I started on an old optiplex I got off eBay for $150, and it ran great for 4 years until I was dusting it out and accidentally snapped off a capacitor from the mobo. The only concerns Ive really had are hard drive failures and I keep a backup so its not too bad. most of my problems are user error and software. Have you used/are you using docker? it makes a lot of the mistakes hurt less because you can just delete the docker volume for the service and start fresh if u screw up.

[–] quickenparalysespunk@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 16 hours ago

thanks for the eBay recommendation. unfortunately my financial anxiety is much much much more easily triggered than that. I'm working in myself for now.

i do plan to start using docker if i ever get started on projects again.