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Computers as I used to love them

tonsky.me

131–140 of 265 posts

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#131

How can one easily use Syncthing with the cloud? Is there an easy way to sync via FTP to a cloud folder on a managed or shared server? Is there a sync to AWS S3 option?

You install it on the server and you set it up as you would with any other computer. A Syncthing in the "cloud" is just a Syncthing client running on an always on computer.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#133

I love syncthing as much as the next guy on here, but this article feels very much like "why doesn't this square peg fit my round hole?!" Dropbox (and iCloud) are meant more for cloud file storage than pure device-to-device synce. I couldn't go to a less tech savvy friend and say, "Oh, you use Dropbox for backups? Here, use syncthing instead!" For one, most people don't have multiple computers they want to keep in sy…

You can use Syncthing for "cloud" storage as long as you keep an instance online at all times. Syncthing's functionality is a superset of Dropbox etc. People absolutely use Dropbox for device-to-device sync. They are not necessarily interested in the "cloud" backup but just want to send a file to a mate.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#134
Just want to come in here to say that Syncthing solved my note-taking app "problem" that I've been bothered with for years.

I want my notes as plain text files (or Markdown files to be specific), and I'd like to sync them with my phone. I'd also like to use the text editor of my choice to edit said text files. Cool, I just install Dropbox on my desktop, sync the files, and edit the files with Sublime Text. Oh but huh -- I can only edit the files on my phone using the Dropbox app, which doesn't work when I'm offline or have spotty reception.

I install Syncthing on my Windows PC (it runs the syncthing.exe on startup), install Syncthing and Editor[1] on my phone, and bam, now all my notes are synced directly to the filesystem of my Android phone and editable by any text editor I choose. As an added benefit, I still have a cloud sync on my PC, so the files are still backed up to a cloud service!

[1] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/org.billthefarmer.editor/

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#136

I don't get the point of this. When I drop all my files in my OneDrive folder, there's no confusion on what I'm getting. I'm getting a fully managed backup solution. I'm not getting complete control, or the ability to do strange superuser stuff. I have no interest in managing my own backup servers, I have no interest in installing my own sync up tools, I want a multi-billion dollar company to run it. There's no way t…

> There's no way to get around it, either. Even if you want to roll your own, you're still ultimately using AWS or another cloud provider.

You don’t seem to have read the article. It expressly states there that Syncthing uses disk storage.

And you’re strangely proud about not getting this whole thing and wanting a multi-billion dollar company to do it all for you, but you’d be first to cry muh freedome muh human rights when the company’s TOCs change and you start getting censored and you lose ownership of your own files, which already happens today.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#137

Just want to come in here to say that Syncthing solved my note-taking app "problem" that I've been bothered with for years. I want my notes as plain text files (or Markdown files to be specific), and I'd like to sync them with my phone. I'd also like to use the text editor of my choice to edit said text files. Cool, I just install Dropbox on my desktop, sync the files, and edit the files with Sublime Text. Oh but huh…

how do you handle images? This is why I use obsidian since it essentially manages images and keeps track of them for you.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#138
post #112

> Syncthing has reminded me how great computers can be if they are not made by corporations. This is a silly conclusion. The actual problem he has zeroed in on js when marketers are the primary influencers in product design. Every company I’ve worked for while leading UX and who had a marketing/MBA are product manager had made me do useless things like add the “share this on Facebook and Twitter” links that no one ha…

Do you have any examples or corporations that haven't succumbed to regular corporate bullshit after several decades?

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#139

I love syncthing as much as the next guy on here, but this article feels very much like "why doesn't this square peg fit my round hole?!" Dropbox (and iCloud) are meant more for cloud file storage than pure device-to-device synce. I couldn't go to a less tech savvy friend and say, "Oh, you use Dropbox for backups? Here, use syncthing instead!" For one, most people don't have multiple computers they want to keep in sy…

Startup idea: provide cloud backup service through Syncthing. End users install Syncthing and then add a remote host provided by your company that is bound to their account. That instance just keeps a copy of everything it receives on some cloud infrastructure. Slap a web interface and some modest data retention on it to recover files.

That's software done _only_ with end users in mind. It's the same model as redhat uses. IT companies suffer from the fact that they resist changing the design of the product s.t. the company offers much less value in the equation.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#140
post #9

I've been using Syncthing for about a year now, with multiple computers, and it's fantastic. Dropbox has become a real pain over the years (I've also been a paid Dropbox customer for a long time): * adding bloat and features that I don't want or need * constantly nagging me for upgrades * lying that the admin password is required (it isn't) * consuming large amounts of CPU when anything changes anywhere in the filesy…

Can you summarize what they maybe introduced/fixed to quell your old review? > over the last week, syncthing has corrupted my git repository twice. I reported this as an issue, but the issue was immediately closed with an explanation I disagree with. > I no longer trust syncthing until this gets resolved, unfortunately. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23660438 — I would absolutely be syncing directories containi…

I trust syncthing for singular/regular files but trusting something as complicated and interconnected as a git repo on it seems like a bad idea, especially if it's possible for two syncthing computers to act on the same git repo... I never really thought about trying it.
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