything safely and not
10:38lose any data. So, the high-end business
10:40stuff with server racks and everything
10:41you see like in movies and stuff like
10:43that, they're literally the exact same
10:44thing, but some people might just want
10:47more Ethernet jacks to hardline their
10:48server to multiple computers or like way
10:51more hard drive slots to be able to
10:53store stuff. Or some people like having
10:54multiple PCs connected together so that
10:57way they can combine processing power
10:58together on tasks. That's called
11:00clustering, by the way. Okay, it's pop
11:01quiz time. You didn't you weren't going
11:03to get away from here without, you know,
11:04actually testing what you learned. So, I
11:06asked my Discord members, a bunch of
11:07them just to send pictures of their home
11:08lab servers. We can kind of look through
11:09them and look through examples and
11:11identify what they're doing. So, let's
11:13try something really easy. I mean, this
11:14is a really basic one. Let's let's try
11:15this one. Okay, so can you identify all
11:17three things here? PC, hard drive, and
11:20our network connection. Okay, simple
11:21enough. Let's try something a little bit
11:22tougher. Same thing with this one. Let's
11:24try this one. Same thing. We got PCs,
11:26hard drives, and a network connection.
11:28Are we getting it? Okay, let's try
11:29something else. Okay, this one's really
11:30long, so I'm going to try to crop it or
11:32something. But basically, same concept,
11:34right? PCs, hard drives, and network.
11:37Same thing, right? So, those little
11:39things, they're little slots you can put
11:40in hard drives. Makes sense, right? Some
11:41people like a lot of hard drives,
11:43though. Jesus Christ. I Yeah. No, it's
11:47Well, that's that's a server. Oh, god.
11:50Uh, but uh it technically counts though.
11:53Uh PC, network connection, hard drives,
11:56and a UPS there so that way stuff
11:57doesn't shut down. Good lord. Looks like
11:59it's coming out of Silent Hill or
12:00something. Hold on. This is just in your
12:02living room, bro. What do guests say
12:03when you come in here? Like you got the
12:05entirety of Facebook running in your
12:06living room. What what do you even do
12:07with that? Wow. Uh
12:10well, it's you got PC, we got storage,
12:13and we got a network connection, so it
12:15it it counts. If this was a horse, I
12:17would shoot it. So, that's the hardware
12:19side. If you take nothing else from this
12:21video, at the very least, you know what
12:22servers do, and you can tell what
12:24they're doing just by looking at them.
12:26Yeah, no one had a decent explanation on
12:29all of this when I looked it up on
12:30YouTube. Hopefully Jeff's explanation
12:32finally cleared up what people are
12:33talking about when they say home lab or
12:36NAS or DS or whatever. And at the very
12:39least, I earned your subscribe, too.
12:40Come on. I I worked so hard on on this
12:42explanation. I I think I earned it. So,
12:45you got your hardware secured. Now, what
12:47do we do with it? So, first we need to
12:49install a proper operating system to run
12:51all of our server stuff. Windows is
12:54almost never used for home server stuff
12:55because they're pretty bloated and have
12:57a bunch of features that we won't ever
12:58use. They're not really designed to
13:00manage stuff like this. Plus, this thing
13:02is going to be in a closet somewhere or
13:04tucked away under the entertainment
13:06center. So, we're going to want to be
13:07able to still interact with it even
13:09without a mouse and keyboard and a
13:11monitor. Some plug-and-play NAS like UG
13:13Green and Synology will already have a
13:14built-in interface you can connect to
13:16using a web browser. So, just type in
13:18the IP address of your NAS and bam, you
13:20can start fiddling with it from whatever
13:22machine you want. And that's the main
13:24way we'll be interacting with our server
13:25when we use it. And some of them even
13:27have plug-and-play apps so you can still
13:29tweak stuff on your phone. But if you're
13:31starting from fresh hardware, you're
13:32going to want to wipe Windows entirely.
13:35That means we're running Linux.
13:36>> Oh god, bro.
13:38>> Hell no.
13:39>> Oh, wait. Come on, guy. It's really
13:40cool. Just give me a sec. Yeah. So,
13:41there's operating systems that are
13:43designed from the ground up to manage
13:44home servers, just like the ones from
13:46the pre-built companies. It's really
13:48easy. You usually just have to download
13:49an ISO, install it to a flash drive
13:51using something like Bolina Etcher, plug
13:53it into whatever hardware that you're
13:54using, spam the out of the L12 key like
13:56it owes you money or something, and
13:58eventually you'll be able to get into
14:00the BIOS where you can boot your flash
14:01drive and install your OS of choice.
14:03Now, this is mostly personal preference.
14:05Seriously, go try them out yourself and
14:07see what you end up liking. And if you
14:09realize down the line that you wanted
14:10something else or you want to start
14:12over, don't worry. It's usually really
14:14easy to transfer over everything without
14:15wiping all of your stuff. I'll show you
14:17some of the more popular ones. TRNAS is
14:19the industry standard and even the
14:21business standard and they do have a
14:24free version that will be more than
14:25enough for most people, but man, there
14:27are a lot of options almost to a fault.
