the war on computation
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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.
We bought a smart TV a couple years ago, and it was so hard to find a model without a built-in microphone... No I don't want my fucking TV to listen to every word said in the room.
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I have a pixel 4a (yes, ik its eol, i use it more as a backup) that used to be rooted, until i got that shitty battery update, immediately switched to graphene.
So yes you do still get updates on rootedI think it depends on the device. I remember rooting my s7, or maybe it was the grand prime? I cant remember the exact model, but it was samsung and around that time period for those two models, and any software update i wanted to apply, including security updates, had to be manually installed/side loaded.
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Which one
I use Macrodroid for similar notification handling shenanigans. I even bought it bc it's so beautifully customisable
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I have a pixel 4a (yes, ik its eol, i use it more as a backup) that used to be rooted, until i got that shitty battery update, immediately switched to graphene.
So yes you do still get updates on rootedwrote last edited by [email protected]Weird. Also a Pixel4a user (condolences to both of us), but I had LineageOS on mine and was rooted, but I've had no software updates. I get reminders from LineageOS that a new build is available, but I just swipe right because if it ain't broke don't fix
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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.
sometimes it tries to automatically update, fail and mess up the OS (happened to me with earlier versions of Moto G)
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You mean
UNsurprisingly?Edit: I cannot read.
No, it's surprising that Macs are not locked. Because the Mac OS ecosystem is usually locked tighter than a vir-, er, very tightly.
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Win11 When i hit "restart" after work to boot into Linux: "You mean log off ... You wanted the log in screen right?"
What version of windows 11? I've been using Win 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC and haven't had too many issues.
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What version of windows 11? I've been using Win 11 IoT Enterprise LTSC and haven't had too many issues.
Pro. But i also use an offline account so half of everything else is broken. Whatever. Get a new job and I'll scrub the OS from my PC. then the new employer can give me their hardware and account and IT garbage or whatever.
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GOS by all its strenghts, is following the paths treat by Google and Apple on defining what a smartphone has to be and how its security model has to look like, where only the OS distributor has full privileges, and you are just allowed to use it.
If you have the same requirements for your system as the people who designed these phones assumes you have, then GOS is great for you.
But if you want to tinker and customize, like we can with Linux systems, then Android and especially locked down systems like GOS aren't for you.
I am using GOS myself, because it is good, but I also have a separate device of tinkering.
What do you have for a tinkering device, if I may ask?
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Stories like this is very much why I severely limit the amount of time I spend on Windows. Having been with Windows nearly since the beginning of its history, it's insane to see the amount of reduction of user control that's gone into it.
One of the most egregious things is the lack of control around updates. Often I'll finish a session with my laptop and go to store it in the bag. Windows will cheerfully inform me that there is a forced update and then I end up having to wait for my machine to finish its shit while I sit around tapping my toes.
Meanwhile, in Linux-land, I have as much control over updates as I wish. I almost breathe a sigh of relief when I reach my Linux desktop, because it's still a place that feels like MINE. I feel like I'm some kind of sharecropper or temporary house guest when on Windows 11. It doesn't feel like "my" environment. It feels like it's Microsoft's computer and they just let me use it occasionally.
For myself, I was lucky(?) enough to have wasted my best years playing with Linux and running Linux boxes is no problem now. For the average Joe that needs to mess with computers, I feel bad for them. Windows 11 feels like shit, MacOS sure isn't great either, and that's pretty much the only choice.
No wonder I'm seeing less and less households with PCs and laptops. I think the average person in 2025 has just given up on computers and makes do with their phone or tablet.
Thank fucking god for Linux, because if I was forced to use Windows 11 full time, I think I'd snap and go live in the middle of the forest or something. It's actively annoying to even look at at this point, and I only see things getting worse. For example, the troubles with Windows "Recall" have barely even started.
I loathe to see what Microsoft has in store for us next, and I would guarantee it's not user friendly.
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You guys do know that there is an option in the settings to just always have the normal clock?
