Nextcloud Atomic Interview, immutable Nextcloud for single computers

Episode description

Complete show notes here. Big thanks to developers Tobias and Marcel for joining the interview. There will be a second part of the interview. Was tempted to write a silly title like Nextcloud Atomic Explodes. If you are curious on related presentations from the past:

Who is in the Interview

Tobias is the developer of NextcloudPi, Atomic, and Nextcloud Secrets
- Hire as freelancer or donate directly on Kofi
Marcel is the developer of Floccus, Nextcloud Bookmarks and Recognize.
- Donate through Github or donate directly on Kofi.
James is host of Linux Prepper Podcast. Contributor of documentaton and testing to Nextcloud, NextcloudPi, AIO, Floccus.
- Donate directly on Paypal. Premium subscriptions with bonus content TBD.
- Steam Key Giveaway is active for anyone leaving a quick review of the show on their podcast platform of choice.

(00:14)

Welcome to this Mini Episode + Lengthy Interview! Detailed shownotes on forum.

(01:44)

Nextcloud Conference 9/27 - 9/28 in Berlin

(01:56)

SeaGL Conference in Seattle, WA 11/07 - 11/08

(02:20)

Sponsor - Ameridroid - use LINUXPREPPER at checkout

(02:47)

Odroid H4, Plus, Ultra series

(03:43)

Nextcloud service overview and short review, also called Nextcloud Hub

(06:51)

NextcloudPi - Managed Nextcloud for Selfhosters

(08:04)

Nextcloud AIO or All-in-One is containerized by Nextcloud company proper in Docker

(08:45)

Nextcloud Snap

(09:06)

Floccus - Cross Platform Browser + Mobile App Syncing to Karakeep, Git, Google Drive, Nextcloud, etc.

(09:33)

Nextcloud Bookmarks app

(10:20)

Recognize AI app - Smart Media Tagging for Nextcloud

(10:56)

Nextcloud Atomic - System Level Wrapper for Nextcloud AIO in Podman. WIP

(12:20)

Prototype Fund - For Developers Contributing to Open Source

(14:31)

Interview Begins with Tobias Introduction

(15:43)

Hire Tobias Freelance!

(15:58)

Marcel Introduction - Listen to his previous episode interview on AI in Nextcloud

(18:18)

What is NextcloudPi? Not actually made for only the Raspberry Pi

(21:29)

How Tobias became involved in NextcloudPi project, then Atomic

(26:39)

Architecture and Efficiency of Maintenance

(29:21)

Starting as an early Nextcloud project and the rise of containers + AIO

(32:59)

Build system of NextcloudPi with Bash as opposed to containers

(35:55)

Development of Atomic through containers

(37:03)

Immutability - Fedora Silverblue, NixOS, Fedora CoreOS & iOT, openSuse MicroOS, etc.

(39:30)

SkiffOS - early contendor for Atomic. Embedded Linux Systems from Scratch

(41:02)

Updates and security in SkiffOS and Buildroot

(42:50)

mkosi by Systemd in combination with Debian & Armbian

(45:46)

Nextcloud Atomic upgrade process for developer

(51:23)

How major upgrades will be handled for users

(54:04)

Is Atomic upstreamed to AIO; use of Podman

(57:24)

Management of Nextcloud Apps within Nextcloud. Updates breaking apps.

(59:06)

Will I now be able to use imagick on the operating system by default?

(01:01:47)

Support for users making their own changes: Jellyfin, etc.

(01:05:55)

“Untested” Nextcloud update handling in Atomic

(01:09:38)

Who is the target audience of Atomic vs NCP?

(01:15:49)

The future of NextcloudPi

(01:18:30)

Conference Lightning Talk in Berlin for Atomic

(01:19:12)

Marcel thoughts on NextcloudPi and Atomic

(01:20:08)

What has Tobias learned from the last 6 or 7 years?

(01:23:34)

How James became involved with NextcloudPi, Discourse, and Nextcloud

(01:25:25)

Tobias on how the community contributes to the project

(01:27:00)

How to Contribute Panel at Nextcloud Conference 2023.

(01:28:00)

How can future contributors to Atomic help Tobias?

(01:32:40)

Ways to Contact, Hire or Learn more about Tobias & projects.

(01:33:37)

Ways to Contact or Learn more about Marcel & projects

(01:34:19)

Next episode will discuss fundraising, how they handle donations, other interests, life balance, containers

Sponsor - Ameridroid

USA distributer of Odroid, Home Assistant, and other open hardware. Tons of reasonable shipping options and great customer service. Use linuxprepper at checkout.
- Odroid H4, Plus, Ultra series
- Low Power x86 with BYO Ram DDR5 up to 48gb, Dual 2.5gb realtek nic, 2 - 4 Sata ports, m.2 nvme expansion
- Supports Truenas Scale, OMV, Proxmox
- Not a power house, but great as a backup server or basic server

Events

Nextcloud Conference 9/27 - 9/28
SeaGL Conference 11/7 - 11/8

Self-hosted Tools

Nextcloud - Biggest FOSS application in file sharing and online collaboration. Has grown from a dropbox alternative to a Google Suite alternative. Massive app store. Attempts to be a jack of all trades.
NextcloudPi - Managed image of Nextcloud for hands-off, single machine selfhosting.
Nextcloud All-in-One, or AIO. Containerized Nextcloud.
Nextcloud Atomic - Immutable system-level wrapping of AIO for hands-off, single machine selfhosting. Currently in active development only.
- Roadmap

Nextcloud Apps, available within Nextcloud itself

Bookmarks app
Recognize app for local AI/ML media tagging for Nextcloud: recognizes faces, objects, landscapes, music genres
- Hear previous episode interview on Recognize and use of AI in Nextcloud as an open source project.

