Self-Hosted

Latest Episodes:

60: Someone Else's Computer Dec 17, 2021

Show notes

Recent AWS outages sent Alex on a hunt to find more self-hosted alternatives, and Chris digs into the latest Home Assistant release.

Plus a frenzy of your excellent feedback and questions.

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Backblaze Unlimited Backup: Get peace of mind knowing your files are backed up securely in the cloud with Backblaze.
Linode: Receive a $100 60-day credit towards your new account. Promo Code: linode.com/ssh

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AWS explains outage — A major Amazon Web Services outage on Tuesday started after network devices got overloaded, the company said on Friday.
Arthur on Twitter — The AWS outage trickled down to my automated Christmas lights not turning on tonight
WLED — Control WS2812B and many more types of digital RGB LEDs with an ESP8266 or ESP32 over WiFi!
John Foreman on Twitter — AWS had an outage and now I can't vacuum the dog hair in my living room. What a time to be alive
Valetudo — Valetudo is a standalone binary, which runs on rooted Vacuums of the Xiaomi ecosystem and aims to enable the user to operate the robot vacuum without any Cloud Connection whatsoever.
Amazon Web Services crashed today : amazonecho — I spent about an hour restarting routers, checking for updates, unplugging and plugging in devices, and scouring the web for answers and finally saw in the news that an AWS outage took out a huge chunk of the internet. Amazon hasn’t released a statement yet, that I know of, but I assume this is what’s affecting all of the devices, e.g., my smart plug stopped working and my echo dot and show only stream one song before quitting for no apparent reason.
Tasmota — Total local control with quick setup and updates. Control using MQTT, Web UI, HTTP or serial. Automate using timers, rules or scripts. Integration with home automation solutions. Incredibly expandable and flexible.
log4j Vulnerability | Info :: LinuxServer.io — Multiple vulnerabilities (CVE-2021-44228 and CVE-2021-45046) have been discovered in log4j which can lead to denial of service and remote code execution. The following Linuxserver containers have been confirmed not to be affected by CVE-2021-44228 or CVE-2021-45046 due to existing mitigations, upstream patches, or workarounds applied to the container images.
changedetection.io — The best and simplest self-hosted open source website change detection monitoring and notification service. An alternative to Visualping, Watchtower etc. Designed for simplicity - the main goal is to simply monitor which websites had a text change. Open source web page change detection - Now also includes JSON API change detection and monitoring support!
2021.12 - Home Assistant — New configuration menu, the button entity, and gorgeous area cards!
Paulus Schoutsen on Twitter — With @NabuCasa we’re doing all our meetings in VR. It feels more like being together compared to a grid of webcam feeds. Especially for collaborative sessions this is a big win.
How to Approach a company about building an HA integration on their API? — From the web UI I can see that the system is designed with security in mind - each request must contain various tokens generated with a combination of AES256 encryption, MD5 and SHA512 hashing of the rest of the request, along with device-provided keys and various state-tracking.
Infrastructure as Code - Perfect Media Server — This simple philosophy of managing configuration in the same way as we do with source code revolutionized the way I approach building systems.
Get Together | New Server Christening — Lets get together, share some foods, and power up the new Jupiter Broadcasting local server. Then stick around and listen in to a live recording of LINUX Unplugged from the studio.

59: I Tried to Love Portainer Dec 03, 2021

Show notes

We try out a couple of very popular Docker GUI's and report back, and discuss our biggest Self-Hosted regrets.

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Backblaze Unlimited Backup: Get peace of mind knowing your files are backed up securely in the cloud with Backblaze.
Linode: Receive a $100 60-day credit towards your new account. Promo Code: linode.com/ssh

