For self-hosting purposes, Docker = lightweight disposable VMs that are configured via docker-compose.yml. All important data should be in “volumes”, which are just shared folders between the host and the container.

The end result is that you can delete and re-create containers at any time and they should just pick up where they left off from the data that’s in these volumes.

Each individual published image has some paths they want to use for that; everything is usually specified in their example docker-compose files.

If you’re not a dev, don’t even try to understand Dockerfiles, it’s not for you.

It’s not quite as point-and-click, but I’m using Docker for that because Yunohost kept messing up updates. Most server apps will have some instructions on how to run them in docker, especially a docker-compose.yml file, so you don’t have to rely on the Yunohost team to package said app.

The way I do it is that I put each suggested compose file in their own file, and import them in my main docker-compose.yml file like this:

version:  '3'
include:
    - syncthing.yml

Then just run docker compose pull && docker compose up -d every time you change something or want to update your apps, and you’re good to go.

Software updates in particular are waaaaaayyy easier on Docker than Yunohost.

Docker’s secret that most “getting started” tutorials seem to miss is docker-compose.yml. Who wants to type these long-ass commands to start containers? I always just create a compose file, and then docker compose up -d.

Dockerfile is for developers, you shouldn’t need more than a docker-compose.yml for self-hosting stuff.

Well, it is the superior siege engine.

Haven’t watched the video, but what do you think circularization is? If you’re “just a circulization away from orbit”, you are indeed going a bit slower than orbital velocity. There’s no point to going orbital velocity if your trajectory still brings you back inside the atmosphere. To get to orbit you want to raise your periapsis outside the atmosphere, and you do that by doing a burn at the apoapsis, which is what we commonly call “circularization”.

I use famous programmers. First Linux server was Torvalds, first mac was Woz, currently in service I have Kernighan (one of the inventors of C), KJohnson (Katherine Johnson was a programmer for NASA) and Shamir (The S in RSA).

Yeah, Coco goes pretty hard. I cry every time.

Looking back in history, it’s actually pretty representative and doesn’t change that much even if the outside temps move by ~10°C. “Cuisine” pretty much always eats between 35 and 40 kWh per day while “Salon” doesn’t do much. My house is very old (180 years old), so the insulation definitely isn’t up to modern standards, but I’ve seen newer houses (like '50s-'70s) with worse.

My thermostats compute this for me. This is all the ones I have on the ground floor (other ones aren’t in HA yet). It’s been a bit cold last night, around -14°C. Oh, and the chart is for yesterday.

“Cuisine” is a pretty large room of about 250-300 sq ft, and it’s in kind of an open space with “Salon”, hence why the latter doesn’t run very often. “Bureau” is my office, about 150 sq ft, and “SDB RDC” is a bathroom / laundry room, a bit less than 100 sq ft.

Pay peanuts, get monkeys.

I got a “manual” Breville espresso machine (Barista Express), and honestly it’s not that many steps compared to a full auto like my mom’s Jura. I just have to move the portafilter to the grinder, tamp, and put it back into the showerhead. Meanwhile, my mom has to fill up the tank, the coffee hopper and empty the grounds bin every ~5 cups… Not convinced it’s worth 2x the price, and I can actually make better espresso on my machine.

I have 4 kids and I don’t want to pay over 100k for a car. Believe it or not, there is currently no EV option on the market. It’s looking like the EV9 will be the first…

I use pancake, works pretty well. It’s paid, but only a one-time payment and you get the code.

EDIT: here’s the link: https://www.pancakeapp.com/

Writing passwords down isn’t that bad, actually. We humans are very good at securing little pieces of paper; just put the one you wrote your password on with the other valuable pieces of paper, in your wallet.

It’s “sticking the post-it note to the computer screen” that’s the problem.

It actually doesn’t light up anymore…

I use famous computer scientists. Torvalds, Kernighan, Ritchie, Woz (for the MacBook). My most recent one was bought in Hampton VA, so I named it kjohnson after Katherine Johnson (as seen in the movie Hidden Figures, she used to work at the NASA facility in Hampton).

I think it’s a good system, and I don’t think I’ll ever run out!

I’ve had very good success with Zigbee stuff, TP-Link Kasa outlets (but I’ve put them on a different router / subnet that doesn’t have Internet access), and ESPHome.

Tuya stuff sucks (keeps disconnecting), JuiceBox (my car charger) changed their app so the integration doesn’t work anymore, and the Aqara zigbee door sensors never worked for me (they pair perfectly, but then disconnect and never come back on).

So yeah, in my experience, once it works, it works, as long as there’s no cloud involved.

For baseboard heaters, I have the Sinopé line of ZigBee thermostats, with home-assistant on my home server. Baseboards are kind of particular in that you have one thermostat per room, so at 350+ for a Nest, it’d be cost-prohibitive as I have like 15 thermostats in the house. Also, they’re line voltage, meaning that they directly switch the full power of the heaters, so they need to be well made.

I’ve had my Sinopé thermostats for 2+ years now, and I’m very happy with them. No clouds involved here.

I just never entered my Wifi details into my smart TV. I only use the HDMI inputs on it anyway, so it behaves like a dumb one. It’s a RCA TV from Walmart, if anyone is wondering.

It’s a 4.2 inch e-ink screen from waveshare driven by an ESP running ESPHome. Nothing fancy, really. I used to change it “manually”, but the lightbulb moment happened when I realized I had the entities I needed in the HA desktop app.