14:30But if you love tinkering with stuff,
14:32there's lots of guides for the software
14:33and it's super duper accessible. Unrade
14:36is cool because it lets you combine hard
14:37drives of different sizes, which isn't
14:39usually possible with normal RAID
14:41configurations and has pretty decent app
14:43support and community support, too. But
14:45this isn't a free OS, though. It is paid
14:47about $50 for a year of updates. Still,
14:50it's really popular and there's lots of
14:51support around it. Now, I found one that
14:53I really liked for new hardware. Zemo
14:56OS. This one has the most normall
14:58looking interface that I found that I
15:00think would be the best start for most
15:02people. It has a really pretty, super
15:04easy to understand interface that
15:06doesn't feel like it's overwhelming you
15:07with information. It has support for all
15:09the big file formats, backup support,
15:11Dropbox, Google Drive sync, etc. And it
15:14even has an app like the big guys do.
15:16Android only though. And an awesome app
15:18store that I honestly I'd struggle to
15:20find missing apps for. Like this store
15:22really has pretty much everything you'll
15:24ever need. Now Zema OS is free. However,
15:27it only supports up to four hard drives
15:29on the free version. I don't think most
15:30people will ever be hitting that limit.
15:32So for 90% of people, you're good to go.
15:35But the full version with unlimited
15:36drives is $29. And that's for a lifetime
15:40license. No subscriptions. on my McChick
15:42scale. That Yeah, that no that that
15:44checks out. Yeah, that's only 8.3
15:45McChickens. So, I'm going to be using
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16:59So, let's talk about storage. So, the
17:01main big reason most people will want to
17:03set up a server at home is to use it as
17:05their own personal cloud storage, which
17:07means you can access it from anywhere,
17:09even outside of your house, and feel
17:11safe knowing that it's back at home and
17:13not going through some third party or
17:14being scanned on someone else's server.
17:16So, you're going to need some hard
17:17drives to store all of your stuff. Now,
17:19this is why I was saying if you're
17:21looking to do self-hosting stuff, do it
17:23now before it's too late. Hardware
17:25trends, unfortunately, are not in our
17:27favor here. data centers buying up tons
17:29of PC hardware is the reason we're in
17:31this situation in the first place. So,
17:33first they came for RAM, then SSDs, and
17:36now hard drives are going up next. We're
17:38right here. Yes, I know that prices are
17:40starting to go up already, but I I want
17:42to be clear about this. This isn't going
17:44to get better anytime soon. And
17:46unfortunately, this is not one of those
17:47situations where just waiting it out is
17:49going to help. Costs will get worse
17:51before they get better. And companies
17:53like OpenAI and Microsoft have already
17:55bought out a majority of the hardware
17:56supply until 2029. That's a really long
18:00time to be waiting. And then by then, be
18:02honest, do you really think we're just
18:03going to go back to $90 for a terabyte
18:05SSD again? Like it really feels like the
18:07endgame here is to make ownership of
18:08your hardware unreachable. Little
18:10tangent by the way, but man, it's been a
18:11really bad decade for PC parts. I feel
18:13like we just can't win if it's been bad
18:16for almost every single year this
18:17decade. At some point, this just becomes
18:19like the new normal now, right? Anyways,
18:20if you're just now starting out, don't
18:22focus on getting the perfect setup and
18:24filling up all the drives, all at once,
18:25all you don't have to do that. My
18:27suggestion, get two 4 TBTE drives for
18:29now and then upgrade if you can down the
18:32line later. The type of hard drive also
18:34matters a lot, too. There's usually
18:35server grade ready hard drives that are
18:37designed to be running 24/7 in a NAS or
18:40a home server. For example, Western
18:42Digital has WD reds, which signify,
18:44yeah, they're built for extended use
18:46compared to their regular WD blue
18:48drives. Full disclosure, they were kind
18:49enough to send me these for the video
18:51because I would have had to sell my car
18:53to be able to get this amount of storage
18:55now, but they do make smaller sizes,
18:56too. Don't don't worry, you do not have
18:57to go overkill like this. I'll link some
18:59in the description. Now, we should
19:00probably talk about hard drive pools for
19:03servers. Hard drives aren't read in the
19:04same way that your laptop or your PC
19:06would use them. It would be very slow
19:08and inefficient to store files that way.
19:10So servers use something called RAID
19:12where instead of it being like, you
19:14know, five, six, seven smaller RAID
19:16drives, they're combined into one super
19:19big single drive that you can host your
19:21files on. And your operating system will
19:23be smart enough to know how to
19:24distribute that data for optimal speed.
19:26You usually don't have to do anything
19:27special to do this. The setup process of
19:29the OS usually asks you what kind of
19:31setup that you want. Now, this setup is
19:33called RAID zero. However, because
19:35they're all linked together now, if one
19:37of those drives dies, all of your data
19:39is gone. If you're just hosting movies
19:41or TV shows or something like that,
19:42yeah, that's fine. Who cares? You can
19:44just always redownload those. But if
19:45you're hosting personal stuff like
19:47photos or irreplaceable documents,
19:49that's not good. So, there's another
19:52version called RAID 5, which is what I
19:54use. This setup still makes one really
19:56big drive out of all your drives, but if
19:58one of your drives dies for any reason,
20:00your data is still completely intact and
20:02safe. Now, if two drives died, then
20:04yeah, you're you're screwed. But this
20:06setup should at least give you some time
20:07to go replace that dead drive. The
20:10catch? Well, this setup requires you to
20:12sacrifice one drive in your pool. So, if
20:14you have four 10 TB drives, you don't
20:16get a full 40 tab to use. You get 27 TB
20:20of usable storage. Now, you basically
20:22lose an entire drives for the storage.
