Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | pinkgolem's commentslogin

>At a smaller business I worked at, I was able to use these services to achieve uptime and performance that I couldn’t achieve self-hosted, because I had to spend time on the product itself. So yeah, we’d saved on infrastructure engineers.

How sure are you about that one? All of my hetzner vm`s reach an uptime if 99.9% something.

I could see more then one small business stack fitting onto a single of those vm`s.


100% certain because I started by self hosting before moving to AWS services for specific components and improved the uptime and reduced the time I spent keeping those services alive.

What was work you spend configuring those services and keeping them alive? I am genuinely curious...

We have a very limited set of services, but most have been very painless to maintain.


A Django+Celery app behind Nginx back in the day. Most maintenance would be discovering a new failure mode:

- certificates not being renewed in time

- Celery eating up all RAM and having to be recycled

- RabbitMQ getting blocked requiring a forced restart

- random issues with Postgres that usually required a hard restart of PG (running low on RAM maybe?)

- configs having issues

- running out of inodes

- DNS not updating when upgrading to a new server (no CDN at the time)

- data centre going down, taking the provider’s email support with it (yes, really)

Bear in mind I’m going back a decade now, my memory is rusty. Each issue was solvable but each would happen at random and even mitigating them was time that I (a single dev) was not spending on new features or fixing bugs.


I mean, going back a decade might be part of the reason?

Configs having issues is like number 1 reason i like the setup so much..

I can configure everything on my local machine and test here, and then just deploy it to a server the same way.

I do not have to build a local setup, and then a remote one


Er… what? Even in today’s world with Docker, you have differences between dev and prod. For a start, one is accessed via the internet and requires TLS configs to work correctly. The other is accessed via localhost.

I use a https for localhost, there are a ton of options for that.

But yes, the cert is created differently in prod and there are a few other differences.

But it's much closer then in the cloud.


Just fyi, you can put whatever you want in /etc/hosts, it gets hit before the resolver. So you can run your website on localhost with your regular host name over https.

I’m aware, I just picked one example but there are others like instead of a mail server you’re using console, or you have a CDN.

Just because your VM is running doesn't mean the service is accessible. Whenever there's a large AWS outage it's usually not because the servers turned off. It also doesn't guarantee that your backups are working properly.

If you have a server where everything is on the server, the server being on means everything is online... There is not a lot of complexity going on inside a single server infrastructure.

I mean just because you have backups does not mean you can restore them ;-)

We do test backup restoration automatically and also on a quarterly basis manually, but so you should do with AWS.

Otherwise how do you know you can restore system a without impact other dependency, d and c


As someone who has done both.. i disagree, i find self hosting to a degree much easier and much less complex

Local reproducibility is easier, and performance is often much better


It depends entirely on your use case. If all you need is a DB and Python/PHP/Node server behind Nginx then you can get away with that for a long time. Once you throw in a task runner, emails, queue systems, blob storage, user-uploaded content, etc. you can start running beyond your own ability or time to fix the inevitable problems.

As I pointed out above, you may be better served mixing and matching so you spend your time on the critical aspects but offload those other tasks to someone else.

Of course, I’m not sitting at your computer so I can’t tell you what’s right for you.


I mean, fair, we are ofc offloading some of that.. email being one of those, LLM`s being another thing.

Task runner/que at least for us postgres works for both cases.

We also self host an s3 storage and allow useruploaded content in within strict borders.


Would also be interested in a better platform

Earthly did not work out, and dagger had the problem of we support everything but but nothing is great


Yeah, we migrated to self hosted actions runnrers on hetzner 2 years ago, the speed improvement was massive

... I mean Google meet handles it pretty well


You are comparing a medium of transport to (generated) content.

And yes, Contend that encourages suicide is largely discouraged/shunned, be it film, forums, books


>Also note that the cost of Windows machines is half the price of their Mac counterparts, even with the specs doubled.

Bullshit, MacBooks are one of the cheaper options for usable devices today. Esp in there entry segment.


Yeah. An M4 macbook air is about a grand.


