You don't need your own server for a Lemmy account. Just register on any existing instance.

If you want to host your own instance, what's your goal with it? It's not just set-and-forget, you will have to maintain it against bots, attacks, keep it online, keep it backed up, keep it updated, and so on.

Yunohost might be a good point to start? Havent tried it yet but it seems to be a fast and safebway to host.

(it seems like my previous reply hasn't been posted)

It really depends on what you're trying to achieve. If you're just trying to install a web server, then I'd recommend downloading XAMPP if you're on Windows, or if you're on Linux, you probably already have apache or nginx. To access services on those servers you're just going to have to find out the IP address of the server, and type it out in the browser (f.e. http://192.168.0.1/my_service). Those services should be available only on the same local network the server is on, unless you do port forwarding.

If, as you say, you're not a computer expert or anything of the like and are just starting to learn, Lemmy might not be the best place to start. If I were you I'd look into other self-hosted things that you can use for yourself so you can learn about security and so you can get comfortable with the process. Hosting Internet-facing services is a big risk that you probably don't want to undertake.

What do you want to use the server for?

I would advise you to let the experts do the job instead.

You need to protect your server from hackers, viruses, malware, and other threats that could compromise your data or harm your network. You also need to comply with the laws and regulations regarding the content and services that you host on your server. If you don’t know how to secure your server properly, you could expose yourself to legal liability or cyberattacks.

Between Explaining Computers, Jeff Geerling & Network Chuck on Youtube you should be able to get a server up and running on an old machine. You can then install Lemmy via docker or whatever.

A home network server can be pretty safe & simple, exposing that server to the internet should take a little more thought and planning.

Digital Ocean or similar is likely the simplest way to try it.

https://www.digitalocean.com/products/droplets

Create a $4pm Ubuntu droplet & install Lemmy.

Probably cheaper to run per hour than an old pc and install of the OS is instant and disposable. If you do something stupid or get hacked, you just delete and start fresh.....no need to worry about l33t haxxors all in your home base.

Not watched but this sort of thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fzCUEpFnDg

There certainly are videos out there for you but you should determine some goals that you're trying to accomplish. What kind of server? A website? An e-mail server? A local network file server? I think a good place to start as a beginner is to try to make a web server with a personal web site, but there can be a few hurdles with that. The main one is that your ISP may not offer a static IP address, meaning the IP address of your home network might change frequently. There are ways around that but it adds complexity. The fundamentals of what you'll need to host a website from home are:

1. A PC with internet connection
2. Install LAMP or WAMP stacks (Linux/Windows , Apache, MySQL, PHP)
3. Set up port forwarding on your router to direct incoming web traffic to your server
4. Register a domain (free ones exist) and direct it to your IP address

This video appears to do a good job of setting up a WAMP (windows) server: WAMP Video

But I recommend using LAMP (Linux). Although Linux may be less familiar to you, if you continue down the rabbit hole of server administration Linux will be so much more helpful to you in the long run.