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  • Smartwatches for Ubuntu Touch

    There appears to be three apps available:

    Any watch compatible with any of those apps, should work.

    The best watch that isn’t a pre order is probably the Bangle.js. It can be bought in the US for $150 from adafruit. If you don’t mind waiting, the Pebble is probably nice too. That’s assuming it works with RockWork. Not sure the new Pebble watches work with it, so you may need to write your own app.

    If I get a watch, I’ll probably get a $40 preowned watch I can put AsteroidOS on. Probably won’t have a heart rate sensor, or maybe even step counting, but I don’t care. Or maybe you just can’t sync the data to your phone. Don’t want to spend $150. Says it’s been used two times I think. Might not be available when I get more money though, if I do.

    Another option would be my Amazfit, if it’s the right one. But I don’t know where the charger is. Probably needs a new battery since it’s been sitting dead for years. Easier to buy the $40 watch. No idea how much a charger and battery for my Amazfit is. Also, don’t know how hard it is to open.

    The $40 watch, says you can open it with a screwdriver I think, so replacing the battery on that is probably easy.

    I’ll probably leave the Amazfit where it is, and never look at it. Maybe donate or recycle it. Or keep it just in case.

  • Domains can be bought privately

    And so can web hosting, and servers. They don’t require any personal info, maybe an email address. But no name or anything like that. Don’t transfer a domain there, as that’s pointless. The old whois data can be found. And the old domain registrar might keep records, of who had the domain, so whois privacy won’t do any good. Better to let your domains expire. And get a new one. With only new content.

    A truly private domain will cost more. But if you live in an authoritarian regime, it might be worth it.

    I no longer recommend BuyVM or NameCrane, they both probably require personal info. They take cryptocurrency, but that doesn’t mean it’s private. Both were good back in the day though.

    I’ll eventually cancel my hosting, and let my domains expire. The Crane hosting will be cancelled sooner then the reseller hosting.

    You can find such hosts, and domain registrars, by searching. Perhaps use a private search engine. Perhaps Mullvad Leta is private enough. They have an onion. But not sure about Tor, if a bad actor controls enough nodes, and you only connect to their nodes, there goes your anonymity. Perhaps you can look at the node list, and research every IP. And prevent Tor from connecting to the bad IPs. Going offline is easier.

    Nothing is stopping bad actors from signing up for private hosts using cryptocurrency, and hosting Tor nodes. So don’t ask me how you’ll know if the IP belongs to a bad actor. Obviously avoid all IPs in the US.

  • Goodbye Firefox

    Apparently the latest version integrated some Google AI spyware, for image search or something. Couldn’t read the article Reddit linked to, it said 403. Can’t even access Reddit on my laptop usually.

    The forks are probably safe, so I’ll keep using LibreWolf.

    Guess Mozilla isn’t focused on privacy anymore, that’s too bad.

    Well, it’s removed from my desktop and laptop. Need to remove from Steam Deck though. Mac mini will get wiped someday, so who cares, it’s turned off anyways.

    I’ll assume it’s true.

    Didn’t remove Firefox from my phone either, don’t even use it on there. And it’s getting wiped soon too.

  • Canada Bill C-2

    A nice new surveillance law.

    If you are thinking of fleeing the US or any country to Canada, and that passes, there’s no point. They probably won’t give you asylum if that passes.

    Like giving your personal info away without them having a warrant? Well, that’s in there. Don’t like private electronic communication? That’s covered too.

    I have no idea what country anyone should go to. Some country that has 0 corrupt people in power.

    Maybe a poor country that has no internet or tech? Might die of a disease, but that’s better then getting arrested for freedom of speech, or filming ICE, or because they took your citizenship away.

    Eventually, if things don’t get better in the US, women can die from being unable to get an abortion. And lots of diseases will come back as well, thanks to the idiot who is anti vaccine.

    If ICE deports you, you may end up in prison, where you could be tortured and/or killed. Some people die in the inhumane ICE conditions as well.

  • imessage-exporter

    imessage-exporter can be used to export messages from your iPhone, if you are switching to a more private phone. Switching to Android, wouldn’t be more private. Android based could be, but Linux or no phone would be the best. Also, they can track your location from cell towers.

    Looks like it works, will need to make a newer backup when I get my new phone.

    Also, your location, can be found from WiFi too, you can do it yourself with some Raspberry Pis, think you need three, in different locations. Using random MAC addresses, may help. But they’ll have somebody’s location. They may or may not know who it is.

    Wired is always better.

