My choices:
- Desktop: Manjaro Gnome, because it feels like macOS. It even does the 3 finger swipe up to see all your apps with Apple's Touchpad. My wireless Apple Keyboard also works fine.
Screenshot: https://imgur.com/a/UYPfgkC
To install it on my older MacBook Pro from 2014, but I had to use Android internet tethering to install the WiFi driver. To install it on my super new desktop, I had to use an ISO with a newer Kernel (5.13) due to the Radeon 6700 XT graphics card. I got that one from https://github.com/manjaro/release-review/releases/ instead of the Manjaro main website.
- Phone: I considered a Pixel with CalyxOS, but ended up buying a OnePlus 8T with microG variant of LineageOS from https://lineage.microg.org
Alternatively a Pixel phone would also run this version of LineageOS. MicroG (https://microg.org/) re-implements some parts of Google Play Services, while safeguarding your privacy, like push notifications. It also has some other Google-specific features re-implemented. I have over 40 apps and only found 1 that didn't work so far (which is Uber Eats, because they seem to require Google Advertisement ID). I pushed a modified Google Camera app to it (from https://www.celsoazevedo.com/), so my camera is better supported. I think only 3 out of 4 cameras are working, but I don't care.
- Watch: Amazfit GTR 2e with the official app. Alternatively it should work with Gadgetbridge if you don't want to use the offical app ("Zepp"). Amazfit GTR 2 is a better option if you want it to have WiFi and want to store music on it. Alternatives I considered: OnePlus Watch and Fossil Hybrid.
Apple features that I gave up:
- Apple Carplay: Because I don't want to use the Google ecosystem, Android Auto is not an alternative. I'll use my car's own GPS system, or I'll end up using my phone's offline maps.
- Apple Pay: My bank luckily has a contactless payment app for my phone, but I won't be making payments with my watch anymore.
It's a choice. You might wholly disagree, but recent events aren't enough to get me to switch yet, because I think the competition has too many tradeoffs.
I can get my photos scanned against a CSAM database... or I can have Google tracking my location constantly regardless of what they say (as they've been proven to be misleading in the past)... or I can use a Linux phone and say goodbye to battery life and useful apps I need. I'll pick CSAM Scanning over my Location data being in the hands of Google, sorry.
And as for my laptop, macOS doesn't scan, and the M1 is too impressive and has me spoiled. And I have too many horror stories with both Linux and Windows and can't stand either of them. (Don't tell me switch to Linux - I've tried over a dozen distributions over the last decade. It's just not there yet.)
Picking a Chinese phone based on financial circumstances, however, is understandable IMO.
However, as one who's moved from an iPhone to a Nokia 8110 with KaiOS, which I in no way argue is as secure as iOS:
It has less on it. It has far less on it. It has my phone calls, a handful of text messages, and while it has email access right now, I'm experimenting with if I actually need that, or can remove it (leaning towards removing it). And my calendar.
The camera is horrible, so I just carry a pocket digital camera with me now if I care to take photos, which don't end up on the phone.
If I don't give it wifi privileges (which it currently has, but I've been running with wifi off and cell data off to see how that works, and the answer so far is "quite well"), there's simply not much it can really do to my accounts or network.
Of all the things in the world to get worked up over, this is ridiculous.
I get it, the mechanism they're using has apparent flaws, and maybe some whacko could somehow get access to your phone and start uploading things that trick the algorithm into thinking you have CP.
But, that alone is such a ridiculous phobia, if someone has that level of access to your phone, they could upload real CP and maybe even upload it to your Facebook for good measure.
There is no technical reason why this needs to exist. If they want to scan iCloud photos for something, they can do that on their servers. iCloud is not end-to-end encrypted. Law enforcement can do whatever they want with the data you send there. Since they chose the client-side route, they have to be up to something, and it all smells very fishy. Today, they say it's for CSAM. Tomorrow, it will be for any discontent against whatever government wants to oppress its people this week -- and as time goes forward, that is not just third-world countries where you don't live, it could be your own.
Do you really want to explain to the police at your door at 3:30 in the morning why you read a website called Hacker News? This is the first step towards that reality.
Imagine I wrote a program that contained the phone numbers of people I don't like. The database is encrypted, and the only way to see if you're on that list is to install the app on your phone. The app does two things -- nothing if you're not on my list, or it sends me your location (at your expense!) if you are. Would you install that app? Absolutely not, that would be crazy. But that is basically what is bundled into iOS now.
I really like my iPhone and iPad Pro. I like how Apple handles privacy in general. But I can't accept this. It's a step too far. You don't have to draw the line there, but I draw the line there.
Despite this having been a possibility for almost a decade... there's a suspicious lack of headlines of this attack occurring.
If that is what is supposed to happen, then it makes no sense for any new code to run on the device!
> Of all the things in the world to get worked up over, this is ridiculous.
Well, it is not crazy to get worked up over Apple saying they will check uploads to iCloud by checking what's on your phone - instead of simply adding code to iCloud. That seems obvious not ridiculous.
Maybe include children so that on first glance the reviewer will just forward to the authorities.
You get these images, store it, then you get flagged.
Now what? What’s your recourse when the FBI insists that you’re guilty, and your reputation is ruined?
There absolutely is a problem of pedophiles, but the process that Apple is using seems ripe for abuse.
Whatsapp by default adds all received images into Photos. So all it takes is to send you few dozens of pictures while you're sleeping.
So apart from every Apple user being treated like a proven-until-innocent owner of CP, at all times, this will (yes, a matter of time) be used for political purposes, to find and silence activists, journalists, to discredit opposition leaders, to prosecute Uyugur/Muslims/women/palestinians etc.
Do we really believe that CP owners store their collections in iCloud / google cloud / Dropbox and view them on their phones? And that this is an issue on a massive scale?
Please.
These are the most expensive phones on the market, with an incredible profit margin for Apple. The part of these devices that we actually own is a shrinking territory.
