I have an old laptop lying around and I have been meaning to self host some stuff on it but never got around to it.
My biggest limitation is that I only have WIFI and I do not control the network. It’s basically your default residential WIFI network.
The only thing I actually need is self-hosted cloud. What can I utilize this laptop for?
I think OP cannot tinker with its router. At least, that is my case.
That’s a shame. I didn’t realize it was that locked down. Ive had a lot of terrible routers but all the ones I remember allowed me at least a port forward.
I think OP can accomplish some of the same result if he can get a cheap VPS to connect through (have the laptop Wireguard to the VPS, then have a proxy on the VPS forward to the laptop over the VPN, but that’s probably not worth the hassle for a starter project unfortunately.
I haven’t used it personally, I think Tailscale would help here. It sounds like it doesn’t require port forwarding, and uses Wireguard under the covers.
I did that — free VPS w/public IP, WG to my router. Works great!
Which Vps provider are you using?
Oracle. Philosophical issues aside I’ve been happy, and can’t beat the price. Bandwidth is pretty limited, but that’s not a huge problem for me right now.
In my case, I don’t technically own the router but it’s provided by my service provider. They don’t give you the password for the admin access