There’s probably a pattern developing here.
A lot of the software I build starts with me sitting at a computer thinking:
“Why can’t I just do this?”
OMV Companion was one of those.
I run OpenMediaVault at home.
If you’ve never used it, OpenMediaVault is basically a way of turning a computer into your own server. Mine handles storage, Docker containers, media, backups, and a bunch of other things I’ve added over time.
I really like it.
But there’s one small problem.
I’m not always sitting in front of my computer.
Sometimes I just want to know:
Is the server running?
How much storage is left?
Are my drives okay?
Is something using too much memory?
Did a Docker container stop?
Do I need to install an update?
Those aren’t complicated questions.
And I certainly don’t want to pull out a laptop every time I want the answers.
Usually my phone is already in my pocket.
That’s basically where OMV Companion started.
Not with a business plan.
Not with market research.
Not with a meeting where somebody drew a graph showing the enormous untapped potential of the OpenMediaVault companion-app market.
I just wanted to check my server from my phone.
So I started building it.
Then the Usual Thing Happened
Once you solve one problem, you notice another.
Okay, now I can see the server.
It would be nice to see the drives.
Now I can see the drives.
It would be useful to see Docker.
Now I can see Docker.
Maybe I should be able to restart something.
Maybe I should be able to see system information.
Maybe updates should be visible too.
And suddenly the little thing you started building becomes an actual application.
This is also where what I wrote about a couple of weeks ago becomes important.
Where do you stop?
Because I could try to put the entire OpenMediaVault web interface on a phone.
But then what’s the point?
OMV already has a web interface.
I don’t want to rebuild OpenMediaVault.
I want a companion to it.
Something I can pull out of my pocket, check what matters, do a few useful things, and put the phone away again.
That distinction matters to me.
Your Server Should Still Be Your Server
There’s another reason I enjoy working on this app.
OpenMediaVault represents something I think we’re slowly losing.
Ownership.
Your drives.
Your computer.
Your files.
Your server.
There’s no mysterious cloud somewhere that you have to trust with everything.
You decide what runs on it.
You decide where your data goes.
If you want another 10 terabytes of storage, you buy another drive.
I like that.
I’ve always liked taking things apart, figuring out how they work, and making them do something they weren’t originally meant to do.
A home server is basically an endless version of that.
There’s always something else you can try.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes you spend three hours wondering why Docker suddenly can’t see something it could see yesterday.
That’s part of the fun.
Well…
Usually it’s fun.
Ask me again while I’m troubleshooting it.
I’m Building It for Myself Too
This is probably one of the most important things about OMV Companion.
I actually use it.
If something annoys me, eventually I’m going to get annoyed enough to fix it.
If something takes four taps and I think it should take two, I’ll notice.
If information isn’t where I expect it to be, I’ll notice that too.
That doesn’t mean every decision I make will be right.
Far from it.
But I’m not building an imaginary product for an imaginary user.
I’m one of the users.
And I think that changes how you look at software.
You stop asking:
“What can I add?”
And start asking:
“What would actually make this more useful?”
Those are very different questions.
That’s Really the Whole Story
There wasn’t a big moment when OMV Companion was born.
I had a server.
I had a phone.
And I wanted the two to work together a little better.
So I built something.
Then I made it better.
And I’m still making it better.
That’s probably how quite a few HackitZ projects are going to start.
Find something that annoys me.
Wonder why it works that way.
Try to fix it.
Break something.
Fix that.
Drink some coffee.
And eventually…
There’s an app.
Until next week,
Kev