the war on computation
-
I think a big part of the problem with wider adoption, particularly of less tech savvy people, is the documentation is often terrible. This is true of the FOSS community in general in my experience. There are many great people working on great projects for the FOSS community but when it comes to writing a guide to help people implement things they far too often assume a level of knowledge of the reader that is unreasonable to assume for the wider world of people that could benefit from their work.
If more people could write simple, broken down guides on how to implement and use their software then it would decrease the barrier of entry. Far too many things I see have instructions that include terms or processes that are too complex to expect an "average" person to know or understand and that will put a lot of people off as your average user doesnt want to try hard just to figure out the language used for a world they may not have an interest in getting deep into but those same people could probably benefit from the end result.
wrote last edited by [email protected]that is true, im not saavy enough to know what a different OS does, and how to integrate it into my current phone. my 2 bros could though, since they are in the tech industry and are able to use other OSes on thier PCs.
if it was simple as downloading a specific app and then instructions, i think people would go for it.
-
I'm still rooted but I'm on android 7 and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one with access. Lol
If only I had more money that access would probably be worth more than just amusement. -
So what’s the non-corpo option for phone OSes?
Grapphene, Lineage, and MicroOS are the ones I know.
-
Hey now that's not fair, they also made the ui huge so it looks like a fisher price toy! No you can't turn it off why would you want that??
Of course they did, the average American struggles to tie their shoes.
-
Win11 When i hit "restart" after work to boot into Linux: "You mean log off ... You wanted the log in screen right?"
-
Me? Who is talking about me?
Granted I used and I am still using a phone that is rooted next to my GOS phone. Rooting makes it easier to backup app data, cleanup the device, customize battery charge settings, patch apps, edit app memory, and, debloat, I guess, but I never have done that. I just wasn't assuming that the person rooting their android did it just to debloat, they might have more/other use-cases. But it is their device, they should have the freedom to do with it, whatever they want in all cases. How much security and against which kind of attacks and which attacker one might want to defend more or less and to what cost of personal freedom is a personal question, that cannot (and should not) be answered by some outside entity for an individum, if breaches only affect them.
Was it IRobot where the intelligence decided that in order to keep every human save, they are all placed under house arrest? Security has its cost, that shouldn't be ignored.
If someone wants root access, the reason doesn't matter, it is their device, they should get it. Asking that is like asking why someone want to leave their house, and were they want to go before letting them or trying to convince them that they don't actually need to leave because it isn't save for them and that they should be happy with what they have.
Rooting modern android essentially breaks the security model on a system wide level. Im not disagreeing with your sentiment, if someone wants to do that, they should be able to, but its not something needed on modern android for backups or anything else.
5+ years ago it was a different situation, apps like titanium backup back in the day would require root but in 2025 this is no longer the case with modern android versions.
The important feature is bootloader unlocking, if you have access to that then you have root access. Just as you wouldnt stay logged in as root on a PC its also not what you should be doing on a phone.
-
I will need to buy a new TV soon, and the single biggest factor won't be price, features, or quality, it will be the absolute minimum smart features available. I'm fine with a sleep timer, and built-in audio smoothing would be great, but I can add anything else I want with a dongle that costs less than $100 (or just attach a full-blown computer to it). I'm not made of money, but I'm fortunate enough that I can afford to buy a TV with something other than an opportunity to invade my private life for marketing.
The other thing I'm looking for is a decent non-Google/Apple smartphone with an eye to privacy. A decent Linux phone would be great, Sailfish OS looks promising, maybe there are other options. Hopefully my Samsung lasts until then. When one of their updates came out whose main feature seemed to be the ability to spy on you everywhere, I closed my account and don't even have that logged in anymore. There are a number of interesting features I can't use, and a lot of terrible features I don't want, that aren't available to me anymore. A smartphone that belongs to me, and not some corporate conglomerate would be nice. We'll see.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Sailfish isn't bad but its a compromise. I don't like that it's not open source. I'm happy to pay for it, but I'd prefer if it were a community project rather than something buiut behind the closed doors of an understaffed company.
That said I'm using it to type this comment so I must still think its better than the alternatives.
-
I’m definitely glad it and others like it exist. But for phones isn’t the issue more with low-level
hardware and firmware? I bet we really need Google to make “Pixel” an open platform and not just a device, so that we can have the “IBM compatible” of phones. But I trust the Google of today to do the opposite.Maybe RISC-V is what I’m waiting for? An open phone is going to need to run the same software as Linux PCs to have all that good FOSS support, and I don’t think I’ve rad any rumors about x86 phones, lol.
there have been x86 phones for a long time, but they are kind of rare. I think they use more power too.
-
We really do need more viable open phone options. We are well past the point in hardware capability that we could have a linux phone that turns into a desktop when you plug it into a docking station. USB-c connections handle everything for my work laptop.
I have reverted back to using my Linux PC for most screwing around online. My phone, for the technological wonder that it is, is for communicating with family, listening to music, GPSing, and then occasionally computer stuff, looking things up, etc.
Sailfish OS existst, but it is far from beeing nice.
Look out for Jolla OS too -
funny how a(n implicitly) rooted linux computer is fine, but a rooted handheld linux computer is the devil and insecure.
If PCs came out today there is no way you would just be allowed to install Linux on it.
-
I have a desktop I built in 2019 with no TPM running. Windows 10.
Starting a couple of months ago, occasionally when it boots it will automatically open a full-screen ad for Windows 11.
It's extremely disruptive because of my setup. I use my monitors and keyboard for my work laptop and have a KVM to switch between the two, and since I use that space for work I don't like to spend much time there for recreation. So I often turn my desktop on and run it headless whenever I'm done with work, and don't see the ad, which then messes up my attempts at streaming. So I need to walk back upstairs to switch the KVM and close out of it manually.
No matter how many different "permanent" solutions I can find on the internet it keeps finding a way to do it again every couple of weeks. I've moved to Linux on most of the rest of my personal machines, but this desktop has all my old music production software that needs Windows. I'm getting pretty close to just investing in a different music production platform that works with Mint though.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Have you heard about out lord and saviour the Linux kernel?
Hail to the minty freshness
-
Grapphene, Lineage, and MicroOS are the ones I know.
CalyxOS I discovered the other day
-
i think people are accountable for the systems they participate in, as involved or not as you actually feel.
people are valid in being upset with doctors, engineers, etc. for systemic things. i certainly know i get pissed with the doctor here in the US sometimes. if the whole system you work in is rotten people are gonna get mad about your hand in it, as rational or not as it is, and i don’t think there’s anything wrong or unreasonable about that tbh.
i don’t feel the need to abscond my responsibility in my work by pointing to others that may be involved… it’s how we end up here and now where no one can ever be held accountable for anything.
don’t get me wrong, you’re right that it’s probably more a managerial problem than not. management is just, like it or not, at least in the West; an intrinsic part of our engineering and design process, and thus we are accountable for the effects it has on our product.
Software engineers, at least in my experience, tend to do things right as much as they can, and then quit when their work gets sabotaged, but they get rehired elsewhere because there are still jobs available, and that's how they become "job hoppers".
I worked in IT for a hospital subcontractor, and I got my team of engineers to cut down time for the main thing we did from a 4 day turnover to one where it could be done in 20 minutes, with much fewer problems and errors as well.
My team got laid off immediately after this, and our new systems canned, as the new CTO would rather outsource the existing error-prone 4 day process to India as he could take credit for that.
What I'm saying is that most of my peers feel our responsibility and try to act on it, but those of my peers that don't tend to have longer tenures and less stressful lives.
it’s how we end up here and now where no one can ever be held accountable for anything.
That's not true. If you want to know what's wrong with most of the products you buy, most of the services you use, most of the economy in general, it's Wall Street and the stock market. That is all there is to it.
-
"If we let you control your phones you'll just mess them up!"
I am reading this with a rooted LineageOS phone with MicroG installed.
-
If PCs came out today there is no way you would just be allowed to install Linux on it.
I am afraid you are right
-
CalyxOS I discovered the other day
e/os too
-
If PCs came out today there is no way you would just be allowed to install Linux on it.
New ARM laptops coming out right now have their bootloaders locked. So yeah...
-
wrote last edited by [email protected]
Am I the only here that smells bullshit/ragebait? When your phone has the bootloader unlocked and you're rooted, you simply cannot receive official software updates. That only works in custom roms.
EDIT: It seems that for several people this is not the case. Guess I'm wrong then, but personally I've never received software update requests after rooting. Right now in my xperia 5v I literally can't even check to see if there is one. The only way to know is to look up my model in xperifirm.
-
New ARM laptops coming out right now have their bootloaders locked. So yeah...
Not Macbooks though surprisingly.
-
I would love to get GrapheneOS or some other similar OS but the lack of mobile tap-to-pay support just kills the idea for me.
If you own a smartwatch that supports tap to pay, you can use that instead.
