I used TT-RSS for a long time now on my own Linux server, till something went wrong with updates and TT-RSS broke. It was time consuming to repair it and I even don’t use a good distribution for servers (Arch Linux), which even causes more work.
All the time my TT-RSS only had one user… it was me. And maybe a lot of people who host their TT-RSS have the same issue. So I thought why not asking someone to use their TT-RSS, because it is somehow wasting of resources?
Who is interested to create a TT-RSS account for me on their server? I would like to introduce myself in an e-mail. Just send me your e-mail address and I will contact you asap.
Not answering your question specifically, but is there any reason you can’t run Debian or CentOS? Both are solid and well supported. My preference is Debian but it doesn’t matter really.
Your mcrypt issue was because of using PHP 7.2, which is quite bleeding edge (having been just released days ago). For servers it’s generally better to not run such new releases of software (i.e. stick with tried-and-true versions that have been out for awhile). This is by no means a requirement but it certainly makes things easier if you’re having trouble.
Debian and CentOS both focus on stability so if you stick with their stock apt/yum sources you should have no issues.
I am running https://ttrss.info if you (or anyone else) would like to use that.
The server is based in Europe , uses a LetsEncrypt SSL certificate and runs the latest tt-rss code.
There is also a ‘bridge’ server which currently allows access to twitter , instagram and other feeds.
I encourage a 10 euro donation per year , half to fund the VPS , half is sent upstream to @fox as a thank you.
The story behind my Arch Linux server is, that my favorite Linux distribution for desktop is Arch Linux. I have a media station in my living room (it is a Intel NUC and I use i3 as a window manager) and originally it should only be there for watching movies, serials and YouTube. But then I’ve installed BOINC on it, because it was powered on the whole day and if I don’t use the machine, it could be used for something else. Then I’ve installed TeamSpeak on it, to speak with some friends. Then pyload, owncloud, tt-rss, etc. and this little machine was so powerful that it could manage all this stuff. But since the last update (PHP 7.2) it just makes trouble. Even downgrading makes trouble, now. It was just fascinating that a little machine like this could handle all the stuff… I couldn’t know that I would have a powerful hybrid in my living room (desktop & server).
I once worked with CentOS (private vServer), but I have to say I have not much knowledge with it. Would it make a lot more sense to learn Debian or CentOS to use it as a hybrid or even install it on my other desktop pc and notebook? Changing a distro is always a huge change in life. I don’t know the philosophy after Debian and CentOS, I don’t know what package manager they have or how they work exactly, I don’t know anything…
For me those criteria is important, if it’s about Linux:
free (I’ve heard there are Linux distributions you even have to pay for and I don’t even know how this should work?)
keep privacy save (Ubuntu is a No-Go for me! Would be nice if it has special features to protect me from Facebook & Co)
security (stable updates shouldn’t take years to release)
it should be a distribution, which was created outside of the USA, because everything what has its home in the USA is compromised by the NSA. (SELinux is a No-Go, too). Sorry if I sound like a crazy guy, but I like it to live free, without Big Brother watching me.
debian is usable as a desktop, centos not so much imo. use desktop stuff in desktops, server stuff on servers.
if you plan on ever actually working with linux professionally you have to learn both anyway, nobody uses arch in production irl. it’s a toy distro for NEETs.
Nice to meet someone from Europe. I am living in Switzerland and using servers, which aren’t far away makes sense… hmm… maybe not with ttrss because it is very often only text, but anyway… do you have other interesting stuff on the server running you would like to share with other people?
Currently I use tt-rss, Owncloud/Nextcloud, TeamSpeak, a git server, cron jobs for some bash scripts and a web server to play around. But maybe there are other useful things I even haven’t heard about, like Tiny Tiny IRC, which I found today while researching who fox is? He/She has a weird website but it brought me to the git site of tt-irc and I love it, that IRC isn’t dead yet.
It would be interesting what other people run on their server. This might be the best way what kind of useful stuff exist.
Why is CentOS “not so much” for desktop usage? If it’s stable and secure, why not putting a window manager on it? Till now I thought I work professionally with Linux, because with Arch you have to do everything from scratch and I thought that’s the best way to learn Linux. Didn’t know the word NEET yet, but if someone is naming me a NEET, it just means I still don’t have any idea what Linux is, right? So what would be the efficient way to learn Linux without getting in another NEET trap?
It is really interesting what kind of Linux distributions were invented the last years, but I am just afraid if I loose security or privacy, if the problem is just me, not knowing how to secure a system correctly or just thinking I know how to secure a system. Maybe it sounds weird, but I hope you know what I mean
there’s way less packages than debian has in stock repositories. you’ll have to deal with EPEL, and EPEL is terrible (same goes for ubuntu PPAs). any imbecile can push out a PPA and the lack of quality really shows, plus your system quickly becomes an unmaintanable mess.
technically you can use pretty much any general purpose distro on the desktop, the difference is mainly convenience and stability. imo centos would be less convenient than debian.
imo one should never use downstream distros unless there’s a very good reason for it.
if you want to acquire general linux knowledge i’d recommend reading a good book, for example the Unix sysadmin’s handbook by Evi Nemeth et al.
you will not gain any valuable skills by haphazardly screwing around your desktop unfucking arch after broken updates and especially i’d advise against doing everything from scratch: the last thing your boss is going to want from you is doing everyhing from scratch, ffs, i.e. wasting a shitload of time and money for no reason whatsoever.
also, by definition, working professionally means someone is paying you money for it. nothing more, nothing less.
e: the tldr here is install centos or something else server-grade on your server, learn how it works, stop trying to reinvent the wheel, and use whatever you want on your desktop. nobody cares about that last part, it’s not important.
