Right up until one tries to set up a self-hosted server (spoiler - you can't, at least not without 'significant effort' - they themselves say that if you ask about it).
Did you sync all data to multiple computers without a Zotero account? Zotero's documentation said WebDAV could sync attachment files. But everything else required a Zotero account.[1]
Indeed. It seems there are multiple questions in these comments on this subject, so I’ll just copy my reply from the Zotero 7 release here, since I don’t think anything has meaningfully changed since then:
WebDAV support is nice to save money, but from a privacy perspective it’s a huge bummer that the sync servers get all your citation metadata. A better self-hosting story¹ is one path to resolving this. End-to-end encryption² similar to e.g. Firefox Sync is another. Zotero has a security overview³ that shows they clearly care about good practices, but it’s still bothersome to have to trust the server when many other applications have proven E2EE works great even for non-technical users⁴.
Unfortunately from the main Zotero dev’s responses, it seems clear that they have no incentive to implement either and probably never will (look, the same comment from 2½ [now 4!] years ago⁵) without some shift in circumstances (massive increase in funding, new regulatory requirements). Even if a community member implemented the entirety of either solution, dstillman can just (rightly, tbh) claim it will increase their maintenance burden when they are trying to support paying customers.
I had a very convenient setup using linked files stored in Dropbox that worked very well for 15 years. The Zotero 6 to 7 upgrade completely broke this, and modified the database so that rollback is not possible. There was no warning that this workflow would be completely broken on upgrade.
My understanding is that that works for personal use. If you want to use a group library, not so much. Which can be considered fair, as mostly organisations which should be able to help fund zotero are the ones that need group libraries.
Is there any documentation for self-hosting that you can share or point to? Um, maybe my brain is not working today...but it sure is hell is not obvious where the instructions are for setting up a self-hosted instance. :-)
Is this intentional crippling / obfuscation, or did they just bother to do the necessary work for the server-side software robust enough to run on different HW & SW setups?
The thing with the Chinese SBCs is that (like every other player in the embedded world) they don't give a flying fuck about upstreaming their code to the Linux kernel.
Of course, Raspberry Pi just like everyone else has their custom patches, but at least to my knowledge you can use a straight Linux kernel and still have a running system.
Eaton and APC at least have models with LFP chemistry, with comparable prices across power ratings. The LFP will be more expensive though due to the increased longevity, at least until lead-acid ones stops being produced.
The biggest issue with these diy builds is that they need the mechanics to be inside the lens - which is not necessarily a bad thing, however it severely limits the lens choice for the system, and introduces additional cost (you basically need to buy a shutter with every lens). The scene has definitely improved over the years, there are a number of very interesting x-pan-like builds which have been made possible by advancements in 3d printing.
I'm looking forward to the day someone figures out how to modify a full frame shutter assembly (plenty and cheap on ebay) to work with medium format film.
For what it's worth virtually every medium format rangefinder uses a leaf shutter integrated in the lens. Many are simply fixed lens cameras (Fujifilm). Even kits with interchangeable lenses like the Bronica RF645 and Mamiya 6/7 integrated leaf shutters in the lenses.
To get a sense for what is required to have a focal-plane shutter on a medium format camera look at the Pentax 67. It's huge and heavy. Even with the mirror locked up there is a significant amount of inertia from the shutter transferred to the user requiring the use of a tripod in many settings.
A full frame focal plane shutter _cannot_ work for medium format sadly. It's be definition too small. I don't think you can use them partially in front of the focal plane, but I could be wrong.
Medium format focal plane shutters do exist, copal made them for Mamiya/Phase One for their AF, AFD, DF, DF+, and XF cameras. Some of which work for medium format film.
I think the most straightforward way to make a DIY focal plane shutter would be a cloth shutter actuated by electric motors. That'd get rid of most of the mechanical complexity and all the needed materials are readily available.
The company I worked for in the early 80’s was in the market for a CAD system, and they all had constraint systems in the UI, and showed them in the demos.
CAD people got this a long time ago, but, unfortunately, HTML people never did. Layout is a 2D constraint problem, but HTML/CSS approaches it as a procedural problem, partly because early browsers were so compute and bandwidth constrained.
CAD is great at parametric design, which gets significantly more complicated when the viewport changes shape.
Taking a procedural approach instead of solving constraints is necessary for folks to stay sane when they're trying to get the same website to work on phones and desktops.
Is this really what they use to train commanding officers? It has all the hallmarks of a self-help book - vague advice coupled with some anecdotes - with a lot of bureaucratic fluff inbetween. How/why did the squad leader 'instinctively know' how to handle the reluctant machine gunner? Isn't that the opposite of training military personnel?
The other day I was trying to figure out a cost estimate for Gemini 2.5 Pro but they don't have this in their pricing calculator - it just isn't there. Only endless tables with various model sizes and options which aren't explained.
