<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"><channel><title>Keep it yours on isoul.uk</title><link>https://isoul.uk/</link><description>Recent content in Keep it yours on isoul.uk</description><generator>Hugo -- gohugo.io</generator><language>en-GB</language><copyright>© 2026</copyright><lastBuildDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2026 09:32:00 +0000</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://isoul.uk/index.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title>If you want us to buy games, let us keep them</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/if-you-want-us-to-buy-games-let-us-keep-them/</link><pubDate>Sun, 08 Nov 2026 09:32:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/if-you-want-us-to-buy-games-let-us-keep-them/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;I grew up with PlayStation discs. You bought a game, took it home, put it on the shelf and could still pick it up years later. You could lend it to someone or sell it when you were finished. That was part of the appeal, not a technicality.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So Sony reminding PlayStation customers that software is &lt;em&gt;licensed, not sold&lt;/em&gt; lands badly with me. Its &lt;a href="https://www.playstation.com/en-gb/legal/software-eula/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;UK software terms&lt;/a&gt; say plainly that the software is not sold for you to own. That may describe how game software has been licensed for years, but spelling it out while asking full price for downloads does not make the purchase feel more secure. It makes me ask what, exactly, my money guarantees.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>I Finished Storm Front. I Loved Dresden, But Getting There Was a Slog</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/storm-front-audiobook-dresden-slog/</link><pubDate>Sat, 07 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/storm-front-audiobook-dresden-slog/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spoiler notice:&lt;/strong&gt; The first part avoids the central mystery. A clearly marked section below discusses the culprit and the ending of &lt;em&gt;Storm Front&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;It took me weeks to finish &lt;em&gt;Storm Front&lt;/em&gt;. That feels like an odd thing to say about a book featuring a wizard who gets hit with a baseball bat, visits a vampire and cannot even have a date without a demon turning up. There was plenty here that made me laugh, and the final stretch was genuinely fun. But getting there was a slog.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>JankStation: Building a £0 Home Cinema from Forgotten Tech</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/jankstation-zero-pound-home-cinema/</link><pubDate>Thu, 05 Nov 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/jankstation-zero-pound-home-cinema/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;No budget. No upgrades. Just vibes.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;ve spent enough time chasing new gadgets, tuning my homelab and looking for the next thing to configure. This time, I wanted the opposite: a little corner in my office where I could switch off, put on a film, watch some anime or play an old game.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I didn&amp;rsquo;t want to buy a new TV or sound system. I wanted to see what I could make with things I already owned.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Why I Name My Computers</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-all-my-computers-have-names/</link><pubDate>Mon, 02 Nov 2026 19:14:39 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-all-my-computers-have-names/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-i-started-wanting-my-data-back/" &gt;Why I Started Wanting My Data Back&lt;/a&gt; — two decades of online accounts accumulate quietly until an account stops feeling like an account and starts feeling like infrastructure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Some people name servers after their function.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;docker01&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;nas01&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;code&gt;backup02&lt;/code&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is sensible.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I name my machines after spaceships from stories I love.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is less sensible.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;A homelab is already unnecessary enough
 &lt;div id="a-homelab-is-already-unnecessary-enough" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#a-homelab-is-already-unnecessary-enough" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Most of what I run at home could be replaced with hosted services.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Why I Started Wanting My Data Back</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-i-started-wanting-my-data-back/</link><pubDate>Mon, 26 Oct 2026 15:54:11 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-i-started-wanting-my-data-back/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/from-veoh-and-justintv-to-self-hosting-my-own-media/" &gt;From Veoh and Justin.tv to Self-Hosting My Own Media&lt;/a&gt; — streaming solved the convenience problem, but it did not solve the ownership problem.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;For a long time I treated online accounts as permanent.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Why wouldn&amp;rsquo;t I?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I had used the same main account for roughly two decades. Over that kind of period an account stops feeling like an account and starts feeling like infrastructure.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Email goes there.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>From Veoh and Justin.tv to Self-Hosting My Own Media</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/from-veoh-and-justintv-to-self-hosting-my-own-media/</link><pubDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2026 16:34:04 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/from-veoh-and-justintv-to-self-hosting-my-own-media/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-i-self-host/" &gt;Why I Self-Host&lt;/a&gt; — a technical curiosity became a practical choice about ownership, privacy, learning and keeping data in systems I control.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;It is slightly ridiculous that one line can connect watching anime on Veoh around 2007 with running Docker containers on a mini PC in my house today.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But there is a line.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Back then, I was interested in one thing: finding something I wanted to watch.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Why I Self-Host</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-i-self-host/</link><pubDate>Mon, 19 Oct 2026 15:14:26 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/why-i-self-host/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/the-internet-used-to-feel-different/" &gt;The Internet Used to Feel Different&lt;/a&gt; — forums had addresses, communities had places and discovery was active before feeds took over.