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For most people, self hosting their own data isn’t even an option. For the subset of privacy concerned people who have the technological knowledge to self host,

by sildur 7y ago

For most people, self hosting their own data isn’t even an option. For the subset of privacy concerned people who have the technological knowledge to self host, making mistakes with their data is not “orders of magnitude less likely”.

davinic 7y ago
Only because you're thinking as "self-hosting" to be setting up a server, etc. Before cloud-connected security cameras, every cam system owner was "self-hosting", even if that mean the cameras just recording to a local box.
mceachen 7y ago
> For most people, self hosting their own data isn’t even an option. I'm trying hard to invalidate this with PhotoStructure. My goal is to be installable and usable by even my least-computer-savvy family members. Although there are desktop installers, users can move their library to a NAS, rPI, oDroid, NUC or a VM in the cloud--anything that can host 64-bit docker images--but only if they want to. Everything in your library works cross-platform because I didn't want to be tied down to any OS or hardware.
- climb_stealth 7y ago
  How are photos added to the library? I had a quick look through the PhotoStructure website and it looks interesting, but I haven't seen this answered. For me the appeal of Google Photos is that all my phone's photos get uploaded when I'm on wifi. PS: There's an image that can't be loaded on the confirmation page when registering for email updates.
  - mceachen 7y ago
    > How are photos added to the library? PhotoStructure imports files that are available to the device that it runs on: local files and anything mounted via a network filesystem (like AFS, NFS, or SMB/CIFS). I use SyncThing or Resilio Sync to send my phone's photos and videos to my NAS. When I'm on vacation with limited bandwidth, I add a sync node on my laptop (which is connected to the hotel WiFi), so my phone syncs quickly to my laptop next to me, and then through the course of the day, the laptop syncs back home. Although it's certainly more convenient to have everything wrapped into one app, I think there's an appeal to being able to choose the tool that works for you. (In other words: it's much less code I have to write and maintain--writing battery-efficient, stable background jobs on both iOS and Android are a PITA!) > There's an image that can't be loaded on the confirmation page Are you using ublock origin or a pihole? Those block most images coming from mailchimp.
    - climb_stealth 7y ago
      I see, thanks! And yes, I agree on the app part. Which is where Google Photos' value lies for me as it is rock solid in that department. I'm currently running both syncthing and Google Photos to store my photos. syncthing is great once it works, but it is definitely not something I would expect a family member to be able to set up. In any case I'm very much looking forward to see where PhotoStructure is going. I've set up a reminder to give it a try.
      - mceachen 7y ago
        FWIW, Resilio Sync has a desktop version that's easy to set up (a QR code pairs your devices, and you don't have to do anything to your router).
- johntash 7y ago
  Is PhotoStructure a web app, or something else? I looked through the website and signed up for the beta, it seems interesting and is going on my list of possible Google Photos replacements.
  - mceachen 7y ago
    It's a web app. I've packaged it up with Electron, but you can also run it via docker or even directly if you've got node installed. I'll be sending out instructions to my next wave of beta users soon.

by sildur 7y ago

davinic 7y ago

Only because you're thinking as "self-hosting" to be setting up a server, etc. Before cloud-connected security cameras, every cam system owner was "self-hosting", even if that mean the cameras just recording to a local box.

mceachen 7y ago

> For most people, self hosting their own data isn’t even an option. I'm trying hard to invalidate this with PhotoStructure. My goal is to be installable and usable by even my least-computer-savvy family members. Although there are desktop installers, users can move their library to a NAS, rPI, oDroid, NUC or a VM in the cloud--anything that can host 64-bit docker images--but only if they want to. Everything in your library works cross-platform because I didn't want to be tied down to any OS or hardware.

climb_stealth 7y ago
How are photos added to the library? I had a quick look through the PhotoStructure website and it looks interesting, but I haven't seen this answered. For me the appeal of Google Photos is that all my phone's photos get uploaded when I'm on wifi. PS: There's an image that can't be loaded on the confirmation page when registering for email updates.
- mceachen 7y ago
  > How are photos added to the library? PhotoStructure imports files that are available to the device that it runs on: local files and anything mounted via a network filesystem (like AFS, NFS, or SMB/CIFS). I use SyncThing or Resilio Sync to send my phone's photos and videos to my NAS. When I'm on vacation with limited bandwidth, I add a sync node on my laptop (which is connected to the hotel WiFi), so my phone syncs quickly to my laptop next to me, and then through the course of the day, the laptop syncs back home. Although it's certainly more convenient to have everything wrapped into one app, I think there's an appeal to being able to choose the tool that works for you. (In other words: it's much less code I have to write and maintain--writing battery-efficient, stable background jobs on both iOS and Android are a PITA!) > There's an image that can't be loaded on the confirmation page Are you using ublock origin or a pihole? Those block most images coming from mailchimp.
  - climb_stealth 7y ago
    I see, thanks! And yes, I agree on the app part. Which is where Google Photos' value lies for me as it is rock solid in that department. I'm currently running both syncthing and Google Photos to store my photos. syncthing is great once it works, but it is definitely not something I would expect a family member to be able to set up. In any case I'm very much looking forward to see where PhotoStructure is going. I've set up a reminder to give it a try.
    - mceachen 7y ago
      FWIW, Resilio Sync has a desktop version that's easy to set up (a QR code pairs your devices, and you don't have to do anything to your router).
johntash 7y ago
Is PhotoStructure a web app, or something else? I looked through the website and signed up for the beta, it seems interesting and is going on my list of possible Google Photos replacements.
- mceachen 7y ago
  It's a web app. I've packaged it up with Electron, but you can also run it via docker or even directly if you've got node installed. I'll be sending out instructions to my next wave of beta users soon.