Peertube Channels You Should Watch
Peertube is a video-hosting platform similar to YouTube, but different in a lot of ways. It’s free and open source, it runs on several different instances, and there’s no algorithm dictating what viewers can watch or what creators can make.
Peertube is relatively young, and there aren’t nearly as many creators there as you’ll find on YouTube. There’s also not a lot of variety right now, with most channels focusing on tech and gaming. You’ll see that in this list, but I tried to find other channels too, including a puppet maker and an urbanism channel.
The Linux Experiment – Linux/Tech
Best video: Please stop asking for One Single Linux Desktop or Distro
Let’s get the cliché out of the way. Yes, a blog advocating Peertube is starting off with a Linux channel. But if you’re interested in dipping your toe into the Linux waters, this is a good place to start. There are daily videos about Linux news, different distros, new hardware, new updates, and some Linux gaming related news. It’s a good way to orient yourself with the world of Linux.
Veronica Explains – Tech
Best video: I stream nothing, and I am happy.
Perhaps the most popular Peertube channel, Veronica Explains is a fantastic channel covering modern tech, primarily focused on Linux. However, she also posts videos about how the modern internet sucks and how to fix it, the rock band she created with other TechTubers, and installing an HDMI port on a Commodore 64. She’s always been great, but her recent videos have been spectacular. Her latest is about how she doesn’t use streaming services and instead streams physical media using a program called Jellyfin.
Space Quest Historian – Gaming
Best video: Police Quest IV: Open Season - A Fair & Balanced Retrospective
Space Quest Historian is a channel that exclusively covers adventure games. I’ve always liked watching videos about old adventure games more than actually playing them, and this channel continues that tradition. They started by making videos about Space Quest and King’s Quest before branching out to other releases like Police Quest, Tex Murphy, The 7th Guest, and modern stuff like Stray and Rosewater. A lot of these videos are substantial reviews or delving into the history of the game.
ctrl-alt-rees – Tech & Gaming
Best video: The Atari VCS Disappointed Me - But I Found A Way To Fix It
Ctrl-alt-rees focuses on retro tech and retro gaming. Their latest video looks at the bizarre Pac-Man Edition of the Atari 2600+, and before that he made a video about his family’s 25 year old PC. A few months ago he made a video about random stuff he owned that was fun, including a weird physical Pac-Man game and a neat camera. This is another channel you’ll love if you like Techmoan and LGR (the latter of which he’s interviewed in a video).
Lety Does Stuff – Random Stuff (R18)
Best video: Lety Does Eating Enchiladas de Pollo con Chile Verde de Comida Oaxaqueña
If you’ve ever watched to watch a woman try weird flavored ice cream, then smear that ice cream on her bobs and kitty, then Lety Does Stuff is the channel for you!
Like Mastodon and Lemmy, each instance has its own rules and restrictions. Lety runs her own instance, and seeing as she proudly calls herself an egirl, she’s got no problem with nudity in her videos. It’d be weird if she did. What sets her apart from other egirls is her dedication to online privacy, advocacy for Peertube and Mastodon, and the fact that many of her videos have no nudity at all. Sometimes she just watches One Piece. Sometimes she goes to a cafe, or rides a bike. Sometimes she cooks and does taste tests. It’s a variety channel that just so happens to sometimes have softcore pornography.
VWestlife – Retro Tech
Best video: Three-way vinyl record wear test
Vwestlife is an esoteric sort of electronics channel, mainly showing off old electronics and talking about their history, or disassembling them to show how they work or attempting to fix them. There’s a video comparing turntable play heads and how much they wear down your records (vinyls, for the Fortnite crowd), a video about “Enhanced Defintion” TVs, and one on something called the “Snappy Video Snapshop.” This is another great channel if you love LGR or Techmoan, or old electronics and learning about niche products and history.
Transit – Urbanism
Best video: A Study of Studies: Why We Take So Long to Build Transit
I’ve watched RMTransit for years, and was saddened when he walked away from video making earlier this year and focused instead on blogging. But he found a fun way to keep the channel going – by having guests from other channels make videos on his channel. This way RMTransit’s channel can be used to promote new and small creators. That work continues on Peertube, now called just Transit, where videos are simultaneously uploaded. Many of his older videos are on the channel to, if you just want to watch those.
Middy’s Essays – Gaming
Best video: What Edith Finch is Trying to Say: A Retrospective
I discovered this channel as I was putting this blog together. In fact, they’ve only uploaded one video a couple of days ago. In their one video, they take a deep dive into What Remains of Edith Finch, the subtext of the game, and their experience with it. It was an interesting and enlightening video on a game I’ve heard about but never got around to playing myself. It made me want to give it a try, so that’s a pretty good recommendation for the channel, in my eyes.
SnugglyBun – Music
Best video: Wings For My Self-Preservation
There aren’t many music channels on Peertube, and SnugglyBun is one of the few I could find that creates her own music. I’m not a music critic, I can’t even tell you what genre it is they make. Electronic, synth, emo, techno, something. “Punk” is probably in there somewhere, every music genre is something-punk. I just like their music, and there are plenty of anime and furry images too, if you’re into that.
Rudy Gardea – Random Stuff
Best video: Making Pibil
One of my favorite YouTubers is AtomicShrimp. He posts random stuff – cooking, walking, tech, repairs, woodcarving – it’s all over the place. Rudy Gardea is as close as I’ve seen to this kind of variety channel, and that calm and laid back attitude. His videos are even more eclectic, with a video of him making music one day, making sourdough bread the next, a Simpsons Adventure calendar for a month straight, and then walking around a beach.
This is going to sound patronizing, but it’s not. I just love these kinds of videos that don’t worry about production values or trying to grab your attention. It’s like somebody was going to do something and they decided, at the last minute, to film it and put it online.
Operation: Puppet – Puppets
Best video: Tips, Trick and Tutorials 1: Sewing Hands
Operation: Puppet is a channel (and blog) teaching you how to build puppets. Once a week, they do a livestream for an hour and a half showing you the creation of various puppets, and every so often they post tutorial videos going more step-by-step. They also do a show called “The Oracle,” which is kind of like a stand-up comedy show usually about internet-related stuff.
It’s a channel about puppets, what more do you want?
