this is like month+ old info, at least mention that when posting. otherwise people assume it’s an update.

I deployed RocketChat on two different client installations (didn’t check the licensing you’re mentioning, I’ll have to look into that) and I run a Prosody instance (XMPP) on my own; tried Matrix for a short while and ran away from that mess as fast as I could. anyhow, although the messengers work without any significant issues or downtime, the amount of flak I get from non-tech normies about the client apps is staggering.

the apps just aren’t up to current UX standards. they’re used to Twitter and iMessage and Telegram quality UX, and getting used to these PoC-quality apps - both on mobile and desktop - makes them “feel icky”. I’ve had to intervene on a number of occasions when some of them transferred their business-related comms to other platforms because they just can’t/won’t get used to these apps.

regarding the pricy enclosures, there are vastly cheaper eGPU solutions especially if you’re able to utilise the on-board M.2 or mini-PCI slot. if you don’t move the laptop around, it’s a viable option. this would be an example - not an endorsment. you’d need a $15 PSU to power the graphics and it works well in linux, with the hotpluggability being the primary issue; if you’re willing to shutdown before attaching the eGPU, close to no issues.

you can run it as graphics card (i.e. utilize its display outputs) or just use the laptop’s display with optionally switching between the onboard and discrete graphics.

to me the Ian Holm abomination was terrible, without any redeeming qualities. same thing as rogue one, exact same shittyness, zero technological progress, crude and unnecessarily distracting.

using rsync:

why not btrfs send | btrfs receive? is there some advantage to rsync?

did you hotswap the drives after each btrfs replace or shutdown and then swap?

what’s your host OS and do the drives spin down if inactive?

thanks for the writeup!

I’ve set up a local mail archive with just dovecot + imap plugin. you don’t need the full mail server with postfix and whatnot, as it’s not intended to send anything anywhere, or even receive anything for that matter. it just sits there ready to be searched with thunderbird, no need for other complex solutions you’ve mentioned.

first off, I have serious doubts that any one dude - or even a group of those for that matter - can ascertain the security of such a complex system; a browser is essentially an operating system, with all the layers and complexities that entails.

even if you’re somewhat successful in such an endeavor, I don’t really care if it potentially is. chromium comes from those shitmakers and I’m not willingly using anything they had their nasty fingers in. they threw one shovel of shit too many on the heap and they are now forever on my ignore list. if that means that I don’t get to access certain domains, sites, and/or apps - so be it, I’ll make do without.

fucking edgelords… IA has trouble staying on its feet without this sorta crap.

this has “kicking puppies for palestine” energy - not sure where I’ve read this but it’s an apt analogy.

can you run it on multiple devices and have them all synced? how about chat export in a readable format?

hey E., tell Sloane I said “What up”

good messenger for what?

if you want a solution for you and a bunch of your henchmen to coordinate and discuss totally-not-crimes with ephemeral comms, practically any E2EE solution will work; once the not-crimen is done, burn your accounts and toss the devices for good measure and you’re scot free.

if you want a secure messenger that’s part of a widely used communication platform where you can also do normal people shit and also convert normal people to actually use it (think getting contact deets from cute boy/girl at a bar or giving yours to a business correspondent without an elaborate powerpoint presentation on how to use it) and you want to enjoy the fruits of 20+ years of continuous IM development, like having top-notch UX, battery efficiency, network resiliency, quality voice/video calls, etc., without being spied on then such a thing doesn’t exist.

how come? meredith baxter recently stated that it costs signal $50MM/yr to run their infra. that money has to come from somewhere. if there are no advertising dolts dumping cash on spying on your social graph and convos, the remaining avenues for financing are few and far between.

in closing, there aren’t any super awesome messengers you weren’t aware of, everything is shit.

I wanted to write the same thing. have the notes app do the notes thing and handle encryption elsewhere.

as to apps, I suggest QOwnNotes. it’s markdown, highly configurable so you can make it minimalistic AF, stores notes in invidual files and folders. it also has a bunch functionality like syncing to nexctcolud and such, but I’d advise against it, just use it as a notes editor. you don’t have to selfhost anything, make it use the e.g. Documents/Notes folder and you can use syncthing to securely replicate it to other devices.

because things moved forward in the last decade or so and it’s not viable. the same way matrix and element and those ridiculous things aren’t viable and never will be. can you use it today? absolutely. can you convert normies to it and make it an actual widely used comms platform? no. fucking. way.

this is coming from a guy running their own prosody instance and utilizing rocketchat on two separate client instances. yeah, I know how to set it up and deploy it; but the amount of absolutely credible complaints I get from normies forced to use it staggering.

to me it looks and feels like shit, compared to Durov’s spyware it’s like a PoC from 2015 looking for funding. fine demo you got there, now bring us the real thing.

but, to practical things, I lose/sell/buy/switch devices frequently. with telegram, I can lose all my devices, log on from a fresh one and all my shit is there - a decade+ of convos with 100s of people with valuable info. no juggling around with the crappy electron desktop app that doesn’t give me access to convos or the inane procedure to replace a lost device and restore chat history… the other day, I successfully retrieved a piece of info from a convo from a decade prior.

I realize there are people out there that need that sort of security, but I don’t. I just want Telegram with an OTR plugin (OMEMO nowadays) that prevents any nascent mass surveilance and LLM ingestion and I’m golden. but that shit’s explicitly against Telegram’s ToS; the only logical conclusion is they’re adamant about leaving all your shit unencrypted in the cloud for some specific reason.

I can’t think of any such reason that’s not malevolent.

regarding its UX, nothing close exists; when it comes to converting normies, so you have someone to actually talk to, then there are no alternatives. that’s a pretty shitty state of affairs for something that shoulda been solved a long time ago.

lesson learned, I guess, don’t put all your eggs in one basket and have multiple fallback solutions. I’ve begrudingly moved to Signal and I’m cursing it out at least once per day, can’t believe the navel-gazing, self-righteous cluelessness behind it; but that’s the best there is at the moment. it’s beyond shitty that we’re having trouble achieving what we had in like 2012 by way of XMPP and friends, let alone surpassing it.

any way to read this without a telegram account?

air tags function by utilizing the ad-hoc network all Apple devices create - if you run an Apple device, you’re involuntarily part of this P2P network, even when your device is supposedly off. otherwise, said tags wouldn’t be able to send you status reports from the other side of the planet. that’s just how they and find-my-shit apps work, there are no alternatives to global availability.

all that’s kinda antithetical to the whole privacy thing, so you’ll have to balance the good with the bad and determine how much spyware you will tolerate to gain this sort of convenience.

I’m sorry for being slightly off-topic, but ONE THOUSAND clams for an easily breakable/losable thief magnet is just bonkers to me. my desktop, laptop, tablet and phones cost way less than that in total.

you sure you separated your “needs” from your “wants”?