Why not have the mics on all the time in case “someone says something related to a CP ring?”
Many messengers, including Whatsapp, save all the incoming pics into camera roll by default.
The biggest complaint here is clearly this is not where it'll end, and it's not a unique hash, so there will be false positives. And since it's publicly announced, this is very unlikely to catch any producers of CP, and would only catch the dumbest consumers. So it's an invasion of privacy with very little chance of having a noticeable impact.
I don't think it computes a hash of the image, it's a tad more involved than that.
Simple hashing is easily evaded. They must be computing an identifier from the contents of the images in the CSAM database. This requires computational analysis on the handset or computer. If that's all that were happening that would be no problem, but of course there are management interfaces to the classifer/analyzer, catalog, backend, &c
The contents of the identifiers are purposefully opaque to prevent spoofing of the identifier database. I don't know what is included in the images; what if I take a picture at Disneyland with a trafficked person in the frame? Will that make it into the qualifier database? What is added to the CSAM signature database and why? What is the pipeline of hashesfrom NCMEC and other child-safety organizations->Apple's CSAM image classifer alarm?
>I get it, the mechanism they're using has apparent flaws, and maybe some whacko could somehow get access to your phone and start uploading things that trick the algorithm into thinking you have CP.
The CSAM analyzer could be subverted in any number of ways. I question how the CSAM identifiers are monitored for QA (I actually shudder thinking there are already humans doing this :( how unpleasant.) and the potential for harmful adversaries to repurpose this tool for other means. One contrived counterfactual: Locating pictures of Jamal Kashoggi in people's computer systems by 0-day malware. Another: Locating images of Edward Snowden. A more easily conceived notion: Locating amber alert subjects in people's phones, geofenced or not.
To my eyes, it appears we will soon have increased analysis challenges. Self analysis of device activity and functions for image scanning malware (for example) is slightly harder, we have added a blessed one with unknown characteristics running on the systems. Does this pose a challenge to system profiling? How/does this interact with battery management? Is only iCloud scanning, or is everything scanned and then only checked before being sent to iCloud? (this appears to be the case[X])
There should be user notification too. If some sicko sends me something crazy somehow, I would surely want to know so I can call the cops!!
All in all this makes me feel bad. There is not a lot of silver lining from my perspective. While the epidemic of unconscionable child abuse continues, I question the effectiveness of this approach.
I would not consider jailbreaking my iPhone but for this kind of stuff. I would like to install network and permissions monitoring software on my iPhone such as Bouncer[0], Little Snitch[1], although these are helpfully not available for iOS.
I feel grateful that I am unlikely to be affected by this image scanning software, I'm planning to continue my personal policy of never storing any pictures of any people whatsoever. I don't even store family photos this way. My Life is not units in a data warehouse.
[0] - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.samruston....
[1] - https://www.obdev.at/products/littlesnitch/index.html
[X] - Apple's Whitepaper: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/CSAM_Detection_Techni...
They aren't, but the blame is misguided. This isn't a problem with Apple. What is Apple going to do if they do detect something identified as CSAM on your device? Refuse to sell you another? Oh well. The real worry is what other parties will do if they get ahold of the information. That is what needs to be fixed. Apple is exposing the underlying problem, not causing the problem themselves.
That said, if I had to chose between a Google Android phone and an Apple phone, I'd still pick the Apple one. Luckily there are more choices these days.
That's the nice part of Apple's ecosystem - its pretty simple and requires minimum intervention.
Also, as an iPhone user, contrary to the recent Hacker News fight, I actually view this CSAM scanning with a sign of hope, because this hints that we could get end-to-end encryption on iCloud Storage. The CSAM scanning is rumored to be just a prerequisite to get the government to shut up with their biggest critique of E2E, so that Apple can then turn it on.
If I can get E2E storage from iCloud but accept CSAM scanning on my device to satisfy the law... I'm OK with that choice. You might not, in which case, Android (and I'll probably buy a backup Android phone "just in case").
For me it boils down to ecosystem and integration. I can have a fragmented set of devices and tools, or I can deal with CSAM having literally zero impact on me.
I also have an M1 laptop, it's insane that this little MacBook Air with 16GB ram is walking all over a 16'inch Macbook Pro with 64GB ram.
To make AOSP "usable" for my life, I need to install the Play Store. At which point I've already lost and would prefer an iPhone for my privacy.
On iOS and iPadOS, they will implement the iCloud Photos CSAM scanning, but Apple left out macOS as having that for now. Rumoredly according to GitHub reverse-engineers of the system, it's due to the mathematical precision of the NeuralHash algorithm being processor-dependent on ARM and not Intel.
I don't any hardware or software developer... I don't really care if the US is reading my emails, images, chats and whatnot. I choose not to worry about those sort of things.
My product choices are more related to functionality and basic ROI.
That's a false dichotomy. There are competitors offering various levels of maturity and functionality. Jolla exists, PinePhone, Xiaomi, Librem 5, dumb phones, POTS landline, no phone...
And yes, Linux on the desktop is also a valid choice. It most likely won't track you either.
I don't think you know what you are talking about when you mentioned Xiaomi as an option. That would be among the dumbest options you could possibly choose.
Linux on the desktop is a valid choice, but as I said above, don't tell me to switch to it, it's just not practical in my life. I've tried over a dozen distributions since 2011 and probably over fifty releases of them, and Linux isn't there.
macOS does _something_ related to this system. It's unclear what though.
I agree with how impressive the M1 is. I've replaced my 16" fully specced i9 with a 13" M1 Air. The only thing I sometimes miss is the larger screen but not by much.
Respectfully, it is there. You are not. Which is fine - I prefer a Mac for general purpose computer use, word processing, web browsing, that sort of thing. But Linux can do these things just as well, it just requires you to configure them, which is strictly a "you" constraint and not a failure of the system.
Linux is not necessary a bad system, but usability (degree of effort, burden of knowledge, misuse risk) are absolutely a core determination on where or not a piece of technology is "there yet"
You're financially supporting the creation of an Orwellian dystopia.