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Join the Jupiter Broadcasting Matrix — I mean might as well!
LINUX Unplugged 433: The Lessons of Jellyfin — We revisit some old assumptions about the open-source Plex-alternative, Jellyfin. We each try it out, and along the way, gain a few insights about open source.
Portainer — Accelerate container adoption and reduce time-to-value on Docker and Kubernetes with a smart, self-service management portal, allowing you to deliver containerized applications from the data centre to the edge
lazydocker — The lazier way to manage everything docker. A simple terminal UI for both docker and docker-compose, written in Go with the gocui library.
lazydocker screenshots
Dozzle — Dozzle is a real-time log viewer for docker containers.
What’s New In Docker Compose v2? — Docker Compose v2 was announced at DockerCon 2021. It promises big changes to the Compose experience by integrating it into the docker CLI. v2 also comes with new convenience features to help you manage your container stacks.
Monolithic docker-compose files filtered with profiles — This post will provide an overview of using profiles with docker-compose to address multiple services within a monolithic file.
1.4 Display Port KVM Switch — Have you ever wanted a KVM switch that doesn’t suck, supports DisplayPort 1.4 (3840x2160@120hz / 8k @ 30hz ) and USB3? Listen. No KVM is perfect BUT our customers tell us -- The Level1Techs KVMs are pretty darn good.

58: Pi Server Upgrade Nov 19, 2021

Show notes

This week we unlock the "Pi"tential of the Compute Module 4 and turn it into a dual gigabit router and Jellyfin server.

How far can we push it?

Plus, Alex shares his thoughts on the state of mobile operating systems and the challenges they are imposing on DIYers.

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Original Prusa XL — The Original Prusa XL is a large-scale CoreXY 3D printer with a build volume of 36×36×36 cm
Dual Gigabit Ethernet Carrier Board for Raspberry Pi CM4 — The Dual Gigabit Carrier Board powered by Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 is equipped with dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and dual USB 3.0 ports
Getting Started with OpenWrt - Seeed Wiki
Buy a Compute Module 4 IO Board — Exposing every interface from Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4, the Compute Module 4 IO Board provides a development platform and reference base-board design for our most powerful Compute Module yet.

57: Alex Deletes it All Nov 05, 2021

Show notes

Troubleshooting goes very wrong for Alex, and he puts his backups to the ultimate test.

Plus, monitoring your freezer in Home Assistant, building a self-hosted Notion alternative, and more.

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SONOFF CC2531 USB Zigbee Dongle — The CC2531 USB dongle is a fully operational USB device which provides a PC interface to IEEE802.15.4 / ZigBee application
Shuck 'em if you got 'em — WD external drive price tracker
Alex Kretzschmar on Twitter — Let the drive burn in commence!
Obsidian — Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.
MkDocs — MkDocs is a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file. Start by reading the introductory tutorial, then check the User Guide for more information.
Drone CI — Drone is a self-service Continuous Integration platform for busy development teams.
2021.11: Icon picker, device links and entity categories
Home Assistant 2021.11 Release Party
Home Assistant on Twitter — We encountered a daylight savings bug last weekend when Europe transitioned last weekend. A restart will resolve the issue. If you are yet to transition to a new summer/winter time, update to 2021.10.7.
tuya-home-assistant

56: Feeling Wyze Oct 22, 2021

Show notes

Local self-hosted video capture with AI object detection just got easy. Morgan joins us to detail his Frigate setup and its optional tight integration with Home Assistant.

Plus, our new favorite up time monitoring tool and an easy way to add Tailscale and other apps to OPNsense with community plugins.

Special Guest: Morgan Peterman.

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OPNsense Repo — Welcome to my custom community repository, offering a couple of packages and plugins which are not available in core and even wouldn’t fit.
Michael @mimu_muc
Uptime Kuma — It is a self-hosted monitoring tool like "Uptime Robot".
Frigate — A complete and local NVR designed for Home Assistant with AI object detection. Uses OpenCV and Tensorflow to perform realtime object detection locally for IP cameras.
Frigate integration for Home Assistant
Morgan's Config 1
Morgan's Config 2
Morgan's Config 3
Wyze Doorbell Camera
WallPanel and Alarm Panel Application Maintainers Wanted — I am looking for an individual or individuals to take over these projects. WallPanel is very popular for displaying the Home Assistant home page. Alarm Panel integrates with the Home Assistant Alarm component and the Alarmo integration.
Fully Kiosk Browser Lockdown
Plex Meta Manager — Plex Meta Manager is a Python 3 script that can be continuously run using YAML configuration files to update on a schedule the metadata of the movies, shows, and collections in your libraries as well as automatically build collections based on various methods all detailed in the wiki.
ktz-plexmetamanager at master · IronicBadger/infra

55: Home Assistant Turns Amber Oct 08, 2021

Show notes

A lot is changing in Home Assistant land, and it's almost all for the better; we break down the essential items. Chris gets wired about energy monitoring and shares his journey to get incorrectly formatted power stats working in Home Assistant's new Energy dashboard.

