cross-posted from: https://piefed.blahaj.zone/c/bubsy/p/611941/rawr-x3-art-by-sharpytown-on-bluesky

Sharpy on Bluesky

cross-posted from: Bubsy

Link to post on Mastodon

Been trying to get away from DuckDuckGo because of their support of "AI" stuff, but come on, one of these isn't even in English, and that's what I have my language set to.

The title sounds overly negative but idk how else to ask. Is there a list of known conservative / corporate owned / generally shady Mastodon instances that I can block outright? I don't want to go searching for them, but I also don't want to stumble upon posts from them either, so I'd appreciate a list of confirmed shitty servers to essentially copy and paste.

I'm sure this is a very common post but please hear me out, I'm in a weird place and don't want to make a poor decision when it comes to such a big purchase, let alone potentially three of them.

Until very recently, I was under the impression that Linux phones weren't a thing. Had I known, I likely would have made this post several months ago and bought a different device for myself (I'm using a crazy overpriced Pixel bc I thought GraphineOS was the ONLY option for a safe and FOSS phone). I have two partners in the US who's Androids are old and even falling apart on them. They can't afford one Pixel, let alone two, but I've gotten them into Linux Mint and want to take this opportunity to rid their phones of proprietary software as well. So here's the deal:

I have little to no knowledge of Linux phones. I don't know if they have dedicated apps, or if all software is run through Android emulation, or even how different Android is from Linux itself (isn't the former based on the latter anyway?). None of us need high-spec devices, we just want something that can:

• Play media files and use privacy respecting YouTube clients, stuff like that
• Send and receive texts/calls through Signal, Telegram, etc.
• Actually deliver notifications (GraphineOS is horrible for this in my experience)
• Use your average social media (Mastodon, Bluesky)
• Has expandable storage and preferably a headphone jack
• Isn't total overkill and won't cost a grand for useless features and specs

I don't expect any phone to fit the bill perfectly, but if you guys know which device and OS I should try, I'm all ears. Speaking of operating systems, I'll go looking around this community to try and find some individual pros and cons, but if anyone has experiences to share, please, please do. My plan is to find which pairing of device and OS is easiest to operate with the least drawbacks and get used to it myself. Being the techie of the trio, I wanna be able to help them if something goes wrong. Once we've made a decision, I'll buy and set up another phone, then send them both to my partners so they can finally have new phones that are FLOSS, free of corporate spyware, and hopefully last them a good while.

It is truly amazing that bread, fucking bread, has been one of the hardest things for me to secure vegan options for. You can get bread that doesn't involve dairy or eggs, but it's usually the cheap, crappy stuff, and if you have the option of something better, it has one of the two in it. Shouldn't be an issue for me though. I know a guy who makes bread and we get loaves from him on the regular. I asked recently if he used milk or eggs and he said no, but turns out he was using butter all this time. A bit distressing that I've been consuming that ever since I've become vegan last year, but nobody asked until now so it's on me, really. Dude was nice enough to buy vegan margarine for me specifically. Genuinely grateful for that, he's a sweetheart for it.

deep inhale Why. Does margarine. Have palm oil. I ain't complaining to him again, he's been kind and accommodating enough, but I know this shit is awful for the environment and for me too. It's better then dairy butter but whyyyyy?? I just want oil and salt to put on some basic-ass bread! I literally want a food so basic that comparison to it is a universal stand in for "wow, that's bland as hell". It might not be the hardest thing to find a vegan version of (there are also still some toiletries like toothpaste that I haven't personally checked yet), but does anyone else struggle this much with bread of all things? Does margarine exist without palm oil? I've heard of people just drizzling toast with olive oil, so if I add a bit of salt to that will it amount to the same thing? infernal screeching

I hope you read the title like one of those stupid infomercials. Lol Anyways...