What simplifies in my life if I'm moving away from any ecosystem that tracks me to the OSS way, do I have to compile my own Chromium over the night? "oh, my Linux segfaulted, let's reinstall the OS"
time. Saving time on these operations is worth more than some X-company sniffing my network traffic. Yes, I care about privacy, I always decline the cookie pop-ups, always ask for GDPR contract before handing over my phone no./email to recruiters et. al. I'm doing my best without breaking usability & affecting time spent on these operations.
I believe that, for example, anticorruption activists and gay people in Russia who may be subjected to state-imposed surveillance won't agree with you. Apple won't leave even the russian market in case the government demands to expand capabilities of the system. And they will never leave chinese market.
> macOS doesn't scan
I'm afraid I have some bad news for you:
"Features to detect child abuse material stored on iCloud coming in updates to US users iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey."
Who will? Google? Microsoft? HP? Dell? Huawei or Xiaomi or Lenovo (lol jk)? Which computer or phone manufacturers or service providers refuse to do business in Russia and China?
Laptop - Dell Precision 7750, Xeon CPU, 64 GB RAM, bought with Ubuntu pre-installed. Beast of a laptop, superior thermals, wipes the floor with a mac.
Phone - Google Pixel. I consider that a lesser evil choice to Apple's walled garden. It's rooted, I don't see any ads, etc.
Tablet - Google Pixel Slate. High end tablet with 16 GB RAM running Chrome OS which supports native linux apps for a while now.
These were all more or less state of the art devices at the time of buying, I have absolutely no need whatsoever to to even think about Apple or Microsoft.
I also have an Android tablet and Android phone running LineageOS without Google Play Services, and piggy-back off the SO's Google Maps when we're going places. F-Droid is fantastic here and, where needed, proprietary apps (Slack, Discord etc) can be installed via Aurora with various limited functionality (e.g. no notifications from either of those apps).
Pretty sure your photos are still getting scanned for CSAM anyway, then. Google Photos normally are backed up in their cloud, and they do scanning there.
And how long do you plan to keep the Precision before upgrading?
I don't use Adobe's stuff either, but I know other people run Photoshop on wine, I just don't know what issues they're facing.
Ardour is probably most popular DAW on linux and it's OSS/free, but I found Bitwig better for my use, mainly due to MIDI functionality.
Matte screen that actually works outdoors, removable long-life battery, unassuming vintage design (“let’s not rob that guy, he can’t even afford a new computer”). I haven’t investigated the Linuxability of this thing yet, but it’s super-light and impressive as a mosh terminal (especially with built-in 4G LTE!). Tough magnesium body, super comfy keyboard that’s easy to swap out if you beat it up. Made in Japan!
I have a fully loaded MacBook Pro, and couldn’t imagine doing design work on anything else, but I somehow end up getting lots of work done on the Letsnote. It’s at a point where I don’t think I’ll be excited about the long-awaited new 14-inch MacBook Pro, as I doubt it’ll have a matte screen and a durable exterior (and, I much prefer to look like a sad worker stuck with a dorky computer from 2006, than a moneyed tech guy).
Oh man, I kinda wish I felt different, but this thing gets a hard no just for its aesthetics. Notebooks are both way to omnipresent in my life and manifold to revisit something mid-90s. I do not want my home & life to feel like an old X-Files episode.
How do you suggest getting one of these things or getting support for it? I'm not against foreign market hardware but they can be a real pain in the ass for many. Last japanese laptop I had was almost 20 years ago, an ultraportable Sony. It was interesting but finding drivers online back then was a challenge.
It seems that US keyboard model is sold as "Asia Model", but sold only for corporate. Hopefully you can find used one. Possibly it's also available in asian marketplace. https://biz.panasonic.com/jp-ja/products-services/letsnote/l...
Checked Amazon.co.jp and doesn't seem like they ship to Europe. I'm actually interested in trying one of these out.
I think it’d be great to see more overseas business pick up for these computers — it’s one of those classic bits of Japanese technology that looks hopelessly outdated until you use it, and then you hope it never changes. My label for such things is “In-N-Out Burger Technology,” for reasons that should be obvious to my fellow Californians...
I like the retro look. I had a Panasonic years ago and adored it. It was huge, but did everything, even had a tv tuner. And it was easy to work on. Used it 10 plus years.
Many of these already do something like this but they just don't actively tell you or document it.
Also, and please correct me if I am mistaken, Apple's CSAM is limited to iCloud for Photos. It does not just work against your local photos.
CSAM Detection enables Apple to accurately
identify and report iCloud users who store
known Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM)
in their iCloud Photos accounts
Source: https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/CSAM_Detection_Techni...
(edit)I was planning to buy a new MBP/iPhone/Watch in Q4, so this made it easier to decide on those purchases earlier.(/edit)
It's correct that the CSAM scanning is currently only effective when iCloud is enabled - and for US customers only. For me, this detail is irrelevant. The backdoor might be inactive for now, but there would still be a backdoor on my phone.
The key (from Apple's POV) is that this is done on your device, so the model can be audited, and users will know if it changes or is suddenly enabled where it wasn't before. Apple has documented the entire threat model and their design decisions realted to each threat vector.
It's worth reading the document, as it becomes pretty clear that this is a step towards enabling E2E for iCloud Photos.
The alternative to what Apple did is cloud-based scanning, which is less transparent, permanently disallows E2EE, and is more vulnerable to being changed by national decree. If CSAM scanning is going to (or is already) mandatory, I vastly prefer Apple's method here.
[1] https://www.apple.com/child-safety/pdf/Security_Threat_Model...
Love it or not, we live in a police state enforced by surveillance. Most Americans are just waking up to this because they’re not a member of a population actively oppressed by the police. Socialist / anarchist / labor communities that are more than shitposting groups meet almost exclusively in-person because their communications have long been targeted by law enforcement.
The reality is, people have to trust their OS vendor.