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;There are much easier ways to use technology than self-hosting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If I want photo storage, somebody will sell it to me.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If I need file sync, there are dozens of services.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If I want media streaming, I can pay a subscription and install an app.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Instead, I have ended up with NASes, Docker hosts, virtual machines, DNS servers, monitoring, backups and enough cables to make the &amp;ldquo;easy&amp;rdquo; option look extremely sensible.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Deathly Hallows Brings the Whole Journey Home</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/deathly-hallows-brings-the-whole-journey-home/</link><pubDate>Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/deathly-hallows-brings-the-whole-journey-home/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on iSoul:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/media/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-full-cast-audiobook/" &gt;&lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince&lt;/em&gt; — The Magic Grows Up&lt;/a&gt; — the full-cast audiobook brought out the story&amp;rsquo;s humour, relationships and gathering darkness before the final journey.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Seven books later, I&amp;rsquo;ve finally finished Harry Potter.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Listening to the full-cast audiobook of &lt;em&gt;Deathly Hallows&lt;/em&gt; made the end of the journey feel very different from the wonder of &lt;em&gt;Philosopher&amp;rsquo;s Stone&lt;/em&gt;. The ordinary school days, lessons, feasts and Quidditch matches are mostly gone. Harry, Ron and Hermione are no longer children discovering magic. They&amp;rsquo;re trying to finish the task Dumbledore left behind while the world they know falls apart around them.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>The Internet Used to Feel Different</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/the-internet-used-to-feel-different/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2026 18:40:27 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/the-internet-used-to-feel-different/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/discovering-anime-on-the-wild-internet-of-2007/" &gt;Discovering Anime on the Wild Internet of 2007&lt;/a&gt; — the internet stopped being a reference tool and became the place we went to find what to watch next.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;rsquo;t think the old internet was necessarily better.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It was slower, less reliable, full of broken links and often much harder to use.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But it did feel different.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The easiest way I can describe it is that I used to feel as though I was moving through the internet. Today it often feels as though the internet moves through a handful of feeds towards me.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Discovering Anime on the Wild Internet of 2007</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/discovering-anime-on-the-wild-internet-of-2007/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:48:02 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/discovering-anime-on-the-wild-internet-of-2007/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/how-toonami-changed-what-i-watched/" &gt;How Toonami Changed What I Watched&lt;/a&gt; — television opened the door before the internet showed me how much anime existed beyond the British schedules.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;That next phase began with &lt;em&gt;Naruto&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Toonami had taught me to recognise anime as something distinct, but &lt;em&gt;Naruto&lt;/em&gt; was the point when somebody effectively said to me, &amp;ldquo;This is anime. Watch this.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That somebody was my brother. We started watching it online, beyond whatever British television happened to schedule, and I fell in properly.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — The Magic Grows Up</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-full-cast-audiobook/</link><pubDate>Mon, 12 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/harry-potter-half-blood-prince-full-cast-audiobook/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Major spoilers for &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince&lt;/em&gt;, with references to later Harry Potter instalments, follow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previous:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/media/order-of-the-phoenix-audiobook-thoughts-final/" &gt;Order of the Phoenix Is About the Life Around the Story&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;rsquo;ve finished &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince&lt;/em&gt;, and I&amp;rsquo;m not ready to rank it. It&amp;rsquo;s still lingering in my head.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I fell in love with the original sense of magic: discovering Hogwarts, meeting its ghosts, learning about strange lessons and hidden passages, and watching three children find their place in an extraordinary world. I still love the smaller details — Nearly Headless Nick&amp;rsquo;s Deathday Party, Peeves creating chaos, Filch secretly trying to learn magic, and all those little corners of Hogwarts the films never had time to explore.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Order of the Phoenix Is About the Life Around the Story</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/order-of-the-phoenix-audiobook-thoughts-final/</link><pubDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/order-of-the-phoenix-audiobook-thoughts-final/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previous:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/media/harry-potter-goblet-of-fire-full-cast-audiobook/" &gt;Goblet of Fire Is Where Harry Potter&amp;rsquo;s World Opens Up&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;The life around the main story
 &lt;div id="the-life-around-the-main-story" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#the-life-around-the-main-story" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix&lt;/em&gt; follows Harry through his fifth year at Hogwarts after Voldemort&amp;rsquo;s return. Much of the wizarding world does not want to believe him. The Ministry begins interfering heavily with Hogwarts, Harry becomes increasingly isolated and angry, and the school year turns into a mixture of exams, politics, friendships, rumours, punishment and resistance. At the same time, strange dreams and visions seem to connect him more closely to Voldemort.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026) — Big Potatoes, Small Potatoes</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/spider-man-brand-new-day-2026-review/</link><pubDate>Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/spider-man-brand-new-day-2026-review/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Another Spider-Man film, another miserable time for Peter Parker. Some things never change.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Major spoilers for &lt;em&gt;Spider-Man: Brand New Day&lt;/em&gt; follow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Peter keeps going
