@todotoro@midwest.social

todotoro

member since 13 Sep 2024 21:47

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Kovid Goyal arguably does alot of good work between Calibre and Kitty, but he is pretty weird.

The software feels weird too. I was a user of Calibre for a very long time, and I ended up stopping one day because I found that it did too much in an obtuse way that I just spent too much time screwing around in settings or with plugins. I am thankful for the DeDRM plugins that saved my purchased books from Kobo, before I stopped using it though.

Nowadays I just rely on library management that’s on device. So a simple SAMBA share is enough for me. I end up just copying everything over anyways.

on Calibre v9.15 adds an AI-powered interactive fiction game in c/opensource@lemmy.ml · 5d ago
That’s neat, are you talking about Podlet? Your comment prompted me to search.

on Every time I use podman in c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world · 25 Aug 2026
Not the poster, but I kinda get this sentiment. For my laptop and things that I do for work, I prefer Podman. Better security posture out of the box, and I’m typically crafting my own pods to work a specific way.

But, if I am just trying to start up some app/service and I’m following the GitHub documentation with the project…I want to just copy and paste and there isn’t a 1-for-1 for docker compose. Podman does have an alias package so you can say docker on the cli, but the “compose” part of it is not as good if I just want something to run without dicking with it.

So in short, if I’m making something with a container or want to have hands on control, I prefer Podman. If I’m running something “off the shelf”, like just running someone’s docker compose files files from their Github, I’m just running Docker man.

on Every time I use podman in c/linuxmemes@lemmy.world · 24 Aug 2026
I’ve dabbled in VyOS and Opnsense, but ran Pfsense for close to a decade (which is basically Opnsense, but more proprietary). Between the two, I think Opnsense is likely your better option.

Updates: There is some nuance, but VyOS doesn’t give you a LTS release so you will be taking quarterly upgrades to the latest. You are more or less a beta tester.

Opnsense has I guess one could consider “normal” releases with their community edition and is pretty easy to upgrade. You don’t really expect breaking changes.

Tools: CLI is typically faster on VyOS (once you skill up) than the GUI for Opnsense. But Opnsense also provides CLI options to interact with it, so if you decide you want that later on you have it. Both have APIs to interact with too for automation later.

Firewall: VyOS is using netfilter underneath, aka things you may be familiar with like iptables and nftables. It’s a fine firewall option, and is similar to what you could find in a normal Linux install (more on that later).

Opnsense I believe, uses the PF package (that’s also where the original pfsense got its name). This is a package for FreeBSD, and in my 10+ years of using it, it has been reliable.

Hardware: VyOS being based on Linux will support more hardware out of the box.

Opnsense being based on FreeBSD may run into edge cases of not using your hardware correctly. (I had a thing on Pfsense (also FreeBSD) where it didn’t like my built-in NIC and would flap constantly. I gave up trying to use it and used an external NIC instead)

Opinion: Honestly, if I was stuck with just these two as my choices I would probably lean toward Opnsense. It is more popular in homelab community, and there are many many guides on how to manage it.

Another option: You could also just using any other Linux distro and build up the firewall yourself. In the datacenter, it is very common to find big switches or firewalls simply running Debian on them with whatever firewall package the admin wants. It’s also a great learning experience.

Offbeat option: Presented with the same inquiry as you, I actually switched to OpenWRT. Many people will tell you that it’s just for APs or Routers, but I have been using it for my managed switches and my main firewall for about half a year now. OpenWRT is just Linux underneath, and you get the same CLI access as you would with a normal Linux distro. Plus you do get the option to use LuCI to mange it in the GUI.

It’s not as shiny as the *senses but, it is certainly just as capable for this role in a homelab. Remember when I said I was on pfSense for years? I was able to port all of my firewall rules, VLANs, etc into OpenWRT just fine.

on VyOS or Opnsense in c/selfhosted@lemmy.world · 24 Aug 2026