Links:

Demo: https://demo.pluetzner.de
Github: https://github.com/karatektus/pl_mail

Wow, it has been about 3 Weeks now since my last post on r/selfhosted. Since then plMail went from 6 to 470+ stars and from two to about 8 contributors and 2 actual sponsors on github.
THANK YOU!
I've basically worked full time the last three weeks fixing bugs, building new features and reviewing PRs. It's been a blast.

First things first: While I am a PHP Dev for at least ten years, this is built with Claude Code. For more details and discussions about this you can reference my last post: link

What is plMail?

The idea is to replace Gmail. It is about to remove it's gmailify feature which lets you include external mail in the Gmail Client. I've been using it for the last 22 years and really do not want to configure Thunderbird or whatever on all of my devices. Six months ago there really was no alternative for a web based client, which had a unified inbox and supported IMAP and Gmail. So I built my own.

New major features since my last post:

• PGP and S/Mime encryption
• OIDC oAuth Login (including an option to disable password login entirely)
• It's now also a JMAP Client (And a JMAP Server for it's own apps... so yes. you can chain plMail installations. xD)
• Less memory usage through it's own IMAP Client
• More languages: French and simplified chinese
• A lot of smaller stuff

Installation:

On Truenas it's in the Appstore, otherwise it's just:

git clone https://github.com/karatektus/pl_mail.git cd pl_mail docker compose up -d 

The Future

While it has been a lot of fun and I do have time currently I'm also trying to figure out how to justify spending all my time on this project. I'm currently looking for a job, which I've let slide a bit in favour of plMail. As a first step, I will sell the plMail android App on the google play store: It's fairly expensive, but it's also open source, and releases can be downloaded for free on it's github page.
It is very much in development and needs refinement on every corner. So if you're considering buying it: Please see it as a contribution to the project and not as buying a finished product.
Just search for plMail on the playstore if you want to. I'm not posting a link here.

Otherwise this is a very fun project for me and the next majore releases are probably business related. Shared Accounts, User management, etc.
Also a contributor is currently building a calDAV task feature.

If you like it, want other features or find a bug: Feel free to participate on Github :)

Last year I built Docker Compose Maker, It was a super simple website to help you get a fully working docker compose file to get started homelabbing.

Now, one year later I am presenting to you: self-host.fyi, the "v2" of DCM.

I've been contributing to Homarr almost weekly for almost 5 years. Recently I'm preparing to support Sonarr v5 beta and needed to ensure that nothing broke, as well as adding automated tests every week to check that every Homarr integration still works properly with the latest breaking changes from the 91 integrations it supports. We used to mock integrations results so basically the users complaints were the test suite.

For that purpose I made a tool that sets-up these apps in a headless environment and connects them to Homarr. I now run a script weekly on my own homelab that sets-up every one of the 91 integrations with the :latest image and pings me if something broke. I adapted it into a tool that I thought newcomers to self-hosting could enjoy.

Self-host is a complete re-write and addition to DCM / compose.ajnart.dev, it is a simple binary that works for linux, mac, wsl2 & agent skill that aims to get people into self-hosting.
It's just Docker compose underneath. You pick which services you want through a TUI catalog, and it handles not just deploying every containers but also the setup of accounts, API keys & linking apps together.

All your config files and your docker setup is inspectable docker compose files. Think of it like a helper for docker compose for new users, some kind of TUI to manage containers, it's like Dokploy, Portainer or CasaOS but directly inside of your terminal.

The most important change is that it will link apps together. It is able to setup Sonarr for you and set Qbittorrent as the download client automatically, by creating an admin account in Qbittorrent and putting its API key into Sonarr directly. The passwords are automatically generated by default and can be manually defined.

You can have a fully running self-hosted setup going with one command, it comes with a fully-configured dashboard to access all your services from if you want to.