  • Don’t use a Crane from NameCrane for Nextcloud

    The time on the server appears to be wrong, which breaks two factor auth. Had to use a backup code to login to Nextcloud. Then I tried logging into DirectAdmin, to see if it was hacked or something, and I had to use a backup code to login to DirectAdmin too. Then I checked the messages, and says from my IP, that it failed to login with two factor code around 1 AM.

    Well, I just deleted everything. Already paid the bill, which sucks. But I no longer trust them for anything that matters to me.

    I won’t email support, I will cancel it eventually though.

    I don’t think I can change my email address for my account either, not without asking them. Probably will want my ID or something to change it.

    So I might need a new host someday anyways. But I’ll probably have no money then either, so it won’t matter.

  • Guide for installing Ubuntu Touch on Rabbit r1

    Here you go. Found it on the Ubuntu Touch forum. I’d recommend looking at it, as somebody used just the installer, and got stuck at a boot screen.

    Also, you don’t need to ask them to unlock it for you, or create an account. If you look at the guide, there’s an unofficial way to unlock it. Didn’t know you had to ask them to unlock it, bullshit. I’ll use the unofficial method.

    I think that means, you don’t have to “activate” it.

    There’s an image there, so I probably won’t take a picture of Ubuntu Touch running on it, it looks fine to me from their image. Can’t make the image bigger though.

    Using WireGuard may require compiling the module. Good thing I don’t mind, it even tells you how.

    But if it gets bricked, there’s a reset button on it, one of the best features of this small phone. I bricked an iPhone once, trying to jailbreak it. Was going to try opening it to remove battery, but gave up, even though I got it slightly open. I threw it away. Not sure if there was a way to force it off or reboot it. A reset button is better.

    Does adb and fastboot work in Distrobox? Somebody says not to use Distrobox in rootful mode, why not?

    Well, you can download the shitty platform tools, and extract them. Probably a bad idea, cause it’s made by Google.

    Installed it, should already have udev rules, from opening Ubuntu Touch installer.

    CipherOS apparently works on it. Claims it doesn’t use any Google services crap on default vanilla builds. Is it like /e/OS? I might decide I want an app or something that isn’t in Ubuntu Touch. Or might be too lazy to compile WireGuard module, if I really have to.

    Was trying to find Android roms for it, found some shitty site, that only lists that. Hard to believe nothing else works on it. Trying to find unofficial /e/OS. But maybe CipherOS is good enough, if not better.

    Search engines are useless, they claim AI solves everything, well not their shitty search.

    LOL, a post on XDA Forums, says it’s shitty, but that was from 2024. Says it’s expensive. Currently it’s $200, no idea what it was in 2024. And I don’t care about AI shit myself, so all their AI shit mentions, means nothing to me.

    And I thought Ubuntu Touch said it had good battery life. Says “24+ hours battery lifetime” on Ubuntu Touch’s site.

    Hmm, somebody damaged the reset button. Did they press with their finger? Bummer. Well, glad it’s only $200.

    No other ROMS on XDA Forum apparently, somebody said something is available, but no topic for it.

    LOL

    Hmm, it always cost $200, and people think that’s a lot of money for a smartphone nowadays? It’s unlocked, and Linux works on it now. I don’t care how small it is, or how good the camera is. Linux support is nice, and since custom Android works too, I have options.

    Well, one man’s garbage, is another man’s treasure. I don’t give a shit about AI, but I was right, it’s a privacy concern, it uses the cloud, so if on 4G LTE, you will use data.

    Nice it has bootrom exploits, probably why you can unlock it without their permission.

    Don’t use the stock ROM. Look at what the logs contain.

    If you are worried about somebody stealing it, make sure you use encryption. Linux has full disk encryption I think. But also, you can use apps that use their own encryption.

    “The Rabbit R1 has ineffective boot-chain security, meaning you can’t safely leave your device unattended.”

    Not sure you should leave any device unattended in public anyways. There’s spyware available, that ICE has access to, that they could install on an iPhone or Android phone.

    The reason to turn it off, if you’re worried about it, with Linux of course. Does booting Linux with full disk encryption, mean you need the password to even boot it? They might need the password to get the data. Don’t leave it on though, if you’re worried about that. If ICE knocks on your door, turn your phone off. And make a button that you can put by the door that turns all computers off in your house. Hopefully everything is off long enough, for the RAM to clear.

  • Tails + coreboot

    That will give you more privacy, then using Tails on a computer without coreboot. Or not using either.

