Correct me if I'm wrong, but what you're describing is client-hosted Bedrock servers, not a persistent, always available, self-hosted server. AFAIK connecting to a friend's world in Bedrock is free, but they must also be online. Hosting a persistent Bedrock server is a paid feature (Realms).
Additionally, highlighting that Bedrock Minecraft is not supported on Mac.
There are surely other ways of enabling multiplayer Minecraft for a family than what I've described, but this is the way I'd recommend.
I'm aware that if you buy Minecraft proper (~$30) you have a license for Bedrock and Java, but I'm a little blurry on what license you get when you buy Minecraft from the Google Play store (~$5). I'm assuming it's a Bedrock-only license, and Microsoft makes money off selling skins etc.
I think most seasoned players, technical folks, or Mac users, would prefer Java. Java Minecraft doesn't have microtransactions, skinning your character is a matter of changing a file, and the plugin/mod support is huge. That's why I stuck to treating the server as "Java first, Bedrock supported" instead of ignoring Java and only playing Bedrock.
A couple of weeks ago I set up a server this way to help get my fiancee into video games. I already owned a proper Minecraft PC license from way back in the day, and bought Minecraft on Android for ~$5. My thinking is that we could play together, me on a Mac and her on a Galaxy Tab we have with a controller. Attempting to get these two clients to play together is what led me into the same situation you are about to find yourself in.
Something to know is that there are two versions of Minecraft, Java and Bedrock (C++). Some others in this thread have talked about the history of why this is, but the important thing to know is that Java runs on Mac/Windows/Linux, and there are some neat launchers that can run it on Android. Bedrock runs on Consoles/Tablets/Phones/Windows. Note that Bedrock _does not_ run on Linux or Mac.
There are ways to host Bedrock-only servers if you're _sure_ no users will ever be running the Java client, but I would recommend running a Java server with the Geyser and Floodgate plugins for compatibility reasons. The plugins are a translation layer that trick Bedrock clients into thinking they're connecting to a Bedrock server. I've been playing this way (me on Mac/Java, her on Android/Bedrock) for two weeks with no real issues. I haven't explored adding any other plugins to the server.
I'm running this in a container on an old Thinkpad in my office. This setup is common enough that GLM-5.2 set it up in (nearly) one shot.
I also really recommend running an instance of https://bluemap.bluecolored.de/ in another container on the same machine. It hosts a neat map of your world, which your family could pull up on their phones while not playing. My server itself is LAN only, but I used a Cloudflare tunnel to host the map so she can show her friends: https://mcmap.thg3.net/
Let me know if you have any questions or would like my server config!
Cambridge. The experience will be more enjoyable, the networking will be good, and seeing a Masters from Cambridge on a resume would make a bigger impression (to me) than seeing that you worked for Amazon.
I does indeed bundle it's runtime into the executable, but this is not dissimilar from Go bundling it's gc into every executable.
Granted a compiled hello world Go program will be <2mb while a similar compiled Deno program will be more like 70. I imagine many usecases may not have a storage constraint though, and in that case why not?
I've been working on an app that will use ai to decorate my Anki cards with audio/example sentences/images. The more I get into it though, the more I think I may just end up writing my own flashcard app. I feel like most of the project has been spent wrestling with AnkiConnect, while the fun stuff has been fairly simple.
I personally love this. I have a pretty strong distaste for bright screens everywhere and rather like the look of e-ink screens. I'd love a future where we move away from putting up LCD panels on every surface we can advertise on.
I love where you're going with this, nearly all of my little side projects have something to do with maps and bikes. No comment on how the routes are as I'm not really familiar with any good routes in bigger Euro cities, but as someone who rides around NYC a lot this would be really useful in making routes for visitors who aren't as keen on riding in NYC traffic.
Mobile needs some work. Are you planning on open sourcing this? I'm a mobile dev that might be able to clean that up a little. Good candidate for React Native.
I'm from South Carolina, pretty close to the border with North Carolina. All my life i've heard that South Carolina's roads are terrible, especially compared to North Carolina's _amazing_ roads.
Looking at this data though, it seems while NC edges out SC by a small margin on interstate roads, SC actually beats NC on local roads.
Being the first language to contest C++ in places like the kernal is a pretty big deal, no? It helps that the borrow checker is a new idea around being safe without gc.
Love this, and may be helpful for incoming interns who are fuzzy on Git. Up until now my strategy has been to let them figure it out and point them to https://ohshitgit.com/ if they screw up.
I recently purchased a walking treadmill for my standing desk, though it hasn't come in yet. I do think that if you're interested in burning some calories on the clock, a standing desk is a prerequisite.
Additionally, highlighting that Bedrock Minecraft is not supported on Mac.
There are surely other ways of enabling multiplayer Minecraft for a family than what I've described, but this is the way I'd recommend.