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Start Self Hosting

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Re: Start Self Hosting

#571

Post by slightwinder »

mholt wrote: post #543
slightwinder wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not the first project of this kind, I see. But something we need more from. But a kind of problem all those project have is their lack of modularity and thus their ability to integrate with other projects. For example, why are your sources builtin? Can you call external sources to allow any user usage of custom sources? IMHO there are three parts for those tools. Fetching data, storing data and Letting People working…

It's easy to add data sources, but they still have to be programmed: it can get data from APIs (which can be scheduled/automated) or file imports. I'm not really sure what you mean by "optimized parts" but I'm happy to get more feedback on that! (As soon as Timelinize has a private beta I'll probably create a forum for more in-depth discussions like this.)

> It's easy to add data sources, but they still have to be programmed:

And do they need to be programmed in go and compiled into the app? Or can one write a shell-script or python-program and collect from their output?

> I'm not really sure what you mean by "optimized parts"

If you modularize a software to the point that the parts are working independent of each other, then you are able to replace them per demand. For example, you can use a different UI, which is better for your workflow. Or use different sources which are only relevant for your personal circumstances. etc.

We have this with email, where mail-servers and mail-clients are independent parts of the ecosystem. Where open protocols like IMAP allow for scripts and external programs to work side by side with your client to attach missing functionality.

This level of modularization is missing in most of those aggregator-tools I've seen so far. And I think it's doing more harm that benefiting the users. For example, what if your app is saving its entries via IMAP, and your UI would load it via IMAP to present it in an optimized interface? It would mean your timeline could also be filled by all other mail-capable sources, while the data in your backend could also be customized by any IMAP-capable tool, like filters, etc.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#572

Post by jdgoesmarching »

chongli wrote: post #538
lnxg33k1 wrote: post #280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it has come the time where the society starts to advance without caring about laypeople, if some folks can learn it, if there is documentation, then we can just go on without caring about who doesn't know how to use it, because that's fixable. And I speak considering the German government who had to pull back from Linux because employee didn't know how to use it Let's start treating tech as the world treats e…

I appreciate your perspective and I greatly value my own computer expertise. Having said that, I want to ask: what if doctors, lawyers, and engineers adopted the same mindset? Instead of translating their knowledge and recommendations into language a layperson can understand, what if these experts spoke only in their domain's technical jargon? We would be much worse off. In order to survive, everyone would have to be…

Yeah, it’s incredibly unrealistic tech-elitism to put the burden on everyone else because you can’t be bothered to simplify your design. Anyone who cares about self-hosting should not be advocating for the UX equivalent of setting VCR clocks.

We can be realistic about making hosting accessible, or you can bury your head in the sand with enthusiasts as AWS becomes the entire internet. It’s already pretty obvious which approach is winning.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#573

Post by Isthatablackgsd »

capdeck wrote: post #409
Isthatablackgsd wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I tried with Docker before and it is not a breeze as you think it is. I tried to use Docker for Calibre-Web and it is a pain to make it work. Because Calibre-Web required to access their database in the filesystem outside of Docker. Docker provided minimal (more of lacking) information of how to expose the filesystem for Calibre-Web to use their database. Calibre-Web cannot create their own database, it relies on Cal…

I am surprised by this shortcoming of Calibre image. I guess the trade is learning how to install calibre vs. learning how to deal with docker. I'd also agree that even if you use docker and installation is easy - for any self hosted apps you are using for a long enough time you end up learning enough about them to be able to install without docker (and avoid managing docker in addition to everything else).

Calibre does have their "book sharing" solution that are built in the software. However it is more like content server. Calibre-Web is a third-party solution that are not affiliated with Kovid Goyal (creator/main developer of calibre). And Calibre-Web is basically browser version of Calibre without requiring other people to use Calibre to access Calibre-Web. So Kovid did not create this calibre-web image from what I understand.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#574

Post by rattray »

southerntofu wrote: post #505
rattray wrote: post #358

One problem with "self-hosting" is you're usually still hosting in the cloud – say, on a DigitalOcean droplet or something. That means you're spending $5-10 every month or whatever, plus you're still vulnerable to some amount of cloud-provider fickleness (though much less than a SaaS provider). Much better would be a physical device in your own home. Lately I've been dreaming about a home wifi router that doubles as…

You should check out internetcu.be or or freedombox.org, both very successful at bundling a selfhosting distro with some consumer-oriented hardware! PS: No i'm not mentioning the many hardware-first solutions which are usually just a scam.

Thanks, freedombox.org does indeed look cool!