 &lt;div id="peter-keeps-going" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#peter-keeps-going" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Spider-Man: Brand New Day&lt;/em&gt; finds Peter living with the consequences of losing everyone closest to him. Aunt May is gone, while MJ and Ned no longer remember who he is. He carries on being Spider-Man, but he&amp;rsquo;s clearly struggling to move forward. That&amp;rsquo;s the Peter Parker I&amp;rsquo;ve always known: capable of saving everyone else, yet rarely able to sort his own life out.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>How Toonami Changed What I Watched</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/how-toonami-changed-what-i-watched/</link><pubDate>Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/how-toonami-changed-what-i-watched/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/when-renting-a-movie-was-an-event/" &gt;When Renting a Movie Was an Event&lt;/a&gt; — the ritual, artwork and scarcity of rented VHS tapes made individual films matter in a way that streaming has made difficult to remember.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;I watched anime before I really knew what anime was.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Like a lot of children growing up in the 1990s, &lt;em&gt;Pokémon&lt;/em&gt; was simply a cartoon on television. &lt;em&gt;Sailor Moon&lt;/em&gt; was another show. I wasn&amp;rsquo;t thinking about where they came from, how they were produced or whether they belonged to a separate medium.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Goblet of Fire Is Where Harry Potter's World Opens Up</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/harry-potter-goblet-of-fire-full-cast-audiobook/</link><pubDate>Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/harry-potter-goblet-of-fire-full-cast-audiobook/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Major spoilers for &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire&lt;/em&gt; follow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previous:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/it-only-took-me-twenty-odd-years-to-listen-to-harry-potter/" &gt;It Only Took Me Twenty-Odd Years to Listen to Harry Potter&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have finished the full-cast audiobook of &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire&lt;/em&gt;, and this might be the book where I finally understood how much the films had to leave behind.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I knew the main story, of course. The Triwizard Tournament, the graveyard, Voldemort&amp;rsquo;s return: none of that was new to me. What surprised me was how much life exists between those events. There are more conversations, more side stories and much more time inside Harry&amp;rsquo;s head. Hogwarts feels busy in a way it rarely does on screen.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Digital was supposed to be better</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/digital-was-supposed-to-be-better/</link><pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/digital-was-supposed-to-be-better/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;In 2011, Valve co-founder Gabe Newell said something about piracy that has stuck with me:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Piracy is almost always a service problem and not a pricing problem.&amp;rdquo;&lt;sup id="fnref:1"&gt;&lt;a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref"&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;His point was fairly simple. If an unauthorised service is easier to use than the one selling the product, the seller has a problem.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At the time, that could mean waiting months for something to reach your country, dealing with region locks or restrictive DRM, or hunting down a physical copy while an unauthorised version was already online.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Mushoku Tensei Season 3, Part 1: The World Keeps Moving Beyond Rudeus</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/mushoku-tensei-season-3-part-1/</link><pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/mushoku-tensei-season-3-part-1/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Major spoilers for &lt;em&gt;Mushoku Tensei&lt;/em&gt; Season 3, Part 1 follow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Mushoku Tensei&lt;/em&gt; has trained me to fear two words: &lt;strong&gt;Turning Point&lt;/strong&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The moment they appear, I know something has changed. The consequences may not arrive immediately, and I may not understand what has shifted until much later, but Rudeus&amp;rsquo;s life will not continue in quite the same direction.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Season 3&amp;rsquo;s first part might be the strongest example of that so far, partly because it spends so much time on quieter lives before showing how badly they can be broken.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Why Reacher's Formula Still Works for Me</title><link>https://isoul.uk/media/reacher-season-4/</link><pubDate>Thu, 01 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/media/reacher-season-4/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Spoilers for &lt;em&gt;Reacher&lt;/em&gt; Season 4 follow.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;One criticism I keep seeing about &lt;em&gt;Reacher&lt;/em&gt; is that it is formulaic, and that is fair. Reacher turns up somewhere new, realises something is wrong and gets involved with a group of strangers. Before long, he has uncovered something much bigger than anyone expected and has to deal with it through investigation, instinct and the fact that he is considerably larger than almost everyone else.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>When Renting a Movie Was an Event</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/when-renting-a-movie-was-an-event/</link><pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/when-renting-a-movie-was-an-event/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/it-only-took-me-twenty-odd-years-to-listen-to-harry-potter/" &gt;It Only Took Me Twenty-Odd Years to Listen to Harry Potter&lt;/a&gt; — a Year 6 recommendation I ignored finally found me through audiobooks more than twenty years later.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;There was a time when watching a particular film began with somebody leaving the house.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My brothers would go to Blockbuster or one of the local video shops and return carrying whatever the household would be watching. I was younger and not always part of the choice, but that only made their return more interesting. A film did not simply appear in a menu. It arrived through the front door.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>A Careful Self-Hosted Music Discovery Pipeline</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/a-careful-self-hosted-music-discovery-pipeline/</link><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/a-careful-self-hosted-music-discovery-pipeline/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A self-hosted music library is good at playing music I already know. Spotify and Apple Music are good at answering a different question: &lt;strong&gt;what should I listen to next?