jfyi - in case you are looking for a cheap way to host static sites...

I've been hosting #faircamp and #hugo on https://mythic-beasts.com/ for £2.50 a month with no real issues.

(I also pay an additional £1.50 for shell access just so I can rsync over my updates easily but originally just did updates using sftp for free.)

At that same cost they support WordPress but I am not using that, otherwise it is very no frills.

Mythic Beasts - Mythic Beasts

Managed and unmanaged VPS and dedicated servers, shared web and email hosting, domain registrations and DNS hosting, UK based

@limebar what is hugo? i host from my spare bedroom and yes i’m scared about security but it is what it is
@jwtownshend a static site generator
https://gohugo.io/
The world's fastest framework for building websites

Hugo is one of the most popular open-source static site generators. With its amazing speed and flexibility, Hugo makes building websites fun again.

@jwtownshend
I would very much like to know how to self host from home safely. I do not trust myself
@limebar 😅 i wing it! Ahem, i mean, i carefully research best practices and harden configurations, carefully controlling permissions and running as little code the server as possible… 😅👀
@jwtownshend @limebar Same dilemma here. Also using Hugo. I feel a static site would be the low risk end of things to host from home, but I've still chickened out so far and let the hosting/security be Mythic Beasts problem. I've been ok using sftp so far.
Looking at the CVEs for Apache I'm not seeing any that would obviously have required panic updating, but maybe there are other things I haven't even thought to worry about...

@james_keogh @jwtownshend
I know that you can use tailscale or cloudflare tunnel and a reverse proxy hosted somewhere but I don't quite understand how that increases security..in guess because you don't open any ports?

Ideally I'd host Immich at home with large disk space for cheap. But having an incoming channel for photos freaks me out

@limebar @jwtownshend are tailscale etc VPNs (think so but 🤷 )? If so then I think they can be good for anything you want to access on the go (basically you turn on the vpn and it's like you're on your home network. I do similar for home-assistant). But I don't think they help for a webserver if you want randoms on the internet to be able to see it? If you're ok with only you (and people you allow on your vpn) seeing your Immich then could be good?
@james_keogh @limebar i would encourage you to have a go if you have some hardware to experiment with… on ubuntu server i added the Ondřej Surý PPA repository to get the very latest and greatest Apache releases… the default ubuntu releases are very slow
@jwtownshend Curious if you took take any steps to limit/block bots from eating up bandwidth? Or if it's been fine without doing anything particular? That aspect sort of worries us too
@james_keogh there are ways to configure apache to block a lot of specific bots but as you can imagine it takes a lot of maintenance to keep up… so unfortunately i am using cloudflare for this but this is something I’m actively looking for alternatives for…
@james_keogh ps. What are your favourite tin whistles? I like jerry freeman tweaked high whistles like his blackbird and colin goldie low whistles
@jwtownshend my favorite that I mostly play is a Killarney. Also have a Dixon DX001 (first whistle I learnt with) and Dixon Trad-Nickle (less sentimental and still kind of cheap so good for carrying around just in case), a Dixon TB003 low whistle, and a Clarke Original in C (that technically belongs to my partner).
@james_keogh those Killarney whistles look nice! Inspired by the legendary John Sindt whistles in the way they look perhaps…

@james_keogh just got D and Bb Killarney whistles in the post.

First impressions: Very gentle breath requirement. Beautifully pure sound. A little less stable than I’d like (skill issue 😅) but very very nice!

@jwtownshend Yeah it definitely needs the least puff of the whistles I have. Curious what you play on the Bb whistle - is it the same tunes but lower or some other use?

@james_keogh can play the same tunes.

Useful for playing with other instruments like clarinet, sax, trumpet, flutes, etc.

Look up “Kwela” music for specifically B flat whistle stuff!

@limebar this looks really cool! Do you know of anything like this but for generating a photo gallery? (I tried one called thumbs up but it was 2 years old, all the dependencies were out of date, and I didn’t have the patience to fix it)

@jwtownshend

I knew of one but cannot remember right now

Hugo does have a gallery theme but I've not tried it

https://themes.gohugo.io/themes/hugo-theme-gallery/

Gallery

A very simple and opinionated photo gallery theme for Hugo

@limebar thank you my friend! I’ll have a look
Galleries Deluxe

Multi gallery theme suitable for large galleries.

@limebar thanks I will investigate tomorrow

@limebar Adding another option. I've been using host1.no for mine for nearly a year now. Norway has really good privacy laws which was a major factor. But I wish I'd done this years ago. Easy access, cpanel built in with word press and quite a lot of other options. I signed up for the longest duration and that dropped the price to just below $3usd/mo.

The unlimited email and/or forwarders is a nice bonus since I sandbox every sign in for everything.