Experiments in owning data, part 2

blog/2019-01-23-experiments-in-owning-data:-software.markdown

@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+---
+layout: post
+title: "Experiments In Owning Data: Part 2"
+date: 2019-01-23
+comments: true
+categories:
+  - freebsd
+  - nextcloud
+  - data
+---
+
+_[Checkout part 1](/blog/2019/01/20/experiments-in-owning-data/index.html)_
+
+I wanted the setup to have as much less friction as possible, more time
+maintaining systems and uploading data is less time for things that I actually
+enjoy. Luckily a lot of open source tooling exists to help in this space, some
+mature, some not so much.
+
+I stumbled upon these two apps during this experiment and they have become my
+daily drivers of sort -
+
+### Nextcloud
+
+[Nextcloud](https://nextcloud.com/) is your one-stop cloud storage app. The core
+of nextcloud is a file storage server with a web interface, easy enough right?
+True to the open source nature it is heavily [extendable with apps (more like
+plugins)](https://apps.nextcloud.com/) - and there is an app for everything!
+hosting calendars, editing office docs, taking markdown notes and even video
+calling.
+
+Nextcloud comes with companion mobile apps for Android and iOS. The apps let you
+access and upload data to the nextcloud server. They can also automatically
+backup new photos to nextcloud! Loosing a device never means loosing photos.
+
+The server also exposes a [webdav](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebDAV)
+interface, so one can just mount it as a folder with
+[davfs](https://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/davfs2) over fuse. Webdav is not
+known for being very performant, but I like the simplicity of it and works well for my day today needs where I just need to work on a couple of small files.
+
+Nextcloud has replaced Google Drive/Photos for me. The whole process is not
+without pains. Documentation exists and is helpful, but sometimes falls short.
+I am yet to figure out how to setup
+[Collabora](https://nextcloud.com/collaboraonline/) (online office suite).
+
+### Tiddlywiki
+
+[Tiddlywiki](https://tiddlywiki.com/) claims itself to be a non-linear personal
+notebook. That's quite vague, because it depends entierly on the user. I use it
+to store tiny bits of notes, lists, code etc. I have managed to move everything
+from evernote to tiddlywiki with the exporter plugin. Formatting of exported
+notes is not great, but the content is fine - and that's all I care.
+
+
+## Current and Future
+I have been running this for almost an year now, other than nextcloud and
+tiddlywiki, the server also runs an email server (not my primary one yet), code
+repo and a CI setup.
+
+Where to now? I am obviously missing out on features, and I had to spent more
+time setting it up than signing up for a service. But the setup is tailored to
+my use and so far I am happy with it.
+
+That is not to say I think its perfect - I have a wishlist!
+
+### 1. Better photos interface and search
+I miss the fast and accurate photos search on google photos, and the current
+nextcloud photos interface is slow and only has file system hierarchy as a
+grouping mechanism. Maybe I can [inception-v3](https://arxiv.org/abs/1512.00567)
+or any other similiar image classification models and build an auto tagging
+system?
+
+### 2. Disaster proof backups
+Current backup system is quite rudimentary, it copys data every day to another
+server in the same datacenter (also on `raid1`). Its not great if the DC itself goes
+under - I would like something offsite, and also to backup server configs.
+
+Well, that's about it for now. :-) I do have a question to the reader: do you
+know any applications in this space that I should know about? please let me know over
+[twitter](https://twitter.com/notmycommit) or [email](mailto:mail@dbalan.in).