&lt;/strong&gt; The usual bargain is that they learn my habits, keep the recommendation system on their servers, and make discovery part of a subscription catalogue I do not control.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I wanted to separate those things. Navidrome could remain the player for music I keep locally, while an open recommendation service could learn from my listening and suggest unfamiliar artists. Most importantly, a recommendation would still be a suggestion rather than an instruction to collect another album.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>The Quiet Work Behind Owning Your Media</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/the-quiet-work-behind-owning-your-media/</link><pubDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/the-quiet-work-behind-owning-your-media/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Installing a media server is the easy part.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It may not feel easy the first time. There are unfamiliar settings, folders that refuse to appear and devices that behave differently for no obvious reason. Eventually, though, the application starts. A film plays on the television. An album appears on a phone. The small thrill of having built something useful is real.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For a while, that can feel like the finished project.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>It Only Took Me Twenty-Odd Years to Listen to Harry Potter</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/it-only-took-me-twenty-odd-years-to-listen-to-harry-potter/</link><pubDate>Thu, 24 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/it-only-took-me-twenty-odd-years-to-listen-to-harry-potter/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Sometime in the late 1990s, my Year 6 teacher recommended that our class read &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Philosopher&amp;rsquo;s Stone&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I ignored her.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It wasn&amp;rsquo;t a protest against Harry Potter. I wasn&amp;rsquo;t taking a principled stand against wizards, boarding schools or popular books. I simply wasn&amp;rsquo;t a reader. A teacher telling the class that a book was worth reading was not enough to make eleven-year-old me pick it up.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;More than twenty years later, I have just finished listening to &lt;em&gt;Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Growing Up in a House Where the TV Was Always On</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/growing-up-in-a-house-where-the-tv-was-always-on/</link><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/growing-up-in-a-house-where-the-tv-was-always-on/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;I grew up in a house where the television always seemed to be on.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There were a lot of us at home: older siblings, a younger brother, my parents, and me somewhere in the middle of all of it. Looking back, that probably explains why so many of my memories are tied to screens. There was nearly always somebody watching something, playing something, recording something or arguing over what was going on next.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>How I Watch Without Hoarding</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/how-i-watch-without-hoarding/</link><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/how-i-watch-without-hoarding/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;I keep a media library, and I try to be honest with myself about what it is for: making the films and shows I actually want to watch available in my own home, without turning the hard drives into a warehouse of everything I once thought I might watch.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A library without a policy drifts. Every new thing looks like something worth keeping, the disks fill, and I end up curating storage instead of watching films. So the watching policy is small enough to remember:&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>I Grew Up a Trekkie Before I Really Knew Star Wars</title><link>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/i-grew-up-a-trekkie-before-i-really-knew-star-wars/</link><pubDate>Tue, 22 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/off-the-stack/i-grew-up-a-trekkie-before-i-really-knew-star-wars/</guid><description>&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Previously on isoul.uk:&lt;/strong&gt; We grew up in a house where the television was always on — older siblings, wrestling tapes, sci-fi reruns and films brought back from the video shop. Television wasn&amp;rsquo;t background noise. It was the recommendation engine.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a slightly odd thing about my childhood relationship with science fiction: I remember &lt;em&gt;Star Trek&lt;/em&gt; far more clearly than I remember &lt;em&gt;Star Wars&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That isn&amp;rsquo;t because &lt;em&gt;Star Wars&lt;/em&gt; was obscure. It obviously wasn&amp;rsquo;t. It just wasn&amp;rsquo;t the centre of science fiction in our house.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Backup, synchronisation or preservation?</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/backup-synchronisation-or-preservation/</link><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:05:00 +0100</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/backup-synchronisation-or-preservation/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A copy of a file is not automatically a backup, and a backup is not automatically a preservation system. Self-hosting becomes much easier to reason about when these three jobs are kept separate.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Synchronisation keeps copies convenient
 &lt;div id="synchronisation-keeps-copies-convenient" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#synchronisation-keeps-copies-convenient" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Synchronisation keeps data available on more than one device. Syncthing is useful for this kind of direct device synchronisation, and it makes working files available where I need them.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>What I choose not to self-host</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/what-i-choose-not-to-self-host/</link><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 10:00:00 +0100</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/what-i-choose-not-to-self-host/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Self-hosting is often presented as an answer to every problem. I do not think it is.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A service can be open source, privacy-friendly and technically interesting while still being the wrong thing for me to operate. Every service adds updates, storage, monitoring, backups, permissions and another failure mode. The aim is not to recreate every cloud product at home. The aim is to keep control where control is valuable without turning the homelab into a second job.