I’m a selfhoster, I setup a home assistant VM and Cosmos Cloud running a bunch of Docker containers, all setup using Cockpit.
Easier, and better looking UI than Proxmox. Also this setup enabled me to use Docker instead of LXD and save on one virtualization layer, which as a beginner every layer adds complexity.
It has been rock solid, it has better hardware support than Debian due to the faster release cycle, only drawback is the lack of documentation or tutorials in comparison to Debian which has a colossal community.
I ended up ripping the HDDs and putting them on my server, then proceeded to share the drives as normal. My docker containers now use them perfectly fine. IDK wtf Synology is doing but it’s cumbersome AF.
Get a Thumbdrive and flash it with Ventoy, load it up with every ISOs you want to try and vive each one a go, the one that works nest for you, is the one you keep.