Now spec it with 32GB of RAM, and try to get a bulk discount for ordering 1,000 of them. Try to get the price of said 32GB M4 Airs down to ~$700/laptop or less.

Not going to happen with Apple.

No company that's big enough is paying sticker price for windows laptops.


``` Now spec it with 32GB of RAM, and try to get a bulk discount for ordering 1,000 of them. Try to get the price of said 32GB M4 Airs down to ~$700/laptop or less. Not going to happen with Apple. ```

Exactly. Thanks for explaining this. Also one more point to note is Windows machines go on discount sales very frequently. It's usually way too easy to find one with 32GB and 1TB, with the latest Ryzen or Intel mobile processors. Bonus when you find one like Lenovo Legion which allows you to buy and shove-in extra RAM/storage as you need them.


Is ram and SSD and CPU all you care about?

I mean yeah, you will get a PC a bit cheaper..

But then you just ignored everything else, build quality, webcam, speakers, sound, SSD speed, keyboard, battery runtime, screen quality..

With business line for comparable build quality/durability you are not getting half price anymore, and I have not yet seen any laptop speaker/webcam not on a MacBook with comparable quality.

I do not have access to bulk discounts, but you are more then invited to post some samples.


For me personally? Yeah, I care about build quality, webcam, speakers, etc. Which is mostly why I still use a macbook.

But for bulk purchases the business is buying for the average office worker, no, none of those things matter. The only thing that matters is RAM, CPU, and does it have a 3/5 year warranty (whatever the lifecycle of the device is). Otherwise, it's spending 8 hours a day hooked up to a docking station, lid closed, and users use headsets for meetings.

That's largely why it's so hard to find/buy a non-mac laptop with equivalent price to performance & build quality. They largely aren't made for individuals who are choosing their own hardware.


So the initial quote:

>even with the specs doubled.

Was bullshit? Because webcam, sound durability are also specs..


The vast majority of people care more about RAM, SSD and CPU only. Apple charges $200+ for an increment in each of these departments.

Moreover, the speakers, keyboard, battery, webcam are almost caught up in quality with Macbooks when you look at products like LG Gram.

Reg. Screen Quality, some windows machines have better screens actually, and those are the OLED ones.


>vast majority of people care more about RAM, SSD and CPU

The vast majority of people do not know what any of this is, and they do not care at all, they want a fast machine for there usecase.. and for most people that is the equivalent to editing a word doc and listening to Spotify.

After watching a review if the LG gram, yeah, I am not convinced that comes anywhere close in regards of speakers or keyboard.. and the durability seems.. questionable

It also seem to be around the same price point of a MacBook air with more or less the same specs on super duper black Friday sale


>> fast machine for there usecase

Isn't that what RAM, CPU and SSD are all about? The average user doesn't care much, but at the end of the day if your machine cannot keep up several open apps due to low RAM or cannot store a lot of data because you only have 256GB, that's a problem right?


Sure, but that border is for a lot more then 90% of users mostly reached with 16gb and an m1/and equivalent...

From a certain point a faster SSD was more important for program startup and the m1 did blow a normal windows laptop out of the water there

And nowadays is mostly how well does the os it's thing, a word doc will not compute faster because you have more cores


Are they?

They build 10x more solar power (total numbers compared, in percentages solar nearly tripled since 2021, nuclear had a 10% increase)

That seems more like a modest increase.

Honestly solar seems to have an exponential growth, nuclear linear at best.

Numbers from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_sector_in_China


i have heard that hybrid's have a maintanance problem?

is not a concern, double the technologie in the same space?


It's possible it might actually be more reliable long term, once the technology matures. For example, in cold weather the gas engine might heat the battery for better battery performance, maybe even extend its life if it prevents it from being drawn down too much. The gas engine, would also likely last longer since its not used for daily commutes.

"In many PHEV systems, there are different modes:

Electric mode (EV mode): The vehicle runs purely on the electric motor(s) and battery until the battery depletes to some extent.

Hybrid/Parallel mode: Both the petrol engine and electric motor(s) work together to drive the wheels, especially under high load, higher speeds or when battery is low. Ithy