If you've already got your dream homelab running and perfectly tuned, this isn't for you. It is more geared towards people who are looking into getting into self-hosting or who'd want to try out an app in an easy way.
Right now we support 93 self-hosted apps and hopefully that covers most people's use cases.
I've spent extra time to make sure that the SDK the tool uses is super easy to work with so that anyone who knows how to program in Go can suggest additions, there's also a feature to add unsupported apps without coding

website : self-host.fyi
repo : github.com/ajnart/self-host
small presentation video: https://self-host.fyi/#reel

We just crossed 6.5k+ stars in Github and have 150+ amazing developers contributing to the project. We are scaling faster than ever and estimated to 10k+ users who are using SparkyFitness. It could be even more as we don't collect anything and this count is based on active downloads in Github, Google & Apple app stores.

https://github.com/CodeWithCJ/SparkyFitness

I was also able to setup demo site so you can give it a try before you actually install it.

https://demo.sparkyfitness.com/

If you haven't tried SparkyFitness yet, I'd love for you to give it a spin and let us know what you think.

Core Features

• Nutrition, hydration, fasting, barcode, snap picture to log etc.
• Sleep, Mood, Symptom tracking
• Exercise, Workout, GPS run/cycle mapping
  • New Updates
    • Train with run programs: Follow a zone 2 base plan with HR guidance, weekly distance goal etc.
    • Draw routes on map, snap them to roads, generate loops of set distance, follow a saved route on your apple watch.
    • Smart strength workout: Pin the set to do now, swap exercises in a tab, keep your sets when you replace an exercise and load the bar with plate calculator.
    • Heart rate zones: Set your own max and resting HR, zone method and analyze using detailed HR reports
• Body measurement tracking
  • New Updates
    • Log your mood, measurements, progress photo in three quick steps using guided navigation
• Period Cycle, Pregnancy, Medication & GLP1 tracking
• Goal setting and daily check-ins
• Interactive charts and long-term reports
  • New Updates
    • Mobile app includes many reporting in the dashboard view
• Multiple user profiles and family access
• AI Chatbot & MCP Server
• Light and dark themes
• Apple watch & Android companion Apps
• OIDC, TOTP, Passkey, MFA etc.

Please thumbs up Github issues & enhancement request so we know which one to prioritize next. I would like explore following hardware integrations.

• NFC tag for quick water log, food etc.
• Direct integration with smart weight scale (starting with Etekcity) - This way you don't need to send your health details to cloud providers

Health & Device Integrations

SparkyFitness can sync data from multiple health and fitness platforms:

• Apple Health (iOS - iPhone & Apple watch) https://apps.apple.com/us/app/sparkyfitness/id. for latest version use https://testflight.apple.com/join/9Yz8PzpR
• Google Health connect (Android) https://github.com/CodeWithCJ/SparkyFitness/wiki/Android-Mobile-App
• Google Health API
• Fitbit (will be decommissioned as google health API is the replacement)
• Garmin Connect
• Withings
• Polar Flow
• Oura
• Hevy
• OpenFoodFacts
• USDA
• Fatsecret
• Nutritionix
• Mealie
• Tandoor
• Strava (partially tested)
• COROS
• Norish
• Yazio (uses unofficial API)
• Swiss Food Database
• Canadian Nutrient File (Health Canada)
• Swedish Food Agency (Livsmedelsverket)
• Free Exercise DB (Github)
• Wger
• Intervals icu

https://preview.redd.it/gcfggqi90gyh1.png?width=2400&format=png&auto=webp&s=a67d4c34f20af5abd1554a7f22ad9e1782946528

I've been working on Playmat, a fork of XMage (the open-source MTG rules engine) with a browser client, and the main way to run it is self-hosted. It's built for a playgroup that wants its own server.

The stack: four containers from one compose file: the game server, Caddy with automatic HTTPS, a cache for card pictures from Scryfall, and a nightly backup. Images are published for x86 and ARM, so a Pi-class box or a free ARM VPS works. About 1 GB of RAM is enough for a group's evening; there's a small-VPS preset that lowers the limits.

Setup:

git clone https://github.com/arcanite24/playmat.git && cd playmat cp ops/web/.env.example ops/web/.env # set DOMAIN and the owner account docker compose -f ops/web/docker-compose.yml --env-file ops/web/.env up -d 

No domain? There's a LAN mode for a group on one home network. There are also desktop installers if you just want to host for friends on the same Wi-Fi.

Admin side: a web admin console with moderator/admin/owner roles: who's online, reports, the audit log, registration rules, scheduled maintenance with in-game warnings, and an optional one-button update and rollback. It can send Discord notifications and password-reset mail.

What you get as a player: play vs AI or friends with invite links, drafts and sealed with AI filling empty seats, deck import from Moxfield/Archidekt, spectating and replays. Desktop browsers, tablets, and an Android app.

