4 ms·

'regular people' use YouTube, Facebook, Instagram etc. Even you use HN. Not everything can be local. My friends and family aren't going to be convinced to us

'regular people' use YouTube, Facebook, Instagram etc. Even you use HN. Not everything can be local. My friends and family aren't going to be convinced to use a Jitsi instance running in my house (where I pay $0.35/kWh).

littlestymaar 4mo ago
> Even you use HN. A website that runs on an infra that could sit in a cupboard under the stairs serving hundreds of thousands of users with very small loading time. > My friends and family aren't going to be convinced to use a Jitsi instance running in my house > (where I pay $0.35/kWh). Using an old phone or laptop as server means you'll end up with a single digit annual electricity bill for that.
- rahimnathwani 4mo ago
  Does dang run HN on a single server? Why does HN use Algolia for search and Firebase for its API? "Using an old phone or laptop as server means you'll end up with a single digit annual electricity bill for that." The largest possible single digit annual electricity bill would be $9. That's almost enough to run a 3W device 24x7 for a year. Do you know any old phone or laptop that can serve as a reliable Jitsi server yet draws an average of 3W or less?
  - littlestymaar 4mo ago
    > Does dang run HN on a single server? I don't think Dang is responsible of that part, but I may be wrong. HN used to run on a single server (source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041), and I don't see why that would have changed given that the hardware keeps getting better. > Why does HN use Algolia for search Algolia is a YC company, it's pretty much free marketing for their asset. > That's almost enough to run a 3W device 24x7 for a year. Do you know any old phone or laptop that can serve as a reliable Jitsi server yet draws an average of 3W or less? You don't need to run it for 24 hours a day, nor do you need it to be the only process running on your machine. Jitsi is a bit heavy for a phone, but easily fits on an old M1 macbook/mac mini, whose idle power consumption is well below 10W (idle power consumption is what matters, since your machine isn't going to be handling calls all the time). If you shut it down at night, you're almost good. And for any additional service you serve from the machine, you reduce the cost per service further. Modern computers are fast, and fascinatingly energy efficient.
lioeters 4mo ago
I always imagined the HN server running on a single machine in some basement, running a magically efficient Lisp program that easily handles millions of requests per second.
- seltzered_ 4mo ago
  HN supposedly currently runs via M5 Hosting according to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45750668 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45750668 (comment from late 2025), though I think it ran on a single server over a decade ago.
  - littlestymaar 4mo ago
    Back in 2018 it was already running on M5 Hosting, but still on a single server: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041 (And honestly I don't see why it would have changed given that the hardware has been getting faster in the meantime).

littlestymaar 4mo ago

> Even you use HN. A website that runs on an infra that could sit in a cupboard under the stairs serving hundreds of thousands of users with very small loading time. > My friends and family aren't going to be convinced to use a Jitsi instance running in my house > (where I pay $0.35/kWh). Using an old phone or laptop as server means you'll end up with a single digit annual electricity bill for that.

rahimnathwani 4mo ago
Does dang run HN on a single server? Why does HN use Algolia for search and Firebase for its API? "Using an old phone or laptop as server means you'll end up with a single digit annual electricity bill for that." The largest possible single digit annual electricity bill would be $9. That's almost enough to run a 3W device 24x7 for a year. Do you know any old phone or laptop that can serve as a reliable Jitsi server yet draws an average of 3W or less?
- littlestymaar 4mo ago
  > Does dang run HN on a single server? I don't think Dang is responsible of that part, but I may be wrong. HN used to run on a single server (source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041), and I don't see why that would have changed given that the hardware keeps getting better. > Why does HN use Algolia for search Algolia is a YC company, it's pretty much free marketing for their asset. > That's almost enough to run a 3W device 24x7 for a year. Do you know any old phone or laptop that can serve as a reliable Jitsi server yet draws an average of 3W or less? You don't need to run it for 24 hours a day, nor do you need it to be the only process running on your machine. Jitsi is a bit heavy for a phone, but easily fits on an old M1 macbook/mac mini, whose idle power consumption is well below 10W (idle power consumption is what matters, since your machine isn't going to be handling calls all the time). If you shut it down at night, you're almost good. And for any additional service you serve from the machine, you reduce the cost per service further. Modern computers are fast, and fascinatingly energy efficient.

lioeters 4mo ago

I always imagined the HN server running on a single machine in some basement, running a magically efficient Lisp program that easily handles millions of requests per second.

seltzered_ 4mo ago
HN supposedly currently runs via M5 Hosting according to https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45750668 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45750668 (comment from late 2025), though I think it ran on a single server over a decade ago.
- littlestymaar 4mo ago
  Back in 2018 it was already running on M5 Hosting, but still on a single server: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16076041 (And honestly I don't see why it would have changed given that the hardware has been getting faster in the meantime).