Is this actually true? Is there a way to see what information Apple has on you? I'm sure it's not the full extent of what they have, but for example I can see(and hear) past voice prompts I've given to Google Assistant and their results. I can also choose to delete this information(obviously no way to know this is actually deleted though).
However if I buy a new laptop, with or without CSAM, it won’t be a Mac. I would wish for a Framework kinda thing here (with local service), but since that’s not gonna happen - ASUS it would be most probably, with ElementaryOS on it (or some distro like that - non ugly and kinda simple looking).
It feels like WhatsApp —> Signal brouhaha all over again. After trying to get my contacts on Signal for 7-8 months and having deleted WhatsApp I’m back to it after my own struggles with Signal.
So no, not again. My next phone (if my iPhone 7 dies on me) will be an iPhone 12 Mini (or a 13 variant that’s around same size and cost) probably. Because that’s the only new phone that still bloody fits in my palm. After that? I’ll see.
My instinct. This is an insane amount of noise on HN. But of all the privacy issues folks have, CSAM scanning by Apple is not going to "destory apple's brand" and for most users the safety features (kids accounts flag up on nude photos etc) is actually what people want and we will see others following a lot of these moves.
Their interest in privacy was never real, but their marketing is top notch as always... It's just a question of time when everything is back to how it was before
Manjaro Linux has rolling releases, so you get updates more swiftly than with other Linux flavours. LineageOS (regular or microG variant) get weekly updates if I recall correctly.
Pixel is a solid hardware choice in my book.
A big kicker was opening the default Weather app on my Samsung Galaxy S9 and seeing an inappropriate ad that took up 1/3 of the screen. Absolutely shameful that they would be so desperate for cash to include such ad space in their flagship phone.
Although the recent news about Apple has me questioning the switch...
https://mjtsai.com/blog/2020/02/17/the-paywalled-garden-ios-...
A Google Pixel has far fewer ads than an iPhone these days.
Any people here with experience with one?
I haven't owned a PC laptop in several years - the last one I tried was a System76 with an abysmal keyboard. Turns out I need to type to have a functional laptop!
I ordered one of these Framework machines today, should ship in September. Seems promising. I am hoping that things just work after I install Linux on it and I can get down to writing code with minimal setup and configuration.
My plan is to use it as my daily-non-work development computer. I just started playing around with NixOS on the server side and will likely use NixOS on my Framework laptop.
It’s an exciting concept and appears to be well executed. I’ll reserve full judgement til I’ve used it for a while.
I’m considering a Librem 5. Which has more cpu power and battery.
The appeal to me is really getting off any major tech platform. Further, you can disconnect the components via switches — iE unplug the microphone. That being said, I can’t even use Signal on them without some major configurations.
https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?tid=13728
I have also considered the “freedom phone”. But my understand is it’s just Graphene + process isolation on a slightly modified hardware. Until it’s heavily vetted I wouldn’t use it though.
And ugh yeah, that’s about it.
No, it's not. You may be confusing it with another company with a similar name selling devices with GrapheneOS and various apps installed. Both are not associated with GrapheneOS, by the way.
Sadly bridging Signal into a matrix home-server and just using a matrix-client from the PinePhone/Librem is probably the simplest option.
If you’re actually going to switch to using open source hardware phones and whatnot, then good luck I guess. I can see where more progress in that area would lead to general improvements, so it’s not entirely tilting at windmills.
Therefore Android phones with custom ROMs are the way forward for privacy conscious people. It's easy to mock if you aren't serious about getting away from walled gardens.
Amen to that !
To modestly paraphrase an old saying....
With Apple, you buy the product. With Google, you are the product.
Phone: Pinephone
At the end of this article: https://www.vice.com/en/article/v7e77y/the-dollar149-smartph...
"But even without those changes, this device could be enough to kickstart a Linux-driven mobile revolution."
Talking as a Pinephone (and iPhone 12) owner, I think the software is starting to show promise, but the SoC is nowhere beefy enough.
If I’ll go this route fully and make a Linux-phone my daily driver, I’d seriously consider the Purism Librem 5 instead.
Honestly, as much as I go to extreme lengths to limit invasions of my privacy, short of going full Stallman, it would take a lot for me to chuck my M1 MacBook Air. I know people say they have a non-Apple laptop that is as good, but that has not been my experience. Every PC laptop I have owned has ended up being a pile of crap for one reason or another. Usually the hardware is flimsy, plastic gets warped and scratched, it gets slower over time, etc. I have never had such experiences with the Macbooks I have owned other than my keyboard giving out on my 2015 MBP a few months ago. This is coming from a former hardcore Linux user who used to look down on people with Macs.
(that said, I would love recommendations on comparable laptops for the day that may come where I ditch Apple)
I really hope that I can prevent or block CSAM on my current Macbook if it's being adopted on macOS.
I think for a phone I may just drop back to a Nokia 3210 and buy a camera for family pictures. Whatsapp will be a loss, but hey, maybe it'll be nice to not have my phone as a distraction during the day.
- https://github.com/arindas/manjarno
- https://manjarno.snorlax.sh/
There are only 3 distros worth using. Fedora KDE Plasma upgrading after stabl-er point releases, Arch and openSUSE Tumbleweed.
Everything else is very unprofessional or full of technical or human issues. I'm not trying to gatekeep newbies, like, if you use elementaryOS or Linux Mint you're still using Linux. No elitism intended I'm just giving you my opinion.
For exploration or self inflicted harm you can also use NixOS or weird small distros. Although I like Nix' concepts I don't like their implementation or approach to users.
I also changed my photos to backup to Nextcloud, which I'm self-hosting.
I wrote about switching from Google Photos to Nextcloud here: https://blog.leavemealone.app/moving-from-google-photos-to-n...
I really hope that Pixel 6 will have better camera and bigger screen and also would be supported by Lineage.
PC: I have an AMD desktop with Gentoo and going to buy Purism laptop later.
