This is great news!
For those unaware, Google is continuously enacting policies that are closing down the open environment of Android, and I fear this will significantly harm projects like GrapheneOS, CalyxOS, and others.
If you can spare a couple dollars, please consider throwing some money at PostmarketOS or any other mobile Linux project you like.
I am a huge fan of SimpleX and their removal of user IDs. I think it’s a brilliant solution, and wish that SimpleX was recommended more than Signal.
My method is much more manual and involved, but fits my needs:
I have my pictures, documents, and music folders synced automatically to a few computers via Syncthing. At the start op each month, I export my contacts, Obtainium apps, and other files to my documents. At this time, I also make backups to the cloud and make a couple copies to external hard drives. It may sound intensive, but it only takes 5 minutes a month.
I restart / update my phone very often for various tests and projects. Whenever I need to do so, I upload these files from my computer or hard drive. Using a guide that I’ve made myself, it takes maybe ten minutes to have my phone exactly the way it was before.
I’m sure Mr. Bunny is a fine performer, I just don’t care for football.
Participating has really helped. I’m still struggling to post, but I try to comment wherever I feel I can add value, however small.
Build the platform you want to be part of.
Stuff like PostmarketOS looks interesting. The new Furilabs phone doesn’t sound too bad either.
If you have the money, consider donating $5 to a couple Linux mobile projects. Small donations here and there can be the difference needed to make Linux mobile a viable option.
I’m really looking forward to Redox becoming a viable alternative for desktop.
My shift was primarily ideologically driven. I was sick of privacy encroachment, enshittification, and feeling like my computer wasn’t truly mine. Linux changed all that.
I get a couple miles of range! There’s a decent number of nodes in my town though, and the terrain is flat, which helps significantly.
I’ve been experimenting with Meshtastic for about a year now, and I love it! It’s currently my backup comms plan for my wife, as well as a few friends and family.
Although, I am putting more of my hopes into the reticulum network, with the hopes that it grows in the future.
The device this user mentions is the Lilygo T-Deck, and it’s wonderful! It’s on the pricier side of meshtastic devices, but works quite well. It’s the device I’ve given to my friends and family in town, as it’s much less hassle than trying to teach them to use a device with the app.
I really like this idea, I’ll be stealing it.
You can download from this site which comes from Proton directly, this Github repo, or this link which downloads the F-Droid build
After using Autotiling from the Cosmic desktop, I can’t go back to anything else. I’ve tried distro hopping to Gnome based desktops for a few reasons, but always wind back up on Cosmic.
Proton Pass can also be downloaded from Obtainium, if you’d rather go that route.
Like everyone else in this thread, I would strongly recommend GrapheneOS.
To give you a specific phone recommendation, I would suggest the Pixel 9a. At $500 before any discounts, it’s the best value per dollar for a privacy oriented phone. Because it just came out earlier this year, it will also be receiving security updates for years into the future.
Coincards allows you to buy gift cards with crypto.
Congrats!
As a quality of life upgrade, I’d recommended downloading the COSMIC app store. It’s still made by the developers of Pop!, but is significantly better than the Pop Shop.
I do!
My use of a Faraday bag is more prepper oriented (i.e. solar flares) instead of geared towards privacy, but I keep a Pixel 8 with GrapheneOS, linux laptop, and eReader in a SLNT Faraday bag.
My tests have been far from perfect, but the phone’s Bluetooth and cell reception have all ceased working once put in the bag.
The only console I had exposure to as a young child was the Gameboy.
At a birthday sleepover with some friends, we all stayed up late into the night playing the original Nazi Zombies map from COD: WAW. Nothing has ever beat the sheer joy and fun I had with that initial playthrough.