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Enshittification and the case for self-hosting</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/enshittification-and-the-case-for-self-hosting/</link><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/enshittification-and-the-case-for-self-hosting/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Self-hosting is becoming more interesting for a reason that has little to do with fashionable infrastructure. People are discovering that services they relied on can become worse while they are still using them.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Features disappear. Prices change. Limits arrive. Advertising takes over. A product that began as useful becomes harder to use, less private or dependent on an account that can be closed.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Cory Doctorow calls this process &lt;strong&gt;enshittification&lt;/strong&gt;. In &lt;em&gt;Enshittification: Why Everything Suddenly Got Worse and What to Do About It&lt;/em&gt;, he argues that platforms can first attract users with convenience, then lock in users and businesses before shifting value away from both groups.&lt;sup id="fnref:1"&gt;&lt;a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref"&gt;1&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt; The Creative Salon article supplied alongside this book is another useful reference point for the discussion.&lt;sup id="fnref:2"&gt;&lt;a href="#fn:2" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref"&gt;2&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Projects worth testing in a practical homelab</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/projects-worth-testing-in-a-practical-homelab/</link><pubDate>Mon, 14 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/projects-worth-testing-in-a-practical-homelab/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A useful project is not automatically worth adding just because it is new, popular or active on GitHub. I look for a clear problem, sensible deployment, useful documentation, a workable backup path and enough maintenance history to justify the time spent learning it.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This list deliberately excludes tools already used here, including Beszel, Dockhand and &lt;code&gt;youtube-dl&lt;/code&gt; workflows. Karakeep is also excluded as a recommendation because it is already in use and has proved to be good in practice.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>A simple personal archive</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/a-simple-personal-archive/</link><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/a-simple-personal-archive/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A resilient archive starts with the things you would genuinely miss. Do not begin by downloading everything. Begin with an inventory.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;The KISS version
 &lt;div id="the-kiss-version" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#the-kiss-version" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Keep the original files where possible.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Use common formats such as PDF, FLAC, MP4 and JPEG.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Keep one working copy and at least one backup.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Store a second backup somewhere different.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Check that backups can actually be opened.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Review the setup once or twice a year.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Preservation is not about collecting for its own sake. It is about keeping reasonable access to things you bought, created or were given permission to keep.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Self-hosting without the rabbit hole</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/self-hosting-without-the-rabbit-hole/</link><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/self-hosting-without-the-rabbit-hole/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Self-hosting does not have to mean building a data centre. Start with one service that solves a real problem: a media library, photo backup, password manager or notes system.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Keep the design boring:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ol&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Use hardware you already own.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Run one service at a time.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Keep application data separate from the operating system.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Back up configuration and irreplaceable files.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Test restoring something before you need it.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Use friendly local names and HTTPS.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Document the few commands that matter.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ol&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The goal is not to replace every cloud service. The goal is to make sure a company closing an account does not erase your only copy of your life.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Why digital ownership matters</title><link>https://isoul.uk/posts/digital-ownership-matters/</link><pubDate>Fri, 11 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/posts/digital-ownership-matters/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A disc on a shelf is not perfect, but it is understandable. I can see it, lend it, play it without signing in and decide when to replace it. A digital item tied to an account, region, server or changing licence is different: I may have paid for access without receiving lasting control.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For a long time, that distinction felt mostly theoretical to me. Then I had to recover years of family photographs.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>About</title><link>https://isoul.uk/about/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/about/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;isoul.uk is a personal notebook about digital ownership, privacy, self-hosting and preservation — and a place where personal stories about growing up with technology sit alongside the practical notes.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The approach is deliberately simple:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Keep a local copy where practical.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Prefer open formats and exportable data.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Use services that can be moved or restored.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Back up before experimenting.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Do not expose services unnecessarily.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Choose boring, understandable technology.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is not legal advice, and it is not a piracy download site. It is a place to discuss why access can disappear and how ordinary people can reduce unnecessary dependence on platforms.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>My app shelf</title><link>https://isoul.uk/app-shelf/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/app-shelf/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;This is a record of practical choices in my own setup, not a catalogue of every available project. I prefer software that is understandable, documented, exportable and possible to restore. The shelf is grouped by where I run it; it deliberately does &lt;strong&gt;not&lt;/strong&gt; document or recommend the Arr stack.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Last reviewed: 27 September 2026.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Main PC — Fedora and KDE
