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Computers as I used to love them

tonsky.me

251–260 of 265 posts

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#251
I used to love syncthing but then 2 things happened:

1. My usage got to terabytes range and the scans are unbearably slow compared to dropbox.

2. Due to slow scan, I went on to syncthing's support forum to read some posts. One of the developers was very bitter or emotionally charged against suggestions or bug reports.

Now I use it but not loving it.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#252
post #5

Does Syncthing allow you to sync two differently-named folders as one folder while preserving the respective names? For example, your pictures folder may not be called the same thing on your phone and computer, or across Windows and Linux, or you want to sync game save files between Android and Windows.

be careful with upper and lower cases. some file system doesn't distinguish them.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#253

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…

The opposite can be argued as well.

Dropbox is the entity who tries to fit the "extract money from the users" peg to this file sync functionality.

The cloud aspect of their solution can also be interpreted as "we need an excuse to examine all of your files while we are at it". So we can also get money from NSA or other three letter agencies.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because you'll have to do quite a few steps to put an actively used minecraft world in a ~/Dropbox/ folder.

That doesn't argue that Dropbox won't also ruin actively updated folders. You're now talking about Minecraft configuration which is orthogonal to your original point.

This reinforces the original point, which was that Dropbox's constraints (only syncing one folder) are limiting to some while decreasing the probability of others getting themselves into problematic states.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#255
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> minecraft worlds are NOT stored in ~/Dropbox/ folder. They certainly can be. They can be stored wherever you like, either if you are using a modding/hacking launcher (both are very popular for non-technical players, e.g. kids who aren't programmers) or if you are running a minecraft server (the vanilla server jar runs wherever you decide to put it, and doing this is not exactly an esoteric feat; again, nontechnical…

Of course they can. However, person who knows simlink-fu and other tricks is unlikely to find himself in a situation when his data is corrupted by an incorrect Dropbox sync process. Syncthing's user, however, can screw himself with just a few mouse clicks, and I personally saw that happen . So I myself simply sync just one folder with Syncthing, Dropbox style.

I don't think there's any meaningful difference in difficulty in finding the Minecraft folder in AppData to sync with Syncthing vs finding the option in the minecraft launcher to save to your Dropbox folder.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#256
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…

Something must have been fixed in syncthing because this problem never reappeared, and after several months I started trusting it again.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#257
Didn't know about Syncthing but it reminds me about Infinit, it had the exact same features 7 years ago (P2P sync with simple ID for registration). It was bought by Docker [1] and pretty much disappear I think.

I just checked Syncthing, seems pretty old also (8 year for 0.1) !

[1] https://www.docker.com/blog/docker-acquires-infinit/

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#258
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That was 10 years ago. That's exactly what the article author is saying.

This comment thread is about how the author doesn’t seem to realize that the motive of these services has changed in response to fewer and fewer users wanting a sync solution versus a backup solution.

It's definitely not "fewer and fewer users wanting a sync solution" and instead "more and more computer users we can sell something to if we pile features into our overloaded app".

There's a criticism in there that I share because I miss when things were more modular, but I also understand and appreciate the value and opportunities that modern tech is bringing to people.

The back and forth chaos of progress and foundation-building is important but frustrating.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Dropbox (and iCloud) are meant more for cloud file storage than pure device-to-device synce Device to device sync was literally the value prop for Dropbox when it launched > 10 years ago. That's why I started using it. Dropbox does now allow a more cloud-native file system / cloud backup usage pattern, but its roots are absolutely "keep my files in sync across several computers."

10 years ago, Dropbox was still storing your files on their servers so that your devices did not need to be online and accessible at all times in order to sync. It still operated in a fundamentally different manner than Syncthing. All that has really changed about the app is the marketing around it.

Dropbox still has my files on its servers. Not sure what you mean here. If all my devices are off, I can access anything in my Dropbox account from any computer's browser.

Re: Computers as I used to love them

#260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Dropbox (and iCloud) are meant more for cloud file storage than pure device-to-device synce Device to device sync was literally the value prop for Dropbox when it launched > 10 years ago. That's why I started using it. Dropbox does now allow a more cloud-native file system / cloud backup usage pattern, but its roots are absolutely "keep my files in sync across several computers."

>>Dropbox (and iCloud) are meant more for cloud file storage than pure device-to-device synce > Device to device sync was literally the value prop for Dropbox when it launched > 10 years ago. It's what was advertised. I find it interesting that its initial reception on HN is so frequently slammed for saying "we could already do this, if we wanted to", and then... 10+ years later, Dropbox has had to switch to doing so…

>The only value I ever saw people getting from Dropbox

Your exposure to Dropbox users is very very limited, then. I only very, very rarely use it as a medium to share. OTOH, I use it CONSTANTLY as a every-device file system, i.e. across my main machine, my backup, my iOS devices, and remote systems I work from. The sync is everything to me.

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