I love Librewolf too, and if you’re looking to explore other options I do recommend giving the Mullvad Browser a go. It’s another firefox fork but I believe it handles fingerprinting in a better manner. Similarly, it comes with uBlock Origin built in but also NoScript. I’d likely use it as my primary browser but I don’t really care for NoScript and removing the extension would ultimately defeat the fingerprint resistance of Mullvad.

I don’t think there’s any sense in overlooking flaws just because something is overall better. Firefox is the massively better choice if the goal is to avoid data collection. However, I don’t think that means it’s fair to let things slide so easily. A community that calls out its developers when they make a mistake can ultimately improve things, and prevents devs from saying “they won’t understand and they won’t care.” Firefox isn’t a total angel when it comes to data collection, I mean telemetry being opt-out instead of opt-in is a pretty big boon, even if it’s not as bad as it is in other browsers. I’m not sure what agenda you believe is being pushed here, I never once suggested folks jump ship from Firefox to Chrome.

Y’all can downvote this person but they aren’t necessarily wrong. Unfortunately, it seems you have to pick the poison you know in the browser space or take a risk with something else. And something else is usually just one of those original poisons wearing a different label. That said, there are some projects that tend to be of better form than others. Consider the Mullvad Browser and Librewolf. Those two are built on Firefox but are “fixed” enough to mitigate the crap Firefox has done. For Android, I believe Mull browser is the best one can get right now, it’s like a mobile Arkenfox.

The USB C to 3.5mm dongles out there are plentiful and to be honest you can’t really go wrong with any one. At the end of the day, they all behave pretty similarly as they contain a DAC and an amp built them. At this point, the world of audio has gone far enough that decent audio chips are pretty cheap and it’s not all that likely you’ll actually hear any significant differences between different dongles.

If you are an Android user, be wary of which dongle you get if you’re looking at the Apple ones. Depending on the region the dongle is made for, some users report issues where the dongle chooses not to amplify the signal properly. I ran into this problem with the model MU7E2AM/A and it’s just annoying. Android and external DACs can be kinda hit or miss for some reason, and the dongle only functioned properly using a specific music player app that kinda overrides the system and forces it to use the DAC (the app is USB Audio Player Pro).

You can buy dongles pretty cheap on the cheapo sites like Aliexpress, which isn’t a terrible idea. You could buy a few cheaper ones and be fine for a long while. I’ve had issues with the longevity of certain dongles, daily use can sometimes put physical stress on the USB connector if you’re not careful, which is why I would just keep a few different dongles and chew through em as needed.

That is disgusting. 'nuff said.

This seems to be some of the most worthwhile advice. I do use a pretty reasonable DNS client (NextDNS) and it allows me to configure some useful filters and such, and when I’m browsing the internet I also use uBlock Origin and manually allow any third party content one by one.

I did configure UFW to block incoming and allow outgoing, and that should be more than enough for me. I think I’m a pretty “standard” user in the sense that I would make a fairly average target for a would-be attacker. It’s not like I own a web server with goodies worth exploiting.

A part of me really wants to learn more because at some point I’ll have my own router that I’ll want to ensure is configured properly because I’ll likely end up making my own server for media stuff.

Thank you for your reply!

I recently made the switch to Linux for my primary computer and I felt sad I really don’t know anything about using the CLI. Thanks to your comment, I found Hacknet on Steam and it’s on a wicked awesome discount right now so I bought it and have played for a few hours.

Now I know how to at least navigate the system through directories, and that’s giving me confidence enough to keep on exploring and studying more. Thank you! :)

Figma balls

What’s figma?

Downloading it frame-by-frame from SSTV

Thank you! I’ll adapt to using kden, I appreciate it

Thanks for letting me know, I think that’s the best news I can get so I don’t go on a wild goose chase trying out random drivers with no success lol

It’s just an intel i7, there’s no dedicated GPU, no separate graphics card. The program doesn’t seem to recognize the CPU for an iGPU.

Thank you! :]

Finally bit the bullet and got a Thinkpad and I’m leaning towards putting Fedora on it. I’ve never used Linux before but I’ve done some research and I like the idea of something that updates more often than Debian but isn’t as DIY as Arch. Do y’all think Fedora would make a good starting point? I hear it’s stable enough and offers enough non-free applications through the RPM file management system.

Also, are there any drawbacks in using the immutable Silverblue version? I’m considering it just so I don’t do anything dumb by accident.

For my parents, it meant putting up with me installing viruses as I tried to figure out how to play Minecraft free.

Thank you! :D

That’s awesome! Now how can I add it to Libreoffice?

“Buy once cry once” seems to apply very well to wire cutters. (Link is to a YouTube video about how terrible most wire cutters actually are)

At least in the United States, most schools are not a place of privacy as the schools have a certain right to authority over their pupils. Consider Tinker v. Des Moines and what it meant for freedom of speech in schools. That case won students the right to freedom of expression. It’s important, but in certain cases it becomes limited by Morse v. Frederick, a case that ultimately meant that such expression must not disrupt the learning environment. All of this is to say that students have certain freedoms until expressing those freedoms is disruptive to the learning experience, and I don’t think there’s any solid argument that would not consider vaping disruptive to the learning environment. Considering this as an invasion of privacy is a moot point when you consider that students don’t really have the same rights as adults, especially in public school situations.