Sonalder

Cryptobros aren’t really present on there, at least I never encounter such people. But it’s mainly a “Bitcoiner Bubble” and that’s why I have some issue with staying on there regularly, I don’t like mind-bubbles. However there is some amazing experimentation on there with Value4Value or tipping sats (fractions of bitcoins) instead of liking, local-side open source algorithmes that you can choose and change and the thing I’m most excited about is Ditto which is a community server that act as a Nostr relay AND an ActivityPub instance.

I think Nostr is superior to ActivityPub because you don’t need accounts, it’s authentification is based on asymetrical cryptographic keys which enable digital identities without a central server. However I use the Fediverse more because it is more mature, less mind-bubble and fucking better than commercial, centralized plateforms with opaque algorithmes that you have no control over.

Look at what nostr community is doing with zaps, I think it’s cool

Legit

Well it’s from my experience during lockdown when I started to dualboot Linux and Windows with an NVidia GPU and some benchmarks I’ve seen on YouTube recently.

How a CPU bottleneck could happen on an OS and not on another ?

When playing the exact same games on the exact same machine with NVidia GPU you can get 8-20% better performance on Windows compared to Linux. On the AMD side you can get up to 5% boost on Linux, that’s just the reality. Though you could also loose 5% performance compared to Windows in some games.

And to answer your question it should have been around 2022.

https://technastic.com/remove-samsung-bloatware-safe-to-remove-apps/

Might be outdated but still a great ressources to take a look I think : https://www.joyk.com/dig/detail/1648435997630319#gsc.tab=0

I guess your best bet is to heavily debloat your original OS using adb or UniversalAndroidDebloaterNextGen for exemple and switch all apps from Google/Samsung/Partners to FOSS solution. Also tweak all the settings you can, ditch the PlayStore, Google account, etc…

I think that’s the best you can do. Maybe in a few years you will have better option but I am not sure of that as it is a Samsung and it has become harder and harder in a few generations.

Here are some ressources. DYOR and use at your own risk :

https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/rzhz13/ultimate_samsung_oneui_debloat_privacy/ https://github.com/invinciblevenom/debloat_samsung_android

If you’re on Linux AMD is clearly superior because NVidia has Linux performance issue compared to Windows so you’re ending up paying more for less. However NVidia has the monopole for a reason their product are superior but at what price ? Also if you want to avoid proprietary drivers AMD gets the win too.

I do think AMD is the better option for anyone that spend less than 800-1’000$ on a GPU even for Windows gamers. Personnaly I have made the switch from NVidia to AMD 2 years after ditching Windows for Linux, Never looked back even though Cyberpunk2077 looks amazing on NVidia RTX and some other things.

I have upgraded last year to a RX 7800 XT and have no regrets on spending that money.

For me connecting it to a Windows machine and updating the controller firmware made it works. Apparently you could do that using Bottles (wine) directly on your Linux distro.

f.lux ?

Honestly everyone is different and so has different needs. I have been running on my main devices CalyxOS for a couple years then switched to GrapheneOS after buying a Pixel 6A and the only downside I have with this device is battery life which is not amazing. They have improved that significally with their last gen devices (Pixel 9, 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL) and it doesn’t seem to be an issue anymore while still not be really better than the competition. I have also run other OS on secondary devices and honestly didn’t cared about their security as much as my main device.

Your device hasn’t recieved security updates for more than 3 years now, so if you don’t feel afraid, or in danger of being hacked with a strong negative impact on your life installing LineageOS or /e/OS on your device will not be stupid as you will benefits from newer security patches and feature updates. You will lose some protection such as the unlocked bootloader but for some people it’s okay.

You don’t need maximum security but you will probably benefits from it. If your phone is still running well and that you don’t wan’t to change it yet it is okay. If you feel like it’s important for you to upgrade your security by upgrading your phone consider buying a relatively new model that will have at least 4-5 years of security updates, since it looks like you’re keeping phone longer than most people does. You can lose freedom and buy an iPhone. Or buy Google hardware and ditch their software. If you want to buy a Samsung, a OnePlus or whatever and flash LineageOS on it I think you’re better keeping your phone with LineageOS for a bit longer. You can also debloat a OnePlus, etc but it won’t be as degoogled as you may want it to be. Still more secure than flashing LineageOS on a currently supported device. Remember that Privacy ≠ Security.

That’s my opinion I am not a security expert

Samsung have great security, and the GrapheneOS team said multiples times that it’s one of the few manufacters that meet their security requirement. Unfortunately Samsung does not allow you to easily unlock the bootloader anymore and you CAN’T relock it after installing an alternative OS. This is the main reason why GOS is not available on Samsung device.

You can try LineageOS or /e/OS, both should have a build for your device but keep in mind that your security will be somewhat degraded. Your phone isn’t supported anymore anyways so it might be beneficial depending on your threat model. As LineageOS and /e/OS are way less bloated than Samsung stockROM you could benefit from better performance in several ways. I have revived a few device with LineageOS and DivestOS (RIP). If you buy a new one I would consider a Pixel 8A or 9 depending on how much you want to spend, they will benefit you from years of security updates.

From my experience I never had any issue with calls or mobile data on GrapheneOS nor any alternative ROM installed.

1. Looks bad, but what about the other mainstream options such as Tuta ?
2. True but I do think it will get noticed pretty quickly but probably not fast enough.
3. For weeks ? I know new products are always proprietary closed beta but didn’t knew that…
4. I think it’s pretty fair as it is a freemium service, paid user needs to get rewarded for paying.
5. Yeah I prefer to endorse free and open solution rather than closed garden wall, even if they are published under open source licence, but in the other hand It seens like there is a demand from the market for a privacy-respecting ecosystem that offer a similar experience to Google for exemple.

There is no such thing as a perfect solution or perfect security. Depending on your threat model I do think Proton isn’t a bad option, maybe it’s not the best but as of today all the honeypot claims seems to be simply FUD. Your worries are legit but I’m pretty sure you can have similar worries for other products that you use and feel safe using them.

I think Proton still offer a strong UX and great privacy, what are your main worries ?

Mobile operating systems like Android are way more sandboxed than traditional desktop OS. Even though the situation has improved on desktop, especially on macOS and some GNU/Linux distros, sandboxing is more of an iOS/Android thing.

On Windows, most people are admin users, which is a role with admin privileges. You’re not running these by default on macOS or GNU/Linux, and you’re not allowed to on your mobile. Both Android and iOS require an exploit to root/jailbreak to get admin privileges.

This doesn’t mean that macOS, Linux, Android, and iOS can’t get any malware. But by default, a phone OS gives apps very little permissions. Of course, apps can ask for them and trick the user into giving them. Some permissions give higher privileges, and you don’t want every app to have those.

So, no, what you want is education, not an app with privileges to verify everything is okay. I don’t say antivirus are useless, but you have to realize what it means to offer another app all these privileges. Fortunately, Hypatia has pretty basic permissions, but that means it also makes it less efficient than modern antivirus, as it works more basically.

Simply reboot your phone often and don’t install shady stuff. It won’t prevent the NSO Group from selling a spyware with 4 0-days exploits to a Nation State to spy on your device, but Hypatia won’t either.

Every time I have to use Windows I am amazed how Microsoft is ruinning it. Ads, unconsisitent UI, bad UX forcing you to be part of their Microsoft365 services shit.

A friend of mine had his Desktop sync on a OneDrive account without really knowing why. And sometime the whole shit got desynchronized and it’s files and folders disapeard. The fix was to restart his machine while being connected to the internet :D