I understand why GraphineOS is only functional on Pixels, because they're the only phone with an unlocked bootloader, right? How is there not a single other phone on the market that offers this? I don't need a high tier phone so it's hard to justify spending over a grand on one that, only needs to text, call, play media, and make posts like this to fulfil my needs. Any cheap Android would do. But no, I literally have to buy Google's bespoke phone to rid my phone OF them.

I hope this doesn't come off ignorant of all the hard work FLOSS devs put into their projects, but shouldn't Linux phones be a thing by now? Sure, I doubt it'd get mainstream adoption, but Linux isn't mainstream either and I can install it on any old potato. I guess I'd be reluctant to put in the work too if my OS would be incomparable with 90% of devices.

It's really sad. I got my boyfriend into Linux before he was used to Windows (he only had a Chromebook before), but he still uses a standard Android with Google services and stuff. Asking someone to buy an already overpriced device just to run a different OS is a hard sell, even if they have the money.

I'm not ungrateful to the effort poured in to projects like GraphineOS, but I'm sad that, unlike Linux, so many people don't even have the option to use it.

Exactly what the title says. I know the prices of computer parts have been skyrocketing because of all the "generative" "AI" bullshit that's been forced on the world, and I'm lucky my computer is just good enough to still be doing what I need it to several years later. It's a laptop, though, so basically no ability to swap components.

I want to get into PC building, more out of necessity then desire, but I'm nervous about ruining good parts. I'm totally fine with building a mediocre machine with cheap, old stuff just to get a feel for how everything goes together. If I can make it run Linux and maybe emulate a PS1 game, I'll be happy. Additionally, I have a HUGE rack mounted server PC from the mid 2000s that, if nothing else, can be gutted for it's spacious casing.

Is building a cheap test machine like this worth while? If so, I'd appreciate any advice on what parts to scoop up and maybe where I could find them.

I know it's unlikely to exist, but I'd be really grateful if it's out there. My partners use Life360 for the location tracking, just so they know the other is okay. I'd like to join in on this too, but no way am I installing a closed source GPS if I can help it. They're pretty knowledgeable about the risks of doing so, and are open to using an alternative service. Heck, I was the guy who got one of them in on Linux after ditching his Chromebook. lmao

For the record, they have all the data collection settings disabled, but how much is that worth, really? You'd have to trust the company's word and even still, closed source GPS shit. Ew.

Any suggestions are appreciated!

I recently undertook some courses that are heavy as hell on the reading. I'm a good reader when my ADHD allows it, but to nobody's surprise, it does not mesh well with overly long, tedious articles, and a lot of them. It might help if I had a text to speech voice of some kind reading to or along with me, but I haven't used those types of things in years and I don't want to go sleuthing through seas of AI shilling bullshit to find one that's not awful. Does anyone here happen to know of some programs that may help me out? I'm running Linux, fyi, and I always prefer open source tech, but even if it's closed source, I'll take it if it's not trained on unwitting and unwilling people. It doesn't even have to be good, just something lol

EDIT: Just found that Linux has a thing called Festival, which hasn't been updated in long enough that I don't think it COULD include "gen" AI. I'm just about to test it, but any other recommendations are appreciated.

I recently got a controller from 8BitDo that has an extra pair of triggers and two extra face buttons for screenshots or whatever you want really. Issue is, not only do do my emulators not recognize these buttons, but is seems Linux Mint doesn't know they exist at all. Even bringing up a program to map buttons to keys doesn't show any input when those buttons are pressed. Does anyone know how to make these buttons recognizable? They'd be really helpful for toggling fast forward on games with long loading screens for instance or just resetting the system on a whim.

I've been thinking of starting a Mastodon instance and have found a hosting service I fancy, but am struggling to find a decent place to purchase a domain. My criteria is that it isn't operated in the USA or a similarly fascistic country, doesn't support crypto/AI garbage, and is trustworthy. I thought hosting the actual site would be the hard part, not buying the domain. Additionally, many posts I've come across asking this question are from people in the market for email servers, so I'm not sure if those suggestions apply for me.

Any recommendations are appreciated, thanks!