Watch: I don't use them. Actually was going to buy next Apple Watch but...
Apple Pay: no good replacement, though contactless cards aren't THAT bad.
Apple Carplay: phone+organic maps.
I try to use open source software where possible and after the endless stream of depressing news about working conditions and environmental impact of our juicy tech I'm ready to pay more for less to get (relatively) fair and open hardware too.
Edit: Considering Linux phones like Pinephone or Librem too, but they seem not ready to me yet and they emphasise much more on technical freedom and less on fair production.
I can live without free GPS navi but I'm wondering what to do about the few cases where you need a "trusted" device (a misnomer if there ever was one), such as banking push TANs or other mobile banking TFA apps, TOTP apps, vaccination pass apps or Covid contact tracing/registration apps (I've managed to evade the latter kind of apps until now).
Use FOSS when possible, minimize all other internet-connected devices when FOSS is not available.
I actually still plan to continue using iPhone as a necessary evil until PinePhone, Librem, or similar are production ready (as my use cases demand). But I don't trust the device, my world doesn't revolve around the device, and that's kind of the only way to live with having devices running proprietary, untrustworthy code.
Seems like you have no such excuse anymore.
Also: https://store.google.com/product/pixel_5 + https://calyxos.org/
Though I'll still the say the crux of the issue is that the majority of users _won't_ have iCloud Photos disabled, and thus have their privacy violated.
If anyone has suggestions for a small, minimal phone I can still run Signal on I'd love to hear it.
I develop on PHP, Python, Kotlin and Go natively, using WSL for things like Ansible.
Phone: any recent Android with medium privacy settings on Google services. I allow location tags on Photos and location history on Maps, because it is quite useful. I tried to regulary change GAID, but untargeted ads became really awful, so I am keeping it for now.
Laptop: I don't always use it, but when I do - it is Lenovo X1 Carbon with Windows 10.
Fitness bracelet: cheap monochrome Xiaomi (v3, I think). I am interested in step count and sleep monitoring, it is good enough for me.
Thinking about moving everything seems to be so much work on top of my daily job and side projects.
Unhappy with apple’s decision, but also feel like I’m stuck atm
Once you disconnect from iCloud, or have one non-Apple device, the whole ecosystem benefit starts to unravel.
I already have my data in Nextcloud so that makes the switch easier but some things like WhatsApp are going to be harder and for that it appears the Matrix bridge is the thing.
What ever path I go down my partner is going to follow so it has to just work and take great photos. If the Pixel 4a as a test device works I’m excited about the Pixel 6 Pro.
On the desktop, just got the new Mac Mini and not looking to jump yet but Linux is a decent desktop OS. All I need is Firefox, a Terminal and Jetbrains to get the job done.
The AOSP Camera app is not as good as Google Camera but you can install it if you want. It requires Play services but you can install that too including in a dedicated user profile so other apps like WhatsApp don't use it unnecessarily.
Like I cannot even find a version with 32gb of ram and if I buy the 16gb version I will never be able to upgrade it.
I feel like that's still more secure than the other options / effort involved. I still think privacy wise Apple is the better play vs all non custom alternatives.
I use Apple because I have other things to do with my life now, and it's the best of the big ones. They still are.
Linux is still too high-maintenance for me, though I could be convinced. I am watching https://frame.work/ closely and considering grabbing one just to support that effort. The big flaw is use of Intel chips which are total shit compared to even Ryzens on power/performance.
The M1 makes leaving Apple even harder. The performance is great and the power efficiency makes a laptop feel like it has some kind of zero point infinite energy device in it. You can do a full day's work on an M1 running real apps like large builds, VMs, and IDEs and still have 1/3 battery remaining, and it's faster than a top-end Intel Mac.
There is absolutely nothing comparable to the M1 in the x64 PC ecosystem. A latest-generation Ryzen would be the closest you could get, but it's hard to find good Ryzen notebooks due to Intel's strong-arming of that space.
In terms of SSD performance, the M1 SSD upgrade from 256 GB to 1TB cost about 500 EUR, while a 1TB Samsung 980 SSD (with very similar performance) costs about 120 EUR total.
For phone I’m very interested in /e/os and the one phone you can get new with it preinstalled, the Teracube 2 (wired has a Teracube review of the very similar previous model).
I am looking at photoprism running on a home server (intel nuc) synced via PhotoSync (can sync photos via sftp). It actually looks really cool and uses tensorflow to do some sort of AI photo sorting locally.
By the way, while there’s a learning curve to this stuff, it feels very empowering and educational once you’ve put in the work. It feels like the future. Compute and storage is cheap. I think hosting things on your own server is the inevitable future. Once you’re set up it just hums along. This stuff will eventually be sold in appliance form (see Helm email server for the model).
- cloud backups: testing iMazing Wi-Fi daily backups to NAS. Tested a clean restore to an iPad that was perfect. The daily backups aren’t running consistently yet but likely has to do with power save settings.
- Photos: syncing with Synology Photos. Backup seems fine (40k of 65k pictures so far). The app leaves a lot to be desired vs Apple Photos.
Will test Calyx / Graphene on a Pixel at some point but not likely to pass the wife test.
Don't put your data in places where you can't export data (Apple Notes for instance), or ideally places that aren't cross-platform.
This allows me the freedom to move between OSes, and most importantly, have more choice in my products. Getting stuck in an ecosystem is exactly what Apple and Samsung want, and it's very anti-consumer in the end.
The thinkpad cost me less than half the price of a Macbook, and I was able to change its keyboard (for a QWERTY one) and add 8 GB of RAM in less than an hour (and for less than $100).
Pop!_OS is amazing. It feels close enough to MacOS that the adaptation period was almost non existent, and it's been running flawlessly for more than a year now.
Didn't think it was possible because of T2 but then found the "T2 Linux Community" here: https://t2linux.org/
They have a step by step guide for Ubuntu and a helpful Discord group to walk me through.
I dug into Purism Librem and System76 Laptops. Dual booting Ubuntu buys me some time.
