Exactly. I’m actually the opposite. I was a Windows user for years and years since the days of 3.1. When I started my self-hosting about 2 years ago, I switched my pc and server to Linux and have been using Linux fully now. Aside from Linux being better for self-hosting, I wanted to finally get away from the mess that Windows has become and the dirty crap Microsoft pulls now.

I didn’t know anything about self-hosting when I started either. There is a learning curve but it’s not difficult, just takes some time and is totally worth it to own your data, have a little more privacy and to stop shelling out money for subscriptions, etc. Totally worth it. I’ve been self hosting for almost 2 years now and have learned alot but still learning every day. Theres alot I still don’t know and still encounter issues at times but it doesn’t keep me from figuring it out and to keep self-hosting. Go for it, you won’t regret it.

https://github.com/InfinityLoop1308/PipePipe

Yep, Newpipe and PipePipe which is a fork of Newpipe are both working just fine for me.

I loved Winamp years ago. And I love nostalgia but not like this. I will just stick with my Navidrome instance and its tons of open source free clients.

Thanks for your opinion. I probably wouldn’t need wifi. I just thought it might good to have it so why not lol. I really don’t know much about it all yet. Definitely would rather have the much longer battery life if there really isn’t a need for wifi.

Any recommendations on a quality full kit?

I tested I2P a number of years ago and havent messed with it since. Been wanting to get back into setting it up for torrenting on my server. Will have to do some research and set it back up this weekend. Nows a better time than any I guess. Thanks for the reminder to start again.

Will definitely probably want wifi, so ESP32 will probably be the route for that.

I’ve heard of Meshtastic and Meshcore but haven’t really looked into it. I’m very interested in getting started and what all I need to do it, if anyone has some good information or sources. With the state of the way the internet is becoming and I now self-host my own media server, I would like to make this one of my next setups.