Joe Bidet

for sms+calls to work much much there i a little bit of very easy work: to install the “modem distro” instead of the original OS running the modem chip. yes it means you can ssh into your modem and edit its crontab also…:)

https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk

Sorry if i am late to that party, but i have been daily-driving a pinephone for 4+ years now. 1/ It’s not for the faint of heart. it is work. serious admin work. 2/ i chose a hard line of PostMarketOS edge (equiv of debian “unstable” updated continuously) and sxmo (a lovely, experimental interface, fully hackable, lightweight etc.) 3/ most of the shortcomings described by people who tried it only or expected a lot from it are related to comparing it to android or ios. it’s a mistake i think. it should be treated as its own thing, with no expectations, and most of the shortcomings can be fixed by adaptation and custom work… for me: most tasks via CLI (mail, matrix, mastodon, etc.) and lightweight browser, combined with lightweight interface (sxmo) considerably extend battery life. in suspend i get 48h (which is more than most android phones i used before) and with moderat use it lasts way over 24h for me.

I would totally recommend it IF you value computing freedom, autonomy and taking back control of your communication infrastructure and data more than an ideal of “comfort” or standardized streamlined processes modeled after the ones that put everyone in the hands of big US corporations (aka “user-friendly” lol)

Also that feeling that whatever tiny bit you may invent, fix or hack for yourself, can be put back into a wild community of avid trailblazing hackers is invaluable. Yes it’s all work, but it’s work for you and other people who value freedom. not work for Google and such…

pine64 because freedom.

I use a PinePhone (non-pro) as a daily-driver for 4+ years now. Sure it runs well. Just depends by what you mean by “linux”. If you use firefox and KDE you’re gonna suffer and complain about battery life.

If you’re ready to work a bit to make it custom and very frugal (in my case: pmos + sxmo) and use mostly CLI and TUI applications, then you can get a lot from it. I use links -g for a majority of my browsing, tut for the fediverse, aerc, gomuks, etc. for communications. heck there is even a simplex CLI client.

It’s exciting, it’s customized and i find it 10x more interesting than #$%!ndroid. and i make my backups through rsync. but it’s for sure a bit of work…

thank you for your thank you! <3

You’re right! I don’t know either.

The facts remain, though.

Bruce Schneier is also probably just a conspiracy theorist, when he writes in 2014:

“By the way, the Register noted that Whisper Systems (along with Tor and several other privacy projects) received $450,000 from Radio Free Asia – which is pretty much an official State Department / CIA propaganda organ, isn’t it? How exactly does this work as a coherent national security strategy, when State is funding ‘privacy’ while NSA is funding eavesdropping? https://www.opentechfund.org/sites/default/files/attachments/otf2013annualreportfinal.pdf”

https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2014/11/whatsapp_is_now.html

oh and that linked annual report of the OTF, like the following ones, doesn’t seem to be online anymore… :))

what a joke

well before 2013 it wasnt “Signal” but some proprietary software. After 2016 it wasn’t anymore “the initial phase”

Funny how you don’t seem to be wanting to see 2013-2016, but it’s OK. facts speak for themselves :)

“Between 2013 and 2016, Open Whisper Systems received grants from the Shuttleworth Foundation,[49] the Knight Foundation,[50] and the Open Technology Fund.[51]”

“Marlinspike launched Open Whisper Systems’ website in January 2013.[2][1]”

(from the page you linked)

How is that not the OTF (100% funded by Radio Free Asia) since its inception? how is it not its initial conception phase?

US government: “Make us an app that people can use so we are the only ones accessing their meta-data.” Developer: makes Signal US Government: 👍

yet it’s fair to say that:

• Signal was incepted by US gov funds
• During most of it’s initial conception phase it was US gov funded
• therefore some of the characteristics its users still suffer today (like reliance on strong selectors, pinky-promise of non-retaining metadata, centralized architecture based on the same “cloud” as the one of the CIA and other decisions hostile to free/libre software users and ethics) originate from that era.

<3

As many people mentioned backups before, I would only add this: Maybe check -in your favourite search engine- if the very same model of computer that you use doesn’t have know quirks (hardware needing some tweaking, not being fully recognized, etc.) with gnu/linux, like for instance searching “$model linux” or “$model $distro” (with the distros you plan on trying, etc.

Also maybe if you connect only via Wifi, check that wifi chip for compatibility first, and maybe get as a backup a USB wifi dongle that is know to work on gnu/linux… juuuust in case ;)

am glad that https://simplex.chat doesn’t even need to touch sensitive personal data strong selectors such as phone numbers or email addresses!

also now that i think of it:

2. there is now a discovery mechanism of some sort… but otherwise it’s a feature and not a bug that you can only identify people whom you had an initial exchange with. much preferable than something that Signal that without asking (and without opting out?) will by default access all your contacts and match them through the use of a strong selector (phone number) also:
3. i think with the minimal knowledge the server has of its users (and the no-identity concept) this really limits risk. Also it means that for the most tight of security models, one can use their own server (which is not feasible with most other chat protocols)

so all in all: go simplex! :)

1. was apparently fixed with latest version.

simplex seems to check all boxes for respecting privacy. it doesnt rely on using any identity (no strong selectors like email addresses or phone number). seems very forward-thinking in its concepts.

…You wouldn’t download a car?!

sure. but you and OP are maybe not “a lot of people” anyways ;)

same here.

my first switch from x to wayland was on the pinephone and that convinced me to make the big jump elsewhere. that feeling of snappiness you describe, from not having all the screen refreshed all the time i gues…?