 &lt;div id="main-pc--fedora-and-kde" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#main-pc--fedora-and-kde" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div class="app-shelf-table"&gt;
 &lt;table&gt;
	&lt;thead&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;th&gt;Need&lt;/th&gt;
					&lt;th&gt;App&lt;/th&gt;
					&lt;th&gt;Experience and notes&lt;/th&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
	&lt;/thead&gt;
	&lt;tbody&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Desktop operating system&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://fedoraproject.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Fedora Linux&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;My main Linux desktop and the base for daily work.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Desktop environment&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://kde.org/plasma-desktop/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;KDE Plasma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;The desktop environment I use on the PC.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;AI-assisted maintenance&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/NousResearch/hermes-agent" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Hermes Agent&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Used from the terminal to inspect, document and safely maintain the workstation and homelab.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Device synchronisation&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://syncthing.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Syncthing&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Direct synchronisation between devices.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Hosted file synchronisation&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://nextcloud.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Nextcloud&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;The desktop client keeps selected folders synchronised with storage I control.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Notes&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://simplenote.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Simplenote&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;The notes service I use.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
	&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;/div&gt;


&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Always-on Docker host
 &lt;div id="always-on-docker-host" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#always-on-docker-host" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;div class="app-shelf-table"&gt;
 &lt;table&gt;
	&lt;thead&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;th&gt;Need&lt;/th&gt;
					&lt;th&gt;App&lt;/th&gt;
					&lt;th&gt;Experience and notes&lt;/th&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
	&lt;/thead&gt;
	&lt;tbody&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Local HTTPS and reverse proxy&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://caddyserver.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Caddy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Provides the friendly HTTPS routes used by the local services.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Local DNS&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://coredns.io/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;CoreDNS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Maps the homelab service names to the local services.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Photos and phone backups&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://immich.app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Immich&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;The main photo and video library; the live data is stored on the primary NAS.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Films and television playback&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://jellyfin.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Jellyfin&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Personal media access without depending on one streaming service.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Music&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.navidrome.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Navidrome&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Streams the music collection I control.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Audiobooks and podcasts&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.audiobookshelf.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Audiobookshelf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Provides access to audiobooks and podcasts.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Book and document reading&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.kavitareader.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Kavita&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Used for reading material and library access.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Personal document management&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/papra-hq/papra" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Papra&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;The document application I currently use.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Bookmarks and saved web content&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/karakeep-app/karakeep" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Karakeep&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;A project I actively use and rate positively for keeping bookmarks, notes and saved material.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Service monitoring&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Uptime Kuma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Used in the lab for service monitoring.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;RSS reader&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://freshrss.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;FreshRSS&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Current RSS reader on my stack.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Container and server monitoring&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/henrygd/beszel" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Beszel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Used for server and PC information with a useful lightweight interface.