2. I also disabled iCloud and started NextCloud on a third party host. It's pretty clunky, still getting that setup. In the open source world it seems like there's less opportunities to pay for quality. Take my money!!
There are no good iPhone alternatives. I now don't trust either Google or Apple on privacy, for different reasons. As a practical matter, Apple is probably better for me, as I find it very unlikely that governments forcing Apple to do their bidding are going to be interested in me, personally.
I am relying on the Apple cloud, and I hate it. I have mp3 files for all my music, and I will soon stop relying on Apple for music completely. I take photos on my phone, and they go to the cloud. I think I'm stuck there, but again, I do have my own copies (via download to my wife's Mac). Ideally, I could get photos from my phone to my Linux laptop directly, but I don't know of a good way to do that.
There are decent custom ROMs for Pixel already mentioned, and the ThinkPad line even ships with full Linux support now so not too bad at all there.
As for cloud services, I'm still stuck on Google. I've been putting off switching because it's a lot of work.
desktop: custom PC running Ubuntu MATE 20
laptop: Thinkpad running Ubuntu MATE 20
Phone: Android Moto E
Streaming Device: Roku 3
Car: Android Auto
watch: no watch
tablet: Amazon Fire
I find it interesting that the Moto E is the cheapest smartphone you can get in America. Comcast gave it to me free with my plan. Yet it's totally fine, meets all of my needs no problem. Only thing I did was add an SD card for more storage. Similarly with the Amazon Fire tablet, it was only $75 and easily meets all of my needs. Ignoring the privacy implications of Amazon/Google ran Android devices, Android OS is impressive.
- Phone - Pixel 4a + CalyxOs
- Watch - https://www.withings.com/pl/en/steel-hr
You can checkout compatibility of hardware components @ https://linux-hardware.org/
It's of course possible to keep your Macbook, do the environment some good (less waste) and run linux on your mac: https://github.com/Dunedan/mbp-2016-linux
Phone: a phone that supports LineageOS ( https://download.lineageos.org/ ) or GrapheneOS ( https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-support ). Neither are perfect:
- LineageOS still has some google config but at least it doesn't have Google Services (use microG for that https://lineage.microg.org/ )
- GrapheneOS only runs on Google Pixel devices so you will be putting money into Google's hands
- Good/great camera, 8+ MP; Front facing optional. Dedicated shutter button/quick access from sleep
- GPS and HERE maps
- Simple, native "apps" - Phone, Alarm, Calendar, Contacts, threaded SMS/MMS, weather, podcasts, flashlight. Email optional
- High quality screen (3", OLED, high PPI)
- 4G connectivity, 5G optional
- Tethering/Hotspot capability
- USB-C
- Candybar form factor with number pad would work, but would prefer an E71/72 reboot
I am still considering stepping back, switching to a Pixel 5 from the CalyxOS organization, rely on my wife's iPhone while on road trips, start using my GPU Linux laptop from System 76 as my main driver, and fall back on using ProtonMail with my email domain.
I did recently remove virtually everything from my iPhone except Freedom, text/email, Chess, Go, Music, podcast, and Safari. I think my phone should just be a phone, more or less.
I am not so disappointed with Apple's CSAM functionality as I am about their longer term trend. They are starting with something that has wide support, but who knows what is next.
Desktop: Debian + i3wm is where I landed and stayed...
If anything were to change in future it would be Debian, but I'd be taking my setup with me (few dot files), which is a nice capability to have.
This is easier if you are a developer (not an iOS developer ofc), because most work on the CLI is just so much easier on Linux. I tried The BSDs at first, various Linux distros, and ultimately settled on Debian after using Ubuntu for a while. This is an opinionated area, and no distro is perfect, but I settled on Debian due to it's ubiquity as a base for other distros and therefore familiarity and wealth of support and knowledge, but also because it's the less opinionated base you can add whatever you want to... I also like their focus on openness.
My recommendation to anyone who _likes_, (or liked) Apple desktop and UI: don't try to replace it or replicate it in Linux, you will be upset. Learn to love something else: control, and the permanence and stability it brings to your life. If you want a ready made full desktop environment they exist, KDE and GNOME, but in a way they are just another Apple, dictating and evolving how you do things with each update - It's probably easier when you first switch, but you may eventually find yourself moving towards something simpler and less shiny... less is more, they are just window decorations at the end of the day, most of it is bloat.
If you do any kind of media, video, audio, raster, vector work... I wont lie and pretend this is a comparable alternative, you will need probably need either WINE or Windows, unless you know exactly what you need and know of a well supported program for Linux, e.g blender is supposed to be a pretty good contender for the proprietary 3D packages these days. While I like Linux, I agree Inkscape and Gimp are trash compared to Photoshop... i don't even like adobe products but I've used both, and the former are an exercise in pain endurance - they are last resorts, don't expect them to replace.
Phone - Nokia 225 (dumbphone) - enough to call 911 or my partner/mother/pizza shop.
I'm keeping my iPhone SE, but it's essentially going to stay in one or two rooms at home, only used for things that need a mobile device.
The key is adjusting your expectations. I don't get apps at easy reach anymore, but I don't need them and never should have had them in the first place. My personality is far too prone to addiction, and physical control is easier than self control. That it's going to have a positive impact on my privacy/security/safety is just a nice plus.
I already had a deep mistrust for "cloud" services irrespective of who the provider is. My position on "cloud services" meant I have never used any Apple cloud services.
I see no reason to switch away from what is otherwise a very high quality platform. This is perhaps especially the case on the phone side where the overall security and privacy in general is better than Android.
Phone: Pixel 4a (only regular sized smartphone available not from Apple)
Carplay? Never used.
Apply Pay? Never used.
Maps: Garmin, which works autonomous minus the GPS. Or OSMAND or OrganicMaps.
The problem with Pixel is, it is from Google therefore you don't have GNU/Linux but Google/Android. Which comes with a lot drawbacks, for example you need to switch on Miracast support in the bootloader.
