I trust code more than politics.
I agree with this comment, it has very good points.
You device has to do all the processing which would lead to lower battery life.
The way iOS does it is it will only process it when your phone is plugged in and idle (e.g. when you’re asleep at night).
Is that automated?
If I left the USB stick plugged in constantly, but then it wouldn’t be very useful I guess.
I’ve only recently started selfhosting on my own, so I am still quite new.
Nevertheless, you might like the idea of local-first software which is kind of a hybrid between local only software, and self-hosting (or cloud hosting).
I’ll check it out, thank you!
Both. If your hardware isn’t designed like a server to run 24/7 it can be unhealthy for it, especially if it isn’t properly maintained. It can cause wear to it. As far as the OS, restarting is good to clear caches, fully install some software, and keep the system sanitary overall.
That’s a fair point, and I don’t suppose Nextcloud or Syncthing would be quite as useful or as designed for photos. Thank you for helping me understand!
I’ve made a point not to perpetually leave my home computer on simply because frequent restarts are healthy for it. Another reason is compartmentalization. I would want to keep my selfhosted server separate from where I game or browse the internet, if at least to keep it more secure.
I mentioned in the edit: I’m not asking why things should be selfhosted instead of run on a cloud provider, I’m asking why things are selfhosted on a server that could be run entirely on-device. The latter I argue provides more privacy and less cost. Again, there are some cases as I mentioned in the post where selfhosting on a server is useful (storage or processing power), but I keep seeing a lot of server-based selfhosting that could instead be run on the device itself.
and allows us to share them publicly with others using explicit links.
That’s something I hadn’t considered. I’m somewhat used to everything being completely local, no exceptions. It’s why I started selfhosting so late, I never saw much of a point to it. I also don’t feel completely comfortable opening any part of my home internet to the public, but I’m sure there’s safe ways of going about it.
Another bias of mine is having a lot of compartmentalization. For example, none of my desktop account credentials are stored on my phone’s password manager, and vice versa. If one device is compromised, I want to isolate the risk as much as I can. That also means that if I were to ever set up a movie library, for example, I would want to keep those isolated per-device as well.
Backups are a bit of a special case. You can either selfhost an automatic cloud backup, or use something simple like a USB stick you manually backup to. Besides that, though, I would argue you maintain more control over software that doesn’t rely on an external device to begin with. I gave examples, such as Aves, Joplin, or Feeder. If those are on my phone only (and properly backed up), I maintain full control knowing that I don’t need to rely on my own server at home to manage the data that I have in my pocket.
This has helped me see some new benefits of selfhosting, though. I’ve spent my whole life without a SIM card, so it isn’t always easy finding a network (especially a trustworthy one) to connect to on the go to connect to my server with. Even in the moments I could connect to a network, they had heavy censorship (blocked VPNs and certain IP addresses). That’s why I like having everything on-device.
I use Immich because I have multiple devices and multiple people uploading photos to it , so we can all organize together.
Would something like Syncthing work for this instead?
Sure, and I agree backups are important. I still don’t like that Immich requires another server to function in the first place. It would be difficult to recommend Immich as a gallery app to someone who doesn’t have experience in selfhosting. I personally backup my phone to my own USB stick every few days or so, that way if my phone is ever lost or stolen I still have a backup without the need for a server.
Every time a significant update to the list has been made, the version code is bumped and a new release is made. Sometimes there are hot fixes such as a broken SVG, for example.
Do you have experience with LMMS or MuseScore Studio? If so, what benefit does Ardour provide over them?
Hi there!
Thanks for the suggestions! I’ll definitely look into QR Scanner. Most camera apps come with some QR code scanning functionality built in, so there’s not much use in having a dedicated app. However, as you mentioned, network permissions can be a deciding factor. Someone may want the camera app to have network permissions, but not the QR scanning app.
Thank you for letting me know that Thunderbird is available for Android now! If you find any other incorrect platforms, please let me know. I’ve based almost all of the platform information based on what is listed on https://alternativeto.net/, so there are likely dozens of mistakes. I’ve found a few myself.
I use Breezy Weather and love it. A quick look at Bura, and it actually looks like an Android clone of the default iOS weather app, which is really cool. From the screenshots, I don’t see many differences, so I’m excited to try it out and see how similar it is. Breezy Weather runs in the background to provide notifications such as upcoming precipitation, etc. so that isn’t much of a deciding factor.
I will note, it’s unlikely that Breezy Weather will be replaced with Bura, simply because Breezy Weather is recommended more often by the community. Even though my list is curated, it doesn’t always reflect my preferred options (hence the “my top choices” stamp).
For example, I prefer Book’s Story instead of Librera Reader as an ebook reader, and Read You instead of Feeder as an RSS reader. However, since Librera Reader and Feeder are recommended more often (and have no major issues), those are what are listed.
I hate the UI of Librera Reader. Feeder is missing features such as a search functionality, but I don’t have any oppositions to it, so I still gave it the “my top choices” stamp, especially since Read You is a little weird about some functionality. Anyways, thanks for putting Bura on my radar. I’ll still check it out and, if there’s a massive benefit over Breezy Weather, it might replace it.
Thank you so much!
Edit: Bura fascinates me. It’s not an exact clone of the iOS weather app, but more like if the iOS weather app was done in Material Design. It’s very familiar to me, having used iOS my entire life until a few months ago. However, its simplicity, while an upside for some, is a bit of a downside for this list. Breezy Weather has a vast amount of customization, including customizing weather sources, which Bura doesn’t have. It’s a cool app though!
Edit 2: I tried out all Android QR code readers I could find, and settled on this one which is nearly the gold standard in my opinion. However, it does ask for network permissions. If you use GrapheneOS you can disable it, and it will work fine.
I’ll let you know if I figure it out! I don’t know much about proxies, but I’m still willing to try
Quest: Kali Bandits
The Kali have been terrorizing villages across Linuxia. I beg you, young traveler, help us fight them off. I’ll reward you with riches beyond compare!
Objective: Protect the village from the Kali bandits.
Reward: +500 gold
The questmakers haven’t updated the quest descriptions in a while. I’m waiting for the next update when they port the Whonix ISO kit.
I have [
and a ] Debian ArmorGNOME
as my companion. I often equip the Tor Browser Cloak of Invisibility
. If slain, I will drop a Locked KeePassXC Database Chest
. After completing the mission Revive bricked Linux system
, I was awarded with the [
. When drunk, it boosts all stats temporarily during a battle. ] Ego Potion
I personally can’t stand any other options except for Cinnamon (since it got a redesign) and a few distro-specific ones. That’s just me though. Explore away!
I use both: GNOME works better for a desktop, KDE Plasma works better for a laptop.
There are more than those 2 options for a Desktop Environment, by the way ;)
I used GNOME Disks to modify /etc/crypttab and /etc/fstab to auto decrypt and auto mount on boot. Jellyfin still loses its access each time I restart, even though the
jellyfin
group still displays having access to the files.Edit: Turns out it does have access, but it’s no longer under the /media/username directory. I have to point Jellyfin to /mnt/UUID instead. This fixed it!