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Network device monitoring&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/netalertx/NetAlertX" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;NetAlertX&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Used to see what is connected and active on the homelab network.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Container update visibility&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/getwud/wud" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;What&amp;rsquo;s Up Docker&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Checks container images and sends update notifications without taking over Compose management.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Notifications&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://gotify.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Gotify&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Receives local health and update notifications.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Container API isolation&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/Tecnativa/docker-socket-proxy" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Docker Socket Proxy&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Keeps monitoring access to Docker&amp;rsquo;s socket narrower than exposing the raw socket directly.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Homelab dashboard&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/glanceapp/glance" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Glance&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Provides a single local dashboard for the services and useful links.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;PDF tools&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/alam00000/bentopdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;BentoPDF&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;A lightweight PDF tool I prefer over heavier platforms.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Ebook library&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/janeczku/calibre-web" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Calibre-Web&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Testing whether a Kindle can download books directly; separate from the audiobook workflow.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Authorised web-media downloads&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/alexta69/metube" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;MeTube&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;A simple web interface around yt-dlp for material I am authorised to download or archive.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
			&lt;tr&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Network access&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;&lt;a href="https://tailscale.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Tailscale&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
					&lt;td&gt;Used for private access between trusted devices; it is not treated as a replacement for local DNS or backups.&lt;/td&gt;
			&lt;/tr&gt;
	&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;

&lt;/div&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The Docker host also runs other media-management components. They are intentionally not listed here as recommendations; this shelf is about the services I use and the roles they fill, not about promoting an Arr-based workflow.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>New to homelabs? Start here</title><link>https://isoul.uk/getting-started/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/getting-started/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;A homelab is not a competition. You do not need a rack full of servers, a dozen virtual machines or the latest enterprise hardware. You need a problem worth solving, hardware you already have, and a way back when something goes wrong.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;My starting point
 &lt;div id="my-starting-point" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#my-starting-point" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;My homelab journey started with FreeNAS decades ago. At the time, the idea was simple: keep files on my own hardware instead of relying entirely on someone else&amp;rsquo;s computer.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>Resources</title><link>https://isoul.uk/resources/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/resources/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;These are links I find useful. Start small: choose one problem, one service and one backup plan.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Self-hosting and privacy
 &lt;div id="self-hosting-and-privacy" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#self-hosting-and-privacy" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://github.com/awesome-selfhosted/awesome-selfhosted" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Awesome Self-Hosted&lt;/a&gt; — a large catalogue of free and open-source self-hosted software.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.privacyguides.org/en/self-hosting/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Privacy Guides: Self-hosting&lt;/a&gt; — practical privacy-focused guidance.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://alternativeto.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;AlternativeTo&lt;/a&gt; — find alternatives to commercial software.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://docs.docker.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Docker documentation&lt;/a&gt; — containers and compose.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;People and forums worth following
 &lt;div id="people-and-forums-worth-following" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#people-and-forums-worth-following" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://forum.level1techs.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Level1Techs forum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://forums.lawrencesystems.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Lawrence Systems forum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://forums.serverbuilds.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;SERVERBUILDS.net forum&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Media and personal data
 &lt;div id="media-and-personal-data" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#media-and-personal-data" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://jellyfin.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Jellyfin&lt;/a&gt; — personal media server.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://immich.app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Immich&lt;/a&gt; — personal photo and video library.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.audiobookshelf.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Audiobookshelf&lt;/a&gt; — audiobooks and podcasts.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.navidrome.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Navidrome&lt;/a&gt; — personal music server.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://syncthing.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Syncthing&lt;/a&gt; — direct device synchronisation.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://restic.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Restic&lt;/a&gt; — encrypted, verifiable backups.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Preservation and rights