20:24But it's worth it if it means that your
20:26server has some line of redundancy.
20:28There are more versions of RAID, but
20:30really those two are the only important
20:31ones to know, honestly. So, if you want
20:33my advice, do rate five. And I'll link
20:35this calculator in the description so
20:36you can test configurations for
20:37yourself. Once you created your pool,
20:39you can usually just start drag and
20:41dropping files into it. Cool. But you
20:43can now also access this from any device
20:45on your network, too. So, for example,
20:47on Mac OS, I can just click on connect
20:49to server in the Finder, type in my
20:51server's IP, sign in, and that's it.
20:54Look, now it's just being detected as
20:56some big ass external drive that you can
20:58just use it for anything. If you have a
21:00decent Ethernet connection to your
21:01server, you can even use this as an
21:03editing drive for photos and videos.
21:05It's really, really nice. And this isn't
21:07just on computers either. You can even
21:09connect to it on your phone. It's really
21:11nice. Now, this will only work as long
21:13as you're connected to the same network
21:15as your server, but I'll show you how we
21:16can access it remotely from anywhere
21:18later. Don't worry. So, now we got that
21:21figured out. Let's talk about apps for
21:22your server. Yeah. Now, this is the fun
21:24part. Now, almost all the big operating
21:26systems will have app stores, so you
21:28never have to even configure anything
21:29yourself. You can just click install and
21:31you're done. It's all set up for you.
21:34But the amount of apps that a store
21:36might have varies depending on what
21:38operating system you're using. And some
21:40operating systems have like four apps
21:41total on their app store. So, I want to
21:43show how to get familiar with how to
21:44install any app that you want onto your
21:46server. So, almost every app that you'll
21:48install is run through something called
21:50Docker. And most apps are run through
21:52Docker containers, which are just super
21:54little lightweight isolated containers
21:55for your apps that have all the right
21:57settings, components, drivers, whatever
21:59it may need, all set up for you that is
22:02isolated from the rest of your app, so
22:03it can't destroy each other. Now, each
22:05OS has their own Docker manager, but
22:07honestly, some of them are great and
22:09some just suck. And the variances make
22:12it really difficult to follow along if
22:14you're just starting. So, my advice, go
22:16to your app store and see if they have
22:19Portainer. This is a Docker management
22:21app that makes it way easier to see all
22:23of your Docker apps, install new ones,
22:25and make changes to your existing one.
22:27Also, it just makes it much easier to
22:28look up installation tutorials. So, now
22:30you can just go look up how to install
22:32blank app portainer and it's way easier
22:35now. So, now that we got that out of the
22:36way, what can we install? I want to go
22:38over a few sections I feel are essential
22:40for a lot of people, but this isn't
22:42everything. Unfortunately, I'm going to
22:44miss some things. This video is already
22:45really long, so just keep that in mind.
22:48There's no way I could have gotten to
22:49everything.
22:52Photos are really important to me. I
22:55noticed somewhere around my teenage
22:56years that man, like no matter how big a
22:59memory might be for me, I somehow always
23:02slowly end up forgetting it. Memories
23:04fade, but photos photos don't forget.
23:07So, I photograph everything. I take my
23:10camera almost everywhere, even where
23:12places where it doesn't really make much
23:14sense to bring one. But those always end
23:16up capturing some of my most favorite
23:17memories. So, keeping those photos
23:19secure and safe is really important to
23:22me. I've been using Google Photos for
23:24the last, man, I want to say like 10
23:25years now. God, I'm getting old. And I
23:28switched over for the same reason
23:29probably a lot of you guys did.
23:31Unlimited storage forever. Yeah, big fat
23:34ugly stinky asterisk on the forever part
23:36by the way. By the way, look at how big
23:38these kids were on these phones. Oh my
23:40god. And those were the good examples
23:41that they had. Well, it turns out
23:43forever actually meant six years as they
23:45no longer offer free unlimited storage
23:47since 2021. And if you want to keep
23:49uploading photos, you got to buy more
23:51storage, which sucks because I'm sure a
23:54lot of people signed up under the
23:55expectation that their stuff would just
23:57be safe there forever, right? I mean,
23:59let's call it what it was. It it was a
24:01bait and switch. Their plan was to get
24:02people hooked on the unlimited storage,
24:05make them move their entire life over
24:06there, and then jack up the price when
24:08they're ready. And you're going to see
24:10that pattern a lot in this video. So,
24:12let me introduce you to Image. This is
24:15one of my favorite apps that I found to
24:17replace Google and iCloud photos. It has
24:19pretty much everything you'd want from a
24:20photo management software. It can sort
24:22by dates, detect duplicate photos, crop
24:25images, and can even detect faces all
24:28locally offline, which is amazing. Also
24:31love sharing pictures with friends after
24:32a trip. So, that was super important for
24:34me. Thankfully, Image also makes sharing
24:37albums really, really easy. Just make a
24:39link and just text it over to your
24:40friends. And you can make users, too, so
24:42everyone in your family can have their
24:44own separate image account login and no
24:46one's photos are all mixed up together.
