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Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

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Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#31

Post by littleweep »

swinglock wrote: post #29

Who is this for, what's the point? If you're using a computer on which installing this software is an alternative, you can install a web browser with an ad blocker, which performs much better than DNS based filters. If you're not using such a computer, Pi-Hole proves DNS filtering and this software doesn't. What's the use-case between these two that isn't already covered?

A lot of websites (news sites especially) detect in-browser ad blockers and urge users to whitelist the site before continuing to read the article.

This is a good workaround for that use case.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#32

Post by nxpnsv »

tuananh wrote: post #13
nxpnsv wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, but you have pihole for that... this is if you don't need or want to issue a network wide block

i couldn't think of an use case for this? can you explain what would you use this for? if you already have pihole?

The use case is when you don't have a pihole. If you already run pihole I agree, this is not a useful addon. But what if you're at school or work with just with your laptop. Is it possible one might want run Maza instead pihole locally? I think possibly yes.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#33

Post by Normal_gaussian »

tuananh wrote: post #13
nxpnsv wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yes, but you have pihole for that... this is if you don't need or want to issue a network wide block

i couldn't think of an use case for this? can you explain what would you use this for? if you already have pihole?

For use on a laptop that you take into other networks (coffee shops, friends houses, work / client businesses).

For use on a desktop in a network you do not control (e.g. many devs have complete local control over their own machine)

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#34

Post by t0astbread »

fuzzy2 wrote: post #7

On Windows, a large hosts file may lead to noticeably slower name resolution performance. Maybe it's less of a problem on Linux/macOS...?

I'm on Linux and I have had a large hosts-based block list for a few months now and I haven't noticed any slowdowns so far.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#35

Post by fuzzy2 »

littleweep wrote: post #31
swinglock wrote: post #29

Who is this for, what's the point? If you're using a computer on which installing this software is an alternative, you can install a web browser with an ad blocker, which performs much better than DNS based filters. If you're not using such a computer, Pi-Hole proves DNS filtering and this software doesn't. What's the use-case between these two that isn't already covered?

A lot of websites (news sites especially) detect in-browser ad blockers and urge users to whitelist the site before continuing to read the article. This is a good workaround for that use case.

This is also easily detectable.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#36

Post by huhtenberg »

swinglock wrote: post #29

Who is this for, what's the point? If you're using a computer on which installing this software is an alternative, you can install a web browser with an ad blocker, which performs much better than DNS based filters. If you're not using such a computer, Pi-Hole proves DNS filtering and this software doesn't. What's the use-case between these two that isn't already covered?

Just for the sake of argument - to block trackers that are built into other software, eg. chat clients and some such.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#38

Post by imglorp »

swinglock wrote: post #29

Who is this for, what's the point? If you're using a computer on which installing this software is an alternative, you can install a web browser with an ad blocker, which performs much better than DNS based filters. If you're not using such a computer, Pi-Hole proves DNS filtering and this software doesn't. What's the use-case between these two that isn't already covered?

Chrome, for example, has banned some adblockers. Makes sense to me.

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#39

Post by darkteflon »

hnarn wrote: post #24

I've been using https://nextdns.io/ for a while and I really like it. You can do DNS over HTTPS through Firefox (sadly not on an OS level in Windows for example, but that's fine -- I'm sure OS level support works better on Linux), and it supports a lot of user-level customization. You can add and remove entire blocklists, you can black/white-list specific domains, see logs of your blocks, some analytics, create your…

I’ve just looked into this - it looks excellent. Can I ask: is this an all-round superior solution to running your own pi-hole?

I set up dual redundant pi-holes on raspberry pi 4s on my home network but switching all devices to NextDNS would give me access to filtered DNS even when away from home, plus save me the trouble of running two raspis (including two Ubuntu instances) just for that purpose.

Could anyone knowledgeable in such things suggest any downsides to a wholesale switch?

Re: Maza – Like Pi-hole but local and using your operating system

#40

Post by weego »

darkteflon wrote: post #39
hnarn wrote: post #24

I've been using https://nextdns.io/ for a while and I really like it. You can do DNS over HTTPS through Firefox (sadly not on an OS level in Windows for example, but that's fine -- I'm sure OS level support works better on Linux), and it supports a lot of user-level customization. You can add and remove entire blocklists, you can black/white-list specific domains, see logs of your blocks, some analytics, create your…

I’ve just looked into this - it looks excellent. Can I ask: is this an all-round superior solution to running your own pi-hole? I set up dual redundant pi-holes on raspberry pi 4s on my home network but switching all devices to NextDNS would give me access to filtered DNS even when away from home, plus save me the trouble of running two raspis (including two Ubuntu instances) just for that purpose. Could anyone knowl…

I've been a user since it was first mentioned on HN and the major issue at the moment is the performance. I often have to turn it off to get sites to resolve at all, otherwise chrome hangs indefinitely.

Having said that it's free (beta) right now so that's a statement of fact and by no means a complaint

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