Self Hosting Alternatives

#1

One thing that keeps coming in our discussions is self hosting the software that we use. It is a good thing to have control over the software that we use, but many times it is not a simple task.

Let’s use this thread to discuss about the possible alternatives to cloud software that we use everyday.

  • GMail – what does it take to self host email?
  • Google Docs – NextCloud, Etherpad
  • Messaging – ?
  • Video Conference – ?

Anything else?

Has anyone here has experience with self hosting?

If there is enough interest we can have a monthly meet to discuss about self hosting.

Thoughts?

#2

I selfhost the following:

  1. A Nextcloud instance for syncing org-mode files with my phone and a few other important documents (both encrypted). Have connected my mailbox.org account with Nextcloud, but mostly use Thunderbird.
  2. A Bitwarden-rs instance. I think this is one of the essentials.
  3. Drone+Gitea instance for backup of (github repos, although rarely used)
  4. Fathom instance for analytics
  5. Commento for comments on blog.
  6. A Transmission web ui of parents htpc shared through tailscale.
  7. A Beehive instance for bit of automation. (rarely used)
  8. Miniflux for reading RSS feeds. Another essential.
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#3

Since you use Thunderbird, you might want to try TB’s feedreader. It’s pretty neat and works exactly like an inbox.

#4

Thanks for a detailed list @rhnvrm.

I’ve created a github issue for self hosting (until we host gitea).

https://github.com/fossunited/infra/issues/1

#5

@knadh I used to use offline feedreaders like elfeed and TB’s inbuilt feedreader as well. But I prefer Miniflux ever since I installed it around more than an year ago since it is very minimal and very low maintenance. It solves the problem of being able to read articles on my mobile or my laptop and keeping it in sync. It has an excellent web app which I place on my phone’s home screen. It also provides Fever API so I use the Feed Me app to read. Few people also use it for the integration with Wallabag. I still subscribe to few mailing lists such as ones on Freelists on Thunderbird feeds, this way I can separate mails and general news and articles which it handles really well. Although, Miniflux has an amazing feature that automatically downloads the content of the page instead of just rendering the contents inside the feed. So I am thinking of moving these mailing list subscriptions to Miniflux as well as they don’t render properly anyways in TB.

@Anand not able to view the repo.

#6

@rhnvrm The repo was private and I didn’t notice that. Fixed now.

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#7

Re. Videoconferencing, I just discovered that as an associate member I get to use my FSF credentials to host calls on their Jitsi bridge. The server is based in the US, so probably not suitable as a final solution but if y’all want to try it out to evaluate Jitsi as an option, I’ll be happy to host a call.

1 Like
#8

Sure, I’ll ping you on email to try Jisti.