My PC future plans would be:
Smartphone: Google Pixel, optionally with AOSP, but I'm not sure.
Laptop: most powerful Dell Precision with Fedora Linux. It should have Nvidia GPU. I'll install Windows in KVM and with GPU passthrough I'll be able to play some games.
What I want to see is a user-friendly productivity app suite as good as macOS for linux:
- Calendar - Mail - Preview
These apps need feature parity with the macOS, need to “just work” with sane defaults and need to be well thought out with an equivalent UX.
Don’t get me wrong, I ran Manjaro and Arch for a long time and I would love to go back to them as my daily workhorse, but the app support isnt nearly as good.
Even apps like Spotify bring my linux T480 thinkpad with 32GB ram to its knees because Spotify doesnt give a shit about Linux. So as a result I have to find shitty second class apps that dont have full features, are buggy or dont work. Then I end up spending more time trying to get my computer to run apps properly than actually use it for its intended purpose.
This led to finding a combination of:
- An intel tablet - specifically HP makes one called the Elite X2 G4 (now G8) which has a 3k2k 13" display. Running Ubuntu which isn't perfect but tolerable - I keep a list of workflows replacements (primarily from mac to linux) here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/148zTJUwfVv9xfDcpSoH3...
- A 'tiny tower stand', which allows one to prop the tablet close to the face. Other stands (e.g. roost) don't enable this. It's been sold out this year but hoping they come back.
- A nutype f1 keyboard (wired usb-c or wireless), and an apple trackpad (wired lightning or wireless). The combination still fits within the footprint of the tablet, eventually want to make a case for it for easy carry.
Again the motivation is finding something more ergonomic and portable enough to use at another desk. Do I recommend it? Depends on your intentions and time available. Mine are just around exploring ergonomics.
https://esolutions.shop/shop/e-os-teracube-2e/
Anyone used this thing?
And as I was typing this, my iPhone popped up a warning that the websites mandated by my kid’s school have all been compromised and offered assistance to update the passwords on there. Good job, Apple (and we’ll see how image scanning saga unfolds… I might just switch to OneDrive for photos, but it’s a question if it’s any better in that regard)
* Dell XPS 13 running Manjaro/GNOME3. When this XPS dies, I will use the Framework laptop instead.
* Fairphone 3 running /e/OS (degoogled android) with Aurora Store and Aurora Droid.
* Withings Scanwatch, which doesn't have much in the way of regular smartwatch functionality but does monitor my heart rate, provide ECGs and checks my blood oxygen saturation as well as pulse, steps etc.
* Contactless payments just through my bank card. Sometimes I try to remember cash is probably the safest and most ethical choice for payments, but I'm not good at this.
Computer: RasPi 4 8GB + 7” screen with Ubuntu Mate in a SmartiPi case.
Car: put the computer onto the visor and flip the display, hook up accessories.
I’m still with iPhone but pretty close to that setup. Mainly I am thinking about emergencies where I want my SIM in my phone when I leave my car. A second SIM that supports WiFi calling is likely the final step, giving the new # to the iPhone and using WiFi only when possible, at home or in car.
Sounds complicated, no doubt. Tethering CarPuter to iPhone is a much easier approach. I’m a VanLifer.
Since that CSAM is not coming to Europe any time soon I guess I can ride that out and keep the iphones/ipads and slowly have a look around if there's an acceptable, dual sim phone that compares to the 12 Mini. Maybe my next phone will be a foldable...
Very surprisingly decent touchpad for a PC, lighter than my last MBP, same usbc/thunderbolt 3 ports & charger I've now become familiar with and have peripherals for littered around the house (plus — and this may seem dumb ̄— but something so small as the fold-out HDMI/USBA dongle included in the box just drives home that little bit further how actively user-hostile Apple are).
On the phone, the iPhone seems more secure and privacy conscious overall.
I have retained an off-line MacOS on my Mac Mini for music production because, although Reaper runs well on Linux, I can't install all the licensed plugins I use. The alternative was Windows, but in my experience it is still below par for performance and reliability.
Phone-alternatives: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28164208 Laptop-alternatives: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28216287
Am I misunderstanding anything?
So I continue to enjoy various wonderful Linux flavors!
I hope my iPhone deprecates faster than usual so that I can soon ditch it for a de-googled phone! (Or possibly a Linux/Pinephone, once batteries get good enough).
I tend to hope that everyone else sees every issue the exact same way that I do, and can word leading questions like the OP did here in the hope of somehow pulling everyone along as though (in this case) switching is the only reasonable choice and the question boils down to which platform to choose, rather than whether switching is a rational decision in itself.
Otherwise all the other posters giving good reasons why not to switch have done a much better job than I have in explaining why not.
Perks of the bright yellow "What on earth is that?" - it opens up conversations about why I'm moving off Apple.
The lack of KaiOS Signal is a problem, though I've seen some work towards it - perhaps this will drive more development towards the not-Apple, not-Android ecosystems.
I considered a Pixel with GrapheneOS, but Google's hardware reliability lately has left an awful lot to be desired, and I'm just tired of the smartphone concept anyway.
I've been playing casually with a PineBook Pro for the past year or so, and I'm getting that into duty to replace my MacBook Pro for in-house laptop use. There's a new firmware that makes the trackpad actually good, not the laggy, clunky, borderline usable thing that it shipped with, so that's been nice. I simply don't use that much computing power in the evenings, and the PBP accomplishes most of what I want. Unfortunately, again, it doesn't have things like Signal as "easy to install" options (AArch64 is worse than ARMv7/AArch32), so I should throw some time at that as well.
My office, which has a M1 Mac Mini I've done quite a bit of testing and work on, is going to suffer through going to a small ARM box as well - I'm going to put an ODroid N2+ in there, and see how it works. I'll have to drop back from the LG 5k to a 1440p display, as the ODroid can't drive the 5k, but... eh, whatever. Again, I just don't use the computers for an awful lot. I will lose some functionality with regards to video editing, but I simply don't do much of it, and I do have an x86 Windows/Linux PC in the house I can do that on if I need.