Plus, off-line YouTube backup, backing up iCloud photos, Tailscale feedback, and more.

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2021.10.0: Z-Wave S2 support, Tuya, secure ESPHome and 400 new icons - Home Assistant — Anyways, about this release: Z-Wave JS is stepping up its game! If you have a Z-Wave network and are not using Z-Wave JS yet… well… it might be time to bite the bullet and go for it. You won’t regret it.
Z-Wave JS - Home Assistant — This integration allows you to control a Z-Wave network via the Z-Wave JS driver. This is our recommended Z-Wave integration for Home Assistant.
Home Assistant Amber | Crowd Supply — This flagship version of Home Assistant Amber is ready to go out of the box. It comes pre-assembled in a custom enclosure with a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 (CM4) and a custom heat sink for fanless, silent operation. The CM4 is a version without wireless and has 2 GB RAM and 16 GB eMMC storage, pre-installed with Home Assistant.
Tuya Devices List
Integration - Riemann sum integral - Home Assistant — The integration platform provides the Riemann sum of the values provided by a source sensor. The Riemann sum is an approximation of an integral by a finite sum. The integration sensors is updated upon changes of the source.
integration example from Chris' configuration.yaml
History Stats - Home Assistant — The history_stats sensor platform provides quick statistics about another integration or platforms, using data from the history integration.
Utility Meter - Home Assistant — The utility meter integration provides functionality to track consumptions of various utilities (e.g., energy, gas, water, heating).
History Stats and Utility Meter example from Chris' configuration.yaml
Tubesync — TubeSync is a PVR (personal video recorder) for YouTube. Or, like Sonarr but for YouTube (with a built-in download client). It is designed to synchronize channels and playlists from YouTube to local directories and update your media server once media is downloaded.
Gimme-iPhotos: Download media files from iCloud. — Downloads media files from iCloud in parallel

54: Ultimate Off-Site Setup Sep 25, 2021

Show notes

Alex is abroad and uses the opportunity to build out not one but two ultimate self-hosted off-site servers. We share the hardware, software, and networking details.

Plus, how Chris built a Nest-type thermostat using parts he already had.

Sponsored By:

A Cloud Guru: Looking to make a high-paying career move into the cloud? Get going: acloudguru.com
Linode: Receive a $100 60-day credit towards your new account. Promo Code: linode.com/ssh
CloudFree.shop: CloudFree Smart Plug – Runs Tasmota for $9. Use code SELFHOSTED and support the show. Promo Code: SELFHOSTED
MyLocalBytes: Smart Home gear pre-flashed with Tasmota - For an exclusive discount, use code SELFHOSTED and support the show. Promo Code: SELFHOSTED

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Tailscale · Best VPN Service for Secure Networks — Create a secure network between your servers, computers, and cloud instances. Even when separated by firewalls or subnets, Tailscale just works.
headscale — An open source, self-hosted implementation of the Tailscale coordination server.
Intelligent Platform Management Interface — The Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI)
ASUS Hyper M.2 X16 PCIe 3.0 X4 Expansion Card — Supports 4 NVMe M.2 (2242/2260/2280/22110) Upto 128 Gbps
TRÅDFRI Shortcut button — Shortcut button, white
restic · Backups done right! — Restic is a modern backup program that can back up your files
autorestic: High level CLI utility for restic — Autorestic is a wrapper around the amazing restic. While being amazing the restic cli can be a bit overwhelming and difficult to manage if you have many different locations that you want to backup to multiple locations. This utility is aimed at making this easier 🙂.
Backing up your data with Restic (+ Autorestic) and Minio
Generic Thermostat - Home Assistant — The generic_thermostat climate platform is a thermostat implemented in Home Assistant. It uses a sensor and a switch connected to a heater or air conditioning under the hood. When in heater mode, if the measured temperature is cooler than the target temperature, the heater will be turned on and turned off when the required temperature is reached.
ASRock Rack > E3C246D4U

53: Adventurous Build Sep 10, 2021

Show notes

We chat with Matt from Adventurous Way about the home automations that have improved his quality of life, the clever way he manages their off-grid rig, and the new smart home project he's just kicking off.