24:48It even has a wonderful map that takes
24:50all the location data from your pictures
24:51and shows you where all of your photos
24:53were taken. A feature that somehow
24:55Google Photos still doesn't have on
24:57their own desktop site. They also have a
24:59phone app, too, so you can just use it
25:01like photos or it'll automatically back
25:03up your camera roll and your stuff is
25:05safely backed up to your home server,
25:07not Google servers. It also has support
25:09for highlights, which I I just love
25:11that. And iOS widgets, which this is
25:14this is actually really important to me.
25:15I I love seeing where I was 5 years ago,
25:17exactly to this day. Like, that's really
25:19cool. Now, I know what you're thinking.
25:21Is is that the new studio space? Did did
25:23Jeff move or something? And the answer
25:24is yes, I did. I did a whole video
25:27explaining all of that on my new second
25:28channel. Ah, new second channel. Link in
25:31the description. But also, you're
25:32probably thinking, "Image sounds great."
25:34If you're starting a brand new library,
25:36but I already have all my stuff backed
25:37up on iCloud or Google Photos, and it
25:39sounds like such a pain figuring out how
25:41to download and transfer all of that
25:43over to image. Oh my god, it's going to
25:45take like 4 days to organize everything
25:46and make sure the dates are right, and I
25:48have like 80 gigs of photos of just my
25:50stupid dog. All right, relax. They
25:52thought of that, too. So, for iPhone
25:53people, Apple actually gives you a way
25:55to download all of the photos from your
25:57iCloud account amongst other things and
26:00send them over in 10 or 20 or 25 GB
26:02sections. It's kind of hidden, but I'll
26:04link it in the description so you can
26:05find it. Now, this might take anywhere
26:07from a few hours to 4 days depending on
26:10how many photos you have, but eventually
26:11they'll send over download links to all
26:13of your stuff with XIF data and live
26:15photos information attached to. This is
26:17really important because image does have
26:19the ability to detect live photos
26:21properly, which is really, really nice.
26:23Same thing for Google Photos. They have
26:25a page where you can request all of your
26:26stuff in one go. My only suggestion is
26:28when your files are ready, just download
26:30Firefox on your server real quick and
26:32download them through there. So that way
26:34you can just download it directly to
26:35your server. You don't have to spend an
26:36extra day downloading everything to your
26:37computer, then transferring it over to
26:39your server. Now that you got your
26:41photos, you can use an app called Image
26:42Go that knows how to read iCloud and
26:45Google Photos directories and sync them
26:47over seamlessly to image. Literally
26:49everything is done for you. I have
26:51almost 15 years of my life stored on my
26:54Google Photos. And I'm sure I'm not the
26:56only one. Photos are a really big part
26:59of my life. And being able to know that
27:00all of these are stored safely back at
27:02home is a big deal to me without having
27:05to be stored in some random server being
27:07scanned for who knows what. So, there's
27:10a lot of video game related self-hosted
27:12stuff that's really helpful in removing
27:14dependence from outside services. A big
27:17one for sure is ROM managers. I I love
27:20these things. ROM is the most popular
27:23one that I've seen. If you're one of the
27:24people that has like thousands of ROMs
27:26for emulators just sitting in a ROMs
27:27folder on your desktop or something, ROM
27:30is a much more elegant solution to that.
27:32Man, these app names are terrible to
27:33search up. Google literally thinks
27:35you're just misspelling the word ROM the
27:36whole time. It's a database for your
27:38ROMs. So, we can scan your folders and
27:40display all your ROMs with it matching
27:42cover art, title, release date, etc.,
27:44and automatically sort everything by
27:46console, genre, and it'll even
27:48autogenerate collections from your
27:50library, too. Just search up the game or
27:52consoles that you're looking for, find
27:53your game, and just click download, and
27:55it'll just grab it from your self-hosted
27:57collection of ROMs. Why doesn't everyone
27:59have their collection of 35,000 Switch
28:01ROMs backed up somewhere? I'm not crazy.
28:03And again, because this is accessed
28:04through a web browser, that means you
28:06can access this on your phones or your
28:09handhelds and download stuff without
28:10having to get a USB cable and a computer
28:12anymore. It's like your own virtual VINs
28:14layer. Oh, and you can even upload BIOS
28:16files, too. So, you don't have to check
28:18your downloads folder anymore to see
28:19where the hell did you leave that file.
28:21And you can even store save files, too.
28:23There is so much more configuration here
28:25and ways to manage this app. I'd be here
28:27all day showing everything off, but this
28:29is the craziest feature, honestly.
28:32Built-in emulator support. Yeah, ROM has
28:34a built-in web emulator that can let you
28:36play your ROMs right in your web browser
28:37from anywhere. It supports consoles all
28:40the way up to PSP, which is crazy to me.
