161–170 of 668 posts
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Income shouldn't be a barrier to having technology that you own completely, a concept that until recently was common.
Technology you don't own is cheaper because the provider can sell your data. I suppose it's a "good thing" there exists tech the poor can afford.
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It seems like a lot of these problems at the core stem from corporations or the government not being held accountable. How do we fix regulatory capture so these privacy issues are a non sequitur?
> How do we fix regulatory capture so these privacy issues are a non sequitur? by making the general populous care more about it, and force the electorate's hands.
> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy Which models is he talking about here? Those Raptor Power9 workstations that are like $7k are the only things that come to mind.
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I have yet to find a satsifactory way to disable them - it's pretty easy to disable notifications from userspace apps like Instagram or Snapchat or whatever, but disabling notifications or altogether uninstalling vendor apps is a huge pain in the ass. Most advice I've gotten has been flash a custom Android kernel or a de-Googled distro. This would definitely solve my problems, but this removes the ability to install…
Universal Android Debloater can remove them without root, using ADB (Android Debug Bridge): https://gitlab.com/W1nst0n/universal-android-debloater/ In case you do want to install a custom Android distribution (ROM) to clean out the Samsung bloat more thoroughly, the risk of hard-bricking your phone is almost non-existent nowadays. The worst that can happen is usually a soft-brick which can be fixed by reinstalling th…
> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy. This statement here made me pause for a bit. He wants a computer with specific features, but doesn't want pay for the models that offer those features because they are too expensive? Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too, but unfortunately, reality has constraints.
> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy. Yeah, that weakens his whole argument. That said, I would like to know what models these are? Because I think it's pretty much universal. I think the answer is linux.
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> Except for a handful of very over-priced models that I can't afford to buy. Yeah, that weakens his whole argument. That said, I would like to know what models these are? Because I think it's pretty much universal. I think the answer is linux.
There's System76 and Purism: https://system76.com , https://puri.sm Can't speak to the quality, but I suspect those are the expensive models the author is referring to.
If we're talking desktops, Raptor Talos fits the bill better I think: https://www.raptorcs.com
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This. We haven't really had software until just slightly more than half a century - and now everything but a kitchen sink has a microprocessor, running some sort of firmware. Which is never sold, merely leased^W licensed.
Off topic but.. > and now everything but a kitchen sink My kitchen sink has a processor in it.
You can have computers that you own today. There is a list here: https://ryf.fsf.org/categories/laptops . If you want something more powerful, there're these: - https://ryf.fsf.org/categories/workstations-and-servers - https://ryf.fsf.org/categories/mainboards Also, Andrius Stikonas achieved a blob-free fully functioning (AFAIK) RockPro64 more than a year ago: https://stikonas.eu/wordpress/2019/09/15/blobless-boot-wi…
Why on earth would they use re-imaged Lenovo laptops when that company has a history of hiding malware in firmware so that even a reinstall can't remove it? Why should anyone trust they haven't shoved something nefarious in a chip somewhere. If you want a trusted system you have to start from trustworthy hardware or at the very least avoid manufacturers that are already known to be both untrustworthy and unethical
I have a similar feeling, but with modern smartphones. Owning my computer is still relatively possible. I can build a computer from parts which I can choose, and have a choice in which operating system to install on them. Laptops are slightly more closed, but even on those I can choose the OS myself. Modern smartphones however, seem like walled gardens in which I have no control at all. I cannot choose any of the par…
I agree with this so much. It would be so convenient if I could just flash Arch Linux or something onto a modern smartphone and be able to use all the applications and settings and data I use on my desktop, but on my mobile phone. Android is markedly better than iOS when it comes to customization, but it's a far cry from a (real) Linux distribution. I've started getting OS-level push notification ads from Google News…
They took all the trees, and put 'em in a tree GNUseum..
This is an implicit admission that the technology itself really doesn't matter. If it did, the author would have scrounged and saved to get the expensive tool they need to start getting the results they desire, the same way musicians scrimp and save to get the instrument their ear tells them they need.