• The speaker returns to England after a pandemic-related delay
• They discuss their poor internet connection at their mother-in-law's rural home
• The speaker's family travels from the East Coast to London, facing a delayed flight due to wind conditions
• The speaker recounts a humorous anecdote about accidentally using an expired passport for travel documents, causing a day of stress and explanation to their family
• They reflect on their own fault in the mistake and acknowledge opportunities for others to have helped them
• Discussion of a recent flight on a Boeing Dreamliner
• Reflections on traveling with family, including a new baby and adjusting to life in the UK after emigrating
• Noticing a lack of culture shock or adjustment period upon returning to the UK
• Discussing technology and home setup preparations for trips and self-hosting infrastructure
• Mention of off-site backup opportunities and re-evaluating digital setups during trips
• Replaced motherboard in UK server with an ASRock Rack board
• Reason for replacement was old Supermicro 1366 LGA socket Xeon and requirement for IPMI through Java
• New motherboard has HTML5-based IPMI implementation and three PCIe expansion slots
• Added NVMe drive and Intel QuickSync capabilities to improve performance
• Using Plex for TV streaming, eliminating need for WireGuard VPN
• Upgraded to i5-8500 CPU from previous experimentation with GVTG
• Bringing a motherboard and Synology NAS through airport security
• Dealing with TSA questioning about the NAS
• Legally ripping movies and TV shows using Creative Commons content
• Importance of IPMI and IGPU support in motherboards
• Using the ASRock board for remote server management and QuickSync support
• Motherboard price and value during a parts shortage
• Setting up hardware parity between UK and US servers
• Using Proxmox as host OS for consistency across locations
• Issues with ZFS version differences on different systems
• Installing Home Assistant on Proxmox VM to control home automation system
• Using Zigbee devices, including smart plugs and buttons, for home automation
• Comparison of Zigbee vs. Wi-Fi devices for reliability and cost
• Discussion on the benefits and drawbacks of using physical controls vs automation in home systems
• Explanation of why some people prefer to use switches and physical buttons over voice control or apps
• Personal anecdote about Chris's experience with his Hollywood server going down due to a power outage
• Description of Chris's plans to upgrade his server and potentially change its configuration
• Discussion of high availability and redundancy in systems
• Suspecting power supply issues with a system
• Mention of WireGuard and TailScale for VPN solutions
• Comparison of AdGuard Home, Pi Hole, and OpenSense for DNS and firewall management
• Plans to consolidate devices and reduce power consumption at the studio
• Consideration of moving WireGuard to its own device
• Introduction to TailScale as a solution for secure tunneling between devices
• Discussion of Tailscale VPN service and its underlying technology (WireGuard)
• Description of how Tailscale uses an intermediary "witness node" to facilitate network connections
• Alternative self-hosted implementation of witness nodes using HeadScale open source software
• Comparison of Linode's cloud infrastructure with other providers, highlighting its speed and reliability
• Personal anecdote about using a Linode server as a backup during a road trip
• Promotion of Linode's one-click deployment feature for various services (Nextcloud, Discourse, Jitsi)
• Discussion of Linode's services and ease of use for development and game servers
• Road trip experiences and managing heat while traveling (especially in hot climates)
• Home Assistant automations and controlling heating systems
• Overhauling traditional automations to use the generic thermostat entity instead
• Home Assistant monitors temperature and provides a thermostat interface
• Customizable temperature settings with minimum cycle length option
• Ability to turn off automated cycling of heaters via Home Assistant dashboard or HomeKit app
• Integration with HomeKit allows verbal control with Siri, including setting temperatures and viewing current temperature
• Automation options, such as adjusting temperature based on sun rise/set times
• Generic thermostat setup requires only a smart switch and temperature sensor
• Self-hosting smart gear pre-flashed with Tasmota from sponsors cloudfree.shop and mylocalbytes.com
• Setting up remote backup system using Synology, Autorestick, Restic, and Minio for off-site data protection
• Configuring traffic to route data through NAT to the remote backup location on the Synology box at the host's mother's house
• Discussing the benefits of having multiple, separate backup systems in different ecosystems
• Mentioning the hosts' trip back to the UK and meeting up with listeners
• Meetup announced at Breckland Lodge on A11 outside Attleborough near Norwich on September 28th at 6pm UK time
• Meeting is impromptu and will be kept small for COVID safety reasons
• Attendees can recognize the host (Gary) by his Chris and the Badger t-shirt
• Feedback, ideas, and show topics can be submitted through self-hosted.show/contact or on Twitter (@ChrisLAS and @IronicBadger)
• Previous episode released as #54