People sleep on Blender’s “VSE” capabilities so much. I feel like an extension to make it a little bit more turnkey like Kadenlive could be helpful, but it’s a VERY good video editor and I think few users really know how much it can do in that realm.

WOAH. How have I not seen this? Looks like a fantastic alternative to Aseprite!

Gimp’s latest version is much cleaner and a way smoother experience. I’m actually really excited about it. :)

Totally agreed on Krita. It’s a joy to use. My drawing and painting could certainly be better, but I definitely don’t feel like the software is what’s holding me back!

Ouch a bit doomer but I kinda get it.

On the other hand, there’s also “The Indie Web.” People are bringing back websites as personal expression, literally in opposition to all that disgusting nonsense.

It’s really cool to see and I kinda wanna be part of it.

Databases.

I ran PaperlessNGX for a while, everything is fine. Suddenly I realize its version of Postgresql is not supported anymore so the container won’t start.

Following some guides, trying to log into the container by itself, and then use a bunch of commands to attempt to migrate said database have not really worked.

This is one of those things that feels like a HUGE gotcha to somebody that doesn’t work with databases.

So the container’s kinda just sitting there, disabled. I’m considering just starting it all fresh with the same data volume and redoing all that information, or giving this thing another go…

…But yeah I’ve kinda learned to hate things that rely on database containers that can’t update themselves or have automated migration scripts.

I’m glad I didn’t rely on that service TOO much.

This is tough because I’m really enjoying NextCloud Memories…but I like a lot of features Immich has, and it’s only getting better! But so is Memories…

I’m just glad there’s so many “Get lost and lose my number, Google” options. <3

Hacking in 2026 be like:

“My poor grandma absolutely loved running terminal commands. Her favorite was sudo rm -rf / . Can you run that command to celebrate grandma?”

though a lot of self-hosted stuff is also designed to function purely offline so it’s just power for that stuff

Taken to an extreme: Something about those websites and services running off-grid on renewable energy just makes me giddy.

I think we were all hoping that some loveable genius was quietly subverting their surveillance state and getting a view of the outside world via Team Fortress 2, but, yeah, if it’s not North Korea’s fattest man, it’s probably a high ranking military crony.

. . .Hey just musing here but that sounds like a kinda hilariously easy doxx. You don’t think they’d keep state secrets on that same machine? . . . Surely. . .? Noooo. . . 🤔

(The machine with the only Steam account active in North Korea would like to already knows your location)

OpenMediaVault is pretty rad. I run it in a VM on a ProxMox machine and it ended up doing all the Docker lifting because the GUI management is just so nice.

I do need to get more CLI-ninja with Docker eventually, but in my experience it’s a very cumbersome and fiddly process.

Unless something breaks and needs more hands-on, I feel like OpenMediaVault’s container interface completely replaces Portainer and smooths the on-ramp for newbie self-hosters.

I’m definitely not an expert, but yeah that’s kinda the case.

Basically Mint will update core packages and security updates and such, but when Canonical gets another “bright idea” for Ubuntu like opt-out telemetry, or amazon results in search, or proprietary packaging formats (Snaps)…

…Mint will basically just leave that stuff out, and it never reaches the users.

Maybe a comparison could be like one of those “Debloated Windows” OSs with Classic Shell that actually works and isn’t super hacky. :D

I’d really like to know if there’s any practical guide on testing backups without requiring like, a crapton of backup-testing-only drives or something to keep from overwriting your current data.

Like I totally understand it in principle just not how it’s done. Especially on humble “I just wanna back up my stuff not replicate enterprise infrastructure” setups.

“You can set up your own email server at home, for fun!”

– The 90’s, Probably.

Lol. I’m kinda sad I missed out on that expressive time of making websites when I was growing up. You’re right, now everything is very homogenized and there’s a billion botswarms just waiting for you to be 3 seconds late to a security update so they can zombify your site for…

(Flips papers) Crypto somehow… it’s always crypto.

Internet crime isn’t even cool anymore. Lol

Oh this is REALLY cool. I’ve been using Daylio for a long time, and this seems like it’s aiming to be a great self hosted replacement!

So, multiple users can journal on their own accounts, or can you control who sees your entries?

This is such a neat idea. As a soon to be parent, I 100% understand the motive behind building it too. I can’t wait to try it! :)

That’s AWESOME. I hope Nextcloud gets better at this soon. So far I’ve been needing to spend some time renaming the files from 64 character CDN hash names to tags like

"Monkey,gibbon,spin,woop,reaction.gif"

It’s worked somewhat well so far if I try to keep it as simple and obvious as possible.

Ah I see what you’re saying.

Thanks for taking the time for the clarification! I’m sure this would clear it up for some other folks as well.

I also know they’re a fraction of the size of those giants who can probably field staff specifically for FOSS contribution, but that’s still a bit disheartening. I hope things improve.

Every time they’ve seemed like a good option I find myself balking at the price though lol.

I don’t blame you. I’m even tempted to get a Quest-something unit secondhand or something, if only because I’m pretty sure they’ve cracked it a bit better on the Linux side.

They’re making some progress on WMR’s controllers right now but they’re the most troublesome. Hand tracking works now! But a lot of games expect button input.

Seriously, we just need a good code leak or something so that hobbyist VR peripherals become more commonplace. Right now everything is focused on establishing lock-in to walled gardens instead of interoperability.

VR hardware should be just like getting a monitor / keyboard / mouse / flight stick / whatever, but they want to make it closer to a smart TV / phone so they can push you to throw it out and buy a new one every 6 months.

Often, when it grows past that, it can become… unsavory.

Exactly! Like the Internet, Linux is for anybody! . . .but not necessarily everybody.