28:42So, in theory, you could hook up a
28:44controller to your laptop or your phone,
28:46boot into ROM's game mode, and just pick
28:48the games that you want and start
28:50playing. Currently, it supports all the
28:51way up to PSP, which I mean, I mean,
28:53it's still bonkers to me. I know it's
28:55not a hard device to emulate anymore,
28:56but dude, this is being streamed and
28:58played on my NAS of all things across
29:00the internet. And since this is running
29:02on your server, that means you can
29:03invite your friends so they can also
29:05download and play from your collection
29:06legally, of course. And I'll show you
29:08how to connect your apps to the outside
29:09world later on in the video. Don't
29:11worry. This is a crazy customizable app
29:12that lets you do so much with your
29:14totally legit, completely legal ROM
29:16collection. However, the devs have
29:18acknowledged this to me. The file
29:20structure to get this running is very
29:22finicky and the database itself is kind
29:24of difficult to set up. So, I do want to
29:26mention an alternative. Retrom. It does
29:29almost everything ROM does. So, it lets
29:31you categorize your games, lets you
29:32download them, console mode, built-in
29:34emulators, etc. But I just personally
29:37really like the user interface a lot
29:39more compared to ROM, and it's a bit
29:41easier to set up the folder directories
29:42for your games. Totally subjective
29:44though, I know, but I did figure I
29:46should mention it. Not many people know
29:48about this one, which sucks because I
29:49think it's really, really great. If you
29:51want to keep it alive, go give it a try.
29:53I'll link in the description. Another
29:54amazing app that I would suggest is
29:56Application Management Panel or AMP.
29:59again. What What is it with these names,
30:01dude? I This app lets you make one-click
30:03game servers for any game that you can
30:05think of. Minecraft, Counter Strike,
30:07Power World, GMOD, even TeamSpeak
30:09servers if you want. So, if you want to
30:11start another twoe Minecraft phase again
30:13with your buddies, instead of paying
30:14another eight bucks a month for a
30:16Minecraft Realm server, you can just
30:17create a new instance, pick Minecraft,
30:20and that's it. You're up and running,
30:21and your Minecraft server is live. But
30:24this is only a local IP, though. It's
30:26only accessible in your network. So, how
30:29do we get this out into the public
30:30internet? All right. I remember back in
30:32the day, we would have to learn how to
30:33port forward from some YouTube tutorial
30:35from a 12-year-old with a Bandicam
30:37watermark on the screen. And those who
30:39didn't want to deal with that used to
30:40log me in Hamachi. Yeah, there's like 30
30:43people right now watching that just sat
30:44up hearing that name again. Yeah, I know
30:46what you were doing. I know what you
30:48were. Thankfully, we don't have to do
30:49any of that anymore because now we can
30:51just use a service like play.gg to
30:53expose your servers to the internet. Oh,
30:55and don't worry. They have a paid plan,
30:56but like you don't need to pay for what
30:58we're using it for. That way, we can
30:59take any of our server IPs, route it
31:01through their service, and then publish
31:02it out into the internet safely, so
31:04you're not just exposing your IP
31:06willy-nilly. Then they give you a link
31:07that you can give to your friends. And
31:09look, now anyone can use this link to
31:10join your server, and you don't have to
31:12go into your router settings anymore.
31:14You got me feeling like Sky does
31:15Minecraft over here. Whatever happened
31:17to that guy anyways? Oh my god.
31:22Jesus Christ. Now, I should mention that
31:24this app is great, but it's not free,
31:28but it's not crazy expensive either. A
31:29pro license is 20 bucks, and that's for
31:31a lifetime license, which is awesome. 20
31:34bucks for 15 of your servers for any
31:36game that you could possibly want
31:38compared to 2 and 1/2 months of a
31:39Minecraft Realm subscription. Come on,
31:41that's that's totally worth it. Plus,
31:43you get to be the cool friend that can
31:44set up servers for game nights. So, that
31:46way, no one's got to pay for a server
31:48anymore. Figure out poor forwarding. You
31:50got to stock up on RAM, though. Game
31:51servers tend to really like RAM. If you
31:53want to host multiple servers at the
31:54same time, you're gonna want to get as
31:56much RAM as possible. I'm going to link
31:57some cheap sticks in the description so
31:59that you can
32:01Huh. Oh, and before I forget, quick
32:03shout out to this app that I've been
32:04actually personally helping contribute
32:05to, Fire Share. Think of it like Google
32:08Photos, but for your game clips, so you
32:10can upload your game clips to it, and
32:12it'll automatically detect the game,
32:14date, etc., so you can keep them
32:15organized and generate a link to send to
32:18your friends so they can watch it, too.
32:19You can even open up your server for any
32:21of your friends to upload and have it be
32:23a really great big group database for
32:26all of your friends to share their clips
32:27together in one spot. So, anyone can
32:30access it whenever. It also has really
32:32great transcoding options. So, as soon
32:34as you start uploading, it can start
32:35making 1080p, 720p, or 480p versions of
32:39your clips so they can load faster for
32:41your friends with slower internet
32:42connections. I personally have mine set
32:44up with sync thing so every time I clip
32:46something with shadow play when I'm
32:47playing games, it automatically gets
32:48sent over to my fire share folder and it
32:51can get scanned right away and start
32:52detecting the game date thumbnail and
32:55transcoding the video in 1080p and 720p
32:58versions. I've kept a lot of old game
32:59clips over the years dating all the way
33:01back to like 2014 and having a decent
33:04interface to be able to document them
33:06and keep them organized is so nice. Now,
33:08I want to be clear, this is not my
33:10project. The devs working on this have
33:12done a phenomenal job making a usable
33:14database to organize everything. But I
33:16noticed that their interface was kind of
33:18lacking to put it nicely. But before
33:20YouTube, my background was actually in
33:22graphic design and UX design. So I know
33:25that there's places where my experience
33:26can help. And that's how I've been
33:28contributing. Seriously, I'm really
33:30proud of how much this app has grown in
33:32just the last few months. And I could
33:33like personally say that I contributed
33:35to that. I'm so proud of that. Please go
33:38download it, check it out. I would
33:39really really love some feedback from
33:41more people to make sure that we're on
33:42the right track. Okay, so what about
33:44movies and TV shows? I was going to
33:47explain why you should switch over to
33:48self-hosting your own media, but
33:50honestly, I don't think I have to.