Thanks! This wasn't implemented when I got my phone, but it looks like they added it a couple years later. I never looked after the option wasn't initially there.
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No, it's surprising that Macs are not locked. Because the Mac OS ecosystem is usually locked tighter than a vir-, er, very tightly.
Ah fuck I read that as the bootloader being unlocked. My bad. Misread the comment you responded to
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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.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Normally that is true but they just forced one on Pixel 6a. I had the same thing happen to me and had to reroot my phone at like 6am before work.
It seems they are being significantly more aggressive about it with their battery failure updates.
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You dont own something unless you install linux on it
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Stories like this is very much why I severely limit the amount of time I spend on Windows. Having been with Windows nearly since the beginning of its history, it's insane to see the amount of reduction of user control that's gone into it.
One of the most egregious things is the lack of control around updates. Often I'll finish a session with my laptop and go to store it in the bag. Windows will cheerfully inform me that there is a forced update and then I end up having to wait for my machine to finish its shit while I sit around tapping my toes.
Meanwhile, in Linux-land, I have as much control over updates as I wish. I almost breathe a sigh of relief when I reach my Linux desktop, because it's still a place that feels like MINE. I feel like I'm some kind of sharecropper or temporary house guest when on Windows 11. It doesn't feel like "my" environment. It feels like it's Microsoft's computer and they just let me use it occasionally.
For myself, I was lucky(?) enough to have wasted my best years playing with Linux and running Linux boxes is no problem now. For the average Joe that needs to mess with computers, I feel bad for them. Windows 11 feels like shit, MacOS sure isn't great either, and that's pretty much the only choice.
No wonder I'm seeing less and less households with PCs and laptops. I think the average person in 2025 has just given up on computers and makes do with their phone or tablet.
Thank fucking god for Linux, because if I was forced to use Windows 11 full time, I think I'd snap and go live in the middle of the forest or something. It's actively annoying to even look at at this point, and I only see things getting worse. For example, the troubles with Windows "Recall" have barely even started.
I loathe to see what Microsoft has in store for us next, and I would guarantee it's not user friendly.
I use my laptop for data processing, but most of my tasks can be adequately handled from my phone. There are days when I don't open my computer when I get home from work.
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Your phone is encrypted by default, there's
practicallyno way to not let it encrypt without unlocking the bootloader.Older phones that came out before the default encryption was standard were the ones that had the option to encrypt the phone or let it remain decrypted.
Huh, learn something new every day
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You dont own something unless you install linux on it
this can be easily remedied by killing all of humanity except yourself
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I have this little offline only single purpose device that handles tap to pay for me. It is actually waterproof, survives falls, is light enough to not be noticed, and hasn't run out of battery in a few years.
Jokes aside, what is wrong with good old plastic cards? If you don't want an extra wallet (which I need anyway to carry ids, drivers license, cash, emergency ear plugs, a handy sticker or two...), just get a phone case with card/cash slot thingies.
As it is right now, my cell phone replaces a collection of about six plastic cards. I have not yet found a wieldy phone case that has space to store payment cards.
Realistically, this question could also be asked with cash. If you're going to be pulling out a wallet-like item anyway, and you are that concerned with privacy, why not go with anonymous, fee-free, secure, actually offline paper money? Card processing is not offline. The card machine has to be connected to the Internet for it to work (offline card processing theoretically exists, but is not widely implemented enough to rely on and is not particularly secure).
If people are going to argue that wanting to pay with a cell phone instead of a plastic card makes me lazy because the card takes a few extra seconds to use compare to the phone, I'm going to argue in turn that they're lazy for using a card when using cash, with all of its privacy benefits, also only takes a few seconds more.
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If you own a smartwatch that supports tap to pay, you can use that instead.
I don't wear a watch at all. I view smart watches in particular as completely useless gadgets. What useful thing do they do that a cell phone doesn't? Count your heart rate? Sell that info to advertisers so they know what time you stay up at night doom-scrolling? They have absolutely no utility for me.
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You’re an information technology?
Mr information technology to you
