Todd Miller

So the difference between this and say the core Nextcloud or Opencloud is Paperless ngx isn't just storing documents. It's also scanning them and allowing filtering based on filters? Or do I have to scan a document first so each file is a single page?

Is the RSS feed supposed to have this blog post? I only see five entries and the last on is May. Also, only the Q! status update is listed. I'm wondering if I have the right one.

I think if we are honest almost everyone would say they were disappointed in how this startup has gone including Eshtek. I don't think all of our disappointment is justified because it has nothing to actually do with HexOS. However, you have hit on two points that are hard to argue with. Why are we paying up to $200 to test this application? And TrueNAS what? As for the paying to test question, I guess I am starting to do the same (well kind of) as you because I have set it aside to wait for go live. Plex and Immich are the only current curated apps I would ever use and until the serious discussions on how to secure the NAS start my machine is just a giant backup drive. And as for the current absolute requirement to use TrueNAS to do ALMOST anything including troubleshooting curated app failures. Well, if I am going to have to hire TrueNAS support to properly setup all non curated and some curated apps, I'm probably better off buying beer for my current Unraid support buddy. Like many others, I saw the LTT video and thought "Holly crap, someone finally built a system I can manage myself. I got in at the Black Friday price so HexOS on a mostly recycles server is still cheaper that a Synology or Ugreen prebuilt server. Storage seems to be the biggest cost but I have to pay that either way. I'm sure I will keep checking in and looking at the officially curated apps to see if anything looks interesting but unless there is a solid security option, it's all pretty irrelevant to me. My problem is that if I had to pay $299 what would I need to pull the trigger? That may be a tough uphill struggle for Eshtek if they want to attract people who are not at least serviceable in TrueNAS. So instead of looking at an the app we have today and deciding what it must be going to look like in 1, 2 and 5 years, we can wait and see what 1.0 looks like. I doubt though it will ever just be point and click.

So regardless of which FileBrowser you go with you can't just install it and expect to see all the datasets on the HexOS server? I'm not to shook up about this, I am just used to global file browsers of the linux distro I have. Well, and windows explorer as well I guess. I guess as the admin I am just used to seeing everything because I have access to everything. I'm probably just missing something yet.

When you create a new datasight do you see these options?

??? What future do you crazy dreamers live in? 🤪

That's weird. Maybe disabled is the key because I have one app stopped and I don't get an upgrade option for it until I start it. TrueNAS seems to know the difference so I wonder why it even gave you an option.

Sept 29th or 30th the person who really administers my Unraid setup stopped over and we looked at HexOS. He said in his professional opinion, he could see what HexOS was trying to do but was surprised how much I needed to do in TrueNAS. To be clear, he says he has a functional knowledge in TrueNAS but is not an expert. I mentioned my security issues because I didn't think any apps but the ones I forced to use a certificate of any kind. We he asked for an example I chose Nextcloud. He timed how log in to to start the stopped app, how long it took to launch the app, and a couple of the addons. He mentioned the launch was slow especially since I logged in as me, not administrator. He questioned my Microsoft Office and the Talk app as they could slow things down. After removing those addons we did it again from server bootup and it wasn't any faster. He looked at cpu and memory numbers and said it was way more this server should need or use. I showed him that I had increased the CPU count and available memory Thinking that would help but not really. His general assessment was it was very slow for only two users and no internet intensive addons because copying/moving files was lightning fast. After a few more app demos he said I was right in worrying about security and when HexOS was live I need to secure every app to HTTPS at a minimum if I intended to continue running this NAS. But he also said the apps that were slowest were the ones I installed myself from TrueNAS so if HexOS gets a curated version it may noticeably improve performance. As an example he gave me what the company he was currently working with (that I retired from) launch and addon startup numbers were. They wouldn't accept an app that didn't start in half the time and while that is a full production tuned app, it has +200,000 users in the USA and another +50,000 worldwide.

Now that we have or will have access to the install scripts soon I wonder if we are going to be able to copy the Docker script and use that for a simpler install method. I don't know anything about Docker or Proxmox or the like except what I see on Youtube but it looked pretty straight forward. I don't think there is a way to affect what app is being worked on next unless you do it yourself.

