RAM and Server Garbage

[grayestofghosts]

The RAM shortage, which I'm sure people have been hearing about (if you haven't -- AI corporations have already purchased all the RAM that will be made by chip manufacturers in 2026 for datacenters that don't exist yet to fulfill uncertain demand for AI, causing a shortage for everything else that uses RAM, which is... essentially everything, because aside from your game systems, and your personal phone and computer, are also used in non-Ai datacenters that keep online services running, and also every point of sale device, and also in a whole lot of systems that one would not think would use it, like various medical machines etc., because it's easier for devs to just stick software into a Microsoft/Android/etc base than to develop whole new machines, essentially) has gotten me a bit freaked out. It just seems to converge perfectly with the restrictions of all sorts of online services that want to slurp up all your personal identifying information and the only sort-of-not-really-viable-alternative is "make your own server", the parts of which are set to become exponentially more expensive even if you have the know how.

I want to try to get a raspberry pi and set up a server. I'm unsure what I'm going to run on it, but it seems like as good a time to start as any. I was actually going to run out today and grab one but there was a sudden snowstorm that was legit terrifying so I'll probably wait until this weekend. If anyone has any recommendations on how to do this, that would be great. What I want to do is not set in stone but I was thinking of trying to run a matrix instance or a VTT or maybe a blog or static website. I don't know. It just seems like something I should start learning probably.

Comments

[axolotls]

I think a Synapse server may be a bit hard on a Pi... I'd look it up and see how it's gone for people!

A static site is a great idea! I use NGINX as my web server, but there are other options too depending on what you prefer (I just find that NGINX has a lot of answers on how to do things with it, so finding solutions is a bit easier than some newer web servers, even if it can be a bit... particular). If you feel like doing more complex stuff with the site later, I can highly recommend Astro as an SSG (+ more, though I've only used it as a static site generator so far). Really easy to learn, I've found.

Might be worth checking out one of those awesome self-hosted lists to see what else people are self-hosting? Lots of neat little programs out there!

[grayestofghosts]

I mention running a matrix server because I do see when I look it up people doing it, and also, well, given everything I'd like something with a reply capability. Though static site hosting would be nice because I already have a static site and know I could use that. I guess if I have a server I could probably run my own guestbook and/or chat box?

I do have a friend who's looking into making a bbs on a raspberry pi.