No VPN or exposing ports necessary.
New Linux installation, same old configuration files.
My very first problem was one I've written about before: Linux isn't generally compatible with Arm-based machines. Alas, two of the spare machines I had hoped to use for this project are outfitted ...
Linux Mint will be slowing down how often it releases its namesake distro. We'll still see the next distro not long after Ubuntu 26.04 appears.