I run just one Windows machine with some VMs for various services if needed. Less to maintain and have to tinker with.

I installed cable in a couple of apartments I rented. I just made it look professional and nothing was ever said about it. In one apartment town home I even had access to the attic and was able to run cable in the walls. I did have to drill through the floor and door headers in some instances, but it can be done.

I still use Dia Diagram Editor for most things. I just wish it was still being updated.

I have two IoTaWatts (https://iotawatt.com/) for all the circuits in my home. I also use Z-Wave and Zigbee devices to monitor individual plugs (I love these). I send data from all of this to an InfluxDB database and then into Grafana for displaying pretty graphs. Everything is running on my Windows desktop. The IoTaWatt doesn’t require internet access to work. I have been very happy with the setup and once setup it hasn’t required much maintenance.

The system is also good for recording temperatures, solar power information, and anything else that can make an API call. Not sure why your Z-Wave is falling off the network, for that I use a Hubitat and mostly Inovelli, Zooz, and THIRDREALITY ZigBee plugs.

Crazy idea, but if you can’t get the bandwidth to support a media server like Jellyfin or Emby where you live, what about placing a server at a trusted relatives or friends house that does have access to high bandwidth? You might need/want to help offset a better internet plan for them though. You could then setup a VPN connection to be able to manage the server remotely and sync files and media to it. You could even use it for off site backup.

I back up everything. I use Stablebit Drivepool with duplication for all of my source code, media, photos, documents, music, books, laptop backups, etc. I back that up periodically to a Drobo DAS and 8 Bay USB enclosure setup under Drivepool. I also have off site backup (working on a new NAS which will be accessed over a VPN). I don’t want to spend the time worrying about loosing anything I have put time and effort into. Been there and done that. Drives are relatively inexpensive but can fail without warning.

I bought both Plex and Emby. I started with Plex but had some technical issues related to my machine having multiple IP addresses so I switched to Emby. I tried Jellyfin before switching to Emby but it wasn’t as capable as Plex or Emby (at least at the time) and I wanted something with some commercial support behind it. I have been pretty satisfied with Emby, but do wish it would get requested features added in a much more timely manner.

After looking at other’s lists I think I am missing a good document server. Emby isn’t the best music and photo server so I could look at improving that, but it has been good enough for those purposes that I haven’t felt like going to the trouble of installing anything else.

• Aster: Multiseat software for Windows allows several users to work on the same PC.
• LaunchBox: Frontend for DOSBox, modern PC games and emulated console platforms.
• Blue Iris: Video security and webcam software
• Calibre: E-Book management and server
• Emby: Server for videos, music, audio books, and photos.
• Firewalla: VPN server, internet monitor and control
• Foundary Virtual Tabletop: Online role-playing game server.
• Grafana: Dashboard interface
• Hubitat: Home automation
• Hyper-V Manager: Tool that allows users to manage Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines (VMs)
• InfluxDB: Real-time database server.
• IotaWatt: Open WiFi electric power monitor
• Microsoft SQL Server: Database Server
• Octoprint: Web interface for 3D printers.
• PCem: Emulator for various old 8086 through Pentium PCs.
• SmartSync Pro: File sync program
• SnapRaid: Backup program for disk arrays.
• Stablebit DrivePool/Scanner: Disk pooling, file duplication, protection, disk surface scanner, and disk health monitoring
• Steam Link: Access and play steam games remotely