I used to host owncloud and run my own mail server , but life is too short so switched to https://servermx.com for mail / calendar / contacts.
Now I host a few websites for my clients , mostly wordpress and known.
The other project I use a lot is https://www.wallabag.org/
iktf, hosting your own mail server in 2017 is one of the worst ideas one could possibly have
it’s absolutely useless wrt privacy unless you only email yourself (otherwise google is going to have your mail regardless) and you will have one hell of a time convincing larger email providers to accept your messages
RedHat. It’s an upstream of CentOS and they provide a few “private” (for lack of a better word) packages. They mainly target enterprises and the payment is for support. RedHat and CentOS are big on long-term support. Major releases are supported for years and that’s important if you’re a company with thousands of servers. Also important if you’re a company is picking up the phone and getting tech support. So that’s probably what you’ve heard.
I’ve heard Ubuntu Xenial (the latest) has changed their ways, but yeah. Ubuntu is a downstream distro of Debian. It’s not horrible but they’re less focused on stability and more on flashy new features. I personally avoid it for much of the same reasons fox mentioned.
For social networks, just don’t join them or visit them.
Security and stability are a bit different. If you want security go with OpenBSD, but you’ll hit a few walls using it. Honestly any modern distro kept up to date will be fine. Debian has long term security updates and current/stable releases are supported for about three years. CentOS is longer.
Okay. That might be tough since open source software is a collaboration of many people across the world. I mean, I’m from the west and western nations have a distrust of Russia but I’m still using TT-RSS and Nginx (and not losing any sleep over it, either). My point is states will always have distrust for other states and spying is just a part of that. Unless you’re planning on reviewing every line of code yourself, stick with well known and trusted software and you’ll be fine.
Like fox said, CentOS is a bit limiting in available packages, whereas I find Debian has more of what I need with it without adding more repositories. Debian on the desktop is nice. I’m genuinely considering a switch to it from macOS.
On the server (no GUI) both are fine but having used both my preference is Debian. There are people who swear by one or the other but it really comes down down to what works best for you.
What fox said.
At the end of the day the choice is yours. If I were you, I’d setup VirtualBox on a home PC, install both and play around.
Certainly at lot harder than it was 10 years ago. Setting up PTR and SPF records seems to be mostly enough, from my experience. But my server is low volume. If you send a lot you’d need to rotate IPs, etc.
I like the privacy, sure, but also the control. I have some nice custom handling for both inbound and outbound that works well for me. But I like to tinker so it gives me one more thing to waste my time.
My goal with “working professionally with Linux” was:
Using an OS without software or people spying on me (easily)
Doing online banking without getting robbed or always being afraid and updating anti-virus and using private mode in the browser before doing it
Having a beautiful thin and fast system and only having stuff installed and running which I know what it is doing
Having control about everything
Secure every little step and knowing where is a chance there are no backdoors from any government
It was never my goal to have a job as a System Administrator, but maybe I have the wrong job. You gave me a lot to think. If I seriously read the book you’ve mentioned, I will definitely look for a new job. But those are about 1.500 pages
Can you please explain why you did this? If you register a domain with 2GB webspace from a cheap hoster, you can use e-mails with your domain too and it costs less than 1 EUR a month. Is there something special at servermx? Or is servermx more like an e-mail client (web version) to get all your e-mails in one place?
I don’t get what wallabag is for? Do I understand it correctly that it just saves the links to websites? What is the difference to a normal bookmark? I have a directory in my browser bookmark which I named “later” and I put there everything I want to read later. I rarely open this directory, but I put a lot of stuff in there.
Sorry for asking so many stupid questions. I somehow stuck in the 90s and have to figure out new technologies first
That’s maybe the most wise advise, but in many cases it isn’t possible. E.g. if you have a blog and want to be more popular, you need social media. If you don’t have social media, you don’t exist. And if you don’t use WhatsApp nowadays, you don’t exist either. I once tried to live with an Android smartphone, which has only a custom firmware and open source apps. People thought I am from the stone age than I told them that I don’t use WhatsApp. I kept this free smartphone for around one year. It wasn’t possible to use it longer. With whom do you want to communicate with such a nice technology, if no one is using open source apps? Even normal e-mails are not possible for many people anymore. E-Mails are just too complicated for them If there would exist an e-mail client which is build up like the chats in WhatsApp and could support some security and if smartphone user and desktop user could use it (even without having a phone), it would crush WhatsApp.
Can you tell me why Linux is less secure than OpenBSD? What kind of walls would I hit? I am not familiar with BSD systems and I couldn’t find out necessary information about it reading about 1 hour now, but I found an interesting website with a “BSD vs Linux” topic: BSD For Linux Users :: Intro
Have you ever used a BSD system and do you still use it?
It was just fascinating that a little machine like this could handle all the stuff… I couldn’t know that I would have a powerful hybrid in my living room (desktop & server).