Series mode (in some designs): The petrol engine acts only as a generator to charge the battery or power the electric motor(s), and the wheels are driven by the electric motor(s).

For the BYD Leopard 5 (and many BYD PHEVs) the petrol engine can drive the wheels (i.e., it is not purely a generator). It is part of the drive system, especially when high power or long range is needed.

At the same time, it likely can assist with charging the battery or maintaining battery state of charge (SOC) when needed (for example, to keep the battery at some reserve level or in “save” mode). User-reports show that the petrol engine will kick in to support the electric system, charge the battery, or assist the drive under certain conditions" -


It's not like reliable gas cars ever had substantial maintenance problem in the gas part. So removing the gas part didn't do much in practice.

People do/did have frustrations with gas car mannerisms and mental approachability, like, everything was written in a mix of translated foreign language documents and borderline insane gearhead languages. That lead them to imagine that removing the gas part would drastically change the industry, in their favor.

But, in the end, gas cars are good with regular maintenance for something like 100k miles over 8 years, so, I wouldn't know what consumer product were more reliable than a gas car in the first place.


Reliable gas cars still require a lot more maintenance than an EV does.

Oil and oil filter changes. Fuel filters. Air cleaners. Brake pads (that mostly goes away with hybrids too).


And this is what I'm referring to by approachability issues. Even HNers can't correctly enumerate maintenance items for a car.

If I said iPads are better than laptops because there's no need to regularly replace soft drive Window and repaste NPUs every 2000 hours, everyone knows what kind of person I would be. Yet, that just casually happen all the time when it comes to EVs.


Not that I'm aware of. I've heard that many hybrids actually require less maintenance - for instance, the car can use electric power for hard acceleration instead of stressing the engine, so oil tends to last longer, and regenerative braking causes the friction brakes to wear out more slowly.


Not sure about that, since I did never owned one either. But I watched a review BYD car yesterday. And it's supper nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6bqgR3NRHE&t=1s


Eh, my PHEV has a 2 year oil change interval, which is longer than my ICE only cars. You should probably bring in your EV every 2 years to get things looked at too.

The engine in a hybrid should live an easier life compared to an ICE. No extended idle, mostly running in the power band, etc. There are lots of different ways to setup the hybrid system, but typically, rather than a small stater motor, you have a larger motor/generator that also starts the engine; it's less likely to get worn out, because it's built for continuous use.

In my PHEV, it has a 'toyota synergy' style 'e-CVT' which eliminates gear selection and should be very low maintenance (although mine had to be replaced under a service bulletin due to bearing failure because of manufacturing error) again nicer than an ICE. But some hybrids have a more traditional transmission.

Certainly, you can do ICE only or EV only, but there's a lot of room to use the ICE for things it's good for, and the EV for things it's good for, and blend where there's overlap.


Ford Escape? I have a friend that needed the transmission on his 2023 PHEV replaced under warranty... no service bulletin, but mechanics caught a manufacturing error at a regular service. Hopeful my hybrid Maverick doesn't have similar problems.


2014? Ford C-MAX energi TSB 16-0105 [1] (although there's a similar TSB 22-2396 [2] with a wider range)

I'd just say, if it starts making bearing noises (loudest around 15mph), check in and get yelly. Cause apparently they keep screwing them up. HF35 is designed and built by Ford for Ford, so they really should have everything they need to do it right. sigh

I saw a picture somewhere where they had an extra hole carved through the casing from this, worked fine until it breached and the fluid came out, then it died pretty quick.

[1] https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/SB-10092366-5448.pdf

[2] https://www.tsbsearch.com/Ford/22-2396


That two year oil change cycle is the minumum required to not void the warranty.

It shouldn’t be taken as the optimal interval to maximise engine life.

Of course, modern fully synthetic engine oils are longer lasting, and I believe the newer Toyotas, at least the hybrids anyway, have electric oil pumps, and use very thin engine oil to make sure the engine is well lubricated at startup.


there is a major difference between having an old image available and having it tagged as latest with no updates beeing available on a channel that before that published all updates with nearly no time delay


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: