I don't even use Google Maps anymore. There are open source alternatives like Magic Earth and Osmand.

Linux is easier then most normies think. If you can overcome putting the installation file on a usb drive and boot from it. The rest is quite straight forward.

Linux distros for dummies

A Linux distribution is a similar concept to a phone’s app store. It allows you to download software that’s pre-vetted. This reduces the chance that it’s malware and allows the different dependencies to work together to reduce redundancy. However, you MAY optionally get software OUTSIDE of the package manager and directly from the software’s developer, through universal systems such as Flatpak, AppImage, or Snaps.

If you get software from OUTSIDE the package manager, then you’ll have double dependencies which takes up space and causes some minor delay in starting up the program. Many in the Linux community argue and debate over if the delay, space, and security issues matter, or if it’s more important to have software that works across distributions and is released faster. The delay on Snaps is worse than others, leading SOME to criticize Ubuntu which heavily uses them. This is why Mint is a fork of Ubuntu but WITHOUT Snaps. Others point out that without universal package managers, it can take YEARS for new software to make it to distributions with slower release cycles such as Ubuntu and Mint.

A Linux distribution is NOT the way Linux LOOKS. That’s the desktop environment! So if you like a distro’s software, you can swap it for any other desktop environment than the default. For example Linux Mint’s “Cinnamon flavor” look, could be put on Debian or anything else! At the end of the day, distros DON’T matter that much and anything is better than Windows… even snaps =)

Privacy routers, phones, and computers?

At the most basic level, this “privacy” stuff just means changing the operating system! It’s the same hardware and many of the same programs/apps are used. The only real difference is an open source operating system that isn’t spying on you.

So with a computer, we’re ditching Windows/Apple and using Linux.

With a phone, we’re ditching the “stock version” of Android (which is the version with Google’s telemetry), and using GrapheneOS (or other choices such as Calyx, Lineage, etc)

With a router, we’re ditching the ISP or manufacturers’ version, and putting on OPNSense, (or pfSense, DD-WRT, or Open-WRT)

That’s it. It’s not that complicated. You can use the same cell service. The same home internet provider. For phones, all the same Android apps. And for PC, most of the same software. It’s just that the OS has no telemetry.

See for yourself.

Any recommendations on wallets or exchanges to get my hands on some #monero or #wownero? The U.S. is so damn against privacy it's insane. I hear bisq is good, is it easy enough for lazy plebs like me who are power users but impatient?

The irony of Matrix, XMPP, and Session is the public group chats.

Matrix has encrypted group chats, while as with XMPP and Session, the large group chats are just plaintext. This is ironic because Matrix is the most used for legal technology corporations' public help forums where nothing discussed is a secret. So it lags down anonymous Tor users who need help with some kind of already broken software to exchange public keys with thousands of people.

On the other hand, Session is considered a darkweb tool, but the public group chats over 100 people are just regular plain text websites that AI bots can easily scrape. This is what our new Session bot seeks to solve for uncensored free speech. DM our new bot, Session ID: Simple

starting to use Figma for my presentations. interesting.

Found out half of the accounts I was following were orphaned. They haven't posted anything since 4 months or more. And I was wondering why my timeline got emptier. Now I have to find some new, active accounts to follow.

Nostr clients should have something like a "Last active" indicator in the followings lists.

Pro/Con of Burner Email Services

This is a review of email burners for 1-time verification codes to avoid spam and to separate different activities or identities

5july.org

Pro: Our Number 1 recommendation for burner privacy. Based in Sweden, this reliable honest non-profit uses Bahnhof (a previous Wikileaks host). No CloudFlare, No Google analytics.

Con: Only 1 domain to pick from. Often/sometimes it doesn’t function. I don’t think it’s the providers blocking it. I think 5july is just too poor for good maintenance because they have no business model.

GuerrillaMail.com

Pro: Large userbase is good for anonymity. It works without JavaScript (for incoming) and Tor isn’t blocked.

Con: Many websites recognize GuerrillaMail and will block you. Google captchas on outgoing emails (at least in the past)

Emailondeck.com

Pro: This is basically a burner version of protonmail, as proton hosts their mail. Less hassle than making new burner protons. It’s free for incoming, paid outgoing with Bitcoin accepted.

Con: This service shares and logs data like IP addresses with advertisers who want to send you junk mail. Also they sell ads to your inbox. Requires JavaScript and Hcaptcha. Hcaptcha is Cloudflare, but Cloudflare can’t see emails in this case (just fingerprint you). EmailonDeck’s site calls on Google stuff, but you can block it with uBlock Origin and the site still functions.

10minutemail.com

Pro: Assigns email address exclusively to you via a cookie, so in theory someone else can’t get to it.

Con: US company that sells data to advertisers. Cloudflare is their host and can probably see all emails, and this website is more integrated with Google Analytics.

MailDrop.cc

Pro: The UI on this is nice. They used to use Amazon, but now switched to Hetzner which is still centralized but at least not a CIA contractor.

Con: They still use Cloudflare and openly admit to keep logs of IP addresses and the mailboxes they use.

Please reshare so others can learn.

Could maybe start building my own computers 😁

I'm going to close Islamic Marketplace's Instagram account. Instagram gives you nothing in return. Absolutely nothing. Complete waste of time.

Turned out Instagram is the most useless platform ever for doing clean business.

Update on my journey to only running open source tech.

Sold a iPad Gen4 and managed to purchase with the funds:

1. Thinkpad T480s (running LMDE)

2. 2x Thinkvision displays

3. Thinkpad Gen2 dock

Locally hosting on an encrypted drive instead of Nextcloud and securing over https. Too much hassle over Nextcloud for <50GB

Bought a few Yubikey's to ditch goggle authy

Ditched Youtube for Freetube

Switched to Standard Notes

Bitwarden with KeepPassXC as local backup

Hardened Firefox with tweaks and Ublock

Configured NextDNS for my PC and Router

Using Thunderbird as an offline back up for Proton

Started using tab containers in Firefox

Nextup is ditching the IOS mobile for google pixel running Graphene. When I have a faraday bag, mission complete.

#freedomtech

#opensource

#linux

#e2e

#locallyhost

#opsec

#lmde

Is there some kind of app or website you wish existed?

Please give me free business ideas to steal.

Not bitcoin or nostr related, something your normie self needs

So the plugins there are all paid too?

I like #WooCommerce, but sometimes it really sucks. Sometimes the most basic functions for operating a global online store require an extra paid add-on.

It's too focused on the US market and is actually still far from being a global brand.

It's the Europeans' fault, I know. They should bring something of their own onto the market. Especially when they have such complicated legislation of their own. Unfortunately they don't, and probably can't. Neither in terms of competence nor potential market size can they keep up.

That's just wrong. Somebody could just attack the server and push an infected "security upgrade" to thousands of computers. The upgrades needs to be confirmed at the user side, once the user knows it is safe to do so.

Selamün aleyküm arkadaşlar