this post was submitted on 22 Oct 2023
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The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android? (packmates.org)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The future of selfhosted services is going to be... Android?

Wait, what?

Think about it. At some point everyone has had an old phone lying around. They are designed to be constantly connected, constantly on... and even have a battery and potentially still a SIM card to survive power outages.

We just need to make it easy to create APK packaged servers that can avoid battery-optimization kills and automatically configure an outbound tunnel like ngrok, zerotrust, etc...

The goal: hosting services like #nextcloud, #syncthing, #mastodon!? should be as easy as installing an APK and leaving an old phone connected to a spare charger / outlet.

It would be tempting to have an optimized ROM, but if self-hosting is meant to become more commonplace, installing an APK should be all that's needed. #Android can do SSH, VPN and other tunnels without the need for root, so there should be no problem in using tunnels to publicly expose a phone/server in a secure manner.

In regards to the suitability of home-grade broadband, I believe that it should not be a huge problem at least in Europe where home connections are most often unmetered: "At the end of June 2021, 70.2% of EU homes were passed by either FTTP or cable DOCSIS
3.1 networks, i.e. those technologies currently capable of supporting gigabit speeds."

Source: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/broadband-coverage-europe-2021

PS. syncthing actually already has an APK and is easy to use. Although I had to sort out some battery optimization stuff, it's a good example of what should become much more commonplace.

cc: @selfhosted
#selfhosted #selfhosting

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This isn't even true. A Pi sells for 50$ yes, + USB cable for power + USB power adapter + case + whatever else money grab.

A second hand HP mini with an i5 7th gen CPU that is WAY faster comes with everything including 8 GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD (or better if you get a good deal) for around 80$. Tell me about your math again...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How's the power consumption compare between two performance equivalent setups? (Genuine question, it's something I'm trying to determine for my self-host use-cases).

My first RPi is for Joplin to replace OneNote. My current server runs 24/7 and costs about $1/day for power (it provides other services too). I haven't calculated my Pi power consumption yet, but it's running on a 2.5 watt power supply, vs my server 700 watt (of course, these are both peak measurements).

Given my self-host stuff will spend 99% of its time at idle, it seems like Pi has a massive advantage. But of course that all depends on how things are used and setup.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The raspberry pi, like all RISC chips, uses much less power.

In fact the super computer summit runs on powerpc64 which is a RISC chip, that's a big reason why its power consumption for a super computer is so low.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I hadn't considered the RISC angle. Does RISC consistently use less power than CISC at given operations levels (MFLOPS, for example), or is there another/better way to make a power-consumption vs operations/performance comparison?

I realize this is kind of esoteric for my use-cases, but it would be useful for making projections to see if spending X dollars on Y number of Pi's recoups the investment over a given period, just in power consumption.

E.G. If I can reduce my power consumption by 70% by switching to 3 Rpis, then I can recoup their cost in 2-3 years. Since my server needs replacing anyway, this seems like a no-brainer.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah, a second hand old as shit hp, that'll die on you so quick. There's a reason that hp is selling for so cheap. HP is garbage, unless you're buying their actual servers...

Edit: also all the "cash grab" parts.. you probably already have those parts just lying around doing nothing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Yeah, a second hand old as shit hp, that’ll die on you so quick.

Not my experience. At all.

Edit: also all the “cash grab” parts… you probably already have those parts just lying around doing nothing.

Yes I sure have a proprietary adapter for their PCIe connector and a Pi case lying around. Just the case its about 30€ and suddenly it becomes as expensive as a second hand mini PC for 1/10 of the performance and reliability. See the problem now? Even with the power adapter, the RPI is picky and will require a decent thing that is usually more than your average smartphone.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is self hosting... You're telling me you or one of your friends don't have a printer to print a case for less than a dollar? Shit, pay for shipping and I'll send you a case.

PC for 1/10 of the performance and reliability.

That's not my experience at all. I mean the other user already posted a PC you can buy for the same price as a pi. It's about as good as a 4, the 5 is 3x that speed.

See the problem now?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

A metal chassis from an HP Mini will be always better than something 3d printed...

That other guy could've done better.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/285465761346

HP ProDesk 600 G3 Mini Intel Intel i5-7500T 2.7GHz 8GB DDR4 256GB SSD

US $62.99

There are similar deals in Europe, usually from Germany.