I ditched Netgear due to poor performance and went with Ubiquiti. I’m fortunate that I could afford to buy a console for management but if you’re willing to self-host then there is no cost there. You could then get several APs (they have some as low as $99) and you’re all set.

As a long time plex pass user, is there anything there that would make me want to switch? Plex has just plain worked for me for years. mobile apps, everything is just great. Why should I look around?

Yeah, you’re going to want to go with irc for that. Everything of printed words is there.

Living in a not-legal place…how would one get started with this kind of a setup? I am not horticulturally inclined but like the concept of growing a bit of a buzz on the down-low but have no clue how to go about it. Any pointers or “start here” guides?

You list an education qualification in your post which has nothing to do with your stated intention. Yes, you’re learned and probably smart but why do you want to be a sysadmin?

Have you ever coded anything? Do you want to learn that? Do you want to use your humanities degree to be a caring supporter of stupid system users? Are you even aware of the credo of the bastard operator from hell?

Sorry…saw your post and just wanted to take a piss…you’ll be fine if you want to do that but it’s probably not just like “installing linux” on a computer.