Software Spotlight

Floccus - Cross-platform Firefox, Chrome, Vivaldi, Brave bookmarks sync for Nextcloud, Linkwarden, KaraKeep, Git, Google Drive or WebDAV server. Also offers dedicated mobile apps for iOS and Android.

Ways to engage with the show

Send in one-click anonymous feedback or email podcast@james.network
Join the forum
Join our chat on Matrix
Follow directly from the fediverse @linuxprepper@james.network
If the enjoy this small show, please share it with others! Thanks!

0:14Welcome to this Mini Episode + Lengthy Interview! Detailed shownotes on forum.

https://discuss.james.network/public/d/62-episode-12-nextcloud-atomic-interview-building-on-nextcloudpi-and-all-in-one

1:44Nextcloud Conference 9/27 - 9/28 in Berlin

https://nextcloud.com/conference-2025/

1:56SeaGL Conference in Seattle, WA 11/07 - 11/08

https://seagl.org/

2:20Sponsor - Ameridroid - use LINUXPREPPER at checkout

https://ameridroid.com/?ref=podcast

2:47Odroid H4, Plus, Ultra series

https://ameridroid.com/products/odroid-h4-h4-h4-ultra?variant=48566319546647

3:43Nextcloud service overview and short review, also called Nextcloud Hub

https://github.com/nextcloud/server

6:51NextcloudPi - Managed Nextcloud for Selfhosters

https://nextcloudpi.com/

8:04Nextcloud AIO or All-in-One is containerized by Nextcloud company proper in Docker

8:45Nextcloud Snap

https://github.com/nextcloud-snap/nextcloud-snap

9:06Floccus - Cross Platform Browser + Mobile App Syncing to Karakeep, Git, Google Drive, Nextcloud, etc.

https://floccus.org/

9:33Nextcloud Bookmarks app

https://github.com/nextcloud/bookmarks

10:20Recognize AI app - Smart Media Tagging for Nextcloud

https://github.com/nextcloud/recognize

10:56Nextcloud Atomic - System Level Wrapper for Nextcloud AIO in Podman. WIP

https://nextcloudatomic.com/

12:20Prototype Fund - For Developers Contributing to Open Source

https://www.prototypefund.de/

14:31Interview Begins with Tobias Introduction

15:43Hire Tobias Freelance!

https://tobias.knoeppler.org/

15:58Marcel Introduction - Listen to his previous episode interview on AI in Nextcloud

https://podcast.james.network/@linuxprepper/episodes/interview-with-marcel-on-recognize-ai

18:18What is NextcloudPi? Not actually made for only the Raspberry Pi

https://github.com/nextcloud/nextcloudpi

21:29How Tobias became involved in NextcloudPi project, then Atomic

26:39Architecture and Efficiency of Maintenance

29:21Starting as an early Nextcloud project and the rise of containers + AIO

32:59Build system of NextcloudPi with Bash as opposed to containers

35:55Development of Atomic through containers

37:03Immutability - Fedora Silverblue, NixOS, Fedora CoreOS & iOT, openSuse MicroOS, etc.

39:30SkiffOS - early contendor for Atomic. Embedded Linux Systems from Scratch

https://github.com/skiffos/skiffos

41:02Updates and security in SkiffOS and Buildroot

https://buildroot.org/

42:50mkosi by Systemd in combination with Debian & Armbian

https://github.com/systemd/mkosi

45:46Nextcloud Atomic upgrade process for developer

51:23How major upgrades will be handled for users

54:04Is Atomic upstreamed to AIO; use of Podman

57:24Management of Nextcloud Apps within Nextcloud. Updates breaking apps.

59:06Will I now be able to use imagick on the operating system by default?

1:01:47Support for users making their own changes: Jellyfin, etc.

1:05:55"Untested" Nextcloud update handling in Atomic

1:09:38Who is the target audience of Atomic vs NCP?

1:15:49The future of NextcloudPi

1:18:30Conference Lightning Talk in Berlin for Atomic

1:19:12Marcel thoughts on NextcloudPi and Atomic

1:20:08What has Tobias learned from the last 6 or 7 years?

1:23:34How James became involved with NextcloudPi, Discourse, and Nextcloud

1:25:25Tobias on how the community contributes to the project

1:27:00How to Contribute Panel at Nextcloud Conference 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju23ZKUYsXk

1:28:00How can future contributors to Atomic help Tobias?

1:32:40Ways to Contact, Hire or Learn more about Tobias & projects.

https://tobias.knoeppler.org/

1:33:37Ways to Contact or Learn more about Marcel & projects

https://github.com/marcelklehr

1:34:19Next episode will discuss fundraising, how they handle donations, other interests, life balance, containers