About Me

I’m an IT student, going through an open source and self-hosted journey. One of my goals is to get my CCNA.

Mumble

One of my first projects is hosting my own Mumble server. Mumble is an open source VoIP service that allows anybody to host their own voice chat server. I originally looked into creating it because my friends and I play video games together online, and one day we were having issues with Discord. The latency was so great that every time I spoke, my friend wouldn’t hear me for at least 15 seconds. This was getting annoying, so I learned how to setup a Mumble server on my own machine, which ended up working well as a backup to Discord. I now host my Mumble server on a VPS I rent for only $5 a month. This has been a great solution to reducing my reliance on Discord. If you want to join my Mumble server, you can checkout my docs for tutorials and guides on setting up and using Mumble. My server is for friends and family only, but you can use my guide to connect to any server.

Matrix

I now also host my own Matrix homeserver, further reducing my dependence on Discord, and offering a suitable backup for online messaging. If Discord requires mandatory age verification and identification of all its users, I will be leaving the platform entirely. This Matrix server allows me to send encrypted messages privately to my friends online quickly and easily without being spied on by Discord. Anybody is welcome to join my Matrix, checkout my docs for info.

Why Mumble? Why Matrix?

I believe in the free and open internet, and I disagree with centralized proprietary closed-source tech giants using their platforms as giant advertisements, and forcing digital ID and age verification on everybody. So in order to talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk. By setting up my own self-hosted open source messaging tools, I’m promoting a free and open internet.

Mumble is awesome because it is low resource (read: won’t slow down even the oldest computers), mostly easy to use, and encrypted. While I wouldn’t use it for highly sensitive conversations, it’s great for secure and private voice communications. It can be used on any computer, and on Android devices (the iOS app is no longer maintained). I’m also able to host it myself which means I know exactly where my data is going. It’s also open-source which means I can verify that it’s as private and secure as it says it is.

I’m using Matrix because its the most polished self hosted chat experience that’s easy to setup. I enjoy its federated nature. It is also open source, and offers encryption. Again, while I wouldn’t really do any highly sensitive conversations on there, it is great for casual chatting and texting. I also can self host it.