The one thing I've not found a great solution for yet is the iPad. I use it for PDF reading, for web browsing, etc. It's probably safe to use in that style, if I strip accounts off, but... even then, I'd like to get rid of it if I can find an alternative. That's going to be a longer project. I'm very interested in the PineNote announcement, as it would make a great PDF reader in theory, but see "a lot of development to make it work." They don't even promise it will run the display when shipped...
As for paying for things, I've got contactless credit cards that can largely replace Apple Pay for "wave something and go," I just have to separate them from the stack of cards first. Not a big deal.
There's a definite loss of function here, but I'm unwilling to state strongly that I'm opposed to all this, and then continue using Apple products as before.
And I've been looking to get away from the tech ecosystems for a while, so this is just a good kicker for me to do it.
I'll probably keep the 2015 MacBook Pro as a "I do still have some value to an Apple device, Apple having been part of my life for nearly 20 years now," but I'm going to strip stuff off and leave it mostly in archive mode.
I'd have to convince everyone to create a Google account for Meet or similar free video calls.
I tried a variety of alternative tablets/touchscreen options, until finally I bought a used Surface Pro 3 for ~$100 on eBay and installed PopOS. Over the last year, it's been the best tablet I've ever owned (at least for my needs), including iPads.
There's a whole subreddit dedicated to running Linux on Surfaces, if anyone is interested: https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/
Laptop: Framework laptop, if they start to sell it in the EU.
Phone: Currently an ASUS one (one of the very few, thats not made in Shenzen), but I'll switch to a Fairphone if it dies.
Personally I use dropbox and my own private mail server
Laptop: Framework with Linux
Phone: Pixel 5 with CalyxOS
- Phone: There is no phones anymore that interest me from the Android ecosystem and iPhones satiate my desire to upgrade every year from getting updates and not turning to shit from use over time. Plus there isn't much more I'd want other than a TouchID option besides FaceID. After moving my (big) whole family to iPhones, we iMessage and FaceTime a lot. I can't re-teach my mother all over again to use something else.
- Watch: My first and only watch was a year ago. Android ones don't interest me. Looking at the Amazfit GTR 2e and that looks good, but if I had to, I'd probably consider the PineTime watch cause it's cheap and obviously not sucking my information or reliant on an app.
- Laptop: I had a MacBook Pro 15 2017 that I recently traded for a MacBook Air M1 that is working better in every way. I don't use laptops much at all but I like it as an Apple dev environment when needed.
- Desktop: I have a custom built Ryzen+Radeon PC. I recently switched from Windows 10 when rumors about Windows 11 leaked. I currently use Ubuntu 20.04 (GNOME) at home and KDE Neon (Ubuntu 20.04) at work.
Linux Desktop Rant: But let me just say that Linux is a fucking disaster on the desktop still.
GNOME (GTK specifically) doesn't have an icon/thumbnail view mode when selecting files (GTK File Chooser Module) and they have refused to fix this. Every GTK base DE has this issue (GNOME, XFCE, Budgie, Cinnamon, Pantheon, LXDE Switching to a different unique DE like KDE doesn't help much either cause apps BUNDLE GTK in them and force you to use the GTK File Chooser module
The most promising unique and usable distro (elementary OS) for the average user still has 3 major flaws: GTK based, Ubuntu dependent, and buggy releases. Elementary OS 6 still has a LightDM bug that makes it so that if you lock the screen or it goes to sleep, you can't get back into your desktop session unless you force reboot.
The app ecosystem is splintering and some of the new options are just as bad or worse than regular package managers. I despise Canonical's Snap stuff. Everything about Snap sucks to use. Makes apps 3x slower, spams my volumes list with loop devices, has flawed sandbox security, and apps can't respect my OS's theme so everything looks like shit.
I tried this weekend to get Arch (gave up due to complex issues) and Manjaro i3 (I also tried various other Ubuntu distros) setup on my work laptop this week only to have the issues with my installs. Kubuntu doesn't allow me to encrypt my drive at installation. Arch and Manjaro fail to find my NVMe drive UUID at boot via GRUB EFI so it can't even get to the decrypting LUKS which I have to do manually. And now I find out OpenWebStart doesn't even support anything not Ubuntu/Debian even for it's compiling. IDK what else to use for launching JavaWeb applets. I ended up on KDE Neon cause it's KDE and Ubuntu and allowed encrypting my drive at installation, so that works I guess but boy am I not happy with this compromise.
Oh and guess what, KDE Plasma doesn't work well on Wayland. I already had it freeze and lock up on Wayland within just an hour of using it and now I'm running it on Xorg.
It's all so tiring.
PC already on Pop!_OS
- pop_os linux on my pc
- idrive for backups/photos
- magic earth / organic maps for maps
- k9 email for gmail
- protonmail
- all backups to idrive
Notebook: ASUS Zenbook S 3300x2200 with Linux Mint
Phone: Sailfish OS
Tablet: none
Streaming: NUC with Linux Mint and Kodi
That was a lot of work, I had to write my own power management service so I could get notifications during sleep without draining the battery excessively and there are still tons of bugs and little hacks I've written. If that scares you please just switch to a trackphone because smartphone software authors will continue taking advantage of you after you switch to something else.
If you're upset by the thought of a third party entity looking at your stuff then stop using products by these companies. Use FOSS for your computer programs and OS's. Use a phone OS like graphene, /e/, or something else privacy oriented.
The only way to stop being a commodity is by sacrificing convenience and the only way to gain that convenience back is to build your own tools. Talk to the old timers here that have been using minimal OS's and building custom scripts for the past 20 years. They'll tell you that you get a level of speed, efficiency and customizability you can't get with name brand OS's.
The learning curve is worth it considering you build knowledge and skills not a lot of people today have. Not to mention you gain technological independence, which is worth its weight in gold.