I still have Nextcloud turned off and probably will until the go live date when the devs can start talking about how to secure things. I know turning on the TrueNAS certificate flag is said to improve security by going through a HTTPS connection but am still waiting for best practice direction. Now as for one person's opinion to answer your question, I have seen a professionally installed and maintained Nextcould setup. I was impressed with the addon integration but not so impressed when I saw the performance. The person I talked to said they were testing Opencloud though they had just started. I guess Opencloud is a fork of something else but I thought I better get one thing running before I start looking at something to compare to. I personally haven't gotten any farther than that but I bet others have the experience to share deeper opinions.

Hold up here. Is an administrator or moderator going to actually make a statement or can I jump into any discussion and say a post has run it course? That seems bold for a two person conversation that I doubt most people have seen. . I'm still chuckling at the we are listening comment though the more I read the forums the less funny it is.

I wonder if the only real measurable boost they can get is when Linus and company do their live on air install. There aren't enough of us with a platform that if we say it's good or need more work, to move the needle. Most true technologists on Youtube seem to be reviewing this product as if they owe someone a favor. When they do the HexOS vs TrueNAS vs Unraid (or others) they all say HexOS is good for the new to a NAS folks or those just starting out. Does that mean they wouldn't use it and don't expect us to after a few months working with TrueNAS directly? And the single product reviews mostly say let's wait and see. I know already that I am their target audience because I will use the core NAS and apps they make available. And if things go as we have been told the template process is supposed to make new app easier for someone to create. Not sure if that's the team or the app developers but it probably won't be me. As I have said in other places on the forum I have a network expert who created an Unraid setup that does everything I "NEED' and probably much more. HexOS is my inexpensive toy in the corner that I can pick up and mess with for a little while then set aside again when I hit a roadblock like my Raspberry and Orange Pi unites or my mini pc. For now it has my attention but we will see when we finally go live.

I agree with you in principle and if you look at my comments you will see that I have been critical of a lot of things so far. Being a rookie, I was trying to install some other apps but the descriptions off youtube all say when adding the dataset for an app use the preset "app". I don't have that preset. Is that an error? And if so, does it have anything to do with HexOS or is it a TrueNAS issue? Immich works perfectly for me but I an at least six updates behind and I an getting the 'The storage configuration you are using is deprecated and will be removed in a future version.' message. Is that the fault of HexOS or TrueNAS? I want to get into creating virtual spaces and installing apps into them but that is not available. Again, who is at fault? There seems to be two big reasons many folks are complaining about Hexos right now. First is very limited communication and yes I retyped that several times scaling back the aggression. I was a mainframe developer, scrum master and project manager for 40 years. I've only seen this level of communication once. That was from a software vendor that the teams lost faith in pretty quickly and stopped paying attention when they said big news coming or that changes are on the way. The second is the community is treating the HexOS app like its finished and production ready. Why are we even worrying about what's in the Q3 and Q4 updates? Yes for me the message banner across the top of the screen is dated 07/28 but when I click on it there is no message saying HexOS IS LIVE.. Aren't we in what is being called beta testing? If you are reading all the posts you can see we are being told about but not promised updates coming soon/next quarter. Do people think that because we don't have a production date that there is something wrong or that something is being hidden from us? Is that even possible while we're in a beta test? And probably most important, Linus mentioned several times he was promised that a local UI would be available before the application goes live. I seriously doubt the dev team wants Linus to have to do a video about he just repeated what he was told so I think we can say there is still work to do and work being done. The solution would be the dev team giving a focused update and we STOP and listen. Yup, it's really that simple. No we won't all be happy but what was that old song? I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. Yup, I'm that old so I will stop now.

Local access via docker? I missed that bit of information. Are you referring to the local UI or am I off base?

I know what you are trying to say with the under the hood comment but this is still a beta. The devs would be within their rights to say Plex and Immich are just examples of how HexOS apps are simple to deploy. Now if this app goes live and you are still saying the same thing, now that's another story. For now we somewho need to harness the passion and test the options and processes we will use after go live. Otherwise how will the devs know it works on all king of hardware and "unique" combinations to satisfy our expectations?