    But being 100% private anywhere, online, or offline, is probably impossible now.

    Might need older hardware to use coreboot though. There’s a fork of it, but not sure it’s 100% free. But of coreboot forks, if you want to call it a fork, their site says distributions. Guess I’d have to compile it myself, if I have any compatible hardware, or use one of the distributions.

    Hmm, think I’ve been to the Libreboot site before. Not the coreboot site though.

    And if I need an external flasher, well, that’s too much work, and no idea how to do it. And too lazy to look for instructions.

    Does anybody sell old hardware already flashed? Probably comes with some kind of spyware though. So you need to flash it yourself. If you can’t trust Apple or Google, you can’t trust anybody else. So I’d recommend compiling from source as well.

    Well, I found the instructions for flashing externally, if you insist here they are. They say to have an external flasher available just in case, or you could risk soft bricking it, and having to order a flasher and then wait.

    The easiest thing to flash would be a Chromebook or Chromebox, not sure there’s any AMD Chromeboxes though. According to their list, there isn’t. The SuzyQable is $6 on eBay. But the shipping on that one is around $6. I’d get it with a cable too though. I think one of those Chromebooks with a touch screen for cheap on eBay is on the list. Thought that might be an option to a tablet. But ARM will still have better battery life. That firmware doesn’t work on ARM devices. I’d just get a newer device, that can use that fancy ass cable. Cause I’m lazy as fuck.

    Damn that, cheap Acer AMD one, isn’t on the list, 1WH, not 3WH.

    Hmm, my laptop might be worth enough for a Chromebook. Probably no USB4 on a Chromebook I’d want though. Don’t want Intel.

    The Dell Latitude 3445 Chromebook might be good enough, depending on how much the 16 GB RAM one is. No USB4, so it’d have to be cheap. I want a refurbished one. Not new, and not preowned. A fixed broken one.

    No Chromebooks on the Dell refurbished site, bummer.

    Here is an HP, but only 8 GB of RAM, might be enough though, since no games will be played on it. Cheaper on eBay, still 8 GB of RAM. Same CPU. Is the RAM soldered? Most likely, that’s where the world is headed. The 16 GB one is over $400.

    Manual for HP. Might have soldered + slot, says dual channel supported. But how much is soldered on the cheap one? If it’s dual channel, no point in adding more. No I don’t care for 12 GB, don’t both “sticks” need to be the same amount for dual channel?

    I’d have to ask them. If I ever have enough money, and it’s available still, I’ll just buy it. Maybe check it myself. Well, you can run a command in Linux to check as well. Better then opening it, I like messing laptops up, including this expensive one. It has no shield anymore over the RAM.

    According to the 16 GB RAM one, the memory is onboard. Sounds like no slot for extra RAM.

    Maybe use it online, and everything else offline. Oh crap, no updates if I do that. Well, then do all online browsing on the Chromebook, with Tails, after putting the open source coreboot on it. If it even has coreboot on it by default. I think they might all have a modified coreboot on it. Install something on it too, so nobody will think you have a laptop with no OS on it. I’d put Linux on it, and fill the drive with “FUCK TRUMP” on it. And when you open it, you’ll see a nice image, not sure of what yet. If encryption is used, the password will be “FUCK TRUMP” as well.

  • Rabbit – r1

    LOL, LInux works on that, probably lose all the AI spyware.

    Only $200, but my local Best Buy doesn’t have it. Amazon might have it too, but Amazon sucks. Best Buy probably sucks too though.

    Maybe I’ll buy it, since it has 5G. Not much more then the tablet, and it’s new.

    I won’t use the software it comes with, I don’t talk to electronics, or people in apartment buildings.

    Damn, don’t think it has eSIM support, bummer. Still might buy it. Small? Who cares.

    I saw that on their support list, but didn’t know what it was. And didn’t click the buy link. Thought it might be a vibrator, don’t need one.

    No removable battery, but $100 cheaper then the Teracube, and has 5G.

    I think Ubuntu Touch just added support, blog post.

    Hmm, I might have enough money, but might get none next month. Might not be able to afford toilet paper to wipe my ass, if I buy it. That’s fine with me. Water is better. I just need to get a hose installed in my bathroom, and in everybody’s house I go to.

    I like smaller phones anyways. Even though it might be a massive pain in the ass to type on possibly. I don’t care. Apple and Google suck. All they care about is money. Even if they cause people to get hurt.

    Hmm why did I think it has 5G? Only 4G LTE, still $100 cheaper then Teracube.

