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Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

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Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#151

Post by brianwawok »

ori_b wrote: post #129
brianwawok wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless you missed the no API part. If it takes a person 5 clicks to launch an instance, the reward has to pay for the cost. Why aren't people using AWS free tier to Bitcoin mine? Seems a bad prop.

> Unless you missed the no API part. If it takes a person 5 clicks to launch an instance, Or screen scraping. That's still a thing.

Yah. Except this is writing a script to mayyybbbbeee make a penny.

I understand hacking. I think this entire project is dead on arrival because it has no business value. He is offering to save me 2 cents at digital ocean and maybe profit if I pay 2x the DO price for a VM with less features. That is why this is a dead product.

Wringing your hands about being hacked to make $0.25 Bitcoin mining? That that is not the problem here.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#152

Post by OwainX »

0x54MUR41 wrote: post #67
OwainX wrote: post #2

This is a project I've been working on for a while. Dply allows you to quickly create a temporary cloud server (1CPU/512MB RAM/20GB SSD) for free. You can have one free server running at any time. Log in with your Github account and it will allow you to create your server using your Github ssh-key. Servers are free for 2 hours and expire after that time (unless you choose to add more time via credit card or bitcoin).…

It's cool project. Well done! OP This is my first try: I tested to create a "dply" button on https://dply.co/button . I tried not to fill out the form and clicked "CREATE BUTTON". The page replied with errors and their trace. SQL statements and other Ruby keywords were shown. I think it would be better if there is an error handler, like a warning that form is not filled out completely.

We found an issue where the stacktrace was originally enabled in our code twice so when it was switched off it was being overridden. That's been fixed. Adding better form validation for the button creation form is also on our list. Our primary focus as we receive bug reports is on issues that directly affect server creation, deletion and billing as those are the highest impact. Since the button form just creates a shortlink and saves some text it's a lower priority but we should have significant improvements in place for that page in the next week or so.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#153

Post by Procrastes »

First impressions:

* I love this idea. This is basically what I use Digital Ocean for, and this reduces the steps.

* I would like to see bitbucket sign-in and keys support.

* I missed the server name field on my first pass. My eyes were drawn to the drop-downs. So when I hit the submit I got an error and, even then, it took me a moment to see where the servername should go.

* I probably wouldn't have noticed the "create a button" if I hadn't read about it here.

* I agree with others that a "destroy" option would be nice.

* The button is cool.

This whole approach makes me want to start embedding cloud-init scripts in all my repositories. But then I loose using cloud-init for pulling down my personal dotfiles and preferred packages. I'll have to think about how to solve that.

Great idea! I hope this takes off.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#154

Post by OwainX »

tedmiston wrote: post #118
gpvos wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let me quote the parent post: > Yes.

Thanks for pointing out that I should be clearer. Really what I was seeking is to clarify the ambiguity in the parent post's "yes but sometimes no" answer. Presumably the creator has some limitation in mind such as one user can only spin up so many free 2-hour boxes per 24-hour period, 30-day period, etc. I don't think this was answered clearly as the current answer does not define any limitations which is presumably…

Right now you can have one free server at any time. There is no daily limit currently.

We do not provide an API and automating server creation is a violation of our TOS and would be considered abuse.

When you need a server and can log in and fill out the form, you can create one :)

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#155

Post by OwainX »

brianwawok wrote: post #109
wheelerwj wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When there are no costs, it makes sense spin up anything. You literally can't lose. It's just opportunity costs at that point.

Unless you missed the no API part. If it takes a person 5 clicks to launch an instance, the reward has to pay for the cost. Why aren't people using AWS free tier to Bitcoin mine? Seems a bad prop.

Yup. The way Dply works makes it a bad value prop for abusers. It's also not the best option for someone who would be better served going with DO directly or running a permanent service. Where we think Dply shines is with the button https://dply.co/button which makes it easy for OSS projects and others to let people try out their services at no cost and without a high barrier to entry. If I am reading the readme.md of a project on Github and there is a button to let me deploy an instance of it and try it out on a real server for free I'd be tempted to click it. If 2 hours isn't enough I might add more time. Each paid server covers the cost of a lot of free ones.

Having the ability to add more time with Bitcoin or Alipay is also a plus for some people.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#156

Post by OwainX »

y4mi wrote: post #139
phamilton wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the part of the world I come from Just curious, is a $5/month DO server cost prohibitive in your neck of the woods?

Pretty sure he is talking about the people that got hacked (with 2 factor on) and had their acc used to mine bitcoins. I remember reading about that twice one or two years ago Or maybe even less nefarious reports about people accidently ordering a bigger machine and forgetting about it until the month is over. Can result in 1+k bill as well. Or the most talked about problem. Downloading something from the glacier. Th…

There are quite a lot of cases where you could find yourself facing a large bill unexpectedly. Forgetting about a server you spun up to try something out, with may platforms having your server hacked (or even DDoSed) could result in huge bills for bandwidth. With Dply you only pay what you pay up-front if you choose to add time to a server. There are no bills racking up. The flip side is that if you forget about it, it could vanish on you. Automating your deployment with something like a user-data script that pulls your code from Github would make this less of a concern. Permanent services on Dply are certainly possible but not the primary use case for most users.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#158

Post by [deleted] »

phamilton wrote: post #83
hashin wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty cool service! I have had my moments when I had to set up the AWS free tier a few hours before a very important client meeting. I have this gut feeling that this service will make the cloud technology a bit more accessible for a budding to medium skilled developer. Personally, I have hesitated a lot to try out AWS and other cloud services at college due to the "over billing nightmare" you have every t…

> the part of the world I come from Just curious, is a $5/month DO server cost prohibitive in your neck of the woods?

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#159

Post by OwainX »

Procrastes wrote: post #153

First impressions: * I love this idea. This is basically what I use Digital Ocean for, and this reduces the steps. * I would like to see bitbucket sign-in and keys support. * I missed the server name field on my first pass. My eyes were drawn to the drop-downs. So when I hit the submit I got an error and, even then, it took me a moment to see where the servername should go. * I probably wouldn't have noticed the "cre…

Thanks. A lot of this feedback I've been hearing from others today. We'll be updating the serer name field to stand out visually better and doing updates to the home page and informational pages to both highlight the button capability and better present details like pricing. An "expire now" option for servers on the free plan will be in place this weekend which will allow you to delete a free server before it expires.

Re: Show HN: Dply – Free temporary Linux servers

#160

Post by Exuma »

tobltobs wrote: post #121
Exuma wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Diply's brand color is blue: http://diply.com/

And don't forget those buttons with round corners. /s

I don't get your sarcasm. A logo matching in wording, font, and color, is different than a generic design aspect.
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