Re: Start Self Hosting

#575

Post by rattray »

wmf wrote: post #370
rattray wrote: post #358

One problem with "self-hosting" is you're usually still hosting in the cloud – say, on a DigitalOcean droplet or something. That means you're spending $5-10 every month or whatever, plus you're still vulnerable to some amount of cloud-provider fickleness (though much less than a SaaS provider). Much better would be a physical device in your own home. Lately I've been dreaming about a home wifi router that doubles as…

Given the choice between $5/month and, say, $300 upfront most people will choose monthly. I think both options should be available but realistically not many people are going to buy the box. There have been a bunch like FreedomBox, IndieBox, Helm, etc. but they don't seem to take off.

Interesting – Helm definitely looks cool, close to what I had in mind. Pricing of $400 plus $99/yr subscription sounds tough – and it doesn't include a wifi router, which I think is an element that would make more sense to the average home user (and ensure it's not connected to the internet over wifi).

Re: Start Self Hosting

#576

Post by lnxg33k1 »

prox wrote: post #497
fps_doug wrote: post #491

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, I have kids too, but I still wonder how much more dependent on big tech we might potentially get over the next decades, and how much responsibility I have in protecting and educating them in that regard. I'm postponing self-hosting mail for several years now, because it has A LOT of gotchas and requires tweaking and debugging every couple weeks/months because someone considers you a Spammer again (looking a…

I think it’s here Linux devs or the selfhost ecosystem should focus itself : making the software more accessible. It’s a bit like Blender before the big UI overhaul. There were actually a sizeable group of people who were very much against it, but now we are further along and its been a great success for both newbies and experts. An awareness campaign to go the extra mile in terms accessibility would be great (and th…

Speaking of accessibility, there was a meeting about using a headless cms at my company, so the team involved in it presents the product, something like strapi or something like that, and I ask like "Does it support accessibility features like tts/aria? And they say like "Oh but I don't think we need accessibility for this internal tool"

But also at past companies there was never the idea that internal tools had to support accessibility features, as we give for granted that we would never hire people with some sort of disability and they are just users that stay at home, it's sad and upsetting, as a person who doesn't need any accessibility feature to operate now, I really feel sorry for others who do, and I hope that I will never need them, because like your situation with products at employers like control panels and similar is very sad

Re: Start Self Hosting

#577

Post by rattray »

kbuck wrote: post #359
rattray wrote: post #358

One problem with "self-hosting" is you're usually still hosting in the cloud – say, on a DigitalOcean droplet or something. That means you're spending $5-10 every month or whatever, plus you're still vulnerable to some amount of cloud-provider fickleness (though much less than a SaaS provider). Much better would be a physical device in your own home. Lately I've been dreaming about a home wifi router that doubles as…

Check out Synology NASes (and now they make a router too). Basically exactly what you describe.

Very interesting – thanks!

For reference, https://www.synology.com/en-us/products/DS720+ lokos like a representative model. Seems to offer competitors to Google Photos, Drive, Gmail, Docs, Sheets, and more…

Re: Start Self Hosting

#578

Post by sjmm1989 »

spacemanmatt wrote: post #509
sjmm1989 wrote: post #437

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> What “lay person” is going to install a web server??? That’s insane. You ... might be surprised.

I've come to recognize my view that "anyone could install this web server" is a view most commonly shared among fellow techies, and not one shared by the greater population.

Yeah. Of course not 'everyone' will be able to, and maybe that's what we should be considering the 'lay person' now...

But there is a wide range of knowledge in this space. A 'lay person' is kind of hard to get down to a spot without potentially lumping people together improperly.

Take my customer for example. She's not stupid. She knows she could probably fix the computer I am fixing for her, herself. But she also knows there are things she just doesn't know and probably should get someone else who does know those things to do it instead. Is she the lay person? From talking to her, I am pretty sure with a couple quick hours of reading some stuff, she could probably set up a basic Nginx server or something very easily for herself. Etc, etc. Yet, by others standards, she is a lay person because she can't utilize Apache or AWS.

So, yeah... that's my take on it.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#579

Post by number6 »

jethro_tell wrote: post #526
number6 wrote: post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I drive in the final nail and tell you that the page in the Arch wiki[0] is a wonderful starter on systemd. Ah.. I was there when it was all SystemV vs Upstart vs Systemd... the golden days... [0]: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/systemd

I still have living systems that I put through the manual transition of the init systems and the /usr/ merge.

Ah! the /usr/ merge, I remember it being called the great symlink apocalypse.

Re: Start Self Hosting

#580

Post by Jerrrry »

sdoering wrote: post #443
Jerrrry wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not related at all, but seems like a good dude: https://www.molecule.dev/

Interesting landing/marketing page. But once I clicked to test it I ran into these notifications for nearly everything I would have preferred to use: > We have not yet started working on our XXX implementation, but you can select it and submit to let us know you're interested. Development is prioritized by demand. Or the "We are currently working on our YYY implementation..." So nearly nothing I would have wanted to…

yeah it seemed grandiose, he posted before and got a similar response, too many combinations to manually glue together
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