Oh great, now we have multiple "official" sources of information. And just to be clear, the calendar third quarter is July 1st to September 30th. That's about twelve days. to Q4. Yeah I know Eshtek is well within their rights to create their own financial calendar that could put the end of Q3 in December like many large corporations. But until we hear differently, we are still in beta with no official release. Just for context I pulled the following definition of beta from google. "A beta refers to the stage in software development where a product is released to a select group of users for testing and feedback before its official launch. It allows developers to gather valuable insights, identify and fix bugs, and make improvements based on user experiences.". I am in the beta because I contributed my cash to the cause like most everyone else in the forums. And correct me if I am wrong but buying into a beta is pretty common, especially on windows or in the gaming world. If the beta needs more work we would just have to accept that but that goes both ways. Saying something coming in Q3 without establishing what Q3 mean and if that expectation is still true is as important and the user community accepting change without clubbing a company over the head with old estimates (if that company is honest and gives updated estimates). Can we establish where the official source is (and if you think you already have, you have completely underestimated a user community ability to wreck your perfectly good plan). And can we stop saying "we didn't promise anything" followed up by "we have already said that would be in the third quarter". Those are quotes take directly from the forum under the title VM & version 1.0. And even though this is a good example of the clubbing with old posts I said we shouldn't do, it is also a good example of this makes perfect sense to the poster but not the audience. Takeaways: User community stop using passive aggressive tactics to try to get your own personal additions unless specifically asked for like "What apps would you like to see next". Developers/moderators/leadership you are physically incapable of over communicating at this juncture of the project. And as I said above, if you think you already have, you have completely underestimated a user community ability to wreck your perfectly good plan. I am so excited about this application and it potential that I have told more that 100 people about it. While many are taking a more conservative approach and waiting for things like the announcement of the monthly price, I have a couple candidates for the buddy backup when it comes available. And as I have said before, this app is already a success for me. I just hope we can start tightening things up soon.

Where have you read that they are going to 25.anything? It would seem odd they would make a jump like that without us ever testing using that version.

Is anyone directly associated with the HexOS app looking at the current review videos in youtube? They are auto-generated on mass from your front page and possibly other sources I can't find. It looks like you are working on a product quite different from what this forum page is describing. I think you are losing both a great advertising tool but also an opportunity to do a five to ten minute video on what is going on, upcoming releases, what third quarter actually means to the company and the like. Your last post with a little more fluff would have been perfect. Public service announcements like don't update TrueNAS beyond a certain point could be useful. I understand your knee jerk reaction to say it's too much work but I bet you could work miracles with something small like this. Maybe you could get someone from LTT to make an appearance to remind everyone why they have high hopes for the product overall. Be the way, what the heck is this video? It's your web page I think but what is this guy talking about? Someone must have gotten the scripts mixed up.

I think the dev team and forum moderators understand what you are saying. The difficulty is when in a deep dev cycle, what can they report that will keep their audience happy? All they can say is "Yep we are working and making progress". We all want more but there may not be more details to be had without giving out priority secrets. And if they do say things are good and they are close we would start a clock and call the project late because we want it now. We're all in a tough spot.

The only thing that makes it harder now is I am now doing it myself. Well and though it's not harder, I used to use two 2GB and two 4GB drives. Finding reasonably priced but dependable storage in large quantities can be a challenge with all the heavily used drives being dumped on the secondary market..

Is that what the templates mentioned many times throughout the forums would be? That is what I had been thinking all along so I may have missed the boat.

I have a working Unraid setup a network analyst friend built for me. I couldn't really do anything with it myself but I could invite him and his wife over periodically and "upgrade" it. When I saw Linus's video and then the initial circle of tech reviewers I decided it was time to try myself. I have no complaints but my needs are pretty straight forward and I got the Black Friday package.

I think the wording of your questions is a bit hamstringing. For instance, I have been using Tailscale to access my Immich app outside the internal network. As well I can access all the NAS data. But, the only apps officially supported are HexOS core, Immich and Plex. If you were to browse the full forums you would see the current owners of HexOS are having success with all types of apps but to be completely transparent there are still some issues. If your a gambler, you buy in and try the things you need. If you are looking for an out of the box production NAS, I don't think we are quite there yet. My start was miserable but I came to this product with big hopes but small knowledge and I am already getting everything I wanted. Just keep in mind that if the HexOS team isn't showing t as a supported app doesn't it will or will not be supported in a year.

All I ask is we don't assume that if we use a product that starts to cost, we will all be able to do that.

I am betting that there are folks besides the devs and admins with both practical knowledge within TrueNAS and an understanding of security best practices. I think they are being quiet now because they don't want to get dragged into forum arguments and focus on their own setup. Those folks following that approach will be much more valuable to the beta than I am right now because when something they are trying doesn't work, it is more likely to be a real issue. When I get something to work besides the one-click apps I was using the 'on a wing and a prayer' approach. I got Tailscale and Nextcloud both working but I can't tell anybody how exactly.