Docs: https://arcanite24.github.io/playmat/docs/server.html
Repo (MIT): https://github.com/arcanite24/playmat

It's a free fan project, not affiliated with Wizards. Feedback on the deployment side especially welcome: what would you want before running it for your group?

https://preview.redd.it/hsbkll9h0gyh1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e3d4e6423fb37b2d2cfa368e3db506d34646fe5

Knew about Plex2Shell, procrastinated, Plex’s LXC CPU spiked to 100%, didn’t pick up on it for 2 days bc host CPU wasn’t particularly concerning. Won’t procrastinate next time.

So I have my fairly old Canon LiDE 60 flatbed scanner, which I need occasionally to scan documents.
This scanner is somewhat like 20 years old!
Despite its age, it's doing its job, and it's doing it quite well.

The biggest issue?
Getting it to work on Windows 11, without setting up a dedicated virtual machine with Windows XP just for this scanner.
I hesitate to get a replacement, because I hate throwing away perfectly working hardware and creating unnecessary e-waste, just because driver support dropped.

What I tried:
- VueScan: The trial version works like a charm. VueScan recognizes the LiDE 60 and the scan results are beautiful, the post-processing is good.
Unfortunately, the trial of VueScan prints a huge watermark overlay, making the scans unusable. I'm absolutely not willing to pay ~ 85 € for this

(heck, even the one-year license for about ~ 25 € is not barely worth it.
For 85 € I can get a new scanner, which is compatible with Windows 11, and for 25 € a used model).
The VueScan pricing is absolutely ridiculous, at least for a bog-standard flatbed scanner (I know they also support film scanners, which is a different story and probably worth the license fee, but absolutely not in my case).

And attempting to find a crack / patcher for VueScan is the best way to get some nice Malware on the machine. The search results are flooded with fakes and I'm not willing to spend my time and taking the risk to find a legit crack.

- Reusing the Windows 7 driver: Well. It used to work until some Windows 10 update. And I haven't managed to get it back it work since then, also not on Windows 11. According to a comment, it's supposed to work, but whatever 💁

- Virtual Machines with VirtualBox: Works with Windows XP as well as Ubuntu. But this solution is fairly slow and inconvenient. Also, wasting at least 20 GB of space for a VM, just as a scanner driver replacement, is crazy. I don't need the VM all the time on my machine, but every new VM setup takes up some time and is annoying.
So, the VM solution is somewhat ok. It does its job. But it feels clumsy and I don't like this approach.

VueScan is out of the game, as is the legacy Windows 7 driver. What is left? Virtualization!
But a VM is somewhat clumsy and heavyweight. I seek a more lightweight and elegant solution.
Like Docker containers.

Can we containerise Linux scanner drivers and expose scanning software through a web interface out of the container? Yes, we can!
And luckily, someone already wrote that software. And also provides a Docker container.
May I introduce scanservjs?

So we have a Docker container with all the required software stack. We just need to connect it wit our scanner and let's go.

Prerequisites / Installations:
- Docker is installed and the WSL 2 backend enabled (this is currently the default engine). Docker must also be running.
- usbpid-win must be installed.

One-time setup:
- Download the Docker container: docker pull sbs20/scanservjs
- Open a terminal with administrator privileges for usbipd.
- List the USB devices and find the busid of the scanner with usbipd list
(the busid is 6-3 of the CanoScan LiDE 60 in this example.
It will be different on your machine! Use the busid of your scanner)

Connected:
BUSID VID:PID DEVICE STATE

1-4 04f2:b71c Integrated Camera, Integrated IR Camera Not shared
3-1 0bda:9210 USB Mass Storage Device Not shared
3-3 27c6:6594 Goodix MOC Fingerprint Not shared
3-4 8087:0029 Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) Not shared
4-1 17ef:3062 Lenovo USB Ethernet Not shared
6-2 17ef:3060 Billboard Device, USB Input Device Not shared
6-3 04a9:221c CanoScan LiDE 60 Not shared
8-2 2c7c:0600 Quectel EM120R-GL, Quectel QMUX Interconnect Not shared

Persisted:
GUID DEVICE
5e1e689d-7ca1-49ff-926d-eebd377bd1a7 USB Serial Device (COM11)
cb0cb49e-40d6-4d3b-9483-0c1f3c175fbf USB Serial Device (COM12), USB Mass Storage Device

- Bind and attach the busid of the scanner to the WSL engine.
usbipd bind --busid 6-3
usbipd attach --wsl --busid 6-3

The output should be somewhat like that:
usbipd: info: Using WSL distribution 'Ubuntu-26.04' to attach; the device will be available in all WSL 2 distributions.
usbipd: info: Detected networking mode 'nat'.
usbipd: info: Using IP address 172.23.64.1 to reach the host.

