Device Manager shows i7-7700, 3.6ghz, 8 cores

Maxes at 3gb of ram, unfortunately, since I run some vm’s on it.

Good to know! Wow, I’m impressed by the low power draw.

Thanks, I wanted to add a video card for conversion jobs, but didn’t think it had enough power.

Sounds like she virtualized and got her brother to host.😋

I have an older (2017) Dell SFF OptiPlex 7050 that idles about 12w, with 3 drives (each 1 TB, spinning disk).

It peaks about 80w when I’m doing conversions, but I can keep that down by limiting cpu usage for handbrake (it doesn’t convert faster above 4 cores anyway, just uses more power).

I was surprised by the low idle power, I would’ve been happy with upwards of 40w since my previous machine idled at 100w.

So I think very low idle is possible, I’m just not sure why this box idles so low.

Disks add wattage when running, but when idle use very little power, less than SSD.

Suprisingly hard drives often use less power than SSD because they can spin down, and because they use less power during writes than SSD.

https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/ssd-vs-hdd-we-know-about-speed-but-what-about-power-consumption

Also Wireguard, which is what Tailscale uses.

Resilio Sync or Syncthing

Ah, just saw the browser requirement.

In nextcloud discussions I’ve heard of Seafile. I’ve never used it, so not sure what it’s capable of.

Meh, DRM has been repeatedly circumvented. It’s a cat-and-mouse game, with very few cats (DRM developers/vendors) and many mice (DRM circumventors) who are very motivated.

DRM is to prevent the average consumer from sharing stuff.

Using a mesh network like Wireguard/Tailscale enables you to have a public interface that’s not on your home router, but the VPS instead.

Because I don’t need a reverse proxy?

Also, as for ease of setup, with Tailscale I install an app and login. Done.

Probably because the ISP modem/router has limited capability.

I’ve done 2 routers like this for years (out of laziness more than anything) because cable modem router suck from a capability standpoint.

For just files I’d use Syncthing or Resilio (I keep hundreds of gigs synced with ST). Resilio has a feature that’s very useful - Selective Sync. This allows you to setup a sync job that syncs the index of files, but doesn’t sync the actual files until you select a file(s) to sync on the remote device. I use this to access my media files from anywhere (3TB) which I obviously don’t want to try to sync the entire folder to my phone, etc.

But since you effectively are on the same LAN, you can use any file copy tool the respective OS’s support.

Though for WAN connections, I prefer tools with some redundancy/resilience, since those connections can be slow or experience drops, and regular copy tools aren’t designed to contend with that (in Windows the only tool I can think of off hand is Robocopy, but I think Teracopy will at least show you if a file copy fails).

It really depends on your use-case, what you’re trying to solve for.

But, no Foss dev wants to do anything about it because SMS sucks balls.

So regardless of how many messages are sent FOSS devs aren’t interested.

Yea, I’d take the approach of having the server monitor a folder, and then just drop files in that folder to be converted.

There are a number of ways to transfer files to that folder, tools like FolderSync (Android), Syncthing or Resilio (every OS) can handle this.

For backup check out SMS Backup/Restore. I have 10+ years of sms backup with it, all readable as text or using Excel.

I’ve never found a good solution to this SMS problem - there’s seems to be nothing out there (probably because FOSS devs think SMS needs to die, and I agree).

I did find my solution last year: JMP.chat - I think they’re considered a virtual cell provider. Port your number to them, then all your SMS/MMS gets piped into XMPP, which you can access with an XMPP client on any device - Gajim on Windows/Linux, Cheogram and Monocles (plus others) on Android, Snikket and others on iOS. My SMS works even if my phone is off. Prices are really good, so good that I use a different SIM in my phone for a data connection, as I no longer need an SMS/voice connection (calls are routed via VOIP in Cheogram/XMPP).

Create a table in Libre Office, I’ll wait…

(Hint,the devs have flat out stated they will never add tables to Calc, as it’s wrong to do).

99% of Excel usage includes a table in the first, or second, sheet. Without tables a spreadsheet app is useless, in my opinion, regardless of how “wrong” it is (and I agree that it’s wrong).

Gotta remember to enable Quantum Entanglement… Takes a lot more power, but solves the problem.

I’ve taken this approach, sometimes these boxes will act up when they can’t phone home. Definitely worth trying though.

Excellent - thanks for the remote recommendation, it’s one thing I’ve been struggling to find.

Not sure I like the gyro idea - I had a gyro presentation mouse in the past. Worked well, but how do your parents like the gyro element?

Sometimes it’s a decision between reliability and selfhosted

This is an excellent point to keep in mind.

Using something like Telegram for notifications/alerts exposes a minimal amount of info/metadata.

XMPP could be a useful alternative, since there are numerous hosts/providers available, and it’s a privacy minded community.