 &lt;div id="preservation-and-rights" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#preservation-and-rights" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://digitalpreservation.gov/personalarchiving/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Library of Congress: Personal Digital Archiving&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.loc.gov/preservation/resources/rfs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Library of Congress: Recommended Formats&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://archive.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Internet Archive&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.eff.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;EFF&lt;/a&gt; — digital rights and civil liberties.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rights-for-consumers-when-buying-digital-content" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;UK digital content rights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;</description></item><item><title>Review method</title><link>https://isoul.uk/review-method/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/review-method/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;Automation may find a project, but it cannot decide whether it belongs on this site.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Checklist
 &lt;div id="checklist" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#checklist" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Before recommending anything, check:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Official project website and source repository&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Clear open-source licence&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;At least six months of meaningful maintenance where possible&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;More than a single initial release&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Documentation that explains installation and recovery&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Issues and pull requests receiving reasonable responses&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Data export or standard formats&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A usable exit path if the provider changes pricing, access or licence&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Backup and restore instructions&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Security history and release process&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Resource requirements and update risk&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A real test, or an honest statement that it has not been tested&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Statuses
 &lt;div id="statuses" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#statuses" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watching&lt;/strong&gt; means interesting but unproven. &lt;strong&gt;Worth testing&lt;/strong&gt; means it has passed a basic review but has not yet earned a recommendation. &lt;strong&gt;Recommended&lt;/strong&gt; means it has been tested or examined carefully enough for normal use. &lt;strong&gt;Rejected&lt;/strong&gt; means there is a reason not to recommend it currently.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>What I’m doing</title><link>https://isoul.uk/projects/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/projects/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;This site documents a real-world attempt to keep useful services, media and personal data under local control.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Current focus
 &lt;div id="current-focus" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#current-focus" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;A small self-hosted Docker environment&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Local media access with Jellyfin&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Personal photo storage with Immich&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Music and audiobook services&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Local DNS and HTTPS&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Encrypted backups and recovery checks&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;Monitoring without automatic updates&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The goal is not to replace every cloud service. It is to avoid making any one company the only place where an important service or copy of a file exists.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item><item><title>What’s new</title><link>https://isoul.uk/watchlist/</link><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000</pubDate><guid>https://isoul.uk/watchlist/</guid><description>&lt;p&gt;This is a &lt;strong&gt;watchlist&lt;/strong&gt;, not an automatic recommendation engine. New projects are collected for review first. Nothing should be treated as recommended until it has been checked.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Last reviewed: 27 September 2026.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Review status
 &lt;div id="review-status" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#review-status" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Recommended&lt;/strong&gt; — tested or carefully reviewed and suitable for normal use.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Worth testing&lt;/strong&gt; — promising, but still needs hands-on testing.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Watching&lt;/strong&gt; — interesting or early; not ready to recommend.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;li&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Rejected&lt;/strong&gt; — reviewed and not suitable at this time.&lt;/li&gt;
&lt;/ul&gt;

&lt;h2 class="relative group"&gt;Already recommended or in active use
 &lt;div id="already-recommended-or-in-active-use" class="anchor"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 
 &lt;span
 class="absolute top-0 w-6 transition-opacity opacity-0 -start-6 not-prose group-hover:opacity-100 select-none"&gt;
 &lt;a class="text-primary-300 dark:text-neutral-700 !no-underline" href="#already-recommended-or-in-active-use" aria-label="Anchor"&gt;#&lt;/a&gt;
 &lt;/span&gt;
 
&lt;/h2&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href="https://jellyfin.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Jellyfin&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://immich.app/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Immich&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://syncthing.net/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Syncthing&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Uptime Kuma&lt;/a&gt;, &lt;a href="https://github.com/henrygd/beszel/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Beszel&lt;/a&gt; and &lt;a href="https://github.com/karakeep-app/karakeep" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer"&gt;Karakeep&lt;/a&gt; are in active use. Their notes are on the &lt;a href="https://isoul.uk/app-shelf/" &gt;app shelf&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;</description></item></channel></rss>