33:53Probably because odds are you probably
33:54already experienced it. Streaming
33:56subscriptions are constantly going up
33:58that it's become a yearly thing now at
34:00this point. And it's not just one
34:01platform either. All of them are doing
34:03this. Dude, I remember a Disney Plus
34:05launch in 2019 for $7 a month with 4K
34:09and all of that. And yeah, I I bought
34:11into it. It was a pretty easy way to
34:13shut up the little siblings. You know,
34:14why not? Now Disney Plus is 12 bucks for
34:17the ad supported version and $19 for the
34:20adree version. So now you pay more than
34:22double compared to when it first
34:24launched and you still see ads. No joke.
34:26In just the last couple months of 2026,
34:29four streaming services increase their
34:31prices every single year. That is
34:34unacceptable. Then there's the other
34:36stuff like having to chase down a
34:37specific streaming service because it's
34:38on Hulu now or now it's on Netflix or
34:40Paramount or whatever. Honestly, nothing
34:42proves my point more than this official
34:44chart from Pokemon that shows you where
34:46to watch the entire Pokemon series from
34:48start to finish. Seriously, pause this
34:50for a sec and just read how ridiculous
34:52this looks. Feel like you got to have
34:54like a PhD in this stuff. And of course,
34:56services just outright removing your
34:58movies and TV shows off of their
35:00services after a few months and
35:01sometimes even a few weeks. The Twilight
35:03series is my favorite example of this.
35:05They have some of the shortest licensing
35:07deals in the market. And you know the
35:09crazy part, right around fall autumny
35:11time, the Twilight Saga movies will
35:13actually get pulled entirely from
35:15streaming services or move exclusively
35:17to one specific streaming service. You
35:20know why? because they know once fall
35:22hits, people are going to be more likely
35:24to buy it or rent it for full price.
35:27Like, that's creepy knowing that not
35:29only are publishers aware of what fans
35:30like to do, but they also use that to
35:33extract more money out of them. That's h
35:35that's so gross. So, let's say enough of
35:37that and keep our own library at home.
35:39I'm going to show you two options. One
35:41of them is paid and one of them is open-
35:43source. This is Plex and it's by far my
35:46favorite app out of the whole
35:47self-hosted ecosystem. This app is your
35:50new interface for all of your legally
35:51downloaded movies and TV shows. It scans
35:54your folders and can automatically pick
35:55up all the metadata for your movies and
35:57TV shows, episodes, cover art, actors,
36:01even the old special feature bonuses.
36:03And they have clients for pretty much
36:04anything that you want. Roku, LG, Apple
36:07TV, iOS, Android. So, you can access
36:10your stuff from anywhere really easily.
36:12And I honestly just really love the look
36:14of the interface, too. And because you
36:16have a bunch of storage now, that means
36:17you can store really high quality rips
36:19of your movies and TV shows. And it does
36:22make a difference. 4K Netflix and 4K
36:24local is not the same thing. Now, they
36:27do have a paid membership that does
36:28offer some really cool features like
36:30skipping intros, remote watching, so you
36:32don't have to set anything up to be able
36:34to access your Plex library outside of
36:35your network, real-time hardware
36:37transcoding, so you can stream 1080p or
36:39720p versions of your content, and
36:41downloading from anywhere. No setup
36:44required. They also have an awesome
36:46music client called Plex Amp that's
36:47meant to be your self-hosted Apple Music
36:49or Spotify, and I love it. I wanted to
36:53do more coverage on music, but I think
36:55that deserves its own video topic, so
36:57keep an eye out for that. Now, this
36:58price is a bit steep, but it is a
37:00lifetime membership and you never have
37:02to pay for it again. Now, I want to be
37:04upfront. I see a lot of people having
37:06complaints about Plex, not only because
37:07of the price, but also because it seems
37:10like they're heading in the direction of
37:11being more of a live internet TV kind of
37:13company as opposed to a proper
37:16self-hosted type of company. If that
37:18bothers you, I totally understand. But
37:20you can always disable all that stuff
37:22and just keep the media section visible.
37:24That's what I do. But if you don't want
37:26to pay for something like this, there's
37:27a really great alternative called
37:29Jellyfin. It's basically Plex, but open
37:32source and completely free. It can do
37:34transcoding right out of the box. You
37:36can create profiles for your family and
37:38it has plug-in support so you can change
37:39the look or the functionality of your
37:41Jellyfin server. It's a wonderful app.
37:43Don't don't get me wrong. And if you're
37:44looking for something that's open source
37:45and free, it's a no-brainer. Go use
37:47Jellyfin right now. There's just two
37:50things that kind of bother me that keeps
37:51me from being able to use it. Number
37:53one, it doesn't have remote streaming
37:54built in. So that means if you want to
37:56access your jellyfin from outside of
37:57your house, you got to expose your ports
37:59and do port forwarding on your router or
38:01run it through a reverse proxy, which
38:03we'll talk about later. But point is,
38:05it's not plug-and-play. And the second
38:07thing is that client support isn't
38:10great. Like there's a Jellyfin app on
38:12all the big platforms, but they're not
38:14really good. The iOS one is literally
38:16just the web app version of Jellyfin.
