I’m actually not sure. I remember doing an apt install conky but it’s possible that it was already installed and that switched it to manually installed. I also installed tint2 panel, just like the good old days. My panel is extremely minimal. There is no clock, battery info, desktop switcher, or anything except my minimized windows. My battery info, date, time, weather, moon phase, and lots of the usual conky sensor data are available in my conky.

Thanks for the perspective! I am a reluctant newcomer to Docker so I appreciate it. Time for me to get with the times and embrace Docker since that’s the most popular installation method for many of my favorite self hosted platforms these days. It might take a while for me to really get used to it though. Since I have this setup and working it will probably remain as is, but I’ll make a point to do a pure Docker setup on a similar build in the future.

Teaser pic for the rare fellow Crunchbang enthusiast. Here’s a screenshot of my desktop on my $100 USD Asus Vivobook. Crunchbang runs flawlessly on this minimally specced laptop that is basically like a modern day netbook. I’m having a great time with it. I mostly use it to ssh into headless servers from the terminal so I usually just have a web browser and terminal or two open.

I am on a Debian based distro as we speak! I’m using Crunchbang++. For me a perfect operating system is very simple and mostly just stays out of the way. Crunchbang is perfect for that. My setup is very minimal and probably wouldn’t be ideal for most users. For most users I recommend Linux Mint, but if you are using Ubuntu and it’s working for you there’s nothing wrong with that! One of the great things about linux is the huge variety of options of distros to choose from. There’s different flavors to suit everyone’s needs. What makes this especially great is that under the hood, linux is linux, so for the most part you can use what works for you and not miss out on capability.

Yes! Crunchbang lives! I was a Statler user back in 2011 and Crunchbang++ is just like the Crunchbang I knew and loved with all the goodness of Debian 12. If you like minimal setups I highly recommend it!

Thanks for the suggestion. What would be the benefit of switching to a docker install of Mastodon?

Thanks for pointing that out! In this case I am using subdomains so hopefully I won’t run into any issues with that. I recently bought fdr8.us with the intention of creating subdomains under it for my federated projects. Mastodon.fdr8.us and Lemmy.fdr8.us are now live. If I do a kbin instance it will probably follow the same format.

Thank you for sharing your config and advice! I appreciate it. I got it working along with ssl certs installed with certbot and all is well. Cheers!

I didn’t plan it that way. I installed Mastodon first and didn’t use a Docker install. I configured Nginx and reverse proxy and then tried a non-Docker Lemmy install from scratch. That failed, and I believe the reason was some minor version differences in the dependencies. That’s when I asked for advice and got a few recommendations to try the Lemmy Easy Deployment script. I would prefer to have done the from scratch install if there was current documentation and dependencies were available, but if there is I wasn’t finding it. The Docker compose Lemmy install method worked well enough though so I’m happy with that.

Thanks for talking through it with me, everyone. I got it working with a Docker compose install of Lemmy and a non-Docker Mastodon install. Reverse proxy was configured manually in nginx. Mastodon.fdr8.us and Lemmy.fdr8.us are now live! I have some fine tuning to do still and a lot of setup, but I’m happy that they are working. Cheers!

This worked great! Thanks again for the advice! When the from scratch install didn’t work, multiple people suggested the easy deployment script. For my setup the Docker compose deployment was perfect and offered the opportunity for customization I needed. The easy deployment script does look pretty slick though if someone just wants a turnkey setup and wants to dedicate their whole box to it.

I just got it working. I used a Docker install for Lemmy but not for Mastodon and setup reverse proxy manually. I still have some fine tuning to do, but it works! Woot!

My Mom has been running Mint for over a decade now and I rarely have to remote in and help her with anything. If it passes the works for my Mom test, I think it should work for most people.

I agree with you on principle but I’m typing this from Crunchbang++. On servers I go with Debian every time though.

It was once great, back in the glory days. Gnome 2 and Compiz, baby! It’s still OK too, but not my preferred choice.

Yes, it’s very similar in Apache, but different enough for me to feel a little out of my comfort zone. I appreciate the tips.

Thanks for the tips! That sounds like a great approach. I’ll give it a shot.

I have reverse proxy configured for Mastodo using Nginx. It’s the Lemmy Easy Deploy script trying to bind all traffic on port 443 where I run into problems.

Thanks for the advice. I’m actually very experienced with vhosts, but my understanding was that vhosts are an Apache thing and Nginx uses different terminology. Unfortunately I am still very green when it comes to Nginx. What you described is exactly what I intend to implement though, and I believe my Mastodon install is already configured properly for that to work. It’s just the Lemmy Easy Deploy script that tries to bind all traffic on port 443 where I run into problems.

Interesting point. I hadn’t given that any consideration but if my Mastodon/Lemmy plans don’t work out I might give it a shot.