

Self-hosted server platform arkOS starts crowdfund for new features - jcook818
https://fund.arkos.io

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maaarghk
Seems like a good idea in theory, but I know that my ISP sends you a
threatening letter in the post if you have too much incoming traffic - and
it's unbelievably slow anyway. I wish this project a whole lot of luck though,
because I really wish for a future of the internet where you don't rely on
products that bombard you with adverts.

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jcook818
The project plans to expand to other architectures (including VPSes) with a
successful funding campaign, meaning that you don't _have_ to host at home to
get the same easy experience. So maybe that would be an option for you.

Thanks for your support!! :D

~~~
maaarghk
I use bittorrent sync on a (really cheap) OVH dedicated server to much success
and if I could replace it with something pretty like your product then I
almost certainly would.

~~~
jcook818
That is the prime use case for arkOS :) With everyone's support easy and
secure self-hosted file sync will be possible for arkOS.

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bsimpson
Interesting pendulum going on here:

A big reason we moved to Dropbox and the cloud was to avoid the single-point-
of-failure and security problems associated with self-hosting. Most home users
aren't going to take the time to make sure their arkOS is constantly up-to-
date and configured securely, and anything hosted from one particular location
is liable to data loss from all sorts of physical issues (hardware failure,
theft, natural disaster, etc.).

I have a Dropbox Pro account because I'd rather pay someone a small amount of
money to take care of these things for me than risk my data being destroyed by
a fluke. The ability to access files from across devices is a big benefit too,
but a big part of the cloud push is to move critical data off of individual
devices, and I don't see arkOS handling that in its current pitch.

~~~
wmf
IMO security is solved by sandboxing and Chrome-style auto updates and
reliability is solved by data centers and mandatory backups, but I guess the
plug/RPi people disagree.

~~~
jcook818
arkOS will provide three of those four things. (Obviously not the data centers
part). The privacy implications counter the need for data centers for
interested users, but of course everyone will need to evaluate their own
individual pros and cons.

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eliteraspberrie
Is there documentation available about the various layers of this project:
operating system, networking, applications, and so on? You will receive much
more and better quality feedback with more documentation.

For example, I would advise that after installing arkOS the web server for the
Genesis application be only accessible from the LAN until the user changes the
default password(s), by configuring TCP Wrapper. But it's hard to tell if this
is already done without actually going through the installation.

arkOS is a great idea. I hope you succeed.

~~~
jcook818
Hi eliteraspberrie - You will find all the documentation you need on
[https://arkos.io](https://arkos.io). There is explanation about the various
frameworks and plugins that work with Genesis, what they do, how to use them,
how to develop with them, and so on.

There is a Security framework in Genesis that can be used to prevent access
from external (non-local network) clients. Genesis does not have a default
setting for this at this point, but I will see what I can do to implement it
as this makes good sense.

Thank you! :)

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mafuyu
Pretty neat - there's definitely a market for this kind of thing that extends
beyond ownCloud and is easy to set up. Targeting RasPi users initially isn't a
bad idea, but I'd like to see support for other architectures as well, as
maaarghk says.

A tangential point: I like how the BBS and funding are all integrated within
the site.

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rsync
I don't see email in the list of "what it does now" ... is that so basic of a
arkOS function that it is presumed, and doesn't need to be mentioned ?

Or are you not providing what I would argue is the number one priority for
self reliance, privacy and control on the Internet ?

~~~
jcook818
Hi rsync -- Email capability is in the works, you can find that mentioned on
the site under the "On the Agenda" "The true centre of your self-hosted
Internet" sections.

Thanks!

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dz0ny
This is around like 6 months, no progress beside nginx and transmission
inclusion has been made in that time. It's nice idea but without community I
don't see this project succeeding.

~~~
jcook818
Hi! A ton of progress has been made beside those things. And the frameworks
behind them (database management, SSL certificate management, webapp
download/installs, etc) are nothing to shake a stick at. Check this out for a
full list
[https://github.com/cznweb/genesis/releases](https://github.com/cznweb/genesis/releases)

The project has already started developing its community at
[https://bbs.arkos.io](https://bbs.arkos.io) and has an active mailing list,
Twitter following and others in diverse social media. I'm working hard to get
people active and involved, and contribution/bugfixes are very easy to do.

Thanks!