- Check the binding with usbipd list. The scanner should be in the state Attached now.

Connected:
BUSID VID:PID DEVICE STATE

1-4 04f2:b71c Integrated Camera, Integrated IR Camera Not shared
3-1 0bda:9210 USB Mass Storage Device Not shared
3-3 27c6:6594 Goodix MOC Fingerprint Not shared
3-4 8087:0029 Intel(R) Wireless Bluetooth(R) Not shared
4-1 17ef:3062 Lenovo USB Ethernet Not shared
6-2 17ef:3060 Billboard Device, USB Input Device Not shared
6-3 04a9:221c CanoScan LiDE 60 Attached
8-2 2c7c:0600 Quectel EM120R-GL, Quectel QMUX Interconnect Not shared

Persisted:
GUID DEVICE
5e1e689d-7ca1-49ff-926d-eebd377bd1a7 USB Serial Device (COM11)
cb0cb49e-40d6-4d3b-9483-0c1f3c175fbf USB Serial Device (COM12), USB Mass Storage Device

Scanning:
- Run the Docker container: docker run -d -p 8080:8080 --privileged sbs20/scanservjs
- Open http://localhost:8080/ in your browser and enjoy using your old scanner. No need to throw away fully working hardware.

Scanned handwriting: Scanned on a Canon Lide 60 on Windows 11 with scanservjs and Docker

How does this work?
The foundation is the SANE driver for Linux. Your scanner must be supported by SANE, otherwise this whole setup won't work.
usbipd is used to redirect your USB device through USB/IP to the WSL 2 engine. The USB redirect is not just for your default WSL distribution, it's also available to all Docker containers. You can verify this by executing e.g. lsusb from within a Docker container.

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 04a9:221c Canon, Inc. CanoScan LiDE 60
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

Related Resources:
- https://www.geckoandfly.com/7569/canon-lide-scanner-and-printer-driver-for-microsoft-windows-7-64-bit/
- https://www.schraegstrichpunkt.de/canon-canoscan-lide-50-unter-windows-7-64-bit
- https://www.bachmann-lan.de/canon-lide-60-unter-windows-10/
- https://www.bentasker.co.uk/posts/blog/opinion/scanners-old-hardware-and-the-environment.html

This has been quite the learning experience for me. I knew absolutely nothing at the start of this, although I had a pretty good background understanding of computers in general, but only with Windows machines. I just knew I wanted to take back control of my data.

I installed TrueNAS on an old i7 3770k system with 32GB of DDR3 RAM.

At first, I (heavily) used AI to help me with installing community apps, navigating the file system and permissions because I just didn't understand it. As I went, I learned more and more and went well beyond where I expected to stop.

Fast forward to now, I have a pretty good understanding of Linux and Docker in general. I ditched Windows on two other machines in favor of CachyOS and Ubuntu, and I am using those other two machines to run services complementing my server stack.

My thoughts:

• Docker is amazing. I am in constant awe of the capabilities that Docker has and really how easy it is to use once you understand how it works.
• Don't expose your services to the internet if you can help it. I have Ubiquiti hardware so everything is utilized via VPN when I am away from home.
• Physical disks will fail. I lost two drives during this time. One showed bad sectors after maybe 3 months, and its replacement was DoA. Luckily, I did not lose any data, but I do offsite backups to Backblaze weekly, my app pool is mirrored to another disk inside the server as well as pushed via rsync weekly to my CachyOS and Ubuntu systems.
• Learn how to use the shell and shell commands.
• Problems with things are permissions related 99% of the time.
• The "arr" stack is amazing. It's like magic.

Thanks for reading.

My current setup... and I'm getting so much satisfaction out of it!

Everything is running smoothly, 3-2-1 backups are in place and working, remote monitoring is set up, and even my wife is happy with KitchenOwl for recipes and Watcharr! :)

It's honestly amazing how much fun self-hosting can be.