You may have to use port forwarding or a reverse proxy but the end result is functionally identical to plex. IMO the server detection feature of Plex is overengineered for what it is, and I just sit it behind my reverse proxy and connect to it that way.
As for music and apps yeah Plex is pretty nice, but even for audio you could use other services if Jellyfin didn't fit your needs like Navidrome
My setup was about 500 USD if I had to guess:
Used i5 9500 (mainly for QSV but you can use any modern CPU as long as the iGPU is relatively recent)
32GB RAM (more RAM = more cache for file IO)
4TB HDD
256GB NVME boot drive (recycled from my steamdeck)
Node 804 case.
TrueNAS SCALE for the OS.
I'd recommend to get double or even triple the drives I did, maybe 3x 2TB or 3x 1TB depending on your budget. Only because that unlocks RaidZ1/RaidZ2 which can give you better RW speed and redundancy should anything go splat, and you can't retroactively convert your drive into a Z1/Z2 pool without manually transferring the data later which might take a looooong time for you.
I dont think my route was the cheapest: IMO youd do better going AMD even despite the poorer support for HW transcode only because the motherboards are insanely expensive and hard to find, whereas that money couldve given me a better CPU and later you can add an intel iGPU if you're really struggling.
Jellyfin supports HW transcoding on Rockchip too, but the issue with the Pi5 specifically is that it doesn't have a hardware media decoder so it's actually worse than the Pi4 if you can get HW transcoding running on it.
I have an i5 9500 and for what its worth Nextcloud always seems to be the least responsive web app I've used. I think it's just the nature of Nextcloud.
Another thing to note is that extra RAM is super useful with ZFS since it will use extra RAM as a cache to speed up IO. 16-32GB will let ZFS keep significant amounts of data instantly accessible to services like Jellyfin - Eg. a new movie or tv show that multiple users will watch simultaneously.
Appflowy is a self-hostable notion replacement that's a bit more mature than this project atm. I hope this can spur some more development away from Notion though, I'm not a fan of the always-online element
You might want to try appflowy which is a lot more mature than this atm.
Not quite the same but you might like the Linux from Nothing series, building out a Linux install from first principles.
Obviously lots of linux youtubers have done videos on linux from scratch too but the step by step nature is pretty enjoyable to watch.
not crazy at all. assuming you're careful and back up your data !
rsync over an SMB share was pretty seamless.
Pasta sauce is insanely easy to hide veg in. Just cook them all down in a pot and blend until smooth - they won't ever know the contents!
you can bulk out your protein with lentils too.
I use nginx proxy manager and expose it behind a subdomain entry on cloudflare (though you can use any DDNS service i bet). NPM handles the security so I get HSTS and HTTPS on Plex and Jellyfin without either needing it set themselves.
From there anyone can access Jellyfin/Plex via my subdomains (plex.mydomain.com or watch.mydomain.com at the mo)