    LOL 3.4 stars on Amazon. Why? Cause AI sucks? I might still buy it. I won’t buy using a VPN though, they might say I’m fraud, don’t want to deal with that.

    Possibly the smallest phone you can buy, nice.

    Only one problem, I don’t have a SIM card. Ultra Mobile charges $10 for one. Do I still have a Tello account? Or do I need a new one? Need to change the email on the account, might not be able to.

    Does Ubuntu Touch have a wiki? I want to see what it looks like on the small screen before I buy.

    Best Buy might have a prepaid SIM card of some kind. I have to call some number to get the porting info, annoying, but probably automated.

    Also it might have super long battery life. Not that I need it.

    I’ll buy it, and provide a photo of Linux on it. Damn, got blocked from SMARTECH, might be in the UK anyways.

    Doesn’t appear to be on the Ubuntu Touch forum yet. Do I have to activate the damn thing first? Oh well, $100 cheaper, and might get it pretty quickly if I order it soon. Let me see how much it is after tax, I think around $220. Time to go broke. And possibly remain broke. Not even enough for a SIM card.

    I’m insane, and really don’t approve of Apple and Google.

    Oh yeah, Best Buy gave me a $5 coupon that expires on the 30th. Nice, under $220.

    I looked in the installer, you have to enable debugging mode. Not sure I can without activating it. Might force me to connect to WiFi. And no, you can’t block it from internet, it won’t be able to activate, oh well. Might need to change WiFi password, after. Might send it to ICE.

    Water filters, probably can only buy from Walmart or Amazon. I don’t like either. I have a pitcher water filter thing too. And an extra filter. But this one tastes better, and goes on the faucet, good if you break your wrist, my wrist isn’t broken anymore. Target could have it, but I don’t like them either.

    I’m not a fan of giving assholes money. Are the people that make the Rabbit r1 assholes? Well, Best Buy might be. At least I can get rid of the spyware. As far as I know.

    GPS will be slow, but I probably won’t use it, so who cares.

    I don’t give a shit about specs, or how fast the phone is anymore. I don’t want to give a corrupt government anything. Corrupt tech companies, that work with corrupt governments.

    I can use the hotspot on my phone, until I get a SIM card, or don’t bother getting a SIM card, then I’ll have 5G, not that I need it or care. Might need to sell iPhone anyways, if I have no income soon.

    Best Buy has a Ultra Mobile SIM card for $2. Not sure at the store. Not sure I can use it on my account either. Local store might have it. Sometimes they lie.

    You have to call to activate it? LOL. I’m pretty sure I saw an activate thing.

    Well, I’ll check the Ultra Mobile site, in a browser, with split tunneling, so VPN isn’t used. They might make me reply to a text “ALLOW” if I use VPN.

    Well, it might work, I’ll risk $2 to find out.

    Is my Apple Watch Series 9 worth $15 or so? I can give it to my mom, and she can buy me the water filter(s). Might be worth more, but who cares, and worth nothing to me. It’s spyware.

    I’d only buy a Pebble Watch, but out of stock, better one pre order. Might not be alive in February of next year. Also, might be no software for Linux, but probably easy enough to make a poorly coded one for my own personal use.

    Will the Pebble Android app work in Waydroid? Cause I’m lazy. Lots of apps for it too.

    e-paper is always better, whatever the Kindle has is good too. Maybe not on a phone, but a watch, and a book reader.

  • Will Macs become the same as iOS?

    You might not care that you can’t fix Macs yourself easily, or upgrade them. But apparently, doing any anti consumer stuff, means they will go much farther, such as putting spyware in their OS.

    Apple’s propaganda obscures iPhone maker’s fight against consumers, EU and DMA

    At this point, Macs will most likely become complete shit, that you can only get approved apps in the App Store. You can not upgrade I suppose, and keep it offline, so it has less of a chance of upgrading itself. If you keep it online, who knows, maybe the already included spyware can force an upgrade.

    I’m guessing Windows will have the same fate.

    Unless the corrupt government is stopped. Good luck with that, some democrats support a bill that will be abused. It’s claimed to protect children online.

    Having a two party system is pretty shitty.

    LOL, I wouldn’t want “Places Visited” or “Live translations”. Good for mass surveillance. And Apple is already bowing down to the corrupt government, so I think at some point, they will just hand the government data on anybody, without a court order.

    Apple doing business in China, should have been a bigger red flag to me. Unless everything that said about China, or some of it, is false, got to love propaganda.