I switched to Fennec.

This interests me. I may have to check this one out specifically for my configuration files. And I will definitely go the self hosting route if I do this. Thank you!

I can see two sides to this:

Removable batteries are great, if you want longevity for a phone, and don’t mind sacrificing water resistance.

On the other side of the coin:

Removable batteries have more potential to lower water resistance ratings.

I think more manufacturers should give the choice of a model with a removable battery.

“Verizon agrees that the FCC should consider the merits and trade-offs of handset unlocking requirements,” Verizon spokesperson Rich Young told The Register, though that support is conditional.

Screw verizon with an acid covered cactus. What possible “merits” are there to locking a device down for anyone but the companies selling the phones? Rich Young can go kick rocks.

I will not buy a phone through a carrier, I will not buy a phone with a locked bootloader. Period.

I am done with anticonsumer bullshit.

You should go another level deeper, VirtualBox > Windows > WSL > Waydroid > Lindroid

Back on windows I have used Resilio Sync. I don’t hate it, does essentially what I am looking for, but I am trying to go more open source route. Thank you for the suggestion!

Fantastic suggestions. Gives me some things to try. Thank you so much!

I have seen the likes of similar, like Andronix but I typically don’t want to buy into proprietary software where possible. Thank you for sharing!

All good!

I will have to give this a look! Thank you!

That is fair. Just historically speaking, I have typically only had 1 port opened on my router for VPN access, and then setting up SSH cert auth from system to system.

Like Shrek, layers xD

From my understanding, without having a VPN connection to my home network, or proper port forwarding (which sounds like a security nightmare to me) it would only function on my local network?

https://github.com/Linux-on-droid/lindroid-rootfs

In this specific github entry it mentions flashing, and with my setup, I would prefer not to flash something onto my phone without some sort of backup.

Unless there is a userland app I can install that I seem to be missing.

This interests me greatly. I would like to try this on a device, but I don’t have an extra I can spare to do so.

Saying you don’t care about privacy because you have nothing to hide is like saying you don’t care about freedom of speech because you don’t have anything to say.

I actually suggest getting Ventoy which is a fantastic utility that allows you to copy bootable images to a folder, and when you boot the drive you can select from the ISO/Images available on the drive. Super handy!

The Live USB may not solve all HW issues, but it’s a good jumping off point.

I can’t blame anyone not going the pure arch route, and choosing an Arch based distro. Besides getting my GPU working as I wanted it, running and maintaining my Arch install is no work at all at this point. With Timeshift installed, as well as the grub hook, and pacman hook, it makes it a cake to revert if something breaks.

The other advice I have for Linux is an often overlooked. When switching to Linux you can’t always approach fixing a problem or operating the machine the exact same ways one would on Windows. So being flexible, and learning to change habits helps.

Besides the usual back up your files advice, I have a few recommendations.

These recommendations are not in any particular order but:

• Consider all of the applications you use on Windows, and research alternatives for those applications. Or if there isn’t a replacement for it, investigate how to get the application you need working in Linux. For instance, I use a lot of audio production software and learned that there are a few that just do not work reliably or at all within Linux.

• Depending on your needs be sure to research (or better yet, try) different Desktop Environments. (Note: for trying different environments I would recommend finding a distro that has a Live USB option and run those live to test them out)

• As I mentioned in the above suggestion, try different distros you are considering using with a Live USB. This can help snuff out different hardware that you have that may or may not work on your system before committing.

• Before choosing which OS you want to go with, consider the key beliefs of how to maintain an OS. For instance, there are many people that will blindly recommend a distro without knowing why one would use it. There are bleeding edge rolling release type distros such as Arch. I use Arch BTW, but I would not blindly tell someone who just wants a stable experience with little to no tinkering needed.

Most of my suggestions come down to please do your research, and make an educated decision on what you want to jump into. And I like to think that there are plenty of communities that can be friendly and welcoming that would help!

This just reinforces why I chose lemm.ee to be my chosen instance. I think what you had to say here was well worded, as well as I feel it aligns with how I would want to handle it should I be in charge. Thank you for creating this instance, and thank you for the explanation of your stance. You nailed it, a lot can be handled with proper communication. And going nuclear and completely defederating I would agree should be a last resort.

Not that I have the knowledge, experience, or tools to really tinker with this; but I do look forward to what others may do with this!

Please elaborate on how this is “ironic”

By offering this as a bonus doesn’t take away the offline installers and DRM Free content you buy from them.

It isn’t being forced, and it isn’t costing extra, so what’s the issue?