38:18Now, there's a bunch of thirdparty
38:19clients that have been trying to fill in
38:20that gap like Infuse, which are kind of
38:22good, but man, it's just it's not going
38:25to be a native experience at all. Still,
38:27if you're looking for a free and open
38:28source option, nothing is going to be
38:30Jellyfin. And the most important part
38:32with both of these apps, it's all local.
38:35It is all housed at your house. It
38:37cannot be taken away from you. Now, this
38:39is all great, but if everything I'm
38:42downloading is local, how do I find
38:44recommendations and stuff for movies and
38:46TV shows? I don't want to be cut off
38:48from the rest of the world, you know,
38:49like I'd still want to know what's going
38:50on outside. Well, that's where an app
38:52like Seir comes into play. It's a
38:54wonderful app that helps you discover
38:55and find all the stuff that's playing
38:57right now across all the different
38:58streaming services. You can sort by
39:00movies, TV shows, trending, studio, even
39:03sort by streaming services so you know
39:05what's popping over on Disney Plus or
39:06Hulu or even Cinema. Oh my god, it's all
39:09important. And when you want to request
39:10something, you just hit request and
39:12it'll sync up with your download clients
39:13and automatically grab it for you. It's
39:15really, really nice. Download clients.
39:17Is that how we're getting our movies?
39:19Well, maybe we should talk about that.
39:21And now for the stuff that no one tends
39:23to talk about in their videos. Where to
39:25acquire this content? And it's because
39:27while yes, you absolutely should be
39:29legally ripping your physically owned
39:30copies of your movies and TV shows, a
39:32lot of the conversation here tends to
39:33stir around piracy. And I do not
39:36advocate nor condone piracy. I am always
39:38an advocate of being able to purchase
39:40things legally in the right way whenever
39:42you can. So unfortunately I can't tell
39:44you anything about the piracy side of
39:46the situation. I'm I'm I'm sorry. I
39:47can't tell you anything about how to get
39:49started, where to go, what apps to. None
39:51of that. Unfortunately, in fact,
39:54I would like to tell you about I had
39:56three different apps in order to
39:57download content. An app that scrapes
39:58for downloads, an app that actually
39:59downloads the files, and an app that can
40:01play the files like Plex, for example. I
40:03would love to tell you more about
40:04download clients like SAP NZBD and Cuba
40:06Torren that are completely legal,
40:08completely free to use download clients
40:09and are both available as docker
40:11container apps for your home lab
40:12servers. And I also don't know anything
40:13about completely legal file hosting
40:15servers such as real brid and usenet
40:17providers and how to find those provider
40:18to be able to power those apps. So I
40:20can't be helpful with that either. Oh,
40:23and here's a list of apps I'm also not
40:24allowed to talk about. Again, super
40:25duper sorry. I would love to talk about
40:27these things, but I just I I just can't.
40:29I'm I'm I'm sure you're just as upset as
40:31I am.
40:33Okay, so all of these apps are great,
40:36but this is only cool if I'm at home
40:38connected to my network. What if I want
40:40to access this stuff from, you know,
40:41where it's actually going to be useful?
40:43I'm not going to be telling my friends
40:44to go, you know, yeah, bro, come through
40:45to my server. Go do whatever you want.
40:47Check out my services. So, if you want
40:48to access your self-hosted stuff on the
40:49outside internet, you have some options.
40:51I'm going to show you two that I've been
40:52using. The first one is going to be tail
40:54scale. I heard so many people mention
40:57this when I started self-hosting, but
40:58never really explained to me what it was
41:00or what the problem is that it's
41:02supposed to fix. So, I I got to be the
41:04one to do it. So, you know how your
41:05server only works if your device is
41:07connected to your home network? Well,
41:08what if your server and your device were
41:10on a pretend network? That made it look
41:12like they were still within the same
41:14network even if you're not home. And it
41:16could be from any device as long as
41:18you're on the same pretend network.
41:20Yeah, that's what tail scale does. It
41:21basically creates an extra network
41:22between your devices and your server so
41:24they can be phone home from anywhere and
41:26still be in the same network. It's
41:28really easy to set up. You just install
41:30Tailscale on your server, sign in, and
41:32that's it. You're done on your server.
41:34Then on whatever device you have, you
41:35just install Tailscale. They have
41:37clients for basically anything that you
41:38want. And that's it. You're done. Now
41:41your phone or laptop looks like it's on
41:43the same network as your server, even if
41:44you're at a friend's house or a coffee
41:46shop or something. So now instead of
41:48going to your typical server IP, you can
41:50just copy paste the Tailscale IP address
41:52of your server. And look, you're
41:53accessing your server from anywhere. Add
41:56a port and now you can also access your
41:58apps, too. It's literally so easy to set
42:00this up and it's free. I use it all the
42:02time to access my stuff back at home.
