just tried it both with sudo and as root, also tried it with /var/lib/radicale/collections. The error still occurs, and there's a warning note that says that the directory doesn't exist and is being created even though I've already created it with mkdir
Okay, so CasaOS is easier to set up (but uses more resources and I won't learn sysadmin stuff) whereas using something like Debian is a bit harder to set up (but uses less resources and learn more!).
Think I might try CasaOS on my 11th gen laptop and plain Debian on my 6th gen laptop and see which I prefer
it became round, turned around, turned back around, and became square again.