Special Guest: Matt from Adventurous Way.

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Adventurous Way - YouTube — Our motto is to live life the adventurous way. If there is a conventional way to do something and an adventurous way to do something - we choose the adventurous way.
Our DIY RV electrical system 3 years later - a detailed walk-through - YouTube — We installed our DIY RV electrical system as soon as we hit the road in the RV almost 3 years ago. In this video, we give you a detailed walk-through of our system that consists of 300Ah Battle Born Batteries, Victron inverter, DC to DC charger, 600 watts of rooftop solar that lets us boondock in beautiful places that we otherwise couldn't.
The ultimate DIY SMART RV - tour our SMART HOME on wheels - YouTube — A tour of our DIY smart RV, packed full of home automation technology that makes our full-time RV life more comfortable, secure and efficient!
SONOFF SV — Wi-Fi DIY Smart Switch for low voltage goodness
CARP — CARP is the Common Address Redundancy Protocol. Its primary purpose is to allow multiple hosts on the same network segment to share an IP address. CARP is a secure, free alternative to the Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) and the Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP).
Color Control GX — The Color Control GX is the communication-centre of your installation. It offers at-a-glance live information, and lets you control all products connected to it.
Node-RED — Node-RED is a programming tool for wiring together hardware devices, APIs and online services in new and interesting ways.
Pi-KVM — This device helps to manage servers or workstations remotely, regardless of the health of the operating system or whether one is installed. You can fix any problem, configure the BIOS, and even reinstall the OS using the virtual CD-ROM or Flash Drive.
Adventurous Way - Technology / Smart Home website — A highly informative blog series from Matt on his smart RV experience.
dbus-mqtt Github repo — The Github repo for Victron's MQTT implementation.
Self-Hosting Victron Venus OS on a Raspberry Pi — This page explains how to install the Victron Energy Venus OS onto a RaspberryPi.
Home Assistant - set_location service — Set your location programmatically with Home Assistant.

52: Navigating DeGoogling Aug 27, 2021

Show notes

We report back on our DeGoogle challenge and read your top Google Alternative apps and services.

Plus, a new way to locally capture network cameras, our reaction to Kobol pulling the plug, and more.

Special Guest: Brent Gervais.

Sponsored By:

A Cloud Guru: Looking to make a high-paying career move into the cloud? Get going: acloudguru.com
Linode: Receive a $100 60-day credit towards your new account. Promo Code: linode.com/ssh
CloudFree.shop: CloudFree Smart Plug – Runs Tasmota for $9. Use code SELFHOSTED and support the show. Promo Code: SELFHOSTED

Support Self-Hosted

Links:

Kobol Team is pulling the plug ;( — Hi Folks, a bit saddened that after 4 months of radio silence we are coming up with a news that is clearly not the one you were expecting.
SSH 033: Helios64 Review — Alex puts the fantastic-looking, ARM-powered NAS known as the Helios64 to the test.
docker-wyze-bridge — Docker container to expose a local RTMP, RTSP, and HLS stream for all your Wyze cameras including v3. No Third-party or special firmware required.
PiKVM v3 HAT by Maxim Devaev — Kickstarter — Raspberry Pi based open-source KVM over IP. Manage your servers or workstations remotely!
vaultwarden: Unofficial Bitwarden compatible server written in Rust, formerly known as bitwarden_rs — This project was known as Bitwarden_RS and has been renamed to separate itself from the official Bitwarden server in the hopes of avoiding confusion and trademark/branding issues.
Magic Earth: Free Maps & Navigation App — Turn-by-turn navigation, OpenStreetMap, Crowd-Sourced Traffic, 3D maps, Satellite maps, Offline maps and Transit. Entirely free.
Apple Maps & Privacy - Apple Support
EteSync - Secure Data Sync — Secure, end-to-end encrypted, and privacy respecting sync for your contacts, calendars, tasks and notes.
DAVx⁵ — CalDAV/CardDAV solution for Android
TOYO TIRES | Ken Block’s Climbkhana — Pikes Peak Featuring the Hoonicorn V2

51: Apple's Rotten Scanning Aug 13, 2021

Show notes

We discuss the ramifications of Apple's local photo scanning announcement on your privacy, why everything seems to be a subscription these days, and a new challenge for the show.

Special Guest: Brent Gervais.

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