42:04But here's the thing. This only works if
42:05your device has Tail Scale installed on
42:07it. What if you want anyone to be able
42:09to access it without having to install
42:11an app like Tailscale? Well, it sounds
42:12like you want a reverse proxy. Don't
42:14worry, it it sounds scary, but it's it's
42:16really not. A reverse proxy is just
42:18something in between your personal IP
42:20address and the access to the outside
42:22internet world. So, when someone on the
42:24internet wants to access something from
42:25your apps or your server, they only talk
42:27to the middleman, not directly your
42:30server, which could expose your IP
42:31address and ports and stuff like that.
42:33Now, there's a lot of different options
42:34for a reverse proxy. Some people even
42:36set up their own, but for me, Cloudflare
42:39has been super simple to set up for a
42:40reverse proxy, and it's free. Only thing
42:43is though, don't use it for streaming
42:44Jellyfin. It's against their terms of
42:46service. You're going to need a domain
42:47to set this up though. So, you know,
42:49damn it Jeff.com or.io or something. You
42:51know what I mean? You can buy a domain
42:52from a lot of different places.
42:54Personally, I was taught in college to
42:56always use pork bun because they're
42:57really, really cheap. Even cheaper if
42:59you're okay with not having a com URL.
43:01Look at that. Three bucks for your first
43:03year. That's Yeah, that's less than a
43:05chicken at this point. These are the
43:06only two things you need at this point.
43:08A domain you bought and Cloudflare. I'm
43:10going to link a really great tutorial on
43:11how to get this set up in the
43:12description because I can't cover it all
43:14here. I promise it's really really easy
43:16and once you're configured, you can
43:18point any of your self-hosted network
43:19apps and give the links to your friends
43:21or strangers. I don't know. It's it's
43:23your business. I don't I don't ask
43:24questions. For example, I have the URL
43:26photos.chrome.com
43:28to point towards my image. So now I can
43:30send links to my friends without them
43:31having to install Tailscale or
43:33something. And this is great because now
43:35I can take this domain, plug it into my
43:37image app, and I can upload photos to my
43:39server from anywhere, completely safe.
43:41So, if you're wondering how the heck do
43:43people access this stuff outside, it's
43:45usually one of those, a tail scale or
43:47reverse proxy. There is so much more I
43:49wanted to cover here, like security and
43:51home surveillance systems, home
43:53assistant management, and a lot more.
43:55But this video is already like half an
43:56hour long, and I couldn't get to
43:58everything in time. So, maybe I'll make
44:00that its own dedicated upload. I'm I'm
44:03not too happy with the state of cameras
44:04right now either, especially with the
44:06shenanigans that Ring has been pulling.
44:08Self-hosting as much as you can is one
44:10of the best decisions you can make to
44:11remove your independence from external
44:13services. Recently, it really feels like
44:16they're trying to pull away as much
44:17ownership over hardware and software as
44:20possible. Like they're getting really
44:22aggressive about it. And that I will
44:24lie, that kind of worries me. So, I want
44:26to make sure that you guys are prepared
44:27and armed with the proper knowledge to
44:29take back control from these companies.
44:31I think people forget having knowledge
44:32like this is an incredibly valuable
44:34skill, especially in weird times like
44:37this. It means that you're not super
44:39rellying on someone else deciding if
44:41your stuff is going to turn on a model
44:42or not. It's also kind of why I think
44:44it's stupid when I hear people say stuff
44:46like, "Oh, Jeff, just stay out of
44:47politics and keep making jailbreak
44:48videos or stick to the modding videos."
44:50Bro, it's like, have you not been paying
44:52attention? Technology and its effects
44:54are deeply intertwined with politics and
44:57it's stupid to think otherwise. showing
44:59you how to modify and reuse your devices
45:01so we can use them on your terms and not
45:03a company's terms is a political stance.
45:05Yeah, we should be able to physically
45:06back up our own legal copies of our
45:08games without Nintendo meddling is a
45:10political stance. I should be able to
45:12own the books that I purchase without
45:14Amazon changing the terms of sale after
45:15the fact is a political stance. Spotify
45:18shouldn't be allowed to remotely brick
45:19my device and have to mod it again in
45:21order to get it to be functional is a
45:23political stance. If that's not clear to
45:25you, dude, I I don't know what you're
45:26doing here, honestly. And while no, it's
45:29not entirely possible to remove all
45:30services entirely from your life, I want
45:32you to know that there is a choice. And
45:35taking back ownership in places where
45:36you can by self-hosting is a great way
45:39to remove the reliance you have on
45:41outside services. You don't have to
45:43replace your entire lifestyle at once.
45:45You just have to start. I really hope
45:47you enjoyed this video. I know this is a
45:49really daunting hobby to get into, so I
45:51wanted to make sure that I covered as
45:52much as I could for normal people to get
45:54started. If you took anything from this
45:56video and learned something that you
45:57were confused about in the past, please
45:59consider supporting the channel on
46:01Patreon. You'll get early access to
46:02videos long before they're posted, and
46:04it really helps support the channel
46:05financially. And all the money of that
46:07Patreon actually goes towards paying um
46:09some more recent expenses. And if you
46:12want to know more about why I finally
46:14moved to a proper studio, I made a whole
46:15video about it over here on the second
46:17channel. Go check it out. It's really,
46:18really cool. You get to see everything
46:20still kind of being set up still. Click
46:22over here to check it out. And thank you
46:24for watching.

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